IF LOVE WERE A FLOWER

Servant of Too Many Masters (cont.)

It was early morning on a summer day when Meg went with her daughter for a walk. The baby had chosen to get up early and to allow everyone else to sleep at least three more hours she had no choice but to have a walk. She went to the beach, which was empty in the morning, and walked up and down, pushing Annie in her pram.

When she reached the end of the beach with the tide-generator she saw Erik standing there, staring at the sea. "Oooo look, there's daddy!" she exclaimed happily and Annie replied: "Daddy!"

Erik barely acknowledged their presence. He stood there, staring at something at the generator building. "Someone left a flower there," he mused.

"Yes, for the workers who died here. That was me. I think at least someone should remember them," Meg replied softly. It was not an accusation, just a statement.

Erik looked at her, then from her to Annie, then to the flowers. "And how did you buy that flower?"

"You are paying your employees now, remember? Not much, but I can afford to buy a flower."

He nodded. "I wish I could go back in time," he said softly, "But I cannot. It is... not just this. The men who died in Paris. The men who died before... before you were even born. I never lead a peaceful life."

Annie began crying and Meg sighed. "I'm standing here too long. She wants to be moving all the time."

Erik smiled. "She is easily angered, isn't she?" When he saw that Meg just started running with the pram and Annie laughed in excitement Erik run after her, it looked like he was chasing her, but he just wanted to catch up to walk with her.

"You are... fast..." Erik was a bit out of breath when he reached her.

"Annie is like her grandmother - a merciless hurrier!" Meg replied.

"Meg... thank you. For buying that flower."

That night Erik sneaked out of the dormitory to the kitchen to see his baby. Annie was asleep, but Meg was awake.

"Do you do that often?" she asked, "Watching us sleep?"

Erik shrugged, embarrassed that she had noticed him. "Well... yes. I like to watch her sleep." He looked at Meg. "Soon we will have a flat. The flats are all the same: four small bedrooms, a parlor and a kitchen. One could put up a copper bathtub in the kitchen to have a bath. Toilets and a communal water tap in the ground floor. No luxury, just normal flats, but... we would have some privacy."

"Sounds too good to be true," Meg beamed with happiness, "It would be just we, Annie and mother."

Erik frowned. "Antoinette? I... um... well..." He didn't like the thought of having her in his flat all the time. "Maybe we need the additional space and she moves in with three ladies from the orchestra?"

"What would we need two empty rooms for?" Meg asked.

Erik counted, using his fingers: "One for Annie. One for you and one for me." He noticed that Meg's face fell in disappointment. "You said I snore and you want separate rooms," he defended himself.

"And one for...?"

"Maybe Annie wants a little brother eventually," he replied lightly, "or maybe a sister?"

"Maybe..." she answered blushing. Here? Now? In the canteen of the variety? Well, it was not weirder than his workshop. Just the moment he reached out to test if she would refuse him or not Annie began crying.

Meg took her in her arms and gently rocked her, trying to calm her. "What is it now?" Erik asked annoyed. The baby shouldn't be up now, it was definitely not her time. And she stayed up, starting to cry every time her mother tried to lay her down on the pillow. She stayed up for more than two hours. Two hours! Erik was annoyed to a point he considered just drugging the crying baby into oblivion, but didn't dare suggesting it.

"I guess that is a crystal clear no," Erik sighed in frustration, "Annie does not want a sibling." He left and headed to the dormitory to get some sleep. That moment Annie yawned and went back to sleep.

Erik did not have much time to wonder if Annie would approve of a sibling or not for Riccy send for him only days later, telling him to come to his office as soon as possible. He relied heavily on Erik taking care of problems now, knowing that Erik could do it without risking any problems with the judicial system. No prosecutor and no judge would ever be able to prove how Erik created the misfortunes and accidents that happened at the right time to the right person. It was much less dirty than the thugs who would beat up someone - it was a gentleman's way and Riccy highly appreciated that for he wanted to present himself as a gentlemen in New York where the upper class resided.

And now it was Riccy's time to do a favor to a certain politician. That man had a mistress and unfortunately she refused abortion. Having an illegitimate child could end his political career, even if he denied knowing her. The scandal would be enough that his party would ask him to resign immediately. So the girl had to go. She was just a black maid who was working in his household. Of course he could dismiss her but once she spoke about the reason to his political enemies it would be difficult to avoid a scandal. A white upper class politician in bed with his black maid? Unthinkable! He would be disgraced and unfit for any political career.

Riccy suggested to the politician that he knew someone who might be able to take care of that particular problem. Only it was socially impossible to get acquainted with that man for he was a circus freak from Coney Island. But of course the politician could meet him in Riccy's office.

