Carry On SnowBaz

Christmas (2)

Baz

The dinner finally starts. The plates with mountains of food go around and everyone loads their own plate with it – everyone but me. I still don't eat in front of my family – not even when I'm starving. Simon takes a bit of everything but he seems confused by all the different kinds of forks and knives. His hands are trembling a bit.

"Just work from the outside to the inside," I whisper to him. "I taught you, remember?"

He nods and takes the first knife.

"Did Santa bring you presents, too?" Mordelia asks me after a few minutes of painful silence. "He brought me a huge dollhouse this year!"

"If it's so huge, then how did it fit through the chimney?" I respond to mock her. She seems to think about it. Then she shakes her head. "Maybe Santa dissembled it to get it through the chimney and then he glued it back together." Nothing can shatter her faith in Santa. It's kind of cute. (And kind of thick.)

"And what did he bring for you?" she asks again, chewing on a turkey leg.

"Don't talk with a full mouth," Daphne reproves her. "That's unpolite."

"I've got nice presents from Simon and Bunce," I say. Snow next to me chortles.

"But Simon isn't Santa..." Mordelia glances at him. Probably searching for any similarities. He blushes and drinks a huge sip of his glass of milk. "And who is Bunce?"

"Bunce is the henchman of Santa," I respond with a mischievously smile. "He only comes to you if you're naughty."

"So, you were naughty?" She looks back to me.

"I'm always naughty," I say.

"Because you've got a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend?"

Simon chokes on his milk and starts to cough desperately while the baby steals his fork right out of his hand. Father stops eating, Daphne looks embarrassed and the twins just keep chewing their potatoes.

I clear my throat. "No," I say calmly. "Because I'm a vampire." This makes my father cough now. I never said it in front of all children before. I'm quite sure, my siblings don't even know that I am a vampire. It only would disturb them. And me being a vampire is one of the taboo topics in this house. Like me being queer. Or my dead mother.

"Basilton!" my father says sharply and gives me a warning look. "Don't scare your sister by telling this nonsense!"

Wow, now me being a vampire is even nonsense just to scare my little sister. I feel how all my blood shoots into my head and everything in me wants to scream at him but instead, I stare at my empty plate, biting my tongue. Mordelia obviously decides to shut up and doesn't dare to look at me again. She probably thinks I'm just joking.

To distract myself from being angry, I glimpse at Simon, who tries to get his fork back from the baby, but as he finally regains it, the baby catches his invisible wagging tail instead. Simon tries to free it out of his little fingers but his grip is too tight. He starts sweating. I quickly pull out my wand under the table and whisper "Stop it!" right before the baby starts to chew on his tail.

My parents stare at us with big eyes – they don't know about Simon's dragon remains and they really shouldn't. This only would make him – in their eyes – much worse than he already is.

"Everything alright, Simon?" Daphne asks with a tense smile.

"Yeah...Everything's fine," he mumbles while he's clutching his invisible tail. "I just...I have to go to the bathroom." He stands up, accidentally knocking the bottle of the baby down, which starts to cry and then leaves with a short excuse. I need a few seconds to remember that Simon hasn't the slightest idea where the bathroom could be, so, I follow him and tell my parents that I don't want him to get lost in this huge building. (Which's true. I'm sure he wouldn't even find the way back to the entrance door.) (I wouldn't either if I weren't here a couple of times before.) (And I also want to be out of this room.)