“Thank you.” Christian said, his doubts resurfacing. A little voice inside his head asked him what on earth he thought he was doing.
It was such a bold move on both their sides. One part of him was excited to be at her house, and the other wanted to shake her and demand to know what she was thinking by inviting a stranger into her home. It was such a risky gesture on her part, but a kind one and, his heart melted just by looking at her. He was not used to women like her—women who gave without expecting anything in return.
“Aunty, Crystal’s pushing me!” A little voice yelled from inside the house.
“Crystal, stop it.” Riana said in a measured voice over her shoulder before turning back to Christian. “Welcome to the madness that is my house. You may just change your mind about staying after you’ve met my nieces and nephew!” She laughed slightly and he heard the fondness for the children in her voice. He smiled slightly at her, more curious than ever about her life.
He followed her into a small hallway that was pristine neat and into a living room. He stood at the entrance and looked at the space appreciatively. It wasn’t a large room by any means, but it was furnished tastefully with green and white striped sofas, a thick white carpet and a glass coffee table at the center.
A medium sized TV was mounted on a wall, along with several portraits, one of Raina smiling into the camera and another of three children and two adults whom he did not recognize. There were also other pictures dotting the room—other relatives he surmised.
“Come into the kitchen, I’ll make you a cup of coffee.” she said. “Say hello to my friend, kids, his name is Christopher and he’ll be staying in the basement with us for a little while.”
Two pretty girls, their hair tied up in matching puffs, looked up from the dining table where books were spread out and said hello, and a little boy crawled from underneath the table. Their eyes were curious and wary at the same time.
“This is Jeremiah, and these two are Crystal and Chantal.” she said.
Christian was intrigued as to the presence of the children in Raina’s house. They did not seem as though they were visiting, since their books were laid out on the table and various toys littered the floor.
“Hi, Jeremiah.” Christian said and waved. He broke into a grin when the boy gave him a wide smile.
“Hard at work?” Christian remarked to the girls. They giggled back at him.
“Get on with your math homework while I show Christopher to the basement.” Raina said.
“Aunty, I need some help with the equations.” Crystal called out.
“If you listened more to your teacher when she’s teaching, you wouldn’t have a problem with homework.” Raina admonished.
“Do you mind? I was pretty good at math.” Christian offered.
“Please, go ahead.” Raina said. She smiled and watched as he went over to the dining room table as she puttered in the kitchen. She had a brief flash of sadness at this scene of domesticity—one that almost made her household seem like a “normal” family.
He hung his rucksack on the back of the chair and slid in next to Crystal. He looked through her textbook and then at her work book and proceeded to show her how the sums were done. Crystal was a bright girl, Christian noticed, except that her attention span was short.
“When I was your age, we had this teacher …”
Christian racked his brain for a story to entertain Crystal so that he could give her a break before the next sum. It seemed to work, for she laughed uproariously at his stories. Her sister, Chantal, was more quiet and hung back. She smiled in amusement at his stories but soon returned to her work, her small brow creased in concentration.
“Do you want to play soccer?” Jeremiah said, laying his hand on Christian’s leg.
“Sure I’d love to. After I’m done helping Crystal? Do you have a ball?’
“Yes, I’ll go get it.”
Christian finished with Crystal’s homework and stood up shortly after Jeremiah returned with the ball. The boy led him towards the kitchen which Christian noticed was just as well decorated and as neat as the living room. He was admiring Raina more and more. She was nowhere to be found, but he spied a door off the kitchen that was open just before he reached the backyard.
He took a peek and saw stairs going down to the basement. A rattling noise below told him that Raina was down there.
Christian followed Jeremiah out the back door though and into the fenced backyard. He and Jeremiah stood at opposite ends of the lawn and kicked the ball to each other. To make the game more interesting, Christian placed two stones on each end to act as the goal posts.
“Ready, champ?” Christian said and made a show of measuring the goal posts and then softly kicking the ball.
Jeremiah lunged after it and caught it in his arms, letting out a celebratory shout that could be heard by neighbors several doors down. Christian grinned, enjoying watching Jeremiah celebrate his catch. The next kick was Jeremiah’s. His face tight with concentration, he kicked the ball, aiming perfectly between the goalposts.
Christian exaggerated his movements pretending to try and catch the ball. He missed and
it went straight between the two posts. Raina found them twenty minutes later and when Christian saw her, she was standing by the back door looking at them pensively.