{{ "What?" He looked at me, his face was also a bit pale. "I'm not worried about Homer. He's, well, he's Homer. I'm worried about what he's going to do to my dad."}}
His dad? What could my grandfather possibly do to his dad? Homer was one of the elders, older by Patu by decades. I had always envisioned Homer as being strong and sturdy, but it wasn't as though he'd taken Patu outside to actually fight with him.
Right?
"Konai, why would you be worried about what my elderly grandfather could do to your dad, your dad's barely even forty." I turned from staring out the window to look at Konai, and noticed he was smiling, sort of.
"Your grandfather is the oldest tribal member in our village, you know that, right?" He turned and started walking back up the hall. "Yes, so... Patu has to respect his opinions?" I asked nonchalantly. "Something like that." He reached up and patted his arm, and a small cloud formed. Ahead of us Kaida had reached the kitchen door, and was pulling it open.
"Something like that?" I frowned. When had I heard him say that before? "Well, being an elder garners respect, right?" He smiled at my comment and stepped into the bright light of the kitchen. He wasn't pale. His whole left side was covered in.....flour. "No, being the eldest kind of makes him chief. Not that we've openly admitted such a thing." He walked around Kaida, who I now noticed was standing in the center of the kitchen.
Her mouth was covered with one hand and her shoulders were shaking. I followed her line of sight and gaped. Poor Joe had nearly an entire bag of flour coating his body. His hair was a grayish-black and I couldn't tell what color his shirt was supposed to be. The bag of flour lay torn in half on the counter, and Joe, who acted as though nothing was amiss, was hacking away at a piece of fish.
"Joe?" I asked as calmly as possible.
"Yes?" He turned towards me quickly, and a plume of white floated in all directions. Kaida let out a huge laugh, then continued laughing until I thought she might collapse from lack of oxygen.
Both boys ignored her, and went about emptying the grocery bag and mixing up the batter for the fish. I grabbed a broom and dust pan, willing to ignore the fact that the inside of their kitchen looked whiter than the ground outside. I had just finished cleaning up most of what was on the floor, when Kaida stopped wheezing.
"Good grief, what the heck did you do?" She reached up and grabbed the recipe book they were looking at and closed it quickly, sending another wave of flour out in their direction.
"I don't want to talk about it." Konai grabbed the new bag of flour and tore a whole in the top. Little Joe looked at him warily, then at the kitchen door. "They've gone outside." Konai murmured. The moment he'd said it, Little Joe's arms relaxed and he sighed in relief.
"Um, Konai, did you guys get in a food fight?"
The glare he cut me only lasted for a fraction of a second, he blinked quickly and gave me a small half smile. "No, I just got a little messy when my dad asked me...." He rubbed absently at a spot on his chest, "...he said I should stop this." And he gestured between himself and I.
Oh.
His father had asked him to break up with me.
A sore spot formed in the middle of my chest and I rubbed at it for a moment. "So, I guess you got upset?"
It was Little Joe's turn to laugh. "Yeah, something like that." He snorted under his breath.
I stared at Konai for a moment. His eyes finally met mine, and under all that flour, I saw his cheeks turn a dull bronze color. "I didn't want to...I couldn't let you go."
I felt myself start to blush at his declaration, and had to clear my throat before talking. "Thank you, I'd like it if you kept me."
He smiled then, and it was infectious. I couldn't help but smile back. He leaned over and pecked a small kiss on my cheek. "I'll keep you." He whispered in my ear. When he leaned back, Kaida laughed again. "What?" I asked, only mildly irritated.
"Now you match." She giggled.
I reached up and touched my cheek, and my fingertips came away white. I exhaled slowly and grabbed the nearest towel, quickly wiping off the flour he had inadvertently smeared on my cheek.
"Thanks Konai."
"Anytime." He grinned and walked over to the kitchen sink to clean himself off. "Hey Joe, why don't you go ahead and clean up upstairs. Use my bathroom. I'm sure Kaida's frilly white girly room would give you nightmares."
Kaida stopped laughing, but Little Joe chuckled. She shot her brother a glare, "You are such a guy!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "What did you think I was, a girl?" At that Joe laughed out loud, and Kaida turned her glare on him. His mouth snapped shut and he turned and ran for the door.
After Konai and I were done laughing at Kaida, the three of us finished cleaning the kitchen up. And Joe arrived, squeaky clean, to help us set the table. The smell of fried fish and potatoes filled the whole house, and I suddenly realized how hungry I was.
I was just about to ask Konai to go get Homer and Patu, when the back door slammed. All four of us stood in the dining room, frozen. We hadn't heard a word outside. If they had been fighting, they'd done it without yelling. But I just couldn't see Homer physically harming anyone.
Patu walked through the door first. He looked directly at Konai. "Smells good son, how about some drinks to go with lunch?" Konai and Kaida disappeared into the kitchen. Homer stepped in and looked around. "I'm starving, did you make enough for everyone?" Little Joe handed him a plate, "Yes sir, I think so." We dished out our plates and I stared through the door into the kitchen. Patu was standing, rigid as a rock, next to the table. He finally sat when Kaida and Konai appeared with drinks.
We ate in relative silence, and after a tense few moments Patu pushed back his chair. "I need to finish cleaning my fishing gear, please excuse me." He walked through the door, and when I heard the back door close, I reached over and poked my grandfather with my fork.
He chuckled, "Yes dear?"
"What did you do to him?!?" I asked. He'd looked a bit like a zombie during the whole lunch, and hadn't said more than a few words to anyone, other than, "Pass the fry sauce, please."
"It was just a man to man talk about family. Nothing too important." He drank the rest of his lemonade and stood.
Somehow, I just didn't believe him.
He turned to Konai. "Why don't you walk Andrea home, it's been a bit of a long day, and I'm sure you have things you'd like to talk about." Homer gave him a look that I didn't quite understand.
"But... I think I should probably go talk to my father."
"There's no need to Son, go ahead and walk her home."
"What?" Konai's voice was soft, and he sounded a bit surprised.
"Everything is fine, Son, there's no need to talk to your dad." Homer smiled softly at him.
There was a short snuffling sound from Kaida, and when I turned to look at her, her eyes were shining brightly and her cheeks were a rosy pink. What was wrong with her?
"Oomph!"
I turned and gasped. Konai had bailed out of his chair and was hugging my grandfather. I was almost sure I heard Konai whisper, "Thank you."
Homer laughed and patted him on the back. "Go on now, get out of here." He pulled himself free from Konai and headed towards the back door again. He paused and turned, "Kaida, Joe, why don't you go visit Maggie, she hasn't had company all day."
They both jumped out of their chairs.
I was missing something, I knew I was. Kaida ran up and hugged me, nearly popping one of my lungs. "I love you! See you later." And off she ran. Little Joe stopped and stared at me a moment, then smiled widely at Konai. "See you later bro, I'm happy for you." He patted Konai's shoulder and headed out the door, running after Kaida.
"Happy for what?"
"Hmm..?" He turned and wrapped his arms around me. "Oh, nothing. He's just glad I'm not in trouble anymore." "Is that all?" "For now, yes. That's all." He hugged me tightly, and I noticed that his whole body seemed to be shaking. He released me slowly.
"Come on, I'll walk you home."