Hadrian's Wall

by Felicia Jensen

  I was relieved when I heard Delilah say, “Well, we should save your cake from the gluttons.” She patted the quilt, as if indicating that we should be heading to the kitchen.

  “Relax! I’d love to share it with you all.”

  “Thanks!” David smiled from ear to ear.

  “How generous!” Delilah replied. I perceived a subtle irony in the way she pursed her lips.

  “I cannot eat that big cake alone,” I added. “I can’t let it go to waste.”

  “You should not even try!” Delilah explained to me with ladylike manners. “Unless you want to spend the rest of the semester at the gym working on losing the extra weight.

  As I followed them through the long corridor, I heard the noise from afar.

  “Yikes! This place is huge,” I said.

  “Actually, it is,” she agreed. The university funded the expansion. We’re going to the kitchen, but actually there are two. Only the students have access to this one. The other is connected to the dining room where they serve meals.

  David and I exchanged an amused look. If she wanted to play hostess of “Fantasy Island” it’s fine with me!

  We entered in a well-lit, cozy kitchen which reminded me of those movies set in small European villages... A 19th century Solar surrounded by many trees... Nobles like the Chadwicks, for example, would leave the bustling city of London to spend their summer vacations in bucolic places like the one now forming in my imagination.

  As a rule, the country houses of the nobility had huge kitchens like that. Deemed to be the meeting point of the household servants, those kitchens would have been the realm of plump, red-cheeked cooks wearing a cap and a greasy apron over a floral patterned dress. There would be many delicious pies and breads being baked. It would be a fairytale scene to warm the heart of every child for the rest of their life.

  The kitchen of the McPherson boarding house carried me to a place like that in my mind. The windows were tall with radiant sunshine streaming in, illuminating the pans hanging from a rack near the stove. The decor was modern, reflecting efficiency in planning, but kept the spirit of “old stuff.”

  There were some guys between the counter and the two big refrigerators talking animatedly. One of them was whistling an old melody...Wow, it was really old! Miller? Mancini? To the beat of music, he was performing precise movements with a spatula on a plate sitting next to the stove. Occasionally, he stopped to pick up ingredients from the counter covered with small colored tiles located behind him and then he resumed his previous position, comically holding a bowl full of batter. He stirred the contents with the whisk and then poured small portions onto the heated plate. Hmmm... He’s making pancakes. Why didn’t I realize that before? I love pancakes!

  I noticed then that the guy was wearing an apron with hearts stamped all over it and frilled embroidered edges. On his head was a blue and white baseball cap with the logo of a famous baseball team.

  As soon as he saw us, he smiled and asked, “What’s up, Martin? Did you discover where that delicious cake came from?” He nodded toward the rectangular table near the window. I looked where he gestured and I saw my cake. Two girls were handing out plates and silverware.

  “Dwayne, this is Melissa Baker.” Delilah took charge of doing the honors again. “She’s the birthday girl and, therefore, the ‘owner’ of the cake.”

  Dwayne looked at me in a nice way. “Welcome to our mess!” he said, giving me a wry smile.

  I nodded. So this one is the musical genius...

  “Mel said she would share the cake with us,” David told him.

  “No kidding!” Dwayne put on an oven mitt and took a plate of pancakes to the table.

  “Yeah, I’m feeling generous today,” I joked.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I hope you don’t regret feeding these hungry wolves!”

  The girls laughed. Dwayne took their cue to make the introductions.

  “Hey Baker! Have you already met Billings and Clark?”

  “Hi!” I said, nodding.

  “I’m Violet Billings,” she said, keen to stress her first name.

  “And I’m Janice Clark,” said the other one.

  They looked at Dwayne, smiled, and continued to set the table.

  He raised his hands, laughing. “What?” He winked at me, pretending innocence. “Don’t be so sensitive!

  I hadn’t picked up on the game, but I could tell that this group fully understood it.

  “So, you’re the girl who got lost on the Mountain of Polish Man,” Violet commented lightly. “How was it?”

  “How I got lost?”

  She looked up at me. “No, how was the experience? Did you see something supernatural out there?”

