Bodiel steps forward. “Perhaps you will join us for something to eat and drink at that late-night coffee shop across the road there.”

Lucias looks across the asphalt and sees the reflection of green, red, and blue in the glimmer of the rain. He is going to say no, but then the cramp in his stomach makes him reconsider. He hears his stomach growl softly and then self-consciously he says, “Okay. Thanks.”

They walk across the road, three figures side by side through the rain.

Bodiel is smartly dressed in an open neck shirt, neat dress pants and shiny black shoes. Beside him, Adelaide is dressed in a pair of black jeans with a long black overcoat. Her black boots splash through the puddles.

A small step behind them, as if he did not want to seem too eager to get to the diner, is Lucias in his green frayed jumper, faded jeans hanging from his hips limply and trainers which has seen better days. He is clinging tightly to his little bundle of worldly possessions.

Subconsciously Lucias pulls the sleeves on his sweater up over his elbows and brushes his hand through his dirty blonde hair, moving his bundle from one arm to the other.

The bell over the door of the late-night coffee shop tinkles merrily and Bodiel stamps his shoes on the ground as soon as they walk through the glass doors into the coffee shop.

After Lucias steps in, he hears the door swoosh closed behind him.

Bodiel walks toward a table in the back, while Adelaide and Lucias follow him. Lucias wonders why he would walk through the entire café to sit at the back, when they are the only customers. Bodiel waits for Adelaide to slide into the booth and then he sits down next to her. Lucias sits down across from them.

The room is filled with an amber ambiance, making it hard to see into the furthest corners on the opposite of the long rectangular building. A tired looking waitress walks toward them, and she is wearing a salmon-coloured cover-all. Her perky voice does not match her expression, when she asks, “Are you ready to order?” She holds her pad and pen ready.

Bodiel orders three filter coffees while he pushes a menu across the table to Lucias.

Lucias takes it and then rests his hand self-consciously over it.

Adelaide opens her menu and says, “I think I’ll have the Sunrise Breakfast. What will you have Lucias?”

Feeling embarrassed, yet starving, Lucias says, “That sounds great. I wouldn’t mind. Thank you.”

The waitress scribbles on her pad hurriedly and then she looks at Bodiel. “Anything for you?

Bodiel looks up at her and smiles friendly. “No, thank you. That will be all for now.”

The waitress nods her head and then turns around toward the kitchen area.

Silence hangs thick in the air.

Bodiel clears his throat. “I am sure you have questions, especially after what just happened.”

Lucias looks up at him, feeling angry and brave. The two emotions are roiling around in a spin, faster than a tornado on the pit of his stomach. “So? Are you my father?”

Bodiel looks unsure, but he answers in a firm voice, “Yes. I am. Before you get upset, I have a lot to explain, and it will all make sense once I have told you.”

The coffee arrives, already sweetened and with milk.

With his eyes on the white porcelain cup between his hands, Lucias twirls the cup in front of him around and around, suppressing the urge to drink all its contents in one swallow.

Adelaide leans over the table toward Lucias. “I know it can’t be easy, but you really can trust us. Bodiel won’t be able to tell you the full story here.” Her eyes sweep the room.

Lucias looks up at her and once again, he notices how pretty she is. Sometimes – every day - he wishes his life was different, that he grew up in a normal house, with a normal family and then perhaps he would have had a girlfriend as pretty as this girl. He once again feels an anger so great; it makes his head feel fuzzy, toward the man sitting across from him. Supposedly his father. He looks well and he does not look as if he has ever wanted for anything, so why then was he, Lucias, left at an orphanage when he was only a couple of hours old? What happened to his mother? Is she also still alive? He would like to give her a piece of his mind as well. Yes, granted, he is relieved he has, maybe, found a place where he belongs, but he also has many suppressed feelings reaching boiling point.

He looks across the table at Adelaide. “You say so easily, trust us, but you still have not told me your name and I surmise his name is Bodiel.” Lucias points his hand in the general direction of Bodiel, without looking at him.

Adelaide sighs. “Really, Lucias, we are on your side. I already told you earlier, outside, that my name is Adelaide and let me introduce you to Bodiel.” Adelaide smiles while she looks in the direction of Bodiel.

Just then the food arrives, and the smell alone melts away any thoughts Lucias might have had or any questions he is about to ask. He picks up the knife and fork and then he starts to eat single-mindedly. He can only taste the egg yolk as it runs over his tongue and the oil from the bacon when the two mixes. He feels the food being deposited into his long empty stomach and he feels a warm feeling rise from his mid-section. He does not notice the way Bodiel is looking at him.

