Chapter 79 A family picture
Scarlet stayed in the kitchen, baking more oat meal bread with the rest of the oats in the bucket. When she was pulling the last loaf of bread out of the oven, Esong and Justin made a grand entrance, with Justin sitting on Esong's shoulders.
"Well this is a first."? she commented.
She had not seen father and son interacting intimately enough to have reached this point so quickly. Wasn't he the one that said something about boys not being coddled?
"What can I do you for?" she asked with a drawl in her voice, trying to sound like the people she had met on earth from places like Texas.
"Why are you talking like that?" Esong gave her a perplexed look.
"Never mind, I was just trying something. What are you two doing in the house anyway? Are you done playing in the fields?"
"I was not playing." Esong instantly replied.
"I was working mummy." Justin added.
Both of them held the similar defensive look on their faces while blinking continuously. She looked at father and then up at son and she sighed.
"Sorry, my bad, you two must be here because you heard about the bread, right?"
"Esong put Justin down and he widened his arms, "You can smell it all the way from everywhere mummy."
"I don't think it's everywhere baby." she said.? It was highly doubtful that the people at the rice paddies or those constructing the castle and other houses miles away could smell the bread.
"But I smelled it everywhere." Justin insisted.
"That's because you were close to the house. You just had breakfast an hour or so ago, are you still hungry?"
"All of my friends are hungry mummy, we sung to the plants and they are now as tall as my leg. He pulled put his foot forward to show her the height of some of the plants. Others have not grown tall though, they are just short and round, like a …." he thought about what he could compare with, "A pot, that pot in the movie." he said excitedly.
Esong could not understand half of what his son was saying but he could see that she was following the conversation properly. If it were him listening, he would have asked the boy to speak articulately.
"I think we need to open a school, you children cannot spend all your time playing around." she mumbled.
"We don't play mummy we work." Justin reminded her again.
The little boy was even looking at her as if she was dumb.
"Yes, you work so hard but children should not be working, they should be studying. Esong, you are going to have to find teachers that are willing to move to the blue star. We can negotiate about the salary when they arrive."
She sliced one loaf of bread that was still soft and warm and she carefully arranged the slices on different trays.
"I have someone working on it." he replied as his eyes followed the movement of her hand.
She spun around, pointing that table knife at him, "I hope it's not you know who." she reminded him.
He raised one of his eyebrows questioningly.
"You know, she whose name cannot be mentioned because I don't want the little one to develop negative feelings."
Who else could she be talking about besides his mother? The relationship between the two of them was like fire and ice.
"Understood." he answered.
"Great." she smiled.
A brand new glass jar of red jam appeared on the counter and she unsealed it. Then she applied jam to some of the bread slices and handed the tray to him.
"Take this to the tables where the children eat from, please." she added at the last second.
"Me too mummy I can carry." Justin raised his hand up.
Five trays of sliced bread with jam were taken to the tables and the children were called to eat some bread.? She thought about adding some milk as well but she did not want to waste what little she had so they were served plain tea to go with the bread.
She joined Esong and Justin at the table with her own cup of tea. The children were eating with smiles on their faces, a few of them she noticed were keeping away little pieces to probably share with their parents later.
"Kids, is the oat bread tasty?" she asked.
"Yes." their small voices replied.
"Thank you governor." more than one child said. She found it extremely adorable when the youngest two year old said, "Fank you." instead of thank you.
She was a tiny thing, with these big green eyes. Her skin which should have been smooth was rough and slightly yellow, probably as a result of lack of nutrition.
She carried the little girl up and said "Aww, you are so cute baby that I want to keep you. Where is your mummy?"
The little girl pointed in the direction of the women who were still cutting sugarcanes.
"Should I ask her if I can keep you?" she asked the little girl and tickled her a bit.
The girl giggled and rubbed her head against Scarlet's chest.
As she was laughing, Scarlet felt someone tugging at her skirt and she looked over to see Justin looking at her with a hurt look on his face.? His grey eyes had welled up with tears which he was about to burst into at any moment.
Scarlet put the little girl down, told her to go eat and she carried Justin on to her laps. "What's the matter baby?"
Justin hid his face in her neck , "You can't keep her, you are my mummy,? I am your baby."
Scarlet chuckled, "Is my baby jealous? I was not really going to keep her, she has her own mummy."
"I am your only baby." Justin mumbled.
"Yes, you are my only baby." she answered reassuringly.
After spending years desperate for his mother's love it was not shocking that now that he had it he had no interest in sharing it with anyone, probably not even his father.
"Come on, mummy will personally feed you, hmm." she coaxed him.
Just like that, the moment was over and the tears dried up. She personally pinched bread and fed Justin piece by piece. She also blew on his tea and fed it to him with a spoon as if she was feeding a one year old.
Esong snorted, leaned closer and took a picture of the three of them in this position. He sent it to his grandmother.
"Your grandson is so spoiled." he added.
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