  I immediately thought of the old woman washing clothes in the fog, so decided I’d better dodge the question.

  Dwayne exchanged a conspiratorial look with David before saying, “Don’t tell me, my dear Violet, that you believe in all the bullshit that Joe Verano writes for the college newspaper?”

  Before she could answer, a skinny guy slipped into the room, absentmindedly eating his sandwich. He looked like a rat with his small, shrewd eyes that contrasted with large nostrils. He wore his hair tied in a loose ponytail and his clothes looked rumpled, as if he’d had slept in them. I don’t know why, but I didn’t like him.

  Sitting on the corner of the counter, Delilah, who hitherto had been sullen, wowed herself with the possibility of interrupting a conversation that didn’t revolve around her, but for me, her big ego was extremely helpful. People had forgotten the Mountain of Polish Man topic for a while.

  “Mel, this is Tyler Cassidy, of the Boston Cassidys. Upon hearing his name, the skinny guy stopped in the middle of the kitchen.

  “You two have a lot in common,” Delilah continued, commanding what she considered to be her show. “He also intends to study art. You two could even go out together. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  What incongruous comment! You two could even go out together...C’mon!

  “Our Van Gogh!” Dwayne reinforced, his indicators pointing to the ‘rat.’ “Tyler’s the man!”

  Cassidy rolled his eyes saying something like “...playing cupid for a boring girl?” He gave me a critical look, as one might evaluate a commodity.

  I turned my face toward the window and snorted. That’s all I need...a pretentious boyfriend. If he’d been paying attention before opening his mouth to spew his bullshit, he would have understood that Delilah and Dwayne were just trying to help me fit in...and you know what? Like I’d be interested in a guy with that ugly face who everyone felt was “the guy” as if he was saying, ‘Women compete for me because I am a gift from heaven for you all.’

  Get real, man!

  “Oh, no thank you,” I said softly in my sweetest voice to conceal my growing aversion to this person. “I prefer to keep my ears.” Dwayne caught the irony and looked at Cassidy with a smile.

  “Point to her, pal!”

  I gave him a smirk and sat down on the stool facing the counter. Dwayne was right about the mess that reigned in the kitchen. There were dirty dishes, containers of ingredients, and utensils everywhere. I was startled when I heard the blender turned on and off. I was scared about everything lately. This is not normal!

  Janice was humming a song while lifting the glass jar of the blender and pouring servings into the mugs sitting on the table. It could be a vitamin drink as it was somewhat greenish. I made an involuntary grimace.

  Tyler also sat in one of the stools. He looked at the wall-mounted clock and frowned. “We only have half an hour,” he warned.

  Dwayne rubbed his hands. “So here we go!”

  The musical genius leaned over the table and began distributing the pancakes on the plates.

  “Half an hour,” assumed the pose of a teacher and turned to me. “For you, a freshman of the freshmen, that means in thirty minutes this will no longer be ours—the kitchen, I mean. It will go to the next team. Intruders will not be welcome.
” Seeing the questioning look in my eyes, he continued. “Well, you’re our guest until Mrs. McPherson puts you into a group or until she says that you can choose one of us. All tasks are divided between the teams.”

  I frowned. I had no good memories of group work, nor did I know how to work in teams.

  “Come and share our humble meal, lovely lady,” he invited me, pulling out a chair for me. “After all,” he continued, making a flourish with his hand, “you graced us with a rare festival of treat for our simplistic and mundane taste.”

  Dwayne Preston really was a character!

  The others gathered around the table....except the rodent...I mean Tyler Cassidy. He nodded with obvious irony and remained seated at the counter, slowly chewing on his sandwich.

  David and Violet cut several pieces of cake. Folks dug into the cake until only crumbs remained on the restaurant’s elegant serving platter.

  With a bright smile, Dwayne gave me one of his pancakes and then put a glass of orange juice in front of my plate. Don’t think the alert look of Abby Haines escaped my notice. She was secretly watching everything he did.

  “Come on, eat!” he insisted. “You’re feeble, Baker. Any strong wind and we’ll have to tie weights on you so you won’t go flying around.”

