Darling Legacy · Chapter 7 — Pancakes, honey and berries
There is a field of wildflowers, but they are not like the ones growing around my house. They are tall, so tall I can’t pick them. They are fun colours, like deep purple and bright yellow. Some of the petals are turning, like flowery fans in the wind. It is all so pretty. I dance amongst them, and smell the short ones. It feels like the whole place is made just for me.
The flowers get blurry, and I feel the warmth on my eyelids. I turn my head and squish my face into my pillow. The sun is bothering me, shining on my face through the crack in the curtains. Ugh! Mornings are so hard, and my bed is so comfortable.
I open my eyes to see my brother, sprawled on top of his covers, not even moving. I frown jealously at his ability to sleep through anything. At least he doesn’t snore.
I push off the covers and put my feet on the floor. I look back at the window: it looks like a beautiful day outside. My dream was so nice, and I wish the flowers really were that big. But I know that’s silly.
Maybe I can pick some more for the table after I gather the eggs this morning. I get up and start walking toward the door. I make sure to step over the one floorboard that creaks the most between my bed and Corey’s.
When I open the door a little, I hear Christopher’s humming, and the sweet, buttery smell of pancakes fills my nose. I close the door behind me and hop to the kitchen.
‘’Hey there, princess. How did you sleep?’’ asked Chris, smiling.
‘’I slept well, but the sun woke me up again. I was having such a nice dream, with humongous flowers and fan-like petals. I really want to pick new flowers for the table later. Do you think I can? I’m sure new ones bloomed by the side of the house and —’’
‘’Woah, slow down, honey. Remember, you have to finish your school project today. You can pick flowers after, okay? I’ll even help you if you want. We could go check the community garden across the river,’’ Chris says as he puts my plate down in front of me.
He sits across from me with his own plate: pancakes with fresh berries and honey.
‘’Ohh, I love when you add honey! Thank you Chris!’’, I say, and start eating right away.
The sticky honey covers the berries in my mouth and I stuff more pancake in there. This breakfast is so yummy I want to inhale it! I finally swallow my enormous bite, and it makes Chris laugh. ‘’Be careful, Cora, you’ll choke. There is more, you know.‘’ He eats like a big person, slowly. I prefer fast and tasty, but I try to slow down like him and have a sip of milk before my next bite.
The front door opens, and I hear shuffling and sighing. It’s Cathy. She always goes outside in the morning and comes in with her hands too full, and then has trouble taking off her boots. I look at Chris and take another bite, and I wonder if he’ll tell her again that she doesn’t have to carry everything at once. He always says, ‘’Cathy, there is no rush, you can bring one basket at a time!’’ and that always makes her scoff. Cathy doesn’t like it when we tell her what to do. I listen for the boots dropping to the floor. They do, and Cathy appears behind me with two garden baskets in her hands. They are full. I really like when she brings the fresh stuff inside. It always smells so good, and it looks so pretty.
‘’Hi, Cora. Good morning, baby’’ says Cathy. She kisses the top of my head and goes to the kitchen. Chris asks her how the harvest is. From the kitchen, Cathy tells him that the berries are beautiful this summer, and that she harvested herbs for dinner and carrots. I slouch in my chair.
‘’Awww... Are we going to eat carrot soup tonight? I don’t like it. I like potato soup better.’’
Cathy comes back with a plate this time and sits at the table. ‘’Oh, okay, then I guess I won’t be needing to make this carrot cake I had in mind. That’s okay, I can use—’’ I jump up and say that I love carrot cake. ‘’Please, please, please make it ! Your icing is so good! Please!’’ I beg.
Cathy laughs and tells me she will. I quickly finish my plate and take it to the sink. I use the step stool to reach the faucet and rinse it off like Cathy showed me. The leftover honey mixes with blueberry juice, and it makes a purple juice. It reminds me that my favourite purple dress is clean, and it would be perfect for today! I should wear it.
I go to Corey's and my bedroom, and swing the door open. I hear him grunt and turn onto his belly on his bed. Oops. I forgot about him. At first, I feel bad for bothering him, but then I remember it’s late now and he didn’t even have breakfast yet. ‘’Wake up, Corey, Chris made berry and honey pancakes. I’ll eat them all if you don’t grab a plate!’’ I say without even looking at him. I’m too busy digging through my drawers for the purple dress. Finally, I find it. It’s so pretty. It’s my favourite: it’s knee-length, and made of denim. It used to be blue, but Cathy dyed it for me. Now it’s purple and has little flowers stitched at the bottom and on the shoulder straps. Oh yes, I need a T-shirt to wear under this dress, because it’s overalls. I reach in the top drawer for a white shirt, socks, and undies. I have everything. ‘’Get up, Corey!’’ I shout before leaving the room in a hurry.
I hear footsteps coming toward my bedroom. Oh no. It must be Chris or Cathy coming to wake me up. I slept too long. I hurriedly cover myself with the blanket and turn onto my side. I pretend I'm asleep.
