Red Riding Hood

Chapter Fifteen

Without a family, to love and support you, one may become lost and empty.
With no one to fill that emptiness,
one may become soulless and miserable.  

 

 

At first the atmosphere of the room felt unbalanced, to the feel of a fifth person in the house. But now, everyone, despite some’s best efforts not to, feels a sense of ‘wholeness’. A feeling that was once lost to this family. Luca brings a certain aura to the table, one that washes joy and delight over everyone, one that seems to relax the whole room and relieve every one of the tension that had been growing inside them for quite some time. He made a family, which once was broken, feel whole again. Just by joining them for dinner. Nobody has started a conversation yet, they all just enjoy their meals. Luca and Scarlet occasionally glance at each other and smile. They thought that their glances were private, but Scarlet’s grandmother observes everything, quietly.
      “So, Luca. Have you found work yet?” Scarlet’s grandmother asks. Luca looks up from his food and swallows before answering.

“Uh…yes. I got a job as a woodcutter.” He states and glances at Scarlet, thinking that she would of told them already.

“Hmm…interesting. When do you start?” She asks.

“Tomorrow.” He replies. Scarlet’s grandmother smiles and takes another mouthful of food.

“Is your father a woodcutter?” She asks, after a sip of water. Luca coughs slightly and chokes on the piece of meat that he was in the process of swallowing. The question had gotten him off guard. He wasn’t really in the mood to discuss his family, and hadn’t really expected anyone to ask. But then again, he’d probably want to know that same thing, if a stranger was in his house.

“Um…” He gulps down a mouthful of water. “No. He wasn’t.” He pushes his plate away, notifying that he is finished. “Ah…he was a…blacksmith.” Luca adds, knowing that the old lady probably wasn’t going to let the question go.

“Was?” Scarlet’s mother chimes in.

“Yes. Was.” Luca repeats, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Scarlet looks up from her plate and stares at Luca with sadness engulfing her eyes. She feels a pang in her chest, knowing that Luca had also lost his father. Scarlet directs her gaze to her mother and grandmother, and scowls at them. Speaking with her eyes, Scarlet tells them not to ask any more questions about the matter. They oblige silently. Jackson finishes what’s on his plate and pushes it away, just like Luca did.

“What’s for desert?” He chimes happily. Everyone at the table looks at him and laughs.

“Muffins.” His grandmother replies and stands, taking up her plate and Jackson’s. She reaches for Luca’s, but he stands up in protest.

“Oh no. Please, allow me.” He reaches for the plates she’d already collected.