Dirty dishes in the kitchen is normal scenery in the Derwinski residence during the early evenings of weekdays. Dahlia Derwinski was piling the dishes on the kitchen sink preparing to wash them afterwards when Jonas Derwinski, her husband is finally over with his desert. Memphis Derwinski is seen sitting next to his father in the wooden kitchen counter watching his mother who is busy with her motherly duties.
"Memphis, you hungry?"his dad asked throwing scrutinizing looks at him. That was Jonas' most redeeming quality which perfectly balanced the psyche and physique of an ideal father to his son and husband to his lovely wife--his ability to look serious all the while looking funny. He's got icing on his beard and a chocolate chip in his front teeth. Memphis shook his head in an attempt to hide his brewing laughter but his father, being someone possessing a natural hawk-eye cornered his sons sneaky reaction and ruffled his hair.
"Nah. Just trying to imagine what it'll look like, someday when I have my own family. I want a woman like momma." the child replied out of the blue. The next thing he knew, both his parents were looking at him with wide mouthed laughs, he could see his fathers molars.
"What? I mean, I'm twelve, I can yeah-"He cut himself in the middle of his own sentence and waved his hands in the air signifying defeat from the two wonderfully made human beings who just happened to be his parents for all the luck in this world.
"You can have a wife, son, and a family of your own but first, you got to find a girlfriend and learn how to shave your pricky thing."
"Dad!"He scorned at him, nearly pouting. His ears were red, and hot from embarassment.
"Oh yeah, you're a grown up. Im sorry. Yah see older guys like to talk about that particular asset." His father hissed while pointing his pinky finger on the zipper of Memphis' trousers. Frankly his father is not wrong. Men who likes to boost their egos talk too much about their penis size as if it was the only thing that matters. It is a profound characteristic of men whose cocks are.bigger than their brains.
Dahlia was not listening anymore as she was busy draining the sink to get rid of the stuck left over. Mr. Derwinski stood up and went to where his wife is while giving mild shoulder pats. Dahlia turned around and smiled sweetly at her husband like they were on a date or a honeymoon.
"Instead of tapping my shoulders, why don't yah lend me a hand here?"she scoffed at him.
"Memphis, you're the witness a'right? Your mother wants a hand on the sink."
The child nodded and suddenly felt like he was obliged to watch the two of them. Mr. Derwinski rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and unfastened his tie after which he motioned his hands under the faucet to wet them up. Dahlia is all smiles thinking that she manipulated Jonas into doing the momma thing hated by most people for all reasonable reasons except for those with obssessive cumpolsive disorder.
However, to Dahlia's surprise, Jonas started clapping his hands while following her around the kitchen doing the step-close-step-hop manner mimicking the traditional Polish Polka. Dahlia, in her sunflower embroidered black apron grabbed a large serving spoon and waited for her husband to come close so she could hit him right in his forehead where a fine set of wrinkles camped years after their marriage. Jonas then stood straight like a military man undergoing a surprise inspection from his commanders and grabbed his wife by the waist as he tries to let the jive flow into Dahlias nerves, who soon surrendered and danced with him while Memphis sits there on the high stool wondering why, of all these years of happy marriage, his parents have not decided to give him a little brother or a little sister. Dancing on the narrow space between the counter and the sink, to the tune of humming crickets and owls, the couple savored the moment only to realize that their twelve year old son is right on the stool looking at them.
"Memphis, the first thing you should learn about having a family is that, the husband is the Lion.the husband said, slowly inching his way to the wife's lips.
"But the wife is the trainer of the Lion." Dahlia countered and handed the sponge to Jonas in a quick thief like manner. Go upstairs son, we gotta do something rated SPG."Jonas joked. "Rated SPG. Sponge, Plates and Grease."
Mephis kept quiet. Still bothered by his parents outrageous sweetness, he hopped out of the stool and headed towards the stairs where the bedrooms are. He was wondering that time, what on Earth were his parents doing with each other. He convinced himself with an expert like yet innocent thought. Ah fools in love do things so stupidly romantic. He heaved a childish sigh and went on to bed.
Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major is playing on his local FM radio that night as he tucked himself into the sheets while imagining the streets of Italy with his parents. At a young age, he was very fond of Italian stuff. Dahlia emerged from a Italian-Filipino descent while Jonas is half Polish and half I-dont-know-what-breed, so as a result of an Italian-Filipino egg cell and Polish-unidentified sperm cell uniting after a good nights sex, here is Memphis, a boy of twelve with pointy nose and tan skin, tall stature, curly hair that he inherited from his Dad, a pair of hazel brown eyes and lips that are slightly disproportionate but rather attractive. If a stranger would look at him, they probably would not assume that he is a frail child who prefers to engage himself in deep thoughts, enjoy his own company, and choose not to partake in hockey, baseball or golf unlike his schoolmates. His hobbies classify him as a nerd, but he prefers to be called an intellectual with rational thinking and logical withdrawal from society and the tangle of other people's lives.
The night was silent like ghosts are to wander around the streets of Madison, Wisconsin. Although the family began living here since a year after Memphis was born, the kid seemed to not really help but wonder if ghosts do really exist in a place that is highly commercialized and looking totally harm free. Some residents say they can feel a strange presence crawling through their skins every midnight like someone is staring at them while they are sleeping but when they open their eyes and look around, nobody is there and the locks of their houses are neither dismantled nor opened. The eerie nights caused by the unknown strange presence caused the residents to install security cameras, double locks on their doors and windows and even adopted multiple dogs. Call on 911 is always an option when things go wrong but for now, the panic is unnecessary as the shadow lurking around is not a threat. Not yet.