3

"You can open your eyes now, we know you're awake", mother's voice was soft as always as she whispered in my ear, "never" I whispered back with my eyes still close. Why am I not dead anyway? I truly believed I was going to die earlier, whilst in my thought the devil spoke.

"You suck at playing dead kid, come on, let's head out, father will buy you creamed cookies and lots of it". Yeah right, like I would fall for that, "never" I whispered again, nothing was going to get me off this bed... except the hunger in my belly, so with a 'hop' I was up and running with unfocused eyes to the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, I didn't make it far, from my arch enemy blanket, which had me all wrapped up to the ground which was simply uncooperative with my feet as well as the stairs which appeared out of nowhere. Sigh, now I can't move and I can't even wail either, nevermind, I would lie for awhile, dad was making his was towards me anyway.

Before long I was stuffing myself, spiced fish soup and wheat bread with iced tea to wash it all down and dinner was pretty much over. I was stuffed, father's warning about not eating much flying over my head, I absolutely did not listen, not after the hell he put me through today, I deserved this.

"You seem unhappy Edel", dad approached me tentatively, "are you mad at me?", I didn't reply, I stood up, picked my plates and made my way to the kitchen, dumping them all in the washer. "Look kid, am doing this for your own good, you need to be strong to defend yourself someday when we aren't with you", Dad walked behind me as he said, his huge figure totally dwarfing mine, mum just watched us from where she sat, embroidery in hand and slight pain in her eyes, whether it came from the needle pricking her or from the words father spoke I wouldn't know as I made my way to the porch. I was exceedingly unhappy, I was mad with anger but I had no outlet, with a deck of cards in hand I sat on the ground crossed legged, over and beyond the fence of our home I could hear the other kids play as dusk slowly settled.

The door opened behind me and Dad sat to my left, he sat on the porch with me. "Look kid, I'm being tough with you because your body right now needs all the training I can give, the world is cruel kid and sometimes the only way to make your voice head is to fight, and not just blindly fighting, but to fight and win, for what is yours and your family's, to make others understand that you're off the hook as meat, that you're tough bone to swallow. I know you understand me clearly, you're smarter than kids your age so you have to be stronger too. In awhile we won't be able to shelter you anymore, so you need this, maybe you will decide to become a scholar but your muscles won't forget it roots".

Taking the deck of cards from me and giving it a little shuffle, he began doing all sorts of cool tricks without even looking at the cards. For fingers so big they sure where dexterous, he continued, "we have to leave here soon, our family is nomadic, and every one of us is hunted by the other families, big co-operations and sects, they are like rabid wolfs ready to die for even a tiny piece of us, so we're always moving, not because we are afraid of them, but because our heart can't settle for too long in a place until we are so old our bones can't support us anymore. So you need to learn to fight, put all that anger into trying to become stronger because they are coming for us, in a week they will be here and in five days your brother will be back. You will to witness our reality and understand why you must increasingly become stronger".

With that he made his way inside, the cards nearly arranged where he sat, and his words still ringing in the silence of the night and the laughter of neighbors both old and young. My anger gave way to serenity as the light of the moon shone on me, as I held a single card in hand. It hadn't been part of the deck dad was playing with, it pictured a man in a ridiculous costume and even more ridiculous hat, having a smile so wide it threaten to divide it face, a clown card.

"Ok dad, let's do it, and just so you know, I wasn't moved even in the slightest when you gave your whole ridiculously long speech last night, what caught my attention was the way you made the cards dance in your hands, how did you do it? Can you teach me, am more interested in that". Next morning before the sun even arose, me and Dad could be found at our backyard, father's upper body bare, a black pair of trousers covering his ass but no shoes on, honestly, I believe if it wasn't for mother this giant of a man would walk around in his birth suit with no ounce of shame.

When moon gave way to the rising of the sun, said sun meet my ass all beat up with no ounce of energy to move even an inch, I was sore everywhere, I couldn't feel any part of me, every part of my body had been pushed to the limit and beyond, the perpetrator of my pain and author of my bone deep exhaustion stood tall, his skin slightly glistening with sweat but no sign of tiredness on his person as he performed a single armed three fingered push up while yelling about the beauty of guns. I wish I could punch him but I was too exhausted to even move a finger. That's fine still, the early sun on my skin feels really nice, though irritating to the eyes it was still bearable.

"All right you two, breakfast!", Mum yelled from the kitchen, as dad flipped over and landed on his feet. "You heard her, and I don't know bout you but I'm starving". Now that I think about it, I'm pretty hungry myself, but whatever, this sun was too nice to just walk away from, and speaking of walking, I still couldn't feel my feet so I planned to lie here for a bit longer.

"Seriously kid, do you have to be so dramatic? Sigh, 2 gold coins, get your ass up". Well, it's seems the old man isn't left by the times, but this wasn't enough. "Sigh, 5 gold coins, take it or leave it, the choice is yours", whilst he spoke I had already flipped to my feet with such agility it would put even felines in shame, my eyes glimmering, a smile on my face and my right arm stretched to receive that which he owed me, my effort this morning deserved a reward and one mother should not be privy to. Humming in delight to the pained look on his face, I ran to go have breakfast. This day may just turn out well after all.