Talisman of Hate

Harry looked over his shoulder at Joe; "And where exactly will that.....ooof!" he stammered as he felt himself collide with a body. His arms shot out to catch and stabilise the person and then he looked into two surprised eyes as the young woman regained her balance. He also saw her surprise make way for shock and anger.

He was still taking a breath to say something when she turned away and with her head bowed, walked away. He stood there in the corridor, holding up the other students while he stared after the disappearing young woman, his mind racing in loops of nothing.

"You ok Bud?" he heard someone ask at his elbow and he shook his head in fast denial and then gave the speaker a bewildered look.

"Yeah...uhh I think so."

Raised eyebrows and a chuckle followed before a friendly slap across his shoulders made him snap out of his bafflement. With a confused expression he started walking again, looking back over the heads of numerous students in the corridor but the girl was not to be seen any more. The rest of the day went by with him barely concentrating. Never in his life did he think Julie would turn up at the same University as his. Never!

That evening he was trying to study but the image of Julie looking at him with shock but more importantly, disappointment and hate, would not leave him. He nearly hit the roof as Peter banged open the door and walked in with a loud "Hail the Brain!" before dropping his briefcase with books on his desk. He gave Harry a quizzical look and then ambled over, looking down at some scribbling on Harry's notepad.

"Deep study or delayed shellshock?" he grinned. "You nearly turned inside out there."

Harry could only nod and then shuddered. "Walking into your nemesis has some bad side-effects."

"Nemesis?"

"Yip. That one."

Peter chuckled. "Never knew you had one. In fact, does it exist at all?"

Harry nodded with deep sigh. "Some of us have it. To some it simply appears and then there are those of us who went looking for it."

"Ah. Harry Cliffendale has a nemesis. Big thing?"

"Bigger than life. Don't ask."

Peter pursed his lips and walked to the kitchen. "Okay, my lips are sealed. Coffee?"

At first Harry shook his head but then shrugged. "May as well. I need to get some research turned into comprehensible gibberish before Friday."

While Peter waited for the coffee to finish brewing Harry sat writing with his head bowed but once every few minutes he would seem to get lost in thought. Peter took note but kept quiet.

While the two men were waiting for their coffee, Julie was getting dressed after a piping hot shower, leaving her with a skin tone reminiscent of a cooked crayfish. Donning a long T-shirt she walked to the kitchen to start dinner. Her anger was still bubbling under the surface and in a moment of childish conduct she slammed a pot onto the stove, making her roommate start.

"You okay Julie?" Anthea asked carefully as she put her pen down. The pot banging may have been accidental but she doubted it. She noticed Julie's slumped shoulders and heard a mumbled "sorry" so she got up and went to stand next to her. "You're not part of an 'item' with some hunk and as far as I know your marks are upper class. Did a professor piss on your battery?"

Julie snickered. "Way off the mark Anty," she sighed. "Sorry about the pot. I am deeply upset. Give me some time and I will recover."

"Wanna tell?"

Julie gave a mirthless chuckle. "In short. There is a guy in this world that made my life an abject misery from when we were small. He finished school two years ahead of me and for two years I could almost live a happy life. For two years I thought he was out of my life and I possibly would never see him again. Today he, Harry the Hun Cliffendale almost ran me over in a corridor."

"You guys picked the same Uni?"

Julie took a deep breath and blew a long sigh. "It defies the laws of probability but yes. It seems he is studying here."

"What?"

"What what?"

"What does he study?"

"I have no idea and have absolutely no desire to find out. Political science should fit him. He can become a politician and form part of the lowest form of human life imaginable.

Anthea sucked her thumb and smiled at Julie. "We've been going for almost three months already and you only ran into him today. It seems you guys are at different parts of the Campus at different times. Chances are you may not see him again at all and even if you do, some careful manoeuvring may prevent you from running into him again."

Julie stuck her finger into the air. "Here's hoping."

"What did he do to you?"

Julie shuddered. "I'll tell you some day but rather not tonight. I am still too surprised, disappointed and angry, all at the same time. You do not want to sit and listen to me using expletives like a drunken sailor."

"Rather not."

"So, tonight we eat farm fare," Julie said in a low voice. "Fatty, starchy and hopelessly too much."

