Ghastly Glass

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  I was just getting the hang of fusing the glass rods together when several other visitors entered the shop. Roger glanced up at me and I knew what he wanted. I put my torch into the special holder and turned it off, then took off my goggles to wait on the two ladies dressed in rich satin and fur.

  Funny how visitors never come dressed as peasants. Everyone wants to imagine themselves as royalty or at least wealthy merchants. I guess it’s the same as wanting to think you were reincarnated from Thomas Jefferson or Cleopatra. Everyone wants to be someone special.

  “My ladies.” I bowed to the customers. “Good day and welcome to our shop. What can I assist you with? ”

  “We’re searching for glass goblets.” The first lady (her blush was a little heavy beneath her thin veil) smiled at me. “We’re celebrating and would like to have these as a souvenir. Do you engrave? ”

  I glanced at Roger, who nodded. Henry came in as we were speaking. He looked as though he’d been rolling around in the dirt. There were smudges on his face and his shirt was torn. The two ladies began giggling and blushing even more. I couldn’t believe they found him that attractive. But it seemed they’d already been there during the last few days, buying something different each day.

  “Sir Henry,” Veiled Lady simpered. “We knew you’d be here to help us.”

  “Of course, dear ladies!” Henry took each of their hands and brought them to his mouth for a brief kiss. “What can I do for you today? ”

  Feeling a little nauseated, I started to walk away. Henry saw me move, I think, and almost jumped out of my way. Hah! I guess that little show of strength was enough to scare Sir Henry. Good. Maybe he’d stay away. “Just watch his hands,” I remarked in a whisper to the ladies.

  They both giggled and agreed that he was very good with his hands.

  There’s just no helping some people. I went back to my bench. I didn’t want to be out there with the public anyway. I relit my torch (without help) and picked up my glass rods again. I looked at all the tools on the workbench and tried to remember what Roger had called everything.

  I knew the big scissors were supposed to be used to cut off the warm glass after creating an animal or an angel. The brass pick was used, like the cherry wood oval block, to shape and form the glass. The rake was used in feathering and marbling the glass. Flat mashers were used to flatten the glass; the curved masher made it round.

  I heated up two more glass rods and fused their ends together. I wished I could do more, but I supposed I needed to prove myself before Roger would trust me to make an animal. Not that I was entirely sure how to make an animal of any kind. That might be where the artistry came in. If so, I might be left out.

  “How’s it going? ” Roger asked.

  I glanced up and saw that the shop was empty again, except for Henry at his workbench. I’d been so intent on my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed when the visitors left. “Pretty good, I think. I’ve fused these rods together. Should I keep doing it? ”

  He looked at my fused rods and almost smiled. “Let’s go to the next step. Fuse the rods together, then wait for the glass to get warm but not hot. You’ll get to know when that is by looking at it. When it’s warm, use your shears to cut them apart. I want you to get the feel of how to do that before you tackle something more delicate than the rods.”

  I was thrilled to move up. I felt a little nervous with him standing there watching me, but I did it right the first time and he seemed very pleased. “Now just keep practicing that, Jessie.”

  “Okay. This stuff is really hot. I’m glad it’s not summer.”

  Roger glanced at Henry, then lowered his voice. “So you think there’s still a chance for me and Mary? ”

  My thoughts were so focused on the glass that I barely caught the subject change. “Uh . . . yeah. Sure. I know Mary cares about you. Maybe we can set something up.”

  Another group of visitors entered the shop. Roger patted my shoulder. “I’ll let you think about that. Let me know what you come up with.”

  No pressure. I looked at the two pieces of glass I held and considered that they were like Roger and Mary in some way. Maybe if both of them were heated to the right temperature, they’d fuse together again, too.

  I concentrated on my task, fusing the two rods together when they started glowing orange in the heat from the torch, then cutting them apart. I began to imagine faces and shapes in the glass where it became molten. Maybe this was how the first Venetian glassmakers started. I couldn’t even imagine how to shape what I saw, but I hoped that would come later.

