{"id":401,"date":"2014-10-06T13:27:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T17:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/?p=401"},"modified":"2014-10-06T13:30:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T17:30:34","slug":"rafefamily-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/2014\/10\/rafefamily-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafe–Family Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

This follows \u2018Rafe-Welcomed Home\u2019<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rafe turned toward the house. \u201cYou\u2019ve put in a new window. Bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Well. Supper is waiting.\u201d Jenna held the door open. \u201cWelcome. Although I suppose welcoming you to your own house is a bit funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyl linked arms with Rafe and ascended the front steps. \u201cWhat your sister means is, that after your last trip home, and with your mother dead and all, there didn\u2019t seem to be much reason to maintain the memorial to your destructive powers. Hence the new window. One we can see through, instead of the boarded up frame your mother insisted on.\u201d He moved to lay his arm across Jenna\u2019s broad shoulders. \u201cShe also means, \u2018Welcome. It\u2019s been a long time.\u2019 You may notice a few other small changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe stepped across the threshold, brushing the latch and tracing the scroll-work handle. She had been six when Da had replaced the leather pull and hinges with iron. Now those were gone. The leather dust flap at the bottom of the door was still there, and no one had yet installed a sill.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoyl\u2019s work.\u201d Jenna\u2019s voice was soft and filled with pride.<\/p>\n

Rafe looked at her sister, trying to remember if she had ever heard this tone. Certainly not when they were growing up, even playing with her doll, or speaking to Ducky. And certainly not the last time she had been home when Jenna had been pregnant and plagued with the twins and a granddaughter. Not to mention the unwanted appearance of a damaged sister.<\/p>\n

The hall was much as she remembered it. The bench sat just back from the door where it wouldn\u2019t block traffic. The rack was double tiered, bottom for boots and top for house shoes. A grated wooden tray caught the dried dirt and chaff. Where a mirror might have hung, there was a frame for keys, horse picks, and other tools that might have hidden themselves in pockets or small hands.<\/p>\n

Rafe unclasped the front of her harness. \u201cWhere would you like this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDa put these up for you, just after Wilf told us you were on your way.\u201d Maud pointed at a pair of hooks next to the hinge side of the door frame. \u201cEasy to grab on your way out, but hard to get at if a marauder were trying to break in and wreak mayhem.\u201d She tapped her head and winked at Rafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know when we last saw marauders in Riverside,\u201d said Jenna.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, now that Auntie Rafe is here, perhaps we\u2019ll be a more attractive target.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI daresay, tucked in an obscure branch of the River, and days from the nearest town. Marauders don\u2019t know what they\u2019ve been missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penelope stood in the doorway to the kitchen. \u201cBut you all are missing supper.\u201d<\/p>\n

The table was loaded with roasted potatoes and carrots, ginger relish, pickles, bread, and cheese. A chicken sat at each end. Jenna and Boyl separated and moved to their ends of the table. \u201cTake my seat.\u201d Boyl pulled out a chair. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll still carve up the chicken, but we all want to get a look at you, and an end seat is the best for that.<\/p>\n

Rafe stood in front of the chair and looked down the table where her sister was sharpening a carving knife on a steel and looking back at Rafe. The door opened behind Jenna. A tall man, with grey side-wings in his hair, ushered in a stout woman and a lad. \u201cGods, you look like Da!\u201d Rafe shoved the chair out of the way and met her brother in a back thumping hug. \u201cAnd Joanie!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenna tapped the table corner with her knife. \u201cYou sit here, Ducky, with Joan. Jole, you can take the seat next to your aunt and get to know her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducky bowed toward Jenna. \u201cWhy thank you, Sister. Order in your iron fist, as ever. Jole, you all right down there with your Auntie Rafe?\u201d He smiled and clapped Rafe on the shoulder. \u201cHe may have heard a story or two about you, over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maud took her place at the bench.\u201cWe thought he was better off practicing with family stories. You know that Wilf is planning to become a bard, don\u2019t you Auntie? He told us how he met you at the Memory Oak and that you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have thought many stories about me would have found their way back to Riverside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenna continued sharpening her knife, eyes on her sister. \u201cOh, you would be surprised at what turns up in Riverside. Just not marauders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA family dinner. Who would have thought? Chicken?\u201d Boyl passed the cut up chicken to Rafe and looked toward Jenna. \u201cYou might be seeing to your own bird, dear. I\u2019m sure your end of the table is hungry as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dinner was a chatty affair, nothing like what Rafe had grown up with. Jenna\u2019s bossing reminded her more of a commander on the lines than the judgment cast down by their mother.<\/p>\n

Eventually Ducky leaned over his plate and locked eyes with Rafe. \u201cYou are not keeping up your end of the conversation, old girl. Nor answering what everyone is dying to know. What brings you back to Riverside?\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence was instant. Wood cracked in the stove. Eyes snapped to Rafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh. That.\u201d Rafe had been waiting for the question, but had expected it to come from Jenna.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. That,\u201d said Ducky. He patted Joan\u2019s hand on his arm rather than shaking it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up one morning, feeling my mortality. I thought to see if there might be a place for me here. And if not, I could consider my options just as easily here as anywhere else. Maybe better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducky turned sharply to Jenna, and Rafe noticed that their sister\u2019s hand was under the table. \u201cJenna,\u201d Ducky said, \u201cI\u2019ve asked your question for you. I did not promise to grill our sister after. I\u2019m willing to let it go at mortality. We are all of an age to know what that feels like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyl nodded at Wilf, sitting on the other side of his cousin. \u201cUnless we want to be immortalized in song. I suggest we leave this off for after dinner and privacy. \u201cRemember, lad, family business stays in the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafe held her cup out toward Penelope who filled it from a pitcher of ale. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Jenna. There was no one incident. Nothing in particular happened. But the recruits were seeming younger, and I was creaking more when I got up and went to bed. Training became just another chore in my day. I woke up one morning and decided it was time to explore a place that seemed new and foreign. You know I\u2019ve never thought of this as \u2018Home\u2019 but more as the place I was born. I wonder if I have a home, or if that even matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her gaze was fixed on Jenna, but she watched Boyl from the corner of her eye. He did not look like he was going to interfere. \u201cI\u2019m here to find a place, not to take one. If you have something for me to do, I will happily do it. But as far as I\u2019m concerned, you and Wilf are still the head of the family. This house is your house. I\u2019m sure it is what Ma would have wished and I\u2019m fine with that.\u201d Rafe knew this wasn\u2019t enough to convince Jenna, but it was a good place to start. \u201cThe only request I have is that I do something useful. I\u2019d rather not be relegated to the Old Timers Bench quite yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This follows \u2018Rafe-Welcomed Home\u2019. Rafe turned toward the house. \u201cYou\u2019ve put in a new window. Bigger.\u201d \u201cYes. Well. Supper is waiting.\u201d Jenna held the door open. \u201cWelcome. Although I suppose welcoming you to your own house is a bit funny.\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[40,31],"tags":[59,21,71],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-rafe","tag-communion","tag-home","tag-rafe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Gnw9-6t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beeberrywoods.com\/FiberEtc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}