8

The following day, Jack did not bother to go and visit his 'friends', he was just too upset about was had happened the day before, so he went home straight after school was done, like every good boy should, greeted his mother but could not bare to look her in the eyes, for a great guilt filled his heart, kept his head down and went to his room, threw his bag down and himself on the bed.

'My God, why did I have to be born in a time like this, why did I have to be the person with their heart on their sleeve, why do I crave justice so much, why do I only wish to serve my female counter part, why must it be me who can feel their pain?'

He rolled himself over and started at the ceiling as if he expected the answer to fall through it.

'Come on, how can I get rid of this feeling, how can I make my mother truly happy, how can I make her smile for real?, how can I satisfy her curiosity for the world and her hunger for knowledge, she is too old to go to school.', he quickly grabbed his pillow and puts it on his face, to soften the words coming out of his mouth, 'I better watch my mouth, who know what she will do if heard me speak those words, in her case ungodly, satanic words, but seriously speaking now, how can I help her, cannot ask my own father, he has been married to her for years and still could not notice that his wife was unhappy all this time, pathetic, wait a minute one gains knowledge from books right, so if I by her books she will surely be happy once again, but I do not have money for all that, maybe I should ask sir C.J for a little loan, NO, let us not do that, who know in what and strange ways I will have to repay him, I think it is time for me to go and find myself a job, manual labour was never for me but as a new young adult in training, thanks to adolescence, I must do want a handsome gentlemen like myself has to do for his dear mother, I guess, I shall start quest for work tomorrow since it is Saturday.'

He soon fell asleep mumbling all the cool things he was going to say to his employer, during his interviews.

The next morning, he woke up all refreshed ad ready to being the daunting task of finding a job.

'Mother!, Mother!.', he shouted as if he was some kind of king.

'Yes!, what is it!', she said marching to his room, taking a power stance in the door way.

'Oh, mother…mother, you know, I fear for my sight.'

His mother walked into the room and kneeled beside is bed, taking his hand into hers, then then gently kissing the top of it.

'Why, my beloved son, why so?'

'Because, you are the most fairest woman of all, I fear that if I gaze upon you for too long that my eyes will jump out of my skull and follow you around for eternity.'

'Okay, that is just stupid, you ruined it, the scene is over.'

'Yes, it sounded a lot better in my head, sorry.'

'It is alright, anyway, what is it that you wanted from me?'

'Oh, yes, I wish to know the time of day?'

'10.30'

'10.30, huh'

'Is that all?'

'Yes, you are dismissed, back to your station now, we do not want anyone else in the palace thinking that I am playing favourites do we?'

'No, my king, I shall take your leave, breakfast will be ready in a bit.'

'I shall be there soon.'

His mother nodded then left the room, as for him, he hopped out of his bed and walked over to his cupboard took out his best Sunday suit, put it on and started strutting around with his stomach in and chest out, his head filled with a false fantasy of how people will be falling over their feet wanting to employ him, in the mist of his fantasy he realised that he could not leave the house wearing his best clothes, his mother will surely forbid him to go out Sunday best and he cannot jump out of the window and just leave this will surely stir up a panic in his house, which could result in a man hunt, so he came up with the brilliant plan of changing back into his clothes, go have his breakfast and then change back into his clothes, write a letter saying that he was going to the library and then jump out the window and begin his quest for a job, and that is exactly what he did, his mother suspected nothing while he was having his breakfast, he put on his clothes and made his way to town.

After three hours of searching, going from place to place, hoping that it would be the one, never happened, on the verge of throwing in the towel and calling it a day, someone started calling him from behind, it was deep and scary, he quickly searched his pockets to see if he had not accidently stolen anything, luckily he found nothing, soon the man was behind him.

'You pale boy, word on the street is that you are looking for a Job?'

Jack nervously turn around answered, 'Yes I am.'

'Great, are you still in school?'

'Yes.'

'Good, school is important, do you want a job?'

'Yes'

'Show up on Monday, after school, at Olive's bakery, I have a job for you, are you in'

'Yes, sir'

'Alright, myself, Waldo, you?'

'Jack Petersen.'

'Good'

Jack not wanting to rejoice just yet, he watched the bear like man walk to his store, everyone instinctively moving out of his way as he approached them.

'Huh, I got a job, I got a job, I got a joooooooob!, you woman in the red dress, do you wish to marry me?'

The women looked around to see if he was not talking to someone else, then she answered, 'No, I am already married, sorry.', then she hurried away.

'Well, I am feel sorry for you because I got a job, your loss! , I need to go rub this in Elizabeth's face'

He then did a jump twirl as if he was some kind of figure skater, he in a cross legged stance with his right in the air and his left bent behind his back.

'Now that thy have found a Job, thy shall bless thee dear mother with all the worldly knowledge, that she desires, in the form of written texts.'

