327. The Twin

327. The Twin

Uncle Rich and I, Heather, rushed to Fancy Feverfew’s dolmen. Beau and Uncle Gent arrived at the same time as we did.  And I barely noticed, so nervous was I, that little Neferclari was clinging to my skirt.

“Oh, dear!” said the white kitten, turning into the fay child this Atshebie really was.  “I didn’t mean to tear your dress! My nails.”

“That’s alright,” I said. “Why didn’t you say you wanted to come, honey?”

“I did. But you and Great Uncle Richie were so nervous you didn’t hear me.”

The truth was we were all nervous. Except maybe for Uncle Gent, who, i think, already had an idea what he would  find.

“Fancy Feverfew!  It’s Gentlerain!  Remember me? We’re here to help!” he shouted into the cave.

“It’s that man they stuck in here!”  Fancy shouted back.

“Is he still in there?”

“In here, yes. But a man no longer.”

“He’s a child now, isn’t he?” said my uncle.

“Worse. He’s a baby. If he doesn’t wake, he might disappear. That can happen, can’t it?”

“I have no idea. But there have been rumours.”

“Are you going to slap his ass to wake him like the humans do, Gentie?” asked Uncle Rich.

“No way I am doing that!” said Uncle Gent. 

But before more could be said, Fancy pushed the coffin out of the dolmen. And being thus shoved poor Mr. Binky awoke, and went “Wahhhhh!”  Then, with his eyes wide open, he shrank one last time.

“Oh, by Og! He is going to need parents!” said Uncle Rich.

“Don’t you volunteer, Richie,” said Uncle Gent.

“If you want him for yourself, I can understand  that. I have three sons as well as three daughters. You have two daughters. That’s much less than me. He’s yours! It’s only fair.”

“Fate forbid!” cried Uncle Gentlerain.

I was already drawing Mr. Binky out of the coffin, freeing him from the enormous clothes he was almost smothering himself among. I wrapped him up in his now enormous shirt.

“I don’t think Mungo would want me for a father. It would be humilliating. I would feel awful if this happened in reverse. I mean, I wouldn’t want a Binky to be my father. And this one yet! With the problems we’ve had. ”

“He would give you a weekly allowance and make you pay taxes out of that,” nodded Uncle Richearth. “You would have to defy him like you did our daddy.”

“I didn’t defy anyone. I tried to reason with AEternus.”

“Not a good idea,” said Uncle Rich, shaking his head vehemently.  “AEternus can’t be reasoned with. He knows everything and is mysterious in his ways. A very difficult combination. Were you unhappy among us, Gentie? Wildgale sometimes resented me a little.”

“No. And neither was Wildie. That must have come later. I think we all got along just fine. The usual fraternal spats now and then, not more than normal.”

“Still, if having two parents is trying, having three must be worse.”

“Four. No. Divina was wonderful. Warm and loving and amusingly crazy. She always treated me like I needed her to. Celestial was almost as unreasonable as AEternus. I say almost because she never asked me to disown him. Excelsius told me he would be anything I wanted him to be to me. He never gave me any problems. I did get a little sad when I had to leave  you all to go up north every New Year’s Eve, but once there, Celestial kept me so busy I had no time to think. I learned a lot. No time to think, but curiously, to think for myself was the best thing I learned there. Even if she was dominating, she never mentioned AEternus. Never asked me to give him up and stay with her all year. When I had to go, she packed my things up in silence. And I went. I think she knew I would not give her up either. Maybe I secretly enjoyed being fought over. Being important enough for that. As for AEternus, when I told him off, I was almost seven, and it was about the poisoned garden. Most fay kids leave home at seven. So when he told  me not to try to intimidate him and that I could leave if I wanted to, I didn’t take him seriously. I never have. I knew I wouldn’t move too far off and I didn’t.He knew it too.  I was home by day and helping our mother like Celestial had taught me to. At night, I would sleep in the boathouse. I knew he would pretend not to know I was there. ”

 “In the boathouse? I offered to share my room with you. Do you remember that I did?”

“Of course I do. Sobbing and all because you thought he had kicked me out. And he saying I was making everyone feel awful. That was kind of you, Richie. Evenfall lent me his ship, a little yacht he had,  And there I slept. Until I married Mabelle.”

“And your brothers up north were as nice to you as we were?”

“Celestial told them from day one that she could only spend half the time she spent with them with me, so she would be twice as nice to me as she was to them. I don’t think she mattered as much to them as she did to me, so they weren’t jealous. Only boring. They had no interest in sewing or weaving or making cider. Or even beer. Practice fighting and watching the horizon. That took up most of their time.”

“You learned to fight too?”

“Like a fiend. It came in handy when I fled to the preventionists.”    

I was cuddling Baby Binky when I suddenly heard a scream.

“PEDUBASTIS! HELP ME!”    

I almost dropped the baby.

“What is it, dearie?” Uncle Gentlerain asked Neferclari, quite alarmed.

