Chapter 3: Dulce est desipere in loco

Chapter 3:

Dulce est desipere in loco

The sound of the furnace clicking on rang through the long hallway towards the cafeteria as Luca and Felix walked quietly, side by side, like they had many years ago. Luca carried his bags as looked around at the walls, and through the wide, short windows in the middle of the wall on the right side. The courtyard outside was dimly lit by lights from the inside of the building, making only a small patch of the snowy grass, a tree, and a lone wooden bench visible.

The sky was already pitch black, making it difficult to see anything else.

Passing by the other rooms, Luca felt the hallway was longer than before. Thinking of that, he thought of when he and Felix would run down the halls like the mischievous children they were, chased by Ms. Lowell and other orphanage workers as they did. Many of the other children would join in their troublesome games, making Luca and Felix the two that were the most often separated.

Passing through the doorway to the cafeteria, the pair was greeted by a group of long tables and benches. The walls were covered with drawings by the children, and verses from Psalms. Even Luca's favourite was still painted on the wall with a delicate black cursive font, "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." (Psalm 9:1)

There was a shorter, rectangular table towards the front of the room, near the window for the kitchen. A large dutch oven rested in the middle of the table on an oven mitt, and a plate of fresh bread was next to it with a plate of butter. Bowls were set up at three of the seats, and the plates were set to be eaten from were empty.

In one of the three red plastic chairs sat an older, grey haired woman with short curls, and a large, joyful smile on her face. The woman stood up, barely reaching Luca's waist as she walked up to them quickly, opening her arms for a hug. Her face was full of the warmth of a parent having seen their child after a long journey.

"Luca, c'mere. " The woman was Ms. Lowell. Her northern Irish accent was still just as thick as he remembered, and Luca laughed as he wrapped his long arms around the short woman, smiling wide as he stayed in her embrace for a long moment before pulling back. "We missed you." Luca bent down as Ms. Lowell kissed his cheek as she always had when he was a child.

"It's good to be home, Ms. Lowell." Luca laughed.

"You and those sweet words… You always had the gift of the gab, Luca." Her laugh filled the room.

"Where do you think I learned it from?" Bantering with the director, Luca was smiling brighter than he had in a long while. He could not hide his joy. It had been so long since they had seen each other. Too long, it felt like.

"Why don't we start eating?" Felix suggested, pulling out the director's chair for her as he walked around the side of the table. Luca looked at Felix and noticed his eyes fixed on the meal on the table, looking fairly hungry.

They must have waited for me… The children had a set schedule, but Felix and Ms. Lowell had put their meal aside just to wait for him. He was embarrassed and awkwardly scratched the side of his cheek as he walked around the table to the seat between the director and Felix. He placed his bags off to the side, not far from his seat so he could retrieve them after dinner.

Before they started eating, the three of them joined hands for a short moment to say grace. Because they were hungry, they only said a short prayer before digging into their meal.

"Thank you, God, for this good meal."

As the food was served by the excited Ms. Lowell, Luca talked about his studies abroad and how much he enjoyed finishing his degree. Though he graduated in Winter, it gave him enough time to study for his LSAT and to enter a reputable law school. Felix was curious about which schools he had selected so far.

"Which law school are you thinking of studying at?" Felix asked as he dipped his bread into the broth of his chili. His movements were gentle and smooth, making him look like the perfect gentleman. Luca knew Ms. Lowell had been keeping an eye on his table manners, as they had greatly improved from before. "Has your mum said anything about it? She must be worried about you travelling so far for so long." Lifting his bread to his lips, Felix took a small bite.

He used to shovel his food in his mouth. Ms. Lowell used to ask how long he had been starving before he ate. Ms. Lowell was not gentle with her words, and often she would call out bad behaviours directly, often watching Luca and Felix with a close eye. Thankfully I was always careful with my eating. Luca was not fond of getting admonished by the strict director.

"After graduating without my dad, mom was still on me to take the college scholarship and go abroad. So, I did it, struggled through, and finally flew back home. And here I am now with my degree." Luca was proud of himself. It was difficult to study without his adoptive father there, but with his adoptive mother there to support him, he was able to overcome the challenges of starting school and maintaining his grades while playing football (soccer). His scholarship covered his room and board for four years so long as he maintained good grades and continued to play football on his university's team. It was the main reason why he had maintained his body. "So far I've found two law schools that I like, one is abroad, the other is not too far from here. Though the one has a football club, and I would really like to keep playing with a team if I can."

Ms. Lowell adjusted her napkin on her lap, "Good lad. Better chance a' getting married if you're in shape."

Luca choked on a chickpea in the chili, coughing roughly to himself as he processed what Ms. Lowell had just said. His eyes watered as he coughed into his napkin, trying to swallow down the pesky bean.

