Hunting

[Parker Quist]

Parker ladled the hot, meaty soup into a bowl coated with cracked orange paint, which he then handed to the grubby young boy in front of him. The boy, a regular at the soup kitchen, smiled thankfully at Parker, then shuffled down the line to get the other parts of his meal.

Usually, the Quists provided the same meals for lunch and dinner, served fresh, and a separate meal for breakfast, depending on the day of the week. For example, on Monday, Parker gave out a bowl of blueberries, Tim two pieces of toast, and Jennifer a glass of orange juice. On Tuesday, strawberries, dried meat, and milk.

Lunch and dinner were usually very simple. Every day had the same three options for both meals. Soup, bread, and milk, pasta, fresh carrots, and milk, or fresh meat, fruit, and milk. The Quist family rotated so that they served a different meal every day. The other two meals were always served by volunteers who helped Parker gather the food.

However, on holidays or even a Quist birthday, a larger meal of fresh meat, soup, salad, and bread with water, milk, or orange juice is served at lunch. Meat, pasta, fruit, and rolls are served for dinner those nights. Breakfast, however, never changes.

After the last person of the hour had received her food, Parker got himself a small portion of soup and turned the stove down. He ushered out the people who lingered inside, then returned to his own food. But Parker never helped to put it all away, because he had to hunt. Tim occasionally came with him, but not today. None of the other volunteers did, either. Parker was mad because of a stupid fight that morning, and he hunted to relieve his stress. He and Jen seemed to be having a lot more stupid fights over nothing lately, but they were usually his fault, and Parker knew it. After Parker hunted, however, he was in a better mood and they made up quickly.

Parker gulped down his soup, put his bowl and spoon down next to the sink, and jogged up the stairs to the Quist family's apartment. He donned his black jacket from the LAPD , then pulled his rifle out from under his bed and lay it in front of his feet while he retied his boots. Then he slung the rifle over his back and headed downstairs. Walking by, he gave Tim a light punch on the shoulder and continued out the door, glad not to see Jen. That would only have complicated matters. Parker pushed open the door, walking into the bright sunlight. People pushed at him from all sides. Parker made his way through to an empty alley so he could get to the woods more quickly.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine was curled up hidden near by In a pile of...well...lets not get into what exactly made up the pile of trash she was currently hidden in. She was shaking from the cold, both temperature wise and the fact that she literally had a cold. She drew herself into a tighter ball as a man who she did not recognize (Parker Quist) walked past. She was well hidden, in fact if it had not been for her cold she would be fine. But her nose itched and before she could hold it back a huge sneeze escaped her. The little ten year old girl moved away from the man now shaking in both fear and from the cold. But that wasn't the end of her sneezing fit, it continued until she had sneezed about ten times. Her eyes were watering with the forces of the sneezes. She tried to wipe her nose without moving to much. She didn't want to be noticed, she didn't want to be seen, especially not by some one who might hurt her, she had already been hurt so much. Her lips which were slightly blue were trembling. Her tips of her fingers where also slightly blue, the rust of her was pail.

[Parker Quist]

Hearing a sneeze behind him, Parker spun around to face behind him. The alley wasn't empty as he had first thought walking through. There was a young girl, probably around ten years old, standing in the alley behind him, sneezing. She looked pretty cold. Her lips were blue, and it looked like her fingertips were too. That was worse than just 'pretty cold,' Parker corrected himself mentally. Parker's LAPD jacket and the sweatshirt he wore underneath it kept him plenty warm, plus he had gloves, warm jeans, and warm boots on. To top it all off, he had a warm winter hat on, covering his ears and keeping the heat in.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, unzipping his jacket. He realized the rifle was still slung over his shoulder and lowered it to the ground in front of his feet, then removed his jacket and kneeled to wrapp it around the shoulders of the young girl in front of him. She was shivering and her lips were trembling. Hunting would have to wait. This girl needed help.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine eyes widdened at the site of the gun. She felt herself shrink away from it. But the man wraped a jacket around her shoulders. "Hey, you okay?" the man asked. He was old looking with gray hiar, and age lines on his face. "I-I'm fine." She stuttered in her quiet breathy little voice. She didnt make eye contact with him, insted her eyes stayed locked on the gun, as if she exspected it to jump up and eat her. Then another sneezeing fit hit her, she fell to her knees with the forces of the sneezes. When she finaly stoped she whiped her nose on her arm. The cloths she was wearing were hardly fit for this weather. She was wearing a short sleave shirt and a pair of shorts. She had no shoes. Her larg round gray eyes finaly looked at the man. But they went back to her feet almost instantly. With out relizeing it she pulled the jacket closer around her feeling the warmth. She hadnt had a jacket or even a fire for a while.