The door opens. The footsteps are light, so it’s probably Cathy. She walks right over to the curtains and... sunlight. ‘’Ughhh okay, okay, I’m up!’’ I grunt. Cathy laughs and starts opening drawers and getting clothes out. I sit in bed and rub my eyes. The sun is so bright it feels like the room is shining, and it kinda hurts my eyes. Cathy sits beside me on my bed.
‘’Good morning, sleepy head. I let you sleep, but now it’s time to get up. I chose these clothes for you. Cora is already out gathering the eggs. I think Christopher wants to take her to the community garden today.’’
I grunt and let myself fall back onto my pillow. I really hope Cathy doesn’t tell me I also have to go to the garden. It’s like ten minutes of walking, then Cora spends hours smelling every single flower, and Chris takes forever to pick stuff out, and it’s so boring. There is nothing to do in the garden. And there are bugs, and they always sting me all over my legs, but never Cora. It’s not fair. And they always tease me when I complain about it, too.
‘’So, I was wondering if you would like to play some chess with me?’’ Cathy says. Oh, now that is interesting! ‘’Oh yes, that would be so fun! Can you teach me something new?’’ I ask her. Cathy really knows how to have real fun. ‘’I can try, but you need to get dressed and have breakfast first. I need to go clean some produce in the kitchen. I’ll prepare your plate. You have five minutes’’
She pats my hair and scruffs it like she always does. I grunt and turn around in the bed, pulling the covers over me again. She gets up and goes to the door, and catches me looking. She says, ‘’Get up now, I'm serious.’’
I stay in bed for one more minute. When Cathy says she’s serious, she usually means she’ll get mad. I finally get up and put my feet on the floor. The sun is still shining in my eyes. I don’t understand why Cora and Chris like the outside so much. I prefer the night. I think the sky is so pretty when it’s all black. It looks so big, and the stars shine too. Not as bright as the morning sun, so it doesn’t hurt my eyes.
I pull the shirt over my head and yawn. Ugh, it’s so hard to wake up. Maybe I stayed up too late last night reading the new book I got. Cathy got me a book about stars, and I read it really late under the covers with my flashlight.
I finish getting dressed and leave the room. On my way to the dining room, I bump into Cora. She has one boot on and her hairbrush in one hand, and is trying to put on her sweater.
‘’Corey! We’re going to the community garden! Do you want to come with us?’’ she asks. ‘’Ugh, no,’’ I say and roll my eyes. She tries to pull her hand into her sleeve and drops the brush on the floor. I roll my eyes even harder this time: she’s all over the place. I pick up her hairbrush and hold it while she puts on her sweater. The pancake smell is distracting, and I realize that I’m hungry after all. Cora seems to have forgotten about the brush, because she’s now sitting on the floor, putting on her boot. I look down at her. Sometimes, when I look at her, I feel weird because it’s like looking at myself, but more annoying. But sometimes I also want to hug her, because it’s like she’s still me. Does that mean I only love me? Cathy and Chris say we complete each other.
‘’Do you want me to brush your hair?’’ I ask. I don’t love it, but I know she’ll forget the brush and won’t do it. And it will make her happy too. ‘’Awn, that’s nice, Corey’’ I hear Cathy say from the kitchen. I smile. Cora nods. She says, ‘’Don’t pull!’’ I promise I won’t.
I run the brush through her hair. I’m very careful not to pull on the knots. She always has a few at the back of her head, and I made her cry once because I pulled too hard.
‘’Cora! Are you coming?’’ we hear Chris call from the porch.
‘’Just in time,’’ I say, and I put the brush down on the bench in the hallway. ‘’Thanks, Corey! Bye! ’’ says Cora, already halfway through the door. The door closes loudly behind her. The house is silent for a minute.
I finally get to the kitchen. I sit in my usual chair, where my breakfast is waiting, and start eating right away. Cathy comes and sits in front of me. She’s smiling. We don’t talk for a little bit. I’m eating, and she’s drinking from her coffee mug.
In between bites, I look at Cathy. She’s looking at something I can’t see outside. Sometimes, when she looks outside, she looks a little bit weird. It looks like she’s sad, but she’s not crying or anything. She just seems to think about other things, but she never tells us what. I think she doesn’t have time to look outside when Chris and Cora are here, because they talk so much. But when it’s just us, we often don’t talk. I like it, because I can trace the constellations in my head, and practice the star names too. I think she likes it too, because after she’s done looking outside, she usually asks me if I want to play a game or practice chess with her, and she’s always happy. If I’m extra lucky that day, she even reads me pages from some of my books.
‘’Do you still want to play chess?’’ Cathy asks me.
‘’Yes! If I win, will you read a page of my new book for me?’’ I ask.
‘’Sure, pumpkin. Go rinse your plate, I'll go get the board.’’ We both get up.
While waiting for Cathy in the dining room, I look at the window she was looking out of. I really wonder what she looks at outside. I get up, and open the curtain wider so I can see everything outside. I only see the front yard. The stone wall is the same as usual, the garden is there, the chickens and the coop, Cora’s flowers. I squish my cheek in the window so I can see further to the side: our cow is in the pasture, and the mailbox is there too. Everything is the same as usual. I roll my eyes and think that maybe she’s just a little bit weird, and walk back to my chair.
Everything is the same as usual, and I like it that way.
