Chapter 3 -
Leaning forward to read the meter, Zelgadis Greywords noticed that there was another taxi outside his house and, standing by it, his wife Amelia. "Keep driving, please," he said to the driver. "Stop at the next corner, by the mailbox."
The man drove on. At the corner Zelgadis got out, paid his fare and waited while it drove away. Then, sheltered by the mailbox, he looked back.
His wife, watched by the driver of the other taxi, was loading suitcases and packages into the cab. "You might give me a hand." Her voice, high and whining, carried in the quiet street.
"Got a bad back," retorted the driver.
"Bet you haven't," she said as she heaved a large cardboard box into the taxi.
"That's it then?" Asked the driver.
"No, that's not it!"
Zelgadis grinned.
Amelia went back into the house to reappear with two large carrier bags, which she threw onto the seat of the cab, followed next by a cardboard container. The driver pulled out a newspaper and began to read about the upcoming football games.
Zelgadis waited.
'Five and a half, six years ago,' he thought. 'I looked across the room at a party and saw that girl, caught her eye. We nodded; I wove through the crowd and took her hand. As we left the party I told her my name and she told me hers. I took her out to dinner, she confided on her troubles. We ended the evening in bed and were married six weeks later. I loved her, I supposed it to be a grand passion.'
His wife had gone back into the house. Zelgadis shifted his weight from foot to foot.
Amelia emerged from the house, dwarfed by the television in her arms. She negotiated the steps with care, biting her lower lip in concentration.
The cab driver half folded his paper, but thinking better of it, opened it out while watching his fare in the mirror as she placed the television on the floor of the cab.
Zelgadis thought admiringly: she took the small television from the bedroom on her first raid, bravo! She receives a 10/10 for her thoroughness.
Finally, Amelia went back into the house, but only to fetch her bag; she slammed the door shut and got into the cab, shouting, "Alright then, drive!"
'Did I confuse love with lust?' he thought. There was a time that I would've raced after that taxi, stopped it, dragged her out, and prevented her from going.
"It was lust." He said out loud to the mailbox.
The taxi diminished down the street and turned out into King road. Zelgadis walked back and inserted his key in the lock. Inside the house he sniffed, let the bag he was carrying drop and, breaking into a run, rushed around the house opening windows. Cold air streamed through French windows opening onto the garden from the family room, and upstairs through bath and bedroom. Hurrying to the basement, he heard the doorbell ring. He threw open the small window and squinted up to catch a glimpse of his visitor.
Recognizing stout calves above neat ankles and extremely high-heeled shoes, he said, "Filia!" I'll come up in a minute." He wedged the window with an empty milk bottle.
"What's going on?" Filia leaned to peer through the area railing. She had immense blue eyes popping either side of a beautiful nose and sensual lips.
"I'll let you in." Zelgadis retreated fro the area to hurry upstairs and open the front door.
"Are you aiming to catch pneumonia?" Filia stepped into the house. "It's freezing!"
"Amelia has been her." Zelgadis closed the door behind her.
"Oh?"
"Removing the last of her things"
"I see." Filia moved into the family room. "But why are all the windows open?"
"Can't you smell it?
Filia sniffed, 'M-m. How long was she in here?"
"Don't know, long enough I suppose."
"It won't linger," Filia said. "'Emotion' doesn't. I thought you were still away. I brought a note asking you to telephone when you got back, thought you might like a meal or something, thought you might be lonely."
"I am!" Zelgadis exclaimed. "It's lovely, it's great!"
Filia laughed. "If you're going to keep all the windows open, I'll borrow a coat if you don't mind."
"Just a few more minutes, let it air out. I'll put some water to boil to make tea."
"Coffee, please. And I'll be shutting down the windows now. You're imagining the smell."
"I saw her from a distance," Zel continued, "She was piling her stuff into a taxi as I got back."
"You talked to her?"
