Wouldn't Complain

Eric grins a little, knowing that thinking about the future was never easy, let alone for a person as young as Ashlee. It was commendable she was thinking about college, but she certainly had plenty of time to keep thinking about it.

"Well... you got a few years to straighten it out." He finds himself enjoying the opportunity to have this conversation. Maybe he really did have a bigger role here than he'd thought. "Me, I ain't had much use for college myself. I mean, nothing I ever did needed an education to get. Horse racing, truck driving and working here."

He picks up Static's foreleg, cupping the hoof to clean it out. "Not that it ain't worked for other folks. Can't imagine having a doctor that doesn't know what he's doing or something, ya know. Or an accountant that doesn't know numbers. I just figure college isn't for everyone. If it's what ya wanna do, go for it. If it's not... I say don't waste time and money. Besides, you don't have to go right out of high school anyway. Lots of people wait a year or two even after that."

Finished with the hoof, he sets it back down and straightens up, arching his sore back. "That's just my two cent's worth though. Somebody doesn't wanna go, I wouldn't make 'em. If somebody does, I ain't gonna stop 'em." He turns and grins at Ashlee, tossing her a wink. "I certainly wouldn't complain about you staying here and working."


"Oh come on." Justin gives Mackenzie a light shove on the arm. "It's not an 'orange gloppy thing.' It's a sunset."

Mackenzie had followed Justin down the long hall of paintings, trying her hardest not to show that she was quite intrigued with this place. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but on the inside, it was full of light and color and all sorts of interesting looking things. Justin had gotten her a map when he'd paid their admission, and she saw there was much more than paintings too, but she'd only nodded when he'd asked if going down this hall first was okay. She'd remained quiet as they'd walked - to a stranger, she was a very uninterested girl. But deep down, she really was excited to be in the museum for the first time.

Glancing up to the painting again, she cocks her head. "It's just a smudge of orange and pink."

"It must be where you're standing." Justin takes her by the shoulders and moves her directly in front of where he stood. "There. Now see it?"

"No."

"You have no imagination."

Mackenzie frowns. "I do so."

"Alright, then what do you see, besides a splotchy thing, oh, Miss Imagination?"

The challenge brought on a new spark of interest, and she squints at the picture. "I see a clown."

"A clown?! Where on earth do you see that?"

Mackenzie folds her arms. "If you're not creative enough to see it yourself, I can't show you."

Justin can't help laughing outright. "You got me there."

After that, Mackenzie began to interact more, and quite soon, she and Justin were having friendly arguments over just about every abstract painting, and a few that weren't abstract too.

"You kidding me?" Justin leans so far to the right that he almost falls over. "A dog? Seriously?"

"Uh-huh. Right there." Mackenzie points. "He's sitting up with a bone in his mouth."

"It's green!"

"Can't a dog be green?"

Justin grins. "I guess he could be at that." Glancing at his watch, he sighs. "Well, we're running out of time."

Mackenzie tries not to act disappointed. "Are we going back to the park?"

"Yep. Otherwise your dad might think I kidnapped you."

"Been there done that." Mackenzie rolls her eyes. "We better go."



..."So did you two do anything interesting?" Carson gives his daughter a sidelong glance as he drives.

Mackenzie shrugs. "We went to the art museum."

Carson's eyebrows rise. The word "unconventional" comes back to him once again. "Did you talk a lot?"

"Nah."

"Oh. Well, do you like Justin?"

"He's okay."

"So you'll go again?"

"Whatever."

Carson sighs. So much for learning about the session today. He'd just have to keep on trusting Justin.