father - home

The oven timer went off. "Ah! The main course is ready, we can eat." Verma grabbed the cotton gloves on the table nimbly and put them on before Joseph. He bent down and opened the oven door. A puff of white smoke with a strong aroma instantly steamed out. . "Guess, Heinz, what's for dinner today?"

"I guess, with such a scent, it must be my favorite 'Roasted Salted Pork Knuckle'."

Verma fanned some of the smoke with a wave of his hand, and lifted the baking tray from the oven. "Forget your roots, boy."

"How could it be?" I leaned over, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath at the golden-grilled salted pig's knuckle. "I dream about this smell in my dreams, how can I forget it?"

"Look at what this kid said, you are getting better at making Verma happy."

"I'm telling the truth. You know, I haven't eaten your 'roasted salty pork knuckle' for three whole years, no, seven years."

"Then you can eat to your heart's content today, today is just for you."

Verma began to cut the meat, Joseph poured white wine into the glass, I mixed the salad I just mixed twice, and got some for everyone, Paul slipped in at some point and took it from the refrigerator Pour yourself a can of orange juice.

"Now it's all set, let's toast." Verma raised his glass first, "Cheers to my boy who is back!"

"Forever young and beautiful for our Verma."

"Reunion for our family."

The three of us said our toasts respectively, but before clinking glasses, Paul lost no time to come up to him and shouted eagerly, "Mr. get well soon."

My heart skipped a beat. I didn't expect Paul to say that. Could it be that he is the one among the four of us who really misses our father.

The embarrassment was more than a momentary thing. We nodded, clinked glasses and laughed.Then I saw Verma's widely parted brows knit together and then part again.Joseph refilled his glass, lifted it up, and drank it slowly. When the glass was put down, his face was slightly flushed, and his eyes were watery like drunk.Paul must have noticed that his words had an impact, so he buried his head and concentrated on dealing with the roast meat on the plate in front of him.

"This wine is really good, what year is it from?" I refilled the wine for the three of them, swirled the cup, looked at the pale yellow transparent liquid inside, and forced myself to focus on tasting the wine.

"This is from the year before last. The grapes were very good that year. It was a big year." Verma cut a large piece of barbecue and put it on my plate. Seeing that Joseph didn't answer, he said to himself: "This year's grapes are also good, and the wine should be as well." Very good, open a barrel and try it in a few days."

I thought I had lost my appetite, but I never thought that when I put a piece of roasted pork that was charred on the outside and tender on the inside, when the delicious juice touched the taste buds, and when the rich aroma lingered at the tip of my nose, I suddenly felt hungry.It was only then that I remembered that today, apart from drinking a few cups of coffee on the plane, I hardly ate anything else, so I started to eat, in fact, to get over the embarrassment at this moment.

"Eat slowly, Heinz, no one will compete with you."

I knew that when she said this, she just wanted to hear compliments, so I said: "It's really delicious, Verma, your cooking skills seem to have improved again." The horse had the most charming smile.I am very confident in my manner and appearance, which was taught by my grandma when I was a child. No matter what time I am, I am always gentle, unrestrained and decent.

"That's what you said." Verma sighed softly, and glanced at Joseph from the corner of his eyes.

"What I said is the truth, it's just that some people are not good at expressing it, right, Joseph."

"Ah? What?" Hearing me call him, Joseph raised his head blankly, not knowing what we were talking about.

Verma angrily threw a piece of barbecue into his plate, "Forget it, it's nothing." She waved her hand helplessly, turned her head, and looked at me intently, "Tell me, my darling, how did you live in Japan?" What do you eat? I heard that the people there eat very little and are very short. Can you eat enough?"

I laugh out loud. "Of course I have enough to eat, otherwise, would I be so strong?" Then, I told Verma about my life in Japan and the anecdotes there.I don't know if Joseph was listening. In short, he never interrupted. He just ate and drank silently, and glanced at the clock on the wall from time to time.

Less than 10 minutes before six o'clock, Joseph stood up, and Verma waved to him and stood up first. "I'll do it."

Joseph stood up anyway.He took a white box from the cupboard, pulled out a bag of silver foil, and handed it to me. "This is what the doctor advised my husband to eat, saying it is very important to him."

I took the box and looked at the label on it. It turned out to be "high-energy nutrition mixture" and it was made of short peptides.My father has advanced liver cancer and has no normal digestion and absorption functions. After chemotherapy, he has no appetite and his body is extremely weak. Nutritional support has become the basis of everything.This short peptide and amino acid mixture can be directly absorbed by the small intestine to provide the nutrition needed by the human body. In this way, a small bag can provide 500 calories, and a patient can use four to six bags a day to meet his nutritional needs.No wonder he was able to persist for so long, it turns out there are such good things.

