Sara bought Mina new clothes and a few new hoodies at the local Target, despite their limited budget. She brought home blue, lavender, and white zippered jackets to replace Mina’s other ones.
They lasted a day. The next morning, Mina opened up her closet to find another sea of red.
She pulled down a hoodie that she knew yesterday had been a beautiful royal blue; it even said so on the tag. Today it was a deep red. Mina grabbed the next jacket, and the next. All red. Thankfully, none of the denim had been changed, so she grabbed a pair of jeans and matched them with a red shirt and red jacket. Otherwise, she’d have looked like a bright red tomato.
These events only encouraged Mina more. By Saturday, she was even more determined to find the Grimoire. She had to, as she knew her very life, and that of her brother, depended on it.
Hearing voices, Mina entered the kitchen and smiled when she saw Nan sitting at the breakfast table with Charlie. Nan wore a stocking cap over her blonde braids and a t-shirt layered over a long sleeve shirt. She sat in front of a bowl filled with three different cereals. Charlie had a huge grin on his face exactly parallel to Nan’s deep frown as she dug in.
After she managed a few bites without puking, she stood up and pointed her finger at him. “Ha! I’m telling you, I have a stomach of steel. I can eat any kind of concoction you come up with.” Nan did a little victory dance around the table, and Charlie shook his head and pointed to his own bowl of cereal.
Frowning, Nan leaned over to look at his bowl. “What? I used the same cereals that you did! I’ve got Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Raisin Bran, and Mini Wheats. What else could you have fit in there?”
Nan was one of the few people who had no problem carrying on a one-sided conversation with Charlie. Considering that she usually talked enough for three people, anticipating what Charlie was going to say was probably easy for her. Or so Mina guessed.
Nan picked up Charlie’s spoon and began to dig around in his bowl to see what else he’d put in there. “I don’t see it. I made mine the same, and I ate half of the bowl, so I win, pipsqueak.” Dropping the spoon into the bowl with a clank, Nan sat back down and put her foot on the table. “Pay up.”
Charlie grinned again and shook his head no. Standing up, he went over to the small refrigerator and yanked the door open. A few seconds later he emerged holding a brown bottle of caramel syrup. Walking over, he put it down next to Nan’s half-eaten cereal bowl with a satisfied grin. Nan sat up in disbelief.
“No way!” She leaned back over and looked closely at the tan-colored milk in Charlie’s bowl. Her victorious grin faded as she realized what she had to do. “That is some serious sugar going on there. How in the world do you sleep at night?” Nan asked respectfully. She never criticized Charlie, or ridiculed him for his weird eating habits, but praised him for his uniqueness. “So I have to add this to my cereal, huh?”
Charlie’s smile got wider.
Nan gulped visibly, and her hand wavered for an instant in front of the bottle, but she took one look at the smiling boy and regained her resolve. Popping open the top, she poured a few good tablespoons into the bowl and mixed it up with her spoon, watching Charlie the whole time. Right before her first bite, she paused and pursed her lips in thought. Suddenly she jumped up and went to the fridge, rummaging around inside, and came back with a white and blue container. Retrieving a clean spoon, Nan scooped a huge tablespoon of the mixture into her cereal. Charlie’s face went green with disgust. Charlie hated cottage cheese, and Nan knew it.
Fearlessly, Nan stared down the eight-year-old boy, grabbed her spoon, and dipped it into her intensely gross breakfast. She put a huge spoonful into her mouth and chewed slowly, even thoughtfully, as if she were tasting all the flavors. Charlie watched Nan chew in awe before he visibly paled and started to gag. The boy dropped his spoon and raced for the bathroom.
As soon as the bathroom door slammed, Nan turned to the sink and spit out the mouthful of food. She turned on the water and leaned forward to rinse out her mouth. When that didn’t work, she reached back into the fridge and grabbed a container of orange juice and began to chug right from the container.
“Nan, that’s disgusting.” Mina laughed.
“Tell me about it. I’m the one who actually had to taste the thing. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat cottage cheese again.” She gargled orange juice.
“What possessed you to put cottage cheese in the cereal?”
“When I saw what Charlie was eating, I challenged him to a contest. Winner gets to pick out a movie and make the loser watch it. Believe me, I had no idea he added caramel to his cereal. Blech!” Nan shuddered dramatically.