Chapter Four
Descend
After six months working for Lennie I still didn’t trust him. Today was no exception.
‘What do you mean he’s sick?’
Mary tutted at me while I finished setting up the tables.
‘Honestly boy, you must have noticed how dreadful he looked yesterday.’
He looked fine to me. But he also looked thirty years younger.
‘People kept saying he looked pale.’ I said at last.
‘Exactly, so it’s up to you today. Now, I’ll mind the stall while you make the deliveries. The products are all ready in boxes; you just need to take them.’
I fought the urge to roll my eyes and grabbed the nearest box.
‘Not that one, do the home deliveries later. Use common sense boy, not everyone is up before the crack of dawn. Start with the hotel first, then the school, then the houses. And be quick about it, I have stuff to do myself.’
When reaching my goal, I had to put the box of groceries on the floor, open the hotel’s door and slide the box through. Only then did someone show up to help.
A skinny red-headed boy came through two open doors leading to an eating room. His smile never left his face.
‘Old Lennie sick then?’ he asked, bending and lifting the box with ease. His hair was even shorter than mine, close to his scalp, and his eyes were a deeper green.
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘do you work here?’
‘Work here? I run the kitchen here! Name’s Aaron, my dad owns this place.’ He managed to balance the box under one arm and hold out the other.
‘I’m Dimitri,’ I said, shaking his hand.
‘Yeah I know, Lennie never shuts up about you.’ He turned, heading back through the doors he’d come from. ‘You coming? Lennie usually helps me when we’re busy.’
I thought about Mary, waiting for me to come back to finish the deliveries.
‘Okay.’
There were twenty tables in the eating room; their edges were carved with the hotel name ‘The Firo Stop’ using beautifully sloping letters that curled around the corners. The end of the word continued on, forming the shape of a dragon.
My breath caught at the sight, a strange tugging in my gut making me faint-headed, vision blurring to see a glimpse of red.
‘Good, aren’t they?’ Aaron’s voice broke through suddenly behind me. I jumped, turning to face him. ‘Brand new those, you hear the customers admiring them all the time.’
‘Who made them?’
He scratched his cheek with a grimace.
‘Just some foreigner. Made them in return for his keep. Apparently he needs the money he earns for other purposes.’ I followed him into the kitchen, shaking off the remaining haze inside my head. ‘Do you cook?’
‘Only pasta.’
‘Pasta?’ Aaron scoffed, ‘Anyone can make pasta. I’ll show you how to cook proper stuff.’
The smell of frying bacon so early made me nauseous. Aaron was in charge of the eggs, and mushrooms, while I stared at the sizzling bacon, prodding it every so often. The stove was bigger than ours, but still had a live fire within, heating the top to cook on.
‘You have to make sure they don’t get too crispy. Only one customer likes them well done, the rest like it soft.’
‘Do you ask them?’
‘No, I can just tell.’
‘Aren’t you late for school?’ I asked.
‘This kitchen is my school,’ Aaron said, puffing out his chest. ‘I don’t need no books telling me about the world, just give me an order and you’ll have a meal within half an hour. I don’t get paid, but I get to keep my tips.’
His comfortable chattiness made me think of Iris.
‘Why don’t you go to school?’
‘I was home-schooled by my father. Working’s more important now.’
Aaron just nodded, grabbing the frying pan and dishing out the bacon. I blinked at the plate, noticing all the other food was ready.
‘Still want to help?’
I nodded, grabbing two plates.
‘Not them, they’re going to the far end, the hangover lot. You take this one.’ He shoved a plate in my left hand, ‘to table three, and this to table two. Don’t mix them up though.’
The eating room was occupied by all twelve guests. There was a group of three, three groups of twos and three people sat alone. Table two and three had only one person each on it, so I easily handed out the food.
‘Who are you?’ Table two asked, a well-built woman who had already taken a chunk out of her bacon before speaking. ‘I haven’t seen you before.’
‘I’m just helping out for the day.’ I smiled. Smiling earned you more tips, Aaron had said.
The woman smiled back and continued with her breakfast.
I wandered back into the kitchen, but Aaron was already there, carrying the last of the plates out.
‘Just stay in there and look attentive. Fill up drinks, that sort of thing.’
Table two asked for a coffee refill five minutes later. Thirty seconds after that she stood up.
‘Better head off to those stalls before the heat melts me.’ She winked, leaving two gane on the table. I gave her my best smile; the one Mum said would break hearts one day, and then had to explain this wasn’t as awful as it sounded.
‘Just like your father.’
My smile dropped; the woman was already gone. I moved to clean her table, pocketing the two gane.
It didn’t take long for tables to clear. Aaron went back into the kitchen to wash the plates.
‘You can head off now, only one table left and that guy likes to take his time. Thanks for the help, come back sometime, okay? Even if it’s just to hang out.’
I grinned, nodding.
Finally, I have a friend.
I walked back through the eating room, noticing the figure hunched over table eight had cleared his plate.
It can’t hurt to grab his plate for Aaron.
‘Excuse me, Sir, have you finished with your plate?’
He looked up, straight into my eyes.
His hair was gone, shaved off with a burn scar on the right side of his scalp. His face was haggard, his breath carrying the stench of ale. His yellow eyes, bloodshot, widened with recognition.
