Chapter 4: dinner and Stories

Love never claims; it always gives.

Love forgives, never gets angry, never takes revenge.

(Indira Gandhi).

Lisa couldn't find a logical explanation for what was happening, all the possibilities and all the variables she expected had been reduced to nothing in one second.

-flashback-

Lisa got up early, as usual, at seven in the morning. She bathed and dressed and ate one of the breakfasts her parents had made for her the night before and kept in the fridge in her room, because she had not eaten or had breakfast with her family for three months, because she was tired of being ignored and that they had thrown her food on the floor, even though she already knew why This aggressive behavior on the part of her sisters, in the end it was her fault that her brother had become blind and it was not only because he became blind. He had to go to another country, and the highly unstable chemicals she bought turned out to be more illegal than she thought, so despite being a five-year-old girl, her brilliant mind made her fully aware of her actions, so no one was surprised when some people came They claim to be the FBI accusing Lisa of making illegal purchases of chemicals banned in forty countries. The authorities and juries decided to try Lisa as an adult. charges were. Buying illegal chemical products on the black market, conducting chemical experiments in an area not regulated by the corresponding authorities, attempting to contaminate drinking water and attempting to conduct human experiments were enough fees to lock her up for the time Lily needed to have grandchildren. The Lauds feared for their daughter, for they had already lost their son, and would never lose another. So they decide to hire a lawyer for Lisa. With all the charges against them they needed to hire the best lawyer in the country and they did. After five months, the jury sentences Lisa to wear an ankle bracelet and to have a specialist monitor her experiments and projects once a month to ensure they meet ethical standards under the law. Then came the worst, attorney payments. Of course, with the cost of repairing the house after the explosion and paying the defense fee, the Louds didn't have much money, so they had to cut costs. All this caused even more hatred from her sisters, they paid for Lisa's mistake.

years later.

Lisa again reviewed the case of Lincoln, discovering all that had happened and never ceased to search for a way to restore the sense of sight to her brother, without whom it depended only on seeing and examining his characteristics. She examined cases of victims of similar injuries. When she heard her mother crying for joy, it seemed her older brother was coming home. It was excellent news, because for the first three months they received a letter from him every week but after those months they stopped receiving letters.

For a week, the Loud family prepared everything for Lincoln's return, which she could not help, according to her sisters, she's only causing trouble, contributing nothing during the planning of the welcome.

The day finally arrived, everyone gathered in the room to greet Lincoln, but Lisa did not come down, she knew that her brother would surely treat her as her sisters had done her for the past three years, and she was not going to bother going down until someone treated her like a criminal.

_Back to the present-

Lisa imagined all the possibilities of how her reunion with her brother could end, of which four were possible. He could hate her and join her sisters in their contempt. He can just ignore her, Or decide not to back home just because she still lives there or it could be worse and it would just be pure physical assault, unlike her sisters who only exiled her, now she knew what Lincoln felt in that squi rrel suit.

She imagined a thousand ways to drive with the possible results, but she didn't imagine that her brother hugged her and told her he missed her. Why? What prompted him to do this? What kind of logic was that?

Lincoln broke away from Lisa and kissed her on the forehead.

"I missed you, Lisa," said the boy with a smile.

Lisa took a good look at her brother and noticed the changes he had undergone. "What is that?" Something's starting to happen, Lisa asked. Her heart rate is racing, and her sweat glands are working too hard at this temperature. Lisa saw her brother surrounded by a halo of pink light as white orbs danced around him. "And now I'm starting to hallucinate."

Lisa walked over to Lincoln, ready to give him another hug, when Lynn entered the room.

"Hey, it's time for dinner. Wash your hands and go downstairs."

"Let's go, Lynn," Lincoln replied, going to the bathroom.

While Lynn was left alone with Lisa, the athlete looked down on the genius.

"Don't touch him again; do you understand?" Lynn said.