  “Busy?” Henry asked from a safe distance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t blindfold him. His eyes kept wandering to my bodice.

  “Yes. Go away.”

  “I know you don’t really want that. I know you’re embarrassed by your attraction to me. I understand. Everyone here knows you and Chase are a couple. You don’t want Chase to find out about me. I’m cool with that. We can meet secretly. No one has to know.”

  I glared at him. “What part of go away makes you think I want to meet you somewhere? ”

  He smiled in that supercilious way men have when they think you really mean yes. “Everything about you tells me you want me. Your eyes. Your lips. Your body is singing every time I come near.”

  I wondered what song he’d hear if I set the blow torch to him. Just kidding. For good measure, I put down the glass I was working on. It probably wouldn’t be a good thing to hit him with it either. “There’s one thing I’d like to know.”

  He dared to lean a little closer. “What’s that, baby? ”

  “Do you enjoy pain? ”

  Clearly surprised, he answered hesitantly, “I suppose, within certain guidelines. A little pain could be okay.”

  “If you ever hit on me again like you just did, you’re going to experience pain outside of any guidelines. Do I make myself clear?” I picked up my pieces of glass again for good measure. I hoped it was enough to scare him away.

  He shrugged. “If you can deny yourself, that’s fine with me. There are plenty of eggs in the old chicken coop.”

  I watched him saunter away. Old chicken coop? The man was impossible.

  Roger came back after a few minutes and smiled at me. “You’re doing so much better, Jessie. Have you come up with any ideas about me and Mary yet? ”

  A huge sigh of frustration escaped my lips. Both of these men were insane. But I wasn’t going to let it bother me. I was dedicated to learning this craft. I was also dedicated to getting Roger and Mary back together again. And what else had I told Chase that morning? Oh yeah, finding out who was trying to kill me or Roger.

  “Not yet.” I smiled brilliantly for his benefit. “But I’m working on it. What do I do after I get used to holding the hot glass? ”

  “I can show you better than I can tell you,” he said. “Come over here with me.”

  He told Henry to take all the visitors who came in, and then sat down at his workbench. “I get a picture in my head sometimes. It might be something I see in a magazine or something I imagine. When I first started making dragons, nobody else was making them. I saw some pictures of them in my niece’s fairy-tale book. I came to the shop and started imagining them.”

  As he spoke, he worked with his hands. “I decide on a color and a form. I’m using precolored soda lime glass. It’s a soft glass. Today I think we’ll use red for the dragon. You take your hollow red glass tube and heat it, then use the tools to begin forming the dragon with the glass.”

  I watched him perform what appeared to be magic by gently blowing into the hollow tube, creating the body of the dragon. I was amazed at how quickly it began to resemble the beast. The long, slender neck, large head, and bigger body.

  “We’ll use the stump shaper to sculpt the dragon’s body, give it some form. These holding fingers close around the glass when you work with a figure and need to hold it while you’re torching.”

  Watching him work was fascinating. I almost didn’t notice that two visitors in
really bad ghost costumes (Renaissance-patterned sheets with eye holes) had joined me. I didn’t see Henry right away either, but I soon realized he was standing behind me. Did the man have a death wish? I could totally understand if someone was trying to kill him—and I wished they’d hurry so he’d stop bothering me.

  Roger was adding some gold to the ridges on the dragon’s wings and body. The hot glass was smoking in the dim shop light. It was a masterpiece, as usual. I had missed some of it worrying about Henry, but I was beginning to understand how the glasswork came together. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything so skillful, but I wanted to create something.

  “You see?” Roger cut the dragon free from the last piece of glass. “Do you have a picture of something in your mind, Jessie? ”

  At that moment, Henry goosed me, and the only picture I could see was my fist connecting with his eye. Fortunately, I was saved from that violence by the sound of trumpets from the street outside. A page dressed in scarlet livery entered the shop and held out a proclamation.