“You don’t listen to me! I have to give you the solution to your problem!” she exclaimed, but very softly. She does always speak very softly.

And then Pedubastis appeared.

“They don’t listen to me!” protested Neferclari, much affected. “They aren’t solving anything. They are just talking and talking about their childhood or old times. I can’t get a word in. I can’t do this!”

“Well, great uncles tend to get sentimental about the past. But you are about to do your bit! You yelled for me and that attracted their attention.You have it now. So say your say.”

Pedubastis took Mr. Binky from my arms and little Neferclari said, “Pedubastis and my uncle  Arley spoke at dawn. And he spoke to the Mr. Memorion person who said that Pedubastis was right and we could give this baby to Penny Glassywave, who is still at the Temple of Mayet and can say she has had twins instead of just one kid when she returns with her parents, the beach bums.”

“Penny who?” said Uncles Richearth and Gentlerain in unison.

Pedubastis then explained to these gentlemen who Pentafloris Glassywave was. And what her parents were like, and how she’d had a baby with a human who no longer had anything to do with her. They looked at each other and nodded.

“If my father-in-law says this will be okay…” said Uncle Gent.

“Alright, let’s do it. So we might be kidnapping Mungo, but fairies do that, don’t they?” said Uncle Richearth. “Abduct people. I know a lot about being kidnapped. But only as a victim. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Well, not always. Sometimes yes. But we will be doing right by this kid.”

“I would normally never do this, but Mungo’s family didn’t think much of him. They’ve showed no interest in him for years, possibly even never,  and who knows why they want him back now.”

“Those people exploit humans,” said Uncle Rich. “Obie says maybe guilt is why Mungo Johnny was so obsessed with them. A family of sea bums couldn’t be more different from the one he had. Maybe he will be happier with this new one.”

“In any case, we´ll hide him among them until he can reason.”

“You think he ever did?”

“I mean, until he knows what he wants. He’s spent  years lying in a coffin. Spending seven more years now living by the sea can’t be that awful.”

“By golly, we are doing this! Can I be the one to steal him and give him to Penny? I’ve never kidnapped anyone. And i thought I would be bored to death today.”

“Neither of you is going to do anything, gentlemen,” said Pedubastis. “The temple will do it for you. I will take the child to the temple and give it to Penny. That way I can say I found the baby by itself and nobody will be able to hold anyone responsible.”   

“Why is everyone more sensible than I am?” Uncle Rich asked Pedubastis.

She shook her head and we all went to the Temple of Mayet. Yes, all of us, because Uncles Richie and Gentie said provision had to be made for the baby and also for Penny’s possibly human child.

“Possibly human means possibly mortal,” said Neferclari. Everyone was very careful to listen to the child now.  “When are we finally going to know if he is mortal or isn’t? When he suddenly drops dead?”

Uncle Rich and Uncle Gent looked at each other. Uncle Rich nodded.

“Tell her,” he said.  

“He can’t be left alone,” explained Uncle Gent. “The kids of a  fay mother and a mortal man can be very gifted and have all sorts of special abilities, but that doesn’t mean they can’t turn into ghosts without the least warning. Somebody has to be there to save them from this fate when it is about to come about.”

“Even when they are adults?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Uncle Gent. “Just eating our food doesn’t guarantee immortality. That’s why we ask them not to visit the mortal world. Especially unaccompanied. That is where they are most likely to drop dead, all of a sudden, unless  one of us notices something is wrong and hauls them back to fairyland and stuffs food in their mouths in time. Otherwise, they die in a heartbeat. But in the worst of cases they become ghosts, Clari, so it’s not as definite a parting as it sounds.”

“This Penny is kind of cute, isn’t she?” said Uncle Rich to Uncle Gentlerain when we saw Penny.

“Oh, Richie!” said Uncle Gentlerain shaking his head.

“I only meant Mungo will have a pretty mother. Young and happy-looking.”

“Happy-go-lucky, most likely,” muttered Uncle Gent, “but if Belvedere says she will do…”

Pedubastis  had already spoken with Penny and they had reached an agreement and all Uncle Gent had to do was give Penny the coat with a pocket that is always full of gold coins she had a right to, even if she wasn’t going to live in Apple Island. He also gave her two wee coats, just like hers, but tiny, and told her not to give them to the kids until they were seven, though he would drop by her hut by the sea to see how things were going now and again. And she was to call if she needed anything.   

“His name is Mungo John,” said Uncle Richie to Penny. “But since he’s to be in hiding and live incognito, I think you should call him something different.”

“This one is Sunny,” said Penny, pointing at her son. “So maybe I should call this other one Moony.”

“As long as he doesn’t turn into a lunatic,” said Uncle Richie.

“Don’t go into that now,” said Uncle Gent. “Everything will work out fine. The Mnemosinite himself says so. At the first sign of a problem, you call me. I already said that, Penny.”