Pursuit Of The Cygnus Thief

Chapter 38 - Second Banana

Chapter 38 - "Second Banana"

By Roseyone

I wasn't safe. I wanted my handbag, my derringer was inside, and I had to leave the Abel's house. Good manners and Mrs. Abel were to blame. Every attempt to politely depart following the enchilada pie deal had been either ignored, steamrolled, or disarmed by Mrs. Abel. I felt as if a ribbon of fire had been wound around my head twice and tied into a bow at my crown. I kept my headache to myself, answered Mrs. Abel in the right ways whenever she had addressed me, and I'd focused on recognizing the right time to leave. Mrs. Abel had taken me to her greenhouse where it was much cooler than desert day, humid, and tranquil. The flowering orchids, roses and lilies that she cultivated were beautiful, and might have soothed my pain. I couldn't appreciate any of it, I'd been too afraid of Mr. Abel, who had tracked us from room to room, snatching ocular sips of me as he'd passed, or pointedly ignoring me to interrupt his wife with a plethora of trivial matters.

Once, he'd come upon Mrs. Abel and I paused near a window that looked out onto an attractive landscape of pines. Mr. Abel had immediately insisted that we both take seats and have the blinds raised so that we could better regard the view. Mrs. Abel offered no argument, nor did she explain that we'd actually been headed to the greenhouse. We'd sat, as per Mr. Abel's orders while Mrs. Abel had looked like a person nervously avoiding nuclear fallout beneath an overhang.

Mrs. Abel had just finished explaining how the temperature controls she employed in her greenhouse worked when Mr. Abel had once more come upon us, surprising his wife with an embrace from behind. Mr. Abel had aimed his wintry gaze at me from over and behind his wife's tensed shoulder while she'd gasped. In what favored a slow life or death struggle, Mr. Abel nuzzled the side of her face and laced his fingers together at her waist. Mrs. Abel staggered under her husband's sudden weight and tried unsuccessfully to turn her head toward him just as his chin came down hard on her shoulder.

"There, there. See? Calm. Steady," said Mr. Abel.

Mrs. Abel's shoulders sagged, her knees bent slightly, she took on a subtly pigeon-toed stance, absent of all will.With his wife firmly clutched, Mr. Abel began to talk through a nasty smile.

"She used to snub me. Miranda didn't like foreigners. Germans. Residue from the Great War, you see."

Mr. Abel released his wife, stretched his arms out and slightly upward, he arched his back, sending Mrs. Abel into a flicker of nervous uncertainty, she seemed too fearful to merely straighten out her legs and take on a natural stance. He growled through a stifled yawn that echoed against the glass walls and tile floor of the greenhouse. Mr. Abel then reclaimed his wife at her waist making fists of his hands in an even more threatening embrace. I didn't know what to do, it was something that I had only seen at the Independence Day festival when people got drunk and sloppy. Mrs. Abel's face was scarlet, but her expression remained neutral, what she must have felt just under her skin did not show. Mr. Abel smiled more broadly.

"Isn't that so Miranda? There was someone else before. The first banana, a first love. Amelia is old enough to know it."

Mrs. Abel placed her hands over those of her husband, she trembled, seemed about to duck and cover at any moment. Malignancy and terror stared at me through their eyes, Mr. and Mrs. Abel swayed together, his weight on her, riveting her to the floor of the greenhouse like a driven spike. Rocio had taken my handbag and my derringer with it when I'd entered the Abel household, I thought I might need it soon. Mr. Abel could not have conveyed it any more clearly as he looked at me, and tortured his wife, the time was close. I wanted to run. I knew that the rest of what Mr. Abel had to say would be bad.

"My wife was once engaged to your father. He was the first banana. They used to go to the marathon dances. That kind of thing was the cat's pajamas, as we called it. That is, before it was completely banned. From here to San Francisco, all night and day, and night, Miranda and Ernie, dance champions, first prize," said Mr. Abel.