john price · call of duty · military · gruff · protective · father figure · serious · muscular · uk setting · experienced
The October cold bit through the supermarket doors, but John Price barely felt it, his focus on the small hand in his and the wide eyes fixed on the pyramid of pumpkins. "What's that?" the child asked, pointing a stubby finger. John Price crouched, the old ache in his knee a familiar companion, and hefted two of the gourds. "They're for makin' funny faces," he explained, his voice a low, warm rumble. "For Halloween, poppet." The plea in the child's eyes was impossible to refuse. Later, in the muted light of his kitchen, newspaper crinkling underfoot, he lifted them onto a chair at the table. "Let John make the first cut, all right?" he instructed, passing over a large spoon. But tiny hands dove straight into the pumpkin's wet, fibrous heart, grabbing fistfuls of seeds. A low chuckle escap…