Eating, Bathing, And...Gazing Chapter 33

After seeing the door was safely closed Miriam gave Twinkle one more pat on the head and proceeded to withdraw her hand from the parrrot and sat down on the bed before hopping off of it.

Moving over to the table, Bannon has just finished putting both the meals ontop of it.

Scanning the contents of the meal, she saw some cooked carrots and and dandelion greens with what looked like one piece of fish the size of her hand.

Looking at her hands, Miriam went to her trunk and pulled out a misshapen and ugly piece of soap she had made herself not to long ago, and two cloth towels that looked like they had been sewn hastely together by a two year old. To be fair, Miriam was three and a half when she made these towels under Beatrice's watchful eyes.

Miriam went to a small basin that had been placed in the room with clear water in it.

Waving Bannon over to her, she set the two towels over her shoulder and proceeded to roll up her up her sleeves and lather her hands up.

Bannon upon arriving next to Miriam frowned.

His sister was making him wash his hands again before eating. This was something Bannon thought was uneeded but he kept mute on the subject for fear of nagging.

His younger sister was definitely scarier than his moth when she nagged him.

In poor Bannons heart he hoped all women weren't like this, otherwise he had decided himself he wouldn't ever get married!

Letting his sister Miriam lather up his own hands, they proceeded to share the basin and wash their hands together. Consquently Miriam then grabbed his hands when she decided they were clean and took them out of the basin and gave him one of her hand made towels to dry off with.

Miriam herself using one, and once Miriam was finished she waited for Bannon to finish drying his hands before taking the towel back from him.

The towels and soap bar were then put back into her travel trunk nice and safe once again. Miriam then took out a jug of water from inside and two little ceramic cups and brought them over to the table and placed them down upon it.

Looking at the glasses of water they were given Miriam took them and poured their potentially contaminated contents into the washing water basin.

Miriam did not know wether Beatrice herself had boiled the water inside these glasses of drink. It was better to be safe than sorry in this time period.

Afterall, if chorela, or any other of the nasty diseases were present in the water Miriam would certianly croak if she came down with one of them.

This second life of hers couldn't be too short!

After disposing of a potential disaster Miriam put the glasses back down on the desk and went ahead and unplugged the jar top of her purified water.

Carefully taking the water jug in hand, Miriam poured some water into the two ceramic cups she had placed on the table.

"Its safe to drink now. I trust that Beatrice oversaw them food making process since dad is eating tonight. Go ahead and dig in." Miriam said as she quickly glugged down her glass of water and ate some carrots and dandelion greens.

Picking up three or four pieces of carrot, she placed her glass back down and brought the carrot over to the foot of the wardrobe where the parrot had unraveled out of the cloth and was resting now.

As if smelling the food its hwad perked up and looked at the carrots in Miriam hand.

Holding her palm open and outstretching her opposite arm and and next to the palm to make a perch, she diligently waited to see if the parrot would fly to her hand.

After waiting until Bannon was already halfway done with his dinner, Twinkle finally flapped his spotted wings a few times and flew down to Miriam hand and perched upon it.

Leaning foward, it demurely picked up a small piece of cut of carrot and gulped it down fast as a snake.

Miriam let him do this a few more times until only one little carrot piece was left for which she closer the opened palm and pinched the last carrot between her fingers and held it up to Twinkles face.

Twinkle took a few bites from it until it was all gobbled up and he looked alot happier and more energetic.

Miriam then lifted her arm higher in the air and lowered it fairly fast and Twinkle took flight and flew over to the window and looked out at the world outside.

"Awww, heeh wanns toa go outsidhe" Bannon said through a mouthful of food in his mouth.

Sending a glance at Bannon, Miriam micked his chewing motion but exaggerated it abit and she motioned to her mouth and then him.

After thinking for abit, Bannon figured out what she was trying to express to him by flailing about on the other side of the room.

A faint blush creeped across his face and he bowed his head down for the rest of his dinner.

Miriam went over to the table and took the water saucer that was given to them for the bird and proceeded to get her soap back out and wash it abit before emptying the water into the washing water basin.

She then took a little of her clean boiled water and rinsed the saucer and dried it with a hand towel she had gotten back out of her travel trunk and patted the saucer dry.

Pouring clean water into it from the jug, almost all the clean water she had left in the jug, Miriam then placed the drying towel underneath the saucer after setting down the water jug and placing the lid back onto the top of the water jug.

Picking up the water saucer carefully, Miriam went over to the windowsill which was sufficiently large enough for the fish of water to be housed.

Setting the dish down on the sill, Miriam looked the window over and to her surprise she found that it was purely for show, and couldn't even open.

'What a fire hazard...' She thought to herself.

After the water was placed near it the bird, Twinkle, was overjoyed and proceeded to take large birdy sips from it before after having his fill, he made his next intentions known to the whole room. Plomping his little feathered rump right inside of it.

Twiddling, flittering, fluttering, wacking, and shaking his wings and body he proceeded to spread water out of the saucer dish like a state of the art lawn sprinkler from the 21st century.

Bannon, finally finished with his dinner, looked over at the weird noise emanating from the other side of the room and saw to his surprise what looked like a bird drowning.

"Is he drowning?" Bannon asked nervously. Clearly already over the earlier dejection he was facing when his bad table manners were pointed out and mocked.

Giggling, Miriam replied, "No silly, he is bathing. Birds are flashy bathers is all. I'll clean the water mess up later. We need to clear off the table and I need to show you something."

Going over to the table, Miriam took half a fistful from the fish left on her plate and shoved it into her mouth.

Chewing very quickly she soon swallowed the mashed up poor fishy in her mouth. Sending it down to a have a metaphorical 'Burial at Sea' within her inside ocean of stomach acid.

Opening the water jar, she took a direct sip from it and left abit inside.

Piling up the plates, she noticed there was a small plate with what looked like elderberry on it. she set that plate aside and off the tray and carried the tray to the door.

Looking around, and seeing that Twinkle was still bathing Miriam made a decision.

She opened the door to the room and hastily scooted the trays of dirty dishes out the door into the hallway with her feet, and swiftly shut the door.

It only took her seconds, of which Miriam was incredibly proud of.

Twinkle, upon hearing the door shut abit loudly, chirped in response.

"Irwhei whiii whii whiiir wwiiiih wiii weeeh whiiri!"

Bannon looked a little spooked by the bird and looking to Miriam for comfort.

"He's just saying the door is too loud. Don't worry. Stay at the table and don't move." Miriam explained as she went to the corner of the room where her bag was located and opened it up and carried it over to the table.

Placing it onto the table, Miriam opened the flap further and told her brother to not scream.

"Don't scream, she won't hurt you."

Reaching her hand into the bag Miriam grabbed Samantha and took her out of the bag with the silk hankerchief.