"Hey, What's wrong?" Gerald said as he got of the chair and sat next to Chelsea on the mattress. The difference between gerald and Chelsea could not be described. Mere words such as the distance between the heavens and earth could not even come in comparison. The small girl was so tiny and adorable that it would make even a sociopath without a heart want to protect her. She did not look remotely like her father. In fact it would seem like Gerald had kidnapped her and kept her against her will.
She had dark black eyes that twinkled with hope, naturally frizzy blonde hair and soft beige skin. She wore a black dress that made her look like she had been born with a golden spoon, lived a sheltered and treated with utmost care although she lived in a shack that barely got any sunlight.
"Your early today, did something happen?" She asked.
"Do I need a reason to see my daughter? Or is it that you do not want to see me?"
"No...that's not what I meant! What I meant was..." Chelsea said all flustered.
"I know what you meant." Gerald interrupted. "You did not want me to go outside and look for a woman, you want to keep me all to yourself, don't you?"
"And what if I do? I know you won't pick any woman over me." Chelsea pouted, her face slightly red and her arms crossed as she looked away from her father.
'This is bad,too much sugar..cuteness..overload. I might die from this.' Gerald thought to himself as he clutched the left side of his chest.
"Of course I would never dare to pick any other woman over you, but if you had a twin sister that would be a different story." Gerald teased her as he pulled her pouty cheeks.
"Hey!"
"I'm just joking, or maybe I'm not. Haha. Are you hungry Chelsea? Sorry, silly question, of course you are What would you like to eat?"
"Chocolate cake." She shouted enthusiastically.
"I'll get you some later, you can't eat cake as soon as you wake up."
"Then I want a Marnian sandwich!" She said. Although she wasn't happy about not getting a cake now he promised her that she would get it later.
"Very well then, I'll be back in ten minutes. I'm gonna get the ingredients."
Marnian sandwich wasn't that hard to make, in fact it was considered an easy dish to make. The ingredients needed were flour, eggs, salt, onions, ginger, garlic, vinegar, chicken and finally the one horned Marnian bird. It was a popular dish in common households and even in the houses of nobles due to the fact that it was a well balanced meal to start the day with. It contained vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and antioxidants to prevent stress and high blood pressure.
It was also good budget wise. The Marnian birds were also considered a pest that ate the grains and crops of farmers so it was a win win for everyone except for the birds.Even if 10,000 of the most skilled hunters decided to hunt only Marnian birds for the rest of their life's the ecosystem would still stay the same due to the sheer number of the birds. This was thanks to their fast reproduction rate.
Gerald walked past the giant house that blocked the sunlight from entering his shack with eyes full of hatred. "Of all the places on this vast planet you decided to build a house right next to me. Just you wait when your house burns down with everyone of you bastards still inside the last thing you will see is my face."
Gerald reached the market and bought all the ingredients he needed except for the meat.He also bought some charcoal and oil. For the meat he decided to go to his favourite butcher. He bought one kilogram of chicken breast and two whole Marnian birds. He had the butcher remove all the bones and dice them into smaller pieces.
The Marnian bird was an averagely small bird, approximately twice the size of a pigeon. "Shit, I used 28 silver and 67 moins. At least the shopping will hold us for a few days." Gerald headed home with the heavy groceries held in the three different bags close to his chest except for one which he held in his right hand.
It was time to make lunch.
He rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He lit the fire on a charcoal burner after placing charcoal in it. Next he poured flour into a giant metal bowl. He cracked eight eggs and added some milk kneading it with his hands until he formed a giant piece of dough.
Next it was time to make the fillings. "Let me help you Dad." Chelsea said. She picked up the knife and was about to start cutting up the onions. As soon as Gerald saw the knife if the six year olds hands he let out a shout that sounded something between a war cry and a the screams of a woman in labour. With the swiftness of a hawk he snatched the knife out of her hand before she could hurt herself.
