AU where everything is black and white until you touch your soulmate for the first time…
Thursday was Bernard’s favourite day of the week. It was the day he got to babysit his granddaughter. This particular Thursday was right in the middle of half term, and that meant they were going to the zoo.
“Grandpa!” Lily sprinted towards him as her front door opened, and he bent to hug her. His bones weren’t what they used to be, he could no longer scoop the child into his arms, but that hadn’t altered her enthusiasm to see him.
“Hi Lil!” Bernie took the girl’s little rucksack, and walked her to the car. “Ready to see the animals?”
“Yeeeeeees!” The seven year old bounded after him and clambered into the car. “I really wanna see the giraffes! They’re so tall!”
Bernie laughed as he buckled her into the car and hugged his daughter goodbye. “I like giraffes. But my favourite are the butterflies.” he said as he started the car.
Lily shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands. “Oh noo, they’re kind of scary.”
“They’re beautiful, Lil… they’re very colourful.” Bernie added that almost as an afterthought… but colours had started to fade away from him lately. He’d been trying not to think about it. It was like losing his wife all over again, and every time he noticed things getting duller, it tugged at his heart.
Luckily, Lily sighed very loudly and distracted Bernie from his thoughts. “But I can’t SEE that, Grandpa. And, and… if they wanted to be beauuutiful then they’d make an effort to be pretty even without the colours.” she said, her voice dripping with exasperation.
She had a point.
They had a lovely morning at the zoo - they even got to see feeding time for the monkeys - but by lunch time, Lily had started to get a little cranky.
“I don’t want lunch yet though, Grandpa!” she whinged, refusing the sandwich presented to her. “Can we pleeeaaase get ice cream for lunch? I won’t tell mummy. And I promise I’ll eat my fruit later.”
Bernie tried to give his granddaughter a stern look, but she could melt his heart with a flutter of her eyelashes, so he knew she’d end up getting her way. Besides, he was her grandpa, he was allowed to bend the rules. “Okay. But only if we can go and see the tigers next.” Since Lily didn’t want to go to the butterfly house, they could go and visit his second favourite animal. The big kittens! He’d heard that there was a new cub at the zoo, and he was actually pretty excited to see it…
“Deal!” Lily nodded her head, and offered Bernie her hand. Which he shook, trying not to show his amusement. “Can I have bubblegum flavour? With sprinkles?!”
Well, Lily clearly knew she could push her look with her grandpa, but he didn’t mind. He left her where he could see her, watching the zebras in a nearby enclosure, and joined the queue.
“Excuse me, sir?” Bernie turned, to see a woman holding his phone. “I think you dropped this.”
Bernie looked at the phone, then checked his pocket. Ah, must’ve fallen out when he retrieved his wallet. “Thanks!” He reached for it, a smile on his face.
The woman in question handed over the phone, and brushed a wisp of silver hair from her eyes. “It’s no problem.” She returned Bernie’s smile, and glanced past him at the queue. “Can you see if they have any bubblegum flavour left? They’re usually out when I ask for it.”
“I hope so, otherwise I’m in trouble. My granddaughter wants bubblegum too.” he said, craning his neck to see. “Looks like they’ve just put out a new tub. There’s no other blue flavours, right?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” The woman gave Bernie a sad smile, and he kicked himself mentally for just assuming she’d be a polychromer. People his age usually were. Either that, or they looked super miserable, or wore clashing colours, and it was easy to tell from a mile off. She didn’t seem to mind too much though. “Is that your granddaughter?” she asked, clearly noticing that he felt bad.
“Watching the zebras?” Watching might not have been the right word. In fact, she seemed to be singing to them right now. “Yeah, that’s my Lily.”
Lily’s song was drifting towards them on the breeze, she seemed to be making it up on the spot, as none of it had any semblance of rhyme or consistency. “She’s got a lovely voice.” The woman chuckled, as Lily sang the last line, and bowed to the zebras.
Bernie nodded, quickly snapping a photo of his granddaughter to send to her mother later. “Yeah, she gets that from her father, unfortunately. Our side of the family has, so far, shown little to no musical talent.”
As they spoke, a small child collided with the woman’s legs, and Bernie reached out to steady her. “Whoah, are you alright?” He wasn’t really that concerned at first, it wasn’t as though she’d gone head over heels, but when he met her gaze, something seemed off about her. She was staring at him with huge, surprised eyes. Should he not have caught her? Bernie realised he was still holding onto her arms, and let go. To his dismay, the woman’s eyes seemed to be filling with tears. “Sorry, is everything okay?”
She nodded, and reached out to take his hand. “Yes, everything is… beautiful.” she replied, in a quiet, awestruck voice.
Bernie looked away from her gaze… and had to agree with her. All the colours that he thought he had lost, the lighter blues, dark greens, everything that had begun to fade to grey… they were all back. That pushchair was a startling pink, the grass was so vividly green, and he even noticed a glint of red in the woman’s silvery hair.
“I’m Gladys… by the way.” Tearing his eyes away from a brightly coloured bird in a nearby enclosure, Bernie glanced back at Gladys.
“I’m Bernard… but you can call me Bernie.” he replied, carefully taking in all the features of her face. If his colours were back… then maybe he was getting a second chance. He’d had a long time to mourn the passing of his late wife, and as the colours had faded, so did his memory of the love they had shared, but suddenly his heart was full again.
Gladys was still clinging to his hand, looking up at him with a pure, wondrous smile. Her eyes were sparkling like a lovestruck teenager’s from her time-worn cheeks. “I never thought I’d get to see so much beauty, Bernie…”
There was something so innocent about her reaction. Not only was Bernie elated that he was able to see the full, vibrant rainbow again, but he felt an enormous surge of pride that he had helped someone else see it too. He didn’t think he’d ever get to do that again. His future had just brightened. Literally. So he should probably do something about it…
Noticing the queue had moved along, Bernie kept hold of Gladys’ hand and puller her gently towards the counter.
“Gladys… would you allow me to buy you the bluest ice cream you’ve ever seen?”
