When the castle is all you've got

It was crazy. Just crazy. Listening to his father talk. Nonstop about being a private-eye.

"I could set you up." Draco's dad was feeling better. Draco wished he could say the same for his mom.

How could life be so deceiving? She wasn't thinking anymore. Dad said she was lazy.

It hurt to hear him talk that way about her.

His brother hadn't came home for Thanksgiving. He might not be here for Christmas, either.

All Draco could do was clean up. Listen. Do the dishes. Some clothes. Listen to some more from his father, and hope his mother would think about some of the puzzles he gave her to do, at the kitchen table.

Now his Dad decided he wanted Draco to be a P.I. Finally, his dad was happy with him.

That was a long time coming. Draco sighed at the thought. Seriously, his life was on hold. It had been  so for some time. He just didn't know it, until now.

Yes. There was the depression. He guessed it ran in the family. First Sky. Now him.

No. He decided he'd had it, most of his life. Being indifferent. Not at all, the life of the party.

What had Charlie  ever seen in him, anyway?

Oh, right. She thought he was an artist. Once upon a time. But he was a houspainter, for the most part. Wasn't quite college material. Actually, he wasn't much for the work force, either. Then that Head shop sort of fell into his lap with a surfer buddy of his. He sighed, thinking how it used to be. How he could never go back. Just useless thoughts running through his head.

His thoughts were gathering dust. But Charlie looked so happy. Draco remembered at Thanksgiving. All three of them came over for a little bit.

Even that guy Barry talked to him. Told him if he didn't have anything to do on Christmas Eve, that he was welcomed to dinner.

Suddenly, his stomach burned of hunger. He wanted to eat, but all there was was canned soup. He reached for a can of ENSURE. Nobody seemed to drink these, but him.

Draco went to the computer, looked up holiday cookies. Maybe if Lily came over, it would spark an interest in his mother, and Draco would actually learn how to make sugar cookie dough from scratch.