CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KNOW-IT-ALL

John sits on a bench overlooking a streaming river. The sunlight reflects from the crystal clear water as it illuminates his smile. He holds a bag with a piece of bread in it. On the river, ducks slowly slide across the refreshing water; he throws some bread crumbs in the river as the ducks gather around and start nibbling the bread. This is the life, John thinks.

An old man wearing a brown coat and brown hat approaches. In his arms, a black cat. The half-asleep cat yawns. He sits near John as he gently places the cat on the ground.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” the old man asks.

“I guess so,” John responds as he throws in a couple of more bread crumbs.

“Not the life you had imagined for yourself, isn’t it?” the old man asks.

“It could be worse,” John says as focusing on the ducks.

“Barely. Just in the last couple of days, you got beaten, tied up, you drank highly questionable booze, you ate an even more questionable mushroom, you had diarrhea, you almost got killed, you got insulted, threatened...,” the old man says as he gets cut off.

“I also won some fights,” John adds.

“You barely won against a drugged-up man and it the weird mushroom that won not you,” the old man adds, sighing in disappointment.

“A win is still a win,” John adds.

“I’m not sure that that logic can apply to this situation,” the old man says.

“I am sitting here on this beautiful day with these majestic creatures. It isn’t so bad,” John adds.

“This is a dream. Your brain and your body are coping with all the crap you have been through,” the old man adds.

“I know it is a dream but at least it is a pleasant dream,” John says.

“How do you know that this is a dream?” the old man asks.

“Well, I’m here, outside, it is a beautiful day and I’m feeding ducks. Also, my head isn’t ringing like it usually does. Talking to my dead grandfather is also a decent giveaway,” John adds.

“Well, I guess it is okay if you are aware,” the old man adds as he leans back on the bench; the cat wakes up. It jumps to his lap as he gently pets it.

They stare at the passing ducks who pridefully swim through the river; their beaks held high and eyes clear. A moment of silence.

“You know, I’ve tried to change my life, but every time it seemed to push me back, every time it seemed like I was fighting against the current,” John adds as he sighs.

“Doing nothing and just drinking to forget isn’t really the best way to solve the issues you have in your life,” the old man says.

“I drank to forget my problems away,” John adds as he lightly smiles.

“And did it solve anything?” the old man asks.

“Maybe,” John adds.

“Did you forget what you wanted to forget?” the old man asks.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember,” John adds, pondering.

“You can’t stay here forever. Eventually, you will have to just face your problems, you can’t just keep drinking and staling them,” the old man says.

“You seriously underestimate my ability to drink,” John adds.

“Well, maybe,” the old man says as he laughs.

A sudden pinch of pain pierces through John’s head as he grabs his head.

“I guess your time is up,” the old man says.

“Like all good things in life,” John says as he takes out all the remaining bread from the bag and throws it in the river.

“It is never too late to change your life, and even if you think you can’t change much you can, at the very least, change a little. A minor change is sometimes more than enough,” the old man says as he continues petting the cat.

“I wish you were so wise or supportive when you were real or alive,” John says, shaking his head in disappointment.

The head rings again like a doorbell; loud.

“Looks like I have to go,” John says as he gets up to take one more look at the river and the ducks.

“Remember my boy, if you feel down, just eat some salt and talk to a cat,” the old man says as his voice echoes.

“You just had to ruin it, didn’t you?” John adds as his voice echoes.

The traditional darkness is here and the only thing left is to open my eyes but when I open my eyes, I will wish that I haven’t opened my eyes, John thinks lying with his eyes closed.

“Is he dead?” a voice asks.

“I seriously doubt it,” another voice says.

Might as well get this over with, John says within himself as he, reluctantly, opens his eyes.

He is inside Mr. Malone’s office and sitting on a non-spinny chair; John looks around. He sees the two brothers looking at him and Mr. Malone sitting in his chair behind the table. John checks his body to see if there are any wounds or any broken limbs. So far all seems fine. He checks if they tied him up but, to his surprise, there is no rope; this seems reasonable so far.

“Are you finally up?” Mr. Malone asks.

“I’m not dead?” John asks in confusion.

“I think he banged his head pretty hard,” Roderick adds from the side.

“Well, if you are up, I would advise you to go on your way, after all, I have a business to run,” Mr. Malone says.

“Wait. What happened to Pink and...,” John says as he stops himself for there are many questions he has to ask but he hasn’t the faintest idea where to start.

“The situation with him has been taken care of and, unfortunately, you will not be seeing him today or even back in the future,” Mr. Malone says as he smiles; always proud of adding a movie quote or name into a sentence.