  “Good sirs and ladies,” the page announced, “I beg thee take heed of my words. On this evening, my master Sir Reginald will challenge Henry of the Glass Gryphon to a duel on the Field of Honor within Their Majesties’ Great Hall. Tickets for the duel are still available at the castle entrance. I bid thee good day.”

  Roger shook his head. “What have you done now, Henry? ”

  Eleven

  “Nothing. I’m as surprised about this as you are, Uncle Roger.” Henry looked around the room at the visitors and the page, who still waited. “Really. I don’t know what this is all about. You know what a crazy place this is.”

  Roger groaned. “I saw you outside with Princess Isabel yesterday. I thought you had enough sense not to try any of your crap with her. I guess I was wrong.”

  Henry laughed in that nervous way people have when they know they’ve been caught. “You know, you people take this place way too seriously. So I had a little fun with Princess Isabel, who by the way is neither a princess nor named Isabel. I’m not fighting anyone. Sir Reginald can take a flying leap as far as I’m concerned.”

  The visitors in the shop were amazed, torn between wondering if there would be a real duel of honor or if the whole thing was a joke. Roger shook his head. “You have so little regard for tradition. I’m surprised you want to open the shop for me at all. Something like this tells on a man, Henry. You just don’t get it.”

  “You’re darn right I don’t get it,” Henry yelled. “And I don’t want to. I don’t know why you stay here when you could do just as well outside the wall in the real world. If this were my business, I’d close it down and move it to Charleston.”

  “Good thing it’s not,” Roger said. “When I’m dead and you inherit everything, you can do whatever you want. But I’m still here and I’m telling you that you have to face Sir Reginald.”

  “The hell I do!” Henry stormed from the shop, his short cape flying out behind him.

  There was a stunned silence as everyone wondered what would happen next. It was customary for the challenged party to accept the challenge through the page. I wasn’t sure what the fallout would be if no one accepted the challenge. I supposed Princess Isabel’s honor would have to survive and Sir Reginald wouldn’t have anyone to duel. It was a break in protocol for the Village. I hoped the Craft Guild would find a way to save face.

  “I’ll accept the challenge for my nephew and bring honor to my house and my guild.” Roger’s voice was firm and ringing in the shop.

  I thought the ladies were going to swoon with delight at his pronouncement. It gave me an idea.

  When the page and heralds were gone and the ladies had purchased their trinkets, promising to be at the duel that evening, they left. I took Roger aside and told him my idea. His eyes lit up and he grinned. “That’s a great idea, Jessie. But she won’t believe you now. Who’s going to carry the message?”

  I still had the two-way radio, and this seemed like an emergency to me. I knew better than to randomly call for help, but I thought about calling Merlin. “He might not come,” I warned Roger, “but if he does, he’d be a great advocate.”

  “I don’t think you can just call Merlin,” Roger said. “Chase is going to hear you and come running.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “There’s that.”

  We sat in the shop for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. The problem was that Merlin could be anywhere in the Village, and that was a lot of territory to cover. There wasn’t a lot of time before the feast at the castle. The duel would commence as soon as the visitors were seated in front of their food. Nothing like a sword fight and some jousting to make someone hungry.

  “What about if I call and say the message is for Merlin? ” I suggested.

  “Chase monitors all the calls,” Roger said. “I used to do the same thing when I was bailiff. It’s the only way to keep up with everything that’s going on.”

  I was worried about losing my newly acquired radio, but the course of true love never ran smooth. If I could get this information to Mary before the duel, it could make things much easier for me.

  With that settled in my mind, I took out the radio and pressed the button. “Hello. We need a little help down here at the Glass Gryphon.”

  There was some static before Chase’s voice answered back. “Is that you, Jessie? What’s wrong? Did something else happen? ”

  “In a way. I want to talk to Merlin, but I’m not sure where he is.”

