Strange Beginnings// j.p.

Chapter 7- Run Rabbit Run

      Once Jacob's bath water had turned a murky brown, he toweled dry and changed into the clothes that had been left for him. Dressed sharply in a button-up shirt, tweed pants, and suspenders I had to help him adjust, he looked painfully like Abe from the old photos we had been raised on. I pulled on the simple white cotton dress that had been given to me, nimble fingers doing up the buttons on the front. I sat down on the toilet seat to pull on the nude stockings I'd been given, followed by the beige T-strap pumps that had been borrowed from Emma's closet, the heel on them modest compared to the high heels I would wear in the twenty-first century. After quickly combing through mine and Jacob's hair, I decided we looked presentable enough for dinner and left the bathroom with him, our hands interlocked tightly.

       Dinner turned out to be quite the ordeal, a dizzying blur of names and faces, most of them recognized from yellowed photographs and late-night bedtime stories. As soon as we entered the dining room, the noise of the hungry, bickering children stopped, all eyes on us and as wide as the dinner plates set out around the table. Miss Peregrine rose from her seat at the head of the table, taking the momentary lapse as a chance to speak.

       "For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting our guests, this is Jacob Portman, Abe's grandson, and Alessandra Baker, Abe's young protégé." She then pointed at each child, stating their names, and I watched Jake in amusement, knowing from the vacant look in his eye that his nerves had ensured he wouldn't remember a single name. The introduction was followed with a barrage of rapid-fire questioning, all shot down by the headmistress with almost military precision.

"Are Jacob and Alessandra going to stay with us?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Where's Abe?" was met with a simple, "He's busy in America."

"Why does Jacob got Victor's trousers on?"

"Because Victor is no longer in need of them, and Jacob's are currently being washed."

"What is Abe doing in America?" At this question, Emma, who had been sulking in the corner, huffed loudly and stomped off, none of the other children paying her any mind as she went.

"Never mind what Abe is doing, and never mind if or when he's coming back. Let's all just enjoy this nice meal."

     I settled into an empty chair as Jake moved to sit in the seat next to me, only to be jabbed with a fork just before he could sit down on Millard, who was completely invisible without his clothes on. Miss Peregrine scolded him for trying to take his dinner in the nude, and as we heard his footsteps retreating out of the room, Jacob claimed the now empty chair.

   The children who had been placed on dinner duty came out of the kitchen, carrying trays of food, everything from a golden-brown roasted goose to whole salmon, bowls of vegetables and freshly baked bread, still cooling from the oven. I heard mine and Jake's stomach growling loudly, and we shamelessly began stuffing ourselves with the delicious feast.

    Looking around, it was easy to tell we were sitting at a truly peculiar dining table. Olive, the levitating girl, had to be strapped to a special chair that was bolted to the floor so she wouldn't float off to the ceiling. Hugh, the boy with bees living in his stomach, had to eat away from everyone else under a mosquito net, to avoid any interaction with his buzzing friends. Claire, an adorable little girl with shiny blonde curls, sat next to Miss Peregrine but didn't touch a bite of food on her plate.

"Aren't you hungry?" Jake asked her.

"Claire don't eat with the rest of us," Hugh spoke up from his corner, a single bee escaping his mouth as he did. "She's too embarrassed."