by Calinda B
“Colonel Mustard. It was an axe. There’s your clue,” she retorted, referencing the board game, Clue.
“Very funny, Natalie.”
“Oh, so we’re on a first name basis now, are we?”
“What should I call you?” Cam was getting really annoyed.
“Mrs. Epic, of course,” Natalie said, laughing. “Try it out.”
When Cam did not respond, she scowled, trained her eagle eyed gaze on him, and commanded, “Try it, Cam.”
A strange burning sensation spread across his face and neck. He winced and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Okay, Mrs. Epic.”
“Look at me when you say that, Cam.”
Cams face hardened as he turned to meet her gaze. “Mrs. Epic…” he repeated, slowly.
She burst into laughter again. “No, I hate that. It makes me sound old. Let’s go back to Natalie.” She stalked around the car. When she got back to his side of the Land Rover, she reversed her direction, circling in the other way.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Assessing things, what do you think? Now be quiet.”
Cam sat, fuming.
After Natalie had repeated her circular movements, she stood to the side of the car and rested her palms on the window. She looked at Cam with tears in her eyes.
“What?” he snapped. First, Chér, now her - what the fuck was going on with people crying over seeing him? She was close enough he could smell her earthy fragrance. Cam thought she smelled like the woods in autumn, when leaves were in bursts of color or dying in heaps on the forest floor. He’d spent enough time in the woods that he intimately knew the seasons, not only by the temperature and the appearance, but by the scents as well. Yes, Natalie was pure autumn, with her fire-crackling braids, her golden eyes, and her woodsy scent.
Natalie looked at him for a long time, weeping copiously. She said nothing, yet while she wept he felt something like a thousand tiny fingers quickly moving over his chest with rapid, fluttery movements. The tiny fingers eased themselves through the skin and muscles and found their way into his heart cavity. There, they surrounded his heart and kept up with their fluttering caresses. Cam’s face was furrowed as this occurred. What the hell was she doing to him? It was a strange sensation, neither pleasant nor unpleasant, like getting an inner massage with bee wings. He looked over at Natalie, whose eyes were now closed, intent on whatever she was doing with her mind.
Cam was tired of being probed, pushed, stalked, and examined by creatures and people. He just wanted to be left alone to get on with his life. He shook his head and tapped the steering wheel with impatience. “Can I go now?” When he looked back, Natalie was gone and his heart ached, like he had just lost a beloved friend. “This is just too fucking much.” Muttering to himself, he put the keys into the ignition, and eased the car back onto the road, heading for the waiting ferry.
Chapter 35 – Jayze
With legs outstretched, hands limply draped over the end of the metal arms, Jayze sat slumped in her wrought iron chair, contemplating the art before her. She filled her cheeks with air and blew it out between her pursed lips. Boy, oh, boy was she stuck. Frustrated, she brought both hands to her scalp, scrubbed her head furiously, and made a sound of extreme displeasure. “Where’d you go?” she asked the beast. “Why are you being so difficult?”
A knock sounded on the door. Jayze sighed. “Come on in, Marilyn,” she yelled, wearily. Ever since the beast had inspired her to stand up for herself, Marilyn’s behavior had shifted. Now, instead of being angry, bossy, and controlling, Marilyn was sulky, cross, and controlling. In other words, she was still Marilyn.
Marilyn walked in, dragging her feet along the floor, dressed in black Doc Martens, black pants, black shirt, and an army green overcoat. Her long black hair hung limply along her shoulders, and her face was a pasty white. “How’s it going?” she asked in a petulant voice.
Jayze glanced up at her attire and turned down the corners of her mouth. She really wanted to tell Marilyn that the Goth look had been over for years…decades, actually. “It goes. Actually, it’s stuck in the mud.”
They stood side by side, looking at the clay beast. It was still in the same powerful, outstretched leaping position, but something was definitely different about it. The eyes, which once had appeared almost lifelike, now appeared dull and listless. Jayze wanted to shove a vacancy sign into the clay and be done with it.
Marilyn moved behind Jayze and fingered her blond hair. “Why do you keep sitting out here struggling with this thing? I’ve got better things to keep you occupied.”
