The Red Box

by Laura Sgarella

  At home Jill was finally relaxed. She didn’t show any sign of anxiety. She wanted to point out Araon’s kindness in putting her desires before his interest in books and at that precise moment somebody knocked at the door. Araon was faster than Jill to go and open it. Strangely, nobody was there. “It must be a prank,” Araon thought. That reminded him of the speed by which unknown murderers carried out a corpse from the Van Gogh Museum. Araon vigorously convinced Jill not to receive guests at home until the day she would find out she was pregnant. He had never displayed such superstition before. The absence of people at his opening the flat door had literally overwhelmed him. His heart was beating faster and faster at the thought that something mischievous would happen soon. He wanted to forget the image of the blood for a while to focus himself on the casual look of the matter. Jill was there and that, maybe, wouldn’t help.

  She ignored the importance that Araon gave to small things. She started to be a bit suspicious about something intriguing after she saw a bad scar in the horse shoe of her beast she had previously mounted. She didn’t consider it something accidental but something purposely planned for obscure reason. She watched her husband with a sense of submission going back to their recent discussion on the importance of having precious hobbies such as horse riding. She cleared up the misunderstanding with sweet words of love. “Sweetheart,” she said, “don’t forget we are a couple. Why are you steadily puzzling your mind by the thought of having seen nobody when you opened the door? It was maybe a joke of one of the boys who are playing soccer in the street. I have to apologize for my nervousness at our day in the riding school. Only your presence over there gave me the confidence to deal with horses. Now we are here alone waiting for our next adventure. Don’t consider me funny but your escapism is similar to the strength of a soft-porn actor. When I was watching the movie the other day, I remembered our past when you were abroad and, afterwards, Rotterdam. You have concealed your passion to travel away for several years of marriage. Now the missing guest at our flat door made me see you as more downhearted, and close to me with your presence. You show to be one who doesn’t want to cross the threshold for your passion for me. The only inference I embrace now is that I love you too much. I am the happiest woman under the sun. I dote on you in the same way you dote on me. Now let’s forget everything and come to the sofa for some cuddles,” said Jill with genuine satisfaction.

  “Your words are soft, mild, sweet. You are in the right when you mentioned my fear of losing you if I am away. I will always be a slave of your desire. Now you wish to be cuddled and so do I,” answered Araon full of joy. Little by little they slid in morbid kisses and they spent all the rest of the day whispering words of wisdom and passion. The plans for the following day could wait for the moment. Araon tightened his lips as a joke and Jill followed suit. She was wrapped around his fingers. It was a neat picture which reminds of a picture of a love story movie.

  Still in the arms of Araon, Jill was suffering of a splitting headache. She left Araon on the sofa and went to get some pills. It was obvious that something was going to happen soon. Something they were waiting for with huge agitation. “A baby,” was the first thought of Jill. She didn’t go to repeat the pregnancy test though. She didn’t want to be disappointed by another failure about their biggest desire of those moments. Leave alone the health condition she would have suffered for. Once back in the sitting room, Araon was not there. She went to the bedroom and Araon was not there either. Even the toilet was empty. Apparently Araon had left their flat to go for a stroll without telling Jill his intentions. Jill was furious even if she tried to justify her husband with a less serene mood. She was considering to exercise a strict surveillance on her husband to prevent accidents like this from happening again.

  After a few minutes, Araon entered the flat and Jill started to abandon her anger. “Where have you been? I went to the kitchen to get some pills and when I came back to the sitting-room you were not here any more. Would you mind telling me when you go out?” said Jill with an extremely placatory manner.

  “I apologise, my wife. I went next to the landfill outside looking for the desperados. I know I mustn’t trouble myself more than due but I hate to be the victim of stupid mysteries. By the way, there are no kids playing soccer outside. Do you believe in ghosts? I do. I’m joking, of course. Sorry about everything again. I see the weather is not warm enough today. Why don’t we take a soothing shower? I want you to have a rest and think of nothing. And then there is no greater pleasure than seeing you sleeping. well covered by a wollen sheet and heated properly,” he said apparently calmly.