"Dad, I'm a grown woman, I can help you out." she said with a sad voice. "Of course you are a grown woman but you do not know how to use a knife. It is a dangerous object that takes months of practice to master. If you hurt yourself then I would hold myself accountable. Would you want that?"
"No dad."
'Seems like my guilt trip worked. Your too young to withstand it. My power to guilt trip you has grown stronger.Hahahahaha.'
He patted her on her head and kissed her forehead. " You can watch me though, would you like that?"
"Yes."
Chelsea watched as her father skillfully chopped the onions, garlic and ginger. He placed them in another bowl and then added some chicken and Marnian meat. He mixed them all together with his hands so that everything was jumbled together. 'Add some salt, squeeze some lemon on it and finally some vinegar.' The fillings were done. He cut the giant dough into twenty or so smaller pieces.
He placed the fillings inside and closed it by covering it with itself. The end product was a dough ball with fillings inside it. All that was left was to fry it.
The fire was ready. He placed an averagely big pan on the charcoal burner and added some oil and waited for it to heat up. The oil reached its boiling point. He placed the dough balls in one by one. Finally he was done cooking and he was left with golden crusted Marnian sandwich.
Now all that was left was to make pasta. Five minutes later the water was boiling hot and so he put the pasta in. After some time the pasta was ready. He strained the pasta and it was ready to be served.
He placed most of the food onto a giant plate apart from a little bit that was enough for two people and left the kitchen as Chelsea followed him skipping happily. He placed the giant plate on the table. Chelsea sat on the chair opposite Gerald as that was the only on available.
"Let us wait for it to cool down." Gerald said. " What do you think of that Harnia woman. Is she good to you?"
"Yes, she is a very nice and beautiful lady. Although she makes me drink that bitter medicine, I love her." she responded.
"But not more than me right?"
"That's a really hard question. I think I love her more than you."
"That's right of course I'm better than her...Wait what?"
"I'm just kidding, of course I love you more."
Five minutes passed and the piping hot food cooled down a bit. "Let's say our prayers first." Gerald said.
"Dad, why do we say prayers although we are not Christians?"
"We say prayers because we have plenty to be grateful for, remember this no matter how rich or how powerful you become you will always be happy as long as you are grateful and content with what you have. Make sure you enjoy it because who knows what could happen in the near future."
The two held hands, said their prayers and ate together while talking to each other. After finishing their food. Gerald guilt tripped her into drinking her medicine. He decided to take her outside to spend some time together. She changed into a white dress and wore a woven sun hat before they left.
No matter where they went people kept on staring at both of them especially Chelsea. These people seemed to know the true meaning of beauty because they were struck with awe. Even the vendors who were always alert so that nobody could steal their products were so absent minded that they would not see a thief even if one blocked their vision and stole from them right now.
"It seems like you are pretty famous around here. Are you perhaps someone important?" Gerald teased his daughter.
"Yes, of course I am, I am important to my father, am I not?" she retorted.
'Damn it, I can already see she will be a smart mouthed woman in the future, I have to guide her into stopping on her own otherwise no man will ever marry her.'
"Of course you are, did you think for a second that you were not? What do you want to do?"
"Animal park." Chelsea began skipping merrily.
"Are you sure? We go there all the time, do you not want to go to another place?"
"No, Mr supercloud is waiting for me, I promised him I'll be back."
"Who is this Mr Supercloud?" Gerald asked. He was pretty sure he made sure to protect her from all kinds of weirdos and perverts and there was one that managed to escape his sights. He needed to be taught a lesson.
"It's the white stallion we were riding together last week. Do you not remember?"
"Yes I do remember." he said 'That dumb horse was by far the most perverted animal I met, he would bite any woman's breast that got to close and tried to kick any man that came near it. I remember it got an erection in front of kids some other day. I need to beat the shit out of that horse and show him my superiority.'
The two reached the destination where they were headed to. It was just a normal farm just outside the main gates. There were lots of people, many of them having followed Gerald and Chelsea.
