Kapitel 83: Tell Father (83)

The next day Bella arrived at the noodle house first and got a table by the door. Next Ben showed up.

"Do you know what this is about?" he asked.

"No, do you?" She asked.

Soon their father came in and they ordered lunch.

"Well" they both said together.

"I wanted to talk to you about Mary Ann and I. As you know, we have been seeing each other and we are both not spring chickens. I want to know what you think if I ask her to marry me?" He said holding his breath.

Bella squealed with delight. "Have you asked her already?" she asked.

"Not yet, so what do you think?"

"I think it's great." Bella said jumping up and hugging her father.

Ben sat there dumbfounded. What could he say. His mother had been gone a long time and he knew his father had been dating but marriage.

"Ben?" his father said.

"Sorry, I don't know how I feel right now." he hung his head.

Bella sat down and took her brothers hand. "Mom been gone a very long time. No one can replace her as our mother but dad deserves someone to spend his life with. You work for Mary Ann and know what kind of woman she is."

"I know it just caught me off guard. I'm happy for you Dad really." He smiled.

"Ben, tell Dad your news." Bella said.

"What news?" Their father asked.

"Ben is dating someone." Bella yelled.

"Who is she? When can we meet her?" Their father asked.

Ben was quite. He was not sure how to tell his father. When he gave Bella a look she then understood.

"Tell him Ben. He needs to know." She said.

He then took a deep breath, "Dad, if you like we can have dinner this weekend. I'll introduce him to you."

The food came, "Eat will finish this talk later." Their father said.

Bella looked at her brother and seen the hurt in his eyes.

Ben ate and said he needed to get back to the office. Not another word was discussed about dinner on the weekend.

When Ben had gone Bella shook her head.

"Why would you do that to him? He was tring to open up to you."

"Did you know your bother was gay?" He asked.

"Yes, I knew back in Junior High school. That time he came home beaten up and upset. He had confessed to a boy he liked and got beat up because of it." Bella said.

"I'm sorry it's just hard to accept. I have nothing against being gay. I know he can't help it but..."

"There is no but Dad. We are family and you taught us to accept what we are. I can't believe you." Bella stood up to leave, "I'm ashamed right now to be your daughter."

Robert sat there and watched Bella leave. He was ashamed of him self too. He tired calling Ben but it went to voice mail.

'Ben, I would love to have dinner with your young man this Saturday. Bring him to the house for a family dinner. I'll make chicken alfredo with the works. I'll also make sure the whole family is there to meet him.'

When Ben listened to the message his heart felt lighter now. What his family thought meant the world to him.

◇◇◇♡♡♡◇◇◇

Bella had a few hours before her next class and all her homework was done so she pulled out her book to read.

◇◇◇♡♡♡◇◇◇ SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED cont.

One day the mother sent her children into the wood to pick up sticks. They found a big tree lying on the ground. It had been felled, and towards the roots they noticed something skipping and springing, which they could not make out, as it was sometimes hidden in the grasses.

As they came nearer they could see it was a dwarf, with a shrivelled-up face and a snow-white beard an ell long. The beard was fixed in a gash in the tree trunk, and the tiny fellow was hopping to and fro, like a dog at the end of a string, but he could not manage to free himself.

He stared at the children with his red, fiery eyes, and called out, "Why are you standing there? Can't you come and try to help me?"

"What were you doing, little fellow?" inquired Rose-Red.

"Stupid, inquisitive goose!" replied the dwarf; "I meant to split the trunk, so that I could chop it up for kitchen sticks; big logs would burn up the small quantity of food we cook, for people like us do not consume great heaps of food, as you heavy, greedy folk do. The bill-hook I had driven in, and soon I should have done what I required; but the tool suddenly sprang from the cleft, which so quickly shut up again that it caught my handsome white beard; and here I must stop, for I cannot set myself free. You stupid pale-faced creatures! You laugh, do you?"

In spite of the dwarf's bad temper, the girls took all possible pains to release the little man, but without avail, the beard could not be moved, it was wedged too tightly.

"I will run and get someone else," said Rose-Red.

"Idiot!" cried the dwarf. "Who would go and get more people? Already there are two too many. Can't you think of something better?"

"Don't be so impatient," said Snow-White. "I will try to think." She clapped her hands as if she had discovered a remedy, took out her scissors, and in a moment set the dwarf free by cutting off the end of his beard.

Immediately the dwarf felt that he was free he seized a sack full of gold that was hidden amongst the tree's roots, and, lifting it up, grumbled out, "Clumsy creatures, to cut off a bit of my beautiful beard, of which I am so proud! I leave the cuckoos to pay you for what you did."

Saying this, he swung the sack across his shoulder, and went off, without even casting a glance at the children.