  “I love pancakes, but I’m not really hungry now,” I apologized. “I had a super cheeseburger earlier, so I’ll just try the juice.”

  “Oooh...” He dramatically placed his hand against his chest. “Now you’ve broken my heart! Aren’t you gonna at least taste my pancake? It’s my specialty!”

  “His only specialty,” Abby chimed in, with a hint of sarcasm.

  Without answering, I took the fork and I stuck it into the pancake. Mimicking Dwayne’s theatrical manner, I did gestures that simulated an airplane flying loop de loops and then took a small bite. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Hmmm... “What a delight! You are gifted.”

  He laughed and looked at Abby.

  “See? She said I’m gifted. Am I ready to get married, Mom?” Abby stared at the ceiling and then back at her plate. Her flushed face told me that behind her look of disdain she was happy to be the target of his cynical attention. The two exchanged a quick glance.

  Hmmm... There’s chemistry going on between those two!

  I looked down at my piece of pancake, not wanting to embarrass them. Don’t you know, there’s always someone willing to do that. However, before that happened, something got them all stirred up. Several mobile phones began ringing almost simultaneously. The silverware was noisily abandoned. Beside me, Delilah was having some difficulty retrieving her phone which was tucked in the back pocket of her tight pants. Some curses and precious seconds later, she finally managed to pull it. It was incredibly tiny.

  Euphoric exclamations around the table left me more curious.

  “Verano will do a party for freshmen at Skull Rock. The theme is ‘Scare Away the Heat.’” Abby read the message over Delilah’s shoulder. For a moment I wondered how anyone could read the text on such a small screen.

  Frowning, Abby looked around. “What does he mean by that?”

  “I think it’s obvious, Abby!” Dwayne ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “This summer has been hell. I don’t remember when we last had a heat wave as intense and as extended as this one. If Verano will do something that makes our late afternoons more refreshing, I’m in!”

  “What is the Skull Rock?” I asked hesitantly.

  “It’s a big rock in the middle of the west side of Bluewater Lake,” Delilah explained. “Two depressions and one mini cave form its eyes and nose, respectively... and the row of broken stones simulating the teeth below, near the base where the rocks are nested. Geologists from the university say that the stones didn’t develop randomly. Probably during the Cretaceous Period a catastrophe of large proportion could have split or carved the stones... Looking from afar, the depressions and the row of stones ‘create’ the features of an angry skull.

  “It is not exactly the picture of a skull,” Janice interjected, “but at a distance, it resembles one. Up close, nobody associates the rock to something so sinister.”

  “It’s called ‘Jump’ because the rock sits atop a small cliff,” Dwayne added. “Exactly where the opposite banks of the lake come close. People say the old immigrants held jumping championships over there. Whoever climbs on top of the skull has a privileged view of the entire beach on the opposite bank.”

  “You can see the Green-Screen woods and a small part of the Mountain of Polish Man below,” Cassidy added in a monotone voice. The subject seemed to annoy him deeply.

  “A party for a lot of frosh...” David muttered, shrugging. “Everyone won’t fit at the top of the rock. It’s very narrow. I know because I’ve been up there practicing rappelling techniques.”

  “Surprise, surprise!” said Dwayne rising from the table. “What a mysterious party! Neither was scheduled in the calendar of events from fraternities.

  I’m dying to see what Verano is planning for us,” Delilah commented thoughtfully. “In the blog, he posted a text explaining that we must come with a swimsuit and bring drinks.”

  “Oh, man, look at the list of drinks!” David was astonished. He showed the phone display to Cassidy, who was now standing beside him.

  Bored, Cassidy briefly glanced in the display and said, “So, he wrote it.”

  Janice turned to me and began explaining. “Joe Verano’s trademark is organizing parties. He organizes parties that are very inter-active. So, the guys kill to get the things he asks each time. It’s like a scavenger hunt.” She raised her eyebrows as if to emphasize the importance of the social event.