This is either a nightmare where I will have to listen to Mr. Malone’s bad movie references or a nightmare of reality where I will still have to listen to his movie references. I wonder which one is worse, John thinks?

“You should have seen the fight we had. It was epic,” Roderick says.

“I SMASHED!” Harry yells as an ear-to-ear smile appears on his mangled face. Both brothers have some pleasant addition of red and purple adorning their faces.

“I have to say you did quite a good job of not only finding him but exposing his little operation. I’m not fond when people use children like that. Even people like us should uphold some standards,” Mr. Malone adds.

Great standards you have there, John says, but not out loud. A wise decision.

“Yes, you even led him here, and you figured out we wanted him out of the picture, especially since finding out about his little scheme,” Roderick adds.

“I did? Yes... I did. I totally did,” John says as he is still somewhat unaware of how things just went his way.

“Please convey my thanks to the woman you told to give us the papers you found depicting the business arrangement between Pink and the orphanages,” Mr. Malone says.

When in the hell did I tell her to do that? Did I tell her to do that? John scratches his head. Considering the number of unnecessary blackouts, he concludes that anything is possible; might as well just go with the flow, John thinks.

“Yes,” John says, going with the flow.

“Well, now that that has been settled our little cooperation is done and everything will return to normal,” Mr. Malone says as he nods towards Roderick; he approaches John and gives him an envelope. John opens it to see there is money inside and a nice portion of money at that.

“I have to say that I didn’t think much of you when I first met you, but I am glad you have proven my initial impression of you as true lies,” Mr. Malone says as he smiles again.

This isn’t even a quote you are just saying movie names you buffoon, John says with his brave inside voice.

“Yes, and a very fine reference,” John says, lying through his teeth.

“If that is all I shall bid you adieu,” Mr. Malone says.

“Of course, it was all part of my master plan,” John says, feeling somewhat disgusted, but since he is used to this feeling, it isn’t hard to just swallow it and move on. Experience is the mother of learning.

Leaving Mr. Malone’s office and the Lucky Casino, he finds himself outside.

He lights a cigarette as he takes one deep smoke; he positions his mouth in a circle as exhales. A smoke circle does not come out.

“This is impossible,” John blurts out in frustration.

Thinking about what was said, he remembers Rebecca. Did I tell Rebecca to do this or did she do this on her own accord, John wonders? What happened to the smelly orphans? The Seahorse bar comes to mind as he immediately makes his way there.

Arriving there John is met with an unusual scene, there are people in front of the bar, to be more precise there are policemen there. He walks closer to look at what the hell is happening here.

“John,” a voice calls from the crowd as he turns towards the sound of the voice.

Rebecca comes running towards him, accompanied by Alex.

What is going on here, John asks himself?

“Hey John, long time no see,” another voice says as John turns towards it.

Standing in front of him is Steve, the one cop who is an outsider to the usually corrupt, at least in John’s mind, police force.

“Steve?” John says, visibly confused by his presence and the presence of the other cops.

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“I hear you had a lot to do with uncovering the plot dealing with the orphans and their unfortunate circumstances,” Steve says.

“I did?” John quietly murmurs.

“I did,” John yells as he nods; an expression of confusion follows with some head-scratching.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it actually fall? If a drunk does something he does not remember and no one saw him do it, did he actually do it? Well, the first part is true because no matter how you look at it one person experiencing a tree falling does not change what happened as the person is irrelevant in this equation so, I guess, that would make the second part also true; unless the said person in question did nothing and everything that happened was just blind and dumb luck. Very blind and very dumb. But enough about philosophy, if the elementary school has taught me anything that is if you do too much philosophy you may end up as a criminal.

Not quite an accurate assessment of it all, but then again John learned very little in life and he forgot much more than he ever learned. How is this possible, you ask? The answer is John.

“This boy, Mark, shined a light on some things,” Steve says as he smiles and points to Alex.

“That is not his name,” John adds.

“Ha, sorry, my mistake,” Steve says as he smiles.

Some people can’t even remember the names of children. How rude can they be, John thinks to himself?

“You will be glad to hear that the building they were in is taken over by the police and the orphanage, that was under investigation for some time, is also going to be dealt with. Well, there are still things to do so I have to go now,” Steve says as he smiles and taps John on the shoulder; he goes his way but stops midway.

“I almost forgot. We found evidence of the Miller twin’s corruption and I know you were let go because of them. Anyway, I know this doesn’t help you much but I hope it, at least, is some consolidation,” Steve adds as he walks away.

Look at that, the Millers are going to have the book thrown at them, John thinks and bursts out in laughter.