He then brought his right hand it down gracefully on to his face, slowly running his middle finger down from the middle of his forehead to the tip of his nose bending back slightly, then turned his attention to the pigeon next to him, 'Feast your eyes on a God like talent and features you lice invested feathered fiend, for even though you soar in the great blue sky, you shall only behold someone like me once in your insignificant live, now fly off and go tell your mongrel friends about the majesty you have witnessed today, be gone you disease carrying swine!.'

He clapped his hands loudly together in order to scare it off but it did not budge, instead it started to walk towards him.

'Alright now, there is no reason to get all aggro, I will leave instead, not because I am slightly terrified of you but because I have some news to tell my friends.'

He fixed himself up and walked way of in a brisk pace, he looked over his shoulder one last time to see if the bird flew away but it did not, it was still staring at, its beady little eyes fixed on him more intensively now.

'No man, why does these birds want to kill me now, I am against animal abuse, why is my life like this?'

When he arrived at their usual meeting ground he found Elizabeth and sir C.J playing cards, she was wearing a dark green dress with gold embroidery around the edges of her wrist, her hair was lose, which rose up gracefully every time there was a gust of wind carrying a floral sent with it, compelling Jack to indulge in its sweet rosy aroma, resulting in a warm smile appearing on his face, then settling gently down on her back, like an expensive royal blanket.

'No, Jack what is wrong with you, Focus.'

'Uhm, Jackie boy, are you alright, you are standing there with a smiling at Elizabeth as if you were some kind of sexual predator eyeing his next victim.'

'No, I was not smiling, my face was just starting to cramp up, anyway, I have some news.'

'You are dying, can I have you body to use as a research subject, I always wanted to be a doctor, you hear that mother!, A DOCTOR!, anyway my sincere condolences to your family but let's look on the bright side, now they will have one less mouth to feed.'

'Sir C.J!', Elizabeth shouted and threw the remaining cards in her hand at him, 'Please continue Jack, we would really like to hear what you want to say, and just would and just ignore any interruptions or comment made by the peanut gallery.'

'Amazing Elizabeth, your aunt is doing a good job at turning you into a proper young lady.'

'I think she is turning her into something she is not and stealing her away.' Jack snapped suddenly.

'My, my, I am smelling jealousy in the air, with a hint of negativity and toxicity, I suggest you unfriend this man with immediate effect, these are the people that just want to keep you in one place your entire life.'

But she just ignored him at turn her attention towards Jack, 'The good news Mr Peterson?'

'Yes, I got a job.'

There was silence for a while as they were trying to process the news, then Elizabeth got up in a sudden burst of energy, grabbed him by the shoulders and looked straight into his eyes

'What about school, do not leave Jack, out of all the people in this town, I believe that you are most likely to become something great.'

'Relax Elizabeth, I will only be working three days a week, that too after school.'

'Thank goodness.' Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, however Sir C.J started to laugh.

'What is so amusing.' asked Jack bearing an expression of disgust on his face.

'Nothing, I was just thinking, this employer must have been pretty desperate to hire someone like you but I must congratulate you on your first job, we are proud of you.'

Elizabeth nodded in agreement

'So where are you working?'

'Do not tell him, he might show up there and do something insane and ruin your chances of ever getting a job again.'

'I cannot tell you, mainly you.'

'Is it a safe job?'

'Yes Elizabeth it is, might be the safest there is.'

'Alright, then I am happy for you.'

'But I am not, I still do not know where he works, and I thought we were best friends.'

'We are friends?'

'Real mature Jack and to think that I was going to help you to elope and use one of my beach bungalow as a hide out until you both get on your feet.'

'WE ARE NOT GOING TO ELOPE!' Jack shouted

'Sir C.J can I have your gun, so I can blow my brains out.'

'Of course you can Elizabeth.' He unbuttoned his blazer and stuck his hand in one of the pockets.

'Wait, wait a minute, something just happened here, are you insinuating that you would rather blow your brains out then to marry Jackie boy over here, huh?'

Elizabeth looked around nervously, then swallowed hard before she answered, 'It is not like that.'

'Ouch!, dear Jackie boy, it seems like your luck with the ladies is as pale as your skin.'

'Who cares!, she can do whatever she wants.', Jack snapped, turned around, kick the tree, realised that it was not the wisest thing to do, infuriating him more, then decide to storm off home.

'DO YOU LIKE RUBBING SALT ON OTHERS WOUNDS!.', Elizabeth snapped at C.J

'Sorry, habit of self- entertainment '

When he arrived, Jack was rumbling like a constipated thunder cloud, walked past his mother who was pointing to his dinner but he heard nothing, it was if he was trapped in his world, walked to his room, shut the door, flag his ties out the window and sat in the corner knees up to his chest facing the wall.

'I do not need her, she thinks that she is all that now since she is going to London, huh, she can stay there for all I care, why do I care?, yes that is right why do I care, Why do I care, WHY DO I CARE!', he then started to laugh hysterically

At that moment his mother entered the room, 'Jack is everything alright?'

He stood up and walked over his mother took her hands put them together and brought them on his forehead and spoke in a soft voice, 'Mother, why do I care?'

