Page 29 of Black
CHAPTER 6
Dinner and Bath
Cia
Dinner with the circus freaks.
Really, that’s how it felt.
I was the only one in a baby jumper but five others were clearly patients or clients… or inmates, whatever the right term was in this horrible place.
Bruce banged his glass and silenced the group.
“I would like to welcome baby Cia and her daddy Gabriel to our group,” Bruce said. “I trust that you’ll all welcome them and introduce yourselves over the next few days.”
A total of fourteen people were around the table and most of them smiled.
“Now let us eat,” Bruce said and picked up a napkin from his plate.
Platters with food were spread around the table and I reached for a bowl of salad but it was quickly snatched out of my hands by Therese. “Babies don’t eat salad,” she said with a tsk-tsk sound. “This is for you, dear.” She reached for a small bowl of porridge and handed it to Gabriel with a baby spoon.
“For your baby girl,” she said and gave him a bright smile.
Gabriel was busy putting food on his own plate but stopped to take the bowl and sat it down in front of me.
“Here you go,” he said when Bruce cleared his voice and discreetly pointed to a mother feeding her son a meatball.
Gabriel got the message and offered me a spoonful of the porridge.
I turned my head away.
“Sometimes it helps using endearments,” Therese suggested.
Gabriel cleared his voice. “Here you go, sweetheart,” he said and gave me a strained smile.
I crossed my arms, two seconds away from telling them all to go fuck themselves.
And then Gabriel did the most ridiculous thing ever… he started playing the airplane game, pretending that the spoon was flying through the air and towards my mouth. And the worst part was that by making a complete fool of himself, the big guy actually managed to make me crack a small smile. The whole scenario was too comical and absurd not to. When I rewarded his effort by opening my mouth and taking a small spoonful of the porridge, Gabriel broke into a grin.
“Good girl,” he said but quickly closed his mouth when I shot him a don’t-push-me glance.
“While we eat I want to take the opportunity to congratulate Martin, who will be going home tomorrow and who has done an excellent job these past weeks,” Bruce said.
A man around forty nodded his head to Bruce. “Thank you, it’s been an amazing journey of self-discovery,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Bruce raised his wine glass. “Let’s drink to Martin and his future,” he said, and everyone raised their glasses too. Except me, of course; I had to let Gabriel offer me a sip of water like I was handicapped.
When we got to dessert, everyone had chocolate cake but me. Therese brought in a ripe banana for Gabriel to feed me. I looked enviously at his chocolate cake but ate half of the banana.
When dinner was done everyone made their way into the large room where board games, toys, and books were scattered. I looked over to see a pool table and a foosball table when Bruce approached us and spoke to Gabriel.
“It’s seven-thirty, and I think now would be a good time for you to give Cia a bath and put her to bed.”
Gabriel had carried me in here and not yet put me down, so he just nodded and walked out the door, towards the cabin.
I didn’t fight him this time and helped a bit by placing my arms around his neck. “Am I too heavy,” I asked?
“Hardly,” he scoffed. “I’ve had to carry backpacks heavier than you for twenty mile hikes.
