He sipped the blood a second time. The taste was strange. The boy longed for the words to describe the taste but there were no words .
After a moment of restraint he sipped again, for the third time, and didn’t stop gulping until he heard the door behind him open. Before getting caught he set the bucket down and wiped his mouth with his shirtsleeve.
“Time to eat!” proclaimed the one-legged boy with great cheer.
Inside the cabin it was bright, but the boy could not figure out where the light was coming from. He searched for an oil lamp like Claudia’s, but found none. There was a fire in the fireplace, but that would not provide enough brightness to light the entire cabin. The boy watched the flames in wonder. The flames waved at him as if they were many hands. He inhaled deeply.
“Fire and stew,” he said.
The Virgin Mary came into the room carrying a pitcher full of wine. “Come sit, my boy, don’t be shy.”
“Wine?” asked the boy.
“You’ve never tasted anything so perfect,” said our Virgin Mary.
She was a slight woman with long gray hair. The boy looked at her face and didn’t remember ever seeing anything so beautiful. She was Beauty. The boy thought she may have been the source that brightened the room. He thought then of Claudia. Heavy Claudia with her thick fingers and that pointy stick. How opposite two women can be.
“Don’t be distressed,” said the Virgin Mary. “Sit, sit. You need a good meal.”
The boy sat across from this woman. The one-legged boy added more wood to the fire and then walked out the door as if he had a phantom leg that he could use to steady his strides.
“Where is he going?” said the boy. “Why doesn’t he eat?”
“He comes, and he goes,” said the woman. She ladled the boy three large scoops of stew. The boy counted every chunk of red meat he could see. Fifteen.
They ate in silence. The woman watched the boy. She smiled and said, “My boy, how does it taste?” Like all mothers, she was eager to know what the boy thought of her stew.
“I’ve never had anything quite like it,” said the boy. “It’s perfect! I feel like it is all for me! With every bite I become more cheerful!” He took a large greedy mouthful and moaned in pleasure. The boy could not restrain his satisfaction.
“Ha, ha,” said the woman. “It’s true. Isn’t it?”
“What’s true?” said the boy with a mouthful of flesh.
“When you have a son as good as this you only eat him one limb at a time,” she said. After saying this, she penetrated the boy’s eyes with her own.
The boy stopped mid chew. Everything in him wanted to keep eating.
“My boy, keep eating. There’s no need to stop. All is well in this house.”
Fatigue suddenly overcame him. After chewing and swallowing his mouthful he asked to lie down for a little, by the fire. Our Virgin Mary set out a pillow on the floor with a blanket. The fire raged. The boy lay beside it and gazed into the flames. There was no more hunger. Hunger, he thought. Where did you go? She covered his skinny body with the blanket. Before the cabin grew dim she sang him a lovely song. He closed his eyes, and listened until falling into a deep sleep.