His mother looked at him perplexed, not knowing what to say simply repeated the question, 'Why do you care Jack?'

He dropped his mother's hands, slid back and swung his arms out wide and took a curtsy bow, pinching his thumb and index finger together as if he was holding the ends of a skirt.

'You most wise mother, if you do not mind, please, I need some time alone.'

He then jumped up and landed in a military stance, feet together arms by his side, then he slowly raised right hand to his face and started rolling an imaginary mustache, 'Quick, Quick, now, Pip, pip, Woof, woof.'

'Okay' she smiled and quickly backed up and closed the door.

Early Monday morning Jack arose from his slobber drenched pillow and prepared for the day, by taking out his clothes for work, 'I wonder what should I wear, my new clothes or my old ones, if I wear my new clothes, it might seem that I am too eager to impress my boss and give off the misconception that I am an ass kisser but if I wear old clothes it might give off the misconception that I do not care for the job and that I am a lazy slob, so lazy that he did not make the effort to at least make a good impression on his first day.', Jack pace back and forth for a while perplex with his self-created scenario, until he came with the most brilliant answer for him of course, 'I will wear a new shirt and an old pants, yes, it is it, you are amazing.', and quickly packed these into his school bag, just then his mother opened the door to wake him up.

'Jack it is ti…., Oh, you are already up, this is a surprise, I just hope that it does not rain today, from this miracle that occurred because I have a lot of laundry to do today, come now get dress and help your mother to prepare some breakfast.'

'Why can these people not prepare their own breakfast, they obviously not children anymore (obviously referring to his father), it just get me so angry.'

'Now, now, do not get so worked up early in the morning, do you want to be grey before the age of twenty?'

'That can happen?'

'Yes, sure it can, if you start every morning like this.'

'Fine'

His mother rubbed his head and left the room, leaving the boy smiling.

'Breakfast is done!, come and get it, do we have to serve them in bed too mother?'

'There is no need for that Jack, what is wrong with you today, why are you so irritated, oh I get it this is that time of your life where things start changing and you feel all confused.'

'No mother, please just stop.'

'It is perfectly natural…'

'No, it is just that, I hate how these people in this house are, their self-piety is just making me more and more angry to the point of resentment, I am going to go to school now.'

'But you did not even have breakfast yet.'

He grabbed a slice of bread and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth, then washed it down with a glass of milk, slammed the glass down on the table, 'Done!', stuck his tongue out at her and waited for her nod of confirmation.

He went to his room gathered all his necessities which was required to complete his school day and marched to the door.

'Mother I am leaving now, who knows if I will return from today's grammar lesson alive, for there has been casualties before me, so I would like to say, I love you mother and I will wait for you once I am in heaven, live your best life and stay happy.'

'I love you too, my son, good luck.'

He turn around, took a deep breath and made his way to school.

When he arrived at school, he was surprised, his right arm was seized by and unknown individual at the moment.

'Gotcha', the mysterious character said.

Not knowing what kind of assassin he is dealing with or what kind of special abilities or skill set they might possess, he summed up whatever limited self-defense techniques he knew and opt for the most logical and safest option he could think of, 'Look a puppy!', he said and pointed at the sky, he turned his head slowly to see if his contracted killer fell for his Master class self-defense illusion,.

'Susan, you?'

The fear of certain illogical death subsided, so did the argue to pee too, and replaced with warmth, comfort and security that he will live another day.

'Yes, who else?'

Her green eyes sparkled more beautifully then before, as if an angel had taken all the stars out of sky and placed them in her eyes.

'Nnnoo, no one.', He suddenly found himself stammering.

'I am alone today, so I thought I might catch you before you disappear.'

Then she put her head on his arm, the moment her head touched his arm, his heart started racing immediately, but suddenly started to reduce in speed, when a sweet tantalizing aroma entered his nostrils, a candy floss aroma resonated from her, which reminded him of his favourite candy store ( there was only one, just wanted to throw that out there.), Enchanted by the sweet intoxicating candy like aroma which rendered his mind helpless and compelled his body to act on its own, he stopped dead in his tracks, turn to face her, took her head a pressed it against his chest, put his nose on the top of her head and inhaled deeply , indulging all his senses in the effort to transport him back to the candy store.

'Aaa, Mr Jack Peterson, what are you doing?'

'Indulging in your sweet smell.'

The spell was soon broken by a sharp pinching pain. , 'Ouch, what was that for?'

'What are you doing?'

'What was I doing?'

'Say now a teacher saw us?'

'Why is Julia not here today?'

'Let us continue forth and I will tell you then.'

'Fine.'

He stretched out his right arm to and she slight her arm under his and continued.

'Julia has…, is sick.'

'O, I hope that it is nothing serious.', 'please be.'

'No, it is just a light fever.'

'I hope she gets well soon.', 'I hope you die, DIE!, DIE! , DIE!'

'I knew you two cared for each other.'

