Pathway to Tomorrow by Sheila Claydon

louder.
    Standing beside him was a middle-aged woman dressed in black.  She was trying to remonstrate with him without success.
    Cursing under his breath Marcus hurried forward, his one aim to put a stop to the spectacle in front of them. 
    Jodie tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him back. “Give her a chance,” she said. 
    As he tried to free himself, Luke paused for breath. Izzie spoke into the silence.
    “Hello Luke.  I’m Izzie.  I’m your Dad’s friend.”
    Luke started shouting again.  “No! No! NO!”
    She carried on making a fuss of Blue while she waited for him to draw breath. When he did, she spoke again.
    “I’m Blue’s friend too.  He’s really pleased I’ve come to visit him. Look . He’s wagging his tail.”
    Luke opened his eyes into tiny slits.  Then he snapped them shut again and resumed his shouting.
    Unable to restrain himself any longer, Marcus finally pulled free of Jodie and grabbed his son’s arm, indicating with a nod of his head that the older woman should leave it to him. Turning sharply on her heel she marched past Jodie with an angry scowl on her face.
    “Hello Marcus,” Izzie acknowledged him without moving her position.  “I’ve just met Luke.  He knows you and Blue are my friends. I want him to be my friend too. He might be once he’s stopped feeling cross. He’s cross because he didn’t know I was going to visit him. ”
    Her precise language stopped Marcus in his tracks.  Jodie was right. Her sister really did know what she was doing. She was talking to Luke in exactly the same way he’d learned to do himself, and she was pausing between each sentence to give him time to compute what she was saying as well. Instead of giving in to his first instinct and leading Luke out of the room, he stared at Izzie’s bent head. Then he turned and looked at Jodie. She nodded encouragingly, indicating with a wave of her hand that he should join her sister on the balcony.
    Not entirely sure why he was doing it, he let go of his son and stepped outside. Izzie stood up and smiled at him. Behind him, Luke’s shouts grew louder.
    “What a fantastic view,” she said.
    He nodded.  Then, with another glance at Jodie, he replied.  For the next five minutes they talked about the view, the river, and finally about the birds fluttering amongst the branches of the trees beside the balcony.
    “Luke is the one who feeds them,” he said.  “He spends all his time watching them. I swear he knows every single one by sight.”
    “Really!  Will he tell me about them once he’s stopped being cross? Oh, he doesn’t need to because I know what that one is. It’s a coal tit.” Izzie pointed to a small brown bird swinging from a feeder attached to the side of the balcony. “And that one over there is a green finch…and look, there’s a robin.”
    Behind them they heard the drag of feet on parquet as Luke walked across the room and joined them on the balcony. Ignoring him Izzie continued to point at the birds, naming them at random.
    “No! No! No!” But this time Luke’s voice was quiet.  Too intent on correcting her, he forgot she was a stranger and started to tell her the names of each of the birds.
     
    * * *
     
    Hours later, with Luke in bed and Izzie sprawled in front of the television in the next room, Marcus sank into a chair opposite Jodie and sighed.
    “I’m sorry I shouted at you,” he said.  “Luke does that to me.  Every time he has a meltdown I tell myself to keep calm, but it never works.  I was ashamed of myself when I saw how easily you and Izzie handled him.  He was only angry with her for a few minutes and he wasn’t fazed at all when he met you.  I can’t remember him ever managing to eat a meal with unfamiliar people before either.
    She leaned across and took his hand.  “The birds were the key,” she told him.
    He laughed as he pulled her towards him. When she was comfortably established on his lap he nuzzled her neck, reveling in the