Immaculate Spirit 106 :

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Nathaniel laughed.

"I saw that my father and uncle were talking to you and were trying to intimidate you. They are incorrigible!"

"They are just trying to keep you safe, you should not resent them. Moreover, I'm not intimidated that easily. I kind of said that your father was a ''guest' here and I called your uncle 'Mark.'"

"Why would you do something like that? They will hold a grudge." Madison shakes her head.

"Because they were messing with me so I messed with them instead. Runabout are fair play and it was fun to do."

"Nath, this is a serious matter! Stop joking around, I want my family to like you. Do not antagonize them, please." Madison implored.

"Madie, your father and uncle were expecting an insecure kid that they could bully easily. I needed to show a strong hand. Moreover, I think they are the kind of people who respect boldness and character and I just showed them exactly that. They could very well end up not liking me at the end of the night but they will at least respect me." Nathaniel explained.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked doubtfully.

"Let me remind you that you were also doubtful about the thing that I said I could do with two of my fingers and you ended up very satisfied." Nathaniel said, making Madison cheeks turn pink.

"This is not the same thing! Enough s.e.x talk now or I'm going on strike!" She threatened.

"Yes ma'am." Nathaniel answered seriously, making her laugh.

"Kids, dinner is going to start soon, let me show you to your sitting place." Victoria said, coming near them.

Following Victoria obediently again, Nathaniel and Madison found their seat not far from the head of the table. At the head, Madison's father was going to sit there, his wife on his right and Jason on the left. After that it was Madison and then Nathaniel. On the other side in order it was Victoria, followed by Elisabeth and her boyfriend and then Marcus who curiously was in front of Nathaniel. Beside him the old man that he had seen before was sitting there, nodding to him.

When everyone was sitting around the table, John got to his feet and did a little speech in his sons honor, flaunting his merit and congratulating him for his birthday. After that maids appeared and put some delicious dishes in front of everyone. It was a little opulent in Nathaniel taste but the food was very good and he could talk freely with Madison and surprisingly his table neighbor was very interesting. He was seventy six years old and was the brother of John's father. That man had lead such an interesting life that Nathaniel could not help but connect on a different level with him.

Everything was going well until John decided to remind Nathaniel that he was there and stopped every conversation on the table.

"Nathaniel, are you a Republican or Democrat?"

"Dad!" Madison shouted.

"Dear, no political talk when we are eating please." Victoria said.

"Oh come on, I just want to learn a little more about Madisons new boyfriend. You have no problem answering a few questions right?" He said, smiling at him.

"Of course not. If I were to answer, I would say neither of those."

"So, independant?"

"Not that either. I think each side has good and bad points but I'm not considering myself as part of one. I don't really like politics to be honest. You are a Republican senator right?" Nathaniel asked.

"Indeed. What do you dislike in politics?"

"If I were to resume in a single sentence, I would say 'Too much talk, not enough deed.'" He said, feeling the hand of Madison under the table squeezing his leg. Looking to the side, he could see her giving him a warning look, he chose to smile rea.s.suringly at her.

"Typical of the younger generation, thinking they can do better than their elders." Madison's father said cynically.

"The truth is we don't have the choice, we need to do better to repair everything. The first question that you asked is plenty evidence of that. In the past, we were all americans and that was enough. Now, we are defined by our political choice. We need to fix that mentality or sooner than later, someone will emerge from one of the two parties with plenty evidence of misconduct and people will still vote for him because he represents a party. Once upon a time, we elected people based on their merit and worth, now however, it is only because that person has a 'R' or a 'D' beside his name when he does an interview."

"It is a very naive point of view, it's not that surprising considering your age but still disappointing. It even sounds like you are a liberal."

"You prove my point exactly." Nathaniel smiled wolfishly making John grimace.

"What would you do if you were to fix things?" Marcus asked. So far no one had choose to partic.i.p.ate in the conversation and was content to just listen.

"I'm sorry Mark but what do you do for a living? I'm curious to know before I answer." Nathaniel asked offhandedly, surprising his interlocutor for a moment.

"I'm a consultant in a company making wood panels that is used to reinforce walls in old homes." He said in a calm voice.

Nathaniel succeed in holding the rolling of his eyes but barely.

"In Virginia right?"

"Indeed." Marcus respond again with his calm voice but his eyes were calculating, watching Nathaniel intently.

"To answer your previous question, I don't know. I never push that line of questioning further than that. Like I said, I don't like politics."

The senator was going to sprout a biting remark when he was kick under the table by his wife who was giving him a stern look. Closing on him, she murmur something to his ear that made him pause enough to stop the scathing remark that was on his tongue.

"Let's go back to eat, enough talk." He settle to say before giving a signal to a maid to serve the next dishes.

After that the senator choose to ignore completely Nathaniel, who was very happy to just eat and keep talking with the elder and Madison. Marcus in front of him barely eat and was not the talkative type so he just kept staring at Nathaniel, trying to find something that was eluding him so far.

After dinner, Madison did pa.s.s some time with her sister and Nathaniel was left to his own device. Instead of staying by himself, he start walking among the family members until he find the ten years old girl that was looking really bored sitting on her chair. Walking in her direction, Nathaniel took a knee in front of the girl to be at her height.

"h.e.l.lo." Nathaniel said with a little smile.

"Hi." The girl answer shyly.

"I'm Nathaniel, what is your name?"

"My name is Helea."

"This is a really beautiful name for an equally beautiful girl."

"Thank you." She said in a cute little voice, blus.h.i.+ng.

"You do not look like you are having fun."

"No, there is no other kid to have fun with. Usually auntie Madison and auntie Elisabeth play with me but they are too busy tonight." The girl pouted cutely.

"Yes, i believe this is my fault. They are too busy gossiping about me, girls like to do that a lot."

"I'm a girl and i don't gossip!" Helea shout.

"It's because you are a good girl and good girl get a lot of gift. I saw that there was a piano in the next room, do you want to go and sing with me?"

"Yes!" The girl shout happily.