[Parker Quist]

"No, you aren't," Parker said kindly, sliding the girl's arms into the huge jacket, then zipped it up over her and pushed the sleeves up as best he could, so he hands were free. It was too big, though, to stay, and it fell back over her hands constantly. "Come on, I can get you some nice warm food and a fire, and some warm clothes that actually fit you." Parker had a store of Tim's old clothes that he gave out at the soup kitchen whenever people needed them. They had some of everyone's old clothes, actually, but only Tim's old clothes would fit a girl as small as this one. As it was, they would probably be a little big on her. She was pretty skinny, and Tim had always had a lot of muscle on him.

"Come on," Parker repeated, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. Then, he had another thought and put his hat on the girl, too, and reached down to take her hand and lead her back to the shelter. "Let's get you that food."

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine looked at him nervously, she had a inward battle on weather or not to go with him. She was starving, her belly hurt with hunger, but she was afraid. She always was afraid as if she thought at any moment the men in mask would come and kill her. But her hunger made her give in. She put her small slightly blue hand in his larger one, as his hat slid over her eyes. "F-food." she stammered threw her almost frozen lips. She looked into his eyes and for the first time held his gaze with her own sad gray eyes. Her black unwashed hair fell in greasy strands around her face. How long has it been since she washed her hair. Days? Weeks? Months? It seemed hard to remember. Her feet were dirty, her hands to. Her face, so small and round was smudged with dirt and mud. There were shadows under her eyes and as the light hit her face it was made clear that she had had very little sleep. The jacket on her fell to her shorts and the sleeves covered her hands.

"Who are you?" she asked in the same soft voice.

[Parker Quist]

Parker smiled kindly at the young girl, squeezing her hand. "Come on, my house isn't far from here. I run a soup kitchen, you see, so you can keep coming back three times, every day, to get a meal. And you won't have to worry about the weather, because when it's really bad, we take in the young kids and the older people who have a harder time surviving in open, and you can sleep inside."

For a moment, Parker stopped on the sidewalk, turning to face the building, and rolled up the hat a little bit so it didn't fall into the girl's face. He pushed the girl's hair back behind her shoulders, then picked her up in his arms. She was very light, so it wouldn't have been a problem even if he wasn't as strong as he was. Just then, he remembered something. "Who are you?" the girl had asked.

"My name is Parker. Like I said, I own and run a soup kitchen. Helping people like you is what I do for a living." He set off down the street towards the building that doubled as his house and workplace.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine felt the man squeez her hand and begain talking about his soup kitchen. She wasn't use to being around people, did they all talk this much? She was surprized when the man picked her up and held her in his arms. She was no longer shakeing, she was trembling...in fear. Ever instinct she had told her to run...well...all except one, one that said to stay, that this man was nice. Fortunatly for this instinct her stomach spoke its agreement in the form of a particularly loud and painful rumble. She curled up in pain, but even threw it she felt her lips forming words, "Mom and Dad, said to never take food from..." These words were interupted by another grumble from her stomach.."Strangers." she finished the sentance, her face screwed up in pain. More snezeing fallowed this statment. Eponine knew she was in no position to argue, "My-my names Eponine..." she said and looked up at him, "Now...wear not strangers." She was curld in such a small ball that she looked even more tiny then she really was.

[Parker Quist]

Parker felt her shake, he had to decide about putting her down in or continuing to hold her. But since he was right outside the soup kitchen, he held her for as long as it took him shoulder open the door, then put her down in a corner. "Wait right here. I'll get you some hot soup, some bread, and some hot chocolate. How's that sound?"

Parker grabbed a pot of soup and loaf of bread before they could be put away, noting that everything else was. "Hey, Tim," he called, starting to heat up the soup in a small bowl. His son, heading upstairs, turned and looked inquiringly at him, confused. His father was never back so quickly, so he wondered what had changed when he noticed the young girl in the corner.

"Get me a packet of hot chocolate and a mug, would you?" Tim nodded and ran off, returning several minutes later. "Thanks." Parker mixed up the warm drink, made sure the soup was nice and hot, and went back to the corner with them and the bread. "Here you go. Nice and warm."

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine took the soup and inhaled it eating greedily. She hadn't had a hot meal in a long time, or even meat in a long time. She eat the bread with the same ferocity. It was easy to tell the girl was hungry, it was easy to tell that she had no one to look after her, no one to care about her, no one who would. She gulped down the hot chocolate ignoring the burning sensation in her throat. Threw this whole thing she split nothing, not a drop of soup or hot chocolate landed on the floor. A testament to the way her parents had raised her. She didn't chew with her mouth open, she didn't make to much noise. When she finished she did not lick her bowl but set it down lightly and looked up at the man who had given her the food. "Thank you." She said politely. A small amount of color that wasn't blue had returned to her face and her lips were at they're natural pink. Her fingers had returned to their normal color also.

