Vuela

Chapter 11

"Um...he just wrote things and presented them."

"Present them where?" asks the cook.

"Like online streaming."

"I'm assuming he was filmed someplace?"

"We had his personal library in our old house. Crews came to the house to film as Dad went through his findings and articles. He'd spend hours down there. Not just talking, but reading and rereading his books. Sometimes, I went down there to try to read them, too. He'd catch me, and he'd read them to me instead."

"You had a close relationship with him, huh? Though he kept himself busy for the most part?"

"I did. He loved Max and me. He always made time for us...until he started dying."

Savage hangs her head over the pot, in shame and in concentration. "What was his end?"

Vuela's throat tightened. "The doctors called it Cranium Shutdown. There's this disease that they can't predict its symptoms or anything. It just triggers the brain to stop functioning, and Dad just slowly died. He rapidly deteriorated from the inside out, and nothing could stop it."

"Something no one saw coming."

"Exactly that." Vuela held back her tears from shedding, and it hurt like she's throwing sand into her own eyes. It's torture, but Vuela hates being vulnerable.

"I'm really sorry." The cook goes to the girl, who's watching the potatoes peel on the automatic peeler and pats her head. "I may not know him personally, but from what you're sayin', he's an honorable gentleman."

"Thank you," Vuela accepts quietly. That has to be the first time she's said that when someone apologizes for her father being dead and saying good things about him afterwards.

"Now, let me tell you this: He may be gone from this planet, but he's still watching you."

Vuela scoffs. "From where?"

"Anywhere. Spirits are interesting creatures, V. They are super attached to those they love. Wouldn't surprise me if he's watching you right now."

"What about Max? His dad is mine, too."

"I have no doubt he watches over him also. A good father watches all of his children."

"I only wish Dad was alive longer for him. Max became a man by himself. With no help from anyone. Not even me."

"You have no fault, girl. You were just as young as he. Both of you are still learning. Learning comes with age. The older and bigger the brain, the more you will grasp life as a source of knowledge. For kids like you and your brother, tragedy brings wisdom quicker. More mistakes, but they are important ones. You can tell Max that when you get home."

With a smile and a nod, Vuela responds with, "Yes. I will tell him that." After all the potatoes have been peeled, she pushes them over to Savage for her to mince.

However, the cook says, "You know what? I want you to do the cutting."

Vuela raises an eyebrow.

"Do you not want to?"

"No, it's not that. I just thought--"

"Go on." Savage pulls a knife from the rack and puts the handle in Vuela's hand. "Get to cutting."

Vuela slowly shrugs her shoulders as she takes one of the potatoes and cuts it down the middle. That's pretty much the tactic that serves Vuela well when it comes to chopping ingredients down to the small pieces that are still noticeable to add into the dish.