13Disclaimer: "Miniver Cheevy" and "Richard Cory" © Edwin Arlington Robinson. The song "Richard Cory" copyright Paul Simon. Reader discretion advised due to adult themes.
Madrigal picked up the diaper bag. "Let's go to the Cafeteria. I skipped breakfast and I'm hungry."
Alex began to cry.
"You're hungry, too?" Madrigal rummaged through the diaper bag. "I suppose we can find a microwave."
The baby cried louder.
"I'm working on it."
XXX
Fox looked around Petros' living room. "Little more high-tech than I expected. But then, I expected a little cabin in the woods that the Amish would sneer at."
Xanatos shrugged. "He got a new TV. The one we had in my youth was an ancient fuzzy black-and-white." He flipped the television set on. "Color, standard channels. Nothing special. Otherwise, it looks exactly the same. But then Dad always hated change – even if it could buy him a soda from a vending machine." He bent over the green rug and sniffed. "When I was little, I broke Mother's perfume bottle over this spot. The smell still hasn't come out."
Fox moved to the mantle. A row of small portraits flanked a German cuckoo clock. "Black Forest. Rather classy for your dad's taste."
"Anniversary present from my aunt," explained David. "Never figured out why Mom left it. She loved that clock."
The redhead scanned the photos. A wedding photo of Petros and Madrigal, a photo of Baby Alex, and David in high school graduation robe and mortar board. "You don't suppose he keeps that last one because he was glad to get rid of you?"
"There's no good answer to that one."
"How old were you when you received the coin?"
"Fourteen, but the coin wasn't the sole reason my dad hates me, or hated me – I'm not sure which it is now. It was the taproot, but not the only root."
XXX
Back at the hospital, Baby Alex had finished his milk. Madrigal was grateful her grandson didn't reject the bottle. At least, until Alex spat up on her blouse when she tried to burp him.
Madrigal wrinkled her nose. Fifty dollars and it was ruined. "This was brand new, but I guess you can't help it." Her head was pounding from hunger, so she carried the baby towards the elevator. Why is the cafeteria always on the ground floor?
A woman with long brown hair and peach skin was waiting at the stop. She wore a simple black blouse and blue jeans, and there was a simple gold heart-shaped locket around her neck.
"Do I know you?" Madrigal asked. "I think I've seen you before, but I can't quite place you."
The woman turned, poker-faced. "I believe we met in New York." She walked away, hands in her pockets.
The elevator arrived.
XXX
It was a bright August afternoon. Mr. Opperknockety whistled as he skipped down the path.
Fourteen year old David Xanatos sat on the porch, watching the mail carrier approach. He recalled something his father had said about Mr. Opperknockety: "I don't trust him. He just seems…slippery. Like he's putting on an act." David dismissed the suspicions as mere paranoia. Mr. Opperknockety was a bit bizarre and overly sprightly for his age, but he was harmless, right?
Mr. Opperknockety reached the porch and deposited some envelopes in the mailbox. "Hello there, David. I've got some something for you." The elderly postal worker proffered a small box, barely two inches by two inches and an inch deep.
The boy took the box. "No return address, but little small for a bomb. He shook it. No rattle." He opened the box, careful not to let the mailman see the contents. Inside, nestled in cotton, was a copper coin. There were some engraved markings. The slight green patina where the copper had oxidized indicated it was old, but there were no nicks. It looked like it had been made yesterday. The markings looked Celtic, but he couldn't tell much else about it. He slid the item back in. "Baseball card," he lied.
"So what are you doing?"
"Just reading some poetry."
"Milton?"
"Something more modern. Edwin Arlington Robinson."
"I love Miniver Cheevy: 'born too late/ Scratched his head and kept on thinking/Miniver coughed and called it fate, and kept on drinking.'"
"Richard Cory, actually."
"Ooh, morbid one. I'd love to stay and chat, but these bills won't deliver themselves…"
XXXFox grunted. Her shoe heel had caught between two floorboards. "Ugh. David, I'm stuck."
"Just break the heel off and you can get another pair."
"No! These cost 450 dollars! One of a kind!"
"I'm materialistic, but that's simply too much for one pair of shoes."
"Shut up and help me!" Fox yanked her leg up. The beloved footwear came loose from the floor. A trapdoor flew up.
"I didn't know that was there," Xanatos observed.
Fox took a peek. "I didn't know your dad owned a gun."