“Your idea worked, but I still can’t believe you went alone,” Rebecca says.

My idea? What was my idea? Seriously, what was it, John wonders?

“I know you said you would sneak inside and rescue the orphans. But I thought when you said that the idea was too dangerous and that it would be better to involve the police and even give this information to Mr. Malone to increase the odds of success... I never imagined you couldn’t stay still and had to go rescue the children. You’ve surprised me once again, John,” Rebecca says.

Wait a minute, when did I say this? We were sitting yesterday at the Seahorse bar and we were talking about ideas and during that time I got roped, somehow, into being a hero. We conversed while drinking and... while drinking? Damn it, it was while drinking. John figured it out.

“This policeman, Steve, you mentioned is a great guy. He was so helpful and even introduced me to his boyfriend. You know, he also works at the police as a counselor. He helped me feel better after everything that happened,” Rebecca says.

“Yes, it was all part of my master plan,” John adds, nodding.

All part of a huge screw-up and random chances. Yes, it was all part of unbelievable stupidity, John says with his quiet voice.

So that means that all the things I’ve been through in this couple of hours, the fight with the drugged-up guard, the running through the streets, and being on the verge of having my arms and legs broken and thrown into a river was all for nothing; it means if I waited, if I did nothing, which is the best thing to do, I would still be in this same situation but without all the extra trauma. What is worst is that I did nothing, some hero of the story?

“You are a hero,” Rebecca says, gently smiling.

“Yeah, yeah,” John adds with a quick expression of contempt. An amazing hero if you would remove the letter H and add in a Z instead. Even still I should be happy that this is over but why, for all the love of everything that is holy, do I still feel like I should have done something. Something intentional, something real, and not have it all end up like this.

“But...,” Rebbeca adds.

“But?” John repeats as he looks at her.

“We still didn’t find Mary,” Alex says.

“How? Are you sure? Maybe you missed her? The orphans do all look the same after all,” John says.

“I didn’t miss her, I wouldn’t miss her,” Alex yells.

If she is not here with them, then where could she be, John wonders.

“I guess it is okay,” Alex says slightly sadly.

“Okay? Why do you say that?” John asks.

“I heard some pretty lady came and took her away from that place,” Alex says.

A pretty lady? Why would anyone come to such a place to take away an orphan from there? Come to think of it why would anyone take an orphan, John wonders?

“Do you know anything about this pretty lady?” John asks.

“One of the other kids said she has long blonde hair and wore an expensive dress,” Alex says.

Long blonde hair, expensive dress, and a pretty lady... Jane von Riyn.

“Come on, there is still something we have to do,” John says.

“Something we have to do?” Alex asks.

“John?” Rebecca asks as she doesn’t understand the sudden change in John’s mood.

“I will explain everything but for now just go with the flow, Rebbeca, and Estevez,” John says as he walks away.

Back at the von Riyn estate, the butler is busy packing suitcases as he gently folds clothes and puts them inside; the care and elegance he puts into quickly and neatly putting the clothes combined with his emotionless face make the entire mundane and bothersome process look like a work of art. A simple grabbing of the clothes followed by a few folds and neatly putting it inside the suitcase putting it at just the right place as though to cover as brief a space as possible. Magnificent.

“George, how long until you finish?” Jane asks from another room.

“I will do shortly it, madam,” George, the former Jeeves, but only to John, says as he continues packing.

“Very well, but hurry if at all possible,” Jane adds.

“I shall do things with the utmost haste, madam,” the butler adds.

Downstairs, Jane is waiting while tapping her feet; slightly nervously and impatiently. She is holding a long slim cigarette in a cigarette extender as she gently puffs out a smoke circle.

Near her, a small red-headed girl with two pigtails is sitting griping a stuffed toy bunny. Sadness lies all over her face as she remains in silence.

“Darling, you need not worry. I promise you will never have to deal with men like those again and I will make sure you have whatever you want,” Jane says, sincerely.

“I want to see my friend,” Mary says as she raises the stuffed toy bunny covering her face; covering all but two staring innocent eyes gazing at the lady who appeared out of nowhere.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. But when we arrive at our destination, you will make many new friends with whom you can play with,” Jane says, trying to reassure the little girl.

“Why can’t I see Alex?” Mary asks as sadness sinks in.

“Because we have to leave as soon as possible,” Jane says as she sighs at the unreasonable, in her mind, demands of the little girl; and takes a deep smoke of her cigarette to relieve the tension.

Perhaps the situation is not as ideal as one would hope, but it is bound to get better, Jane thinks as she takes a deep breath and waits.

