Page 28 of Mr. Winter
Jack points at the bowl on the table with a cup of milk next to it. “Cereal. I sprinkled the sugar on it for you.”
Now, I want to cry. “What in the hell is going on here? No sex and no food.”
Jack points at the bowl again. “Cereal is food. Eat up. I’m already done.”
I sit and stare at the bran cereal like I’ve gone to hell. “I’ll burn this just going up the million stairs in this house.”
“I’ll show you how I used to go down the stairs after breakfast.”
I wish he’d stop saying that. This isn’t breakfast. He disappears again while I eat. I go back up the stairs when he doesn’t return only for him to scare the shit out of me when I get to the top.
“Where in the hell did you come from?” I exclaim with my hand over my chest. “Don’t sneak up on black people. That’s how you get punched in the nuts.”
Jack turns me to face the steps. “I told you I’ll show you one of the ways I used to get down the stairs.”
“If you push me, I don’t care if I die, I will find a way to get you back.”
Jack chuckles with his body pressed against my back. “That’d be silly. I can’t fuck a corpse.” He splays his hand on my belly with his thumb dipping just below the hem of my pants. “Ready?”
His breath on my ear makes me shudder. Jack covers the stairs in ice and makes it look like a big ass slide.
“No way, Jack. That’s cra-aaaah!”
I’m speeding down the stairs because he pushed me, but he quickly catches up, pulls me onto the little toboggan sled, and nestles me between his legs. I find myself giggling after the first turn. I’m ready to go again when we reach the bottom. He humors me three more times and while this isn’t sex, it’s damn fun. The best part is Jack’s carefree, boisterous laughter. He doesn’t resemble the stick in the mud he was when I called.
“I want to go see all this snow you created,” I tell him after the last slide.
“Okay.” He grabs my hand and leads me out the back door.
“Holy Moley! You really did a number out here.”
An expression I can’t read yet crosses his face before he shakes his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But you do know if you did, I’d listen without judgment, right?”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Come on, let’s have lunch before we go explore.”
I was relieved to hear him say that until he put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of me.
“Are you out of groceries?” I ask.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“First cereal and now a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
Jack licks jelly off his lips, and I’m reminded about the withheld sex. All of this feels very strategic.
“I fed you a sandwich yesterday. You didn’t complain.”
“You and I know these are leagues apart.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He grabs my sandwich and walks toward the backyard. “Be ungrateful and hungry.”
I chase him outside, but he’s floating out of my reach. Looking around I find the best weapon at my disposal. I make a snowball and throw it at his head. I feel a moment of satisfaction before I remember who I hit.
Jack waves his hand and a pile of snow falls on top of me. Huffing, I shake it off just to get pelted with snowballs in rapid-fire. I try to run away but fall when the next pile of snow lands on me.
“Uncle!” I yell to throw in the towel and ask myself why I’d throw a snowball at a magical ice manipulator.
