The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 29

"Yes, my gosh, look at that storm!" twilight said excitedly, her voice shrill past the tall wooden stakes as she paced back and forth in front of the four teenagers. "Listen to the wind! It's about six feet! Can't be trusted!" Then stop walking in front of Magisna. "You're not ugly, son. Did I tell you earlier that I like sweet black girls?"

Hendra looked at him with squinted eyes.

Magisna frowned. He could feel his face change color. Partly because it was cold, partly because it was uncomfortable. What the hell is he thinking?

He tried to restrain himself from denouncing the man and tried to ignore him. After all, they were willing to take us in tonight, he thought.

For a moment, his mind melted slightly.

He stared at the rosy flame, as if feeling hypnotized.

Everyone in the room seemed to feel unconscious for a moment.

Everything was lost from sight, and Magisna herself lost consciousness in the glowing warm light.

When he woke up from the unconscious state that protected him, he suddenly remembered his parents. They must be worried about me, he thought. "Do you have a phone?" magisna asked at Dusk who was sitting on a shredded armchair at the very end of the sofa, skimming a shabby magazine.

"Guave— grandfather" cried Hendra suddenly, like waking up from a dream suddenly. "He's gonna kill the cave!"

Magisna glanced at him while chuckling. "You think you're not afraid of anything?" taunted.

"The cave is not afraid!" sergeant Hendra. "The cave's just tired of having to bo'ong again!"

Ais and Agustin chuckled beside them.

Dusk shows a low table under the balcony near the stairs. "The phone's right there. Just try! The channel broke this morning, but it's probably fine by now."

Hendra and Magisna scrambled towards the phone. Hendra got to the phone table first, picked up the phone and listened. "There was a little disturbance" he said. "But I can still use." He started calling his grandparents.

Magisna looked towards the fire. Ice was already lying on the sofa, clad in one hand folded behind his head.

"You two don't want to call home?" ask Magisna.

"I can wait," Agustin took a quick glance, raised his knee, leaned forward and pulled his socks.

"The cave can't be clear!" yelled Hendra at the phone. She tried to convince her grandmother that she was okay. Then Magisna was next, and she could hear her grandmother still scolding Hendra. Magisna frowned and shook her head.

Gabe came up with a big pot of hot coffee and a bunch of banana bread. Magisna did not think even coffee was very tasty. He didn't realize he was hungry. It had been hours since Magisna and her friends snuck into the school cafeteria, she had not eaten anything else but half a bottle of mineral water that Papa Tibi had given her.

It felt really long today, he thought.

"Sorry, we're not home right now." her mother's voice sounded static.

"Difficult to believe!" he said to Hendra. "So we talk tape!"

Hendra shrugged his shoulders.

Magisna waited for a beep and left a message, trying to shout in between the interruption of the phone's voice. When she put down the phone, Magisna realized she was feeling a little depressed. He really wanted to talk to his parents, listen to their voices.

They are usually at home on Saturday afternoons. He had a terrible feeling that something bad had happened to them. He could feel that feeling. Magisna is a worried person, that's all. He can't change it.

I know this is childish, he said in his heart. But here I was in a stranger's house somewhere, maybe a few hundred miles away from home. I don't even know where exactly. In the middle of the worst rainstorm I've ever seen. And I just wanted to talk to my mom and dad, tell them what happened.

Magisna was disappointed. Feeling isolated somewhere.

Banana bread and coffee entertained him a lot. They were all starving and they didn't realize it. They ate the bread greedily, and Gabe brought another bread, which they also ate voraciously.

"You are really good to be able to accommodate us" Agustin said at Dusk.

Hendra and Agustin were clinging to each other at the other end of the sofa.

Magisna returned to her place on the carpet in front of the fireplace.

"Not to think about it!" Dusk put the magazine behind it. Actually, it's not a magazine. That's a weapons catalog. "Do you like to hunt?" tanyakanya.

"Gua likes it," said Hendra enthusiastically. "Cave roofs are often ngajak cave as a child."

Dusk suddenly laughed. I don't know because of what. His black eyes looked up. He pointed, over the fireplace towards the two heads of the panther attached to the top of the stone chimney.

Magisna gulped. He hadn't noticed it until now. Too fascinated by the flames.

Ais and Agustin exchanged glances with horrified faces.

"Look at those beautiful things" said Dusk with a proud look, then raised his hand as if he was holding a rifle and aimed at the head of the panther and shot him.

DOR'S! DOR'S! DOR'S!

Magisna was aghast at the thought of the man shooting him.

The man laughed again. "There is nothing more interesting than hunting" he said, staring at Magisna. "But I understand why your face is like that" he said to Magisna with a meaningful look.

Magisna felt her hair bristling. What's wrong with this guy? He asked in his heart. Why does he keep making me shiver?

"Hunting is a male sport," Dusk grinned.

Magisna forced a smile without daring to look at her face, and again chose to focus on the fireplace.

"Yeah," Hendra also grinned. "The caveman said that too!" His slightly curling black hair at the tip, stuck to his forehead and temples. It seemed to shine among the flames. "He used to teach caves at twelve, and that took a pretty strong jolt. But the cave was starting to shoot from that time."

Magisna was not impressed. Of course you like to shoot, cynical. Hendra is a good boy. Have a cute look with a sweet smile that can make her eyes wrinkle admirably. He also has a great sense of humor. But her basic nature that likes to show off makes Magisna a little upset.

Dusk stared at Hendra as if he was judging him. "You can use a firearm?"

Hendra looked back at the man as if accepting his challenge.

Please, Hendra! erang Magisna in heart. Don't start!

Don't try to prove anything to Dusk!

The twilight seems a bit bragging as well.

Magisna watched the man walk up to the large glass gun rack on the wall of the cottage in the corner of the room. Hendra and Agustin followed.

Magisna glanced at the unmoving Ais from its place. The boy stared at the two heads of the panther on the fire with a cloudy look.

"Look at this good thing" said Dusk, raising a large gun at Hendra who received it and obediently admitted it. Dusk grinned widely. "See this hunting rifle! Absolutely perfect!"

"Cool" Hendra commented. "This weapon is good!" He pointed the gun at the heads of the panther and pretended to shoot.

Magisna again gasped at the thought of Hendra actually doing it.

What the hell's going on? he groaned in his heart.

Why do I feel more sympathetic to those two panthers?