"Sounds good. I need some weight around my hips."

Julie simply giggled and started with the food. It is possible that Anthea may have been slender at some stage but that must have been a long time ago. Although not obese she was definitely not in need of additional weight but she loved food.

It took more than a week before Harry and Julie came close to each other again but Harry saw her coming and ducked behind a creeper hanging from the branch of a tree, much to the mirth of Peter who had met him for a quick snack. Harry watched her walk across the lawn and then almost unceremoniously flop down on the grass next to a number of her fellow students. He remained still behind the tangle of twigs and leaves to prevent her from accidentally looking up and possibly recognising him and just kept looking at her. When she put her hand on the arm of the man next to her, Harry turned away, giving a lopsided grin to his closest friend who had smilingly stood by, silently watching.

"Why don't you just walk up to her and get it over with?" he asked and chuckled. "You act like a blushing teenager watching his first girlfriend disrobe."

Harry shook his head. "Watching a girl disrobe would have been an exciting pleasure." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Watching that is anything but."

Peter nudged his shoulder as they walked away. "Someday, you need to tell me this story. You were fine until this little girl arrived here and from the moment you ran into her you've been acting weird."

Harry nodded. He had bottled the shame and the ache but the stopper gave way when he walked into Julie. For two years he was able to live with it. Not seeing her for more than two years had dulled it but it frothed forth when he walked into her that morning

"Not a pleasant story Peter."

Peter chuckled. "You're a nice guy buddy. Were you bad before?"

Harry shrugged and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "I guess."

"Ah, you guess. Does that mean you are unsure of what you did or unwilling to accept responsibility?"

Harry turned toward Peter and strangely felt anger rising as he watched Peter's smile and dancing eyebrows. "It's not funny Peter," he mumbled. "Neither of those. How do you change something that has been going on for decades?"

Peter dropped his head into a posture of deep thinking. "I'll buy the beers tonight."

"Oh?"

"And then you tell me this story."

"Why?"

"Because it's hurting you young man. I like you but I don't like what I see these days. That little bitch caused..."

"Don't ever call her that Peter!" Harry almost fumed.

Peter grinned. "Ah gotcha. I see..."

"What?"

"Love lost."

Harry lifted his eyebrows. "Not even close. I can think of a number of things to call what I had done there but love lost? No."

"You hurt her you slime ball!"

Harry snickered. "Badly."

Peter pursed his lips. "No love lost but you hurt her. Man! What did you do?"

Harry could only chuckle. In silence they walked back into the main building and as they split to go to their respective classrooms, Peter nudged him. "Beers on me tonight buster," and Harry nodded, looking at the floor. Somewhere he hoped he may get Peter to forget the whole situation while on the other hand, he needed to tell him about the whole thing.

***

Julie sat looking out the window. The professor was going on about the intricacies of some chemical reactions but she only gave him half an ear. In her mind she was back home. She had never been gone from home for more than two weeks at a time in her entire life and here she was, already in the third month away from everything she loved.

She missed the farm. She missed her parents. She missed Scruffy. She knew they missed her as well. Studying Chemical Engineering sounded so exciting. It always fascinated her but never in her life did she think she would run into Harry Cliffendale on Campus. Since he almost ran her over and she saw that hated face, she had nursed many thoughts on how to terminate her studies here and move to another university. Had her parents been as rich as his, it would have been rather simple. Money talks, bullshit walks. She will have to stick it out here. Depending on what he was studying she may be lucky enough to see him leave long before she finishes her studies and then she may have peace. At least it was a consoling thought.

"Miss Turlington."

Julie jumped in her seat. "Professor?"

"You seem quite preoccupied with something outside these walls?"

Julie nodded and felt her face heat up. "I do apologise professor. I was thinking of other things."

The grey haired man smiled. "I asked you how an electron can seemingly go missing in a reaction such as this."

Julie sat there looking at the blackboard and it dawned on her that she had no idea what he had said in the last thirty minutes or so. For seconds she considered waffling her way out of it but decided against it. "I have to apologise again Professor. I have no idea what you were explaining. Please accept my pardon."

