Chapter N.XVII

Baby girl couldn't help but feel an appetite, looking at how intently daddy chewed the meat, but the words he said before plunged her into sadness again. She turned her gaze to her mother, but she, without uttering a single word, just shook her head mournfully, working diligently with her fork. Inside, the girl was burned with a feeling of shame for her behavior - after all, for good reason, she shouldn't have worried so much about some person who isn't even her relative. But Delia could not bring himself - she was too much impressed by her new neighbour, and now that her father had announced that Jordan was dead, she found it very difficult to take this words seriously.

- Died? In what sense? - she said blankly.

She secretly wished that daddy was just joking, and in fact ajussi Jo was just late at work and would not return home until tomorrow. Delia tensely waited for an answer, but her father was in no hurry with him - instead, he continued to devour pasta, thickly sprinkled with mushroom sauce, on both cheeks. Finally, having finished his portion, he wiped his greasy lips with a napkin and cleared his throat.

- There is such a disease, called cancer, - father began from afar.

- I don't see how this is... - she wanted to intervene, but her father raised his palm imperiously, and daughter had to be silent.

- When a person smokes and drinks a lot, - continued the old man, - then his body gradually withers like a plant, which no one watering.

Delia could not help but note to herself that this analogy was completely out of place in this situation, but what can you do - her father was just a medicine salesman, so it would be very reckless to expect beautiful metaphors and comparisons from him. Delia measured her father with a cold gaze, but he did not seem to notice the reproach in her eyes and poured himself another cup of tea. But her mother finally decided to intervene in their conversation - she threw her head back and, looking somewhere at the ceiling, began to stir with a spoon in her cup.

- A good child's a docile child, - she said detachedly.

- It's a very correct observation, - her husband nodded his head.

Their daughter was suddenly overcome with a feeling of righteous anger, as if her mother's moralizing remark had humiliated her, putting her on par with those pompous, mindless child models she had seen on television screen or on advertising boards. Delia could hardly contain herself, and all she could do was get up from the table and loudly stomp her foot.

- You'll be telling me, - she exclaimed throughout the dining room, - that the parents has no need of genius or thinkers, they need witless implementers!

The next second, she immediately ran out of the dining room, without having tried the delicious dishes that her mother had been tirelessly preparing for almost an hour before. After watching her daughter, the mother turned to her spouse - it was clear from her face that the girl's words made a strong impression on her.

- Santo Deus! - in Portuguese she said quietly but very expressively. - Do you know what she did?

The head of the family shrugged his shoulders and looked again at the doorway in which his little girl had disappeared. He thought to himself that Delia no slouch, she was kind of a chip off the old block - gives vent to anger as he had been in his time, and the look in her eyes just as piercing and merciless... But his wife called him away from his pleasant thoughts.

- Delia was quoting Robespierre before our eyes! - with these words the woman grabbed her head.

- Well, what's so wrong about that? ? - her husband asked indifferently, making himself more comfortable in his chair.

- Moreover, she did have the presence of mind to paraphrase his words! - his wife continued excitedly.

- Well, think of the trouble! Daughter is already eight years old, we should be happy that she is developing! - The head of the family answered phlegmatically.

- It's this violator, this infamous...

Delia's mother stopped mid-sentence, as if she was very unpleasant to say the name of the person who, in her opinion, taught her daughter some bad things. The father realized who she meant and stopped smiling.

- You can rest easy, honey, - he said seriously, looking away to the side. - We taught this varmint a lesson, and he will never dare to even get near our daughter again, though he might wish he could.

The sincere malice with which he uttered these words was instantly transmitted to his wife, causing her anemic face to become covered with red spots. She raised her head high and said proudly:

- Sim, querido! We took revenge for the insulted honour of our family! From now on, no one will dare to look askance at our girl!

The father's face softened, but the expression of deep concern remained in his eyes.He thought for a moment, which could not have escaped the attention of his better half, who, noticing the change in his mood, stopped her ranting and looked at her husband with sympathy.

- What are you thinking about, my joy? - she cooed. - You didn't like my tetrazzini?

She was referring to the pasta she served to her entire family.

- No, air that I breathe, - he answered. - The dinner was beyond all praise, and I'm sure you were very tired when you prepared it for me and our baby.

His spouse sighed with relief and leaned back in her chair.

- And therefore, - continued the old man, - I thought that you, blood in my veins, should take another person as your assistant, so that he would take care of our...

He didn't have time to finish his flattering speech - his wife, who had previously been quietly dozing at the table, in the blink of an eye woke up from her sleep and, in a frenzy, swung at him a porcelain sugar bowl, which she grabbed from the table.

- Take it easy, heavenly bliss, - said the father of the family, who reacted in time to the sudden thrust of his other half.