'No we don't', 'Of course we do, know it might seem like we despise each other but in all honesty, we have a lot of respect for each other but deep down deep inside, we both realise each other's strengths and weaknesses and as the old saying goes like forces repel.'

'I do not think that is a saying but an actual science fact, I think that is beautiful what you just said, right here we are, class room number fourteen, today is going to be intense, I wonder how many casualties will come from today's dreaded grammar lesson.'

'Time to enter the dragon's den may God be with us.'

'Amen to that.'

Nearing the end of their two hours hell, which they were forced to endure, thanks to the educational system, Mrs Taylor told them to put away their books and get ready to go out for recess, she got up from her desk, which caused the whole class to flinch in terror and went to open the class room door, the outside seemed like paradise, the clear blue skies, the lushes green grass and the light breeze blowing across it creating an oceanic effect, the outside looked so beautiful it caused some students to tear up, as if they were about to see a long lost relative, then the moment they have all been waiting for the bell finally rang and everyone was looking at Mrs Taylor attentively, like obedient dogs awaiting their Master's order.

'You may go.'

This sounded too good to be true, to some of the students as they got up and sat down again.

'GO!'

This time they did not need a third confirmation, as they bolted out of the class room, shoving each other out of the way as if a natural disaster has just occurred, Jumping in the air as soon as they reached outside like they just graduated from M.I.T or Oxford, screaming 'WE MADE IT!', some fell to their knees in prayer, thanking God for sparing them for those horrendous two hours, some threw themselves on the ground and started sobbing heavily, tears flowing done their cheeks, snot bubbles forming and popping, some ran to their friends in the other class rooms and embraced them strongly as if they just returned from a great war.

As for Jack and Susan these two held hands and ran to their chill spot, when they reached Susan grabbed his other hand and started to skip around him, inevitably Jack started to join as well, chanting like a little school girl too.

'WE SURVIVED! , WE SURVIVED!'

As they were chanting, they caught each other's eyes, a cold chill shot down Jacks spine, the chanting fade away and their pace, came to a standstill, they stood still and gazed into each other's eyes, a mischievous grin grew on Susan's face and she started stroking her left foot with her right, his heart started racing, then she took a few steps closer, with each step her grip on her hands grew tighter and his heart started to pound faster and faster, burning an insane amount of calories, she was so close now that both there chest were touching, she raise herself on to her tippy toes, to bring her closer to his lips, he could feel her hot breath on his lips, he closed his eyes took a deep breath after all this is a very important moment in any young adolescent's life, he brought his lips together, pouting like a fish out of water and leaned forward, plunging in to uncertainty and darkness, grabbing the slings and arrows of fate, leaving all his hopes of a safe journey in the hands of his guardian angel, to guide him into the heaven which awaits a few millimeters away, just as his lips were about to touch her, she bit her bottom lip and pulled away, loosening the grip on his hands and taking a few steps back.

'We made it Mr Baitmen!'

Jack turn to see who she could be talking to, a few steps away them , he saw a short, stubby man, with spectacles and a grown man hair cut standing outside his class room, looking at Jack intensively, ( basically giving him the stink eye)

'I had no doubt, you are a star pupil.' The man said cheerfully, 'But I am concerned about who you are spending your time with, he seems at little strange.'

Mr Baitman, turned around and carried on walking back to his classroom, entered then reversed out quickly, looked at Jack, repositioned his glasses with his middle finger, as if he was sending a hidden message of warning, then entered once again.

'Phew, that was close.' Susan said running her forearm across her forehead.

Jack was still dumb struck, obviously still caught in the moment.

'Jack, Jack!, Hello!'

'What?'

'I said that was close.'

'Mhmm'

'But exciting right?', She bit her bottom lip again, awaiting his answer earnestly.

He had never seen her like this before, she usually presented herself as an upright and responsible sister but now, she seem like a mischievous, playful child, this stirred up some unconventional feeling, causing him to feel hot in a different way, if you know what I mean, something sinister and playful, this is a new feeling for him, this one was different from the one he feels when he is around Elizabeth.

'Yes…Yes.'

'Good, let us sit down and enjoy our lunch, are you okay?'

'Yes, I am perfectly fine, why?'

'You seem to be sweating quite a lot, like a fever or even.' she lowered her voice and put her hand beside her mouth, 'High-High'

'What is 'High-high'.'

'Do not speak its name so loud, high blood pressure.'

'No..No…GOD NO!, what, I drink soda and eat loads of candy whenever I get the chance and I have perfectly balanced life style.'

'I do not think, anyway let us just continue with lunch before recess ends.'

As Jack was concentrating with laser focus on the contents of his lunch tin, mentally criticizing the style in which his mother hand cut the bread, the tomato placement was completely wrong, the cheese was still raw(not melted), the bread was under done and not to mention the crust was still on, basically dog food in his opinion, as he was rating the lunch for the day, Susan quickly lean over to him and gave him a little peck on his cheek and quickly retreated to her place, putting her hands on her cheeks hoping that it would prevent her from blushing, as or Jack he was still deciding whether he should score the lunch a zero or negative ten, unaware of what just happen.

