Chapter 7 An Unexpected Visit

“So, Mr. Jackson will return and stay in the cabin again this evening?” Sonya poured some coffee from the coffee maker into two different cups; one cup of Auntie Caroline and the other cup was for her. 

“No. He’ll be back in three days!” Auntie Caroline chewed some green salad and almond chunks that Sonya had prepared for their breakfast. 

“In three days?” Sonya lifted her eyebrows and stopped eating her toasted bread with peanut jam. “Why does it take so long for him to take a break?”

Auntie Caroline took some sips of her coffee before answering Sonya’s question. “I think he has some business to do in his hometown!” She reached for a piece of toasted bread and crushed it into crumbles on her salad.

Auntie Caroline’s answer triggered Sonya’s curiosity to get to know Mr. Jackson, a poker-faced man. “Does he celebrate the full moon festivals like us?” Sonya took a spoonful of salad into her mouth. 

Auntie Caroline inhaled. “You should put some olive oil and less yogurt in the salad, Sonya! You know we still eat everything greenies and veggies on our menu for the next three days!”

‘It seems that Auntie Caroline does want to change the subject of conversation about Mr. Jackson. Who is he actually?’ Sonya sipped her coffee and looked at the front door as they both heard someone knocking on the door.

“I’ll get it, Auntie!” Sonya rose from her seat after wiping her lips with a napkin from breadcrumbs.

Sonya opened the front door and her eyes captured a tall athletic man standing with his back to her. He had dark golden straight hair and was wearing a casual shirt, a navy jacket, and a pair of black jeans.

‘A nice SUV car!’ Sonya cleared her throat.

That young man, perhaps a couple of years younger than her, turned his back and he had a nice smile at Sonya. “Auntie Caroline is there?”

Sonya rubbed her forehead. ‘Auntie Caroline? Who is he? I think I am the only niece that Auntie Caroline has.’

“She’s inside, having a breakfast.” Sonya turned her head around as she heard Auntie Caroline approaching from behind.

“Clayton?” Auntie Caroline sneaked out behind Sonya’s back.

The young man smiled widely as his hazel eyes captured the figure of Auntie Caroline. He put his backpack on the floor and came into the door, giving a little bit push toward Sonya who was standing next to the door. 

‘Clayton?’ Sonya smirked. 

“Auntie Caroline, it’s been a long time!” He hugged Auntie Caroline tightly and made her tip-toe for them to embrace each other. 

They were laughing as they held each other’s hands. 

“Clayton, you’ve become a such tall and good-looking young man!” Auntie Caroline scooped the young man’s face with her two hands. 

Sonya could see how bizarre both of them bonded to each other. ‘How a wacky whacky man!’ Sonya cleared her throat. 

“Oh, Clayton! This is Sonya, my niece, she’s the only daughter of my only sister, Austin Duville!” Auntie Caroline stopped kissing that man’s cheeks and looked at Sonya who was standing twitchily behind them.

Clayton turned around and smiled at Sonya. “Hi, cousin!” He tapped Sonya’s shoulder and went out for a while to pick up his backpack and something from his red SUV car that was parked next to Sonya’s silver old jeep.

“Who is he, Auntie?” Sonya whispered to Auntie Caroline who was staring at that young man.

“Elbert’s nephew!” Auntie Caroline turned around and returned to the dining room. “Ask Clayton to join us for breakfast, Sonya!”

Sonya nodded her head and still waited for the young man to unpack his baggage from his SUV car in front of the front door.

Lassie was woofing at him and he ran after Clayton, licking the young man’s face as they both had known for years. 

“He’s a good boy. What’s his name?” Clayton asked about Lassie’s name as he came into the house with his baggage and backpack. 

“Need a hand?” Sonya looked at him who was busy arranging his baggage and carrying them into the house.

“Nay. I could handle it!” Clayton smiled and Lassie was jumping over behind the young man.

“Lassie, give him some time!” Sonya tried to warn Lassie to calm down.

The German shepherd dog woofed at Sonya as he protested and was wiggling his tail waiting for Clayton to caress him again.

“So, your name is Lassie, Buddy?” Clayton hugged Lassie and laughed at that time Lassie licked his cheek.

“We’re having breakfast, please join us, Clayton!” Sonya closed the front door and walked into the kitchen.

‘Hi, Clayton. Nice to see you, Buddy!’ Lassie’s throaty voice greeted him and Sonya paused to walk as she found that Clayton answered Lassie’s greeting.

“Yeah, Buddy! You seem a nice guy!” Clayton laughed.

‘Do they speak to each other?’ Sonya lifted her eyebrows and rubbed them as she felt curious.

“You said that we only eat greenies and veggies, Auntie!” Sonya asked Auntie Caroline as she saw Auntie Caroline was frying half-cooked hams, beef without any ingredients, and vegetables for Clayton.

Sonya dragged her seat and continued to finish her breakfast. ‘Yikes. Why does Auntie Caroline cook the meat half-cooked, they are so reddish.’ Sonya closed her mouth with her hand as her eyes captured that the meat looked so raw in her eyes. 

“The Steins don’t celebrate the Full moon festivals like the Duville does, honey! They should eat raw cooked meat a lot on their diet every full moon!” Auntie Caroline put the dish for Clayton in front of Sonya.

“It smells nice, Auntie!” Clayton sneaked from Sonya’s back with Lassie.

Sonya looked at Lassie. ‘It seems that Clayton can speak with you, Lassie, isn’t right?’ she put a bit of hams from Clayton’s plate and gave a piece of hams to Lassie.

‘Yeah. That’s right! Hey, Buddy, is it okay if I eat this piece of hams?’ Lassie stared at Sonya and Clayton in a barter.

