Free The Three Thorns by Michael Gibney Page B

are you feeling, son?” O’Malley asked in a deep voice as coarse as his cough.
    Benjamin noticed the man’s large red scar along his right cheek again, but this time he could see it in all of its grotesque detail. The scar started on the side of his forehead and ran all the way down his cheek and ended next to his chin. It was a very severe and wide scar, which was unfitting on such a handsome and kind face.
    “I-I feel sick,” Benjamin muttered honestly. O’Malley immediately turned and opened the door behind him fully to reveal a brightly lit kitchen.
    “Well then,” replied O’Malley, “you’d best come in and have some food.”
    Benjamin slowly took a step down until he peered behind O’Malley’s shoulder and saw Tommy Joel. Tommy sat comfortably at the large oak table in the kitchen, sipping steaming tomato soup from a big bowl. An older boy sat near Tommy, shoving big chunks of bread into his mouth using one hand.
    “He’s like a pig,” Benjamin accidentally said aloud.
    O’Malley chuckled. “Please, have a seat,” he said, attending to a small burning pot under a stone fireplace. “You boys are a long way from home, huh?”
    “Oh, we don’t have—.” Benjamin began to speak when he was interrupted by a clout across his scalp by Tommy.
    “Yes…you could say that, we’re here to visit a relative…of sorts,” Tommy tittered nervously as he forced a smile at O’Malley.
    “I can’t remember how I got here?” asked Benjamin curiously, keeping a suspicious eye on the rabbit hunter.
    “You fainted due to the cold. You both did,” muttered O’Malley, pouring thick, steaming tomato soup from the boiling pot into a spare bowl.
    The kitchen was even richer than the hallway and a lot cosier. Dried flowers and herbs hung from the wooden ceiling. A small fireplace built into the wall warmed the room. A black teapot hung directly over the glowing coal and slowly began to boil and whistle.
    “Mind your plate, son. It’s rather hot,” O’Malley warned, setting the steaming bowl of soup in front of Benjamin. He then rushed to lift the whistling pot of tea away from the fire.
    “Thanks for the, you know, shelter and everything,” Benjamin mumbled awkwardly.
    “You mean for saving your life? You’re welcome. You boys would’ve frozen out there if I hadn’t found you.”
    “Well, we don’t want to take up any more of your time, Sir,” Tommy added, motioning to Benjamin to eat quickly.
    Benjamin tried one full mouthful of soup, which was so hot that he spat it out.
    “Look who’s eating like a pig now,” Tommy teased.
    Shaking his head at Benjamin, the rabbit hunter gave a long sigh. “I told you the soup was hot.”
    “We need to get moving, Brannon. I’ve checked the map, this Jacob fellow can’t be far from here,” Tommy whispered, unaware that the older boy was eavesdropping beside them. “And I don’t trust this guy.”
    “Eat up, son, you need to keep up your strength,” O’Malley interrupted as he took to his seat at the end of the table. After O’Malley sipped his cup of tea he put on his reading glasses then rustled through pages of a recent newspaper. Benjamin noticed the front-page headlines:
     
    “TITANIC INQUIRY:
    HUNDREDS PERISHED.”
     
    “That’s a big ship,” Benjamin slurred with a mouthful of bread.
    O’Malley slowly peeked from behind the newspaper, revealing only his eyes and the tip of his scar.
    “She was,” he sighed.
    Benjamin was about to finish his last spoonful of soup the second he noticed the stamp mark on the front of the newspaper.
    His eyes widened as he read the name Jacob O’Malley .
    “Jacob?” Benjamin gasped the same time Tommy did.
    “I was wondering how long it would take for you both to notice that,” Jacob said softly, lowering the newspaper.
    “ You? You’re Peter’s friend?” Tommy asked, crumpling the map in his hands before Jacob motioned to take it from him.
    “Forgive me, young Masters. I was supposed to meet with