Introductions

We enter the living room and the girl with two ponytails is sitting on the couch texting someone. As soon as she sees us, she clears the space and goes inside a room and locks.

Well, that's rude.

But Margaret doesn't act upon it. In fact, she acts like, this is so normal and happens all the time. So, I chuck it off, too.

"Mom! We're back!", Margaret yells to a seemingly empty house.

"Hello, kids!", Aunt Edith and another woman whom I saw yesterday at the dining table comes out of the kitchen.

"Clean up and come to get your snacks!", she says cheerfully.

Margaret and I go up to our room and she takes the first turn to clean up.

When it's my turn, I spend way too much time in the shower, discharging all the fatigue from today. It was a crazy day and I'm still not completely out of it.

I come out slowly like a slug and see Margaret texting someone.

"Hey!", I say.

"Hey!", she replies without taking her eyes off the device.

"So, everyday you guys have snacks and then dinner together as a family?", I ask her.

"Yes.", she replies still looking at her phone.

I want to somehow pique her interest because I'm about to ask something very important and need her full attention on me.

"um…..", I don't know how to start though.

So, I just stand there and scratch the back of my neck.

Since she's in no mood to look up at me, I try hard and start the conversation anyway. But, I make it seem casual and cool.

"So… what's the deal with the Dean?", I blurt out.

As soon as the words leave my lips, I regret it. That wasn't what I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask if we are cool from today's morning conversation about Margaret not picking my call yesterday night.

Why the fuck did I ask about him?

"Yes?", she asks perplexed and as I expected, now her full attention is on me.

Shit!

"I mean.... he is very young for starters", I stammer and continue with the topic. Now that I've started it, there's no going back. Ugh!

"He's the greatest of us all. He's very smart for his age and he has led people who are elder to him to victory. Success! I meant, success. Um... He's naturally a good leader!"

"I see…"

"Hey… on a serious note, how did the meeting go today? In the morning?", she stands facing me straight ahead.

Crap! This is exactly the conversation that I was looking to evade.

"Um… It went well! He asked my name and said nice to meet you… That's it", I say scratching my back neck again and looking everywhere else except her.

"Oh! Okay, then… Shall we head downstairs? Mom might be waiting. Come on!", she grabs my hand and starts pulling me towards the stairs.

That's it? Thank god! I thought she'll pry more. Anyways, it isn't like I lied to her. He only spoke those words, but I was the one who imagined more than I should've.

Aunt Edith gestures us to come to the living room where the whole family is already seated for some reason. She hands over the cup of hot coffee to me and something else to Margaret and Marcus.

Uncle James is seated opposite to me and he's the first to speak. I get a feeling that he's the decision maker of this family based on yesterday and today.

"Since Eva reached during dinner time yesterday, we were not able to formally introduce ourselves to each other. So, today I want you all to introduce yourselves to her", he says in his bold voice.

"You can go first, Ed", he indicates the middle-aged person sitting adjacent to him to proceed.

He looks younger than Uncle James with a clean mustache and good build. I would venture for him to be a construction worker.

He clears his throat before speaking.

"Hi, Eva. I'm Edward Davis and this is my family. I'm James's brother and we've been staying together since childhood", he passes a knowing smile at Uncle James and they both proudly see each other.

Wow! I'm seriously feeling a cultural shock after coming here.

Then, the slender woman whom I saw before comes out of the kitchen in her pink apron. She looks timid and shy.

"Hello, Eva! I'm Martha Davis, his wife. And, um….welcome again to the family, dear", she says happily and comes over to hug me.

Oh! I wake up quickly to return her hug and take my seat again. This family is very sweet! I wonder why my mom never introduced them to me. I would've spent all my summer vacations here, otherwise.

"Hey! I'm Jennifer. You can call me Jenny!", the girl with two ponytails tells with a smile. I can't really get her because she's been going hot and cold on me all the time. She's definitely a teenager so I'm gonna peg this behavior to puberty.

"Hi sis! I'm Henry", another teenage boy in his overalls raises his hand and waves me hi. He's cute and cuddly.

"And I'm Harry", another boy who's much younger than Henry waves hi.

I say hi to both of them with a smile.

"They're brothers and sisters", Uncle James chimes in.

"I see…", I say.

"As you already know, I'm Marcus and this is my sister, Margaret!", Marcus says and winks at me.

I chuckle at that.

"Yeah! Hi guys!", I fake introduce myself to them for fun.

Now that all the introductions are over, everyone are just staring at each other.

"Hey, when can we go shopping?", I ask Marcus casually because I really need to do some shopping for myself. All my clothes are old, and I also need to buy toiletries.

"I'll take you someday", Margaret smiles.

Awkward silence again.

"Why don't you guys have a TV here?"", I blurt out because that's the first thing I've been meaning to ask them for so long. Actually, I've been meaning to ask that only to Margaret ever since she said they were out all night in the neighborhood watching television. I didn't mean to ask that in front of the entire family.

Fuck! They might think I'm looking down on them.

Everyone is now awkwardly glancing at each other for an answer. I wish someone comes in to save the day!

"Um.. We thought of buying one, but we figured that watching with our neighbors is more fun than that", Margaret answers me finally.

I nod and become quiet. I'm never going to speak again.

Aunt Martha comes out announcing that dinner is ready, and we all go to eat.

Thank God for heeding to my prayers and breaking this awkward silence!