When Lucias finishes every morsel on his plate, suppressing the urge to lick the congealed, sticky yellow yolk from the white porcelain plate, Bodiel silently signals the waitress and he asks, “So will you come with us, Lucias?”

Adelaide laughs softly. “Of course, you will be coming with us. I can see the questions racing through your mind. You want answers and only Bodiel can give them to you. Trust us. What have you got to lose anyway?”

Lucias wants to say that perhaps he could lose his life. It is the only thing he has left to lose. He feels confused. True. He wants answers to the many questions he has, so he decides, impulsively, to go with them, against his better judgement. He has the urge to see where it would lead him.

Bodiel leaves the money for the bill on the table and then they walk out of the restaurant, one after the other.

Once outside, they walk next to each other back across the asphalt and then past the little alcove where not so long ago Lucias was getting ready to settle in for the night.

Adelaide whispers, “Bodiel, someone is following us.”

“I know,” Bodiel replies, while moving closer to Lucias.

Bodiel and Adelaide start to walk faster and automatically Lucias follows. They reach a dark SUV with dark tinted windows. Adelaide opens the back door and then motions hurriedly to Lucias to get in.

After the briefest moment of hesitation, he gets up into the car.

Adelaide closes the door behind him and then she gets into the front seat in front of him. By the time she pulls the door shut behind her, Bodiel has started the car.

Lucias is sure he heard the rustle of feathers.

Bodiel pulls away from the curb and then they drive off into the gleaming, reflective night.

Lucias reads the overhead signs as they fly past, so he would know where he is if he needed to find his way back.

They leave the city and then an hour later, Bodiel turns the car into a narrow, rural road. They follow this road through the dark trees for quite a distance and Lucias considers that although he followed the signs, he still did not have the foggiest of clues where they were at this moment.

After what feels like forever, Lucias sees a darker structure against the black of the night, before Bodiel starts to slow down.

The car comes to a stop in front of a wooden structure and then Bodiel gets out of the car. Lucias and Adelaide follow close behind.

They walk through the unlocked door and from the corner of his eye Lucias sees Adelaide hesitate for a moment outside the door, looking up into the sky before she comes into the room and closes the door behind her.

She says as she walks past them deeper into the house, “They did not follow us here. I wonder what they are up to.”

Bodiel shows Lucias toward a small lounge area. When Bodiel sits down, Lucias sinks down into a chair across from him. He notices Adelaide standing in the doorway. He feels dirty and he is sure he smells bad, which is probably why she is keeping her distance.

Lucias is expecting his mother to walk into the room at any moment. As the silent minutes tick by, he cannot help himself, and he asks, “Is my mother here?”

Bodiel looks at Lucias startled, as a look of pain flashes across his features briefly. Bodiel says curtly, “Why don’t you go and clean up and then I will tell you everything, once you feel more comfortable.”

Lucias notices the look between Adelaide and Bodiel, while he stands up from the chair.

“Adelaide will show you the way.” Bodiel dismisses them both.

Lucias washes his body repeatedly under the spray of the showerhead, until the dirty brown water swirling into the drain clears. By the time he gets out of the shower, he feels a hundred times better.

He takes the disposable razor, arranged with all the other bathroom paraphernalia on the bathroom basin, out of its plastic container and then after smearing shaving foam lavishly over his cheeks and chin he shaves the new soft beard from his face. He only recently noticed the soft, downy hair growing on his face.

He shaves in long upward strokes as he had seen the older boys at the orphanage do and then he rinses the excess foam from his face. He dries his face, and then wipes his hand over his chin and cheeks. He smiles a sardonic smile as he considers how the little, small things can make live seem so much easier, things which other people, those who looked at him without seeing him, take for granted.

Adelaide had placed a clean set of clothes on the toilet lid before she left earlier, and when he is done dressing into the new dark blue jeans and soft white T-shirt, he feels good.

He walks out of the bathroom, feeling like a completely different person and when he walks back into the lounge area, he sees Adelaide do a double take.

Lucias smiles embarrassed and then he sits down in the same chair he left more than an hour ago. Lucias notices Bodiel holding a glass of red wine and then he hears Adelaide ask, “Would you like a cup of tea, or would you prefer coffee?”

Lucias looks up at her, where she is still standing in the doorway. “Could I have a cup of coffee. If that’s okay?”

He sees Adelaide frown and he hears her mumble as she walks down the hall toward the kitchen, “I would not offer, if it wasn’t okay.”

Bodiel takes a deep breath and Lucias can see him visibly settle deeper into the chair. Bodiel starts, “Sit back, it’s a long story and we’re going to be here for a while.”

CONTINUE READING