[Parker Quist]

Parker nodded at the girl. "Your welcome. And like I said, you can come back every day, three times a day. We don't normally have hot chocolate, though, so don't expect that every time." Parker added a small grin. "We used to give it out more, but what's left is up in my apartment upstairs. We're nearly out of it, and some things are hard to find these days."

He patted her on the shoulder, then ran upstairs with a quick "Be right back." He brushed past Jen on the stairs, hardly realizing who he had passed. It only registered when he got back to their bedroom and a picture from their wedding day caught his eye. Since they were already fighting, that certainly wouldn't help. Silently, he cursed himself for not paying attention, then pushed it out of his mind and find and old trunk of clothes in his closet. Carefully, he picked through, finding a tee shirt, warm sweatshirt, jeans, socks, and shoes. Looking harder, he even found some underwear that Jen had apparently bought for cases such as this- young girls, since all they had was male clothing. More searching produced a warm winter hat like the one he'd let the girl borrow, only smaller, and a pair of mittens. He threw them all in an old backpack and grabbed a light brown teddy bear with a red tee shirt and white cross- like the Swiss flag- and put that in the bag too. Lastly, he grabbed an old blanket- ragged and torn, but better than nothing.

Back downstairs, Parker noted that Jen was gone. He walked over to the girl and collected her dishes, grabbed another piece of bread, and handed her the bag, sitting down next to her. "There's a bathroom over there you can change in. I'll be right here."

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine watched silently as the man handed her the cloths, on her face was a look that never should apper on the face on a young chiled. A look that is created after being hurt several times, the look of distrust. Still in silence she walked into the bathroom and changed. It did feel good to have clean cloths on after so long in dirty ones she had gotten from trash cans and such. She held the clean shirt to her nose and took a deep breath, it had been so long scince she smelt clean. She placed the cap on her head and looked in the mirror. Instently her head spun with memories of her parents buing her cloths, but she pushed them out. Now was not the time, still tears formed in her eyes, trying her best to hide them before she walked back into the room she noticed a small light brown bear and a blanket, She held the bear to her and folded the blanket neatly then went back to the room. Back to the man whome she did not trust, how could she, she had only known him for a very short while, and now was dangerouse times, you cant trust every one. This thought did not cheer her up, if anything it made her face look more grim, she wanted to trust, and to have someone care about her but she couldnt let them, ever one that had...died...this thought caused her bottom lip to quiver. She instinctively turned her head away from the man."thank you for the cloths and blanket, and bear." she said, her voice showing the strain she was under to not cry. She held the bear tighter, silently in her mind nameing it theador.

[Parker Quist]

Parker sat waiting for the girl to come back. As he sat there, legs drawn up and his forearms resting on his knees, hands clasped, Jen walked back inside, probably guessing that he was upstairs. However, she turned around soon after entering the room, apparently looking for someone, possibly Tim, and caught sight of Parker. She definitely hadn't been expecting to see him, judging by the surprised look on her face. But she didn't want to talk, either, since he seemed not to want to talk to her. Normally he went straight to her after hunting, but today he hadn't even hunted. That was different, and a problem.

The girl was back. Park hoped that Jen saw that a small girl was approaching him as she turned to head up to the apartment and figure out why he hadn't noticed her on the stairs. The girl was trying not to cry as she thanked him for the clothes. He reached out to her. "Come here," he said softly, beckoning to her. He noticed she was squeezing the small bear tightly, too.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine looked at the man quietly. He was gesturing at her to come to him. She shrunk back holding the bear as if expecting it to come alive and protect her. Of course it did not do this, and she did not honestly think it would. She was clinging to childish ideas, ideas that she should have gotten rid of. She debated on weather to go to him. She didn't know him, but he gave her food, she only just met him, but he gave her cloths, she didn't even know his last name, yet he offered her three meals a day and a blanket, and Theodor. Her stomach, which for the first time on a while had food in it seemed to be telling her it was OK, that she could trust him. She felt her feet leading her to him, as she walked forward she kept her eyes on the mans hands, partly to make sure the weren't going to hurt her, partly to try to hide tears that were filling her eyes.

[Parker Quist]

Parker brought the girl closer to him, wiping the tears off her face with his thumbs. "Hey, no need to cry. Shh..." He had experience with kids of all ages, and he had plenty of patience as well. Plus, the girl was helping get his mind off his fight with Jen. At this point, he couldn't even remember what the fight had been about. He pushed it out of his mind again and held Eponine against him so her chin rested on his right shoulder. He gently pulled the bear out of her grasp and put him on the top of her head. It fell almost immediately, so he tried again, and again.

"Hey, help me out here, Eponine," he said, grinning widely. "I can't get him to stay on your head without your help." Getting her to balance the bear on her head would distract her, and if she was shaking with tears or cold, she wouldn't be able to do it. He'd used this many times with Tim, and it always worked.