“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”
She posed after the entrance, looking around the room to gauge the reactions. The class was silent.
“Mad as a hatter, this one,” Toby whispered to Beth.
Mrs. Norton took a deep breath, and spoke, her voice melodious and wistful. “Good morning, seniors. What a wonderful year of learning we’ll share as we study two of my absolute favorite literary classics, Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby.’ I’m so very excited to be exploring these grand tales with you all. Scintillating plotlines of ambition, corruption, moral decay, magic, lust and murder. Just a few of my favorite things!” Her eyes grew bigger and bigger with each word, reminding Beth of a goggle-eyed goldfish, until it looked as though they would pop.
Beth had to stifle a giggle and really enjoyed watching her expressions. Even if Toby said she was mad, at least English class would not be dull. As the teacher turned to the board, Daybian and Miffy came bursting through the door, his hair looking ruffled and both their faces flushed.
“Sorry we’re late, Mrs. Norton,” Miffy said breathlessly. “I had to get Daybian to help me out with my locker, I couldn’t get it open.”
“Her usual form is not being able to keep things closed,” Toby muttered to Beth.
She gave him a swift kick under the table with her knee. “Now, now! Get those claws back in!” she countered under her breath.
Mrs. Norton wagged her index finger at the latecomers. “Ahhh, the blood of youth burns, dears, but you must make it to class on time or I’ll have to report you.”
They sat down at the front of the class and the first half of the lesson consisted of Mrs. Norton spouting lines from Shakespeare and firing questions around in a random manner. During the second half, she set a writing exercise due in at the bell.
The lunch bell sounded and, after handing in their papers, the class filed out into the bustling corridor. Once inside the cafeteria, Beth looked about and, sure enough, just as Toby had said, people were forming into their various clusters. She lined up with Toby at the food counter. He picked up an orange from the fruit platter and Beth chose a piece of melon. They both reached for a chicken Caesar wrap.
“Good choice, stay away from any newly introduced exotic menu items until a few other stomachs have road-tested them.” Toby grinned and headed towards a small table at the far end of the room.
“So…you’ve survived your first few classes. How did you go? Sorry I had to ditch you first up. I just had to get in for a quick meeting with the sound dudes as I host the airwaves here at Scituation Radio on Fridays. I’ll have to get you in for a live interview as my international special guest!”
In her hunger, Beth had bitten off a little more of her wrap than she should so she held up her hand to Toby and motioned no thanks to that and she’d answer in a minute.
“While you’re busy chewing there, I’m going to give you my orange analogy.” Toby picked up his orange and began peeling it, so the thick skin let off a delicious citrus fragrance. He proceeded to pull the orange into half then quarters, arranging them in a cross formation on his side plate. “Okay, so each quarter represents the kids in this cafeteria—here to the left are those under the mantle of Fakers, moving round we have the Thletes (my term used for both great athletes and academic high achievers). Next up, the Stoners, and then the final piece, the Geeks.” Then, pulling apart the first orange quarter into segments he explained the sub-categories of the Fakers which included Try hard Jocks, Plastics, Rich Kids, and Wannabes of all descriptions and continued on with each group in turn until his plate was covered with single pieces of orange.
“So where is the Rim you talked about? Where does that fit?” Beth asked.
“The Rim is represented in the pith; you know the white bits of skin on the orange. The pith offers all the best parts, the highest vitamin C and fiber components of the orange, without making a fuss. It can taste bitter at first but, if you persist, you’ll see that the pith is actually the nucleus or heart of the whole scene. You see Beth, Rim dwellers embrace all elements, there’s a bit of Faker/Thlete/Stoner/Geek and all the subcategories in all of us. Get me?”
“That’s a Tobyism for your book for sure. You’re one crazy theorist. Now getting back to your question, I had Music first and just take a guess who my sub is?”
“Well judging from your glazed over eyes and dopey grin, that’d be the band dude, Logan – yeah? Did you manage to keep yourself off the floor and hold it together?”
