Dust

XXXVIII

         

When Gael and I reach his kitchen downstairs, his family is not visible, but can be heard by the clinking of plates in the dining room. Shi, who previously had his back to us, whirls when he hears our footsteps against the pale tiled floor. Bracing himself against the drawer he'd pulled open, he grins. "Oh! Hi! Thank God, it's just you...I was beginning to worry I'd have to explain to someone in your family why I was poking around in their silverware drawer."

    I know exactly what he's up to. Glancing into the dining room to see Gael's family setting the table, some members I haven't even met, I lean against the counter. "The verdict?"

    "The silverware is not silver," says Shi, sounding relieved. He frowns down in the drawer again, swiftly picking up a fork, which, yes, doesn't proceed to burn the tips of his fingers off. "Iron, probably. That's a good thing."

    "Very good thing," commends Gael, and Shi's gaze shoots to him, as if he's just now noticed his presence. "Or I imagine you'd have a lot more to explain."

    Shi chuckles, bumping the drawer shut. "Yeah. Imagine the look on their faces: 'You have a seemingly innocent wolfman in your house that once tried to eat your son alive, and your silverware appears to be burning me. Have any plastic utensils?'"

    "Right," Gael says, his eyes narrowing. "About that—how are you not in jail? Didn't some other hunters come and lock you away?"

    Shi's grin grows. "Now that is a long story—"

    "What's a long story?" asks a small voice, and all of our eyes swivel towards a girl standing in the entrance to the kitchen, her wide birdlike eyes watching every one of us. I imagine this must be the sister I'd heard about, judging by the brown curls about her shoulders and the color of her irises, the same green as Gael's. Her skin, too, is the attractive sun-kissed bronze all the kids in the family share. "I like stories," she adds.

    "Yeah, not this one, honeybun," says Shi. His eyes narrow on her, then he looks to Gael again. "This is Rhea, I'm guessing? The baby of the family?"

     "Yeah," replies Gael with a shake of his head, as he approaches his sister, turning her around and attempting to shove her back into the dining room. She doesn't budge. "The baby that shouldn't be around for grown-up talk, Rhea."

    "I'm a teenager, Gael," Rhea argues, turning around to scowl at her older brother, "and you're not Ma."

    "Yeah, yeah, I don't care. You can talk to our new house guests later. Now is not the time."

    "I tell ridiculously horrible stories," Shi adds, adjusting his wire rims with a quick jab at the bridge. When I look at him like he's crazy, he just shrugs. "Lots of gore, blood, guts spilling out and stuff. I'm sure that's not your kind of thing—"

    Rhea's defiant. "What, you think I'm a scaredy cat or something?"

    Shi blinks, studying the stubborn teenage girl that seems so content on showing him her courage. I get the idea he hasn't had much experience with the younger part of the generation. "No, but that doesn't mean—"

    "Rhea! Are you causing trouble in there? Tell everyone it's time for dinner!" calls a familiar voice, Mrs. Echeart's. Rhea groans, and, not without a glare of finality in Shi's direction, turns to disappear into the dining room. I hear Shi exhale as he precedes me out of the kitchen, muttering under his breath: "I hate teenagers."

    I decide it's pointless to tell him the paradoxical aspect of that sentence, and instead seat myself beside him, across from Gael. A quick survey of the table details the meal for me: a regular spaghetti bolognese with a side salad, and no meat for poor Shi. I suppose he'll just have to go vegetarian for a night. Can't be that hard, right?