"Careful." Felix had already stood up from the right side of the table and walked to Luca's side. He lifted his hand and patted Luca's back with a firm palm, helping him work the food down his throat. This seemed to help, and soon Luca was able to swallow normally. Felix leaned over the table and passed him a glass of water. Luca thanked him and gulped down half the glass.

"If only you weren't a seminarian, you'd make a good husband, Felix." Luca joked, swallowing the water in his mouth. "Though, you can always take care of us!"

Felix smiled as he walked back to his seat and sat down, smiling weakly, "Not at all. I've dedicated my life to the Lord." He lifted his spoon and continued to eat, making the room fall silent for another moment.

The meal was quickly finished, and Luca had eaten two full bowls of chilli and four pieces of bread by the time he was full. Felix and Ms. Lowell ate like birds, only finishing a single bowl and a piece of bread before they stopped eating. This made Luca feel a little guilty, but Ms. Lowell encouraged him to eat, telling him he was "a growing boy and needed to finish his plate." It was hard to break the habit of cleaning his plate, and soon all three had finished theirs.

As Ms. Lowell stood to take the dishes to the backroom, Luca and Felix both stood up in a rush to stop her from taking the dishes. "Ms. Lowell, please let us take it! You both waited for me to start eating." Luca took the stacked bowls out of her hands and then looked to Felix, "Don't worry, I can wash them."

Felix shook his head and grabbed the plates from Luca's hands, "No, I assure you I can wash them. You're the guest, so you shouldn't have to wash dishes." His voice was gentle, but firm, attempting to twist Luca's arm into agreeing.

Unfortunately for Felix, Luca was still just as stubborn as he was as a child, and he would not let in. Ms. Lowell was about to speak up again, but Luca quickly gathered the other flat plates and looked at Felix with a testy gaze, refusing to step down. He wanted to show that he could still be the better gentleman of the two.

Felix looked at Luca with a stiff smile as he said. "Luca."

"Well," Luca responded with a naughty smirk. "Looks like we're both washing dishes, then. Just like old times."

Ms. Lowell shook her head as she walked towards the kitchen door and grabbed a rag from the cleaning tray. "I'll clean out here. You two can gab away in there and do the dishes." Her voice was soft, and she looked happy to have been able to see the two boys bantering with each other again. They always had a good relationship, and Ms. Lowell was worried that the two would lose touch with each other and no longer remain good friends, but it seems their good feelings had persisted through time.

Carefully holding the glass dishes in each hand, Luca and Felix laughed and joked with each other as they pushed open the kitchen door and walked inside to finish washing the dishes.

…

The pale white walls showed the shadows of two tall figures, standing side by side, rinsing their dishes to wash up for the night. The single light on to the left of the kitchen was lit up on the left-hand side of the space, behind the dividing wall towards the dish racks.

"I forgot how much things have changed around here." Luca said as he prepared to place the dirty dishes in the wash tray to be rinsed by the wash hose. "You guys have industrial washers now. Remember when we used to have to wash the dinner dishes by hand?" The new dishwasher was fresh and clean, and it only took a flip of the switch to start up and get running to wash the dishes. Having worked in kitchens in the past, Luca was quite familiar with the machine and was able to get it working by himself.

"This is good to go in." Felix loaded a tray with the dishes after rinsing them down, putting in the bowls, plates, and cups to be washed. This way, it would be done and left to dry for the morning. Nothing was worse than waking up to dirty dishes.

Luca thanked Felix and took the tray quickly before pushing it into the box-shaped machine and lowering the lid. As soon as the lid was pressed down, the washer started to work and soap bubbles filled the air near the sink, making the plain, white kitchen look a little comical. Luca popped the ones that floated towards his face with his finger as Felix waved them away with the back of his hand, his gaze fixed on Luca's gentle face. As much as he wanted to lift a finger and poke the bubbles in front of his face, he could not bring himself to do so. His eyes were distracted.

"I know this is kind of sudden, but how are your studies going?" Luca leaned against a dry portion of the metal sink, looking towards Felix with a relaxed stance. "You said you finished your degree. You've been doing your training for a while now, right?"

Felix pushed his bangs out of his face and said, "Yeah. I am studying under Father Micheal right now. They said I should be able to lead service by myself soon, though." He smiled brightly, looking proud. "Why don't you stay until Sunday? You can help me with service. I'm sure Ms. Lowell would be happy to have you stay for a little longer."

It was Thursday now, and Luca had prepared to take the train back home Saturday evening, but he thought it would be nice to stay for a little longer and catch up with everyone. He thought for a moment before he said, "I'll ask Ms. Lowell if she'd mind. My mom would probably want me to let her know too." Luca rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile, feeling as if he were imposing on them.

"Not at all." Felix's smile deepened, "The kids would be happy to have someone here to play with them. They're sick of playing with me anyway." Felix looked off to the side, somewhat dispirited for a moment before he laughed.