  “I think you are right. I have to stop giving too much importance to small things. As far as regard you there is a pile of books you have brought recently. Reading is your favourite hobby, just enjoy it. Now I go.”

  Araon went back to the sitting-room with feelings of guilt. He had never intended to spoil any single second of time spent with Jill. He went to the sofa after picking something to read. He had in his hands a fantastic story. It was about two soulmates that departed from each other after an innocent quarrel and they found themselves involved in the weirdest vicissitudes after that accident. After thousands of occurrences they met each other again, more united than ever. Of course that was what Araon picked from the book as cunning as he was to find strategies to forget what had happened to Jill and him in the recent past. Reading it further, he realised that the story made him a man who reasoned like an idiot. There was nothing he could do to overcome the sense of guilt about his past argument with Jill. Noo! He was likely going to lose the love of his life for something he considered rubbish. He meditated a lot on that point. He had promised himself to be a better husband without the cathartic experience of reading books which seemed based on his own life. Even the short distance between the bedroom and the sitting-room could make him find solace. He needed to be in the arms of Jill thinking of nothing. His cat was always around. Araon was tempted to give him a kick in his backside to make him stop moaning. He waited a while before he took the decision to go to Jill in bed. A big question mark harassed him..

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Albert and Sylvanus were very garrulous sometimes. They enjoyed themselves discussing philosophical issues in a brilliant way. One day they decided to join the association of ‘The Dirty Minds, a club which welcomed anybody who wanted to discuss violent and brutal topics which may appertain. They were going there with the hope of hiding a purpose but this was a truth that could be revealed later on. Albert was the most enthusiastic of the two. They were very quiet when they had to show their identity cards at the entrance of the club. There were thirty people in all and only one of them was very young. Albert was very nosey about people dialogues. He immediately observed an argument of a couple over a roasted steak. There was nothing harsh about it but it come out like a childish quarrel. Albert and Sylvanus had a meek approach to the situation. After all, that day they were there to talk about violence between men and women. They met a good interlocutor to share their opinion. “Hi, I am Albert and he is Sylvanus,” they introduced themselves.

  “Hi, I am Spike. Where do you come from? You have a foreign accent.” he said.

  “Actually, we are Dutch but our parents come from England. It is the first time that anybody noticed something weird about our accent. By the way: why did you joined the club? We are here because we are garrulous and we wish to give vent to our rage by discussing with other people,” said Sylvanus trying to placate his tone of voice.

  “I am here for different reasons. The first is because I have a very obedient wife. She left the water tap turned on all day yesterday and I told her that I’m definitely not going to pay the bill. A big discussion arose. So I decided to come here with the hope of finding somebody who has gone through this problem,” answered Spike who seemed very interested in chatting with Albert and Sylvanus.

  “Have you ever thought of the power of the holocaust?” intervened Sylvanus promptly.

 
“Come on, don’t be so pessimistic,” added Albert to stop Sylvanus from speaking nonsense.

  “After all, we are interested in the relationship between men and women. I went to the florist a month ago and I saw a man with one hundred roses for his wife. The following day I learnt that that man sent his wife to hospital after a trivial discussion. I am interested in the fabric of men’s personality. We are all sort of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but too much is too much. I can spend all day here talking about similar stories but now I want to let you talk to Albert with your firstly displayed eloquence,” said Sylvanus.

  “But you were thinking about how dirty is the rain a couple of minutes ago. We entered this place with the innocence of children and with banal issues to share. You have never mentioned similar episodes in first place but I am happy we are her,” said Sylvanus a bit annoyed.

