Read Write On Press Presents: The Ultimate Collection of Original Short Fiction, Volume II Page 14
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As it turned out, even at a leisurely pace, we did arrive at Ms. Mika’s house only fifteen minutes after she had completed dinner. Unfortunately, since she insisted that we all wash thoroughly and at least twice, Ms. Mika counted sitting down to our meal an hour and twenty minutes late as unreasonable.
“I dearly appreciate you saying that the meal is delicious, gentlemen. But imagine the experience you missed for your tardiness.”
Of course she was pleasantly understanding about the entire affair being that we must have been set upon by bandits or a wild forest cat of some type.
I sat patiently as she smiled and denied every portion of our retelling of events and as she complimented our collaborative imaginations. Finally, we settled on the feral forest cat story and I embellished a bit with acts of personal heroism using only my belt knife and my pack filed with lodestones we dug up around the stone ring road. The boys giggled at most of my retelling of that tale, going along with what must be some new game the adults were playing. However, Ms. Mika seemed put more at ease.
Of course I did have to bear quite a dressing down once I put the boys to bed and I needed Ms. Mika’s assistance applying salve to the scratches on my head and back. She very nicely stated that she would be, “entirely appreciative if you’d refrained from scheduling any more adventures into the foreseeable future. After all, you have very young children that should not be over-exposed to the dangers of the world at such a tender age.”