No More Swedish Meatballs Pt. 02

Rita walked into the room just as she put her glass down. “Where the heck were you? You’re all wet. Is it snowing?”

“Yeah,”

“Is that wine? Pour me some,” Rita insisted. “Let’s celebrate.” And suddenly everything was alright again. Rita and Kristen got drunk together on a glass each. They added wine to the water bottle to cover their naughtiness.

“Wow. I’m dizzy. This’s better’n a roller coaster,” Kristen giggled. “Let’s go out and play in the snow.”

“Good idea. I think I need a little cold air.” Rita felt mildly nauseas but was still enjoying the unexpected exhilaration.

“Dad,” Kristen called out, trying not to giggle or slur. “It’s snowing. Rita and I are going out to play.”

Karl glanced at the clock. Almost 8 o’clock, but it was Saturday night. “Alright girls. Don’t get into any trouble.” After they left, Karl went into the kitchen for another glass of wine. He was no connoisseur, but this stuff was lousy. No kick. He gulped down the contents of his glass. Then poured himself a glass of some good brandy he had in reserve for nights like this. Nothing better in the world, he thought happily as he settled to admire the Christmas tree and bask in the glow of the crackling fire.

Ned and Lizzy had moved on from the tree to the television. I can’t understand what’s so great about the idiot box. Give me a good book any day, Karl thought as he sipped from his glass. Meanwhile, outside, Rita and Kristen were having a grand time: high from wine and the snow storm it was a night full of Christmas magic.

“Make it snow harder, Kristen. I haven’t done my homework. I don’t want to go to school on Monday.” Weather was one of Kristen’s magical strong points. That, and precognition. Both girls could fly. Rita was good at disappearing, moving things, making things disappear and mental telepathy.

That’s what the two girls had decreed two years ago when they had started that particular game of pretend. It was amazing how often coincidence made the fantasy seem real. “I think that falls into the realm of personal gain,” Kristen replied, half seriously.

“You’d be doing it for me; not for you. So it’s okay”

That was splitting hairs since two uninterrupted days of sledding and a vacation from school were surely personal gain. But this was make-believe so they could get away with it. Kristen concentrated on the force of the storm. She watched the flakes dance in the street lights and focused on the wind. She imagined the flakes falling more and more quickly and the wind pick up. She imagined the radio announcing school closings in the morning.

“Okay, I’ve done what I can.”

“Great. Now what do you want to do?” The wind was icy cold and the flakes, still steady were hard little crystals of ice. Magical assistance aside it was proving to be a healthy snowstorm.

“Let’s fly.” Kristen said, taking off running up the hill in the direction of Rita’s house. At the top of the hill they adjusted themselves for their descent. Closing their eyes and letting their arms steam behind them they rushed helter skelter down the long hill, past Rita’s house, past the homes of the other children and collapsed in a pile of laughter at the bottom.

“That was great. What a flight!” Kristen said when their laughter subsided.

“Yeah. Look at it snow, Kristen. By George, you’ve done it again!” As if on command the wind had picked up and the flakes were falling fast and furiously. “No school Monday.” Rita predicted. She looked at her watch. “Oh gosh, look at the time. My dad’s gonna kill me.” What time do you want to start sledding tomorrow.

“You won’t get grounded for being out late?”

“Nah,” Rita said with more aplomb than she felt. The effects of the wine were starting to wear off and she was starting to feel sick. “I’ll use my cloak of invisibility to slip inside. Then I’ll go right to bed. If anyone asks I’ll act affronted and say I got home on time and went to the attic to do my homework, but no one noticed. They’ll believe me.

“I hope you’re right.”

“Anyway, I’ll go to early Mass and call you as soon as I get home.” One of the benefits of living within walking distance of church for Rita was that she could go to whatever Sunday service she wanted. Just so long as she went. She’d tried skipping Mass one Sunday last fall but Father McLaughten had ratted on her.

“We’ll get there first. Goodnight.” Kristen called to Rita’s back which was disappearing into the white whirly snowy night. And then Kristen was off, running full out, slipping and sliding through the rapidly accumulating snow towards home.” The wine had worn off but she was still exhilarated. Snowstorms at Christmas were just about the best thing in the world. She felt like the planet had arranged the night just for her. She willed the snow to keep falling and falling as she slipped on her invisibility cloak and headed home. She slipped by Lizzy and Ned, who were glued to the tube, careful that they didn’t get a whiff of the wine on her breath. Karl was pondering a problem from work in the dining room and had his back to her as she slipped by.