"I didn't either." David reached in and pulled out a Colt .45 pistol. One bullet was missing. "Hmm." He pulled out a folder, a miniature tape recorder, a small diary, and a photo album. Flipping through the photo album, Xanatos noticed most of the photos were of his late uncle, Daniel.
"Is this any of our business?" asked Fox.
"It's probably just family documents." Xanatos took the miniature recorder. "Probably a blank." He hit rewind, then play.
There was static and a man's shaky voice. "My name is Daniel Apollo Xanatos. I am in Room 832 of the Crystal Waters Inn. I just can't live this empty life anymore.. I'd like to say goodbye to my brother, Petros, and his wife, Madrigal, and to their unborn child. Good luck, kid. Please don't be angry at me. I didn't mean to put you through this." There was the sound of sobbing. "I'm coming, Mom, Dad." Then a gunshot.
Fox's eyes widened. "Suicide note?" She snatched a folder and squealed. The contents spilled out. On top was an autopsy photo of a man in his middle thirties. He was clean-shaved, but his eyes were closed. He looked asleep, but the pallor of his skin indicated he was dead. Daniel did have a strong family resemblance to Petros. There was no bullet wound visible in the photo, but the stain on the pillow Daniel's head rested on could only have been blood.
Xanatos picked up a stapled packet of papers. "Autopsy report." He skimmed. "Cause of death a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. The bullet nicked the brain stem, cutting off nerves and circulation. Death instantaneous. Trajectory consistent with self-inflicted injury. Manner of death is suicide." There were newspaper articles: a short obituary, and a few article with headlines like Prominent Businessman Found Dead in Maine Hotel, Daniel Xanatos cast as Richard Cory in Real Life Drama, and Businessman's Swansong. He tried to keep his face placid, but his thoughts were racing. I wanted immortality. Dad told me Daniel was a businessman and had amassed a fortune of $25 million. A spit in the ocean to me, but enough to make a good living, and he threw it away. He was about my age when he killed himself…why did he? Didn't he at least want to see me? How did that poem go? "In fine, we thought he was everything/ To make us wish we were in his place/And Richard Cory one fine summer night/Went home and put a bullet in his head."
Fox looked queasy. "I'm so sorry. You seem surprised."
"I am surprised. My dad told me Uncle Daniel died in a car crash before I was born."
"He died June 16, 1961. You were born that same year."
"August 5th." David laughed.
"Stop that! Suicide's never funny!"
"I'm laughing at poor Daniel. I'm laughing at my father. He told me to always be honest. He lied to me!"
"I can see why."
"I can understand why he'd lie about it when I was a child, but I was going to find out someday. I'm surprised I've gone this far without knowing the truth." Xanatos stuffed the tape recorder in his jacket pocket and replaced the diary, photo album, folder, and gun. "Owen!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Drive us back to the hospital. Now."
"Are you sure it's prudent to confront your father now, given his current condition?" asked the assistant.
"I won't storm into his room playing the tape and demanding an explanation. I just want to talk to him when he regains consciousness. And if it comes up, he can tell me why he's a hypocrite."
"It still is insensitive. I'm not even that cruel to my father," replied Fox as she joined her husband in the car.
The radio DJ announced a Simon and Garfunkel marathon.
Fox snorted as the strains of "Richard Cory" began to play. "Of all of Simon and Garfunkel's songs, why that one?"
XXX
David hid the box containing the coin under his pillow, then went to find his mother. "Mom, can we get Aunt Mary Lee to visit?"
"Why?" Madrigal asked.
"I need…an appraisal. I found this coin that looks old."
"I guess my coin dealer sister can make a house call." She reached over to the phone. "I'll call her at work."
Petros entered the living room. "David? I want to talk to you. In private."
The son shrugged. "Fine." They walked into the hall. "About what?"
"You'll be starting high school in a week, and I was wondering if you've given any thought to your future profession."
"If you're fishing for me to follow in your footsteps, Father, you are seriously mistaken."
"I'd highly recommend being a fisherman. How else can you get lobster without paying outlandish prices?"
"What's the fun of eating lobster if you can't serve it at a party and know your guests acknowledge that you paid an 'outlandish' price for it?"
"You take too much after your mother, boy. Anyway, David, I won't force you to take a job you won't enjoy. You can make your own choices. When Daniel died, all of his money and property went to Madrigal and me. Our parents had died before the car accident, and our oldest brother Jeb died in active duty in World War II. If you want, I'll use that money to put you through college. You can even go to Oxford if you want."
"I'll think about it, Father."
