Chapter 3: Breakfast Table Chatter
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"I'll never be able to say the words 'I'm tired' again."
Pearl stopped sucking on her coffee spoon and her eyes traveled to look
at Bethanie. They widened a bit and her brows came together.
"And why is that?" She asked slowly.
Bethanie flipped her short, platinum blond hair out of her deep blue eyes. "Because in Sunday school yesterday we were learning about the Israelites because we are studying Exodus, and this week we learned about all their complaining. Kirsten gave us the example of how we complain a lot and one example was of how we use complaining to start a conversation."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know, like when you sit down at the lunch table at school or when you meet up with friends or whatever the first thing you say is 'I'm tired' to have something to talk about." Bethanie explained.
Pearl nodded.
It made sense, to a degree. Over the year that she and Bethanie had spent together at the mansion she'd learned to understand most of her reasoning. However, 99 percent of the time though she found it better to just nod and smile until she had time to sort out her friends thought provoking words.
"So, did you see that new guy Darron brought in last night?" She asked changing the subject to a shallower topic.
"No, I was in bed, asleep I think." Bethanie said. "What were you doing up?"
"Josh had another nightmare, real bad one I think. Found him on the floor of his bed room." Pearl stood and stretched, her back arched lick a cat's Bethanie flinched at the popping noises.
"Same dream?"
"Yeah, but this time I think it was longer." Pearl shook her head. "There's so much..."
Bethanie waited for Pearl to finish, but she didn't. Her coffee brown eyes stared off for a moment as if she'd gotten lost in some world the Bethanie did not see. Finally, she got uncomfortable being left out of Pearl's world so she changed the subject.
"So anyway this guy..."
"Oh yeah, real hot guy with a New York accent. Great long brown hair, you know-surfer cut- big brown eyes. Call's 'imself Jack."
"Was he nice?"
"Hard to tell, he seemed pretty tired. Kinda cocky, I liked him."
The door to the kitchen whined as it opened and Darron walked in. "Good morning girls." He jabbed the button on the toaster and two burnt pieces of toast popped up. He looked at Pearl, eyes rolled a bit.
"So D. what's the scoop on the new guy?" Pearl asked, ignoring his glare.
"Pearl, I would appreciate you calling me by my real name," Darron said.
"Ok, Darrold-"
"Darron, is enough thank you."
"Darron, what's the scoop on the new guy?"
"Thank you. Jack Davidson. I met him on the may back from a meeting with David and the rest of the New Council. He was lying on a bus stop bench-"
"So out of the goodness of your heart you decided to take him in?" Pearl asked. "My dear Darron isn't that a bit impetuous of you?"
"Well my dear Pearl, it was brought to my attention that he is...slightly important to our current situation," Darron explained. He tossed the burnt toast in the trash and walked over to the coffee maker.
"What's his power?" Bethanie asked standing up. She threw her paper plate away.
"Oh, get this, he doesn't have a power, he's human," Pearl smiled. She twirled her spoon in the air and caught it by the handle.
"I don't understand, how's he useful to our situation?" Bethanie asked sitting back down.
"I didn't say useful, I said important, and at the moment I can't explain. But, it will make sense later." Darron sat down at the table and stirred his coffee. Steam curved around the spoon and dissipated into the air. His nose disappeared as he swallowed a mouthful.
The door inched open again as Charlie's cane pushed ahead of him in to the room. "So Pearl burned your toast again eh Darron?"
"You know, why couldn't you have had any other power? Any power in the
world besides ultra sensitive hearing, huh?" Pearl asked.
"Because I'm blind. Even regular people who are blind can hear better then most people. Besides, my sense of smell played a part in this inference too."
"Ha, ha, ha. You know, if we didn't have to be so low profile the government would pay you a lot of money to spy on like Sadaam Hussein, and stuff," Pearl said.
Charlie felt for the bread in the cabinet just as Josh crawled in. His eyes squinted in the light and his normally scruffy hair looked like an uncut lawn. He crashed down into one of the wicker chairs and slumped his head on his folded arms.
Pearl patted his chicken feather blond hair. "You awake Josh honey?"
"Gmmmph awmmmph," came the muffled response.
"What, didn't catch that?" Darron laughed.
"He said 'go away'," Charlie said. "More nightmares Josh?"
"Who knew Josh would ever need a translator?" Pearl asked messing up Charlie's brown hair.
"Hey, don't make fun of me, I'll beat you with my cane." He tapped the stick on the floor. The two pieces of toast descended into their sauna.
Bethanie put an arm around Josh's shoulders. "Poor Josh, did you lose much sleep?"
