[Continue, Food]
Harry and I stepped through the portal, not into hell but into the stone Tregaron hallway I’d departed from. Frida, barefoot and in a t-shirt, could be seen walking in the opposite direction.
“Frida, Hey, I’m back.”
Frida spun around, running to me, threw her arms around me, and kissed me good. Really good, I’d missed that even though it’d only been a few days for me. I wondered just how long I'd been gone.
“No wonder you didn’t show any interest in Sara, with this one waiting for you at home. She plumper in all the places you want her to be plumper.”
Even though Harry was hooked to my arm, I’d forgotten him at the unexpected urgency of the kiss. But his words and Frida stiffening at the word Sara, forced me back to reality, and introductions.
“Frida, I’d like to introduce Harry. He’s a potter who comes from a fake heaven.”
“Il tuo corpo è una poesia che vorrei leggere ogni notte. Frida, "Your body is a poem that I would like to read every night."
Frida actually blushed, the girl who ran topless into my bedroom before we’d ever met. Well two can play at the compliment game, my Italian may be a little rusty but I spent a year in France.
"Ton corps est une symphonie, et je voudrais être ton chef d'orchestre." Frida, Your body is a symphony, and I would like to be your conductor."
She laughed, “you two can sit next to me at breakfast.”
“I simply must hear more about my body.” Stared pointedly at me, “and who the hell Sara is.”
“Frida, how long have I been gone?”
“Aparently long enough to meet another girl named Sara.”
“I didn’t meet her, I was assigned her and I’ll tell you the entire story I promise, and this Italian lothario can back up my story. I believe the most important part of the quote you missed, let me repeat it. “No wonder you didn’t show any interest in Sara, with this one waiting for you.” Aside from being a cheap Italian don juan, he’s a great guy and knows that I treated Sara with respect and as a friend and ally. Was I gone a long time?”
“No, only about ten minutes maybe less, I watched you touch that disc and pop out of existence and I was debating following you, but I’m wearing even less than you’d been wearing in your last foray, when you’d come back burnt and near dead. So after much internal debate, I’d just turned around and was going back to your room to get dressed.”
“Wow time really does work differently in the tower, my first trip seemed like I was in there for a day, but weeks passed out here, this trip two almost three days in three and ten minutes passes, just the opposite of my first trip. Maybe Maz will have some kind of insight from a quantum physics perspective. And yes please go back to my room, but don’t get dressed just yet, it’s still so early. I’ll sort out a room for Harry and join you in just a few minutes.”
“But I wanted you two to duel over me in the romance languages during breakfast.”
“Oh we will Frida, there are so many Italian words for mountains and mounds and a ‘Culo’ that defies comparison. But Jaq freed me from slavery, and she deserves a reward, I’d suggest a thruple, but that’d be more a reward for me. So even though as I say it, I’m cutting my own heart out. Please give her a quickie, she truly merits it. Then while you have her senses intoxicated, during breakfast I can deliver the fendente, that finishes her off.”
Frida laughed, turned and started running down the hallway while she stripped off the t-shirt, giving us a marvelous view of her ‘culo’, yelling.
“If you want your reward Jaq, bring me my shirt.”
“What a marvelous ass she has Jaq.”
“Yes of course I realize that, but you stop hitting on her, will you?”
“But why Jaq, women love to be fought over, you know this. Just you wait and see, your encounter with her will be the most passionate yet, if it’s not I promise to never speak Italian to her again.”
“Just to be sure, this is not a bet, because I don’t bet over women like they were objects.”
“And yet Jaq, deny that she is the object of your desire, I’ve never heard you lie before so go ahead and deny it.”
“Come on, let's find you a room, after breakfast I’ll introduce you to a very pretty and kind maid named Skye.”
“Afraid of a little competition, Jaq?”
“Frankly yes, I’m a mess, I have no home, ADHD, no steady job, and the task of finding my grandfather, she could do so much better.”
“No she can’t, Jaq. You are pretty damn great, now how about that room, it’s tiring being in a revolution.”
***
I went to Harry’s room to bring him to breakfast, but his room was empty. Frida promised to meet me in a few minutes for breakfast. So I headed to the dining room, Harry and Frida were seated right next to each other, laughing and chatting like they were old intimate friends. Why the hell did I let him come here with me? I should just take him right back, but even if I could be so petty, there is no entrance to the tower, right now.
I grabbed some food randomly from the side board, put on a fake smile, I heard Frida’s laughter, ground my teeth and spun around, stalking to the table and a seat besides Frida, who gave me a quick peck on the cheek.”
“Fiore in piena fioritura”
I glared at Harry, I thought we had an agreement. Yes Frida had been more passionate than ever before, but there was no way that Harry knew that.
“Jaq, I was just telling Harry, how you exhausted me this morning. I’ve never felt so desired before, I loved how you took charge, you’ve never been so assertive previously. If you had so much pent up energy after two days, I might not survive if you stay away for three days.”
I blushed bright red, I could feel the heat radiating off of me. She’s already so comfortable with him, she’ll discuss her love life. I’ll never be enough for her.
“I missed you a lot.” I stammered.
