CHAP 2 — Four Little Wars
The boys introduced themselves through warfare.
The pea launcher was Mason.
Blond, bright-eyed, furious at everything that stayed still long enough to become a target.
The cape boy was Noah.
Dramatic, loud, fearless in the way children become when adults mistake noise for personality.
The one under the table was Oliver.
Silent hands, quick mind, already unscrewing one chair leg while watching whether I noticed the second knife hidden near his knee.
The boy by the window was Theo.
Still.
Too still.
Gray eyes. White knuckles. The only one who did not laugh when the others tested me.
“Chicken, vegetables, potatoes,” Mrs. Alvarez said from the doorway.
“Cold now,” Mason announced.
“It wasn’t good when hot,” Noah added.
Victor looked at me.
“Begin.”
I did not move toward the boys.
I moved toward the table.
First, I took the silver spoon from Mason’s ammunition pile and set it beside his plate. He immediately reached for another.
I placed my palm over the peas.
“No weapons at dinner.”
He stared at me.
“Peas aren’t weapons.”
“They are when launched.”
Noah laughed.
I turned to him.
“No standing on chairs.”
He lifted his chin.
“I’m a king.”
“Kings can fall and break teeth. Sit.”
“Make me.”
“No.”
He blinked.
Adults had probably been making him do things for fourteen months. Or failing to. Both create the same addiction to escalation.
“I don’t wrestle children at dinner,” I said. “I also don’t negotiate with capes near gravy.”
Oliver’s knife paused under the table.
I crouched and looked beneath.
“Chair legs stay attached.”
He stared back at me.
“You can’t fit under here.”
“No, but I can remove every chair from this room and serve dinner on the floor.”
That interested him.
Theo watched from the window.
Victor checked his watch.
That annoyed me more than the peas.
I turned toward him.
“Mr. Ralston, please leave.”
The room went silent.
Even Mason stopped breathing.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Excuse me?”
“You said I have until eight. If this is my test, you are not helping.”
“This is my house.”
“And these are your sons. If you could solve dinner by standing there in a suit looking disappointed, I assume you would have done it by now.”
Mrs. Alvarez made a small sound behind me.
Victor stared.
Then, for reasons I still do not fully understand, he walked out.
The boys exploded.
“You kicked Dad out!”
“She kicked Dad out!”
“She’s insane!”
“She’ll die first!”
I clapped once.
Not loudly.
Sharply.
Every child looked at me.
“New plan. Dinner is not at this table.”
Mason frowned.
“What?”
I turned to Mrs. Alvarez.
“Do you have a kitchen island?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Warm the chicken. Cut it into small pieces. Potatoes too. Vegetables separate. Do not mix anything unless you want a war.”
Noah folded his arms.
“We don’t eat chicken.”
“That’s fine.”
“We don’t eat vegetables.”
“That is also fine.”
Mason narrowed his eyes.
“Then what’s dinner?”
“A choice you make after you help clean the battlefield.”
They looked offended.
Good.
Offended was better than feral.
I picked up a napkin and handed it to Theo first.
His eyes flicked to mine.
“You don’t have to fix what they broke,” I said softly. “But you do have to help make the room safe.”
His fingers closed around the napkin.
That was the first crack.
Children who feel seen often move before children who feel challenged.
Theo wiped milk from the table.
Oliver crawled out.
Mason muttered something rude but stacked three rolls onto a plate.
Noah kept his cape.
I let him.
By 7:18, the dining room was not clean, but it was no longer a disaster zone.
By 7:31, the boys sat at the kitchen island.
Not politely.
Not peacefully.
But seated.
Mrs. Alvarez watched me like I had walked through fire and returned holding the match.
I placed four small plates in front of them.
“Chicken, potatoes, carrots. You choose two bites of two things. Then you may have bread.”
Mason glared.
“Only two bites?”
“Two honest bites. No hiding. No throwing. No feeding the dog.”
“We don’t have a dog,” Noah said.
“Then definitely don’t feed one.”
Theo smiled.
Small.
May you like
But real.
And somehow that was when I knew the real test had not begun yet.