“Yes, I did. After the initial meltdown, it was a great class. Now fill me in on the kid I sat next to, the huge boy, sitting over there.” Beth tilted her head slightly towards a small table in the farthest corner of the room where Likely sat alone with his tray piled high with food.
“That’s Likely, although the assholes in the Fakers refer to him as ‘Least’ as in Least Likely. I look forward to the day that Likely loses his shite at any of those suckers! He could knock ‘em all out in a second. Apparently, the dude wasn’t born mute. He just hasn’t spoken a word since a tragic boating accident with his dad when he was about four. No one really knows what happened that day out on the water except that his dad went overboard and Likely was found alone in the tin dinghy several hours later – way, way out in the deep. He was lucky to have been found by one of Lionel’s fishing buddies.”
“Wow, that’s such a sad story, the poor kid. I gathered not to be frightened of him. You should have read what he wrote in Music, it was so profound and beautiful.”
“Yep, that’s Likely O Reilly – a true Rim dweller and full of pith! Which is the opposite of full of shite. He won’t cause you any harm, he just looks scary. He’s a gentle giant. Our football team, the Sailors, have finally coerced him, not into playing, although they’d kill to have a unit that size on their side, but to be their mascot this season. Did you ever see that old 80’s film, the original “Ghostbusters?” There was a scene in it with a giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in a sailor hat. Well, some of the Art Department kids last year made that costume. It’s awesome and Likely gets to wear it this season.”
“What nationality is he? O’Reilly, that’s an Irish name, yet he looks more…”
“Hawaiian. Lionel told me Likely’s dad was working with a shipping company over there and fell in love and brought his wife back here. I’ve never seen her. She suffers from that thing where you don’t go outside, agoraphobia, I think it’s called; started after the accident.”
They finished their lunch, returned their trays and headed into class. The rest of the day went by without any drama. Beth had Biology, Math and Environmental Science, which were all in the Science Building. The musical theatre girl, Melinda Wiseman, was in the first two of those classes so at least there was one familiar face. She spoke animatedly, barely drawing breath as she prattled on and on about science being a time-waster in her world; as if she would need to know about genetics and cell life on the stage. She continued to explain her novel methodology of learning science facts and figures by inserting them into song and then proceeded to demonstrate, bursting into her tailor-made version of the Sound of Music “The cells do divide using mitosis, then rest interph…”
“Shut it, Wisemouth!” a boy several desks away called out.
Well, with that girl sitting at her table, Biology would never be the same again.
The final bell sounded and Beth was relieved to be able to get away. Melinda was friendly enough. She just was so obsessed with musical theatre that it was exhausting to be around. Beth arrived at her locker and put away her books, packing the items she would need for homework. Several assignments had already been set so she was pleased to have the basket on her bike to carry the backpack. Her arm and back muscles were still feeling the effects of kayaking. She’d started to make her way to the seat where Toby was to meet her when, from her peripheral vision, she had the distinct feeling someone was watching her from behind a half gl
ass door. She turned her head to check, only to see Logan, who was speaking to another teacher facing him. His eyes met Beth’s, giving her an amused look and she felt her cheeks turn red.
She quickly headed off in the direction of the main doors, wishing she could control her blushing. She found Toby at the rendezvous point, and they made their way to the bike shed. Beth loaded her basket with the heavy backpack, hopped on and waited for Toby who was fiddling with his padlock. They pedaled down the main drive, the sun beating down on their backs. About halfway along the drive Daybian came cruising by, top down in his black Mercedes. “Nice ride,” he sneered, the others in the car laughing along as he sped off, leaving Beth and Toby in a cloud of dust.
“Douchebag!” Toby shouted after them. “What a stupid D-bag! Glad this is my last year having to put up with the likes of him and his D-baguettes. You must have struck a chord with him, though, Beth. He usually doesn’t look past his own reflection.”