So the three men met, Erik had a hard time not letting the other two know how nervous he was. When he learned of the problem - of course no one mentioned the real happenings only that the maid was pregnant and threatened to accuse her employer - the little extortionist, as the politician indignantly remarked - Erik felt bad. He could guess what had happened anyways and so would everyone who learned of the story. He strongly disliked the idea of killing a woman with child, no matter if she really tried extortion or not. Since he had Annie the mere thought that he himself had suggested abortion and even thought about killing Meg made him cringe in horror now. He would never want to live one day without his darling little baby.

But of course he could not say no now. He was absolutely sure that black girl would have some knowledge about her employer the prosecutor would be eager to hear - even if a black girl's word wouldn't count much against the word of an honorable man, she might know something that could help. "Maybe she just runs away to hide her shame?" Erik suggested.

"It would spare me the trouble of reporting her for blackmail first," the politician answered, "I guess you know someone who can talk sense into that whore?"

"I think so," Erik replied diplomatically, "But I need a chance to see her. Is there any way I can officially enter your house without causing a scandal?"

"Um... well... I don't know..." the politician was at a loss.

"Maybe one of your children will want a private magic show?" Erik suggested. It was humiliating not to be accepted as equal, as just another businessman - in America businessmen seemed to be what aristocrats were in Europe in the social ranking - but just an inferior entertainer, but he would have to swallow his pride for now.

It worked. The politician's son and his friends were absolutely excited of having a private magic show at home in their parlor and Erik got a chance to talk to the maid alone in the kitchen since when the guests had a rather formal dinner - who gives a formal dinner party for a seven year old boy? - Erik was in the kitchen. No one ever asked him to do, it was obviously expected of him to do his job and then not bother anyone of the household again, but of course he could have the same food everyone else had if he ate in the kitchen.

This was his chance, but he had to be very careful. He asked the maid - who had to serve him but she was really scared of the masked magician - if she would be so kind as to show him the way to the next train station. Used to obey she agreed, but she didn't like it.

And she would never return to her former employer who thought she had died. She had not. Erik had told her that her employer wanted to get rid of her and would have send her to prison for blackmail so she should run and save herself now - and he would help her. The maid did not trust him, but when she learned what her employer had said about her she was furious.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - that might be true. It took weeks but Erik managed to contact Jonathan de Mer who was living under a fake name and a disguise in another state now - and Jonathan immediately was highly interested in talking to that maid. Not that she would make a good witness to convince any jury, but she might know where the dirty secrets were hidden.

Soon after Erik had helped the black maid to leave New York he learned that Riccy and his helpers wanted his help again. Of course they could not know that the special prosecutor was still alive and Erik was giving him information, they thought they would be able to control Erik now that they had two murder cases against him. If he would betray them, they would accuse him of two murders and he would hang for that. It was highly unlikely that he would risk that. Only that the two murder victims were alive and well...

Erik found himself still as the underdog. No one would officially meet him, no one would invite him to any official meeting or party or even dinner. He would be summoned like a servant, told what to do - mostly it was something about making someone or something disappear - and then left to obey. He never complained, never showed his hatred, never let on that he wasn't eager to please. Riccy was quite sure that Erik was finally so scared something might happen to his family that he could perfectly control him. Erik surely was scared of what Riccy might do if he ever found out what he was up to, but that did not stop him from giving Jonathan de Mer every shard of information he could get. Whatever that was.

Erik soon came up with an idea to make important politicians miss the date of a certain referendum in the New York State Legislature. Of course he could not make enough members of either the State Assembly or State Senate miss the referendum, but he could make one man being too sick to leave his home and sometimes this was enough to have a speech not being made or uncomfortable questions not being asked and it certainly assured a little influence. Not enough to control the state of New York, certainly not, but it could make a difference if the others knew how to use their chances.

In fact, it was too easy. Since Erik was always banned to be with the servants and never allowed to attend any official meeting or party - if he was allowed to be there at all - he had much time to talk to servants. The female servants found him charming because he treated everyone of them with great respect as if she was a queen. They attributed this to him being a Frenchman and since they knew him only as "masked magician" they were not sure if the half-mask was just part of his fancy costume so he could walk the streets incognito. Some suspected him to hide some scar or deformity but they didn't know for sure. They just knew that there was a man who would belong to the high society from his behaviour and wealth - they didn't know that he still struggled to pay the installments for the credits he had needed to build up the amusement park - who treated them as equals.

And Erik soon learned that servants knew much more than everyone assumed and they just loved to chat. Many were treated badly by their employers and so they eagerly shared every rumor they knew to everyone who would listen. Of course there were loyal servants too but this depended strongly on their master's behavior towards them and unfortunately - or from Erik's point of view luckily - most masters tended to treat their employees worse than their horses or dogs.

