She’s quick to reach for her guns, Thing 2. I used to think that was driven by a sense of righteousness; law and order. Not so much; her passion is mostly determined by what her family means to her.
If she has any fear that something is threatening her family, or her family order, she acts without hesitating, and guns start blazing. Figuratively, mostly, though she does know how to use her rifle and my pistols and would reach for them just as quickly if she thought she needed them. It’s not an irrational fear, it’s her world view. Honestly, you don’t want to be on the business end of those steel blue-gray eyes when they start flashing and her tongue is a quick draw. Tyrel Sackett, we call her, one of her favorite Louis L’Amour characters. The lion’s share of her dedication is to Sweetie, whom she idolizes. Even as an eight-year-old, she threatened to beat up a 12 year old boy who was being mean to Thing 1.
Conversely, Thing 1 is Ferdinand the Bull. Life is for smelling flowers, in her estimation, despite her uncommon mental and emotional strength . “I’m going to be a medical missionary when I grow up, Dad,” she announces every so often. “A doctor who cures people using herbs and natural remedies.”
As quick as Thing 2 is with her weapons, Thing 1 is equally quick with her smile, with forgiveness, with her offer of friendship. Her mind is bottomless. She devours books like most people devour potato chips. The pain in her life is caused by what she can’t do, where she can’t go, what new thing she can’t experience. It’s not unrealistic to her to want to visit Italy next month, regardless of cost or expired passports. “Ok, I understand,” she mutters, once she’s faced her disappointment. “But do you think maybe we could go to the museum in Raleigh next weekend instead?” To her, that flower smells as sweet as any other in life’s great pasture.