Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ For Want of a Nail ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

A soft knock was heard at John's door.

"Mr. John? Are you sleeping?" came the small child's voice.

There was no answer so the two girls decided to take a look inside the room. Actually, Brittany decided to since Lindsey just followed Brittany.

The two five-year-olds quietly stepped into the room. Brittany tilted her small head to the side as she studied the sleeping, young man on the bed. They crept over to his side. Brittany decided to climb onto the bed.

"Brit'ny," came the urgent whisper from Lindsey.

"What?" Brittany whispered back.

"Don't do that. What if he gets mad?" Lindsey continued whispering nervously as she shot looks from Brittany to John and back.

"He's nice. I don't think he'll get mad if we tell him it's dinner time," Brittany reasoned. She finally accomplished her goal and was now on the bed crawling over John's stomach. You would think he would wake up by now, but he was exhausted by the day's activities, however small, because of his weakened state.

Brittany sat on his stomach and looked at him. She patted his chest with her small hand and felt something hard. As with most children, she had a curious nature. Her curious hand felt five hard long "somethings" on the right side of John's chest. She followed the hardness to his right arm, which was hidden under the blankets.

Lindsey noticed her friend's sudden interest in John's chest and tried to see what it was.

The five "hard somethings" connected to a "big hard something" where his right arm should've been. Brittany couldn't take it anymore, so she lifted the blanket to see what the "hard something" was.

"Lindsey! Look!"

Brittany was pointing at something Lindsey couldn't quite see. So she climbed onto the bed, crawled over John's legs then up his side to see what Brittany was pointing at. Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head to the side in a curious fashion.

"What is it?" Lindsey asked.

"I think it's supposed to be his arm. You could almost see how it goes on him through his shirt. I wonder if it hurts?"

The two struggled a little with his blankets to further reveal his arm until, finally, they saw it in its entirety.

"Wow! Look at his hand! It looks like a dragon's!" Brittany whispered excitedly. They touched the cool metal out of curiosity, as with anything else.

"Maybe we should try to wake him up now," suggested Lindsey as the novelty of a metal arm wore off.

"I guess we should," agreed Brittany. "Mr. John? Wake up!"

"Huh?" came a groggy reply.

"It's dinner time!"

"Wha-?"

John blinked his sleepy eyes and squinted at the small figures on and beside him. He finally noticed the weight on his stomach.

"Brittany? Lindsey?" he guessed as he ran his left hand through his aqua-silver hair.

"Yup!"

John gave a small "oof!" when Brittany bounced on him a little. He quickly, but gently, grabbed Brittany with both hands and lowered her to her feet beside his bed. She wiggled in his arms and gave a delighted squeal.

"Your hand's cold!"

He looked down and realized that he forgot to conceal his right arm.

"Mr. John? Why do you wear armor in your sleep?"

John was snapped out of his daze and located the quiet voice and found it was Lindsey's.

"Well," he started slowly. He felt a tug and looked down at Brittany to see that she had a grasp on his metal arm and was giving his shoulder a puzzled look.

"It won't come off!" she exclaimed.

"That's because it's not armor," John explained.

"But it's made out of metal and stuff."

"It's a replacement arm for my real one."

"What happened to your real one?"

`That's what I'd like to know,' thought John darkly.

"Maybe he lost it like his memory," Lindsey suggested in her quiet voice.

John looked back up at Lindsey, stunned.

"How did you know about me losing my memory?"

Lindsey looked down at the bed and traced a finger around on the blanket and replied shyly, "Because you didn't know where the bathroom was."

This confused John, but then she added, "Grown-ups know everything. So if they have to ask kids something, they probably forgot."

This further explanation made John realize that she made a lucky guess and he softened his eyes and smiled at them.

His nap and lunch made him feel much better, but his stomach told him that dinner would be a good idea.

"Well, I guess we don't want to be late for dinner."

John suddenly picked the two girls up and threw them onto his shoulders. They screamed and giggled. They were balanced on their stomachs over his shoulders. One on each. He held onto their waists so they wouldn't fall off, being especially careful with Lindsey since he was handling her with his metal arm and didn't want to crush or scratch her on accident with the clawed and strong metal appendage.

He was surprised and pleased they were not afraid of him, now that they discovered his strange arm.

"So, where do we go?" John asked.

Brittany giggled then said, "Down the hall, like going to the bathroom, but go the other way."

He did as he was told. The hall stretched on for a short distance then he heard talking and the clatter of silverware. He headed towards that sound and came upon an open door where perhaps twenty people were in the process of getting food, eating and talking. A few people glanced up and smiled at him. A few others gave a curious glance at his arm and looked away, not wanting to embarrass themselves by staring. He felt intimidated by the short silence and the feeling that he was alone. He knelt down slowly and carefully unloaded his precious cargo of girls, feet first onto the floor. They immediately took a hold of each of his hands and pull/led him to the opposite side of the room filled with benches and tables where a short, plump, aged lady was serving dinner. She had dark gray hair with silver streaks up in a bun and small spectacles. She wore a white, frilly apron over a black dress with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She had warm, brown eyes that were crinkled from her nice smile. She seemed to glow in a motherly fashion at the three.

John liked the way she looked and relaxed.

"Oh my! My poor dear! You're just skin and bones! I need to fatten you up!" the motherly woman exclaimed as she studied John.

John blushed a little. He was hardly "skin and bones". As Sarah had pointed out in the beginning, he was nicely muscled.

"Aunt Rena! That's what you always say!" protested both girls at the same time.

"Aunt Rena" chuckled and leaned over the table to smooth a hand over both their heads.

"And so I do, but it's the truth! In my day, it was considered unhealthy if you weren't plump!"

"Aunt Rena" looked up at the silent young man and said, "My name is Taterena Kertoa. Everybody calls me Aunt Rena and I'd be pleased if you'd do the same. My younger sister found it hard to call me "Taterena" so she called me "Rena" instead. That's how I got my name."

"My name is John. I have no last name to offer you at the moment, for which I apologize." With that he gave her a little bow of respect.

"I see, you're a charmer with the ladies, aren't you?" Aunt Rena teased, then added, "Well, I don't ever want it said that I starved anyone! Three dinners, coming up!"

She produced three trays from under the table and ladled out three bowls of creamy soup from a large pot that was placed over an energist powered stove. The three trays were soon filled with salad, soup, some sort of roasted bird and a piece of pie with black colored berries in it. Everything looked delicious.

The three thanked Aunt Rena and took their trays of food. John went to the nearest empty table and sat down. The two girls followed him and sat in front of him. He gave them a brief smile and started on his dinner.

Author's Notes: Aunt Rena a loosely based on my Great Aunt Ta. The small story of how Aunt Rena got that name from her younger sister happened to my Aunt Ta. Aunt Carol couldn't pronounce "Cathleen" and instead said "Tataleen" which eventually got shortened to "Ta".