"I dodged"
"Coward," Filia said teasingly. "I wonder what else she took."
"She's taken everything that can be sold, probably sold it to pay for her new outfits."
"You don't care? The house looks dreadfully bare."
"No."
Filia closed the French windows and followed Zelgadis into the kitchen. "Did she leave you the coffeemaker?"
"I recently bought a new one. Oh, damn it! She too that too!"
"Well, let's go to my place," Filia offered, though she was laughing when making her offer. "I'll make you tea."
"No, that's alright, I'll boil some water in a saucepan."
"Get the locks changed Zel," Filia advised him. "Or you will come home one day to a completely stripped house."
Not fond of unsought advice, Zelgadis boiled water in a saucepan and made coffee for Filia and strong Indian tea for himself.
"That stuff will rot your guts. Amelia was right about that at least."
"Coming up in the train," Zel began to talk in order to avert the conversation to a different topic. Placing the cups on a tray, he moved once again into the living room, "I saw the most extraordinary thing."
"What?" Filia sat on the sofa with her legs apart.
About to sit in an armchair opposite of her, Zel changed directions to sit next to her on the sofa. The brevity of Filia's skirts unnerved him. "I am easily unnerved," he said.
"You are easily unnerved. Now, what was that thing?" Filia reached for her cup.
"A sheep."
"A sheep?"
"On it's back." Zel recounted his tale for her; the sheep, the rescuing girl, the drama, the guard, the stranger and he broken glasses.
"The train must've been going really slow then."
"The train travels at a very rapid speed, however, on weekends they go slow. They need to run up a maintenance check on the track. Thus the train going at a much slower rate, allowing the train to stop within a hundred feet of the sheep, otherwise the girl would've had to stopped the train miles before hitting the sheep if the train was going in it's regular speed." Filia, knowing best, gripped her saucer. "I suppose you were asleep when she stopped the train."
"It gave a quick jerk."
"Did you speak to her?"
"No, I told you."
"You wanted to, but you hesitated. You are a terrible hesitator," Filia accused him.
'Once, for a brief moment. I was tempted to make love to you, but I hesitated.' Zel thought and chuckled a little.
"What are you laughing about?" asked Filia. "The way you told it, it's a sad story. You said that the girl looked mad?"
"No. The oafish bird watcher suggested she was mad, she looked terribly sad, not mad at all."
"How can you see this without your glasses? You said you broke them. Let me see your hand." Filia took his hand. "Damn it Zel, that's a nasty cut. Shouldn't it be stitched? Let me get you a bandage."
"No." Zel withdrew his hand. "Thanks, but no, it's ok."
"And you must get new glasses, I know you can see well enough, but when you stress your eyes, you need glasses. I'll make an appointment for you tomorrow, first thing in the morning."
"You are no longer my secretary." Zel informed for the countless time.
"I'll give your oculist a call tomorrow."
"No thanks." and quickly thought 'I mustn't tell her I don't go to him anymore, really would piss her off."
"Have it your way, I'm only trying to help." Filia pursed her lips. "Anyway, sad story, poor little sheep."
"It was a very large sheep mind you, probably a Texel. They are the largest breed."
"Does it matter?" Filia said, getting tired of the sheep talk.
"No."
"So what else did Amelia took?" Her eyes probed the room. "Books?"
"She hardly reads."
"I see she has taken the Meissen pugs and the Chelsea bowl, oh, and he Capo di Monte snuff boxes."
"She gave them to me. She's taken everything she ever gave me. And her furniture, of course. She had never given me anything she wanted for herself." Zel stretched his legs and looked around the room, savoring the lack of clutter.
"I think Amelia has been utterly outrageous. And I am a feminist. Did she leave you any sheets? I remember when you married; it was she who brought the bed linen. If she has purloined the sheet, I can lend you some. Bath towels too. She probably took those also. I'd better go look." Filia rose, stabbing a sharp heel into the parquet, raising her bulk from the sofa in a surprisingly spry movement.
