Waiting outside the main door to the manor, wondering if the bell had been heard, Evan ruthlessly channeled his usual high energy level into the battle to remain still. Fidget was a natural state for him and on a typical day he would have thoroughly enjoyed finding new and different ways to drive himself into a state of utter exhaustion. His instincts were telling him this day would be anything but the same-old thing.
Hands locked together behind his back, he looked around and let his mind wander a bit, contemplating briefly that Hank, the only person in his life who really knew him, was also the only one aware of how hyper he could be and how he struggled not to show it to the world at large. Evan had perfected the art of appearing to lounge and bask, while inside he was vibrating and trembling, so anxious to know what amazing thing would come next that there were times he thought he might start to levitate.
In this moment, when he was about to face a man who terrified him, the fight seemed twice as difficult. Fear always made it harder for him to maintain his ' casual, cool and confident ' mask. Just as he was about to be overwhelmed by the frantic need to pace, shift his feet or just do something active, the door slowly eased open and Dieter was there, gesturing Evan inside. Determined to conceal his true state of mind, the younger man bowed slightly, showed an easy smile to his silent guide and followed him into Boris' enormous office, where he was swiftly left alone with his host.
The baron studied Evan surreptitiously as his guest made a guarded approach. Once the other man had halted a few feet from the desk, Boris rose, moved out into the room and walked a circle around Evan, keeping a measured, deliberate pace. Though he knew it would probably be a terrible mistake, the scrutiny pushed the subject of it to speak.
"Uhhh... okay. I'm too plain to be a piece of art and I'm not entered in this year's Preakness. Can I ask what's going on?"
Facing Evan once more, Boris smiled thinly.
"No. At this point, you may not ask anything. In fact, you're not to speak at all until and unless I give you explicit permission."
"Pardon? I RSVP'd to your cryptic, spooky message figuring you wanted to talk to me... but I'm not allowed to speak? Yeah, that makes sense... mmmmf! Wh't th'..." Evan protested through the fingers suddenly clamped over his mouth.
"I know..." Boris replied, his voice soft, but laced with pure steel. "... that this defiance is born of fear. I accept that. For the moment. What *you* must now accept is that you are in my home and within these walls... I will be obeyed. Are we clear on that point?"
Heart bounding, his breathing shallow and uneven, Evan simply nodded. "Excellent. I will take my hand away now. You will not make a sound."
A shake of the head this time and Boris smiled and stepped back a little. "So you *can* learn from your mistakes. That bodes well for the future. Remove your suit jacket."
This time Evan swallowed and dared to back away one pace. "You believe you'll be harmed, yes?"
A nod confirmed the statement. "Despite the image I cultivate and how you might feel about me, I am not evil, I am not mad and I am not secretly a mythological monster which devours small children and stray pets."
Evan, still sure he was about to be accused, convicted and executed, valiantly suppressed the smile Boris' comment engendered. Regardless, the older man saw straight through and knew he'd scored a point. "I safeguard my privacy zealously. Therefore, the world thinks me mysterious and assumes my motives must be immoral and wicked. I would hope you aren't that close-minded."
Evan hesitated, but eventually shook his head. "Good. Then when I guarantee you won't be ill-treated and make a simple request, I expect the benefit of the doubt. Your suit jacket... please." He repeated, holding out one hand. Pushing away the negative emotions that were filling his mind with the speed and power of Niagara Falls, Evan found one clear thought standing out, but he didn't like it; Boris was right. He'd made assumptions and judged the other man without bothering to find out the truth. Flushing with embarrassment, he swiftly unbuttoned the coat, shed it and yielded it to Boris. "Your shoes."
Evan balked once again, but the other man was well prepared. "Did we not just agree that you would afford me a small measure of faith? Besides, if you absolutely felt you had to... 'make a break for it', as they say, you could do so just as easily without the shoes as with them."
Evan stared Boris down for a long moment then shifted his gaze to a nearby chair. "Wise decision. Sitting will make it easier."
Again the young man flushed. As he followed him over and watched him sit and begin to remove his shoes, Boris questioned this second bout of apparent shame. "You see yourself as awkward? Uncoordinated?"
Evan shrugged vaguely and focused more intently on the task of untying and loosening. "Not good enough. If I allow you to speak, I want a better answer."
Finally raising his head, Evan paused, then nodded. "Very well. Proceed."
"Hank's the athlete. I'm... what I am."
"I asked for an honest response, not a mediocre excuse."
"Whadda you wanna hear? I'm too tall, too skinny and I couldn't find my center of balance with both hands, a flashlight and a team of Sherpas."
"Mmm-hmm. So you chose accounting."
"I like numbers, numbers like me. Everything makes sense with math. It's black and white, you know? The answer's right or it isn't. If it isn't, you sit and you work 'till you figure out why. In that place, staying in my head, it's just about the only time I feel..."
Boris smiled lightly and finished the sentence with the right word, causing Evan's eyes to go wide.
"... stillness?"
"What? How do... how did..."
"It isn't difficult. Every human being on the planet thinks they're at least somewhat of a mystery. We are all deluded. Shoes?" he prompted lightly.
"Oh. Right..." Evan conceded, but stopped mid-reach, keeping his gaze on the floor. "Ummm... tell me one more time why this is necessary?"
"When you've done as I ask you'll receive a sufficient explanation."
"Yeahhhh... I'd kinda like that *first*... if you don't mind."
"I do. Enough doubt and enough conversation. Be silent and show me your courage. If, indeed, you actually possess any."
Evan shot him a scowl that clearly said 'I walked in here, didn't I?' Boris interpreted it and responded to the unspoken retort. "You did. Now continue."
After a few more moments of favoring Boris with a mixed look of wariness and indignance, Evan toed out of his shoes. The older man stretched one foot out and nudged them under the chair. "Well done. From this point on, all the choices will be yours alone. It must be so if what I have planned is going to succeed." The baron intoned solemnly, gripping the crown of Evan's head lightly and tipping his face up just a bit. "I recognized that there was an extraordinary mind inside this skull the moment I met you. Over the past months, unfortunately, I've also come to realize you're doing very little with it. The life you live here provides no real stimulus... no motivation to put your potential to use. That leads to tedium, and tedium, for you, leads to trouble. Not only are you wasting your own time and talents, you're making Hank's adjustment to the Hamptons, and to his new life, much harder than it needs to be. That... I will no longer tolerate. Show me you understand."
Evan nodded slowly, distantly feeling the gentle fingers in his hair echo the motion. Boris added another point to the scoreboard in his head and continued. "You, Evan Lawson, require the proper mental 'diet' and you require discipline. I can give that to you. I can show you how to think in ways you've never conceived of... how to change your view of yourself, see the larger world and find your place in it. If you choose. You have twenty-four hours to come to a decision. You will stay here in the manor until then. Neither of us will speak of this again until I have your answer. Agreed?"
Evan's response was another, almost dreamy, nod. His prospective mentor chalked a third mental tick-mark on his side of the equation. "Excellent. I'll summon Dieter to show you to your room."
TBC...