Oh, right, like she could get turned on with all the tension between her and Marilyn. The two of them had not had sex lately. Jayze continually spurned Marilyn’s advances, telling her that she was tired from sculpting. Actually, she was tired of Marilyn. Ignoring her, she kept her eyes on the lifeless beast. Damn, it even looked like the clay was droopy. Yeah, it looked like the clay, which left to its own characteristics would harden, was just going to melt off the wire framework of the beast and all her hard work would be in a puddle on the floor. Sighing again, Jayze felt like giving up. “Did you come in here for any reason in particular?” she asked Marilyn.
“I just thought you might want to play.” Marilyn touched Jayze neck. “I miss playing with you.”
“What, are we five-years-old? Last I recall, we don’t have a sand box and the dolls are gone, gone, gone.” Marilyn glared at her. Jayze started to apologize, just like she always did, but bit her lip instead. She was tired of always saying “I’m sorry.” What the hell did she have to be sorry for? In truth, she was sorry she was still in this smashup of a relationship. She was just afraid to do anything about it. It was easier to remain in a stasis with Marilyn then do anything about it.
She watched as Marilyn’s face darkened and her anger built, no doubt stoked from memories and experiences past, the present, the future, the whole of her angry life. Marilyn was an unhappy woman. She made certain that everyone around her knew that. Fed up, Jayze lost her temper. “Okay, I get it Marilyn,” she yelled. “You’re unhappy. You’re in a constant state of wretchedness, and it’s all my fault. Is that it, huh? Is it? Well, is it?”
A glint of life sparked in Marilyn’s eyes. Good grief, she looks like she is enjoying this, Jayze thought sourly. She made a mental image of taking a gun and shooting the next apology that was forming in her head…blowing it to smithereens. “Aren’t you going to say anything? Or, are you just going to stand there sulking?”
An evil little smile formed on Marilyn’s face. She reached out a finger and drew a gouge in the shape of an X across the front of the clay beast, directly over the heart.
“Stop it! What are you doing?” Jayze lunged for Marilyn’s hand. She pushed her away from her earthen creation with more strength than she felt.
Marilyn grabbed Jayze’ hair and pulled it. “Ouch! Shit, Marilyn, have you lost your mind?”
“Maybe I have,” Marilyn said, with that same disturbed smile. “Maybe I never had one to begin with?”
Jayze threw back her head in frustration, making tight fists, and grinding her teeth. Angry tears formed at the corners of her mind. She was done with this. Done. Done, done, and done. She felt a wash of peace come over her. Was it because she was finally acknowledging the truth of the situation? Who knew? She let out a long, slow breath, faced Marilyn, and spoke with calm intensity. “We’re finished, Marilyn. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
Thunderclouds started to form in Marilyn’s face. Curiously detached, Jayze studied Marilyn’s face, contorted in an enraged grimace. Her face looked like one of those frightening Japanese Oni-masks. Jayze had seen an exhibit of Japanese masks, and the vicious looking Oni or Devil Masks were both terrifying and mesmerizing. The ones she’d been fascinated by had horns, bulging eyes, sinister smiles, and sharp, fang-like teeth. At this moment, that was how Marilyn looked. Jayze snapped back to the present when Marilyn let out a long scream. “Shit,
Marilyn, we’ve got neighbors, you know. Someone’s going to call the cops.”
“Let them call,” Marilyn snarled. She opened her mouth again and prepared to let loose another scream.
“Stop it, Marilyn, stop it!” Jayze looked around the room, desperate to find a way to quash Marilyn’s moment of drama. She was such a bitch; she was probably doing this for effect, not because she cared about Jayze. She grabbed Marilyn’s arm. “Will you stop it with the drama queen antics? I see you. I see your pain.”
Marilyn wrenched her arm free. “I’m not feeling any pain, you are,” she quipped. “You’re weak and silly. You and your art…I never liked being with you anyway.”
Jayze’ eyes bulged in disbelief. “Well, if that were true, you sure could have done us both a favor and not moved in with me.”
