Part 35 (1/2)

” 'Yeah, I guess I did. But compared to you, I'm kind of r.e.t.a.r.ded. I'm almost nineteen and I've slept with one spirit, one ghost and two real women, you being the one with whom I am in love.'

” 'I can guess about the spirit,' she said, 'but tell me about the ghost.'

” 'I can't, not now. We're too near her grave.' I pointed to the little headstone in the cemetery.

'But let me say her name's Rebecca and she's beautiful, and she met her end in a cruel, unjust way and I lost my virginity with her. She has great charm when she comes. . .

” '. . . And speaking of charm,' I said, 'I have a tutor who is like that and he's coming right towards us.'

”It was Nash come down from the house to invite us to supper. He looked elegant and handsome in his sharply cut blue denim three-piece suit and a white s.h.i.+rt open at the collar.

”Now, I have to achieve that style, I thought, and he comes by it so daringly and so naturally.

”At once I introduced him to Mona and told him I was going to marry her. He was faintly amazed but accepted it totally seriously.

” 'Congratulations, Quinn, and my dear' --he took her hand --'it's a pleasure.'

”I felt his mellow voice could level mountains. And his face was truly enhanced by its lines and its folds. It gave him the look of wisdom.

” 'Of course, we're still going to Europe, Nash,' I said. 'We're all going. We're stealing Mona.'

” 'Well, that makes things doubly exciting,' said Nash with just a twinge of a smile and a touch of gentle irony. He gave his arm to Mona graciously to help her up to the high ground, and I felt ashamed that I hadn't thought to do it.

”As for supper, we were all to join Aunt Queen on the other side of the house where the table was set on the flagstone patio using the newly refurbished wicker.

187.

” 'Rebecca's wicker,' I explained to Mona. 'Rebecca and I --it was in a dream --we had coffee together and we were sitting in these wicker chairs. You'll see.'

”And I'll see too, I thought. I'll see if it matches the furnis.h.i.+ngs of my dream exactly, because I might have imagined it earlier when I'd wandered out there, so mystified and confused.

”As we walked on, past the front of the house, as I looked up at the reddened and darkening sky, I felt the panic again.

”But I drove it away. Time for something convivial and I was ready for it.

”Quickly I searched for Goblin. Come with us, be with us. Come with us, be with us. I tried to smile at him, but I think he knew my mult.i.tude of fears. He could read my face if not my mind.” I tried to smile at him, but I think he knew my mult.i.tude of fears. He could read my face if not my mind.”

27.

”AS SOON AS I SAW the ensemble of white wicker tables and chairs I recognized them again as the setting in my dream. It sent the chills up me and the panic came again in a brilliant wave, almost causing my teeth to chatter.

”I could hear Rebecca's voice in my head and I was afraid I was going to get dizzy. When I had described these dizzy states to the doctors at Mayfair Medical they had spoken of small seizures.

”But how could such an explanation account for this --furniture duplicating that which I had only seen well in a dream? The fact was the seizure theory accommodated nothing.

” 'Mona, my darling love,' I said as we approached the table, 'I need you.'

” 'What you need more than anything in the world,' she said, 'is to be with Stirling Oliver.' But I could see the pa.s.sion in her eyes; I could see that she was holding back. I could see the evidence of my progress with her.

” 'And what we all need is supper,' said Aunt Queen, who greeted me with a kiss and then planted one on Mona's cheek also.

” 'You know, dear,' said Aunt Queen, 'you really are quite beautiful.'

”Aunt Queen had decked herself out in a sack dress of beige satin, long strands of pearls, a sh.e.l.l cameo at her throat and the most glittering spike heels I'd seen ever. The band across her toes was studded with diamonds and the brilliantly wrought cameo of Apollo with his lyre at her neck was surrounded by tiny diamonds also.

”The entire supper arrangement was illuminated by soft floodlights attached to the side of the house and also by a ring of candles in hurricane lamps. The wicker was exceptionally detailed and well constructed --what an antique dealer would have given a small fortune to have --and as I studied it the atmosphere of the dream returned to me. Rebecca said in my ear, Red-haired b.i.t.c.h Red-haired b.i.t.c.h. I tasted dream coffee. The chills were quietly pa.s.sing over me. A wave of terror pa.s.sed over me. A life for my life. A A life for my life. A death for my death. death for my death.

”We were seated at once in the newly painted peac.o.c.k chairs, and yes, I realized, Goblin's place was there to my left as it always was, and I had not even thought to ask for it.

”My mind and body were aswim with sensations. Merely glancing at Mona on my right side made me want to carry her up to bed. And then a dull misery from Rebecca's dream kept breaking through. Go into the Light Go into the Light, I silently prayed. I tried hard to focus on what was around me. I had to be a man for Mona. And this was no place to become a centaur.

”Jasmine, got up exquisitely in a tiny-waisted violet suit with a frothy white blouse, brought the tarragon chicken and rice to us. Big Ramona, in her usual crisp white ap.r.o.n, was pouring the wine.

188.

”I could see that Aunt Queen had been working some kind of magic with Jasmine. Jasmine was experiencing some change in status. Jasmine had a glamour to her, and surely I wasn't responsible for it.

” 'And look at the shoes on these lovely ladies, would you?' I said to Nash and Mona. 'It makes me want to kiss their feet.'

” 'Eat your supper, Little Boss,' said Jasmine in an under voice. 'You're not kissing my feet.'

”Mona laughed.

” 'Nothing succeeds,' Nash replied, 'like excess.' He smiled. 'I must say it is a pleasure being here in these glorious surroundings. I've never heard the cicadas sing like this except here in Louisiana.'

” 'And how have you spent today?' I asked. 'I feel that, having fallen in love with Mona, I'm neglecting you, but discovering one's future bride can be very distracting. I've become a happy madman.'

” 'And well it should distract you,' he replied. 'And you mustn't worry about me for a moment. This is all so new to me, so fascinating. I've been quite fine. I took a long early afternoon nap and then spent a wonderful time surveying your Aunt Queen's fabulous collection of cameos.'

” 'Cameos,' said Mona. 'You mean you have more than what we saw in the living room case?'

” 'Hundreds more,' said Aunt Queen. 'Spanning my whole life, and you can well imagine how long that is. But here, a toast to Mona Mayfair, our lovely young guest, and to Nash Penfield, who will soon guide us on the Grand Tour, and to my great-nephew, who this day came into part of his inheritance.'

” 'Mona's going with us to Europe, Aunt Queen,' I declared. 'Is there any way we could leave before midnight? Mona will be going as my bride.'

”Mona was clearly startled, but she didn't laugh. She only beamed at me, and then boldly she leaned over and kissed my cheek. 'You would really marry me tonight?' she asked. 'I think you're truly and egregiously in love with me.'

” 'Absolutely and forever,' I said. 'But we don't have to wait for the ceremony. We could fly out tonight, and get married in Paris. Aunt Queen does it all the time --just flying out. We'd need your pa.s.sport of course, but I'd go back to the house with you --.'

” 'Darling,' said Aunt Queen, 'I don't think that's necessary. I think I see the Mayfairs coming up the drive now.'

”It was a giant black stretch limousine, just like Aunt Queen's car, crunching the gravel down as it lumbered to a stop before the front steps of the house.

”Mona turned around, then she turned back and she looked at me. The tears rose in her eyes.

'Tarquin,' she said, 'would you really take me with you tonight?'

” 'Yes, absolutely!' I said. 'Aunt Queen, you know it's what you want, that I go to Europe, that I be educated! Nash, you can guide and tutor all of us.' I would die for Mona, I knew it. I would fight everyone in that car.