Steps in the house, softly creek.

“Madam, everything is ready,” the butler says.

“Good,” Jane responds as she puts out the cigarette in a nearby ashtray.

“Shall we proceed?” the butler asks, waiting for the command.

“Yes,” Jane says as she gets up from her chair.

“Come on now, little miss,” the butler says as he turns his gaze towards Mary and offers her a hand.

She declines the offered hand as she gets up on her own; he looks at her refusal and somewhat minuscule defiance as he raises his right eyebrow.

“Very good, young miss,” the butler says as he takes the two suitcases.

“The car isn’t here but it will arrive shortly, I am told. Perhaps if we waited more inside,” the butler says.

“No, I would prefer to wait outside,” Jane responds, fidgeting.

“Very well, madam,” the butler says, standing at the ready.

They wait outside under the lights of the night lamps. Jane takes out another cigarette and lights it up.

“Going somewhere?” a voice says from the dark.

Jane quickly looks as she finds John standing there in all his almost-glory.

“John?” Jane blurts out, surprised.

“That is my name,” John adds.

“What are you doing here?” Jane asks, pretending to be calm.

“Cute girl, you have there. Is she yours?” John asks.

“She is... a relative,” Jane says as taking one smoke and turning her face away as she answers.

“Her name wouldn’t happen to be Mary. Perhaps Mary Stilsky?” John asks as knowing the answer already.

“You...,” Jane says as she stops herself.

“You know who I am?” Mary asks.

“I’ve brought your friend,” John says.

“Alex?” Mary yells in enthusiasm.

“You can come out,” John yells.

Suddenly, two figures come out, Alex and Rebecca.

“Mary!” Alex yells as he runs towards her; she does the same as they unite after all this time. Alex stops as Mary hugs him with her small arms in an enormous hug.

“Mary... people are watching,” Alex says as his face turns bright red.

“I’ve missed you. Where have you been?” Mary asks.

“I’ve been searching for you. I’ve never stopped searching,” Alex says, unable to contain his excitement.

From the side, Rebeca stands unsure about what to do or how to approach this situation; John turns around and says this is your father’s sisters, she has also been looking for you.

“My father’s sister?” Mary says.

Rebeca lowers herself, staring Mary in the eyes.

“I know you probably have many questions, and you must hate your dad for leaving you but... I hope we two can get to know each other. Maybe we could...,” Rebecca says as she stops; her voice quivers.

Tears appear in Mary’s eyes, and without thinking, without asking anything, she hugs Rebecca. The quiver of sadness changes into a smile of happiness as she hugs the child back.

Seeing this scene, it leaves Jane with no words and with nothing to do or say. The only thing that is left is to just let everything go.

“Miss?” the butler asks, looking at his mistress who just raises her hand in a motion signaling that there is nothing to say or nothing to add to this situation.

“I understand,” the butlers says as he takes back the suitcases inside the estate.

“Come on now, you three should go,” John says.

“Thanks, John, I knew... well knew is perhaps a too strong word, but I had hoped you wouldn’t let me down,” Alex says.

“Yeah, yeah. Go now, scram,” John says as he waves the child off.

“John,” Rebecca says as she approaches him.

“Rebecca,” John adds. Her smile makes everything okay. It makes him okay.

“Thank you,” Rebecca says as she leans in and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek.

I’ve rarely washed my cheek but, at least now, I have a reason not to wash it, John thinks as he puts his hand on the kissed cheek.

“Come on now, I’m sure you have some catching up,” John says.

The three of them walk away as John watches, but in one moment Alex turns back.

“I forgot to mention, I’ve left you a gift,” Alex yells as he waves.

A gift? Must be some dirty orphan clothes or a piece of coal.

“Yeah, whatever. I will be seeing you...Alex,” John says, but he says the name in a very soft and barely audible voice. Waving them goodbye.

“Now that that is done, one more thing remains,” John turns to Jane as she is looking at this entire scene pretending to be indifferent while smoking her cigarette; still restlessly tapping her foot a little faster and while her heart is beating just a little faster.

John walks towards her.

“So, you figured everything out?” Jane says.

“Not quite, I was hoping you would shine a light on some details,” John adds.

“What will you do? Will you turn me over to the police? Do you think they can charge me with anything?” Jane asks, appearing chill as a particularly chill cucumber.

“I don’t plan on doing anything. I just want to know,” John says.

“You are lying,” Jane says.

“I am not lying,” John says as he takes a step closer to Jane. He looks at her intensely, he looks at her with no sort of malice or ill will.

She pauses for a moment as she looks at him.

“Ask away,” Jane says as she sighs. Her pretense to care vanished.

