A Mother's Embrace

CHAPTER 5

As the sunlight slowly seeped into my room the next morning, I understood two things: 1. A good sleep was what I was missing out on. 2. Sunlight is actually needed for sane functioning of one's mind. I had the perfect morning. Like the one you see in movies. I woke up, brushed and had a bath, wore my favorite sweatshirt and pants and headed down to the kitchen. For the first time in many years, I felt like I had a home.

I expected Amanda's bright smile to greet me in the kitchen but the stout grumpy maid was the one who greeted me with her grumpy face. I awkwardly paced in the kitchen for a few seconds when she pushed a glass of tea on the table towards my side.

"Thank you Miss-?" I stopped midway as I didn't know her name.

"Mrs. Ben"

"Thank you Mrs. Ben", I said as I sat down to drink the tea. "Do you live in the staff quarters?" I asked trying to make conversation.

"Mmm", she replied.

It looked like she wasn't interested in any sort of small talk. But I decided to give it one more try.

"Have you worked here for a long time?"

"Since I was 11"

"Oh! That's long." she turned around to give me a stern look. "The paintings on the landing of the stairs look really beautiful! Has it been there since you began to work here?"

"Don't go around asking unnecessary questions!" she said with a stern look and walked out through the back door. I sat there with my cup of tea feeling offended and confused. Just as I was weighing Mrs. Ben's behavior, Amanda and David came into the kitchen in their nightgowns.

"Oh! You are up early and dressed too!"

"I thought I should be ready early since it's my first day." I said, my cheeks getting flushed.

"Carmela! Carmela! Where are you?"

Unlike yesterday, David was not bursting with energy. He didn't even seem to notice me.

"Is David okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Oh, he is! He takes some time to get himself together in the morning. David, my dear, greet Ms. Olivia"

As if he just saw me now, he turned towards me rubbing his eyes and suddenly looked delighted. He ran towards me from his mother's side and gave me a short hug.

"Good morning Ms. Olivia!"

"Good morning David."

"I am really excited for my first class!" he said with a big smile.

"Me too!" I said ruffling his brown hair.

"He is really happy to have you here. It is the first time he is this excited to have a teacher", Amanda said as David sat down in a chair near me.

Just as we were talking about my life in London, Mrs. Ben came in through the back door again.

"My dear, where have you been? Please get David's milk"

She suddenly rushed to serve David and Amanda. Another maid came in through the same door Mrs. Ben came in and started making toast and eggs. Breakfast was served within minutes and all three of us ate in silence. The best part was the silence was not awkward. It was as if everyone agreed on a secret agreement to not talk. Even the loud David was absorbed in his meals and didn't make any noise. As we finished breakfast, Amanda asked David to get ready soon and asked me to wait in the study room. Mrs. Ben cleared our plates and I walked to the study room as Amanda and David went ahead to change.

I got into the study room and opened the windows and curtains. I went through the books in the yellow cupboard by the window and noticed that David had a good collection of books. As I was looking at the books on the bottommost shelf, something caught my eye. Among the bright colored books, an old book with a worn out bind was pushed in between. I felt like it was misplaced, like it really didn't belong there. I carefully pulled it out from between the tightly packed books.

"The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath." I said, wiping the dust off the cover. "Why is this here?" I asked myself. The book was not something that would interest a twelve year old. It was a book dealing with mental health issues and the struggle of fighting it. The author Sylvia Plath was said to have described her own struggles through this book.  It was said to be a semi-autobiography and the author had committed suicide after the book came out. The book was like her last cry for help.

"Why is this in David's bookshelf?"

"That's mother's", I turned around shocked. David was standing by the door, with the same pale expression he had yesterday when I asked him who was at the pond.

"What?"

"That's my mother's book. She likes it." he said, sitting down on one of the chairs by the table. His smile was slowly returning in pieces as he slowly arranged his books one by one.

"Oh! I thought so", I said and kept the book back where it was.

"Okay David," I said, sitting down on the chair opposite him. "Which is your favorite subject?"

"English", he said, his bright smile now stretching wide upon his face.

"Great! Let's start with English today, okay?" I said and went on to read a story from his textbook. David easily got distracted, so it was challenging to keep him focused. But at the same time, he had fun learning, he answered questions quickly, enthusiastically wrote down anything I told him to and always made sure to get complimented for all the right answers he said.

After an hour of English and another hour of Math, which was more challenging than English, I decided to wind up today's class.

"Okay David, that's enough for today. Did you enjoy the class?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed happily.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow!" I said and ruffled his hair. He quickly arranged his books back and ran out excited to play. Just as I stood up to leave, I saw someone staring at the window from below. That man who opened the gates yesterday, was staring at me holding a lawn mower in one hand and the other hand tucked in his pocket. Due to his limp, he was standing shifting his weight to his left side. He was not even blinking. As he noticed I was staring back, he gave a sly smile and limped forward with the lawn mower.

"Pervert", I said and walked down to the kitchen.