She headed straight to bed exhausted, yet still exhilarated from the snow storm. She pretended to be asleep when Lizzy came in and turned on the light to undress and set her air. It was Lizzy’s nightly ritual. Lizzy hated her hair and spent hours every night and much of her weekly allowance trying to make it do what she wanted it to do. And it never did. That was part of why Lizzy was so angry. After she set her hair she’d crawl into bed and read with the light on until she felt sleepy. God how Kristen longed for her own room.

Just one more years she thought as she lay in bed waiting for sleep to carry her away to a new adventure. I can’t wait ‘til Ned goes to college. Karl had promised Kristen she could take over Ned’s room the day Ned left. One time she’d been so desperate to get away from Lizzy’s temper she packed a suitcase and moved into the car. That lasted all of about three hours. She’d even tried moving into the attic. That lasted a week. The nest of wasps in the back window had driven her back down stairs.

Finally, finally, Lizzy turned out the light. Blessed darkness and Kristen was able to relax. She slipped off to sleep with a smile thinking about Christmas and sledding.

It didn’t stop snowing until late the next morning. They got almost a foot of dry, powdery sledding snow. Rita called Kristen at 8:00 and said with glee “I didn’t even have to go to Mass. Good going. They snow plow just went by and the hill’s perfect. No one’s there yet.”

Kristen barely stopped long enough to brush her teeth. She’d been awake since six wondering how early she could get away with calling the O’Learys. She threw on long johns, two pairs of socks a sweater and woolen slacks. She stopped long enough to find her coat and a candle nub to wax the runners of her sled. She was out the back door in ten minutes flat. The rest of the family was sound asleep. She didn’t have to leave a note. They knew where she’d be. In fact, they'd probably all be joining her in an hour or so. She hauled her flexible flyer out of the garage, waxed its runners and hurried to the top of the hill.

The wind had died down over night but snow was still falling from the leaden sky. The world was a study in black and white with jewel-like crystals of ice twinkle here and there. The only sound was the whisper of the snow as it kissed the ground and the swish of the runners as Kristen pulled the sled along by its white rope handle. Kristen lifted her face to the sky and stuck out her tongue to catch snowflakes as she walked. Thank you, thank you, thank you , thank you she thought. Please, no negative consequences. I did it for Rita. She added. A little bit of superstition to top off faith never hurt she’d decided long ago.

Her breath added mist to the snowy panorama as she trudged into the wind up the hill to Rita’s house. The snow plow had been through a couple of hours ago, but the cinder truck hadn’t been through yet to ruin the sledding conditions. Ideal sledding conditions, Kristen thought happily.

Rita was waiting on her front porch with her sled when Kristen arrived, her face wet and icy cold from the driving snow.

“It’s about time,” Rita said.

“Sorry. I had to get dressed first. Didn’t mean to keep you waiting. What do you think of my handiwork?” Kristen asked from the street below opening her arms wide to indicate the vista before them.

“It’s perfect. And we’re first.”

Rita jumped off the porch dragging her sled behind her. It was the same make and model as Kristen’s. Long and sleek with stainless steel runners. A top of the line flexible flyer. Most of the kids on the block had one.

“Race you down,” Rita said as she met Kristen at the end of her driveway. They belly flopped on to their sleds at the same time and were off. They flew down the hill on the hard-packed snow at break-neck speed laughing all the way down. Kristen had got the jump on Rita when they started but Rita was better at maneuvering. The race was close but Rita was going too fast when she hit the corner at the bottom of the hill and ended up going straight into the woods. Kristen had used a little more caution. She took the turn expertly and ended up halfway to the street parallel to theirs.

Kristen and Rita got about a half hour of unhindered sledding in before the rest of the neighborhood gang began to trickle in. “Ned and Lizzy were among the first to arrive. Then came Rita’s brother and little sister. By ten the hill was crowded. A lot a parents joined in the fun. It was a sledding day beyond compare. The storm hovered over Southeastern Pennsylvania until dusk.