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“Oh, I could tell, Jaq, I could tell.”
I blushed some more, and started to eat. I'd taken cantaloupe, I hate cantaloupe. I couldn't very well bring it back now. Damn ADHD, Damn Harry. I was going to say something to him. But I don’t want Frida to see how jealous I am.
“Do you want to be in a thrupple Jaq?”
Was this her way of letting me down easy? She must want to be in a thrupple with Harry, then she can slowly dump me.
“Because Harry said you told him that Skye was very pretty and kind, so if I can’t have you to myself, I’ll settle for sharing you with her.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant, I wanted him to stop hitting on you and I suggested I’d introduce him to her.”
“But why Jaq?”
“So he’d have someone to hit on.”
“He’s already met her Jaq, she brought him to the dining room when he got lost in the house. He doesn't fancy her.”
“Well what about Aya, she’s beautiful.”
“So that’s who you want to be in a thrupple with, the naked yoga teacher?”
“No, I don’t want to be in a thrupple with anyone, I want to be with you. I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“Oh, Jaq, so do I.”
“You do?”
“Yes of course, I do.”
“Then why are you flirting with Harry.”
“Because every girl deserves to flirt with a guy like Harry, Jaq. Someone she can say something innocent to and he’ll turn it into something filthy and whisper it only to her. I’ve always wanted a gay best friend, and if I can get him a date with Tigran, he agreed to be mine. Besides I don’t know what kind of advice he gave you or didn’t give you but you were wonderful this morning and I want more wonderful. For a lesbian world traveler you are surprisingly heteronormative.”
Crap, I can be an idiot. But he wasn’t hitting on her and she’s not into him, she’s into me, she’s into me.
***
I leave Frida with her new best friend and head for the maze. For two reasons I want to speak to Aya and I need to meditate. I move quickly through the maze now, I maintain my focus and am soon in the center of the maze. A fully clothed Aya sits in the lotus position. I’ll meditate until I hear her preparing to leave. After about forty minutes Aya quietly stands up.
“Aya do you have a few minutes to take a walk and give me some advice?”
“Sure, now or do you want to meditate for a while longer.”
“Now if it’s okay?”
We walked toward the edge of the hill overlooking Welsh farmland while we talked.
“Yes that’ll be fine, what would you like to talk about?”
“Gods, Demons and Dragons. Some kind of trickster god or demon I was arguing with said to me “Unless you have an extinct dragon in your back pocket, he’ll tear you and your friends apart.” So my question is are dragons more powerful than gods and demons?”
“Let me preface this reply by saying I personally do not know any gods, demons or dragons. So all my knowledge comes from myths and legends. Dragons and demons would tend to be on par, power wise because most dragons and demons are chaotic by their very nature. Gods on the other hand can be Lawful, neutral or chaotic. I believe the easiest for a dragon to take down would be a lawful god of good or evil. But why would you need to take down a god or demon and where could you possibly find a dragon? Surely they are extinct and possibly may never have been more than a myth.”
“I’m sorry, I know that I’m asking for your advice and this isn’t fair, but it also isn’t my secret to tell.”
“No I understand, if you can ever get permission from the source itself, I’d love to meet any of the three, god, demon, dragon. For an agnostic, rationalist, materialist you certainly seem to have a lot of supernatural encounters.”
“Yeah I know right, maybe I’ll have to rethink a few of my positions. The facts should determine your position, not like American politics where the process works in reverse.”
Aya laughed. “Yes, Jaq let’s keep to the facts unless you need a good misinformation campaign, then I’d suggest a cadre of Russian or Ukrainian hackers.”
“I don’t think the tower has access to the internet. Thanks for your advice.”
***
Next I went to find Collins, I wanted to make sure that Harry had a place here and Collins was the man to make sure that was accomplished. Because I was planning on going back into the tower if I could get all my ducks in a row, as they say.
I went into the kitchen, because the cook just always seemed to know where Collins was at any time of the day. I don’t know if she had a super accurate tracker on his phone or some psychic connection, but she always seemed to know.
Today was no exception, she said Collins was in the library reshelving books. So that’s where I made my way to. Collins was up on the library ladder. Granddad used to give me rides on that same ladder when I was a little girl, rolling me around the three walls of the library that the ladder was attached to. I’d face the books and wonder how anyone could possibly read so many books.
“Hi Collins, I brought a friend for the artist colony, I thought he’d make a good addition.”
“Yes, Jaq, Frida introduced him to me this morning, I have him all set up. He said you were going to talk to Maz about setting up a pottery wheel and kiln.”
“Yes I’m headed there next, do we have any out buildings that might be put to that purpose do you suppose?”
“Yes there is an old greenhouse we no longer use close to the barn, ask Maz if that would be alright, if not let me know and we’ll figure out something else.”
“Thanks Collins, you don’t by chance remember the last book granddad read do you?”
“God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”
“Oh, Hitchens' book, I loved that it’s so funny.”
“Any closer to finding the Colonel?”
“I found a place in there where he was forty nine years ago, hopefully I can get into the tower again tonight. It seems that after each particular region in the tower I get returned here. At least that’s what happened the only two times I entered.”