  “Jessie, this is for emergency use only. Is this an emergency? ”

  “Sort of. Merlin could take care of it, though. No need for you to bother, Chase.”

  I could tell from his voice that he wasn’t happy with my decision to use the radio. “You’ll have to go and find him like you would if you didn’t have the radio. I’m sorry, sweetie, but I don’t use the radio like this and you can’t either. Get off the line.”

  Before I was thrown off of the only communication that didn’t involve a page or the Black Dwarf, I tried one last urgent plea. “Merlin! If you’re out there, we need you here ASAP.”

  “Jessie, get off the line now,” Chase growled.

  I shut off the radio and looked at Roger. “What do you think? ”

  “I think Chase will stop by the next time he makes rounds and confiscate your radio.”

  “He wouldn’t! He’s afraid Death might kill me.”

  Roger went back to his workbench and shrugged as he sat down. “It was a good idea, Jessie. Thanks for thinking of it. I just don’t know what’s wrong with Henry. The boy doesn’t seem to have a brain in his head. I guess he takes after my brother, his father. He could never think his way out of a paper bag either.”

  Roger and I spent the next hour practicing with the hot glass. I waited on the visitors who came into the shop and handled their transactions with Lady Visa or Sir MasterCard. Then I hurried back to my creation, which didn’t seem to want to take form as Roger’s dragon had. It kind of sat like a lump on my workbench.

  “Just be patient,” Roger advised. “Nobody gets this right away. I think your choice of a dog was a good idea.”

  “Yeah. But his head keeps falling off. And I can’t tell if he has four legs or five.”

  “I thought that other leg was his tail.” He scrutinized my work.

  As it happened, Chase showed up at the same time as Merlin. It was a happy little coincidence. Chase was sort of angry, but Merlin was happy to the point of lunacy. They kind of balanced each other out.

  “You can’t use the radio for nonemergency problems,” Chase told me. “I thought I made that clear.”

  “Of course she can,” Merlin disagreed. “She’s almost been killed, and Livy wanted to sleep with her. Cut her some slack.”

  “We have to keep order, sir,” Chase said defensively. “The whole spirit of the Village could be lost if everyone starts running around with cell phones calling each other.”

  Merlin waved his hand dismissively. “Pissh! Chase
, you do an excellent job, but you have to learn how to lighten up, boy. Jessie, tell me what your emergency is. I have a friendly little witch waiting back at the apothecary for me. And this better be good.”

  I explained what had happened with Henry and how it could be used to bring Roger and Mary back together. Then I waited for Merlin’s response.

  “It’s devious and underhanded. I like it! What do you want me to do? ”

  “Hail to thee, fair lady!” Merlin greeted Mary where she sat making baskets on the back stairs at Wicked Weaves. I watched from around the corner (behind her back) as the sorcerer worked his magic.

  “Hail to you, too. You’ll keep that robe down if you know what’s good for you. There’s nothing I want to see under there.” Mary was her usual self, not mincing any words. She never even looked up from her basket. This was going to be hard even with Merlin’s help.

  “I wonder if you plan to attend the feast at the castle this evening.” He leaned on his staff, carefully not looking my way.

  “I wonder if you can keep your nose out of other people’s business,” she shot back. “Why are you here? ”

  “I’m here because of sad tidings this day. I thought you should know.”

  “Know what? I’m kind of busy here. Spit it out.”

  “Sir Roger of the Glass Gryphon will do battle on the Field of Honor this eve. He will battle Sir Reginald, mayhap to the death.” Merlin paused dramatically to let his words sink in.

  “And? ”

  “And I thought you might like to know.”

  “Why? ” She finally looked up and paused in her basket making.

  “Sir Roger is your chosen one. I thought perhaps you would want him to wear your favor into battle.”

  Mary’s dark eyes narrowed. “Seems to me he should be wearing that little hussy Jessie’s favor. She was all over him right out there in the street. Whatever Roger and I had is over.”