I stay in the room with my parents, the king and queen of the vampire WORLD (!!!!!) AND THEY ASK ME TO EAT DINNER WITH THEM. I'M EXHAUSTED, BUT I AGREE, SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN MY PARENTS IN a number of years. "What's your favorite food?" my mother asks sweetly.
of course, if she would have stayed around long enough to actually get to know River and I, she would have known that. I push this thought to the back of my mind and answer. "Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and lots of whipped cream."
My mother walks over to the door and presses what is evidently a button, but looks like a light switch. probably some kind of safety protocol. there is a shrill, short beep, and a four-inch by four-inch piece of the wall, right next to the light switch/button pops out of the wall, then rotates forward 180 degrees. on the other side of this piece of wall, there is a miniature keypad with which my mother types my order. after she presses enter, the piece of wall rotates back the way it came and presses back into the wall. "I just orders our dinner. it should be ready in about 10 minutes. we will also have fruit salad and homemade hot chocolate."
"wow! we never had anything like that back where we used to live," I say in amazement, although now that I say it, it seems quite obvious.
"well, you are royalty now. you can have anything you want at the press of a button. literally." my mom ends this last statement with a chuckle.
"I just have one question," I say after a few moments' pause in conversation. "if you knew that we were living on our own, usually without food or water, not enough money to buy a new pair of frieking socks, why didn't you at least send us a letter or some money so that we were more likely to survive? I mean, that isn't against the rules."
"we thought about doing that, but then we knew that if you knew that we were still alive, before it was legal for you to come home, you would leave and try to find us. we couldn't let you do that. we were so far away from where you were living that it would be quite dangerous for you to try to get to us. believe me, we wanted to, but we just didn't want you guys to get hurt."
that last sentence pushed me over the edge. "You didn't want us to get hurt? What about all the times when me and river's stomachs were growling 24/7 for over 3 days? what about the time when I had to wear the same outfit for a month because we didn't have enough water in the stream to wash our clothes? what about the time when river didn't have drinking water for a week, and I had to take her to the hospital? we're still in debt for that! what about those times, huh? now that I think about it, I'm gonna have to go with river on this one. it seems like you guys don't really care about us at all. I know there are rules, but are those rules really more important than your own children?"
"c'mon, sweetheart. let us expla-"
"no, I'm done." I turn and storm out of the throne room, feeling my cheeks burn like fire, as angry as I am. I didn't even get to taste those royal Belgian waffles, with fruit salad and homemade hot chocolate.
of course, if she would have stayed around long enough to actually get to know River and I, she would have known that. I push this thought to the back of my mind and answer. "Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and lots of whipped cream."
My mother walks over to the door and presses what is evidently a button, but looks like a light switch. probably some kind of safety protocol. there is a shrill, short beep, and a four-inch by four-inch piece of the wall, right next to the light switch/button pops out of the wall, then rotates forward 180 degrees. on the other side of this piece of wall, there is a miniature keypad with which my mother types my order. after she presses enter, the piece of wall rotates back the way it came and presses back into the wall. "I just orders our dinner. it should be ready in about 10 minutes. we will also have fruit salad and homemade hot chocolate."
"wow! we never had anything like that back where we used to live," I say in amazement, although now that I say it, it seems quite obvious.
"well, you are royalty now. you can have anything you want at the press of a button. literally." my mom ends this last statement with a chuckle.
"I just have one question," I say after a few moments' pause in conversation. "if you knew that we were living on our own, usually without food or water, not enough money to buy a new pair of frieking socks, why didn't you at least send us a letter or some money so that we were more likely to survive? I mean, that isn't against the rules."
"we thought about doing that, but then we knew that if you knew that we were still alive, before it was legal for you to come home, you would leave and try to find us. we couldn't let you do that. we were so far away from where you were living that it would be quite dangerous for you to try to get to us. believe me, we wanted to, but we just didn't want you guys to get hurt."
that last sentence pushed me over the edge. "You didn't want us to get hurt? What about all the times when me and river's stomachs were growling 24/7 for over 3 days? what about the time when I had to wear the same outfit for a month because we didn't have enough water in the stream to wash our clothes? what about the time when river didn't have drinking water for a week, and I had to take her to the hospital? we're still in debt for that! what about those times, huh? now that I think about it, I'm gonna have to go with river on this one. it seems like you guys don't really care about us at all. I know there are rules, but are those rules really more important than your own children?"
"c'mon, sweetheart. let us expla-"
"no, I'm done." I turn and storm out of the throne room, feeling my cheeks burn like fire, as angry as I am. I didn't even get to taste those royal Belgian waffles, with fruit salad and homemade hot chocolate.