“Ewww, I hope not. He’s so full of himself and his ‘D-baguettes’ as you referred to them, are great at giving dirty looks.”
The rest of the trip home was uneventful as was the rest of the school week. Beth made a start on all the assignments and kept busy with her homework. She walked Aristotle after school and the big hound very quickly formed the habit of waiting at the front gate, with his leash in his mouth, for her homecoming. When Friday came around, the day began with a double music, but at least this time Beth felt forewarned regarding Logan’s presence and did her utmost to appear unflustered. Lunchtime came and, because Toby had said he had D.J. duty, she went to the cafeteria alone. Melinda and Maeve were standing a few people ahead in the food queue. Beth chose a chicken salad and an apple and set off to find a table.
“Beth! Come sit with us,” Melinda called out at the top of her lungs.
Beth made her way to the table with the two girls and a couple of boys from her music class.
After a few moments, there was an announcement made through the speakers. Beth recognized Toby’s voice.
“Well done, fellow Scituaters, we made it through the first week and I’d like to kick off today’s playlist with a classic 80’s Police track dedicated to our newcomer, Beth Harlow.”
Beth looked down at her plate, pushing the food around, and pretended not to have heard the shout out.
Maeve piped up, “Wow, Beth, you don’t strike me as much of a retro girl. I took you for more of an Indi type. We do a pretty rad screamo version of a couple of Police songs. You’ll have to come down to the garage next time we’re rehearsing.”
Hearing the familiar first couple of bars, Beth felt her stomach drop as the tune started. She would have to deal with Toby later. No one else at the table had recognized the pertinence of the lyrics.
Melinda jumped into the conversation, blabbing on about how much she loved the mash-up of this song in, according to her, the best show in the entire history of TV—Glee.
CHAPTER 6
Missing
“Set a thief to catch a thief”
– CALLIMACHUS
“Daybian! Pick up your phone or there’ll be hell to pay!” Degarl DaFȍe roared into his cell, pacing back and forward in front of the plate glass walls of the 50th floor penthouse, the Boston skyline alive with twinkling lights, reflected on the dark waters of the harbor.
“Synan, he’s not answering his darn phone and I need to know who has been here in my absence this week. If he’s had his harlots up here partying, he’s in major dire straits.” He ran his hands through his dark, silver-streaked hair.
Synan Smythe had been in the service of the DaFȍe family as their butler for several generations. He was always impeccably dressed in black trousers, starched, crisp, white shirt, waistcoat and a gold silken bow tie. He had a long, gaunt face with sharp cheekbones, and a black velvet eye patch covered his left eye, which he’d apparently lost in a hunting accident as a child. In his right eye, a mass of tiny red veins in the corner fanned out to an aqueous, pale blue iris; his wispy, white strands of hair sat pasted down with gel…no one was sure of his exact age.
“As we say at home, sir, ‘Keep calm and carry on.’ We will get to the bottom of this. I only arrived an hour before you this morning, as my flight from London was slightly delayed.”
Synan had taken a week’s annual leave to spend some time checking on a DaFȍe business venture in London, while Degarl and his wife, Lilith, had been on the cruiser heading to meetings in New York. Lilith had stayed on to attend a series of lectures and a gallery opening by one of her favorite artists. She collected expensive art the way most people would collect postage stamps, except that some of Lilith’s paintings and sculptures were so enormous that they required Degarl to rent out an old aircraft hangar to store them all.
“Sir, I will check the security records with the front desk and the services ground crew on this level. I can’t imagine how anyone could get in and how they would know about the location of the safe in your office. Are you sure the rock was left in there?”