At bedtime Karl broke the news he’d been keeping to himself since the mail arrived. Evelyn had finally broken her silence by sending a package of presents for the kids with a letter to him from an attorney. Evelyn wanted to have a visit with the kids during the holiday. The return address on the letter was a post office box in Southern Virginia. There was no mention of Evelyn and Max’s whereabouts in the letter. It was terse and demanding. When it first arrived he wanted to burn it, or hit something, anything. Instead he’d poured himself a cup of coffee and went downstairs to his shop to pound some nails. He was working on a vanity for Elizabeth. He’d gotten hold of some nice oak and was ready to attach the kidney shaped top to the legs he’d sanded and finished so lovingly. Why this, why now. It’s the damn Christmas jinx. I wish she’d stay away. She’ll ruin Christmas. Karl sighed as he sipped his coffee. At least he’d made a joyous tradition for the kids to pass on. I hope Evelyn doesn’t blow it all to hell. I wonder what she’s been up to. She was probably de-briefed even more thoroughly than I was. And not as gently, God help her. I wonder if she’s still with Max. At least I know she’s alive. I was afraid they’d kill her after they squeezed out all the information she had.

Which is exactly what they had done.

Chapter

After Evelyn and Max left the Hanson Mansion last June Max had driven them down to southwestern Pennsylvania. It was a lovely drive that time of year but neither Evelyn nor Max paid any attention to the scenery. Evelyn got drunk and passed out during the trip. Max was lost in thought and drove by rote memory. It was a long, hot drive to the well-hidden enclave not far from the West Virginia border. Evelyn awoke naked from her drunken stupid in a cold, nasty little room. It had no windows or toilet. It was just four walls, one of them mirrored.

“Where are you, you double-dealing son of a bitch. Horror was creeping into her soul as she realized what might be about to transpire. At least I’m not drugged or handcuffed she thought. That was something. “God damn it, she shouted, at least give me a cigarette.” She wanted a smoke more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. There was no response from the other side of the mirror. She tried to remain calm. Think, she ordered herself.

Where the hell is Max. She started to pace.

Bright as she was Evelyn had always been a concrete thinker – the kind of person who, if put in a room with a locked door might not think to check to see if the window was locked. She’d been great at putting pieces of the puzzles Karl brought home from work together. But she’d never been terribly inventive. She’d often watched in awe as Karl Jerry-rigged some damn machine or another. Clocks, pianos, cars, plumbing, electricity. Later she’d seen him come up with design changes for main frame computers off the cuff that transformed small ideas into radical advances in technology. He even did it in his sleep. God, I wish Karl was here.

The silence on the other side of the wall was starting to wear on her nerves. She started to scream invective at the walls. It seemed like she screamed for hours. After a while her screams became whimpers and then she fell asleep on the floor.

She awoke to the sound of the steel grate opening. A plate of horrible looking food was shoved into her cell.

“Hey,” she yelled to closing grate. “Hey, stop. I want to talk to you. I need a cigarette. Please. Talk to me.”

Silence.

“Shit.” Evelyn sat down on the steel bed and looked at the food. It looked surprisingly savory. Well, that’s something, anyway. Decent food. How long is this going to go on? The food made her very sleepy. Her last thought before she collapsed in a corner of the cell was how could I have been so stupid.

Max and his partner had been taking turns observing her in the cell. They entered the room as soon as she fell asleep. He looked coldly at her crumpled, befouled torso. Whatever feelings he had for the woman had been cordoned off in a very distant place in his soul. He picked her up and carried her to the debriefing room, wrinkling his nose at the smell of urine emanating from her soiled body. I’ll never get used to it, he thought with distaste. But it was all part of the job. He didn’t bother to clean her up before strapping her into the chair. That was part of the process. He and his partner would now set about making Evelyn feel like the lowest sort of animal. Using a combination of drugs, sleep deprivation, reward and punishment they quickly extracted every bit of information she had about Karl’s projects.

They were thorough and not very gentle. Evelyn didn’t hold up well under the interrogation. When it was finally over she was a shell of her former self.

It doesn’t matter, Max thought callously when he was given the order to dispose of her. Orders were orders. SOP interrogation orders. Empty the mind and dispose of the waste. Sometimes they turned agents to their side. That’s what Evelyn had been expecting. But without Karl, Evelyn was worthless to the Cabal.