"Do you think I'm going to hurt him?" Lisa asked nonchalantly

"You already did it once. I don't want you to ever get near him again. You don't deserve to be forgiven for ruining his life." Lynn was walking out when she heard Lisa talking to her.

"Says the one who blamed him for bad luck. You and I are no different."

Lynn was going to hit Lisa, but Lincoln came out of the bathroom at that moment and took Lisa by the hand.

Come on, Lisa, let's eat.

Lisa was insecure. She hadn't sat down to dinner or breakfast with her family in years, but seeing that confident smile from Lincoln calmed her. Lisa took Lincoln's hand, and they walked down the stairs together while Lynn thought about it.

"You won't save yourself next time, dwarf."

"downstairs in the dining room."

The whole family and Clyde ate and chatted. Lincoln kept them updated on what he had been up to for the past three years, and his family did the same for him.

"Lincoln," Lynn called, "why have you stopped writing to us in recent years?"

Lincoln and Albert lowered their heads, and Pop Pop proceeded to tell them why.

“Jaston Jacob,” he said in a tone of anger.

"who?" Luan asked, as confused as the rest of her family.

Albert continued, "He was the postman in town. A man about twenty years younger than me, bald and with a brown beard, was very average indeed. Whenever he came to the booth to receive or deliver mail, he looked down upon us, and we did not understand why until his superiors found out he was stealing mail."

The Loud family and Clyde eat while listening to Albert's story.

“Yes, that bastard has stolen four years’ worth of mail from some people in town, all of whom are cripples.”

“Then it is because of this postman that we have not received a single letter from you these years?” asked Rita.

"Yeah, he thought we blind people just doodled in his words," replied Lincoln as he ate a chicken leg his father had served him. "In the area, a girl in a wheelchair had no checks coming in and none of her letters had been mailed, and a deaf man had been waiting for a letter from his grandson for months. When they found out, they sent the letters and delivered the mail to their rightful owners."

"And it's all thanks to that sneaky boy over here." Albert said, patting Lincoln on the back.

"Thanks Lincoln? How?" Lola and Lana asked excitedly.

Albert drank some wine and began counting: "Well, this all happened six months before we got back."

-Albert and Lincoln flashback-

In Alberta, Canada, in a forest, in a two-story cottage, young Lincoln was on the front steps as always, waiting for the mail. The boy had not heard from his family for more than two years, and as usual, he was waiting for the mailman's truck. The noise was palpable. His hearing became sharper thanks to the silence of the woods near the town where he lived with his grandfather, and at last the sound of the engine reached his ears. With excitement, he walked to the mailbox, looking at his precious letters.

"Hi, Mr. Jacob, Do you have something for me?" Lincoln asked excitedly.

The postman looked at him with disapproval and replied as gracefully as possible, "I'm sorry, boy, today there is nothing, just the usual electric and gas bills and one or another booklet."

Lincoln was disappointed. "What? Again? It's been almost two and a half years now that I haven't heard from my family."

Gaston made a face of sly complacency and replied, "Perhaps they are too busy to answer. Or perhaps they are not interested in a young man who only gets in the way of the world." He whispered the latter so as not to hear him get into his truck. What he did not count on was that the boy now had very sharp ears and had heard those terrible words.

Lincoln entered the house and sat down at the table while his grandfather was cooking some pies. The grandfather saw his grandson and did not hesitate to ask.

"What's up, boy?"

Lincoln tapped his finger on the table; two years ago he had acquired the habit, and for those who already knew him, both in town and at school, they knew it was a sign that he was thinking.

"You know, Grandpa, a moment ago the postman came."

Albert made breakfast for both of them. "Great, and have they arrived?" he asked hopefully.

"No, not today either," replied Lincoln.

"Again? What could be so important that they have not written to us for more than two years?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you. I think Mr. Jacob is lying to us."

Albert stopped eating. "Wait, do you think he's stealing our mail?"

"I don't know, Grandpa, but we should go check the post office just in case."

