𝑫𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔 ⎯ Jonny Goodman

chapter one

It was 7pm in the Goodman household on an evening not too dissimilar from any other Friday Night, and events were progressing just as usual. Jackie had served the siblings a spoonful of stew each and been sat down at the table a good ten minutes, yet Martin was nowhere to be seen. Probably hiding away in the shed. No change there.

"Can't we just start without dad? He's been ages!" Jonny whined, letting himself slump against his chair in defeat. His slim frame lay languid against the chair, like a half-melted Dali painting (at least, that's what his brother Adam had mentally likened the image to). But Jackie's sharp reply cut right through Adam's ponderings.

"No!" Jackie scolded her younger son as if she'd already told him a thousand times that evening, "I told you, we've got some important news to tell you, so we have to wait for your father..."

"I wonder what the news is..." Adam looked sideways at his sibling, a glint of mischief sparking in his eye, "Maybe horrible grandma's finally died?"

"That'd be a miracle, not a surprise." Jonny scoffed, as he discreetly stole away his elder brother's glass and loaded it up with salt.

Adam smirked to himself, completely unashamed of fantasising upon the death of his own grandmother. He supposed her overbearing demeanour and all-round rudeness was suffice to justify his glee. However this reverie was soon broken when Martin finally emerged from the halls, dusting his hands off, smacking them against the front of his trousers rather clumsily, and pulling his chair out before sitting down at the table with a sigh.

"Done. Cleaned it all up. No more cat vomit on our lawn." Martin announced proudly, rubbing his hands together as he eyed the food on the table like a starving man at a feast, "Now I'm ready for my squirrel-stew!"

"Martin, can you please not talk about that while we're eating?" Jackie looked sternly at her husband, a crease forming in her brow as she dished the stew out.

"Talk about what? Cat sick?" Martin narrowed his eyes.

Jackie's face screwed up sourly and her fists clenched instinctively into balls, white knuckled. "Just stop saying it!"

Nether-the-less, she returned Martin's bowl back to him, now full of stew. He had barely prized it from her fingers before he had began shoving quick, greedy spoonfulls into his mouth, which earned a forlorn sigh from his wife at the sight of it all. The vile scene also sparked the boys' interest, but their mother's obnoxiously vague declaration of having 'news' for them was at the front-center of their minds.

"Well?" Adam demanded, looking hopelessly between his parents, "What's the 'news' then?"

"Oh, yes." Jackie seemed to remember at that moment, earning exasperated sighs from the brothers. However, Jackie didn't seem the slightest bit disheartened by this reaction. Infact, she had broken out into a seemingly uncontrollable grin, as she leant further into the table. Her lapse in speech was certainly intentional, as she adopted a more hushed, dramatic tone before she finally continued. "We're getting a lodger." she revealed, practically beaming.

Adam and Jonny looked physically hurt by the announcement. They both huffed dramatically and leant back in their chairs in dread.

"A lodger?" Jonny groaned, tipping his head back in defeat "You mean some weirdo is going to be having Friday night dinner with us? You may as well just invite Jim round!"

Jackie let out a cackle at her youngest son's satirical backlash, taking a sip of wine. "No, she's not a stranger. You two both know her actually." She told her sons.

Jonny and Adam looked at eachother, faces washed over with confusion.

"You haven't guessed it yet?" Martin laughed aloud. Jonny rolled his eyes theatrically, before setting his eyes dead on Martin.

"No, dad. All we know is that she's a woman which means there are 4 billion possibilities. So no, we haven't guessed quite yet." Jonny muttered.

"I'll tell you." Jackie folded her arms over her chest and let a small smile show. She was more than happy to be the one revealing all the secrets. "...Persephone Watson."

It took a moment for the boys to process the information. Adam leaned forward, wide eyed with a mischievous smile plastered on his face. "Wait...Do you mean Sephy? From school?"

"Yeah, that's right." Jackie nodded, raising her glass to her lips once more "Do you remember her?"

"I do actually." Adam nodded, before turning to his brother with a teasing grin "Well, I mostly remember Pissface here having a massive crush on her."

Jonny scoffed, elbowing his brother in the ribs and earning a little squeak from Adam in response. "Get lost." Jonny huffed in denial.

That was when, to Jonny's dread, Martin chose to interject. "Yes, I remember you used to invite her round for tea after school and spend the whole time trying to hold her hand." Martin laughed to himself, unaware of how he had just stitched his youngest son up.

Adam grinned in his victory. Jonny only rolled his eyes at the accusations. "Can you all just shut up please?" He was adamantly stubborn.

"Yes, shut up Martin. You're embarrassing him." Jackie's gaze flickered to her husband before she continued "Anyway, she's moving in with us because she can't afford to live on her own in the city just yet. She's trying to get a job but having no luck so far, bless her. She wants to be an illustrator, you know."

"I know, mum." Jonny remembered it well, he hasn't forgotten a thing about his high-school sweetheart "She was always top of the class in art."

"Well, you'll both be seeing her again next Friday." Jackie put her knife and fork down on her plate with a clink, and turned her attention to her two sons once more "You will be nice to her, won't you, boys?"

"Oh yeah." Adam nodded, but looked snidely at Jonny "Jonny will be real nice to her." He raised his glass, before taking a swig of water.

Jonny gave Adam a deathglare, but the corners of his lips turned up in a smirk as Adam spat out his salt-tainted water in disgust.