After the debriefing and analysis of the data, Max took her far into the mountains of West Virginia. She was so out of it they didn’t bother to tie her up. When Max got to the location he had in mind he stopped the car, made sure they were alone. Then he opened the passenger’s side door. Evelyn almost fell out onto the ground. He grabbed her roughly and carried her to the edge of the cliff, shot her in the head, and pushed her into the ravine. Mercy killing, he told himself. But he felt a rush of power as he watched her body twist on the way down. That’s done. Now for Karl….” He started to make plans in his head as he walked back to the car.

The Cabal was falling behind in the technology race. They had an agenda to meet. It’d just been damned bad luck that they hadn’t recognized Karl’s genus when he first surfaced. All that time lost. And the results of the new technologies were appearing everywhere.

Citizens of the world Max thought, you have no idea what you’re in for. There’s gonna be a new world order and I’m going to be on top of it.

Max didn’t take action with regard to Karl immediately. He’d had other things to take care of. In mid-November he put his plan forward to his superiors.

“It’ll be simple. We grab Karl and the kids. Keep the kids safe and happy as long as Karl’s work goes well. Karl lives for those children. He won’t let anything happen to them. The plan was approved and the letter was sent and now it was Christmas Eve.

Chapter

Karl didn’t get a very happy response when he told the kids Evelyn would be at the Christmas Eve party. “Big deal, she sent some presents,” Lizzy said angrily. “Maybe we should give her the “Mother of the Year” award.

“I don’t want her here. We don’t hear from her for six months and now, because it’s Christmas we’re supposed to jump for joy at the chance of seeing her. I don’t think so. She wants something.”

That was Karl’s take on it too but he didn’t want to say anything to further alienate the kids from their mother. He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe we should take some time to think this over, Not make any hasty decisions. If we refuse her she may turn around and ask for custody.”

“Could she do that?” Kristen asked worriedly. She remembered her dream where Evelyn took all three of them away and the world came to an end. “Even after abandoning us? I mean, isn’t that grounds for, you know, divorce?”

“Maybe,” Karl said unhappily. “But that wouldn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to see you or even get custody. It depends upon a lot of things.”

“But Christmas?” Lizzy chimed in. “She’ll ruin eveything.” The party was going to be bigger this year. Katie and her parents were invited, as was Rita.

“I don’t know, Lizzy,” Karl said. It might be easier with other people around. It might not be so bad,” he lied.

“Yeah. Well how are we supposed to explain her six months absence.” Ned said belligerently.

Arguing wasn’t going to get them anywhere Karl realized. “I only said we should think it over. It’s getting late now. Time to got to bed.” he said firmly.

Besides, he wanted to show the letter to Philips and ask his advice. He was pretty sure what Phillips would say. Goddamn Evelyn to Hell, he thought as he sat in the living room sipping scotch and staring into the fire. What a beautiful tree he thought. He noticed the kids had show-placed a lot of the nicest, oldest ornaments. They’d taken special care with the decorations this year. The lights were perfectly geometrical and they had paid special attention to the crèche and the foil icicles. The fire hissed and crackled, shedding its warm glow throughout the room and reflecting off the shiny orbs on the tree. Karl found himself missing Evelyn for the first time in months. Christmas had been the only time they’d ever loved each other. He was angry about the coolness of her approach to him. He suspected Max had everything to do with it. He got a sudden chill. I hope she’s all right. I’d hate for something to happen to her. After all, she’s still the kids’ mother. We’re going to have to make some sort of arrangement.

He sat thinking until it was almost dawn. Then somewhat the worse for drink, he dragged himself off to bed to catch a couple hours of sleep before going to work.

He felt awful when he arose at 8:30. He’d overslept and had an rotten hangover. He thought about having a bit of the hair of the dog but he’d never taken a drink in the morning. He was too afraid he’d end up like his father to be much of a drinker. And drinking was anathema to diabetics. It made it impossible to maintain a normal sugar count, and increased the likelihood side effects.

His anger at Evelyn returned as he re-red the letter before putting it in his briefcase. He fumed as he maneuvered the curvy roads down into the valley towards work.

He looked for Phillips as soon as he got to work. He didn’t ever bother to take off his grey over coat or black rubber boots before hitting the coffee machine and heading to Jim’s office.