Room 14's Secret novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Pancakes

On Sunday morning there was a man in my kitchen with a spatula, and the first pancake was black.

"It's supposed to be that color," Zachary said.

"It's burned," said Posy, from her chair, with her chin on her fists.

"It's seared."

"What's seared?"

"Burned on purpose."

She considered this with her whole face.

"Then do the next one on purpose a little less," she said.

The baby, in her high chair, banged a spoon in agreement.

I stood at the counter with a mug of coffee and watched the backs of his shoulders as he scraped the pan.

I had not drunk anything from a cup in this house for weeks without checking it twice.

This morning I drank it all, and nothing happened except that it was warm.

"How did you get the scar?" Posy asked him.

He turned with a golden pancake on the spatula.

"You said I could ask when I was ready," she said. "I'm ready."

"A mule kicked me," he said. "I was twenty-six and I was being clever."

"Was it a mean mule?"

"It was a very ordinary mule who didn't like being told what to do."

Posy nodded slowly and ate.

"I like him," she told me, loudly. "He can stay."

The baby looked at Zachary, took her spoon out of her mouth, and said, "Cah."

He went completely still.

"Cah," she said again, and pointed at him.

"That's you," I said.

He put the pancake on Posy's plate, and cleared his throat twice, and turned back to the stove for longer than the stove needed.

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