"No, no. Please don't bother Filia. Everything is fine. I'll see you out." He said, assuming she would go, assuming that there would be another carry-on if she saw all the new stuff he had bought during his trip.
"I'll just wash our cups," she said as she too the tray. "I gave you these cups when you married. I'm glad Amelia left them with you."
"So you did. No, Filia, please leave it, I am capable of washing a teacup you know." Zel inclined his torso towards the door.
"Promise me you will let me know if there is anything I can do." She relinquished the tray but stood her ground. "I'm glad she left you the sofa," she said, her eyes making an inventory of the room one last time. "Did she leave you the bed?"
"Yes."
"M-m. That figures, yes. You will need somebody to come in and clean. I'll make a few phone calls."
"Please don't bother. I can manage without one."
"You can't possibly manage without one, I..."
"I don't want a cleaner. I don't want the noise of vacuums in my house. I can't come with all the small talk I would have to do."
"You're going to have to, you learn a lot that way, besides it's interesting talking to others."
"No thank you, I'll manage one way or the other Filia."
"The house will be a pig sty within the week. Unwashed dishes, soggy bath towels on the floor and you will run out of toilet paper. Being married didn't change you at all."
"Filia, please stop bossing me around. You are no longer my...." he was interrupted by the blonde.
"Secretary, I know. But still, I will get you a cleaner who comes when you're out and get your locks changed. You'll thank me later."
Zelgadis laughed, "You are a bossy lady."
"I am. I shouldn't have told you this," Filia moved to the door. "But Amelia once told me that you bore her."
"I bored her because she bored me!" Zel said giving Filia a peck on her cheek. "Goodbye."
Closing the door on Filia's departing back, Zelgadis Greywords sniffed the air of his empty house and sensing no longer a lingering trace of 'Emotion.' He let out a joyous whoop.
***
Disclaimer - Slayers characters nor 'An Imaginative Experience' does not belong to me.
Leaning forward to read the meter, Zelgadis Greywords noticed that there was another taxi outside his house and, standing by it, his wife Amelia. "Keep driving, please," he said to the driver. "Stop at the next corner, by the mailbox."
The man drove on. At the corner Zelgadis got out, paid his fare and waited while it drove away. Then, sheltered by the mailbox, he looked back.
His wife, watched by the driver of the other taxi, was loading suitcases and packages into the cab. "You might give me a hand." Her voice, high and whining, carried in the quiet street.
"Got a bad back," retorted the driver.
"Bet you haven't," she said as she heaved a large cardboard box into the taxi.
"That's it then?" Asked the driver.
"No, that's not it!"
Zelgadis grinned.
Amelia went back into the house to reappear with two large carrier bags, which she threw onto the seat of the cab, followed next by a cardboard container. The driver pulled out a newspaper and began to read about the upcoming football games.
Zelgadis waited.
'Five and a half, six years ago,' he thought. 'I looked across the room at a party and saw that girl, caught her eye. We nodded; I wove through the crowd and took her hand. As we left the party I told her my name and she told me hers. I took her out to dinner, she confided on her troubles. We ended the evening in bed and were married six weeks later. I loved her, I supposed it to be a grand passion.'
His wife had gone back into the house. Zelgadis shifted his weight from foot to foot.
Amelia emerged from the house, dwarfed by the television in her arms. She negotiated the steps with care, biting her lower lip in concentration.
The cab driver half folded his paper, but thinking better of it, opened it out while watching his fare in the mirror as she placed the television on the floor of the cab.
Zelgadis thought admiringly: she took the small television from the bedroom on her first raid, bravo! She receives a 10/10 for her thoroughness.
Finally, Amelia went back into the house, but only to fetch her bag; she slammed the door shut and got into the cab, shouting, "Alright then, drive!"
'Did I confuse love with lust?' he thought. There was a time that I would've raced after that taxi, stopped it, dragged her out, and prevented her from going.