The professor nodded and smiled. "Please concentrate young lady. This is important information we are dealing with right now. If you lose out now, you may have difficulty in understanding many things we will be doing in the next few months."

He scanned the students and walked to his desk. "Should any of you have missed this as well, I suggest you study chapter thirty in earnest before we see each another again in two days. As I told Miss Turlington, this is an important part of what we will be doing later on. If you do not grasp this, you will have a tough time of it in a few months. I will see you on Wednesday. Good day ladies and gentlemen."

That afternoon Julie was sitting in the library desperately trying to find information on clarifying the riddle of the missing electron. Somewhere pieces of information was eluding her and try as she might, she just could not find it. In exasperation she threw down her pen and with a loud sigh closed her books and put her head down on it.

"You ok Miss?" a deep male voice boomed above her and she jerked upright to see a lean but muscular young man standing just ahead of her. He was frowning but also had a wisp of a smile on his face.

She sighed and mustered up a smile. "Where do electrons disappear to?" she asked awkwardly, and the young man put his fingers together, turned his hands inside out and clacked his fingers.

"Ah! Sherlock Holmes on the case of the eloping electron," he said haughtily and puffed out his chest. "I shall assist the damsel in dire distress with great honour but I need to be informed of her title before I may be so forward as to take a seat at her table."

"Julie Turlington," she said with a giggle. "And if you can explain where electrons go I may just be able to clear the riddle of disappearing socks."

"Peter Bristow, young lady. May I use your first name?"

Julie nodded and moved over so he could sit down next to her. As he sat down he made a grab for her writing pad and started scribbling a number of things. Julie sat there, looking at what he was jotting down, trying to figure out where he was going. Once he had made the notes he seemed to need he started to write down a rather simple chemical reaction.

"You are familiar with this?" he asked softly and she nodded. He then added a few atoms and Julie watched him go through the entire reaction, continually referring to some of the notes he had scribbled down while telling her what the reference was. At the end of a multitude of pages he came upright and nudged her. "There is an electron missing Julie."

Julie nodded. "And your calculations are correct."

"Yes. But now watch this." Peter started with the reaction again but removed an atom at the start. He was just more than halfway through when Julie suddenly jumped up.

"I see!"

Peter laughed up at her, licked his thumb and pressed it onto his left chest as if giving himself a medal. "Quite easily done."

Julie leaned over and dropped a kiss into his hair. "You are my knight in shining armour."

"Thanks. Anything else?"

"Can I take you for coffee or something?"

Peter chuckled. "Thanks but I have a friend...."

Julie put her hand over her mouth in shock. "Heavens! I am sorry. I didn't think it would..."

Peter put his hand on her arm. "If Miss Julie shall be kind enough to let me finish?"

She nodded while feeling her face heat up and Peter chuckled again. "What I wanted to say is this. I have a friend who already is waiting for me and he most probably will kick my scrawny ass for keeping him waiting. I could ask you to accompany me but before I introduce you to my friend of doubtful character and questionable history there are a few things I need to straighten out."

He got up from the table and with a small curtsy and a smile he walked away. Julie sat there watching him and when he turned to her just before exiting the room, she waved and smiled. She liked him. He was also brainy.

***

Harry watched Peter walk up to him and even at that distance he could see a smug smile all over his face.

"Stole some milk?" he asked as Peter laughingly did a pirouette just as he got close.

"Not milk buuut.... a girl maybe."

Harry lifted his eyebrow. "A girl you say. So, just to keep on track here. Is Blanche to be available soon?"

Peter chuckled. "No."

"I see. Are you thinking of changing your religion?"

"No."

Harry pursed his lips. "So bigamy is not happening. Gonna tell?"

"No. Not yet."

Harry chuckled. "So, I am to live in stressed ignorance?"

Peter slapped him gently on his back. "You need to tell me a story. The other will probably play out by itself," he laughed and ducked into the gloom of the little pub.

A while later their beers arrived at the table and Peter prodded, "I am waiting Mr Cliffendale,"

Harry sighed; "My shrink tonight?" he queried with a smiling frown,

"No, not shrink. Concerned friend."

"Yeah, ok. Thanks. I think. I don't really know where to start Peter. It's a long, silly and downright painful story."

