A Little Sincerity[Josh!]

“Ah, my mistake.” Mitch felt a slight twinge of embarrassment at the assumption, but since nobody was offended, there was no harm done. He stepped over a bit to grab a box of crayons.

“Protest? Goodness.” Mitch took another look at the man. He didn’t look like the type who did protesting, but were Mitch being honest with himself, he would admit that he had very little experience with that. It seemed rather a risky activity, if the History Channel was to be trusted. “What were you protesting, if you don’t mind me asking?” He was merely interested, and had no concept of what can of worms he was opening.

He chuckled, “No, Jackie goes to the little public school down the way. Her older brother, Elliot, goes to Hammel. He’s a plant manipulator.” He pulled off a sheaf of paper from the shelf, wrapped in plastic. “It certainly seems like every child goes there, doesn’t it?”

Mitchell nodded enthusiastically, “Of course. I’ve always made sure that both my children are well-read. It’s important, you know?” Of course, if he didn’t watch himself, Mitchell would just launch into an hour long rant about these things. Reading was important. And not something to be taken lightly.

“Really?” Mitch looked suitably impressed. “Are you metahuman yourself? I am, telekinesis.” He grinned wryly, letting the box of crayons float out of his palm, “Well, limited telekinesis. This is the extent of my talents.” But back to the exciting adventures of protesting. “What do you do, in the way of protesting?” He nodded at the poster paper, “Sling about posters and signs?” He’d heard of the fire in the courtyard on the news, of course, but he hadn’t yet connected it with the man before him.

Mitch shrugged, “I suppose that’s true. I just wish there were other Hammels, so that I didn’t have to move to keep our family together.” He grinned, “However, I’m not complaining. I got a rather nice job at University of Vermont, teaching Literature. I’m really very lucky.” He just didn’t like to think of other families who couldn’t drop everything and move with their children.

Mitch brightened, “… ‘every syllable spelled out is a spark’. That’s Victor Hugo.” Mitchell decided that he liked this man very much, if he knew enough to halfway quote Hugo. “It’s true! Book banning is repugnant anyways. Nobody should have the right to ban knowledge or ideas. They belong to anyone who cares enough to foster them.” He chuckled then, “I suppose this is an important topic for me. What with being a literature teacher and all. Unfortunately, I don’t think I would be able to protest against these issues. I think I lack the panache for it.”

Suddenly, he started, “Oh goodness. I haven’t even introduced myself. Mitchell Vick. It’s very nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand.

Mitch watched his new companion’s expression grow sad and frowned ever so slightly. The other man seemed like a perfectly nice fellow, Mitch couldn’t see an outward reason for why someone would want to stop being friends with him. Granted, he’d only just met him, but he seemed friendly, polite, a tad excitable, but a good person with the desire to help people with issues that didn’t even have anything to do with him. Seemed fairly admirable. “Well, it’s admirable, working so hard for an issue that doesn’t affect you directly.”

“Oh.” Mitch raised his eyebrows as he took in this new information, “And…this works, does it?” He didn’t want to doubt the man’s methods, but he didn’t see how that had a very high success rate. “Do you often get arrested for disturbing the peace?” The thought occurred to him because he remembered the report on the news about the fire and…

Wait a moment.

Mitch turned to Josh, pointing a revelatory finger. “Were you the person who set the statue in the courtyard on fire?” He always thought people who set things on fire in protest were more than a little crazy. “I must admit, you’re not the person I envisioned when I thought of who would do that.” He confessed a little sheepishly, “To be honest, I was thinking of someone much less articulate.” He realized that probably sounded like an insult, so he hastened to explain. “That is to say…I apologize.” Mitch laughed awkwardly, wondering where on earth his manners had gone. “It all sounds very exciting. It’s honorable, that you’re willing to take such actions for a cause you care about.” There. That was much less rude.

“That’s very true.” Mitchell didn’t feel as strongly about the Hammel school system as Josh did, obviously, but that was simply because he knew that the system couldn’t stay the same forever. It would change eventually. “I don’t see why they can’t just try to make some kind of outreach program or something. Seems like that would be a good approach.”

Mitch chuckled. “Well, that’s about all the passion I own. I am an unfortunately dull individual overall.” Self-depreciating? Probably. But he felt that his new friend should know.

“Josh, it’s good to meet you too.” He shook Josh’s hand with a smile, “So what do you do, when you’re not setting things on fire?”