{"id":413,"date":"2010-09-20T10:29:43","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T14:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=413"},"modified":"2010-09-20T10:29:43","modified_gmt":"2010-09-20T14:29:43","slug":"leon-at-eleven-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/birthmarked\/leon-at-eleven-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon at Eleven, Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is the continuation of the story that began September 17th, one post below.)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>The cook was frowning at him now.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019d you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an accident,\u201d Leon said.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, Fiona.\u00a0 We should go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cNo, have a seat,\u201d said the cook.\u00a0 \u201cI could use some help, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat with?\u201d Fiona asked.<\/p>\n

The cook held up a strange tool with a handle and a curved, dull blade that circled around on itself in a wheel.\u00a0 He passed it to Fiona.\u00a0 \u201cSee if you can figure that out.\u201d\u00a0 Then he turned and strolled to the other end of the large kitchen.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Fiona fingered the wheel, and while Leon could see she was genuinely curious about it, the shame of his lip was coming back to him.\u00a0 He had a bad feeling his father wouldn\u2019t like finding them in the kitchen, either.\u00a0 It was one thing if they could sneak in for a couple apples, or if the old cook was there to pour them some milk, but he didn\u2019t know Mabrother Cho at all, and the longer they stayed, the riskier it was.<\/p>\n

Fiona rolled the device over the table.\u00a0 \u201cI see what it is,\u201d she said, delighted.\u00a0 \u201cIt cuts circles.\u00a0 He\u2019s making donuts.\u00a0 Please, Leon.\u00a0 Can we stay?\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Leon wavered, and looked up to see the cook returning.\u00a0 He wordlessly passed over a small green bowl with a chunk of ice inside, then took the tool back from Fiona and began chatting with her about donuts.\u00a0 Leon stared at the hard, frosty ice.\u00a0 He picked up a piece with his fingertips and tried it lightly against his lip.\u00a0 It made him thirsty.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike this,\u201d Mabrother Cho said, guiding Fiona\u2019s hand to firmly, slowly draw the tool over the flat dough.\u00a0 Perfect circles with perfect holes lined up in a neat pattern, and Fiona enthusiastically started in to cut the next row.\u00a0 The cook slid up the circles with a spatula and dropped four into the boiling oil.\u00a0 Immediately, the dough puffed up and began to brown.\u00a0 Fiona kept chattering, and Leon was happy for her.\u00a0 He settled back on his stool and closed his eyes, rubbing the ice slowly over his swollen lip and sucking the moisture in as it melted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about you?\u00a0 What\u2019s your favorite food, Leon?\u201d Mabrother Cho said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll teach you how to make it.\u00a0 Anything,\u201d the cook said, smiling.\u00a0 He scooped out the first donut, dabbed it against a paper, dipped it in sugar, and set it on a plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now?\u201d Leon asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody\u2019d ever said \u201cSure\u201d like that to him, not as long as he could remember.\u00a0 Fiona was already eating one of the donuts, getting sugar all over her little fingers and sleeves.\u00a0 She was such a kid, he thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019d like to know how to make pumpkin bread,\u201d Leon said slowly.\u00a0 \u201cBut not tonight.\u00a0 I need to take Fiona back up.\u00a0 Some other time?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to stay,\u201d Fiona said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou heard your brother,\u201d the cook said.\u00a0 \u201cFinish up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeon didn\u2019t have a donut yet,\u201d Fiona argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can take a couple with you, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon set the bit of ice back in the bowl, and glanced up to find Mabrother Cho regarding him thoughtfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch yourself, won\u2019t you?\u201d the new cook said.<\/p>\n

Leon felt something go still inside him, but it wasn\u2019t fear.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t quite loneliness, either.\u00a0 He reached for one of the donuts to take with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Mabrother,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

As he guided his sister back up the stairs and along the dark hallway, the darkness felt different.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure when, but some night he\u2019d go back, with or without his stepsister, and learn to make pumpkin bread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This is the continuation of the story that began September 17th, one post below.) The cook was frowning at him now.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019d you get that?\u201d \u201cIt was an accident,\u201d Leon said.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, Fiona.\u00a0 We should go.\u201d \u201cNo, have a seat,\u201d said the cook.\u00a0 \u201cI could use some help, actually.\u201d \u201cWhat with?\u201d Fiona asked. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10,11],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","tag-leon","tag-tie-in-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}