  “Do you know how many silly issues have given birth to a serious discussion over there?” said Spike to prevent an argument between the two friends. “I joined this club one month ago and I have noticed that every day somebody leaves this place forlorn. Actually, the club’s purpose is to give vent to people’s rage. But at the end of the day nobody will realize what meekness is. But now tell me more about yourselves. I am forty-five years old and I undertake different hobbies. Sometimes I like to read, to go to the cinema, to go fishing. But my wife is not here all the time. She believes that coming here to talk about violence with strangers will spoil our relationship. What about you? Are you married?” said Spike trying to be as friendly as possible.

  “We are not married and we are not in a relationship. We spend a lot of time together since we share the same opinion about any topic. We have heard so many times about men who kill their wives with great shame and difficulty. But this is not the reason we are not married. We are old enough to enter a relationship right now. When we are spurred to think of a happy couple, we have in mind Araon and Jill, our best friends. They don’t know we have joined this club and we are not going to tell them it. It’s painful to make a depiction of ourselves like that. We see you are very pleasant even if gallantry is not what we were looking for when we entered this place,” said Sylvanus calmly.

  “Let me point out something. I see there are a lot of drinks and food in the table over there. Do you mind a beer and a toast?” Albert interrupted the discussion.

  “It’s OK. Let’s go and pick something to treat ourselves,” said Spike.

  The three guys went to mingle with the crowd. It was a dark picture slightly embellished by pauses and silence. The beer was excellent and the toast was good as well. Albert and Sylvanus felt very at easy in that place. Maybe it was the boredom of everyday life that brought them there and the concern with current violence was an excuse to conceal a form of well-done escapism. They spent all day at the club until the owner shuttered the place. That gesture of closing the shutter caught Sylvanus’ fancy. He came up with the idea of a fast rescuer to a victim to the pirates of the streets. He didn’t miss the point. The club’s owner had devised a symbolic way to attract more people to the club. A certain anxiety held Albert and Sylvanus. They went on their own way with the due patience.

  To know more about Albert and Sylvanus’ hobbies and interests was a very big question mark. It was an early Saturday morning when they went to a butcher, to buy some fillet when they met Araon and Jill accidentally. They hailed their friends with half a smile, there was no reason to believe that Albert and Sylvanus nourished feelings of some grudge against their two friends. Simply they wanted to stay on their own. They looked furtively one another as if they wanted to find an excuse to go. They stood there at the end pretending to enjoy the presence of the two starting an interesting dialogue. Jill couldn’t hide her enthusiasm and joy about the idea that she was to become mum soon. Araon put a symbolic halt to that excitement by pointing out that the pregnancy test hadn’t shown news of a pregnancy yet. Albert and Sylvanus were very cool. They joked about the idea of becoming uncles. But they soon entered another topic of discussion. “You know,” started Albert, “we went to the famous club of the dirty minds where people gathered together to discuss things brutal and violent. We spent an entire day over there up to our strongest boredom. We had you two in mind almost all the time. And, here we go, we have met you accidentally. You brought to us joy for your desire to become parents soon. We wish you good luck. As far as regards ourselves there is no important news. Currently we take life as it comes. Work is a big issue we want to ignore right now. What about friendship? This is not a question mark. The truth is that we love you so much. You cannot imagine the joy you brought to us while talking about your future parenthood. We finished in that dirty club such as The Dirty Minds and we don’t know why yet. Hopefully we met you today. You have the power to make us feel more grounded and moderate. To be restrained is such a good thing these days.”

  “I know life can be boring sometimes but it has in store beautiful surprises as well. We went to a riding school to take horse riding lessons recently. Jill didn’t appreciate those moments so we left the place quite early. But these are trivial matters. She was embedded for a while but she soon stopped suffering. We have talked about you as well but we met you before we could hang on our cell and phone you. I came up with something interesting to push boredom away. Do you know the famous restaurant The Killer? Jill and I would be very pleased to offer you a dinner over there. We can go next Saturday if you have no other plans. We have big plans for the week arriving. To have you at dinner with us will be the cherry on the cake. We are free all week long except when we have to go to the yard and check if the laborers are working properly,” said Araon

  “We are very pleased to come to the restaurant with you. But you must not be offended if we do something to reciprocate your kindness. We can devise, for example, a day out fishing and cook the fish for dinner at our home. Now I don’t want to be rude but we have to go. We have an appointment at ten am. with the gardener since we are doing little works in our garden. We’ll keep in touch on the phone during the week. Thank you for everything and see you soon,” said Albert.

