Among Men: Genesis, Book 1

Chapter 3

The china clinked against the breakfast tray as she went up the stairs. She hoped her father wouldn't drink his tea until it had cooled enough. It wasn't usual for her to bring his breakfast, it was usually in line with her brother's duties. Today, however, was different. She hardly ever left the ranch upon special occasions. One way or another, it was a gut feeling the matter would be pressed either this morning or five minutes before she sat foot outside. The later fate, she wanted to avoid entirely. Although, a lecture from papa, wasn't something one could merely avoid.

She reached the top and tiptoed down the hallway until there was a hushed voice behind her.
"Mordred!"
She turned to the side and saw as her brother's slim frame was toting their father's air machine over his shoulder, the cords nearly dragging the floor up the stairs as he ascended.

"Damn you, taking the easier job. You're stronger than us all." He swore at her quietly, making her smile in response to his tamed agony.

"That twenty-year-old body of yours really gets overworked from twenty pounds uphill, huh? Come on now, old man." She mentioned with a lovable snideness.

After another heave of air, he sat the machine down for a moment. He began wrapping the power cables in a loop around his forearm and in his palm. She watched and even offered a free hand to help but was swatted away, "No, my twenty-year-old strength can handle it."

"Good.." She said turning back around, "now lose that seventy-year-old attitude. He's in there smoking that pipe again. It seems that our discussions last week appear futile."

Kyran searched for a reply and his mind thought of a hundred snarky remarks to counter her with. This was always their interaction. Blood or not, they were always joined at the hip by meanness. Meanness with a smile. They could both deliver insults quicker than compliments but would only flinch enough to say goodnight.

"Can't you just snap your fingers or something? Isn't that what you're good for?" He wisecracked with a smirk as they approached their father's door.

"Well, no." She said before knocking, "What would I have to complain about afterwards?"

The knocks were quiet and she gave another moment before entering anyway. The air in the room was warm and smelled of that smoke she hated but adored all the same. Kyran entered behind her now noticing all the flowers she'd braided into her hair that swayed with her strides. The long, embroidered sundress also moved with her body, nearly touching the floor. Inside their father's study, the windows were pried slightly open with sunlight and the fire was already lit below the mantle. The chair he sat in faced west away from the sunrise, and she watched as the smoke rose from the top of his chair, still shielding his face.

"Good morning, Papa."
She said sitting down his tray of breakfast complete with a potato scone, one fried egg, and a small dish of porridge. And of course, the fish oil tablet that he'd swear when taking every time. Softly, the chair groaned as his weight shifted forward, and there, making the smile grow across both their faces, he spoke with a pretend sternness.
"You'd better not have scalded my egg this time, girl."

His arm reached to the side to fetch his wooden cane and she started to urge him to remain seated. "Don't bother.." their father said before standing and now bracing his legs,
"My ass gets tired of that chair anyhow. Let me look at you."

A groan then followed by a grumble escaped his lips and the cane shook in his grasp as he straightened his back, now on his feet. The navy blue suit jacket he'd chosen this morning looked brand new still, like it should still be on a mannequin in the front window of a haberdash. One thing Thomas Erwood never stooped to, was underdressing. Even for breakfast. Even as sixty turned to seventy now turning to eighty, he always wore the family broach near his breast pocket. The one she found herself polishing the front of whether it was dusty or not. It was more about just acknowledging he'd worn it another day.