Before, Then, and After [MAR-APR 2024 8CC LIST]

5 - Loneliness And Friends

[Present].

"Oh," was all Adolpha could manage, standing there in her doorway, dumbfounded, staring right back at Quince. Her fork was still in her hand, pancake resting on the spines of it. Quince was draped in the morning's sun, blue eyes twinkling.

"Hello," she said, smiling softly, "I've just come to ask a few." Her black curls were loose and short, just barely coiling past her ears.

"Well," Adolpha said, lips pursed, "Why don't you come inside?"

Quince nodded her thanks, clicking the door shut behind her and saying, "My, it's gotten quite chilled, hasn't it?"

"Just a bit. I don't suppose it will be a strong winter though, will it?"

"No," the dark woman shook her head, "I don't suppose it will." Adolpha took her plate from the coffee table, gesturing for Quince to have a seat where she had just been eating breakfast.

Then, Adolpha walked to the kitchen, painfully aware of Quince's eyes following her, "Tea?" She sat her plate down next to the sink, and it clinked quietly against the marble countertop. Then, she couldn't help but feel hot with stupid embarrassment, as it had been clear she had just made herself a pot of tea.

"That would be wonderful, Adolpha." At the mention of her name, a shrill tension ran up Adolpha's spine, tickling her. Why was she suddenly so nervous, so tense? Fidgeting, she took another pale teacup from the cupboard, rinsing it with pumped water from the sink. It gleamed, a window above the sink pouring yellow light over the glass. Then, she took the kettle from a lower cabinet, placing it in the sink, and began to let it fill with water. After she'd made tea earlier that morning, she'd gone through the effort of cleaning out the kettle; but now, watching it fill with water again, she felt a shallow pang for her wasted efforts. She dreaded cleaning it again. The water hit the enamel with a splattering, echoing sound, and reflected the window's light in a broken, swirling array. Adolpha then turned the faucet off with a squeaking handle, satisfied with the white kettle's fullness. She took and placed the teapot of gently splashing water over her cast iron, wood-burning stove, where she used a match to light a bit of charcoal beneath it. It flared with red embers beneath the kettle's bottom, and steam spewed from its elegant spout.

Adolpha's kitchen was on the larger side for a rounded house like hers, and it was quite practical. The floor and cupboards were smooth wood, and the countertops a beautiful white marble. There were rows of wooden cabinets along the top of the wall and also along the floor beneath the counters. The kitchen was in a U shape, and in the middle of the kitchen against the back wall was a square window, and then beneath that a double sink made of shining blue stones and tiles, a faucet made of steel and intricate white handles. Her wood cabinets were carved with delicate corner designs, giving the room a touch of fancy that Adolpha had always been fond of. Her wood-burning stove was also a fancy delicacy that Adolpha quite liked. While most houses had wood-burning stoves, none she had ever seen were quite as large and as beautiful as her own. It was made of cast iron, with a swinging door on the bottom half of it which could be opened for wood or coal. In it, there was a resting grate where Adolpha could roast something in a pan. Then, above the firing pocket was a flat top with four areas for pans or dishes. At the back of the stove was a funnel leading up and connecting to a pipe from the front of the house, which then led to a chimney outside. Her wood-firing stove could heat her entire house, and every-time she cooked, smoke puffed from the top of her chimney far above. Also in her kitchen, next to her counters, was a square tin washtub on three legs, a scrubber in it, where she could wash clothes.

As she was bent halfway down to strike a match and light the embers, Adolpha asked, "Why is it you've come, then?"

"Well, rush me out of your house if you're too busy to talk, Adolpha!"