"Ymmph."
"Josh, English please," Pearl said.
"Charlie?" Bethanie asked.
"He said 'yes'."
Josh lifted his head. "I need Sigmund Freud." Red branches reached to the brown center of his green eyes. He looked pathetic.
"Why don't you just ask Darron about your dreams?" Pearl asked looking at Darron with a smile.
Darron nearly choked on his coffee. "I read minds, I don't interpret dreams Pearl," he replied wiping the brown drops from the table surface.
"I'll bet you can interpret this one," Pearl sang.
"No interpretation, no more dreams," Josh mumbled.
A grumbling sound made them turn to the corner. "Jack," Darron said.
Bethanie gasped and Pearl tried to conceal a harsh laugh. Josh looked up and Charlie smiled. From the time he walked in he could hear the soft breathing.
The young man in the corner pushed up off the floor. Red indentions criss-crossed all over the side of his face. "Wow, is it morning already?"
"Yes, now what are you doing in here, asleep?" Darron asked.
"I came down to get a drink and...I guess uh...uh... I got tired."
"Well it was about three in the morning," Charlie said. He grabbed the jelly jar from the fridge.
"How'd you know?" Jack asked.
"I have super hearing, kinda boring I know but it comes in handy at times."
Jack sat down in a chair and rubbed the side of his face. "Hey, that's not boring. You could spy on people right, find out all sorts of secrets and not even have to leave your room."
"I'm Charlie." He stuck out his hand and Jack shook it.
"Oh yeah? Well, I'm Jack."
"Jack, would you like some breakfast?" Bethanie asked. Her pink lips parted to reveal tiny, beautiful teeth.
The side of Jack's mouth turned up in a cocky grin. "Sure." He raised up from his seat a bit but Bethanie waved her hand.
"No, no I'll get it, what would you like?"
Pearl rolled her eyes. He's good and she's a moron, she thought.
"That's real nice of you, uh, what's your name?"
"Bethanie," she said again smoothing the wrinkles in her blue dress
shirt.
"Alright Bethanie, what d' ya have here?"
"Well." She stood and opened the cabinets one by one, each accompanied by it's own unique whine or groan. "We have cereal, and pop tarts, and toast..." She walked over to the refrigerator. "...eggs and fruit. What would you like?"
"Aw, cereal sounds good," he replied.
"Great, and how do Lucky Charms sound?" Bethanie laughed, those white teeth shining.
"Perfect."
Is he talking about the food, or Bethanie? Pearl wondered. "So Jack, what were you doin' on a park bench?" She asked.
"I like th' view," Jack said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. It mumbled with every movement.
"Where are your parents?"
"House hunting," he replied.
Sure.
"Why aren't you with them?"
"Pearl!" Darron said. His strange blue black eyes warned Pearl to curb her curiosity.
"You'll have to excuse her, she's just curious."
"I was thinkin' more along the lines of nosey," Jack said.
Two dark brown eyes stared at him for a moment, the lids close together. Small clouds grew in them predicting a tsunami. Then Pearl laughed. "I'm going to ignore that comment." She stood, grabbed her skateboard, and flung her messenger bag over her shoulder. "By guys, see y'all at school."
The door bounced as she walked out. Bethanie slid the bowl of Lucky Charms in front of Jack. "Enjoy," she said, picking up her backpack as well. "Oh, and do be careful about what you say to Pearl, she's played some nasty tricks before on people who bug her."
"Amen," Charlie said following Bethanie out the door. "See ya."
Darron looked at Jack. "Don't let Pearl worry you," he said. "She'll probably be the one you become quickest friends with. And she treats all new people like that."
"Yeah, Pearl's a nut case," Josh said sitting up for the first time. "I'm sorry I'm just a little unconscious at the moment, but I'm Josh, and...I have to go to school too, so I'll see you later."
Jack stared at his colorful bowl of cereal, and as the milk soaked into the shapes he wondered if this decision would prove good or bad.
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Thanks for reviewing, but please read the very IMPORTANT author's note below before closing this.
Author's Note: Alrighty, well this story is in some ways linked to my editor, Sharli's story Wolf at Midnight 3:The Offspring. There are some things you may not understand unless you read her story as well. She deals with more of the romance and relationship aspect of the characters. I deal more with the plot and symbolism. I can't force you to read it, but I STRONGLY suggest it. You don't have to read her other stories to understand Wolf at Midnight 3 because the main characters are different. It may not seem like they are connected right now, but give it a few more chapters. Things will start to interweave.
Thanks.
Courtney.