Peter took a long swig of his beer and smiled. "You know, after much learning and deliberation during the course of my comparatively short life, I have learnt one thing. Start at the beginning."

"Question is; where is that exactly?"

"Were you even born at the beginning of this story?"

"Well, to be honest, no," Harry snickered. "It started before I was born but I don't think it is long to tell Peter. It's more of a thing that has been going on for decades and just caused so many problems. I simply rode the wave and created more problems in doing so."

"Fire away."

Harry sat back and looked at the roof. "My dad is an opinionated, arrogant jerk with a gigantic chip on his shoulder."

"Wow!"

"Yeah. Wow to that. He rubbed a lot of that down on me and that is where my personal tale of sorry had its start." Peter just nodded. "My dad kind of inherited two of the farms we have. The others he bought as time went by. So, in short, we were into money from before I was born and I grew up as a bit of a rich brat."

Peter pursed his lips. "Sorry for interrupting here Mr rich guy but you seem to have lost something."

"What?"

"The arrogance and the rich brat attitude. Honestly, I would have given you a wide berth had that been present."

Harry chuckled. "Thanks again. It was too costly to maintain. There came a day when I realised that it cost me dear but I fear it was a bit late in life. Hence the thing with Julie."

"I see."

Harry nodded. "Ok. So my dad... He inherited rich and already had an arrogant attitude. He had a sister called Peggy. Being four years younger than Dad, he had this thing about him having to rule her life. Maybe he had some reason to be like that. My Grand Parents died in a plane crash when he was only sixteen and he basically brought her up while running the farm. Not alone though. My Grandmother's spinster sister came to stay with them and was there until Peggy was done with high school. I think she left as soon as she could. My dad can be a massive dork and I think she had run to the end of her tether."

Harry took a long swig of the beer and grinned at Peter. "During college Peggy met a dashing young man who swept her off her feet. He had finished his studies and was in the process of buying a farm even though he had to make a massive loan to do it. He believed in himself and so did Aunt Peggy. My dad disliked him intensely. Soon after finishing college Peggy moved in with him and my dad went nuclear. He ranted and raved, threatened and even tried a court order. It all failed. Peggy married Johnny. Dad refused to even attend the ceremony."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. And then came the day Peggy drove to town in their old truck. What went wrong nobody knows but she was declared dead at the scene. Dad, of course, blamed it on Johnny's truck and made millions of derogatory remarks about the 'rolling junk yard', 'beggar's nag' and a bunch of others. To this day, my dad still refers to Johnny as the beggar or dimwit."

Peter sat back and squinted at Harry. "You know. We've been at the farm many times and to me your dad seemed a nice guy. In fact, as you know, I like him."

Harry chuckled. "Time changes a lot of things. Mom had a wonderful influence on him and yeah, apart from an inherent arrogance at times, he is a nice guy. I love him and as you know, we get along very well. Generally he is tolerated and even liked and he gets along with most people. When Johnny comes into the picture though, he changes. He maintains he will have his epitaph as 'I hate Johnny Dimwit.'

"Okay. At that time my dad owned 'Lot's End' and the other, 'Rushing Streams', legally belonged to Peggy although my dad had kept on using it after she married Johnny. When she died Dad did a number on Johnny to see to it that the inheritance went his way. Hence the two farms in his name." He shook his head. "Johnny never contested it and I think that infuriated Dad even more. The fact that the beggar simply shrugged and accepted the fact was like a slap in his face. Personally I think Dad was flexing his financial muscles to ruin Johnny and then it came to naught as there was no fight to fight."

Peter smiled. "Your dad suffers from a smudged ego?"

Harry laughed. "You have no idea! The fact that Johnny made a success of his comparatively small farm and took more per acre than Dad is still like a fish bone in his craw. Fact is, Johnny is a lot of things. Gentle, humble, generous, hard working, honest and above all, very successful. My dad cannot accept that people leave his company to move to Johnny but it is of his own doing. Few people can stand listening to someone talking about himself all the time. Johnny rarely, if ever, talks about himself. He is a listener and people are drawn to that. The fact that he is a lot more popular in the area than Dad is another thing that pisses the old man off."