“Whatever,” Marilyn said, leisurely making her way towards the door. “I’ll be out before you know it. Got better things to do with my life than hang around you.”
The metal door clanged shut after Marilyn left, and Jayze stared at it, befuddled. The woman hadn’t shown any genuine pain, any sorrow, any anything…what a mystery. She’d only done her usual screaming banshee drama like she was an actor on a stage – A Night of Dramatic Expression, by Marilyn. That would be the name of her first play, Jayze thought. And the play would consist of Marilyn onstage, screaming, sulking, or berating the audience. Jayze shook her head. She’d hoped that if she broke up with someone, that person would actually care…or something…something beside the insincere hysterics and indifference.
Jayze felt numb. She knew there was a whole lot of pain waiting to get out, but right now a cold frost held her heart in suspension. The studio was so quiet she could hear the tick, tick, tick of the hands of her clock. Minutes passed before Jayze moved. Realizing that she was holding her breath, she filled her lungs with air, and let it out slowly. A single tear leaked out and traced a line down her cheek. It dropped onto the floor with a tiny indiscernible plop. And then, realizing a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Jayze straightened up. She actually felt good. Yeah, she felt great. She had been dreading this moment and dreading it and dreading it, but when it got right down to it, when the deed was done, she was filled with relief. She’d known for a while now that she’d wanted to break up with Marilyn. She’d just kept those thoughts in the basement of her head, shoved away in some dark cupboard or taped up box.
Filled with renewed purpose, she strode over and faced the clay animal. “Okay, pal, we’re going to bring you back to life.” She started to smooth out the gash that Marilyn had made but then thought better of it. An idea formed in her head. She smiled, looking up at the eyes she had sculpted. She blinked in surprise, however, when the earthen creature seemed to wink at her. “Well, isn’t that great. You were waiting for me to break up with her, weren’t you?” she said affectionately. “In appreciation, I’m going to give you some life, add a few new touches, and finish off the process by casting you in bronze. How do you like that idea?” She smiled, imagining that the ferocious faced beast actually smiled at her. Then, she looked again. No, she wasn’t imagining it. The darn thing was actually smiling.
Chapter 36 – Manoko and Jayze
Mano and Jayze were walking through Discovery Park, accompanied by Severe. The park was a huge, 534 acre plot of green, bordered by the Puget Sound, with views of the resplendent Cascade and Olympic Mountains. With two miles of protected tidal beaches, meadows, dramatic sea cliffs, forest groves, thickets, and streams, the park was a great getaway from city life.
Mano kept throwing sticks for Severe, who chased them down, retrieved them, and brought them back, covered with her gooey slobber. Severe would bark and bounce if Mano was preoccupied as if to say, “Again…pick it up…again…again…pick it up!” She was like a five-year-old asking her dad to read the same story over and over and over. Mano willingly obliged. He loved his pup.
“So, you drop-kicked Marilyn, huh?”
“Yeah, it was a miracle and a half, Mano.” Jayze brought her paper cup of Peet’s coffee to her lips. “Ouch!” she cried, sticking out her tongue. “Too hot!”
Severe ran back, her coat dripping with salt water. She dropped the stick in front of Mano. Mano picked it up and flung it far. “How so?”
“I don’t know. It was just something I dreaded for months. You know, every time the thought popped into my head, I buried it, fast. I always thought, ‘don’t go there, Jayze. See if you can stick this out. See if Marilyn will change.’”
Mano snorted. “How’d that work out for you?” He picked up the stick and side-armed it into the water.
“Not very well,” Jayze replied. She pulled off the plastic cover of her coffee cup and blew on the hot liquid. “Her changes went from snarky to stormy back to snark. You should’ve seen her when we broke up. She just opened up her mouth and screamed for dramatic effect.”
“Just stood there and screamed?”
“Yeah, it was surreal.”
“I imagine. Good riddance, I say. You’re better off.” This time when Severe came back, Mano looked at her and said, “Enough, mutt. To heel.” Severe, amped with excitement, kept up with the bark and bounce maneuver. “I said, to heel,” Mano commanded. Severe got into position by Mano’s side and kept easy pace with the big man’s strides, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
“What about you, Mano? How’s by you?”