  “As if it were a kind of jerk scavenger hunt from high school,” Tyler lit a cigarette. “Except in this case, the tasks fulfilled count toward points for admission to the party. I thought I left such ridiculous rituals behind when I got my diploma.”

  “Yeah... Wow! It took an eternity! Just over a month and you’re already behaving like a boring old man!” David rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so critical, man. I still feel the blood of high school running through my veins!”

  “Asshole!” Tyler replied, looking perpetually bored. He took a deep drag on his cigarette while the others laughed.

  “That reminds me of the practical side of life,” Dwayne philosophized, looking like someone who has fun at the expenses of the other two guys. He began gathering up the dishes with help from David and Violet. “We have to swing by the supermarket, so let’s all chip in...”

  “Uh...I won’t participate,” I warned, half breathless.

  I had no money to even buy a soda, much less anything more expensive. I don’t know! It was obvious that parties the universities usually got into something stronger than juice, tea, or Coke.

  “No, you have to go! You’re with us now!” Delilah vehemently objected. “Think of today’s party as your official debut at college.”

  But I was not admitted to the college yet...Damn! They really know nothing.

  The others were silent, staring at me for a moment. Dwayne was the first to break the strained atmosphere that prevailed. He put the dirty dishes on the counter next to the sink.

  “Well, he who cooks does not wash the dishes!” he announced.

  When he returned to the table, he began to collect the money without paying attention to any of us.

  “C’mon!” Delilah whispered in my ear. Her tone sounded urgent. Without waiting for my consent, she handed two bank notes to Dwayne. “She’s my guest.”

  “What do you want to buy, Dells?” Dwayne asked, pulling a notepad and a pen from his pocket.

  She looked at me uncertainly. I remembered that Adrian had been drinking wine during lunch and decided to take the risk...

  “Wine?” I suggested timidly.

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “White, red, dry...?” he asked impatiently.

  “Mmmm...” I chewed my cheek absentmindedly. And now? With a hard smile, I looked to Delilah lik
e I was asking for help. “Your turn, partner!”

  “Red wine and dry,” Delilah replied.

  Dwayne wrote down everyone’s requests. Some people wanted wine and martinis, others asked for whiskey and rum, but the majority opted for keg beer and for the refrigerants. He put the notepad in his pocket and walked toward the door.

  “That’s right, people. I’m leaving. Clean up this mess.” He pointed his finger at them. “If another group complains about us to Ms. McPherson again, we’ll most certainly be penalized and I’m not about to pay another penalty...Sorry, girls!” He glanced at Janice and Violet, making it clear that he regretted nothing. “I know you like Ms. McPherson very much, but the woman makes the hair of my neck bristle... and not in a good way!”

  “Shut up!” Violet replied, laughing. “We’ll take care of everything.”

  “I am so glad!” We could still hear his voice in the corridor.

  Violet looked at me, twisting the dish towel in her hand.

  “He hasn’t forgiven me for having forgotten to wash the dishes one time. Technically, we take the blame for the quarrel. It was my fault. I was on the phone and... Well, I forgot to finish the chore. End of story.”

  “Sure...A hot guy in drama class makes a pass at our and when he finally calls, you forget about everything else,” Janice mocked, then donned rubber gloves to wash the pile of dirty dishes in front her. “Damn! Such inefficiency here! Why don’t we have a dishwasher?”

  At precisely that moment, Keyra McPherson came into the kitchen. With wide eyes, Tyler threw his cigarette into a cup, desperately waving the smoke with his frantic hands.

  “If you want that kind of convenience, Miss Clark, it will interest you for all joint efforts. As you’re doing to the party...” After a pause, she turned to the counter. “Oh, Mr. Cassidy, this is the first and last time I catch you smoking indoors. Do not forget, ever, that my sense of smell is very sensitive. I will know, even if you’re at miles away.”

  He looked down and nodded. To my amusement, he was suddenly very humble.

  I noticed that Mrs. McPherson had changed her dress from a blood color to a black synthetic leather jumpsuit, which was shockingly fair. Her hair atop her head completed the high-tech look. She looked like a character extracted from Matrix Reloaded.