Roads Of Passage, Part 9

Roads Of Passage
by Blackbladder
Part 9

"Everyone, this is my Ma - Jean." Iona beamed, pointing to her mother.  Daisy
noted the stark difference in the two women.  Iona thin, happy and full of
life whereas the mother was carrying one too many pounds and frowning as if
depressed.  

"It is nice to meet you, Jean." Maxine smiled, trying to communicate
effectively to this expression-less shell of a woman.  

Jean just stood there, continuing to take powerful puffs from her shrinking
cigarette.  Maxine was amazed as she had never seen such an aggressive smoker
- almost biting the filter off with her inhales.  After a lengthy nose
exhale, Jean walked past the friends into the kitchen, her smoke trailing
behind her.

"We are about to eat - Come join us." The friends heard their temporary
landlord shout as they followed the smoke into the kitchen area.  

The friends were greeted into a large, extensive kitchen facility - with a
large wooden table serving as centrestage.  They also greeted an elderly man,
whom was puffing intensively on a pipe.  They all sat around the table
watching the man aggressively suck deeply on the pipe - absorbing its acrid
smoke into his waiting lungs.  

"This is Jake, my Pa." Iona said proudly, lifting the icy atmosphere of
tension in the air.

One by one, the nervous friends introduced themselves to Jake and accepted
plates containing food from Jean.
 

"I am not very hungry, actually." Rose said plainly, the cigarette smoke
condensing her appetite and numbing her tastebuds.

Jean frowned once more and stared directly at the student with her wide green
eyes.  

"You don't like it hunny, then there's the door!" Jean responded angrily,
pointing to the front door as she sat down at the table.

Rose was stunned by the attitude of this woman, however, refrained from
saying anything realising she had everything to lose.

"It is tradition, Rose.  Any guests or lodgers must follow the family
tradition here as they are part of the family in this household.  I should
have told you before..."  Iona whispered quietly into Rose's red ear.

Iona noted the glittery jewellery dangling from Rose's ear and smiled at her
friend.  

Rose examined the contents of the plate and stabbed her fork into the cooked
meat.  Slicing off a section of the black meat, she raised it to her lips and
chewed reluctantly.  Meanwhile, Jean stopped eating and watched intensely as
Rose battled with the burnt food.  Daisy and Maxine also struggled to chew
the meat comfortably whilst Pandora carefully chewed on the mashed potatoes
from the plate.  The only incentive at this stage was to appease their
hostile landlord  and complete their 'tasks'.  During their meals, the
conversation was minimal - maintaining tension throughout.  From the little
conversation, they all discovered that Jean and Jake had retired from
working, and now kept animals and made a living from breeding dogs.  The fact
Jean spoke passionately about animals gave Rose some hope that humanity did
exist in this being.

"That was delicious, Jean!!"  Jake boasted as he licked his lips, extracting
the gravy reminents from his grey goatee.  

In unison, the women all nodded, passing their plates around towards Jean.
The food had been an almighty struggle to consume, but fatigue played a vital
part in appeasing Jean.  

"Thank you Jean, that was very nice, but we are all pretty tired now..."
Pandora replied, indicating that her friends were ready to retire to their
accommodation for the evening.  Slowly, Maxine, Daisy and Rose followed
Pandora's lead and rose to their feet, hoping Iona would lead them to their
room.  However, Iona's movement never materialised as Jean stood upright at
the end of the table frowning once more at the lodgers.

"The meal is not over yet.  Sit the hell down or find another place to stay!"
Jean demanded.

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