Once Upon a Time (Editing)

Chapter Two--Max

I sit at the dinning table, my eyes slipping over each farmer as they bend their heads in respect tot the words that my oldest brother is saying. But my mind isn't focused on the words that are flowing through the room, words about God. My mind is replaying the events of the day, what happened when she stepped out, how everything changed. 

She was sitting one seat over on the other side of the table, next to Joe to to Jack's right. Jay sits with her hands under the table, most likely twiddling her thumbs, full to the brim of energy. Once Jack sits, we all start eating. The sound of voices fill the room, bouncing off the walls, but I focus on the descusion between my brother and the girl who saved our lives. 

"Where you from, kid?" Billy asks in his heavily accented voice. 

"My name is Jay," she replies very quickly, her body tensening at his use of kid. "And I never really have a 'home'."

"You got to come from somewhere," Joe states, placing his right elbow on the table. 

"Get your elbows off the table," I hiss quickly at Joe. 

I missed the first part of her response. "Been livin' on my own for eleven years."

"Why not stay with your family?" Billy asks. 

"On the run," Jay says, looking into her cup. "Didn't want to end up in the foster system and all."

"As long as you're on the good side of the Law, I'm fine with ya here," Billy says with a loud laugh. 

"I don't believe I got your names," Jay says quietly.

"Names Billy," he replies, roughly pushing his sandy hari from his face. I smile at his improper grammar. 

"I'm Joe," says the younger man. I have known Joe almost my whole life. We grew up together, since our fathers were brothers. 

Jay nods, and starts eating. I watch her for a second, before turning to my own plate. Sam kicks me under the table. I look up at him and shake my head. "Why'd you kick me?"

"Cause I felt like it," Sam says, smiling slyly. 

I shake my head and return to eating. I smile a little when I hear Jack ask Jay if she's had a green bean before. 

"Of course I have!" Jay says, offended. "I lived in a house for a while. My mother used to cook them for us when my brother and I were younger."

"You have a brother?" I ask, a spoon full of mashed potatoes halfway to my mouth. 

"Yes," Jay says, nodding her a head a little. 

"And what became of this brother?" Jack asks.

"He ran off a couple of years before I did. He was seven, I was four." Jay shrugs and returns to the food on her plate. 

As we all start to wrap up the meal, I look around at peoples plate. Almost everyone has scraps left, but Jay's plate doesn't she ate every bit of food off of it. 

 "You ate everything," Billy states, glancing down at her plate. 

"Yes, and you didn't," She replies. 

"None of us eat all the food we re served now," Joe say, as if it explains Billy's statement. 

My brother stands up and collects the plates. Once he is out of his seat, I stand, and walk over to claim the empty seat. 

"Then you really don't know what's like to be hungry, or starving, or how many people find themselves in that situation," Jay says with no emotion. Her blue eyes glint with determination and anger. "You most likely did once."