"What are you planning to get into? I have one objection – you won't be a lawyer. They're evil, materialistic, bloodsucking creatures. And I won't have my son consort with such-"
"Rest assured, Father. I'm going into business."
Petros' voice cracked. "Business?"
"I'll talk to you later on it. Right now I have to get something appraised."
XXX"How's Dad?" David entered the waiting room of the hospital. Madrigal was seated in one of the plastic chairs, eating a salad. Alex was in his bassinet, cradled on one of the chairs.
"Still unconscious," Madrigal replied.
Owen picked up Alex, who cooed.
The woman from the elevator was standing by the magazine rack. Owen turned to her, still holding the infant. He waited until Fox, David, and Madrigal had left to wait by Petros' bedside, and walked to her.
"Blonde looks better on you than white," commented the brunette human.
Owen blushed and whispered to Alexander. "All you have to do is say 'revert.'"
"Re-voo," replied Alex.
"Close enough…" Owen did not quite sound like Owen anymore. It was the voice of his alter ego, the fay Puck. Time itself seemed to freeze in the little hospital corridor. A nurse with a clipboard was frozen mid-step. The receptionist at the desk was still and silent, the phone still at her ear. Owen himself transmuted into what looked like a white-haired elf in a silk toga.
The woman shrieked as her hair elongated, her skin went milky white, and her clothes became a glittery white velvet dress. "I hate you! I hate you!"
Puck laughed. "Well, if it isn't the Ice Princess herself. You're a little far from home, aren't ya?"
"Why can't our human forms block our natural magic signatures?"
"I have no idea. By the way, I'm being rude. This is Alexander Xanatos, my little trickster in training."
The Snow Queen looked at Alex. "He is darling!" She reached out to kiss the baby's forehead, but Puck curled the child away. "What's the big idea?"
"You know what your kiss does to humans. And more to the point, why are you here?"
"One, he's not completely human. His fairy blood renders him immune to the…side effects. Second, I have no idea why Avalon sent me. I was hoping to go back to Switzerland. I guessed it has to do with my little humility lesson."
"Or Oberon doesn't trust me, even with reduced powers and he sent you to act as a brake on me."
"That's probably it, but I like to think I'm…educating myself by educating others."
"Did you cause the heart attack?"
"You forget you and I can't directly intervene in human affairs. I did not cause your boss' father's ailment. I couldn't even if I wanted to. But I do confess to a little masquerade." She transmuted into the pseudo-Elisa and back again. "Your boss is fascinating. He has no guilt, or at least represses it. 'Elisa Maza' confronted him right there and he remained cool as a cucumber."
Puck burst out laughing. "You wanted to see him guilty?"
"I was going for it, yes. Emotion is so interesting to study, don't you think? Of course I have to think of loopholes."
"If you ever need a loophole, look for me." Puck smirked. "Though you're pretty good at finding them yourself. Oberon said you could never marry a mortal…he never said you couldn't fall in love with one!"
"Oh, how do you know about that?"
"Word travels fast on Earth."
"Pele is such a gossip. I should have guessed."
"I didn't hear it from Pele. At least, not directly. I heard it from Eshu who heard it from Anansi who heard it from Anubis who heard it from Amanterasu who heard it from Grandmother who heard it from Raven who heard it from Coyote who heard it from Bunny who heard it from Pele. Though I'm more interested in that little liason with Hans Christian Andersen…"
"Stop it!"
"Care to know what Alex and I have been covering as of late? I know you do."
The room instantly got hotter, climbing from seventy degrees Fahrenheit to one hundred and ten. The Snow Queen began to sweat. The flowers in her hair drooped. Being born of magic and ice, she was vulnerable to heat.
Alex cooed. The temperature dropped back to normal.
The Snow Queen glared. "You did that on purpose!"
"You're a stick in the mud, Snowy."
"If you're still carrying a torch for the chamois hunter, just ask Big Daddy O nicely. He can resurrect your boyfriend and bestow immortality. It'd be a piece of cake. Though he might twist your words and forget to add eternal youth. Or make him a permanent baby."
"No, Puck. That's something you'd pull."
"He is technically your dad, and you know how overprotective fathers can be."
"Can we discuss this some other time. You did not freeze time just to tease me about my nonexistent love life."
"No, I didn't. I wanted to introduce my star pupil and figure out what's been going on here. And while we're at it, I wanted to give Alex a couple of lessons. Want to help?"
The Snow Queen sighed. "What choice do I have?"
To Be Continued
