Page 31 of Wrath
Her squeal was so loud that her aunt twisted from the sink, eyebrows almost hitting her headscarf. The elderly couple at the table both looked up. Roksana rushed in, shortly followed by her father and brother.
Wyatt waved gingerly.
Misha grinned and the tense mood dispelled. She turned to the table. “Babcia,Dziadzio, this is Wyatt.WYATT.” She had to shout so they could hear. “Wyatt, these are my grandparents.”
They stared at Wyatt with pale eyes and then nodded. He held out his hand for a shake but both had already gone back to their game, gummy mouths wobbling as if they chewed something.
“Ye-den, dva, tshih…” the man said as he counted his cards.
His wife blinked and nudged him. “No. You take too many.”
Misha took him by the arm. “Don't mind them, they’re almost as blind as they are deaf, but aren’t they lovely together? Been playing the same game for fifty years.”
He wondered who was winning.
Vooyek pushed passed Misha and took Wyatt’s hand in a sturdy, gnarled grip.
“Thank you,” he said, blue eyes watering. “For saving my boy’s life.”
Wyatt patted Vooyek on the shoulder.It was nothing.
Perhaps he mouthed the words because Alek was the next to burst in. He touched his fingers to his chin and moved his hand out toward Wyatt. It looked as though he said “thank you” as well.
Wyatt gave Alek a once over. Outwardly he looked fine. The wet blanket had done a good job at protecting the boy’s skin as he’d raced them through the burning dining room to escape. No doubt, they’d all wondered why Wyatt didn’t have a scorch mark on him, but not one of them had said a word on the matter.
“I’m glad you changed your mind.” Misha gave him a lopsided smile. “You’re just in time for a celebratory drink. Here, have one.” She poured vodka into the waiting line of shot glasses.
His furrowed brow wasn’t lost on her, so she added: “You may ask what we have to celebrate?”
He nodded, accepting his glass, careful not to spill on the linoleum floor.
“Well…” She picked up her own glass. “We’re all alive. We’re all here. And… we have insurance.”
“There is always a positive in every negative,” Ciocia said beside him, collecting her own glass. “We lost our business, but now there is nothing to protect. We pay protection money to those bastards, butno more.” Her last words were said with gusto.
“And my arthritis makes me an old man,” Vooyek said with sad eyes. “I cannot run the restaurant forever.”
“I have more time to dance!” Roksana lifted her leg and pointed her toe at the ceiling, narrowly missing a jug of water on the kitchen bench. She laughed and made an “Oops face” which had her family rolling their eyes. Although he wasn’t allowed a shot glass, Alek sidled up next to Wyatt and watched him like a hawk.
Misha leaned forward and whispered. “I think he wants to be you when he grows up.” Then more loudly, “I think we are ready for some good fortune.Sto lat.”
“Sto lat.” Vooyek shot his vodka back.
Everyone around the table did the same.Sto lat.
Then they proceeded to sing a raucous song with the same Polish word repeated again and again. Alek couldn’t hear, but joined in with the clapping, thumping on the table, and stamping his feet, checking every few seconds to see if Wyatt watched. He couldn’t help but smile at the kid.
The singing lasted another couple of choruses. Perhaps they’d had a few shots before he arrived. It was hard not to be amused. Their behavior made Wyatt think of raucous drunks in an Irish bar. Even Misha’s grandparents joined in, clinking their empty glasses together and slamming them on the table to the beat of the song.
When they were done, Misha turned to Wyatt with pink cheeks. “We usually sing it on birthdays to wish good fortune, so we get a bit rowdy, but I think it’s valid tonight.” Seeing his glass still in his hand, she bade him to drink it. “Bad luck if you don’t.”
Sto lat, he mouthed and shot it back.
“Great!” Misha exclaimed, taking his glass. “You go and sit in the lounge room and relax, we’ve got the food covered.”
Um, I don’t think so.
He was a chef, his place was in the kitchen, but both Ciocia Violetta and Misha ushered him out with Roksana and the other men. When he resisted, Misha added, “If it makes you feel better, you can do the dishes later. But for now, it’s almost done. Shoo. Good God, it’s like trying to move an elephant. Shoo.” She pushed him again.
