Inchling Ch. 6: The McCalls

Six days came to pass since Roy asked Peli to meet his family, and on that sixth afternoon, he and his lofty girlfriend were walking down the long gravel drive of the McCall family residence. The drive had been worn by years of horse and carriage clomping and wheeling down it, and the house in which Roy grew up was a small one, about twice the area of Peli's cottage that he moved into five year ago. A simple two-story home with white cedar siding, two long windows front and center with a chimney running along the left side. A wooden porch adorned the side of the house, painted a plain white but peeling from age. To the south, right of the home, sat upon concrete a fairly standard one-horse shed with matching white siding.

"Oh this place is neat, it has an old charm to it." Peli commented.

"I grew up here." Roy answered.

"How does my hair look?" Peli asked Roy, nervous because it was the first time in years she had braided it down the back side.

"Looks fine." Roy answered, being more allured to Peli's more conservative Victorian era-style white dress.

Peli in fact bought the dress a few days before this, she wanted to dress to impress Roy's family because she knew full and well— although Roy didn't suspect as much— that Roy was going to one day want to marry her. In her moderately-sized wardrobe, Peli had many acceptable dresses to choose from, but nothing that was so conservative that most Xendrans wouldn't be willing to wear it voluntarily. That day was the first time Peli ever wore this type of clothing, and it was actually suited for horseback riding for it was a riding habit. Along her waist she wore a nosegay with yellow flowers, and she also was wearing heeled black leather boots.

Roy on the other hand was wearing a casual dark gray sport jacket over a chestnut colored vest. His blonde hair had just been cut and he had on a black bowler hat. In short, the two looked like a business couple, with all work and no play.

"Are you nervous?" Asked Roy.

"No, why would I be?" Peli inquired.

"Okay..." Roy sighed while he ascended the steps of the porch previous to knocking on the door to his parents' house.

"My father built this house when I was a child." Roy stated. "From the timber of these woods."

Roy pointed to the woods behind the house. They were dark and lush, thick with trees of all types that bore nuts during the autumn season. It was taking a while for someone to answer the door, and this gave enough time for Peli to realize that she was too tall for the doorway, otherwise had she gone in straight away she might have hit her forehead on the white trim.

It was always awkward when Peli was inside of a Human household, she was always too large for the doorways.

Following a minute of standing at the doorway, the two heard the door unlock but saw nobody for the wooden door had no windows on it. A second later, the door pried open and at the threshold stood a woman who was probably in her fifties. A Human no doubt, and likely Roy's mother. She was starting to wrinkle a bit on the face, her green eyes looked much alive but tired, as though she also built the home. Her graying blonde hair was tied in a bun atop her head, and she too wore a more conservative dress, but this one was a very dark gray and had paneling at the front over the hidden corset. She wore a white cameo pin at her collar, and her dress belled out to the floor.

"Roy!" Said the woman. "Come in!"

The woman looked excited to see Roy, she threw her arms around him and hugged him before kissing him on the cheek. She brought him into the home, and Roy was quick to introduce her to Peli who was still out on the porch awaiting an invitation to enter.

"Mother I'd like you to meet Peli." Roy introduced the woman to Peli.

Roy's mother looks up at Peli and motioned her with her hand to enter.

"Oh! Come in dear, don't be shy!" Roy's mother said.

"Peli, this is my mother Ester." Roy introduced Peli to his mother.

Peli reached down to shake Ester's hand as Ester extended her own to the Light. The two women held eye contact while they shook hands. Peli wore a warm smile, and Ester tried to hold a welcoming one but was seemingly focused on Peli's size, for she had to slightly hang her head low to make clearance of the low ceiling in the front room.

"W-welcome. Nice to meet you, you must be Roy's friend that he's always talking about." Ester mentioned.

"Oh, likewise madam! I've heard a lot about Roy's family, and I have long wished to meet you." Peli replied, sounding deeply excited.

