After graduating from high school, Mathew sets out to do a two-year missionary service like everyone else his age.
Mathew thought that his only problem would be him adjusting to the city as someone who's lived in a farming town all his life. he didn...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"He's very tall," my mother said as Nath left us behind to bring the car closer to the entrance. I found myself chuckling before I rolled my eyes. Of course, his height is what she would have noticed first. It was late in the afternoon on a Saturday morning. My mother had arrived at the tiny town a few minutes ago. She had taken the bus, and that was why we were currently standing outside the bus station as we waited for Nath. I was wearing casual clothes, a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved top I had to roll up because they were Nath's and were too big for me. My mum was in her regular long skirt and loose-fitting blouse look.
I had been nervous to meet her after the past couple of months, but she had been bubbly and happy like she always was, so I calmed down and became more open chatty as well. She was going on about the renovations to the kitchen back home, and how she was excited to be finally getting a dishwasher. It made me smile. She really was a simple woman.
"So, what have you been doing for the past few months?" she asked, breaking the silence that had washed over us after her last sentence. I shrugged, leaning off the pillar I had been resting on before looking out into the parking lot. There were other people here as well, but it was mostly empty.
"I've taken up some hobbies..." I trailed, taking my eyes to the ground. "I got a job, I learned to cook—"
"You can cook now?" she asked, making me look up at her. She sounded surprised and curious. I smiled, nodding before looking away.
"Yeah, Nath taught me," I said, taking out my hands from my pockets before playing with my fingers. My skin was tougher now, and I was more tanned thanks to taking walks with Nath and helping him out with more physical things.
"He can cook?"
"He lives alone, he would die if he didn't know how," I laughed, and my mother just homed. The little farming town I had grown up in was very traditional, and from what I've been learning since I got here, maybe too traditional. I didn't really know many 'girl' skills, and I hadn't been expected to. Now that I think about it, I didn't know many 'boy' skills either. Nath had recently started showing me how to drive, and he was letting me near his tools as well — they seemed foreign, and I still had to ask him how to use stuff time and again.
Nath's car soon parked right in front of the bus station entrance. I picked up my mum's box and she followed me. I opened the back door, and as she climbed in I went to drop the boxes at the back. When I went to sit up front I realized how tense the atmosphere was. Nath started to drive, and none of said anything until my mother spoke up.
"You're very tall," my mother said, making me chuckle. Nath seemed taken aback. He couldn't turn back to look at her, but I could see he was trying to look at her from the driving mirror.
"Well, yes," he said with a small chuckle. Turned to look at my mother, she had a small smile on her face, and she was probably wondering what to say now. She didn't have to say anything since I butt into the conversation, so it wouldn't die.