The town was relatively close to the forest, and in about thirty minutes they came to Snowy Pines, a simple town of about five hundred and fifty with several houses and a high street where there are local shops, coffee shops, and restaurants. Ordinary prep, another high school Lincoln attended, plus the usual public services: a police station, a hospital, and a funeral home that Lucy definitely wants to go to, even though the fire station is incredible, despite being a place that snows all year round. However, they were always there when called, including at a park with games and a fair.

and finally a post office; since it is technically a city with a small population, the postal service only requires one person. Shipments that required leaving the city were handled by the state postal service.

Two albinos went to the latter in search of answers.

Grandpa Albert and Lincoln entered and saw Gaston putting stamps on some letters when he noticed the old man and the blind boy approaching the table.

"Oh, it's Albert and his grandson Lincoln. What can I do for you today?"

Albert decided he would be the one to speak and left Lincoln on some chairs in the waiting area. The old man approached the table. "I apologize, Gaston, but my grandson is worried about not having received any letters from his family in these years. He wondered, Do you think the mail can be lost or given to someone else?"

Gaston seriously looked at Albert and replied, "This is international shipping, Albert. If you don't receive it because it's lost or sent somewhere else, you should go to the Alberta post office to complain. I only deliver the mail here, in this town, and nothing else; what goes out or enters depends on them.

Albert noticed that cold look and continued to press him with questions, always looking him in the eye for any sign of lies, a trick he learned in the Navy when he had to interrogate prisoners.

"Ah." His hands started to sweat, but he hid them behind the counter. "I’m sorry, Albert; if I knew someone, I would have already asked him to give me a position over there."

"Working in such a small town must be very ungrateful for me to say that. Since there were very few places to drop off the mail, I imagined it would be easy."

Grandpa Albert kept trapping Gaston with his own words, but the Canadian didn't give up.

"Yeah, well, you know, sometimes you want to go to more places, and after twenty years of delivering mail in the same area, it gets boring seeing the same places over and over again."

while Lincoln, even from where he was sitting, could hear Gaston's heart beating at a rapid pace. The boy got up and walked up close to his grandfather, keeping his head lowered. "It sure is." Lincoln said as he turned to where his grandfather and Gaston were that even though he was handicapped and his eyes were covered with his hair, Gaston could feel those dull eyes piercing his soul and charging at him, "especially with Lots of disabled people."

Those words almost caused a heart attack in Gaston, something that did not go unnoticed by the old warrior.

Albert saw this as a signal to launch the plan he had formulated with his grandson. "Okay, Gaston, thanks for your time; if you know anything, let us know."

"Yes, of course I will," Gaston said nervously.

"Already outside the post office."

"Did you know he was lying?" Lincoln said.

"Yes, is that very obvious?" Albert answered seriously.

"You know what we have to do." Lincoln pointed with his cane down the street where the police station was.

The next day, a search was made at the post office.

Albert was talking to the sheriff: "Thank you for helping us, Carter."

Carter smiled at the old man and said, "No problem, Albert. Anything for my old friend and veteran."

In the office, all the policemen searched every corner, even in the warehouses, while Gaston looked at them with feigned annoyance. 'I am offended,' said the postman indignantly.

"I'm sorry, Gaston, but this isn't the first complaint of undelivered mail your office has received," the sheriff said, leaving the building.

Gaston walked with the Sheriff, Albert, and the other policemen to the door. "I have already told you that whatever is missing from the State Office should be there, not me."

Suddenly a car pulls up in front of the office, and Lincoln gets out of the car with a large man dressed as a lumberjack with bulging muscles. "Thank you for bringing me Jean-Paul," Lincoln thanked the lumberjack.

"No problem, petite Lincoln," the good-natured man replied with a French accent.

Lincoln went to the back of the truck full of bags. "You almost fooled us, Gaston, but next time you hide evidence, try not to do it in your house.