"It was lust." He said out loud to the mailbox.
The taxi diminished down the street and turned out into King road. Zelgadis walked back and inserted his key in the lock. Inside the house he sniffed, let the bag he was carrying drop and, breaking into a run, rushed around the house opening windows. Cold air streamed through French windows opening onto the garden from the family room, and upstairs through bath and bedroom. Hurrying to the basement, he heard the doorbell ring. He threw open the small window and squinted up to catch a glimpse of his visitor.
Recognizing stout calves above neat ankles and extremely high-heeled shoes, he said, "Filia!" I'll come up in a minute." He wedged the window with an empty milk bottle.
"What's going on?" Filia leaned to peer through the area railing. She had immense blue eyes popping either side of a beautiful nose and sensual lips.
"I'll let you in." Zelgadis retreated fro the area to hurry upstairs and open the front door.
"Are you aiming to catch pneumonia?" Filia stepped into the house. "It's freezing!"
"Amelia has been her." Zelgadis closed the door behind her.
"Oh?"
"Removing the last of her things"
"I see." Filia moved into the family room. "But why are all the windows open?"
"Can't you smell it?
Filia sniffed, 'M-m. How long was she in here?"
"Don't know, long enough I suppose."
"It won't linger," Filia said. "'Emotion' doesn't. I thought you were still away. I brought a note asking you to telephone when you got back, thought you might like a meal or something, thought you might be lonely."
"I am!" Zelgadis exclaimed. "It's lovely, it's great!"
Filia laughed. "If you're going to keep all the windows open, I'll borrow a coat if you don't mind."
"Just a few more minutes, let it air out. I'll put some water to boil to make tea."
"Coffee, please. And I'll be shutting down the windows now. You're imagining the smell."
"I saw her from a distance," Zel continued, "She was piling her stuff into a taxi as I got back."
"You talked to her?"
"I dodged"
"Coward," Filia said teasingly. "I wonder what else she took."
"She's taken everything that can be sold, probably sold it to pay for her new outfits."
"You don't care? The house looks dreadfully bare."
"No."
Filia closed the French windows and followed Zelgadis into the kitchen. "Did she leave you the coffeemaker?"
"I recently bought a new one. Oh, damn it! She too that too!"
"Well, let's go to my place," Filia offered, though she was laughing when making her offer. "I'll make you tea."
"No, that's alright, I'll boil some water in a saucepan."
"Get the locks changed Zel," Filia advised him. "Or you will come home one day to a completely stripped house."
Not fond of unsought advice, Zelgadis boiled water in a saucepan and made coffee for Filia and strong Indian tea for himself.
"That stuff will rot your guts. Amelia was right about that at least."
"Coming up in the train," Zel began to talk in order to avert the conversation to a different topic. Placing the cups on a tray, he moved once again into the living room, "I saw the most extraordinary thing."
"What?" Filia sat on the sofa with her legs apart.
About to sit in an armchair opposite of her, Zel changed directions to sit next to her on the sofa. The brevity of Filia's skirts unnerved him. "I am easily unnerved," he said.
"You are easily unnerved. Now, what was that thing?" Filia reached for her cup.
"A sheep."
"A sheep?"
"On it's back." Zel recounted his tale for her; the sheep, the rescuing girl, the drama, the guard, the stranger and he broken glasses.
"The train must've been going really slow then."
"The train travels at a very rapid speed, however, on weekends they go slow. They need to run up a maintenance check on the track. Thus the train going at a much slower rate, allowing the train to stop within a hundred feet of the sheep, otherwise the girl would've had to stopped the train miles before hitting the sheep if the train was going in it's regular speed." Filia, knowing best, gripped her saucer. "I suppose you were asleep when she stopped the train."
"It gave a quick jerk."
"Did you speak to her?"
"No, I told you."
