ever so slightly

They'd ended the meal drinking up the soup from the bowl. Sid smiled.

"I'm glad you remembered your Mum's recipe." He told Violet as he soaked up what was left with a piece of sour dough bread from the bend.

"I never made it. I've only watched her a couple of times." Violet shrugged.

"I guess that was enough." Sid shrugged back. "I'm full now."

"There are brownies," she reminded him as she took the dishes to wash them up.

"Maybe later." He waited for her to rinse the bowls and he dried. He looked about the place wondering if they'd keep it tidied up. He wasn't sure why it worried him.

"We should really investigate her apartment," Violet suggested.

"I know, but it bothers me." Sid nursed his bottom lip a bit.

"Why would you be bothered?" Violet squinted. "It might tell us everything about you."

"But do I want to know?" Sid put the dishes away.

"Be brave, will you?" Violet sighed as she dried her hands. She wasn't going wait, evidently. She was taking a look. She went straight down the hall to his great Aunt's apartment.

"I don't know if its a good idea?"

"Why not?" She opened the door and instantly it smelled of something old. Old things that were musky and quite dusty. She turned on a lamp, and there it was staring right at them. It was huge. And very still. As if it were guarding something with its life.

Violet took a step back falling into to Sid who caught her. They both stared at the annoying object. After all. It wasn't alive, yet so haunting, peering at them, open mouthed and such an angry beast.

"Who on earth would own such a thing?" Violet stared at the stuffed creature. It was once a black panther. "Where did it come from?"

"Maybe she stole it from the museum." Sid couldn't help but laugh. "I wonder what the coppers thought?"

"She had a strange sense of humor." Violet grimaced not wanting to go near it, but Sid pushed her right by it. There was a wall of old photos. Some were about the dresser. Sid had to look hard to find any photos of himself.

Finally he picked up a photo of a child holding up a little fish next to a tall man. It was a black and white photo. Sid turned it over and found his name along with someone nameed Everette Peacock.

"God, I was such a fat kid." Sid announced. "You think that's my father?" He handed her the photo.

"Dunno, what if he's your grandfather?" Violet was no help.

Suddenly, it hit Sid as he looked back at the black panther who was like an angry nuisance.

"These people are all dead, Violet." Sid was so distraught he could have spit with bitterness. "They are, they all are. I think I'm suppose to be dead, Violet."