Paranoia at the Granite House

Since everyone cannot yet handle to walk back to the granite house due to physical exhaustion and slight injuries especially to Magee's family, so only George and Magee returned home to get more medicines and food supplies. When they got up, they saw how Albrecht and Narciso were astounded by their presence.

" Heavens!" Albrecht astonishly said.

" Kuya, are you alright, what happened?" Magee asked.

" I've heard...a chick..." Albrecht was sweating.

"No...a boy...a sound of a boy, yes." Narciso closed his eyes and pressed his head.

" No! its a chick! I was clearly listening to it and when I tried to climb overhead and emerged on the surface, I saw nothing. There was never any life but a few grasses and bonsai trees.

" Ah, Sir...its a boy...its..." Narciso stopped when Albrecht stood up and stared at him like he was a piece of a chop suey.

" I told you...its a chick, loud and clear that's what I've heard." Albrecht insisted.

Magee paused for a couple of minutes and George put off his damaged shoes in the corner while facing on the granite wall and silently smiled. Then Magee finally decided and spoke to them.

" In both ways, it's correct."

" You mean, these souls already exist long time ago or ever since you both stepped in here?" Albrecht held a mug of water and swallowed his last tablet of medicine.

" No." Magee blurted out.

" What do you mean?" Albrecht asked.

Magee almost answered when there's a loud burst coming from the center of the field inside the granite mountain.

Boom!

George drew closer to the ballscope kept inside the granite wall facing south, where it could clearly focus on-site towards the center of the field.

" Its one of the drums we have had below that contained some cooking oil. Huh! such a waste." The lieutenant sighed.

" I'll gonna go down and kill them if they'd destroy the sacks of spices." Albrecht was holding his rifle and stood up moving towards the granite door.

" Its...its actually the next, they're putting some firewood under it right now...and it starts to flare." George narrated what he just saw.

Out of Albrecht's anger he quickly moved on his way down yet Magee covered herself on the door.

" You can't go Kuya...stay! those were just pieces of dried leaves and seeds of pamienta. In exchange to your life? No, please stay! I warn you." The lieutenant's wife acted like her husband's role. Few steps away, George was listening and comforted Albrecht.

" Bro, we still have a sack of it in here and it's still a good stock before the war is over." George calmly spoke while nervous after seeing her wife covering herself on the door. He wasn't moving even an inch. George respected the siblings' situation but readied himself to meddle if anything comes unlikely.

In a minute, Albrecht bowed down his head, moved backwards idly put down his handgun beside the bed while Narciso coated himself with a blanket. The silence pacified the oldest brother and there he seated at the bedside, pondering and teary eyed.

" Drought is nearing, they've taken out all our food, how can we survive in the next days..." Albrecht closed his eyes and sipped the remaining water from his mug.

Silently, Magee seated beside Albrecht.

" Kuya...we still have the food you want, c'mon in, let's go to our stockroom." She held his hand and pulled him towards the two-way mirrored door. Embezzled and amazed when he followed her inside and George did. Albrecht was too noisy counting the exquisite rooms with a big smile, especially when he saw the kitchen full of food he missed so much.

" Wow! you ate sayote leaves all day long, 7 days a week and most often in a month yet you have so many canned spam and all the rest inside, wow! such a food custodian you are my li'l sister! This is fabulous!"

" Ehem...but still I'll monitor the weekly use. If we'll open a can, for instance a canned spam, we'll squarely cut it into eight and divide each slice into eight to be mixed with vegetables. The remaining seven will be kept in a clay pot, tightly wrapped and floats on a cool water. The processed meat when mixed with vegetables will be shared to almost everyone that wants to taste it. Its the best meal, after all."

" What? mixed with vegetables? oh my...not now, please...let's open for just one." He sat down on a chair beside the kitchen table and George grabbed a can of spam and opened it for the slurping Albrecht.

He smilingly enjoyed his spam by just using a spoon while the couple was looking at him.

" Is it delicious?" Magee smiled.

" Yes, the best!"

" We agreed to send some to station one with her order to the cook to wisely use all of these by mixing it with vegetables. Possibly with leafy vegetables and a couple of wild gray and purple yams. Magee tried mixing a slice of it with chopped unriped saba' banana, its my personal favorite especially when she mixed it with her....of course, sayote leaves."

" Argh! oh my...after the war, a new recipe book will sprout in encyclopedias and restaurant cuisine will look at it as a typical guide."

The couple laughed and added some water in his mug. Noticeably, Albrecht's eyes rolled busily on the embellishments of the kitchen.

" Wow! way back in U.S., Dad told us to enjoy the luxury of our houses and he said if we'll find yours, we'll just keep quiet, haha! so this is it! exquisite and lovely! I thought the outside part was already great but this one's ...and the rooms we've passed through, are there any after this?"

"Yes kuya."

" Ah! this is an ultimatum house that needs no renovation. After this meal, tour me to the next rooms. So this is it! these were the rooms built by so many people that I fed as a boy. I cooked a lot all day so I didn't have the chance to ask and see the project as I ended up all day flat tired on bed. I only thought that its just that tunnel, but this one's ...every room has a delicate design though I noticed that the doors installed in the same location. Its always on the left side facing east. Such a pattern." Albrecht smiled and wowed.