The Last Healer

Chapter 5: Ariella

Chapter 5 Ariella

            It's been hours since they all went to nap. I have no idea how many hours it has been, everything seemed to blur together as I read through the books and looked at the recipes that I could make for dinner. I knew they would be hungry by the time they woke up but there wasn't any food in the kitchen. We used what little we had last night for dinner. I knew that the pantry and the box were empty so I knew that checking it would be pointless.

            I had no idea what to do. I know Mrs. Hill usually cooked them food, but would she be willing to do it again? And would she even know that there's no food here? It's possible that she would be willing to help but there was no way to let her know we needed help unless I went over and asked her. But could I do that? I shook my head and sighed, there was no way I could go over and ask her for that.

            Someone knocked on the door and I jumped. I had no idea who it could be or what they wanted. I slowly stood up and inched towards the door. The knocking came again, it was a strong knock but not urgent.

            "Open up, please! It's Mrs. Hill!" Her voice rung our and I sighed in relief. I put my hand on the handle and opened the door to see her standing there with a smile on her face. "Good, I was worried everyone was asleep." She laughed and patted my cheek as she walked inside. She carried a basket of food in her left hand and she was careful to keep it close to her as we walked into the kitchen. I followed her closely and watched as she placed the basket on the counter and then turned to me. "I know how little food you family keeps here so I figured that I could stop by and we could make some lunch together."

            "Thank you." I smiled.

            "Don't mention it, my dear." She winked and then stretched. "Now, Ariella, you have to tell me, have you ever had macaroni and cheese?

            "No." I blushed and she shook her head.

            "Something we must change, then." She winked and walked to the cupboards. She started to pull pots and pans out of them. "Will you unpack the basket, child?"

            I nodded in response and stepped next to the basket. There was an assortment of different kinds of things. I pulled out some kind of noodles, some yellow cheese, and a white one. There were two bottles of milk, four sticks of butter, and a small bag of flour. I placed the neatly on the counter by the basket and then turned to Mrs. Hill. She was standing by the stove, a pot over a flame, and she took the noodles when I gave them to her. She opened the bag they were in and poured the noodles into the pot and then stepped back.

                "We want to cook the noodles properly, so we have to boil them." She explained as she started to rummage through the cupboards again. She pulled out what looked like a bowl with a bunch of holes in it. "When they're done cooking, we strain them." She smiled as she put the bowl by the sink. She moved a couple of cupboards down and opened the drawer. She pulled out a small, but sharp knife. I stepped closer to her and watched as she pulled out the blocks of cheese. "We want to cut the cheese up pretty fine so that we can make the sauce. So, when you take a knife, you have to be careful not to cut yourself, alright?"

                She waited until I nodded before continuing. She showed me how to cut it up without hurting myself and how small that it had to be. She handed me the knife with a warning to be careful. I was nowhere near as fast as she was, but I didn't hurt myself with the knife. Mrs. Hill nodded in approval and patted my shoulder. "Excellent." She smiled at me. "I think you are my new favorite." She scooped the cheeses up and put them into a bowl. She then took the butter over to the stove. She grabbed a smaller pan from the cupboard and put it on the stove. She turned on the low heat and dumped the butter into the pan. I took the flower over when she asked for it and we put in some flower until it was a little creamy. Then I went over and grabbed the milk and the bowl of cut up cheeses. We poured in a little bit of the milk and then added the cheeses. She gave me the spoon and told me to keep stirring until the cheese was melted. I watched as Mrs. Hill put the bowl in the sink and picked up the pan with the oven mitts. She took it over to the sink and dumped the noodles in. She smiled at me as she placed the pot back on the stove and then picked the bowl out of the sink. She shook it slightly which caused some water to fall out. When she was satisfied, she poured the noodles back into the pot and looked at me. "That looks good to me, don't you think?"