During class, Jack's brain finally remembered what had happened during his lunch rating, causing his stomach to be filled with butter flies.

After school, the boy could not be happier, all pumped up and ready for work, moving and grooving as he was walking from school, humming something about walking on sunshine, singing to the bees and flies he encounters.

Bees

'Hey Bill, would you listen to this guy, he says his walking on sun shine.'

'Yeah and I see dead people come on now Ben, finish up, I have kids to feed and they are not even mine.'

'Whose are they Bill.'

'I don't know Ben, I don't…..know.'

Tan..tan.. taaaaaaa

'Why are you using that voice?'

'I call it my batman voice, it is going to be a thing trust me.'

Jack finally arrived at Olives bakery, the shop looked a little rustic but had a woman's touch to it, he entered, the shop was empty and one might even say a little dusty as if he entered one those ancient burial tombs, Jack was pretty sure if he stood on one place for a little longer a spider would definitely gently settle down on his shoulder, not about to risked dying from a heart attack at his tender age, Jack started to moved side to side and shaking his shoulder rapidly as if he was in some kind of Bollywood dance number.

'Hello, Mr Waldo, are you here.'

'He is not hear.' A delightful female voice spoke from behind the counter, she did not come out for some reason.

'Do you know when he will be back?'

'I honestly do not know?'

'Okay, would you please tell him, that Jack Peterson was here, the boy he offered a job to yesterday.'

'Oh!, pale boy it is you.', the gigantic man rose from behind the counter with a big smile on his face.

'Mr Waldo, were you there the whole time?'

'Yes'

'And the women?'

'What women?'

'The one which I was talking to and why were you hiding in the first place?'

'I thought you were immigration.'

'Who that?'

'Never mind, we have work to do.', Waldo guided him around the counter and to the stair case behind him but before he ascended the stairs, Jack looked over to see if he could spot the women he was talking to.

'Looking for someone?'

'Yes, the women I was talking to.'

The man chuckled then answered, 'There was no women, it was me.'

'Amazing, but how?'

'I used to be a ventriloquist in Germany.'

'Noble, could you teach me?'

'Maybe some other time not now, we have work to do, I open store tomorrow.'

They went up the stairs and entered the kitchen, the kitchen was bigger than he expected, the smell of freshly made bread was roaming the air, puffs of dust formed as the kneeing process was turned into a sparring match between man and dough.

'I hope you brought other clothes to wear, one does not work in school clothes.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Waldo'

'Excuse me, Waldo.'

'Right, head straight down, make a left then a right, opposite the store is the bathroom, you could change in the store room if you want?'

'Anywhere is fine.'

'I do not think here is fine, now go on, you have work to do.'

Jack gave him a stern nod and marched down, receiving nods of approval from the other bakers as he past them by, he finally made it to the bathroom, but chose to change in the store room, when he entered a strong smell of struck his nostrils, smells of rotting fruits and hops accompanied it, wooden barrels filled the room hardly giving him room to change into his semi-new working clothes.

'Quick! , Quick!, Quick now!', Waldo's voice powered through the talking man, which sounded like a swarm of drunken hornets invaded the kitchen, Jack wanted to reply but knew his reply was not going make it to the other side, so he decided forget about folding his school clothes neatly and just stuffed them in as quickly as possible and ran out to meet his boss.

'Ready?'

'Yes, chef.'

'I am not a chef, I am a baker.'

'If he could!', One of the man shout from somewhere resulting in everyone bursting in to laughter simultaneously.

'I could fire that person who said that.' the laughter died down immediately into complete silence.

'Come with me, your Job is outside.'

Jack followed Waldo down the stairs into the back, where two wooden barrels were awaiting him, a two basins filled with water, a knife and a crate if what seem like a pillow with a little filling on top of it.'

'This is where you will work, your job is to peel and take out the seeds from the apples and apricots, that is all there is to it, you will be paid weekly, only makes sense since you only work three days a week, any questions?'

'Yes, what do you do with the seeds?'

'Throw them away of course, why?'

'Can I have them?'

'Why?'

'I like fruit especially apples, so I want to plant some of my own.'

'Alright, anything else?'

'Yes, how much do I need to do before the end of the day?'

' I think..by the time of the setting sun, I would like to see at least a half the apple or apricots gone.'

'Yes, Waldo.'

'If you need anything, I will be inside.'

Waldo turned around and headed inside, as Jack rolled up his sleeves and began his first job of manual labor, all for the happiness of his dear mother.

Soon the crimson light of the setting sun started to bloom across the town, signaling the end of Jack's first day of manual labour.

'Good Lord boy, you surely are a keeper, what work ethic you have, you finished one full barrel.'

'And a quarter of the next.' Jack said proudly.

'You have some fire in the belly, could only mean one thing, doing it for someone special?'

'Yes'

'Well, I will not ask anymore questions, go on and get your stuff, I really do not want to deal with angry parents, especially mothers they are the worst.'