"This is a mixture of short peptides and amino acids, which can be directly absorbed by the human body. It is indeed a very good thing. It has only been on the market not long ago." I returned the box to Joseph, "It's just that the taste is not very good. Would he like to eat it?" I couldn't help shaking my head doubt.My father has been pampered since he was a child, and he has always been picky about food.And this high-energy nutritional mixture, after decomposing delicious protein into short peptides and amino acids, the taste is not flattering.

Verma cut open the aluminum foil packaging bag, poured the off-white powder inside into a large mug, poured it with boiling water, and stirred it with an egg beater. "Whoever says no, with his temper, how can he eat this stuff obediently? Only Joseph can cure him."

"Really? That's great, how much can he eat a day? Are there five or six bags?"

"It would be great if that was the case. But he usually only eats three bags a day, and at the best time, he only eats four bags, and he has to be coaxed." Verma handed the mug to Joseph and looked at it with a complicated expression. He glanced.

Joseph took the cup, scooped up the mushy liquid in the cup with a spoon as if checking it, and let it flow down slowly.The liquid has been mixed very well, no lumps or lumps can be seen.Only then did Joseph put the cups on the tray, and Verma put on the crème brulee that had been kept warm, all covered with polished stainless steel covers, and then placed the cutlery and thermos. `

"Eat, I'll come as soon as I go." Joseph finally smiled, picked up the tray, and walked out through the door leading to the dining room.

Verma gave me a crème brûlée, and I handed it to Paul who was sitting next to me. He stood up and rushed to the sink, put his head under the faucet, and wiped his oily mouth vigorously with some water in his hands.I put the pudding on his place, but Verma said, "Eat it yourself, don't give it to him, he doesn't care about it now."

"Keep it for me, I'll come back later to eat." Paul shouted, wiping his face dry with his sleeve, and ran out after Joseph.

"Okay, I'll keep it for you," Verma muttered as he gave me another apple pie. "I thought you were only thinking about him, but you still haven't forgotten to eat."

"Is Paul always like this? He seems to like my father very much." I asked Verma as he packed his things.I am a little curious, my father should be difficult to get along with, maybe he has really changed.

"Yeah, I don't know how to look at this matter, should I be happy or worried?"

"How to say?"

Five years ago, Verma's son Thomas and his wife Nina divorced.At first, Paul followed his mother. Later, Nina remarried, and her husband was sent to work in South America. She wanted to go with her, but Paul didn't want to. Probably he didn't want her mother to remarry at all, so there was a lot of trouble. In the end, Nina I had no choice but to ask Thomas.But Thomas was a sailor and couldn't take care of the children, so he sent Paul to the manor.All this, Joseph wrote to me.

Verma sat down with her share of pudding, her round buttocks filling the space between the armrests of the wooden armchair. "When Paul first came here, he was a wild child, causing trouble everywhere, and he didn't listen to anyone. In those days, people came to complain almost every day, school teachers, classmates' parents, and neighbors, and I was in a lot of trouble... Just when I and When Joseph was at a loss, something happened, and after that, Paul slowly changed."

"Is it my father?"

Verma ate the pudding, talking while eating. "Yes. At first, I tried my best to keep Paul away from your father. Your father never liked children. I really can't imagine the expression on his face when he saw Paul. But that day, Paul still got into a big disaster. He played football and smashed the roof of the greenhouse. It was such a coincidence that your father happened to be inside at the time... When I went to see it, the greenhouse was in a mess, glass shards were all over the floor, and the flowerpots were smashed into a mess .Your father's face was livid and furious. I wanted to help, but he kicked me out. He was really furious... Later Joseph said that luckily it was tempered glass, and no one was hurt, but two pots of orchids were thrown away. The football was ruined...Joseph asked Paul to apologize to your father. I am afraid, he is so cruel to you, let alone Paul, I am afraid that he will not allow Paul to stay in the manor again."

"and after?"

"But Joseph insisted that I couldn't resist him, so I had to let Paul go. Your father and Paul had a long conversation alone, and I don't know what they said. In short, Paul has changed since then."

"yes?"

"Hmm. He asked Paul to repair the roof of the flower house first, and of course he helped Joseph. Paul actually did it seriously, which has never happened before."

"That's great, Paul is beginning to know how to take responsibility for his actions."