  Jill and Araon left their friends and started to walk at random. They had no specific plans for that day. They were already dreaming of the arrival of the sweet summer. The weather was already mild but they wished to experience hotter temperatures. Jill talked of a superstition according to which becoming pregnant was easier in the summer. Her fixed idea seemed a bugbear so she decided to change subject of discussion. She didn’t want to annoy Araon more than due. They saw a bench nearby and they rushed to occupy it to kiss and cuddle each other like unashamed teenagers. Their love for one another was growing steadily from day to day: these were the best conditions to have a baby. An officer passed nearby and interrupted their dream-like situation” I don’t want to fine you but you must stop your cuddling in public,” he said.

  Araon and Jill were very frightened and suddenly left the bench. It was just an accident, they hoped. A vein of sadness overwhelmed Jill who started to be sick. Araon pushed her to go home immediately. Obscure moments like these must be abandoned immediately. He wanted to put off the day out for the foreseeable future. Jill nearly fainted. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Finally, they arrived home, their nest of love. It was dirty and messy everywhere and this wasn’t a surprise to the eyes of Jill. She had to improve a lot as a housewife but Araon must do his part as well. Chivalry and gallantry were not dead yet. It wouldn’t be so difficult to impress this in Araon’s mind.

  In fact, Araon didn’t waste time to avoid accommodating a quarrel. His place at home was the sofa where he could easily read the news. An article in particular impressed him. Two guys died in a hospital because of a mistake in the managing of a blood transfusion. They were accidental and undeserved deaths. He didn’t read all the article: the mention of blood confused him who started meditating on its power in men’s life. He was still shocked by the blood in a handkerchief at the Van Gogh Museum. The enigma concerning that epi
sode filled in his life with wonder. Jill was in the other room, busy with some housekeeping. He didn’t want to disturb her with that bloody article.

  “What stupid deaths,” he thought. His imagination run quickly over other issues just to kill the time. He was wondering if the solution to the murder without a corpse would be easier to analyze if he gave the right interpretation to everything concerning blood he dealt with. Just to make it simple: He dedicated every single whisper of the unknown truth to his entrusting to the kismet. In his mind there were images of blood everywhere. Even Albert and Sylvanus were associated with the threat of blood. Actually, he envisioned his two friends dirty with blood and cleared from it as if by magic. He now saw himself in his imagination wandering along the streets of Amsterdam with the power of his mind. And then, there was Doctor Van der Baast his only confidant in this story. He must contact him as soon as he could. His mind had reached a crucial point. He thought, somehow, that the mistake of the blood transfusion had been made on purpose even if he didn’t know why. Maybe some personnel of the hospital were looking for a promotion and to cover a scandal was a good point. Or maybe they simply didn’t want people know where the blood of the transfusion was coming from. “Yes, this was the truth,” he thought. That quoted event made Araon come back to his recent past when he had split with Jill and he found solace in the arms of New York City. There he was all alone in the disentangling the mystery of the Van Gogh Museum. He had also heard through the grapevine that Van der Baast was in trouble because of the necessity to cure a patient with stem cells. Araon had not the courage to talk face-to- face to his friend the doctor about that matter but he needed to consult him whether he had found out more about some DNA traces in the blood of the handkerchief he had handed to him secretly. He was obsessed by the idea of coming to an end of the solution of the case before somebody else could do it. He had innocently believed to be the only one together with the doctor to know about this murder but the acrostic in red in the horse-riding instructor’s necklace made him think traces of the murder were present somewhere else. He strongly hoped to be in the wrong. But there were times when he was quieter and kicked out any ghost from his imagination. It was difficult for him to organize his ideas in a believable sequence of hypothesis when Jill was around.