Page 23 of The Fighter
Magni was looking around the storage room. “It was a wooden bed, and it had a heart engraved in the headboard. I remember because I would let my fingers run across it when Dina let me sleep in her bed.”
“All right.” Mila walked into the room. “We’ll look for a purple or blue bed with a heart engraved.”
Khan pointed to his right. “I’m searching over here. The rest of you spread out.”
I went to the back where the clutter was worst. A large shelf stood against the wall full of boxes. Some of them had writing on them indicating that it was Christmas decorations or cutlery.
We searched around for ten minutes and I repeatedly heard Mila make comments like, “Oh, look at this,” and “Why would anyone not want to keep this?”
Magni laughed. “What are you doing, Mila honey?”
“I’m making a pile of things that I want to bring to my room.”
“Nobody tell Pearl about this room, I don’t want my suite filled up with old crap.”
“You’ve got a point, brother.” Magni chuckled and called out to me. “Hey, Raven, can you imagine your mom in this place? Christina would be like a kid in a candy store. She loves everything old, doesn’t she?”
“She’s an archeologist. I’m sure she would love to go through this room to see if there might be something ancient down here.”
“Like this one?” Jonah held up a book that was coming apart.
I nodded. “Yes. Old books are precious. None of them should be hidden away in a storage room.”
“That’s right. Did you hear that, Jonah?” Khan stood with a metal device in his hands but was looking over at Jonah. “Remember what Pearl and I told you about the forbidden books in the Motherlands? You people need to stop treating your people like children. If someone wants to read a scary book or a bunch of steamy novels it should be their choice. You call me a tyrant when you council members are the ones suppressing your people’s freedom.”
“I know you see it that way, but the council members think of themselves as responsible protectors of their people. That’s why it’s so hard for them to agree with me on higher speed limits, and why Jenna McFulham called me a danger to society when I suggested making it legal to consume alcohol.”
Magni opened a box and roamed through it. “They are a bunch of worried mother hens is what they are. You know, Jonah, it’s a wonder how you turned out so sensible despite growing up surrounded by Momsies. But at least when you come and visit us, you can drink some beer and fly as fast as you want to.”
“I appreciate that.”
Turning back to my searching, I picked out a box that said, Costume Party 2418. It was a bunch of garments and I put it back. A few other boxes had glasses and cups in them and when I took out the fourth box, I spotted a picture frame in the back of the shelf.
I couldn’t help laughing when I saw the two boys in the picture. “Mila, come see this. You’re going to want to add this to your pile.”
“What is it?”
When she got close enough, I handed the picture frame to her. “Recognize these two gangsters?”
Mila’s eyes widened, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, Raven, this is precious. Thank you.”
“What’s precious?” Jonah came over to see while I leaned back and called out to Khan and Magni.
“We found a picture of you men from when you were children.”
“Huh. Let me see.” Khan came over with Magni following him. “Jonah, give me that picture.”
Amusement was written on Jonah’s face when he handed the frame over. “I think you look very nice, both of you.”
They both groaned. “Why the fuck are we naked?”
Magni shook his head. “How would I know? I can’t be more than two in that picture.”
“Looks like it was taken in the park. Maybe you were going swimming in the lake.” Mila reached for the picture. “Can I have it?”
“No!” Magni took it from Khan. “I know you’ll just put it in a prominent place in your room and display our dicks to the world.”
“It’s hardly the whole world if I keep it in my room, is it?” Mila tried taking it. “It’s such a sweet picture. I want to show it to Mom.”
