Paintings

A minute passed by in utter silence. After a while, Natalie turned to Jean and smiled gently.

"If you don't mind, I would request you to remind me the questions, please."

Almost immediately, Jean wore a complicated look before smiling lightly. Then there was a moment of silence. At this moment, Jean was trying to reminisce those burning questions that were not answered by Natalie before. And since Natalie understood the situation that he was in, she gave him ample time to think.

A couple minutes later, Jean straightened up and lingered.

"My first question could have been understanding my roots, but since it might require a lot of explanations, I would prefer to leave it aside first."

In an instance, Natalie smiled and nodded silently, clearly pleased by Jean's decision.

Without further hesitation, Jean continued,

"Now that that is pushed aside, my first question is this; I saw some paintings in the store room, and if you don't mind, can you please tell me why they were put there instead of being hanged around the house?"

Natalie's lips twitched as her gaze lingered on the wall in front of her.

"Those are special paintings that your grandpa painted himself, and the surprising thing is that he had told your dad never to hang them around the house."

Immediately Jean heard this, he was puzzled.

"And why would he never want the paintings to be hanged around the house?"

Natalie turned in Jean's direction and let out a smirk.

"Maybe it was something precious to him, or maybe he just didn't like the idea of hanging pictures on the walls, considering that there is not even a single picture or painting on the wall of the house."

Jean scanned the walls around the living room, trying to confirm what Natalie was telling him. He already noticed that there was not even a single picture or painting hanging around the house but still, he had to confirm once more the moment Natalie mentioned it.

"Is that the reason you also left them in the storeroom when you were arranging the house?"

Jean asked again after lingering for a moment.

Natalie blinked severally before straightening her hair.

"That was not the original location of the paintings as they were initially in the ancient room. But after the demise of your grandpa, your dad relocated them to the storeroom. Reason for doing that only known to him. But according to my judgement, he might have done that for the sake of its security. Remember that the ancient room is battered in some ways and with people rarely staying in this house during that time, there could have been some chances that rodents could have destroyed them. And for me to leave them there, I was only practising what was already established."

Jean was pleased by Natalie's reasoning but the only question that remained in his head was; why would his grandpa discourage the idea of hanging the paintings around the house, when the paintings were meant to enhance the aesthetic beauty of the house?

From his observation, he was able to deduce that the paintings were four in number and they were piled together, and since the two were in a hurry the first time they visited the storeroom together, Jean only managed to a have a view of a single painting that was on top.

The painting had a familiar structure, and that was what aroused Jean's curiosity about the paintings. The structure painted on the painting was surprisingly the well on the left edge of the compound. Jean didn't understand why it was painted there, and that is why he had to ask some further information about the paintings.

He knew very well that there must have been a reason to why the well had to be on one of the paintings. Perhaps he is overthinking on the matter as the paintings could have been meant for memories. But when what happened to him in the forest is brought in the picture, then his overthinking might hold some potency.

 He was about to confirm the rest of the paintings when Natalie suggested that they should leave. But since he knew he would get another time to inspect them, he didn't object.

At that moment, Jean gulped and leaned towards Natalie.

"I saw the well on one of the paintings, mom."

"Which well?"

Natalie questioned pretending that she didn't have a clue of what Jean was referring to.

In response, Jean let out a smirk and blinked for a couple of times.

"The only well I know of in this compound, unless there are some other wells that you are yet to show me"

Jean said in a gallant tone.

Immediately, Natalie nodded severally, pretending that she had recalled what Jean was referring to.

"Now I understand you. It is only that my thoughts were somewhere else."

Natalie said while massaging her temples. After pausing for a moment, she continued…

"I might also be in the same position as you, when it comes to understanding the reason to why the painting contained the well on it. But if I may guess, your grandpa might have painted the well for memories. Considering that the well might have been his only source of water before he built this house, then there must have been higher chances that he lived to treasure it. And since he valued it that much, he could have wanted to keep its memories for himself and his generation."

This reasoning from Natalie about the painting, made a lot of sense to Jean. He understood that since his grandpa might have lived to treasure the well, he might have also treasured its painting. And understanding that anything treasurable is always kept safe, he was convinced that his grandpa might have kept the paintings to protect them from being mishandled.

'That might have been the reason the paintings have lasted for me to see them. They were even covered in a canvas, that explains why they have lasted.'

Jean was somewhat convinced by Natalie's answers about the paintings. From the look of them, they looked ancient and for them to last for that long, their maintenance must have been at its peak.

 The urge to go check the rest of the paintings grew even stronger after contemplating on the matter. He could have rushed to inspect them almost immediately, but he couldn't afford to waste this golden opportunity given to him by Natalie to ask her some of his burning questions. So, he chose to continue with the questioning session.

It was time to ask the next question.

Fidgeting for a while, Jean looked at Natalie with dubious eyes, weighing the possibilities of his next question being answered in a correct way. He was also figuring out the best way of asking the question in order for him to get the appropriate answer from Natalie.

After a short moment of silence, Jean's expression turned serious as he focused his gaze on Natalie.

"If you don't mind, can we proceed to the next question, mom?"

Jean asked in a gallant tone without blinking. Noticing this, a complicated look flashed across Natalie's face. She then nodded, giving Jean a go ahead.

Without further delays, Jean cleared his throat and opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again.

"I have a question about the lamp in the ancient room."

Pausing for a moment… he continued…

"You had told me that the lamp was crafted by grandpa himself and that could suggest one thing; the lamp might have been crafted during the ancient time, maybe before even grandpa acquired this land, isn't it?"

Natalie nodded reluctantly.

Jean then continued,

"You had said that the lamp is sensitive to one's touch, which means it has a sensor and as far as I am concerned, sensor technology is a recent invention. Does that mean that grandpa was amongst the first people to discover this technology?"

Natalie lingered for a moment then let out a chuckle.

"When did you get to know that sensor technology is a recent invention, son?"

In an instance, Jean was infuriated by this question from Natalie. With a frown, he glared at Natalie for a moment before answering.

"Why do I go to school? And despite that, information is out there and I can easily fish them out whenever I need it."

Natalie was stupefied by these Jean's statements that she even forgot to breathe. A few moments later, Natalie regained her composure and looked Jean straight in the eyes.

"I told you that the lamp was crafted by your grandpa because I was also told the same."

Natalie said in a neutral tone.

Almost immediately, Jean asked,

"By who?"

After a short moment of silence, Natalie answered,

"I was told by your dad, because I hadn't been in the ancient room before, until today. That's why I had to use the map to find its way."

In an instance, Jean's mind was a maze. And without any further delays he asked,

"Aren't you contradicting yourself here?"

With that, Natalie wore a complicated look and asked,

"What do you mean?"

"At first you said you told me how the lamp operates and you did it practically when we entered the ancient room. How comes you say that you never knew of the ancient room yet you knew about the lamp that was situated in it?"

Jean asked with a hint of rage in his tone.

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