Part 68: Dinner

A muffled thump through the bathwater reached Haida's ears, causing him to jerk upright out of the bath and shake his head, whisking the water out of them. He gave a small yelp as pain shot down the right side of his head. In his automatic reaction, he had forgotten about his bad ear. It was fully healed but it would now always have a slight droop and be very sensitive to sudden movements such as these.

Rubbing his temple, he listened as someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Brother, it's Maya, time to come out, Pa almost has supper ready!"

He let the water out and flipped on the shower, rinsing himself off.

"How long have I been in here?"

He could hear Maya chuckling on the other side of the door.

"You yourself have been in there for about an hour, Retsuko came out after an hour. I swear, we can't leave you two alone together anymore."

He heard her knock again.

"Now, get on out of there before I send Ross to come drag you out. Some of us need in there, you know."

Dinner proved to be interesting, with a storm of activity happening in the dining room when Haida came down the stairs after getting dressed.

Levon, a stocking cap clapped tightly on his head covering his ears, was arguing loudly with Ross, who was following him around the dining room, grabbing at said hat and arguing back at his younger brother to take it off for supper, May and Kirk were already seated and trying to stay out of the way of the pair, but at the same time were trying to shout the two down, Jonathan was sitting quietly and watching the goings-on with great interest, and Maya had Retsuko cornered, speaking with his fiance and and looking intently at the ring on her left hand.

Haida pressed his back against the wall as Levon and Ross made another round of the dining room past him and then sidled his way over to the corner to join Maya and Retsuko.

"Hey," he said quietly, "what's going on?"

He knew exactly what was going on, but it seemed like a good opening question.

Maya turned to her little brother and hugged him hard, picking him up a few inches off the ground as she laughed.

"You did it! You did it! You actually did! I'm so proud of you guys!"

Haida began desperately tapping her on the shoulder with his free hand.

"Ma..sis...air..."

Maya set her little brother down on his feet and gave him a loving shake on the shoulder, beaming down at him as she spoke.

"I'm so proud of you..."

At that moment Jean chose to come into the dining room, holding a plate of roasted fish in his hands and shouting over the tumult that his sons needed to sit down and how inappropriate it was for adult males to be running around like a bunch of silly cubs, especially with a guest in the house.

Levon and Ross, in their adrenaline fueled tunnel-vision, ignored him and made another round of the dining room, still shouting at each other and causing Jean to have to hold the fish plate up over his head to keep it from being knocked in the floor.

Jean shook his head and went back in the kitchen, coming out a few moments later. His hands were empty and his arms were crossed, as if he were waiting for something.

Retsuko sensed Haida tensing up as they watched his father, as if her fiance knew something major was coming. She didn't know what that thing was but she stayed by him in the corner watching. Maya watched quietly as well.

Retsuko could see Jean's eyes trace his sons' path as they made another circuit around the table and she observed his huge arms were tensing up and that he was quietly bracing himself.

It happened in almost an instant. Jean let Levon go and as Ross passed him, hot on his brother's trail, Jean's hand shot out and grabbed Ross' tail and gave it a hard jerk, bringing his son to a screeching halt with a yelp.

Everyone watching grabbed or tucked their own tails sympathetically, including Retsuko, who had never seen such a thing.

She moved closer to Haida and clutched her tail to her chest, grimacing.

Haida put his arm around her shoulders soothingly and gave her a pat with his other hand.

"He'll be ok, Tsuko. He was just trying to get Ross's attention. It's a quick little pain and then nothing. It just surprised him, that's all."

Haida looked down at her and smiled a little.

"Ever heard the term 'jerk a knot in your tail' ?"

"Yes."

"That's where it came from."

By now Jean was apologizing to his son and Ross was rubbing his sore behind as they walked into the kitchen, Ross searching for an icepack and Jean for the plate of fish and a bowl of vegetables.