“Listen well, Synan, that ‘rock’ has a price higher than any other piece of treasure on this Earth. It was exactly where it has been for the past seventeen years. Locked securely in my safe. You continue checking with security and keep trying to call that son of mine!” Degarl was racking his brain, thinking who on Earth could have opened that safe when not another living soul knew its combination. “Oh, and Synan, do whatever else you need to do to locate it. If it has fallen by any chance into her hands, that would be a complete disaster and threaten everything. We can’t let that happen under any circumstances. Above all, I need to know that she doesn’t have it. You know where to look”
“Now, just to confirm the piece you are looking for is a round, pink stone made of rose quartz?”
“Yes, I thought I was clear about that. Now I need to get to a dinner meeting with Commissioner Garnet. Message me with any updates. I will check my phone at some point during the evening.”
“Yes, sir, I’m on to it.”
Degarl made his way to the lift foyer. The golden doors opened and he was gone.
Synan raised his hand in a mock salute and rolled his eye as the doors closed. He shrugged and as he began gathering the phone numbers of the building attendees he would need to contact, he let out a sigh. Strange, that so small and odd an object could cause so much grief. The master was carrying on as if it were a priceless diamond.
* * *
Beth had walked Aristotle for over an hour after she arrived back from school. Maggie was heading off to a card game with Lionel and asked if she’d like to join them. Beth decided to stay in as Toby had said he would call in if he didn’t get a shift at the Country Club and they could do some work on their English assignment.
Maggie called out to Beth, “Help yourself to whatever you like for dinner, there’s leftover soup and other bits in the fridge.”
Maple ran in between Maggie’s feet and made his way to his food bowl, meowing loudly. Maggie popped her head back in the door.
“That cheeky cat’s back, he’s been missing for days. Be a love and feed him please?”
“Will do. Have a good game.”
Beth served out the cat food, Maple rubbing around her legs, half tripping her as she bent over with his bowl. Looking out at the fading daylight she decided to grab her camera and capture the sunset. Last night the sky had been the most majestic pink, magenta and gold color palette and she was hoping for a repeat performance. She still had to pinch herself to believe so much incredible scenery surrounded her.
Maple finished his dinner and padded off and Beth found a bone in the fridge for Aristotle, tossing it onto the kitchen floor, and closing the door so the dog wouldn’t drag the bone through the house, making a mess. Beth grabbed her camera and headed out to the end of the breakwater. Not at all disappointed with the astounding imagery provided by the skyline this evening, she proceeded to take a series of photos until the sun was just a smudge of burnt orange on the horizon.
&nb
sp; Pleased with her efforts, Beth leapt along the stony surface with surefooted ease and made her way to the front door of the cottage, closing and locking it behind her. Not feeling very hungry yet, Beth decided to take a shower and wash her hair, which felt salty and sandy from the long beach walk earlier, and the sprays of salt water out on the breakwater. The hot water felt great as she lathered up her hair. Her eyes closed as she stood enjoying the water running down her face. She had been in the shower a good five minutes when she thought she heard the front door bang.
She turned the showerhead to face the corner and called out, “Toby, is that you? Give me five!” She did not hear a reply, so quickly rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel. Her white toweling robe adorned with cheery yellow sunflowers was hanging on the back of the door and she threw that around her and flung open the bathroom door.
“Toby? Toby? Are you there? Don’t you dare spring out at me.” Knowing what a practical joker that boy could be, she would brace herself. She made her way downstairs to the hallway and the kitchen door and front doors were both closed. Heading back upstairs, she saw her bedroom door was open and cautiously made her way to her room. All appeared in order, but on closer inspection, her bed covers were half thrown back and both her bedside drawers were three quarters open and the contents clearly disheveled. This set her heart racing as she edged silently back downstairs towards the kitchen to open the door and let Aristotle out. Some guard dog he turned out to be. He’d been so busy with his bone he hadn’t even made a peep.
She opened the kitchen door and looked towards the bench where her phone was usually charging. It wasn’t there. She felt her stomach drop, realizing she had left it in her backpack in her bedroom. She beckoned the dog over and he reluctantly came. Beth pried the bone from his mouth.
The Way Page 7