"Hi," A beautiful lady greeted Gerald. She wore a cowboy hat, thick boots, tight Jean's and a red striped sleeveless shirt. Her hair was woven into two pigtail braids and she had tattoos all over her arm all the way to her neck. she was the definition of a cowgirl.
"Oh hi Betty." Gerald greeted her.
"You here to ride some horses like usual?"
"Yes, we would like Mr Supercloud." Betty maintained her jovial smile. "I have no idea who that is."
"The white stallion we rode last Time." Chelsea said in a menacing voice, but only she thought it was menacing, she came across as cute. She was standing in front of her as if protecting him from her. She felt threatened by this lady with the menacing body art. Her father was her's and her's alone.
"Oh, I didn't even see you there princess Chelsea." Betsy said as she squatted down to Chelsea's height. "Do you mean Daisy?"
"His name is Mr Supercloud."
"If you say so, follow me then." The entire time Betsy's smile did not fade. She led them to an area that was enclosed with wooden fences in which there were several horses. There were other people who were riding horses most of them woman and children. There were employees who were leading the horses so that they did not decide to run and cause injuries.
Gerald finally saw his target, a majestic milk white stallion. Getalf could tell it had powerful legs due to its muscles. It's long mane billowed in the wind.
The day progressed smoothly with no trouble apart from Gerald occasionally threatening the horse. Three hours passed by swiftly and they both left with smiles on their faces.
They returned inside the gates and Gerald bought Chelsea the cake that she had wanted.
It was a small choclate black forest cake with vanilla and strawberry icing.
The crowd behind them that were following them had decreased in size but there were still lots of people following them. Gerald picked his daughter up and put her on his back. He held both of her legs tightly before telling her to hold on tightly. He felt her tiny hands cling on to his chest as hard as they could. Gerald took of running going through dark alleys and shortcuts
towards their house. Gerald was faster than most people but he was no where near faster than a horse. Finally when Gerald had enough he took a sharp corner and jumped onto a wall and then to the other opposing wall before jumping on to the roof of a building. "Let's wait here until the crowd goes away," he said.
He kneeled down so that his daughter could get down from his back. She got down and after waiting for an hour the crowd dispersed. Gerald threw the chocolate box away as it was finished. "Ok let's go home," He once again picked his daughter up and slowly scaled down the wall. When they reached home there was a woman waiting for them. It was Harnia. Chelsea's babysitter.
As soon as she saw Gerald she immediately started shouting, "Where were you you idiot? I was waiting for two hours. Why were you dragging around a child at this time? Look at her, she's bound to catch a cold."
Harnia was an averagely short plump woman with average sized breast, average looks and average aura. If you were to describe her in one word, the most sensible word would be average. Although she had a small physique, she had a heart of gold.
All of this came from her motherly as she was a mother so she saw Chelsea as her own daughter. "Sorry about that we ran into some traffic." Gerald said with a smile.
They went inside and Harnia lit the oil candles"Give her a bath and her medicine, there is dinner for both of you in the kitchen make sure you heat it up."
"Dad are you leaving?" Chelsea asked.
"Yes, I have to go to work."
"But you never left the other nights, why are you leaving tonight?"
"I'm going to get some milk, I'll be back in the morning."
"But... we have milk "
"I'm just kidding, I'll be going to work and I'll be back in the morning."
Harnia came back and called for Chelsea who reluctantly followed her.
Gerald went to the room in the back which no one used. He lifted several of the bricks in the middle of the room. Underneath it was a battered metal box. He opened it and inside it were several pictures. Several of them were of Chelsea and him but there was one photo that was different.
It was a picture of three people. Gerald, a small Chelsea and a tall beautiful woman with fair skin. He didn't focus to much on the pictures and took out what he came for. A pair of long gloves that reached the elbows made from the scales of a demon tortoise. Normally tortoise do not have scales but the demon tortoise do instead of a shell.
Gerald put the box back in its place and covered it with the bricks. He put on black trousers, a black shirt and a black cloak. He left his home with his gloves in the pocket of his cloak. He stared into the night sky as if waiting for something before moving.
"Seems like it's time to make some money."
******
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