Roy watched the two women awkwardly shake hands for much longer than it needed to be held as he stood silently in the center of the front room, a small room with two windows looking out at the porch side of the house, a few upholsters chairs with a dark green dye. Leading out of the room was a doorway to the kitchen which was open, and a threshold leading into the parlor. Just as the handshake had come to an end, into the front room stepped a younger man and a younger woman— likely to be the two siblings Roy told Peli about over the years. The young man slightly resembled Roy, he had short blonde hair, green eyes, and wore medium gray vest over a white shirt and red tie. The young woman was perhaps younger than the man, she wore a dark gray dress with paneling along the front of the bodice, she also had a white cameo pin at the top. She resembled Ester, but her dark brown hair was wavy and curled, making her appear as though she was a brunette Goldilocks.

The both of them stood at the doorway, amused by Peli. Luckily, Roy had their introductions in mind right away.

"Peli, this is my older brother Samuel and my little sister Hannah." Roy introduced his siblings to Peli, both of whom were noticeably taller than Roy. "And this is my friend, Peli."

"Hello." Peli greeted the two siblings of Roy with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

Not a moment after those words left Peli's lips came in behind the two siblings a slightly larger, certainly pudgier man wearing a white shirt under suspenders and brown pants. He had a worn out face, aged brown eyes, and his thinning black hair was combed over a bald spot on his head and held down with some sort of grease. He had the vibrant essence of a tired old farm hand and didn't seem to look so intimidated or amused by Peli.

"I smell that roast, Ester. Is it done yet??" The old man asked.

"And that's my father Henry." Roy introduced the old man with his finger pointed right toward him.

Roy's father looked up at Peli, sizing her up and clearly thinking of what to say.

"This is Peli." Roy said to his father.

"That cow has been cooking since morning, let's eat." Henry impatiently grumbled, as if giving an order to everyone.

Henry and Ester left the front room and into the kitchen to grab the food. Samuel and Hannah left through the parlor doorway, presumably to set the table while Roy was left standing with Peli, who was looking down at Roy wearing a great deal of confusion about her face. Roy knew it didn't phase Peli one bit, she was used to the awkward stares.

"Don't worry, they're that way with all strangers at first... Tall strangers at least." Roy explained to Peli. "Let's eat."

Roy guided Peli through the parlor and directly through a doorway adjacent to the one to the front room. They both entered the dining room while Samuel and Hannah finished putting things onto the table. The table was a massive piece of walnut with six matching chairs that altogether hogged the center of the dining room, a rather small accommodation outfitted with a dated old white wallpaper with a black floral pattern, and a single window with a view out into the nearby woods that lie next to a walnut china cabinet.

"Take a seat." Roy suggested.

Peli took her seat on one side of the table, the side nearest the doorway to the parlor. The chair made a creaking sound a Peli sat in it, but it didn't affect Roy because when he sat in his chair, it too made a similar noise— it had nothing to do with Peli's mass. Roy's siblings sat down at the opposite side of the table, his sister was quiet but the older brother was already feeling talkative.

"How are things going with you at the book store?" Asked Samuel.

"Fairly well." Roy shyly answered.

Peli sat comfortably in her chair and watched Roy make pleasant conversation. She had her hands held together in front of her, trying not to rest her arms on the table— which was not considered to be polite in Human culture at the time. Ester meanwhile entered the dining room holding a large cast iron pot in her hands, which she lay on the middle-most part of the table. Henry followed and took his seat at the head of the table, while his wife followed sitting on the opposite end.

"We normally say grace at our table." Henry grumbled, looking expectantly at Peli. "But it is my understanding that your kind doesn't believe in the word of our savior."

Roy lowered his head, feeling a though the night was going to be difficult— but once again, he underestimated Peli's ability to overcome challenges.

"Oh!" Peli innocently remarked. "I actually have read your testament, both the old scripture and the new. I do believe that your god is real and that your savior is also real." Peli answered honestly.

"You've read the good book, eh? What's your favorite part?" Henry inquired, raising his right eyebrow as if he was to convey the idea that he caught Peli in a lie.

The setting was quiet, everyone watched Peli for her answer. A few seconds had to pass, and it started to seem as though Henry had his "gotcha" moment with the girl. But to everyone's astonishment came Peli's very measured and calculated answer.

"Favorite part?" She repeated. "Well... I suppose by that you mean my favorite verse? Or rather my favorite verses? See I do not have a favorite one, but one by which I do so fully live would be Colossians 3:13— bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Mathews 6:12 is another verse of which I do so profoundly admire.