Sonya glanced at Clayton nodded and agreed with what Lassie asked of him. 

Sonya wrinkled her forehead and put her last bite of jammed peanut-toasted bread into her mouth.

Clayton seemed hungrily chopping the meat and ate those chunks of meat like he hadn’t been eating for many days.

Sonya captured the style of his eating through her side eyes. ‘My Gosh. He eats like a wolf!’ She sipped her coffee.

Clayton stopped munching the meat in his mouth and stared at Sonya. “Want to have some, Sonya?” He smiled at her as if he tried to play some jokes.

Sonya smirked and chopped some vegetables in her salad with her fork. “We don’t eat any meats during the full moon festivals!”

Clayton winked one of his eyes. “My bad. It tastes nice as usual Auntie Caroline!” he looked at Auntie Caroline who was also looking at him with her sparkling gaze.

“Thank you, Clayton!” Auntie Caroline sipped her coffee and put her glasses on. “Sonya, Clayton’s father was the younger brother of Uncle Elbert! He passed away a few weeks later after your uncle! The same story as I and your mother, they aren’t able to bear any daughters in the Steins’ bloodline while we aren’t able to bear any sons in the Duville’s bloodline!” Auntie Caroline stopped sipping her coffee, her eyes were directed at Clayton and Sonya in a barter. “Both of you should get along very well!” as usual Auntie Caroline gave her big emphasizing tone to her point.

Clayton smiled playfully and nodded his head. He winked one eye to Sonya who took some sips of water as she felt something irritating inside her throat.

“Why have I never seen you since I was a kid and a teenager? Whenever I spent holidays in this place?” Sonya looked at Clayton. “It’s odd!”

Clayton glanced at Sonya slightly and smirked as he continued concentrating on his plate rather than answering her question.

“Clayton is living in Australia, Sonya. You both had a different period of winter holiday. That’s why Clayton only visited us every last week in February, that’s the reason why you never met each other!” Auntie Caroline explained.

“Yeah, Auntie Caroline is right Sonya!” Clayton had finished his breakfast and left some leftover meat for Lassie. He sipped Sonya’s coffee.

Sonya stopped munching and waited for Clayton to put her coffee cup back on the table. ‘He sipped all my coffee!’ Sonya reached for her cup after wiping the part of the cup where Clayton put his lips with her thumb. 

“What is your plan in this small town, Clayton? Or did you just spend your vacation to visit me?” Auntie Caroline poured two different coffee cups for Sonya and Clayton.

Clayton reached for the coffee cup that Auntie Caroline handed to him and Sonya at the time Sonya cleaned up their dishes.

“I am preparing my dissertation but I don’t have much idea about what I am going to research!” Clayton sipped his coffee and paused. “I remembered that once I saw some files that Uncle Hengel writing about Rose Duville!” Clayton sniffed and looked at Auntie Caroline.

Auntie Caroline inhaled deeply. “The history of Rose Duville and what she learned about the local wisdom on this land! Are those what you meant?”

“Some of them, Auntie!” Clayton licked his lips. “When I was a teenager, Uncle Hengel showed me some parts of this land that are considered sacred land! I am interested in learning about them!” Clayton continued to explain.

Auntie Caroline sighed. “If you want to visit the sacred land, you must wait for Jackson, our gardener. He knows much about that and he could probably help you to give some guidance about that.” Auntie Caroline paused. “But the full moon festival will last in three days. You know, during the full moon, he should keep himself away from people and isolate himself!”

Sonya stopped washing the dishes and looked at Auntie Caroline. ‘Why should Mr. Jackson keep himself away from people and isolate himself?’ She wanted to ask about it but she felt her mouth locked after she remembered what happened in her night-before dream. 

“So, are you a student of archaeology or anthropology?” Sonya wiped her two hands with a clean towel and looked at Clayton who was staring at her.

“Anthropology. How about you? A Master's degree holder in literature?” Clayton smirked.

Sonya opened her mouth, pretending that she was surprised by Clayton’s guess. “How do you know that?”

Clayton smiled. “I saw some books about Shakespeare on the bookshelf in the living room. I think they are yours.”

Sonya laughed. “I was thinking that you have a superpower in recognizing a person from first impression!” 

Clayton shook his head, smirked hilariously, and shrugged. “Who knows becoming a clairvoyant is another talent that I haven’t known before, Sonya?”

“Yeah!” Sonya frowned and sipped her coffee. She saw Auntie Caroline walking to the backyard and was about to take a morning walk with Lassie.

“Auntie, wait for me! I should escort you!” Sonya chased Auntie Caroline’s steps.

Clayton was following Sonya from behind. He ran to open the gate for Auntie Caroline.

Lassie was running before the three of them as they were walking through the small path. 

“Auntie, wait!” Clayton halted Auntie Caroline from walking. He put his fingers through one of his jeans pockets and handed Auntie Caroline a beautiful black pearl bracelet.

“What is that, Clayton?” Auntie Caroline let Clayton reach one of her wrists and put the bracelet on her wrist.

“I remembered that Uncle Hengel told me that Auntie loves pearls! I spent some days on my vacation on an island when I saw this bracelet!” Clayton smiled as he had put the bracelet on Auntie Caroline’s wrist. He kissed Auntie Caroline’s hands. “I don’t have a mother anymore, Auntie. You are my mother now!” he stared into Auntie Caroline’s eyes. He seemed to mean what he said, Sonya could see that through his eyes. 

Auntie Caroline giggled and kissed Clayton’s forehead as Sonya’s mother often did to her.

Sonya took a deep breath as she saw that scene. ‘What a wonderful bond that both of them have shared! Like a mother and her only son!’