Chapter 22

It was the week after Charles was sick and had followed the guys to the cinema to watch Green Lantern the movie. Charles never called or sent Ivy any text messages. He had never seen her in town. He just tried not to think about her. He only prayed that she would go away and leave him alone. Charles thought that maybe Ivy decided to leave him alone out of guilt. If it had not been for her, he wouldn't have ended up sick. Charles had worked for his mom the entire week, including Thursday.

Three more weeks had gone by and he still hadn't bumped into Ivy. By then it was already somewhere around Autumn, in the middle of September. The sun no longer went down by 10PM, but by 9PM or even before that time.

A week came where his mom (Sara) got sick and Charles had to be the one to run the shop. He ran the shop all by himself while his mom stayed at home. It was like an adventure for Charles, having the responsibility of proving to his mom that he was a young adult whom she could delegate responsibility to. His mom gave him the keys to the shop and he already knew how to run it, in her absence. He also drove to work in his mom's car, as he knew how to drive. Sometimes while at work, he would call his mom back at home to see if she needed him to bring anything back home or if she wanted him to go to the grocery to get something in particular.

On that Friday of that same week, just before he was about to close the shop, his mom called his cell phone number. She asked him to buy them some takeaway. It was for dinner. His mom asked if he could go to one of the diners and buy them a large family menu set, consisting of a large bucket of chicken pieces (wings, breasts and drumsticks), bags of fries and a bottle of cola. Charles did what his mom asked but it surprised him why she wanted him to buy a large family type set menu for dinner. Charles asked the diner lady for what his mom asked plus two cheeseburgers, as he was a tall overgrown young man with a large appetite.

Are we having guests at the house? Charles asked himself while waiting for his order at that diner's counter. Once the diner lady came with his order, he happily paid for it. The lady handed to him in a large plastic bag. He took it and left.

When Charles went back to his car, he place the plastic bag with all the food inside at the back seat. He then got into the driver's seat and started driving back towards his place. As he drove he thought about why his mom made such a large order. She never said if they were having any guests but only that once he got the food, he should drive home straightaway.

Charles was driving the car, controlling the steering wheel and his foot at the brakes. His eyes were focused on the road. He finally reached the driveway of his house. He parked the car at the driveway, getting off with the food he had bought. He then rang the door bell.

DING DONG

Charles waited until his mom opened the front door. Sara smiled at him. Sara ushered him to walk through the front doorway.

"Honey can you bring all this to the dining table. I will bring out the plates," Sara said.

Charles walked through the front door and was standing at the front hallway.

"We have a guest hun," his mom whispered to his ear.

"That sounds cool!" Charles replied

Charles did as his mom asked. He went straight to the dining hall, placing the plastic bag with their food at the dining hall table. His mom then arrived, carrying a pile of plates while her armpit was tugging hard at the food mats.

"Honey could you go to the kitchen and grab the glasses. I will tell our guest that dinner is ready!" his mom telling him what to do.

"Ok mom," Charles obeyed.

When Charles went to the kitchen, he was wondering who this guest was and why his mom never said who it was. Charles grabbed the glasses from the cupboard and then walked back to the dining table. Sara was arranging the food mats and took out the bucket with the chicken wings and drumsticks and laid out the bags with the fries in them. The plates were still piled up, as it was every eating person to themselves to take the plate and choose where they want to sit down. The dining table was big enough for more than twelve persons.