“Things are about to change, Jayze. I can feel it in my bones.”
“In what way?”
“Not sure I can put it into words. I just sense change a’ coming. I’m going to try and track Cam’s dreamling, you know. We’re going to take action.”
“Yeah, you mentioned.”
“And this whole celibacy thing is getting old, Jayze. Way old…” He looked over at Severe who was wandering off into the surrounding shrubbery. “To heel…” Severe trotted back by his side and took her position. “I gots to get me some action.”
“I thought you were told to get some respect…some mutual respect with a woman…something in which the two of you shared something deeper than sex.”
“Yeah, that, too.” Mano gave a warm glance to Jayze and chuckled. “You could stand some of that, too, you know.”
Jayze pursed her lips. “Nah, Mano, I need to lay low for a while. Take a drama break. Did I tell you that Marilyn shredded my favorite jacket before she left? I found it ripped to bits on the bedroom floor.”
“That’s harsh,” Mano said in commiseration.
“Yeah, and she dumped a bag of flour out on the kitchen counter and broke a couple of eggs on the floor as an added touch.”
Mano whistled. “Way mature.”
“Tell me about it.” Jayze took another sip of her coffee, now cooled. She, Mano, and the dog walked along in easy silence for a while. “So, tell me about this dreamling tracking business. Is it dangerous?”
“I don’t know. Never done it. I hear there’s danger involved because we’re dealing in the ‘not of this world’ realm. I’ve gotta do it, though. Got to…I think Cam is in way over his head. Besides the star dreamling, he’s got an ex performing witchcraft or something on him.”
“You’re kidding!?” Jayze exclaimed.
“I wish I was. It seems that there is some nut job he hooked up with last fall who is trying to get him through unnatural means.”
“Gee, just get over it, whoever you are,” Jayze commiserated. “People can be so twisted. Can’t get the person you want through just being yourself? Try magic,” she said, like a radio announcer. “You’ll gain quality relationships when no other means are working,” she continued. “I mean, really…people go to psychics, they consult the tarot…is he the one? Is she the one? It’s all an act of desperation, if you ask me. Just live your life, people.” She shook her head. “Although I admit it could be tempting if I really, really wanted someone, and they weren’t giving me the time of day.”
“Yeah, I have a friend whose husband was ensorcelled
by a crazy woman. Would you believe he left his wife and kids to be with this whack job of a woman? He had a great life. His wife adored him. His kids thought he was a God. But he left them, certain that this witchcraft practicing woman held the secrets of the Universe. They’re still together today.”
“Yeah, Mano, but is he happy?”
“I don’t think so. My friend – Marcia – says he is miserable, but apparently committed to misery.”
“Is that the witch-woman’s name…Misery?” She and Mano laughed.
“Could be. But anyway, back to Cam. The guy seems to have no idea of the power he wields, and I am not just talking physical strength here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Cam sweated with us. The elders were stunned at the power he holds. Then he met with the Grandmothers. The Grandmothers, especially Natalie Epic, were blown away by his power. But Cam, he just moves through life thinking he is an ‘ordinary man living an ordinary life,’ quote, unquote. The dude’s epic in his own right. If he weren’t, Natalie wouldn’t give him the time of day. She only appears in someone’s life when they’ve got something special to share with the world.”
Jayze punched Mano in the arm. “Oh, right, you spent a week in bed with Natalie because you’ve got something special.”
Mano caught her hand and threw a mock punch in her direction. “You got that right, girl.”
“So, what is so special about you, Mano? Besides your charm, good looks, and cooking skills?”
Mano became thoughtful. “That is the part that I am trying to figure out, Jayze. The way I understand it is that the Gods give you gifts, but you have to unwrap the packages and figure out what to do with them. There’s help along the way, but ultimately you have to do the unwrapping. Otherwise the gift spoils or goes to seed.”
“That’s a strange way to look at it Mano. You are sure odd sometimes.”
“Odd, maybe…but strong, most def.” He hoisted Jayze small, slender frame up over his shoulder. “It’s time to head for home.”