1105

 "What are your plans once you are out of quarantine?"   

"I will have to look for work, since I do want to support myself.  Can I stay with you for a little while?"

"Erik, you may stay with me for a long while.  For as long as you want, provided you don't mind sharing space with the others, and I am sure they are going to welcome you."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously.  you and I are still family.  Remember?"

"Yes.  I remember.  Staying with you after Greta had gone to Sweden, I didn't want to go back, but Mom had already died and I was needed back in Sweden.  But I always wanted to return, to stay with you again."I

"As long as you are here with us you will be safe from them."

"They have a lot of power."

"So do we."

"Sven, he is not like us.  He is not human."

"Why do you say that?"

"Do you know how old he is?"

"From Kenny's diary, I would say that now he would be at least sixty."

"He does not look a year over thirty, and not just his face.  His body, his skin, his hair, his hands, his voice, his strength, his resilience."

"He is also fragile, mentally, I mean.  He was hospitalized here."

"And also in Sweden.  The guy is clearly a nut case."

"Just like your ex-brother-in-law."

"Sorry, man.  I didn't mean to sound crass."

"No offence taken.  Listen, I hear Carl calling me.  They want me to watch Star Trek with them."

"Phone me in the morning?"

"I will."

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

The Peacock 1104

 "Wait a minute", say I, for I have suddenly recaptured one certain incriminating detail and I must share it with my ex brother-in-law, "Didn't you tell me that Greta was married to a Turkish guy named Mehmet?  And they have a son?"

"That is also true."

"Well then, how can it be both, unless she is a bigamist."

"She is married legally to Mehmet, but he lives in a different apartment with their son."

"Then what exactly is Lindstrom doing in the picture?"

"I can't explain."

"What do you mean, you can't explain."."

"It's because I don't know.  They never tell me anything, and I was also forced by both, under pain of consequences, that I never disclose to anyone about Lindstrom's presence in my sister's life.  Especially you."

"Have they threatened you?"

"Yes."

"In what way?"

"They were going to have me abducted and sent to an uncharted island somewhere.  And they weren't joking.  Those two have connections.  Big connections, and I am quite terrified of them."

"Why did they want to drive you to the airport?"

"I had been eavesdropping the last couple of days on some of their conversations, and they seemed to be in the process of making contacts to get me to some other place."

"That island?"

"I don't know.  But Greta was complaining to Swen that I was not cooperating, and that was when they started devising a plan.  They were talking in their bedroom, and I had hid myself in the bathroom next door with the express purpose of eavesdropping.  I was afraid of being found out, so I quietly snuck out of the apartment and went for a walk.  i suppose this all sounds kind of crazy to you."

"Not in the least, Erik...not in the least..."

The Peacock 1103

 I do prefer talking to Erik in the privacy of my father's bedroom.  I still don't feel the need to close the door, but I want some sense of apartness right now.  Erik occupies a part of my life and my past that I am not quite ready to share, perhaps never will share, but here he is looking at me through the screen, appearing pale and tired, and certainly less than delighted.  

"Greta and Swen both wanted to drive me to the airport.  I didn't want them to, so I went by Uber instead."

"What did they say?"

"Nothing.  But that is also what I told them.  Nothing."

"You left them hanging?"

"I suppose that could be said."

"Have they tried to contact you?"

"You must be joking.  They would never follow up with me.  Instead, they are going to plot something."

"Plot something?"

"That's the way those two operate.  They are not going to that willingly let me escape from their control or influence.  They will think of something.  They always do."

"From what I've heard of Lindstrom he is both determined and resourceful."

"They both are.  But here, for a while, I have some breathing space.  And the quarantine might be just the blessing in disguise to really keep me away from them...

The Peacock 1102

 "Bad news?" wonders Carl.

"It's from Erik.  He says, "Slept all day because there's nothing else to do in this fucking hotel room.  Thanks for the books, I'm already reading one of them.  Got time to talk tonight?"

I text his number.  "Hi Christopher," he says.

"Hey.  Good morning."

"It's already morning in Sweden.  Bloody jet lag.  Where are you right now?"

"Sitting at a table outside Blenz on the campus with Francois and Carl."

"What are you having?"

"Lattes with Nanaimo bars.  All three of us."

"How original.  I'm envious.  I remember those Nanaimo bars.  They were so exquisite."

"Haven't you tried any of the chocolate I bought for you?"

"You bought me chocolate?"

"Didn't front desk send you up the bag I brought you?"

"Wait, just a sec...Yeah here it is, right next to me on the bed...Lindt!  And orange chocolate!  My faves!  how can I thank you!"

"You just did.  Can I call you back in half an hour when we get home?"

"I'm not going anywhere..."

1101

 "But that is exactly what you are doing right now.  By coming out here with us, Carl, and by purchasing that house today", say I.  "how are you feeling since leaving there Sunday with us?"

"Two hundred percent better."

"And you still don't think you can break away?"

"I've broken away."

"Just as I am doing from the holy mother church", says Francois. "Carl, don't feel guilty.  Enjoy this."

"But my sister..."

"She is an adult" say I.

"But not entirely."

"You mean to say her Asperger's", says Francois.

"I mean to say we've always been together."

"And you feel like you are abandoning her?"

"That would be impossible!" says Carl with poorly contained emotion.

"I think this is a conversation that you need to have with Melissa", say I, and now I am receiving a text.from Erik...

The Peacock 1100

 "Couldn't she just buy you out?  You are each part owners, aren't you?"

"It isn't that easy."

"She doesn't want to?" say I.

"Probably not.  But it is also a stipulation in my father's will.  That Melissa and I are to live there in perpetuity."

"And if you just get up and leave?" says Francois.

"We are still tied to the place.  He meant to keep on controlling us from the grave."

"But what if you were to just forget about it and put the place up for sale and get on with your lives."

"That is what I intend to do.  But I don't know if I can pull it off."

"But what is stopping you?" say I.

"My mother.  I am not going to know what to do, not until she is out of hospital.  If I can just give the whole place over to her, that would also set me free.  Or somewhat."

"You couldn't just walk away?" says Francois.

"That is exactly what I am afraid of doing..."

  

1099

 "Like", says Francois,"The house was never there."

"Exactly", says Carl, his voice suddenly charged with emotion.

"There is something unreal about that place", say I.

"Yes", concurs Francois, "Like it's built of fairy dust.  And nothing else."

"Like it's an illusion."

"I only wish", says Carl.  " I don't know if my mother can really take charge of the place.  "And until or if she's recovered from covid, I think all bets are off."

"Why don't you put it up for sale", say I.

"Melissa would never stand for it."

"Have you asked her?" says Francois.

Carl puts down his fork, letting it nestle against his half-eaten Nanaimo bar.

"I could never ask her something like that."

"Why?" says Francois.

"I'm afraid to."  And now Carl does look truly terrified of something...