When the sheriff opened the bags, he discovered that this was the missing mail. Gaston saw how, within a second, a blind child, out of clever planning so as not to get caught, took his own life.

-End of flashbacks-

"On the same day, Gaston was arrested and sent to trial for mail fraud," Lincoln recounted.

"The last we heard from him was that he's now at the FBI," concluded the grandfather.

"Wow, did you uncover the mail scam yourself?" Lori said admiringly that she never believed her brother, in the state he was in, had so much determination.

"I was not alone; Pop Pop was with me."

"And what about all the undelivered mail?" Clyde asked.

"As far as I know, they'll hand it over to us tomorrow. There's obviously a lot to sort out; that bastard has been stealing other people's mail for years."

"Lincoln. May I ask you something?"

"Sure, Lily. Shoot."

"What about your teeth? Are these canines implanted or something?"

The family was expected. Well, they were also curious about this detail about their son and brother.

"Well, if I'm being honest, I don't even know why they are there. They started growing at the age of thirteen. But I'm not complaining. They turned out to be very useful." Lincoln's explanation was not what they expected. But it was enough for now.

The dinner was perfect from start to finish; it was all funny and nostalgic stories for everyone except Lisa, who went up to her room after finishing dinner without realizing that Lily was following her. She had wanted to spend time with her older sister for a long time, but for obvious reasons, she never had that opportunity. Slowly, without alerting Lisa, she looked out the door to see what she was doing. On her table, Lisa mixed some chemicals that had been strictly checked because of the court order.

"Excellent; if all goes well, I should be able to permanently cure Lincoln and restore his sight," said Lisa, shaking a bottle of purple liquid inside. Lily became more curious and got a little closer until she got close to Lisa, which made the girl genius realize her presence.

"Lily, what are you doing here?" Lisa asked

"I… I just wanted to know what you were doing and hear what you said. Can you seriously heal Lincoln's eyes?"

Lisa stops what she is doing and looks at Lily. Hopefully, Lily." Lisa shows Lily the bottle. "This can revitalize and repair the damaged cells in Lincoln and thus restore the sense of sight."

Lily looked at the bottle containing the purple liquid. "Hey Lisa, is it normal for it to bubble a lot?"

Lisa looked at the liquid, and her face changed into a worried face, just like the one she had on that day three years ago. "No, it shouldn't explode."

-while in the room-

The family drinks coffee for the elderly and hot chocolate for the little ones.

"It's good to be home," said Lincoln, sipping his coffee, when an explosion shook the foundations, making everyone jump up from where they were sitting and pour their drinks.

"What was that?" Luan asked, getting up from the floor with her cup overturned on her head.

"What do you think it was? Or rather, who do you think it was?" "That was that crazy," replied Luna, getting out from under the chair that had tipped over and keeping her head still. "I thought she couldn't do experiments anymore."

"Where's Lily?" asked Rita. This alerted everyone in the house; there was only one place she could be. The loud family and McBoy quickly ran upstairs and saw smoke coming from Lisa's room. Luna wasted no time and grabbed Lisa by the collar, ready to punch her. "You've done it again, haven't you? Three years after Lincoln's blindness? Now what have you done with Lily? Where is she?" Luna screams hysterically as she shakes Lisa.

"Luna, stay away from her." Rita separated them.

Lynn took Lisa by the arm. "What have you done to our little sister? Where is she?" Lisa could only slowly point towards her room, and there was a cloud of purple smoke.

"You need to wear this," said Lisa, as she offered everyone some gas masks, and they all obeyed and put them on to enter the room.

Once the smoke had cleared much of Rita, the girls—Mr. Loud, Albert, and Clyde—were left with their mouths open. Beside the bed, there was a blonde girl about Lucy's age, her clothes tattered not by the explosion but by the growth spurt she had given herself. It was Lily herself who huddled between the bed and the desk; she only brought her clothes and pants and covered her arms and her newly appearing breasts, but she was retarded.

Lily looked at her family and said, "I'm cold."