Leila seems to know what Theo is thinking. She smiles and touches his upper arm. "Go wash your hands, and then you can try these."
Theo nods and gets up to wash his hands.
When he returns, everyone at the table can see that he's very excited, like a child about to go on a roller coaster ride.
Julian can't help but laugh and feel Theo's excitement. So, he gets up and grabs a few ice cream cups.
Theo sits back down. "I'm ready."
Leila laughs openly. "Of course you are. Here, pick any flavor you want."
Theo dares not touch any of the cups; he only looks at them and tries to read the flavors. Most of them he has never heard of or doesn't know how to pronounce: Pistachio, Mint Chocolate Chip, Butter Pecan, Coffee Toffee, Hazelnut Crunch, Dulce de Leche Churro, among a few others.
Theo's hand hovers above them, as if playing "eeny, meeny, miny, moe." He looks completely unaware of a pair of eyes watching him like a hawk.
Sitting right opposite Theo is Arthur. He's eating his ice cream automatically, not tasting it nor enjoying it.
Finally, Theo points to a flavor. "This one."
It is Mint Chocolate Chip—the one flavor Thea loved.
Arthur loudly sighs. He is almost disappointed that Theo picks his sister's favorite. It doesn't mean anything. It could just be a coincidence.
Leila smiles at Theo's choice. "Go ahead. Open the lid. Try it. See if you like it."
The lid? Then Theo notices that the top of the cup has a little protruding part, and he peels it off the way he saw Arthur do it.
The lid is off.
Green? Why is this one green? What are those little dark dots?
Leila picks up a small spoon and gives it to Theo. He absentmindedly takes it, keeping his eyes on the green thing in front of him.
He finally tries to scoop the green thing, but finds it hard. It's hard!
"Thea," Leila calls softly.
Theo turns and sees Leila, a cup of ice cream in her left hand and a spoon in her right, scooping smoothly.
He nods. Got it!
He reaches for his cup with his left, winces a little because of the cold, lifts the cup, and scoops the green stuff with the spoon in his right.
He now has a big chunk of the light green stuff on his spoon.
And he puts it in his mouth the same way he would with a big spoonful of mashed potatoes.
The whole room falls silent. Everyone holds their breath, waiting for Theo's reaction.
The first sensation Theo feels is the cold. It fills his entire mouth, coating his teeth. He is taken by surprise, because he has never eaten ice cream before.
The cold sensation immediately spreads to his brain.
Theo is overwhelmed by the icy attack. He can only close his eyes and wince.
"Oh, Thea! That's too big a bite of ice cream in one go. You need to eat it slowly. Let it melt in your mouth." Leila winces as she watches Theo struggle with brain freeze.
The sensation finally subsides. Theo opens his eyes and coughs. Cold steam escapes his mouth. His eyes are watery, and he continues coughing.
"Oh, honey." Leila pats his back gently.
But Theo refuses to give up. Because as he's coughing, the aftertaste of that green cold stuff is amazing!
After his coughing subsides, he scoops up another spoon of ice cream—this time much smaller—and puts it in his mouth. And Leila is right: it melts in his mouth, and it is heaven!
Theo flops back in his chair and exhales.
"What do you think?" Julian asks.
Theo looks at him with an obvious expression of Love it!
Julian laughs happily. "Yeah? It's good, right?"
Theo keeps scooping up the ice cream and putting it in his mouth. Soon, he finishes a cup of Mint Chocolate Chip.
He sets the cup down and exhales again.
Maurice smiles. "Go try another flavor."
Theo looks like he wants to, but he shakes his head. "I'm too full. But… I can eat it again tomorrow, right?"
"Oh, Thea. You can eat ice cream anytime you want! Just grab it from the freezer. I'll make sure we always have ice cream." Leila smiles.
So, it's called ice cream. This world's food is a wonder!
------------------------------
Maurice, Leila, and Arthur are sitting in the family room. Maurice is reading on his tablet, Arthur is looking at his laptop, and Leila is drinking her tea while lost in thought.
"Dinner was a success, right?" Leila suddenly speaks.
"Hmm?" Maurice absentmindedly responds to his wife.
Arthur only looks up from the screen. "Yes, Mother. It was."
"You sure, Arthur?" Leila asks for confirmation.
"You have any reason to doubt that it wasn't?" Maurice asks without looking up from his tablet.
Leila turns to Maurice. "No, I don't. I just…" She stops. She doesn't know how to say it.
Maurice puts down his tablet. "Go on, darling. You just…?"
Leila sighs. "I just have this feeling that… Maybe it's a mother thing." She stops and sighs again.
Arthur closes his laptop. "Mother, go ahead. Tell us what you think."
Leila looks at Arthur. "Oh, Arthur. I don't want to say anything bad about Thea. I mean, she has just escaped death! And now she has returned to us. But…"
"But what?" Arthur presses. He doesn't want to be alone in his suspicions about Thea.
Maurice has also put his tablet down and now looks at Leila. "Go on." He reaches out to hold her hand.
She looks at her husband and squeezes his hand. "First, I am forever grateful that she's back. I'm sure we all are. But since she woke up, she hasn't been herself. At first, I thought it was because of the memory loss. But it's the little things I noticed. Like how she smiles. How she talks. How she moves."
She looks to her husband and son. "It's different."
Maurice gives a small nod. "I noticed it too. But, darling… is that a bad thing?"
"What? No! That's my point!" Leila exclaims.
"I… don't understand." Arthur frowns.
"Think about it, Arthur. Really think about it. I know you have your doubts. Your suspicions. Don't." She puts up a hand when she sees Arthur about to speak.
"Don't deny it. I know you. You didn't stay at the hospital just out of worry. I'm worried, but I didn't force myself to stay at the hospital 24/7 to monitor her."
Arthur closes his mouth. His mother may look gentle and harmless, but she is deceptively perceptive.
"Back to what I was trying to say," Leila continues.
"Before the accident, Thea was distant. From all of us. She was secretive, closed off. Only gave short, generic answers when we asked."
Leila sighs and looks grim. "And remember that night? A week before the accident?"
Maurice and Arthur both look grim.
"Never once in my life did I see Thea crying and yelling like that. Like she hated us." Leila speaks in a low, small voice.
"And she did say that she hates us. And I slapped her." Leila's voice quivers.
Maurice scoots over and takes Leila into his arms.
"That was the last time she spoke to me before the accident. It could've been the last time I…" Leila bursts into tears.
"Leila, it wasn't your fault." Maurice squeezes her in his embrace. "We stayed quiet not because we blamed you. We stayed quiet because we agreed."
"And that slap? You were braver than I was. I wanted to slap her, but I didn't—because I was a coward."
Maurice lets Leila go and lifts her face by her chin, gently. "It was the right thing to do."
"We had never raised our children to be disrespectful. And that's what Thea was. She was disrespectful to us. And not just us—to the Montrose family."
Arthur gets up and sits on the sofa next to Leila. "Mom, look at me."
Leila sniffles and looks at Arthur.
"You did the one thing that we only dared to imagine in our minds. It wasn't your fault."
"But I—"
"It wasn't your fault." Arthur cuts her off and emphasizes each word.
Leila leans into her husband and nods. "Okay. Okay."
She sniffles again. "Thank you."
Arthur leans back on the sofa. "But I agree. Thea has changed."