"You wanted to, but you hesitated. You are a terrible hesitator," Filia accused him.
'Once, for a brief moment. I was tempted to make love to you, but I hesitated.' Zel thought and chuckled a little.
"What are you laughing about?" asked Filia. "The way you told it, it's a sad story. You said that the girl looked mad?"
"No. The oafish bird watcher suggested she was mad, she looked terribly sad, not mad at all."
"How can you see this without your glasses? You said you broke them. Let me see your hand." Filia took his hand. "Damn it Zel, that's a nasty cut. Shouldn't it be stitched? Let me get you a bandage."
"No." Zel withdrew his hand. "Thanks, but no, it's ok."
"And you must get new glasses, I know you can see well enough, but when you stress your eyes, you need glasses. I'll make an appointment for you tomorrow, first thing in the morning."
"You are no longer my secretary." Zel informed for the countless time.
"I'll give your oculist a call tomorrow."
"No thanks." and quickly thought 'I mustn't tell her I don't go to him anymore, really would piss her off."
"Have it your way, I'm only trying to help." Filia pursed her lips. "Anyway, sad story, poor little sheep."
"It was a very large sheep mind you, probably a Texel. They are the largest breed."
"Does it matter?" Filia said, getting tired of the sheep talk.
"No."
"So what else did Amelia took?" Her eyes probed the room. "Books?"
"She hardly reads."
"I see she has taken the Meissen pugs and the Chelsea bowl, oh, and he Capo di Monte snuff boxes."
"She gave them to me. She's taken everything she ever gave me. And her furniture, of course. She had never given me anything she wanted for herself." Zel stretched his legs and looked around the room, savoring the lack of clutter.
"I think Amelia has been utterly outrageous. And I am a feminist. Did she leave you any sheets? I remember when you married; it was she who brought the bed linen. If she has purloined the sheet, I can lend you some. Bath towels too. She probably took those also. I'd better go look." Filia rose, stabbing a sharp heel into the parquet, raising her bulk from the sofa in a surprisingly spry movement.
"No, no. Please don't bother Filia. Everything is fine. I'll see you out." He said, assuming she would go, assuming that there would be another carry-on if she saw all the new stuff he had bought during his trip.
"I'll just wash our cups," she said as she too the tray. "I gave you these cups when you married. I'm glad Amelia left them with you."
"So you did. No, Filia, please leave it, I am capable of washing a teacup you know." Zel inclined his torso towards the door.
"Promise me you will let me know if there is anything I can do." She relinquished the tray but stood her ground. "I'm glad she left you the sofa," she said, her eyes making an inventory of the room one last time. "Did she leave you the bed?"
"Yes."
"M-m. That figures, yes. You will need somebody to come in and clean. I'll make a few phone calls."
"Please don't bother. I can manage without one."
"You can't possibly manage without one, I..."
"I don't want a cleaner. I don't want the noise of vacuums in my house. I can't come with all the small talk I would have to do."
"You're going to have to, you learn a lot that way, besides it's interesting talking to others."
"No thank you, I'll manage one way or the other Filia."
"The house will be a pig sty within the week. Unwashed dishes, soggy bath towels on the floor and you will run out of toilet paper. Being married didn't change you at all."
"Filia, please stop bossing me around. You are no longer my...." he was interrupted by the blonde.
"Secretary, I know. But still, I will get you a cleaner who comes when you're out and get your locks changed. You'll thank me later."
Zelgadis laughed, "You are a bossy lady."
"I am. I shouldn't have told you this," Filia moved to the door. "But Amelia once told me that you bore her."
"I bored her because she bored me!" Zel said giving Filia a peck on her cheek. "Goodbye."
Closing the door on Filia's departing back, Zelgadis Greywords sniffed the air of his empty house and sensing no longer a lingering trace of 'Emotion.' He let out a joyous whoop.
***
Disclaimer - Slayers characters nor 'An Imaginative Experience' does not belong to me.