Luca joined him and laughed, "Kids are quite finicky, aren't they?"

"They sure are." Felix responded.

The alarm for the dishwasher rang out, and Luca carefully lifted the handle up and let the steam rise into the air before he reached into the box and pulled out the tray of hot, clean dishes. The steam rolled into the air around him, causing him to wave his hand. Felix grabbed a clean rag from the back of the kitchen and put the dishes out of the tray and back into the cabinet. They had already been steam dried by the dishwasher.

"Alright, that's it." Felix put the rag into the wash bin with a low toss. "It's already eight o'clock. Why don't we grab your bags and find you a room to settle into?" Felix walked to the door and said as he looked at his simple watch on his wrist.

Luca grabbed his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. Lots of time had passed during their meal, and they were so engrossed in their conversation that they had forgotten the time. Ms. Lowell usually would settle the younger children in by eight-thirty, so they would have to wait a while before they were able to use the showers. Ms. Lowell and the others would be busy helping the children, so Felix and Luca would be on their own until then.

Felix pushed open the door to the kitchen, and Luca quickly followed behind him like he had years before. Felix helped him grab his bags, and then the two began to walk back down the T shaped hallway to the dormitory, straight down the long hall.

The girls' rooms were separated from the boys' rooms by two separate hallways. The girls would turn left and walk down a ways before they entered the girls' half, which included rooms, showers, and a sitting area at the front of the dormitory. The boys' side had a similar set up, except their rooms were straight down the hall. There were extra rooms for staff and storage attached to the side of the dormitories, to the right of the hall.

As Felix and Luca walked, Felix explained what had changed in the rooms, "After you left, we received some generous donations from the local sponsors and other businesses, which allowed us to rebuild the dormitories and expand them. There are twice as many rooms here now than there were before."

Luca stared around, looking at what had changed since he had gone. "It's amazing how quickly things can change. I can't even recognize this hall!"

Finally, the two reached the staff rooms on the boy's side of the dormitory. It was not long before they reached the extra rooms, as they were resting towards the front, a short distance away from the rest of the dormitory rooms. Felix grabbed a set of keys out of his jeans pocket, fiddling with the key ring until he found a small brass key. Holding the key in his hand, it looked small.

He paused for a moment, making Luca ask, "What's wrong, Felix?"

Felix tilted his head and said with a frown, "There's a problem with the extra room… there's a bunch of storage stuff in there that the maintenance crew forgot to move earlier today." Felix sighed and held the back of his neck. "We can check it, of course, but I don't think you'll be comfortable." Felix joked, sticking the key into the door. After twisting the key, he turned the door knob and opened the door, allowing Luca inside first.

Peeking into the small room, Luca was surprised by the sheer lack of room in the space. The light from the hallway was only enough to light the immediate space around the doorway, but it was enough to show the lack of walking room in the space itself. Felix slid around Luca and hit on the light, which flickered before it clicked on with a low hum. This exposed the dusty white sheets covering old furniture, boxes stuffed full of items and other junk, and even some wood pieces and other tools from the maintenance crew that had recently been used.

The two bunk beds in the room were covered by sheets, and only the box springs were in the frames. The mattresses had been moved off to the side of the room, ready to be replaced. As much as Luca was willing to clean up the room, there was too much dust, and it was already late. If he were to try to clean it out now, it would make a lot of noise, and it could wake up the children.

Thinking of that, he was a little lost. Luca turned to Felix with a depressed sigh and asked, "I can ask Ms. Lowell if there are any other rooms, but what do you think? I could get a hotel, I think I saw one-"

Felix stopped Luca mid sentence and said, "There's a bunk bed in my room. It hasn't been used in a while, but it should still be good to go with a little cleaning." Luca perked up at that. He had already had to share a dorm for university. Sharing a room with Felix again would be fun. "We'll have to get some new bedding for you though." Felix looked around the room for a moment before he patted Luca's shoulder and said with his usual lazy smile, "Come on. Let's go get you some blankets."

Luca sighed happily, "Thanks, Felix." Felix shook his head and let Luca walk out first, waiting for him to pass through the door before he hit the light switch off. As Felix grasped the doorknob of the room, Luca continued down the hall to the other room, waiting for Felix.

While shutting the door, Felix's hazel eyes flashed a dark brown colour, and a particular smile crossed his lips, exposing his straight white teeth. As he smiled, the door clicked shut, and Felix closed his eyes momentarily before he quickly opened them and said in a low whisper.

"It's good to have you back, Luca."

Luca had already walked down the hall, but Felix's gaze was still fixed on him. When Luca turned to look for Felix, the other man had already started to make his way down the hall with the same sweet smile he had as a child. Seeing him like this, Luca could only smile back and grab his shoulder with his right hand, ready to prepare for bed.

…