'Alright, I will quickly clean up, then I shall leave.'

'No, No, boy, it is fine, I will clean up, you done more than expected but it will be only for today, next time you will do it yourself.'

'Thank you, Sir'

'Sir?'

'I mean Waldo.'

Jack went back inside, change his clothes and went through the front, the store looked much cleaner then when he first arrived, with bottle of flavoured beer and Jam now suddenly on display, Jack opened the door looked back smile then left.

The feeling of pride and accomplishment overwhelmed Jack on his journey home, so much so that he had to express it verbally.

'I worked today, I am a man now, no a gentlemen, no I did not get paid yet, so just a man for now, yes, I man a temporary man, until I ascend to the status of gentlemen, I cannot wait for Friday for a little mula, I will earn my own money and I will buy mother a really good book, that I like, I cannot wait to see her face when I give it to her.'

'I was wondering when you are going to come home, it was almost completely dark, I was starting to worry.', his mother asked as soon as he entered the house.

Jack went to the table to table took his seat opposite his father, giving him a glare of disapproval as he settled himself down in his seat but his father simply ignored him, sucking his teeth to prove his ignorance, his mother dished up there food and took her seat too.

'My dear Jack, why do you smell so fruity, what have you been doing the whole day?'

'Huh, properly chasing fairies through the woods.' His father snorted, scooping another spoon of rice into his mouth, chewing savagely, resulting in some of the grains to escape from his mouth like maggots oozing out of a dead corps.

'I heard that he has a new girlfriend, it is properly her perfume you are smelling.', His sister said, wearing a devilish grin, hoping that he would get into some sort of trouble, even a little would be very gratifying.

'I do not!'

'Thought so.' his father commented

'If you must know, I was being fruitful with my time.', Grinning at himself, properly thinking that he had said something clever, or amusing, a good play on words I suppose, I do not know, I did not study English literature, anyway it made him feel good.

'That is a good one Jack.', His mother let out a little giggle obviously fake and obviously blinded by her love for her son, I guess this why people say, 'That is a face a mother could only love.', when the child is ugly as sin, I am not saying that there are ugly people, I think everyone is beautiful but I think you know what I am getting at, alrighty then, let us get back to the story.

'No, it is not.' his sister said bearing an expression of great disapproval.

'Yes it is.', his mother replied,

'You just don't get it, you see, I said, you smell like fruity, what have you been doing and he said….',

Oh a mother is a beautiful creation, God bless them all.

After what felt like hours, Jack's mother and sister were still in a heated debate about his joke, play on words, that he decided to end dinner, got up washed, his plate, dried it and pack it away like the good mama's boy he is and use it to the opening to escape while he can, but before he left for bed, he glanced over to find his mother and sister still going at it harder than ever both of them actually started to break into a sweat, dubbing each other's forehead with napkins as a sign of a temporary truce to eat something and think of a good come back, Jack wanted to watch a little more but since his father was also there took away the desire to watch any longer, killed his vibe basically and left for bed.

The following day at school was a little odd, Susan seem to be ignoring this the morning, walking away every time he wanted to approach her, I guess this is how you played hard to get back in the days, really making the man chase them, obviously Jack was not the tenacious kind so he gave up after the first two tries, during class she tried to talked to him but in return he ignored her, his no one's boy toy.

Recess was odd, although he tried to ignore her, he did speak to her but only with short quick sentence proving he is not going to succumb to her easily,.

'Hi'

'Hi'

'How are you today, Jack.'

'Fine.

'Would you mind if I sat a little closer to you?'

'Of course not, sit as close as you want, you can have some of my lunch too, as a matter of fact you can have it all.'

'No, there is no need for that, I will just sit a little closer.'

Not long after she moved closer, the two were consistently glancing at each other, smiled, then stared at their lunch tin, wanting to stare into each other's eyes like star cross lovers but chose not to, wanting to hold each other's hands but chose not to, wanting to call each other silly pet names like those annoying two thousands( 2000 = people born in or after), couples in malls these days using names like 'Poopsy', 'Bae' or this is the best one 'My fartsickle', God help the genius that came up with that one, this was Tuesdays situation for Jack a hard core game of hard to get and fore play devised by none other than a cave man named Player in the cave men area, making Jack's day quite exciting.

'Ello, Ello, Ello, aloe vera is very good for you, how are you doing today, I hope you brought the special product, my men have lots of work to do.'

'Uhm, what work, what men and why do you have a big chair up here.'

C.J slowly turned around, in his big office chair, you know those shiny leather ones, himself wearing a bright orange suit, with a light blue shirt with a big purple bow tie and a gold heart shaped brooch pin in the center of the bow, finish his major colour blocking look, with classic black gloves.

'Why not, are we, not doing business, I thought that I would conduct co-vid operation utmost respect, unlike some of us.'

'Whatever I had an amazing day..'

'Why, did you learn how to touch yourself, I actually knew your teacher use to be a wild one back in her young days, I would not be surprised if she did teach you something dirty.'