Peli's straight answer seemed to impress the McCalls at first, but Henry had one more inquisition to make.

"You believe in forgiving? Believe in forgiving all whose deeds lay bare?" Asked Henry.

"Even towards those who have acted against me." Peli answered, looking to Roy and putting her hand on his lap, reminding him of how magnanimous she was to him.

Henry sort of smiled, he held back his praise for the girl, that which was noticeable. He sat back in his chair for a second and then pointed towards Peli one more time and said: "I'll bet you are one of those non-Universalist Xendrans who believe in more than one set of gods. Am I correct?"

"Yes sir." Peli answered.

"Well then, Peli. I'll say grace." Henry said.

The family closed their eyes and held up their hands in prayer. Peli did not usually partake in grace, and she sat quietly with her eyes opened. She got a good look at the dinner she was about to eat: a gigantic roast beef in brown gravy that had a powerful and tempting aroma; mashed potatoes with a bowl of gravy right next to it; sliced carrots; and snow peas— one of Peli's favorite Earthen vegetables.

"Amen." The whole family said, with Peli managing to say it in tandem.

Almost as soon as the word was uttered, food began to be passed around the table like a buffet. Peli watched in amusement as one person loaded their plate with a lot of potatoes and drowned them in gravy; another seemed to jovially scoop up the carrots as though they were going extinct. Henry took a massive helping of roast beef and made no quarrel with dousing it in juicy gravy. Soon, Peli had her plate full with two slices of roast beef, a scoop of potatoes, a scoop of carrots, and a healthy dosage of snow peas.

Peli's fork had just managed to make its way to the roast beef, the first bite she went for, when Ester spoke up and asked her a question.

"So what do you do for a living, Peli?" She asked Peli.

"Me?" Peli said. "I teach at Dunbar College. I am a Professor of Classical Language, Literature, and Sciences."

"Whoa! That's quite a mouthful, Peli. What does all of this mean?" Asked Samuel.

"I teach Latin, Greek, English, literature, and sometimes I teach Physiology." Peli answered before she took a bite of her roast beef.

"You know all of those languages?" Hannah asked, while she was still chewing on her food.

"Hannah, don't talk with your mouth full, young lady." Ester chided her youngest.

"I currently know, read, write, and can speak five languages." Peli answered.

Peli knew that it was wise to not reveal her other work. It would have been an almost insurmountable challenge to convince Roy's family that not only was she a mythical being, but that she had mythical powers, and a job teaching young Lights how to beat the odds in a Human-run world. Peli refused to lie, and so it was an understanding between Roy and herself that if anyone ever asked how they met, Roy would tell a story that was not false, but incomplete. That question, as they had both predicted, would inevitably be put out.

"See, Roy. If she can do it, you can too. I have faith that you'll do well in your book store." Ester mentioned. "But how did you two meet?"

"Ah!" Roy chimed in. "It was all because of one huge misunderstanding. I was asked to arrest Peli on charges that were false, and we later met against at Tip's shop."

"Heresy laws." Peli said, intentionally being vague. "Because, you know, heaven forbid a Xendran ever wants to teach Humans."

"Do you enjoy it?" Samuel asked.

"Yes, sir." Peli replied.

"You sure are awfully polite. Were you orphaned and raised by Humans?" Henry asked, leaning forward a bit, with his fork and knife in hand.

"No, sir. I was left home when I was a little girl and made it on my own, with some help from a friend. I've just learned a lot of lessons the hard way, and I am atoning for those sins." Peli admitted.

"Speaking of little— how tall are you anyway?" Samuel asked Peli while he had a smirk on his face. "You're like five feet taller than shorty here."

"Heyyyy!" Roy exclaimed.

"Samuel Clarence!" Ester snapped at her son.

"Oh... haha..." Peli mumbled with a short and quiet chuckle. "Last that I checked, I'm just a hair above two meters."

Peli seemed modest about her stature, as she always was. The rest of their dinner was very pleasant; the family had gotten to know Peli a little, as she did with them. Afterwards they all gathered in the parlor for some rest and to settle down. At the end of the night, it seemed certain that the family, and even skeptical Henry was approving of Peli and Roy having a relationship. It was one gigantic sigh of relief for Roy, who was worried his family would not take so well his dating of a non-Human.