5 The Potato Dialogue

"You don't have a lot of friends do you?" Melvin said while reaching out towards the bucket of potatoes beside him.

"Excuse me? I am a high cleric of the church and I-"

"Exactly." Melvin interrupted Charles' proud voice. "You were going to tell me next about how you're so cool and you don't need friends right?"

Charles didn't give him an answer. He just lowered his head to look at his calloused hands before he gazed upon the pale patch of grass beyond them. They didn't talk much after they left the store and to him, they continued to walk indefinitely until they found an old run-down hut sitting in the middle of a garden that looked too sick to be called beautiful. Its roof that was made of wood was losing a few pieces but nevertheless, it looked like it could still do its job pretty well. Its walls, on the other hand, were cold and thin, so much so that he could hear Roland and his mom arguing.

"Well, might as well peel your share if you ain't gonna do something." Melvin gave him another knife and Charles received it while still looking down. "How old are you by the way?"

"Twenty-three." Charles sighed before he picked up a potato from the bucket.

"Ooh, I guess I'm still old enough to be your daddy huh?"

"Don't," Charles whispered as he looked away.

"What, is your mom single?"

He closed his eyes and opened it after a second. "I don't care about either of them."

Both of them fell silent but after a moment, Melvin moved towards him to pat his head. Charles widened his eyes as soon as he saw him and he felt a wave of fear that rocked him to his core. He then pushed it away and while gritting his teeth, he took a sharp breath and he used the knife that he gave him to nail his hand on the wall.

The voices inside the house stopped talking and so did Charles. The rush that he felt was soon swallowed up by this sense of dread to the point that his body stiffened. He didn't want to raise his head but he knew that he had to. He prepared himself to the things that he might see but to his surprise, when he looked at him, Melvin still gave him that warm cocky smile as if nothing happened.

"Aren't you hurt?" Charles asked with his voice shaking.

"Of course," Melvin replied with a bitter smile. He took a deep breath through his nose followed, "It's a freaking knife, thank you for asking."

Charles took out the knife from his hand and Melvin pulled his hands away from him. He took a moment to clench his hand but after that, he stood up and drained the water from the bucket without a word. Charles continued to watch him dry it off with a piece of cloth until he drenched it with oil and seasoned it with salt over a metal tray before he shoved it into what looked like a make-shift oven. They shared a few seconds of silence until they heard Roland's mom screaming,

"Why don't you believe me? I know him! I believe in him! I know that Harold would come back to us one day!"

"Who the fuck is Harold?" Roland shouted.

"He's your dad, you idiot!"

"Dad's name is Reginald mom, Reginald!"

Charles looked at his side once more and when he saw Melvin smiling, both of them laughed.

"Man, this sure brings a lot of memories when this kid and I first met."

"Hmm?" Charles raised his brow as he looked at him and he soon noticed that the wound on his hand was already gone.

"It's a one cold winter day when I just had escaped from prison…"

"You what?" He shouted.

"Oh, I was convicted for thievery, assault, attempted murder and a few sexual harassments here and there so-"

"I don't feel so good about you being an escaped convict."

"Naaaah, don't worry about it too much kid, It's fine and I've been good for these past years."

"Again, I-"

"Anyway, I was hungry and thirsty and I wanted to like grab and sink my teeth into one of those butts. You know what I'm saying?"

"No."

"So I was like, left lying there with the people passing by me and out of nowhere, that kid approached me."

"Did you hear what I just-"

"So, like a braindead idiot, I immediately asked if I could stay in his house and you know what he did? He looked at me in the eye, he gave me this uncomfortable gaze as if he was looking at the ground beneath me and after that, he showed me this purest smile and he said yes."

Charles clicked his tongue.

Seeing that, Melvin smiled and asked, "Yeah, you wanna know what my first thought was?"

"What?"

"The first thought that entered my mind was, wow, this kid is a fucking idiot!"

"Exactly!" Charles said and both of them laughed. "Letting a big man into his house! What a dumbass!"

"Granted, I did want to rob their house but when I got there, I realized that this dude has it worse. There was a woman there too, which turned out to be his mom that tried to invite me to join over a cult of the sun or whatever, thinking that I was a friend that he brought over. I tried harassing her too you know, and she even offered her body to me given that I'd join…" Melvin scratched the back of his neck to breathe. "Well, it turned out to be a huge turn off to the point that I wanted to burn their house instead but, when that kid returned with his hands all red from the cold, I couldn't help but look on what he had brought to me. It was a piece of a rotten potato that he probably dug up somewhere. I was like, who does that?!"

"Man this is gold!"

"Really, what kind of idiot would plant anything during winter!" Melvin shouted.

"You should commend him though." Charles continued to laugh. "He felt that you were worthy of that rotten potato. He might've been trying his best to grow food for his family!"

"Aye, but the point of this story is not to make fun of him." Melvin's voice then took a serious turn despite him still smiling. "The point is that this kid is dumber than a rock but his heart seems to be bigger than his brain. He told me that you were a cool guy. I had my doubts too because, I mean, you look like an arrogant bitch but after talking with you. It feels really good to know that he had met someone that could understand him. I'm glad and I guess, you really are cool…"

"I was wondering where this is going to but damn, I guess old guys really do talk too much huh?" Charles looked away to hide his face. "But thanks… Mister Melvin?"

"You can call me Daddy."

"Geez! Stop making it a weird man!"

"Hey I'm not the one making it weird, It's you!"

Roland then opened the door from his house. His left cheek was red and his eyes were swollen. He looked at both of them with a smile and asked, "What's up?"

"Oh, he and I were talking"

"And nothing else!" Charles followed.

"Naaah, this boy was just about to call me daddy but you had to come out, but what happened to you?"

"Oh, my mom gave me dad's ring along with a slap and she told me that I'm gonna need it for an upcoming battle."

"Oh, I'm really gonna miss her!" Melvin exclaimed with an enthusiastic tone.

"What?" Charles looked at Roland and he soon turned his head to Melvin, saying, "You motherfucker, you're coming?"

"Of course I am, also, I'm not gonna deny that…" Melvin and Roland leered at each other before he turned his head to Charles saying, "You're feeling happy aren't you?"

"What, are you guys ready?" Roland asked after clearing his throat.

"The baked potatoes are gonna be ready in a few minutes or so, and if you're asking, I'm ready when you are!" Melvin replied.

"Wait, you're making baked potatoes?" Charles asked and when Melvin replied with a nod, he took a moment of silence to breathe before ranting, "You weren't supposed to peel them you idiot!"