'I am not even going to respond to that because I have the utmost respect for her but just for more reason to respect her, what did she do?'

'She use to strip cars and play with white powder, if you know what I mean.'

'No Idea.'

'Good but you will understand, when you older.'

'Why does everyone keep saying that to me.'

'Because you will, do not be in a rush to grow up Jackie boy, life is nice when you young, now quit asking questions and give me the package.' He reached out his hand in earnest.

'Calm down, you will get it when you older.'

'Do not play with me boy.'

'I could only get this small paper bag full, I will try and get some more tomorrow.'

Jack slowly place it in the center of C.J's palm, he then quickly retracted it to his chest, a smile growing in his face, like a child receiving a piece of chocolate and does not want to share it with their other siblings.

'Do not worry Jack, This is more than enough, initially I thought that you were going to bring like four seeds and tell me that you lost the other along the way, I should have more faith in you.

'You should, so what are you going to do with it.'

'If I had to tell you then I would have to kill you.'

'Hahaha, very amusing.'

'Who says I am joking, did I ever tell you about the time, I stayed in India to study the art of meditation and yoga, where I also learned the art of making incense, with the other student, it is said that it can bring calmness to the mind and a deep sleep which you never wake up from.'

'That is a great story if I were a tourist in India, so what are you going to do with it?'

'Well the answer is in the story, I thought that you would be wise enough to extract the important part so I would not have to kill you.'

'But that was a very bad story, the most uneducated story in history, I believe that it made me stupider just from wasting my time listening to it, why would you have to kill me?'

'To prevent any incriminating evidence from leaking out, that could pose any threat to me.'

'What evidence?'

'I like you boy.'

'No, I am serious.'

'You really are not that dense are you, no wonder Elizabeth rejected you.'

'I do not think you had to say that last part.'

'Yes, yes, I did.'

'What are you going to do about Gibson, and what is the point of these apple seeds.'

'I was hoping you would ask that, see I have a box of treats for Doctor Phil and his family or as he is known around here Uncle Phil, the peoples guidance counsellor and father to all especially yours, he help me through a very difficult time in my life, so I would just like to thank him, do you mind dropping it off at his house, and one very important thing, do not interact with anyone, just put it down and knock on the door and flee, apparently, he really is not a big fan of you, with regards to your answer, you will have it by tomorrow morning or during the day by the latest.'

'But..'

'Trust me.', C.J put his hand on Jack's shoulder, and gave him a slow nod, then turn his chair around to face the view, 'Go on now.'

'I still do not understand.'

C.J did not answer just waved him off.

Without another word or any possible will to protest or to object to the task he was given, Jack left the business/meeting place, murmuring to himself, like a discontent seagull with gout, the boys anger manage to motivate him to walk like the wind just wanting to get it over with this mediocre job, not long he finally arrived at the house, the house was a normal house, like a doctors house, not like in L.A or anything, but it looked nice and clean a little up class but not too much, Jack approached the house carefully as if he was playing hide and seek with it, the front door was closed so were the windows, from where was standing he could see no movement in the house meaning the coast clear, he jumped the little wall, not noticing that there was no wall along the side of the house, in which he could just have walked around, ran to the front door, placed the package down, knock three times, ran and jumped the wall again, still not noticing that there is no wall alongside the house, literally the was to small pieces of wall just for the gate the rest was open plain, but he still chose to go commando, he did not bother to stop and hide because he would stick out like a polar bear in the Amazon, and continued his cross country run home.

Around the early hours of the morning there was a loud banging on the front door and as usual his mother went to see who it is, while her dearest husband laid in bed enjoying his last few minutes of his wet dream, then there was a gasp, but this did not interest Jack and he went back to sleep, he needed his beauty sleep since he was a working men.

A one hour later he woke up ready for action, put on his clothes, packed his semi-new work clothes in, his also going to buy himself something new on Friday, since the shirts were on special by the clothing store near where he works, but in any case Jack step out of the room and in to the kitchen, where the atmosphere was already dense, as of someone had died or there was not enough food for everyone to go around, he journeyed forward and entered the lounge where everyone bared an expression of loss and despair expect for his sister who had a little grin on her face, she properly got the last bit of food, for it was unusual for her to be up this early and ready for school, so Jack decide to address the situation right away because honesty is the best policy.

'Mother where is the breakfast?'

His mother did not respond, she just looked at him and shook her head, then returned her gaze to the ground, Jack turned his looked at to his sister, who seemed booming on cloud nine now.

'Do not look at me I found them like this.'

'How could you two think of food at a time like this?' his father spoke out of the blue.

'How can we, we are hungry at a time like this and what time is this?'

His father lean forward in his chair, his eyes watery, 'Phil is…', then retracted in his seat, making and displaying an expression, as if he was swallowing something painful.

'What have I done now, did he say that I have been striping cars and trying out different kinds of medications.'

'Have you?' his mother seemed more alert now.

'Of course not mother!, what do you take me for?'

'He said nothing because he is dead, him and his entire family murdered by poison.'

