"Mhmm! Good stuff!"
Ken praised, the only reason he kept coming back to this place, you can't ever come here and not enjoy your meal. He took a quick glance at his wife and daughter, they didn't notice him as they were immersed in a world of their own, Iris especially.
As someone who enjoyed doing the very things you ask her not to, she dug in ravenously, kniving and forking her chicken like it had offended her in its life. She was enjoying it, everyone was.
No one spoke for several minutes, until Iris did, and her words shocked the mom and dad duo, jaws stuffed, she said,"dad! I want more!" Crystal's eyes darted over to her daughter's plate and surely, she had finished the food.
"Darling, you know I can't do that, besides it's almost eight, we will be late for pizza as it is, the goal is to be home before the delivery comes in. Have you forgotten?" Crystal asked with concern.
With a flushed face, Iris said between mouthfuls, "but I want more chicken!" She struggled to swallow the morsel in her mouth and managed a pout. "It's my yes day, remember? Everything I want, even the devil's head on a platter, you'd deliver? You do recognize whose words those are, correct?"
Crystal sighed, "your father is just trying to make you happy, but if you stuff yourself with too much chicken, that's bad. Do you want your stomach to be like Mr Hawkins'?" She asked her daughter with a smile.
Iris shuddered upon hearing the name, "Mr Hawkins' stomach is as big as an aquarium." She pointed out with a frown, her mom's smile grew wider, literally stretching from ear to ear. "Right, and if you take another piece of chicken, that will happen to you overnight!"
At this point, Ken couldn't help but laugh, but the stern look from his wife stopped him immediately, "I don't want my stomach to be like that, but I want more chicken!" Iris said as she laid the cutlery on the table and folded her arms across her chest, looking to and from her mom to her dad, pouting in defiance. As if some diabolical idea had cooked in her mind, she suddenly smiled, "no one else eats the pizza but me. Do we have a deal?"
Mom and dad looked at each other, nodded in unified approval, then assured her that none of them would eat the pizza with her. Satisfied, she took her wine glass and took big, unladylike gulps.
"Waiter!" Ken called to the nearest waiter in sight and asked for the bill, after settling it and tipping him off, they exited the restaurant and headed for his car.
The drive home was uneventful, Crystal was on her phone ordering the pizza the whole journey.
Iris was restless, she was on her phone but her mind seemed to have wandered off. It's understandable too, leaving home as at age seventeen, going long ways away from your parents, going to a place when a bell holds more power than a command from your parent, seemingly no one to talk to when you need someone to be there, the closest the person there would be to you is friends. She had every right to be distant, in thought, although she always claimed she was seventeen and that she's old and can take care of herself, the reality now hit her like a bullet train. She always toughed it out, she will this time too, it's no different, she was the best karate student at school, sharp senses, quick reflexes, strength and sense to deal with a lot of unwanted situations, and most of all, she remembered, being able to hold your ground in a fight doesn't mean you should go round looking for one.
Her father's words were deeply etched into her consciousness, no violence, no dilly dally, no lackadaisical attitude towards studies and most importantly, no racism on Ghanaian ground. That was the most crucial part, she made peace with that.
They got home thirty minutes later and immediately they entered, Ken went into his room, leaving the mother and daughter duo in the living room. The dorrbell rang barely minutes after, snapping Iris out of her train of thoughts back to reality, "is that my pizza?" She asked her mom who checked her phone and affirmed it, "yay!" Iris was bright eyed and bushy tailed. She loved to eat.
"Dad! Come let's eat pizza!" She called out to her dad from atop their long, spiral staircase. No response, she called out again, still no response.
Just as she turned to her mom though, she heard him race down the stairs, she spun around just in time to be scooped into his arms. "I thought you said no one eats this pizza with you?" He asked with an exaggerated furrow of his eyebrow. She only rolled her eyes at him. She wasn't that selfish, they all knew it.
Dad and his daughter carried bridal style descended the stairs to the dining table at the far end of the living room, where Crystal had already set the table. Looking on in mock perplexity, "you know I get jealous when you do that." They all laughed and sat down again, family meal number two, Ken said and they laughed again.
After that, Iris quickly darted up the stairs into her room, mom and dad got in pursuit. She stopped when she heard the stampeding footsteps behind her, "young man, young woman, where do you think you're going?" She asked them playfully.
"Err…"
Ken scratched the back of his head, at a momentous loss for words, "…we just wanna be sure you've got everything stowed away, you know, didn't forget anything."
"Better safe than sorry." Her mom added and they all went into her room, she stood aside with her arms folded across her chest and looked at them both, she was going to miss the for sure.
She watched her mom with keen interest as she wrestled with the biggest of the three traveling bags pregnant with her things, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips .
After struggling with it for a while, she turned to look at her husband for help, only to find he and Iris fighting desperately to hold their laugh and her face flushed red, "diabolical creatures, instead of helping me, you stand there rejoicing in my dismay? What kind of a husband are you? You won't sleep on the bed today. You don't even deserve the couch. Humph!"
At this point, Ken looked at her intently, his eyes tracing every curve of her body, and that pout, that mock anger on her cute face, he stunned both Crystal and Iris with his next words, "Gosh you're so beautiful." Her face softened, he took a quick stride toward her and scooped her in his arms, she wriggled in protest, hammering her small fists on his broad chest but he didn't mind her, dropping her on Iris' bed.
Iris immediately stopped laughing, grabbed a pillow and hit her dad with it, "okay Romeo and Juliet, not in my room." They all laughed and Ken reluctantly went over and brought the suitcases to the side of the bed, then hoisted the heaviest one atop it.
"You're welcome."
Everyone got busy after that, Crystal took out every carefully folded dress, every single one, as she thought she would need to take some out since the things look too many. "Honey, we have to take more than half of these things out, they're way too much. You make it look like we're sacking you from the house."
A whole two hours had passed, it was now close to 11 pm, now the suitcases, after much delegation and arguments, have been weighed down to two, the biggest and the smallest.
"I will miss you both so much." Ken was too fond of his wife, he kissed her cheek, as he held her in his arms, reluctant to let go.
"Dad!"
Iris suddenly called out to him.
"Huh?"
"You're sucking on mom's cheek like a vacuum cleaner." She said amid giggles, her father's face flushed scarlet as he reached for her, she agilely evaded his grasp.
Crystal watched as father and daughter ran round and round in Iris' room like Tom and Jerry, she thanked God for having such a happy family.
"Honey, it's late! We need to go to bed, you need to drop us off at the airport, remember? And you have a hectic day ahead of you too."
With that, Crystal exited the room with Ken in tow. Iris closed the door after they both left, sighed deeply then switched the TV on, fished out the remote from under her pillow as she browsed through the options and settled on Netflix, cringing as the famous euphoric opening soundtrack was heard, she had forgotten to turn down the volume, mom and dad definitely might have heard it, hadn't they?
As much as she hoped they hadn't, that tiny thread snapped the Nernst second.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Open this door Iris!" Her father stood in his briefs, just outside her door, perplexed beyond measure.
He lifted his fist to pound the door again but it opened before he could, Iris stood shyly opposite him, avoiding eye contact.
"Save the lecture dad, I've switched it off, good night." Then she stood on her toes, kissing him on the cheek and slamming the door before he could utter a single word.
He smiled and headed back to his room.