Page 15 of Beauty and the Baker
He hadn’t talked to Cassie or Hal about what happened to him. He didn’t want to talk about it just yet. Maybe never. He knew they had questions and their patience would only last so long.
“Okay,” Cassie said, clasping her hands in front of her. “Dinner is on the stove when you are ready. And please, please, please, do not let the cat out.”
“I won’t,” Charlie said softly.
“We’ll be back late. Just leave the front lamp lit. I’ll extinguish it when I get home.”
“Alright, mother.”
Cassie looked as if she was about to say something else, but she changed her mind. Instead she stiffly nodded and went to find her husband.
Charlie picked up the book he was reading. It was a book of sonnets, and it couldn’t keep his attention. He figured it might put him to sleep, if nothing else.
He heard the sound of a door creak open and lifted his eyes. Mr. Gladstone, Max’s cat was there, rubbing his chin against the door. He spied Charlie and looked at him with yellow eyes.
Charlie never had a cat before. Yes, there were wild cats that roamed the tenement, but you couldn’t touch them.Feralis what his mother had called them. They kept the mice numbers down in the buildings and yards.
Charlie gave a low whistle and snapped his fingers.He didn’t even know if that was how you call a cat.
The cat was a pudgy thing, his belly nearing the ground. It was a dark grey with white feet and white marks on its chest and forehead. Even one of its ears was white.
Mr. Gladstone, named after the prime minister of England, strutted over to Charlie and hopped on the sofa. The cat gave a soft purr as Charlie rubbed its ears. When Charlie stopped, the cat announced his displeasure until Charlie resumed his massage of the cat’s head.
The cat crawled into Charlie’s lap and flexed its paws, digging its sharp nails into Charlie’s legs. Charlie picked the cat up and placed it back on the cushion next to him. Mr. Gladstone returned to Charlie’s lap and spun around twice before settling down. The cat’s claws still flexed, but this time they weren’t as sharp digging into Charlie’s legs.
Charlie continued to stroke the cat. It was very soothing, and he felt part of his stress start to dissipate. He knew he was tense. He didn’t realize just how tense he was until he was forced to remain seated as to not upset the animal.
He heard a knock on the front door. Maybe if he was quiet, whoever was there would just go away. The knocking continued. Releasing a sigh, he pushed the cat to the floor and got up to see who it was.
Every muscle in his body screamed. Even though he had recovered on the surface layers, the doctor said the burns went very deep below the skin. It would take months before he didn’t feel the pain. And, the skin had shrunk as it healed, pulling tight across the muscles of his back.
His legs weren’t so bad, as long as he didn’t do any running.
The knock sounded once more, this time a little louder.
“Wait a minute,” Charlie called. He opened the door and was about to give the person on the other side a piece of his mind, but he stopped when he saw Frances Brown. She had a cast iron bean pot in her hands and was using the pot to knock on the door.
“Has everyone left for the theater already?” she asked, pushing her way into the house. She walked back to the kitchen, disappearing behind the door. She returned a moment later without the pot.
She looked at Charlie thoughtfully with bright brown eyes. Her face was covered in deep wrinkles, and her skin was like crepe, but with a deep rosy hue on her cheeks. “Well?”
“Uhm. Yes ma’am,” Charlie said.
“You didn’t go?”
Charlie shook his head.
“Why’s that?”
“I just didn’t want to go.”
“Are you going to church this Sunday?” Charlie looked around the room to avoid her gaze. “You’ve been here nearly a month and haven’t left the house.” Finally, he looked back over at her. “I was able to convince Hal to go. Perhaps you should do the same.”
She convinced his father to go to church.That must have been some undertaking. His father had been mad at God since their mother passed.
“I don’t know.”
“Well think about it. You need God. I can tell that.” She came over and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Your father is very glad you are here, Charlie. This might be a time to mend that relationship.”
