A Canadians Journey

Leaf-water

  Chapter 21: Leaf-water

I made sure to not drop the plates of tea I was carrying. Uncle Benjamin wanted Tea, so Mama ordered me to go make them all some tea. I hate tea. All it is is just leaves in water.

Entering the living room, where two men were in an intense staring contest. They'd been glaring at each other for 3 minutes now. Dios mío, they're crazy.

I carefully set down the tray of tea on the table, and picked up one handing it to Mama, uncle Benjamin, and Auntie. I tried giving one to uncle Isaiah, but he refused.

"No thanks, I don't like tea," he declined. Uncle Isaiah had a rough but gentle voice. He also had very deep eyebags. But somehow he looked younger than uncle Benjamin. But at the same time, the look in his eyes show he's much older. Like a wise old man. How old is uncle Isaiah? How old are any of my uncles? And Auntie.

Well, at least we have one thing in common, we don't like tea.

"Are we going to keep glaring at each other or are we actually going to talk?" uncle Isaiah raised his eyebrow. "What do you want." uncle Benjamin deadpanned, it didn't even sound like a question, more of a demand.

"I'm here to see my nephews and nieces," uncle Isaiah gritted through his teeth. "But it seems one of my nephews has gone missing. Why is that?" he tilted his head.

"What? You think I know where he is? I don't. I don't know, the br- boy is missing. I don't know where he is," uncle Benjamin glowered.

He's gonna ruin his eyes if he doesn't blink soon.

"You don't seem the least bit worried about your son being missing," uncle Isaiah inquired.

"I need to get back to my work, I can't stay here!" uncle Benjamin shouted.

"No. You don't, because you were going to stay this entire summer, I know that, so why do you want to leave the day I get here?" uncle Isaiah shot back.

"I don't know what you want, what do you want me to say!?" uncle Benjamins voice raised.

"I want to know why you don't want me to see my nephews and nieces," uncle Isaiah glanced at me before turning back to uncle Benjamin.

"W-what!? That's not true!" uncle Benjamin was yelling now, face red.

"Then you wouldn't mind me talking with them right now?"

Silence.

Uncle Benjamin scowled, eyes blazing. "Fine," he spit out "go ahead, they're upstairs," his eyes never leaving uncle Isaiah.

Uncle Isaiah looked pleased. He got up and we caught eyes. His eyes softened, and he smiled so warmly at me, I couldn't believe he was the same man who was just glaring daggers at uncle Benjamin.

"Could you show me the way upstairs?" He asked, the corner of his eyes crinkling. He had a thick Irish accent.

I nodded yes and quickly led him upstairs to the boys room, where I left them. I opened the door and peeked inside. Amy was curled up on his bed, while Austin was playing with Zea on his bed. Austin looked up surprised. I moved out of the way for uncle Isaiah, so he could come in. He moved towards my cousins, still holding the same tender smile.

He knelt down to reach their height.

"Well hello there, my name is Isaiah, I'm your uncle. What's your name?" He asked. Austin's eyes widened. "My names Austin," Austin whispered. "Hm, and what is this little ones name?" He nodded his head to Zea. "This is Zea," Austin answered, a little bit louder. "What a lovely name," he turned to Amy "and what may be your name young man?"

Amy, for some reason, stayed oddly silent. That was unlike him. Amy loved attention. He basically thrived in it.

Uncle Isaiah raised his eyebrow before saying, "well it's very nice to meet you, mr. I have no name. My name is Isaiah as I said before, and I am your uncle.I've come to visit you all, but it seems there is one of you missing. Do you guys happen to maybe know what happened to him, or where he is?" He inquired.

"Yeah, he said he was finding a new home and then coming back for us," Austin said.

Wait what?

How do they know? Is that why Amy is laying on his bed not speaking? Do they know where Cameron went?

"Can you tell me what you mean by "finding a new home"?" uncle Isaiah questioned. Austin hesitated but he answered.

"Cameron left us a note. He said he was going to find us a new home, and then come back for us and bring us," Austin fidgeted, his eyes meeting mine. He frowned.

"May I see this letter?" uncle Isaiah requested. Austin thought long and hard. "Mmm, okay, but I want it back after."

He got up walked to his small bag. His rummaged through it before pulling out a rumpled paper and handing it to uncle Isaiah. Uncle Isaiah's eyes flickered over the paper, his eyebrows furrowing. He looked back up.

"Thank you Aussie, can I take a picture of this?" he spoke more gently to Austin and gave him a warm smile. Austin nodded his head.

Uncle Isaiah took a phone from his pocket and took a quick picture of the paper. He handed it back to Austin thanking him and telling him to keep the paper safe.

Austin took it fast and folded it before putting it in his bag.

"Well, I'd like to spend some time with my nephews, and niece," he smiled at Zea. He turned and beckoned me over. "I'd like to spend time with all of my nephews, meaning you as well."

I hesitantly walked over and sat next to him. But not so very close. I put some distance between us. "Well, what would you guys like to do? What do you spend your free time doing?" He started.

"I like animals, bugs, insects, amphibians" Austin sat on his knees.

"Really? When I was younger, I would go out looking for bug. I also tried finding four leaf clovers when I could," he grinned.

Austin gave a small smile.

"And what about you? Any interests?" He focused on me.

"Uh, not really. I just usually watch TV, pr play games on my phone," I mumbled. "What's your favourite game?" He implored. "Subway Surfers.." I nearly whispered.

I was brought back to Cameron. He loved that game. Why did uncle Isaiah have to ask that question?

"I don't think I've heard of that game, maybe show it to me sometime?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, I can show it to you some time."

He smiled before turning to Amy. "And you too young man, what do you do in your free time?" Amy didn't answer, but Austin did for him.

"Amy likes to draw!"

"Hm, I personally, cannot draw. I'm terrible at drawing, could you maybe teach me a little bit?" uncle Isaiah asked. Still no answer.

"Okay then, I see you don't want to teach me,"

"Well, what shall we do first?"

~+~

I am not so happy with this chapter. Nor am I proud of it. I tried making uncle Isaiah seem like a good uncle, like I tried making Perri seem like a good person but it's not going so well. I hope you guys still like it though. Next chapter will kinda be short.

Buh-bye.