‘Dimitri?’ Father asked, his voice slurred, ‘Son, please-’
I shook my head, unable to breath. I was trying to run but I was so dizzy I stumbled into chairs; one sent me crashing into the floor. A painful jolt of pins and needles shot up my feet, I cried out in pain, unable to get away. My vision was blurred, but focused in that man’s direction. On whoever he had become now.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Aaron’s voice was distorted in my ears.
‘Dimitri, listen! I’m sorry about what I said. I’m sorry I hurt your mother.’
He was crouched down by my left side. I looked ahead, unseeing. My breathing had begun to calm, my vision clearing.
‘You see those tables? I carved them. I’ve always wanted to teach you. For your thirteenth birthday I was going to give you a knife and a block of wood, and every week I would make sure I got at least one hour with you, teaching you. I’ve been thinking a lot, Dimitri. Even if you can’t serve Ignatius directly you could help with my trading work.’
He grabbed my closest hand, clutching it in both of his. ‘Please, son,’ A sob escaped. ‘Please.’
I stared in horror, his broken body shaking with sobs. Terror seized me and I bolted to my feet.
‘Let go!’
My father would never cry.
‘Don’t touch me!’
One final tug and a wild kick released me.
The cool floor was a familiar comfort, its relentless surface the only constant thing I could rely on. The bed above sheltered me, but its soft covers never soothed my worries at night.
He’ll grow out of it. Mum had reassured Father. Instead it was the only cure for my panic attacks.
I breathed in deep, thinking of nothing.
‘Dimitri!’
Mary’s face changed from a scowl to a worried frown before I managed to get back round the stall. My hands mechanically picked up the school’s supplies.
‘Dimitri!’
‘You look pale yourself, boy. You must have caught Lennie’s illness. Leave that and go on home, I’ll look after things today.’
I nodded and put the box down, my whole body numb as I walked home.
‘Dimitri Leav!’
No one else was home; Mum at work, nursing someone else’s baby. Annie at school, already smarter than I’ll ever be.
The only comfort was my space, the one place people asked permission to enter, and where he would never deem fit to come.
My bedroom door banged open. I jumped, knocking my head against the bed.
‘Damnit!’
‘No cursing.’ Came Mum’s instant response. I heard her footsteps move closer. ‘I didn’t even realise you were home. What happened?’
She bent down beside the bed, I turned to face away.
‘Nothing.’
She sighed, and then stood again.
‘Okay, you don’t need to tell me.’ I heard her turn back to the door. ‘Oh, that’s right. Your friend Aaron is here.’
‘Wha-?’ I knocked my head against the bed again, wincing.
‘Hello under there.’ Aaron’s cheerful voice spoke from the doorway. My face felt like it was on fire.
Oh Arŕ Wel, an older boy knows I hide under the bed!
‘You certainly made my day more interesting, Dint!”
‘Dint?’ I asked, pushing myself from under the bed. I kept my gaze away from his while he peered down at my burning face.
‘Yeah, when you knocked the chairs one hit a table and dinted it. So I decided your name should be Dint.’
‘Oh, sorry.’
‘Don’t be, gives the table a unique edge.’ Aaron grinned. He met my eyes and the smile fell away, replaced with worry. ‘Are you alright? For a moment I thought you were having a heart attack.’
I flinched. ‘I’m fine. Is-is that why you came? Please don’t worry about me. I-’ I stopped, taking a deep breath.
Don’t think about it.
Aaron’s worry lines deepened, but he didn’t question me.
‘Well…I wanted to say sorry about not telling you your dad was there. I just thought it was better you didn’t see him that way. He’s gone downhill a bit.’
I snorted at that, a hysterical giggle escaping me. Once released, it wouldn’t stop. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe and rolled onto my stomach. My hands went to my face, and came back wet.
‘I don’t know what to do.’ I choked out.
Aaron moved from the bed to sit beside me, waiting for me to calm.
‘Do you want my opinion?’
A weak heave was my answer.
‘Your dad did a terrible thing, and that’s not easily forgiven. But I’ve seen him slowly killing himself for six months. He ain’t the best man, but he is a good man. Whether that will make him behave better I don’t know. So I can’t tell you to forgive him, but I can’t bring myself to say not to either.’ He gave a weak laugh and scratched his head. ‘Sorry. I guess I don’t know what to do either.’
I thought about it, my body recovering from dry sobs. I felt my lips lift, an amused ‘tsk’ escaping.
‘Aaron?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Promise you’ll always be straight with me, no matter what.’
‘Sure, I always am.’ He stretched out his arm towards me. I blinked and put my palm out, feeling money drop into it. ‘From your dad.’
I stared down at the twelve flites, and decided.
‘I see.’ Mum said, staring at the twelve flites on the table. ‘He’s really sorry.’
Her deadpan voice scared me.
‘I-I was going to talk to him tomorrow, but if you don’t want me to-’
She stared out the window and didn’t answer. I looked over at Annie, playing with her evening meal. Her eyes shone with tears.
No help there.
‘Mum?’
‘I can’t, sweetie,’ she said, still staring outside. ‘You can go if you want, but I can’t face him.’
She turned and disappeared into her room. I groaned, clutching my hair in my hands.
‘Why do I need to do everything?’
‘Dimi?’ Annie’s little voice quivered.
I swallowed my rising anger and smiled at her.
‘Don’t worry; I’m going to fix this, Annie.’ You’ll see.’
Scribbled Thoughts 