F or the rest of the day everything goes wrong. And when they sit down to dinner that evening they find that Regina has cooked the chicken so long that when they chew it is like having an ancient piece of saddle leather on their tongues. Papa eats one mouthful and pushes away his plate.
Aster continues chewing grateful that she does not have to speak. Papa leans over and lifts her plate away from her. “Don’t eat this it will damage your innards ” he says.
She looks up at him. Regina’s cooking has long been a contentious subject. When their housekeeper’s mind fixes itself on the pot and the fire the meat is fragrant and tender and melts on the tongue. When her mind is fixed on djinn that may have crept into the spitting tongues of flame the food is either scorched or oversalted.
Aster’s mind though is not on her food. Her mind is on her conversation with Jocef and she aches for some quiet some aloneness that she may turn over his words in her mind. But Papa waits for a response. She sends him a smile.
