Onion Rings

The dark Bedroom door opened again. Old Whateley, who had been drifting off to sleep, woke at the sound.

"How was it, Wilbur?" he asked.

"Lavinia got us into trouble again!" Wilbur said furiously. "I knew I shouldn't have brought her along!"

"I think I smell onion rings." Old Whateley pretended not to hear him. "Those onion rings in the paper bag, right? My dear grandson, bring them over so I can have a taste."

"Dr. Horton said you should eat less of that stuff."

"Forget him! He says that to every old man, and you've already brought them in."

Old Whateley gently put an onion ring into his mouth.

He shook his head, then picked up another and said, "They're not fried enough. They aren't crispy."

"Do you know what Lavinia did?" Wilbur continued, picking up where he'd left off. "At the Miskatonic University library, she said she was a little afraid of her own son, and that her family had all sorts of special secrets that couldn't be told!"

"Did you take some onion rings to Hope? He loved them when he was little."

"She said it in front of a librarian, to someone she'd never met before."

Old Whateley didn't get the answer he wanted, so he shook his head. "No one will care."

"If the wrong people hear, it could cause big problems! Someone might remember it, walk right past us without batting an eye, then ask around about who we are after we leave."

"There are people at that university who like to do that, but no one will care. You can rest assured of that."

"But..."

"Don't talk about it anymore, Wilbur." Old Whateley cut him off. "I've already told you, no one will care. When have I ever lied to you?"

The old man smiled. "You'll understand someday. The professors at Miskatonic University sometimes chase their suspects like mad dogs.

"But we won't be their suspects. For that, I have dear Professor Armitage to thank. Now tell me, did you give your brother some onion rings?"

Wilbur fell silent for a moment. "I sent Lavinia to take them to him."

"Did you give her extra? Lavinia will definitely sneak a few."

"It was almost a full bag."

"Good." Old Whateley nodded.

He held up a hand to stop Wilbur from speaking again, signaling for him to be quiet. "Lavinia's coming."

The bedroom door was flung open, with even more force than Robert would have used.

Lavinia hadn't even reached Old Whateley's bedside before she began speaking. "Dad, that thing came out!"

She said "that thing," but the other two in the room knew what she meant.

"I suppose its room was a little too small," Old Whateley said with a nod.

"Now?" Wilbur asked anxiously.

"No, not that. Hope told me. I think someone died, too."

"Robert died," Old Whateley said. "I knew he'd end up dead one day because he couldn't keep his hands to himself. I'm glad he died before me. Now I can meet his successor. Old people like seeing something new."

"I'll go ask Hope." Wilbur stood up.

"Don't get too worked up." Old Whateley called after him. "Don't scare your brother. This is the first time Hope's seen it since he lost his memory. Make him a cup of coffee first and calm him down. He may be terrified."

The canned peas were just ordinary peas in brine. They had nothing special about them, just a salty taste and the peas' own fresh aroma.

Setting the price aside, they were simple and bland—not the sort of thing you'd expect for lunch in a normal household.

Then again, Lavinia probably couldn't cook, and Old Whateley was practically on his deathbed, so the cooking had fallen to Wilbur.

And Wilbur was just the sort of guy who'd like canned peas. They only needed heating, which made them convenient and quick, and they could hardly go wrong.

But whenever Hope looked at the peas in the can, he was reminded of yesterday's vomit, which made it difficult to eat.

The onion rings were pretty good, with a sweet-and-spicy flavor. Frying had taken away the onion's original sharpness, leaving them easy to eat and still aromatic.

Just as Hope was about to praise Wilbur's cooking, he noticed the red lettering on the paper bag: Bob's Fast Food.

That meant Hope's first meal here consisted of prepared food and takeout.

A lunch utterly devoid of familial warmth, yet perfectly in keeping with the Whateley family.

Well... maybe there was something different, too.

Hope picked up the glass on the table. The warm brown liquid inside gave off a faint aroma.

A proper cup of pour-over coffee, brewed by a native Western farmer living in the twenties. It was as authentic as drinking douzhi on a city street.

Hope took a sip full of anticipation... It tasted like douzhi, too, with a baffling rubbery flavor, like dark-brown muddy water that tasted burnt.

He poured the contents of the cup into the toilet and flushed them away.

He had just finished when he heard footsteps outside. The towering Wilbur appeared in the doorway.

He was holding a steaming cup of coffee.

"Sleep well?" Wilbur asked. He took the empty cup from Hope's hand and put the fresh coffee in its place.

"Pretty well. Better than I expected." Hope took another sip, trying to find some coffee aroma beneath the rubbery taste.

In the end, he had to accept that someone like him was only suited to instant coffee with flavoring.

He slowly returned to the bed and sat down, hiding the pain from the injury to his leg.

"I want to know what happened with Robert," Wilbur said. "Lavinia said he came here. I want to know how he got here and what he came for."

Hope told Wilbur almost everything that had happened, including Robert's suggestion that Hope kill Wilbur, Robert turning into a Fishman, and the Monster tearing him apart.

It was mostly the truth. He deliberately left out Paul and Elizabeth, making it sound as if he'd been the only one involved in the whole affair.

"You're saying he accidentally cut himself with the ring?"

"I pushed him, and he lost his balance," Hope replied. "After he turned into a Monster, he tried to kill me."

"Then that thing saved you."

"Saved me?" Hope asked in confusion. This time, he wasn't pretending to be confused. The Transparent Monster had looked as if it wanted to eat him. "I thought it was going to kill me."

"But you're still alive and well. It really did save your life." Wilbur didn't ask anything else. He got up and left.

Hope fell into thought:

Wilbur thinks the Transparent Monster came out to save me... That does make sense, because Robert really did look as if he was going to kill me.

But after killing Robert, it didn't leave. Instead, it spread toward Paul... I deliberately left that part out when I spoke with Wilbur, and told him the Transparent Monster left immediately after killing Robert. Wilbur didn't seem suspicious; he thought that was normal...

He thinks I wouldn't become a target for the Transparent Monster... No, more accurately, he thinks the Transparent Monster will protect me.

Why?

Is that protection meant for me personally, or for all members of the Whateley family?