Sneak peek into an epic fantasy series
Part 5 of why sneak peeks are important
The Ancestors' Secrets series
https://books2read.com/Chosen-by-the-Sword
Dear Diary,
After breakfast and Prayer, the dreadful
thoughts started to affect me more than I could handle. I stood up, tried to
shake the sad mood and act normal by walking to the sink where Elza was busy
washing the dishes. Pretending first, and then getting caught up in a cheerful
mood, usually worked to shake my dire
feelings. It was easy for me to fool others and, eventually, I could fool
myself to some degree. My pathetic attempt at
acting cheerfully was to grab Elza to dance with me to the “Good Morning
Starshine” tune on the radio. I tried to touch her hand, again, but she politely
pulled away.
“Look who just got her good mood back? The birthday girl!”
Elza exclaimed slapping my hands away.
She smiled, although the look in her eyes puzzled me, and
her refusal to touch hands for the third time offended me. She looked at me
and, for a fleeting second, I had a feeling she was searching for some change
in me. Moreover, I thought she was expecting something from me. She blinked and
shook her head a little as if she had
closed a discussion in her mind. After a few seconds, she was back to normal—loving
and steady. It would be so easy to find
out what’s bothering her. I thought.
If I could only touch her hand, just for a second…
Elza, tried to divert my attention by asking, “Ilona, you
never talk about your blood relatives. Don’t you think it’s time to forgive
them?”
“Perhaps, but it’s not easy. It hurt me deeply what my uncle
did. I didn’t understand why he never visited us when I was a child. My parents
avoided the subject, but I overheard you and Rua talking about it. You said, my
uncle never forgave my father for marrying my mother, and I never found out
what it was that made him object to their marriage. In fact, I have seen him
maybe three or four times in my entire life. He had two children whom I know
of, but I never met his wife.”
“I remember when he came to your parents’ funeral. Soon
after discovering that you were of legal age and your parent’s sole
beneficiary, he didn’t even stay for the service.”
“Yes, I was sad, and he seemed infuriated after the lawyer read the will. Those emotions did not
allow us to communicate. Later, I never thought about inviting him to visit,
and he seemed to have forgotten about me completely. Sadly, I don’t have any
memory of him that would make me miss him, even though he is my only living
relative. Perhaps I should have called him, but being stupidly stubborn, I did
not.”
“You should give him a call sometimes. He might have changed,
and his children are grown by now. Perhaps they would like to meet you and keep
in touch.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Gypsy, my bear-sized St. Bernard, snapped me out of the sad
mood as he stormed through the custom-made doggy door. He plowed into my legs
with such force that it made me lose my footing, “Whoa!” I managed to yelp
before plopping onto the floor, on my backside. “Ouch… Gypsy, you’re like a
bulldozer.”
He wagged his tail happily, pinned me down and licked me all
over my face. I could not escape his overwhelming display of love, as he was
too strong.
Mirci Catchmousky, our
Maine Coon cat, puffed her long hair and hissed at Gypsy from her perch on a
low windowsill. Gypsy trotted over to the cat - giving me time to stand up -
and gave her a sloppy lick too. It almost knocked the silver-haired cat off the
windowsill. Mirci swatted at Gypsy’s
head, which made him jump back. He gave out a low, throaty growl. Although I
didn’t see any blood, the cat’s sharp claws must have slashed him a little.
Gypsy turned, and with a powerful swish
of his tail, sent Mirci flying. She
knocked over the garbage can and ran from the kitchen, hissing.
“Yes!” I heard Elza’s muted yell and caught her doing a
victory dance from the corner of my eye. I looked at her indignantly, and she
quickly wiped the grin off her face. Elza had never been fond of my
free-spirited cat. She fed her well and adequately
cared for her, but Gypsy had always been her favorite.
Gypsy tried to knock me off my feet again, but Elza rescued
me by pushing the pail-sized bowl close to him, with her foot. The sound of the
metal bowl sliding on the ceramic tile got his attention as Elza poured his
breakfast into the bowl, and he started wolfing it down. I cleaned up at the
sink, wiping the slobber off my face.
Elza turned to me, “Is Bela coming to help Ema?”
“Last week he said he would help us. I’ll call him a little
later, he likes to sleep in.” I informed while I doodled on the countertop with
my wet fingers. The dream I had was still
bothering me, and I wanted to talk to Elza about it, but I didn’t know how to
bring it up.
Elza snapped me out of my thoughts. “He’s been moping around
for days,” she said, giving me a half glance.
The idea of talking about my dream immediately took second
place in priority. “What’s wrong?” I asked Elza, concerned. “I haven’t talked
to him since Friday. He seemed to be fine then.”
“He called while you were working but made me swear not to
tell you. He said he’d wait until you had a day off.” Elza offered shrugging
her shoulders.
I glanced at her, and again; the fleeting expectation filled
her eyes. She turned away and her anticipation pressed on my mind, but I couldn’t
figure out what it was. I grabbed the phone and dialed Bela. He answered on the
first ring as if he were awaiting my call.
“What’s wrong? I demanded an answer. Elza said you made her
swear not to tell me while I was working.”
“Nothing, love, honestly. It’s just a little writer’s block.
My publisher is bugging me to finish the book, but I don’t have a single idea
in my head. I need your help, but I didn’t want to bother you when you were
working,” he confessed, “and I haven’t seen you for days. I missed you.”
“Oh, you big dope, you should have called me,” I complained,
twisting the phone cord between my fingers.
“You said the opening
is tomorrow, so I thought we could talk when I came over to help Ema.”
“Thanks for remembering it. Yes, we can talk after we get
everything done.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour.” He abruptly hung up on me,
without waiting for my reply.
He forgot my birthday!
He’d never forgotten before. I felt sadness creeping up on me and I slowly
replaced the phone. I went upstairs, changing into my favorite lounging outfit,
faded jeans and soft T-Shirt. By the time I was done, I’d heard the familiar
sound of Bela’s sports car pulling up to my driveway and I went out to the
porch to greet him. He got out of his car, holding Tui, his chocolate
Chihuahua. She was yapping excitedly and squirmed in his hands. Gypsy trotted
over, and when Bela put Tui down, he licked her from head to tail with one
sweep of his huge tongue. Tui growled at him halfheartedly, not appreciating
the unexpected bath, but forgave him quickly and reached up to touch her tiny
nose to Gypsy’s, that was almost as large as her whole head. She yapped hello
to Gypsy and he gave her a low, throaty rumble. The pair vanished into the
backyard, Tui in the lead.
Bela hugged me, “Happy birthday to my bestest friend.”
“You didn’t forget!”
“Nope, and you can’t open your present yet.” His mischievous
smile prepared me for what was coming, “And remember, you’re always going to be
older than me,”
“Yeah, exactly thirty days older!” I blushed.
