They went back to Jade’s new apartment, and Jim (who was passed out on the couch), was woken out by the noisy footsteps of them. He sat up, looking around, confused and still half sleepily
“Hey, dad, Noah invited us upstairs to eat dinner with them.”
Jim was still hazy. “What?” Jade repeated what she had said. He finally understood. “That’s . . . that’s nice of them.”
He was dozing off again, but Jade shook him. “Dad?”
“Sorry . . . sorry, just let me get a shower. How about I meet you guys up there?”
Jade and Noah agreed and headed upstairs with the cat in Jade’s arms. She was sure when the cat got here, but he didn’t seem to want to go away. When they entered the front door, the man from before, Mr. Moon, was in the kitchen.
She stopped for a second, not really wanting to go in.
“Oh, Jade, glad to see you found our curious friend,” Mr. Moon said in the doorway.
“Yeah . . . he was in . . . my room,” she said, nervous.
“Are you alright dear?”
“Yes, thank you,” Jade said as she put the cat down. When Mr. Moon started to walk toward her, she backed up. She hit somebody behind her. When she turned around, she saw her dad had finally caught up.
“Hey, you,” Jim said.
“Hey.”
“Oh, Mr. Cooper, glad you could join us.”
“No problem, thank you for making dinner. Do you need a hand?” Jim said, heading his way towards the kitchen. Soon they were both in the kitchen, leaving Noah and Jade alone in the living room.
“You okay?” Noah asked.
Jade jumped back to reality. “Oh, yea, I’m fine. Your dad is different.”
“Mr. Moon? Yeah . . . not my dad though.”
“Sorry,” Jade said looking to her feet.
“You want to look around the house?” Noah offered.
Soon, Noah and her were going down the hallways, Noah showing her which room was what. They mostly looked plain and white, no color in anything, expect the many paintings in each room.
“Oh, yeah, he paints them,” Noah explained.
“He’s really good.”
“Been good at art for many years. He tried to teach me a little bit. I can only draw a few certain things, but nothing compare to him.”
Jade looked to a few paintings, each of them out of this world. One was a castle on a floating rock above mountains and rivers. Another painting was a tree with colorful leaves with a woman in white and a man in black. Another painting of what looked like a war.
“Mr. Moon . .. where did he get these ideas for these?”
Noah grinned. “He loves painting some of his favorite places . . . some history . . . I’m sure he would love to talk about it all. Though be careful. Once you get him talking, he won’t stop.”
Jade laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”
They returned to the kitchen, seeing that the food was being prepared and brought to the table.
“Oh, there you two are,” Mr. Moon smiled. “Ready to eat Jade? I bet after a day of traveling, you must want food.”
Jade just smiled, not too sure what to say to him. She took her seat, sitting a little too close to Jim. Eventually, everyone made their way to the table, and they started eating. Jim and Mr. Moon did most of the talking.
“When do you start your new job?”
“Monday, so very soon.”
“Not a lot of time to unpack,” Mr. Moon said.
Jim nodded. “No, but we will get there.”
“Jade,” Mr. Moon said, turning his attention to her. “Are you looking forward to school?”
She nodded. Jim raised an eyebrow when she said say anything else.
“You will love it,” Mr. Moon went on. “And Noah will show you around.”
“Where do I drop Jade off?” Jim asked. “I have be at the museum at 6:30.”
“Oh dear,” Mr. Moon said wiping his mouth. “The doors don’t open til 7:30. Hey, I have an idea, how about Jade tags along with us. I have to be at the school by seven. Noah usually sits in the classroom with me.”
“Are you sure about that?” Jim asked.
“Well, otherwise, Jade would have to wait outside by herself in the cold,” Mr. Moon explained.
“Jade, are you alright with that?”
Jade was not alright with that. She didn’t want to be in the same car, the same room, the same house as him. Something about Mr. Moon was too much. She remembered the shock in her arm. It was still there, still tingling. “Yes, that’s alright.”
Mr. Moon smiled. “Great, look forward to it.” After another 30 minutes of eating and talking, they were finished. Jim started to take dishes to the sink, Jade following him.
“You don’t have to do that,” Mr. Moon said. “That’s what Noah is for.”
They laughed as Mr. Moon took their plates. When he started to take Jade’s plate, their eyes met again. “Thank you for dinner.”
“My pleasure. Lots of static in the Front Rage.”
Her mouth dropped, thinking about when they shook hands. “What?”
He just smirked. Had he felt it too? Something in the way he said it, he was cocky, as if he had knew something Jade didn’t. Before she could ask, he turned his back, and started to clean the dishes.
Jade couldn’t stop staring at him. He noticed. “Something wrong, dear?”
She shook her head, and walked away.
After sitting at the table for some time, Jade and Jim finally decided it was time to go back home, and thanked them for the dinner.
Mr. Moon had walked them to the front door, and waving them off. As they were walking around to their part of the house, Jade had looked over her shoulder one last time, watching Mr. Moon with careful eyes.
Something about him was out of this world.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