'Father I know this is a difficult time for you but I do thing that is impossible for poison to murder someone, unless the person who killed then was named poison or his nickname was, quick someone call the police, I think I might have our first lead.'

His father stood up in a fit of rage, fist clinched but Jack was not phased, he looked his father dead in the eye, today he was going to fight, fight until the end and he it was not going to be a fancy fight he was going to bite some toes, claw some eyes out whatever it takes, the will to fight is, is the will to kill, the will to kill is the will to die, and he had that will today, it has been burning in him for a while but that did not happen in stead his father fought like real man and used his words.

'You insensitive monster.'

Jack stared analyzing him from head to toe, did his fully grown father, just sound like a teenage girl, who just met up with her other girlfriends, and that cause him to erupt into a hysterical laughter causing him to fall on the ground and scream/laughing I suppose in the most eccentric manner possible, his father left the room while his son was still going all out, lying on his back, waving his arms around and kicking radically like a dying cockroach sprayed with Doom, multi insect killer,( Doom, kills all insects dead,( think deep, trailer movie voice) when reading that), until his mother broke it off.

'Get up now, it is almost time for you to go to school and look what you are doing to your school clothes.'

'Mother, could you please buy me a red suit for the funeral?'

'Why a red suit?'

'Because it is not like they going to heaven anyway.'

'Jack!', his mother shouted in protest, 'It is not funny!'

'Your right it is not funny, it is hilarious!.' His sister said.

The two siblings high fived each other after his sister's, profound statement, there mother looked at them both and a little smirk grew on her face.

'Enough you two, let me make you some bread for breakfast, it won't be fancy, but it will get you through the day.'

'No, thank you, I will just eat something from my lunch box, you did make me lunch right?'

'Of course, I made it last night, it saves me the morning hassle.'

'Mother, you giving me stale lunch to take to school, what kind of mother does that?'

'You know what Jack, if you do not want it, then give it to the street dogs outside.'

'Just joking relax and smile a little, you look a lot younger when you do.'

'Exceptionally young, some people might even mistake mother for my twin sister.'

'Thank you for the compliment Jill but you still just going to get bread.'

'It has been nice talking to you all but I have an education to receive.'

Jack grabbed his lunch, ran to his room, threw it in his bag and dash for the front door.

'Wait, where do you think you are going, are you not going to wait for your sister?'

'No!' both of them shouted in sync.

'I do not understand what kind of sibling relationship you two have.'

'The kind of relationship that supports individuality and independent thinking.'

'That is a great answer sister, I hope you are satisfied with that mother but I have to leave.' he saluted his mother and marched off to school.

The school day was completely ruined by the mere sight of Julia, the joyous energy which he had gathered from home vanished, the girls saw him and called him over immediately, at first he wanted to pretend that he did not see them, so he bent down to tie his shoes glance over his shoulder to see how much distance is between them and then make a break for it, he bent down untied his shoe lace and tied it again, unfortunately being the perfectionist that he is tying shoes takes longer than usual for him, he just had to get the loops exactly the same size, otherwise the whole shoe would be thrown off balance, by the time he was done the girls where already standing over him.

'Hello, Girls how are you doing today, oh Julia glad to see you back at school.'

'I wish could say the same after seeing your face but I am glad to be back.'

'Good, I hope that your sickness is gone, I really do not want to catch it.'

'What sickness?'

'But Susan said….'

'Do not mind her, the medication must still be in affect, so she is a little absent minded, remember Julia, you were very sick the past few days.'

'Yes, right, silly me.'

'Lets help this poor thing to her class before she gets lost along the way.'

'Ouch!'

'I did nothing.' Jack raised both his hands in the air and took a few steps back.

'What is wrong Julia.' then Susan took Julia took a few steps closer, leaning into her ear.

'Is it your ribs again, remember what the doctor said, take it easy.'

'Is everything alright Susan, her sickness is not coming back is it?'

'No, it is just a girl thing, don't you worry.'

'Then I am staying out of it, let us go girls.'

The two assisted Julia, who seemed to be in a lot more pain then she is letting on, Jack did want to address the situation at hand but choose to ignore it, hoping that they will face the truth one day and tell him all about it before it is too late.

Break time arrived and the gang gathered at their chill zone and Jack and Susan were staring at each other once again, like prized olympic gold medals, forcing Julia to address the elephant in the room.

'What is going on here, why are you two looking at each other, am I missing something, did you cast some kind of spell on my sister, if you did, I promise you I will have you burned in front of the entire town.'

'Relax, Julia, he did nothing to me, I am just happy, is that so wrong?'

'Uncle Phil was right you are some kind of sorcerer or witch and we should keep a firm eye on you, otherwise you will cast a dark shadow over this town.'

'He said that and to think I was starting to feel a little guilty about the things I said this morning but now that I think about it, he deserved to die.'

'Hearing you talk like that, I would not be surprised if you were the one you poisoned them.'

'Julia!, Don't you dare make such accusation, you could get him into serious trouble.'