Erik used a very easy and safe "poison" to let someone fall ill: water. Normal drinking water as it came from the faucets in the areas where the poor lived. The water was usually contaminated with bacteria and caused different illnesses like typhus, cholera, dysentery. It was easy to get and to transport and he just needed a tiny drop in the glass of the right man and that man would certainly fall ill soon. And no one could ever accuse him of smuggling posion when he had a bottle of water with him...

Applying that drop of water wasn't too hard - far too many politicians used to celebrate secretly with their mistresses or with whores in the luxury brothels on Coney Island, some of them even in the dark area of Erik's own amusement park. He had plenty of opportunities to give them the tiny drop of water or he could always have the whores help him. They liked him and strongly disliked politicians who declared whores to be vermin which had to be eradicated at day and came to their beds at night.

Erik came to rely on lowly servants and whores soon. Riccy had never considered using them, thinking them to be too stupid to do anything that required more intellect than any mule had, but Erik knew better. Among the servants were men and women who were very clever but due to their race or poverty never had any chance to finish school or get the job they deserved. Erik was always willing to treat them as equals and thus won many eager helpers to his cause, even if he had to leave them in the dark about his real purposes for their own good.

Autumn came too soon for Erik. He was so busy he even forgot his daughter's first birthday. Everyone else seemed to have known and so Erik was utterly surprised when Suzie told him about the idea they had for the party: As Meg was the lead dancer in "the Lost Kitten" Annie should watch the show from the audience sitting at her grandmother's lap. After the show Meg would announce that it was her daughter's first birthday and they should come to the stage. But of course Erik should be there too as the father.

"Birthday? Is there any reason to celebrate this with strangers?" Erik asked astonished.

"Meg thinks this would be a good idea," Suzie replied, "And why not? You are officially married, she is officially baptized..."

"She is what? When?" Erik had absolutely forgotten that a child needed to be baptized. It was nothing important to him so it was rather low in his to-do-list, he would care for that when he had time. Obviously he never seemed to have any time, so Meg and Antoinette had taken Little Annie's christening in their own hands. It was a shock for Erik to learn that he had not even been there. "Why has no one informed me?"

Suzie sighed. "Meg told you. Your answer was that you had no time for nagging females and her duty as wife was to take the load off your shoulders, that you had no time for private matters. She did."

Erik shifted uncomfortably. Yes, there had been something - but Meg had told him so many things in the last year he had not really heard or immediately forgotten for there were so many much more important things to do. He had missed his own daughter's christening.

"Well... Not the 'Lost Kitten'. We do it... the magic show? I want to be there too. I am Annie's father."

"The magic show - isn't that too late for Little Annie?" Suzie asked.

"You talk to Meg and arrange that with her. Tell her I do not tolerate any insubordination!"

Suzie knew better than to say anything. Erik was unable to care for anything but himself right now, they would have to obey or risk him losing his temper. Which was no good sign at all. She would have to inform Dr. Gängelmann that Erik was already on the verge of making serious mistakes, in fact, he had already made some so they should protect him from himself now.

Annie's birthday was a great success. Annie was unusually quiet sitting with her grandmother in the audience as if they were just another entertainment seeking family. She watched with large eyes as her mother danced and her father conjured Irene out of his a bit oversized top-hat. Why should he do the trick with a white rabbit when he could do it with a human being who was by far more cooperative than any animal?

Little Annie listened in awe as he played the piano for the dancers and laughed as Tilly Three Legs struggled to dance a polka with them - polka has a two-four-time. It was just for fun and Tilly's mistakes well rehearsed.

Little Annie even clapped her tiny hands like the rest of the audience. Especially Erik's new magic trick astonished her. It was rather simple - a large box in the middle of the stage, but it was standing on some sort of table so everyone saw it had no trapdoor to reach it from below the stage. Erik would ask Meg to climb inside, then open and close the door various times, always finding someone else inside and everyone would greet him with "hello darling". He usually reacted as if he was surprised or shocked until he finally had Meg back. The other women were: Irene, Fat Suzie, Attamamma and the He-She. Erik acted as if he was shocked at finding his wife transformed like that, much to the audience's amusement.

Annie laughed and clapped her hands. She would have loved to see more, but her birthday announcement was due, which she certainly did not like that much. She did not understand why she was given to her father and what he said. She was too small to understand that Erik used this to present himself as proud and loving father to the audience in his little speech telling everyone that as a father he would create an amusement park that would fulfill every child's dream. It was a clever idea to win the audience's hearts. He liked to present himself as the good guy, the loving father, it was an image he wanted to create. In that the park resembled his personality: A nice colorful exciting area and a hidden dark area, but only his family and close friends knew.

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to be continued...

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