Mark lowered his head to polish the portrait more and more without looking at it. A sudden scream attracted his attention. He raised his head to see that person staring at him like that person was ready to bury him alive. He was suddenly stunned. That woman was now standing in front of him, horror etched all over her face. She was looking at the portrait, and her face was completely red from anger. She pointed at Mark and said, "You! You! Just you wait. Mom, come here fast." She screamed on top of her lungs. With her scream, few other birds got scared and ran away. He still did not understand why she would be pointing at him and screaming for her mother (That crazy old lady! – Mark muttered under his breath) to come. Meanwhile, he kept on polishing the portrait while looking towards the door.
The "crazy old lady" came to the hallway and once she glanced at the portrait, was filled with extreme anger. The veins on her forehead was stretched taut, and she felt that she could kill that man instantly. She screamed, "Why the h.e.l.l did you do that?"
"Did what?" Mark asked innocently, even without looking at the portrait. He never saw a dumb family. They asked him to polish the portrait, right? And he was doing his job. Why the h.e.l.l are they shouting for?
"Did what? You ask me "did what"! I shall show you what you did!" The old lady was fuming mad as she poked him on the forehead, her spit falling onto Mark. Mark didn"t have time to react before the old lady decided to pull his collar and force him to look at the portrait. What he saw, froze him on spot. The elegant face of the person in the portrait was now blackened. He immediately threw the cloth in his hand and gave an innocent smile saying, "Who did this? I never did!" He showed rows of white sparking teeth which stood out the most. The fuming old lady took a look at him, and then suddenly kicked him hard on his knees. "Get out! Get out now! How dare you ruin this portrait? I will kill you, if you don"t get out of my sight right now."
"Anger is not good for heath, you know?" Mark made the last remark before madly dashing towards the gate. He rushed outside the gate and collided with another lady who looked almost like the crazy old lady. He did not have time to think before he saw a huge cane flying towards him in a trajectory. He swiftly ran away. The old lady was still shouting on top of her voice, "You dare to run away! I will kill you if I ever get to see you." Mark smiled. He would be mad to ever face her. He decided that it would be best for him to leave the Village immediately.
The lady stood outside the gate and looked on dumbfoundedly at the scene in front of her. On one hand, he mother was cursing someone while throwing away her cane. She never thought that she would see her mother this angry at someone. On the other hand, that strange person ran away after angering her mother. It was really strange. This is the first time someone got away after angering her. She thought that it was really funny. Of course, she wouldn"t say that out loud.
She picked up the cane and walked through the black iron-gate. She caught sight of her mother who was still screaming, scaring away another fleet of birds perched on the tree. Her hair was in disarray, and her shawl was hanging on her left hand, and the end of it was getting dirty by falling on the ground. She found the scene very funny. Her mother did not notice her. She slowly tiptoed to her mother and closed her mother"s eyes from the back with her hands, and then tried to whisper in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "Tell me, who am I?"
"You punk! You came back!! I"m gonna teach a lesson today, otherwise my name is not…" She was going to continue, when the lady suddenly said, "Mom, that"s not fair. First, you don"t notice me, and now, you are mistaking me for someone else." She pouted her lips and whined. She released her grip and her mother turned towards her.
"Amelia, my daughter. How have you been?
"Not good! You didn"t recognize your daughter. Hmph!!" Amelia pouted again as she complained. Her voice was angelic, and it reminded her mother of someone.