The Cure

Chapter 20 : XIX

  It's unusually cold the next morning as I awake to find a gentle fall of rain creeping down my bedroom window. I sit up slowly and stretch till the nipping air is too much and I pull on some jeans and a sweater. I grab some socks and fingerless gloves too, because our house hasn't had heating in forever.

Before I leave the room I make sure to move the chest of drawers and check on the two children. They're still asleep, and I realize I should get them some breakfast before they wake up and start to get antsy.

I tip-toe out in the hall, passing Ofelia's bedroom on the way to hear her placid snoring. She won't wake up till probably eleven, as late nights are her accustomed habit. I usually get up around seven no matter what day it is, even if I stay out late, too. Reese and I had sat on the porch till about eleven but I'm still not tired getting up this early. It must be because I'm restless.

Once I'm out of the hall I don't make any effort to be quiet. I assume Reese had gone back to the jail early this morning so I make quite a racket getting out pans to fry some sausage and eggs. Ofelia will sleep through anything, in fact, the dead silence will wake her up more often than noise will.

I light the stove, which always makes me nervous, especially now after the fire, and jump back as it swells into a bright orange flame. I set the skillet down and wait for it to heat up, open the package of meat while I wait. It's a nice morning, I think. Almost perfect, if I forget about the runaways and Griffins till in jail and Reese living in my house.

Yes, quite nice. That's when I look up and see him.

Now, to explain. There is a window, more correctly a hole, in the wall that looks out into the living room. It's a rather large hole and Ofelia always call it the window. It is through this window that I see Reese sitting like a ghost on the sofa, dressed in jeans and a button down shirt and vest. Reading.

I duck behind the stove and bite my lip. I was making such a racket! How embarrassing! And he's already up and dressed. Why isn't he at work?

I risk a peek over the ledge and find his eyes staring straight at me, I stand up quickly, so as not to make known the fact that I was actually hiding in the first place.

"You're up," I say dumbly.

"Yeah," he says back.

I crack an egg into the pan with a sizzle, all without taking my eyes off him.

I was not showing off, by the way.

I'm really tempted to ask him why he's still here but I don't. Not yet. "Are you hungry," I inquire instead.

"Yeah."

His vocabulary is almost as impressive as mine. Smirk. He stands up, to my displeasure and makes his way into the kitchen. Coming over next to me he makes me feel extra small, as he towers a good half foot above my five feet four inches. I'm small, but feisty as Ofelia always says.

I know my hands are shaking as I creak two more eggs in the pan and squeeze in the sausage.

"Uh, question." Reese stops me. "What is that, exactly? In the pan, I mean."

"It's eggs and sausage, of course. Haven't you seen an egg before?"

"Well, yeah, but not like that."

Oh, a picky eater, are we? Fine, he can eat dirt for all I care.

"They're so...white," he continues.

I'm so tempted, so tempted. No, Adler, control yourself. He's obviously uneducated outside all areas of being a guard. You must explain.

"All eggs are like this, I'm afraid. If you're talking about the way I cook them, well, sorry. I don't know any other way of making them edible without burning them." I use the spatula and jumble them about. It does look pretty gross, I'll admit. I swallow the sigh in my mouth before it escapes.