“How exactly were you involved with Pink?” John asks.

“I wasn’t. I just wanted to get the girl. And he had her at that time,” Jane says.

“Why her?” John asks.

“You know about my relationship with Mark? He didn’t mean much to me, but he provided some entertainment. After some time, I’ve found out that he had a daughter he abandoned. But he wasn’t sure where she was,” Jane says.

“And he was looking for her,” John adds.

“Not quite. He found her, but he had a change of heart about taking her back,” Jane adds.

“He changed his mind?” John asks as this comes as a revelation.

“Yes. Not quite the ideal man, isn’t he?” Jane says.

“We all have our problems,” John adds.

“We do, don’t we,” Jane adds.

“He told me about her. I met her at the orphanage when, for some reason, I went there,” Jane says as she smiles fondly while looking in the distance.

“You wanted to adopt her?” John asks.

“At one point, I met her one more time and she, somewhat, grew on me. As some time passed and as a bit of loneliness kicked in, I decided,” Jane adds.

“This happened when Mark vanished?” John asks.

“It did, but that wasn’t related. Though it seems the other way around, doesn’t it?” Jane says.

“Why did you hire me to find him, why not just the girl?” John asks.

“I had thought he changed his mind again, he is...was quite fickle. But later one of my contacts introduced me to some policemen, two twin brothers, that had the information I wanted. They didn’t mind offering their help for... money. They told me all I wanted to know, while you were still running around, and even set me up with Pink who was more than agreeable to sell Mary,” Jane explains.

“Well, they had inside information after all. Quite an advantage. So, because of that, you wanted me to stop as to not uncover this little unfortunate and highly illegal deal you made?” John says.

“Yes,” Jane says. She opens her cigarette holder only to find it empty. John gives her one of his smokes as she lights it.

“Why did you focus so much on adopting a child, why not...” John says as he stops himself; he realizes the answer as he sees Jane’s expression. She stares back at him with a serious expression, a serious but sad expression. He remembers something she told him once. Not all of us are blessed.

“So what now?” Jane asks.

“Now I leave,” John says.

“Just like that?” Jane asks as squinting her eyes in skepticism.

“Just like that,” John repeats.

“I’m surprised at you,” Jane adds.

“I’m quite surprised at you being surprised, surprisingly,” John says as he turns his back at her.

“What no blackmail? No reporting me to the police?” Jane yells, losing composure.

“I’m quite tired of everything. As far as I’m concerned you did nothing wrong, though the police might have a different opinion about that if they connect you to the Miller twins and with Pink. Somehow, I think they will, but that is none of my business. I’ll be seeing you... or perhaps I won’t,” John says as he walks away.

He spends two seconds looking, one for the initial look and the other one just to be extra sure that the initial look was solid; proceeding through the streets under the dim lamp lights. After all that has happened the reward that I got was just another walk in the dark but, John remembers the smile of Rebeca and even the smiles of the dirty orphans, I guess it wasn’t everything that I got, John adds as he grins.

Returning to his office/home he throws his coat on the coat hanger which, as usual, misses it and lands on the floor. John looks at the coat on the floor.

“Good enough for a day like this,” John says he approaches his faithful couch. Preparing to crash down and sleep for a good couple of days, but in that instant, he stumbles on to something he hasn’t noticed.

“Ouch,” John manly yells as he looks down to see what the hell he could have hit in the middle of the room. He closes his eyes and opens them again as they stare wide open as humanly possible; rubbing his eyes with his hands he opens them again and with it, a gigantic smile appears on his face.

Standing there was the best, according to John, spinny chair in the entire world; in front of him was the Brown-Byson office chair. But how? He remembers when he said goodbye to Rebeca, Alex, and Mary that Alex yelled that he had left him a gift. Did that boy really have some other kids bring this or did he do it himself, John wonders? Why do I even care? With no thought, he sits on the Brown-Byson chair as he takes a full circle spin in it and maniacally laughs out loud. He takes a couple of half spins left and right just to check the mechanics. They are good. John comfortably leans back.

“This is quality,” John says as he smiles and laughs.

“I guess it wasn’t all so bad,” John adds; as the words leave his mouth, a small ray of light pierces through the crevices in his window as he instinctively blocks them with his hand.

“Wait! Light?” John blurts out.

He pushes himself, with the chair, to the window as he pulls up the curtains, and as soon as the curtains are pulled light from the Sun comes pouring in; he leans back in his spiny chair.

“I guess it wasn’t all so bad at all,” John adds.

He slowly whispers to himself as he falls asleep.

Not so bad… in the end.