Power Microcosm

Chapter 11

Cezzane art for an impression...
Art-aware readers will get the joke.
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   I hear a sound from the staircase, and my head immediately spins around to confirm who I think it is. It's Azrael. He's been cooped upstairs in his room for about an hour since he went up there and I followed him to see if he was alright. He's not as pale and also he smiles softly as he walks into to the living room.

  "Hello," he says as he sits down on the couch, "I hope I did not cause a stir."

  "Not at all," I say.

  "You alright kiddo?" asks Dad.

  "Yes," replies Azrael with a nod, "there's no issue."

  "You sure?" asks Dad, and I see Mom and Dia along with Mallord observing Azrael closely.

  "Yes. Nothing is wrong, sir," replies Azrael reassuringly.

  Dad doesn't miss the fact that Azrael called him 'sir' but doesn't pursue it. If I were to venture a guess why Dad likes to have Azrael call him 'Dad', it's probably because now that Azrael is sitting in front of him, he considers him part of our family. And Dad may have been in the military where they have those protocols of addressing one another, but he doesn't extend that to family members.

  So in a sense, Dad sees Azrael not calling him 'Dad' as a rejection of being included in our family. So maybe Dad is subtly offended.

  But that's not strange to think. Azrael did state that he had issues with his family, and it may have to do with has father now that it's revealed that he doesn't want to use that word.

  "Are we still going to go shopping?" asks Mallord to me.

  "I can go," I reply to Mallord.

  "Are you coming?" he asks Dia.

  "Sure."

  "You want to go shopping with us, Azrael? We're just going to o pick up some groceries and drinks," I offer.

  "Sure," says Azrael.

  "I have a list," says Mom as she goes to the kitchen to pull it off the fridge, "I'll go grab it."

  "Mild question," says Azrael as we get up from the couch and head to the doors, "where are we going shopping? I didn't really see any shops."

  "There's a town about fifteen minutes away," I answer, "not far. We go there for shopping all the time."

  "Okay then," says Azrael, "I look forward to seeing it."

  Mallord walks out of the kitchen with Dia and the list, and then we walk outside to where Mallord has his car parked. Mallord works in Houston and drives here every holiday with his car, as we ride it to town.

  I sit in the back with Dia while Mallord says that Azrael should sit in the front with him.

  "How old are you?" asks Mallord.

  "I'm twenty-seven," replies Azrael, "how about you?"

  "Twenty-six," answers Mallord, "I though you were younger than me."

  "Is that why you called him a kid earlier?" asks Dia with a smile.

  "No! Well," protests Mallord as he blushes, "maybe."

  Dia, and Azrael laugh as Mallord mumbles how Dia "Didn't have to mention it."

   "No worries, Mallord. I get that a great deal. It's not an offense," says Azrael.