David placed the glass on the kitchen counter and rubbed his face with both hands, looking deeply stressed. Margarethe stepped up beside him, placing a gentle hand on his arm to offer support during the quiet moment. She noticed several other sealed bottles resting on the bottom shelf of the dark pantry closet nearby.
Margarethe: David, talk to me. You look like you have seen a ghost right now.
David: Those bottles were inherited from my uncle's old estate in South Texas two years ago.
Margarethe: Were they stored improperly? Could pests have gotten inside the corks over time?
David looked down at his young son, then back at Margarethe with a look of deep concern and worry. He walked over to the pantry, picking up another bottle from the same wooden rack and holding it up to the overhead light. Floating inside that bottle were similar dark shapes, submerged within the old red liquid sealed beneath intact wax tops.
Leo: Are all those bottles full of bugs too, Dad?
David: They are old estate collector items, son. They were never meant for drinking at our family dinner table.
Margarethe felt a strange chill run down her back as she looked closely at the sealed wax caps on the bottles. They had never been opened, meaning the insects were inside long before Clara brought the bottle upstairs today. The realization that this was an old family mystery made her hold Leo's small hand a little tighter.
Margarethe: Clara made a simple mistake grabbing it, but Leo saved me from drinking it.
David: Leo... you were very brave to speak up, even when you thought you would get in trouble.
Leo: I did not want Margarethe to get hurt or get sick from the wine.