First Spat (3/3)
By Bernice Low
Devon meanwhile was finding it very hard to ignore the looks she was getting, primarily from Bess and Magus. With her long raven hair still wet from the swim, it had been impossible to hide from them what she had been doing. Devon squirmed - sensing the unspoken accusations that were dangling in the air like the sword of Damocles over her head. She noticed that Julia seemed rather withdrawn - perhaps she was missing Alonzo's company already Devon reflected. Or she could still be feeling hurt by what she perceived to be betrayal by Alonzo reminded a voice in her head.
Bess was recounting to her the sordid tale of Morgan's obsession with food - but Devon was only half listening. She was thinking about the afternoon she had spent with Danziger. Perhaps Bess noticed that Devon was not paying attention, or maybe, just maybe, she was a clairvoyant of some sort - like she *knew* exactly what Devon was thinking of. Promptly she stopped describing Morgan drooling at banoffee pie and pounced.
"How was your afternoon with Danziger at the pool?" she asked in an innocuous voice designed to foster a false sense of security.
Perhaps her swim had relaxed her - whatever it was, Devon let down her guard and remarked that she and Danziger had a very pleasant afternoon at the waterfall. She was about to relate how Danziger persuaded her to join him when she noticed Bess turning the oddest shade of purple. "You were skinny dipping with Danziger?" Bess said slowly - enunciating each word carefully. Devon stopped dead in her tracks as Bess focused an unrelenting stare at her. She also couldn't help but notice that even Julia's blue eyes had turned just a little bit icy.
"We...we...." Devon felt a sinking feelings in her stomach. "...didn't really go skinny dipping.." she lied furiously.
"What do you mean you didn't 'really' go skinny dipping?" Magus asked suspiciously. "Skinny dipping is skinny dipping.."
"I mean we... I... didn't do anything..." Devon said, watching the reactions of everybody carefully. Deciding that perhaps a change of subject was in order, "This is very good Bess..." Devon praised, hoping that would neutralise the evil stare that Bess was giving her.
Bess's eyes narrowed for a moment, as if trying to decide if Devon was being insincere before promptly dropping the matter altogether. To Devon's relief, the rest of the meal passed in relative silence though she couldn't help but feel that she was still under probation where Bess was concerned. She surreptitiously looked over to where Danziger and the other men sat. He was talking to Uly - probably trying to cheer him up. Everybody was behaving very strangely of late and she couldn't quite understand why. The vibes around the camp felt decidedly bad except between her and Danziger - in fact, things couldn't be better between them. For a moment, Devon was concerned. What she had perceived to be a minor spat between Alonzo and Julia now appeared to have festered into a full blown battle of the sexes.
Under normal circumstances, Devon would have felt the need to poke her nose in everybody's business and get to the bottom of it all before things got out of hand. But tonight, sitting under the stars on a clear blue night - she felt strangely at peace. She turned briefly to glance at Uly and instead, found herself looking at Danziger. Just then, he turned and for the briefest of moments, their eyes locked before they both turned away.
While Bess began to discuss medieval torture methods and the advantage of the rack over the thumbscrew, Devon curled up into a ball and wrapped her arms around herself, lost in her own thoughts. She only half heard Bess - her mind was somewhere else.
The men talked quietly with Alonzo canvassing opinions from the men as to how best to approach Julia. Danziger half listened - he sat by the fire, his knees drawn up to his chin and his long arms wrapped around his legs. He heard the water splashing and the waterfall gushing in the background. He could almost feel the cool water against his skin. He snuck a look at her and he knew that she too was not listening to whatever it was Bess was babbling on about. There was a strange smile on her face - a smile of secrets, a smile that gave away to Danziger exactly what she was thinking. He turned to watch the flickering flames of the campfire, not realising that he too was smiling that same secret smile.
***
One by one the Edenites turned in for the night - with warring parties sleeping in their 'faction-designated' tents rather than their usual beds and with unusual bed-fellows - up high in the celestial heavens, on the battlefield of the universe, Mars and Venus batted it amongst the stars.
***
Alonzo rolled over and buried his head under the pillow. What in hell's name was that awful noise? Julia didn't snore did she? Then, with a groan, he remembered where he was.He opened his eyes just as Morgan rolled over and grabbed hold of his left arm while still snoring away contentedly. Alonzo groggily shook his head and extricated himself from Morgan's hold with some difficulty. Morgan? What was Morgan doing in his tent - and what the hell was that grating sound? It reminded Alonzo of nails being slowly scratched down a chalkboard.
He looked to his right and saw Walman, his teeth grinding away. Alonzo shuddered as the grinding continued - Walman really ought to get himself checked out one of these days, he thought - that kind of grinding just wasn't normal. He couldn't understand how Baines would put up with the noise. Or how Bess put up with Morgan's snoring at such close range. His head felt heavy and fuzzy - Alonzo figured he probably got about three hours of sleep in between Morgan's snoring and Walman's grinding. Morgan sniffled on his right and tugged the blanket closer around him. Irately, he flung the rest of his blanket onto Morgan's sleeping form and decided that some morning air might clear his bad mood.
He grabbed his boots and dragged them on. Standing up, he felt every muscle in his body protesting - god, his back ached. As quietly as possible, he crept out of the tent. Stretching his cramped limbs, Alonzo walked slowly to the campfire. He might as well get the coffee going he thought.
To his surprise, the campfire was already going - and a lone figure was huddled up by the fire with a large thermal blanket. The dawn light and mist made it hard to be sure - but it looked like Julia.
"Morning.. " he said tentatively as he neared the campfire. He could see Julia had already brewed the coffee. Her hands were wrapped around the tin coffee cup, drawing warmth from the hot coffee. She gave him a small smile and Alonzo felt something inside him light up. A smile - and an early morning one too. But he sobered up quickly - perhaps she was just being polite.
"Mind if I have some?" he asked, gesturing at the coffee.
"Help yourself.." she said quietly, taking another sip.
"Thanks.." he mumbled and poured himself a cup of coffee. The bitter taste took a while to get used to and his empty stomach squelched as the acid brew hit his gut. "Nice and quiet isn't it?" he said, while mentally chiding himself on just how lame he was sounding. If you haven't got anything to say, shut up he scolded himself.
So they just sat on the dead logs surrounding the campfire in silence. Alonzo took another sip of the coffee which was starting to taste a little better even if it was without sugar or milk. And another sip. And a gulp. Pretty soon, there was nothing left to drink.
Oh hell Alonzo, just go ahead and say it - what have you got to lose? Probably spending the rest of this trip sandwiched between Morgan and Walman a little voice in his head informed. Alonzo decided he'd take the chance.
"Julia..." She looked up from staring at the ground, her blue eyes staring at him intently. "I never really meant to...for you to feel...dammit..." He looked down and gritted his teeth. Come on Solace, get this right once in your life. He looked up again.
He reached out and touched her hand. "I would never do anything to hurt you Julia... it's different with you, Julia - you're...special to me...I never meant to hurt you doc..." he said, the words coming out in a tumble and rushed. He looked into her deep blue eyes and hoped that she understood this was coming from the heart.
She looked down and his heart fell. Then her hand grasped his firmly. "It's not your fault Alonzo...I guess I was just a little insecure... and a little jealous..." she admitted. "I just... I don't know what came over me..."
"I missed you.." she added softly.
"Me too." he breathed. "Especially last night.." he said, smiling. Julia put her cup down and took a furtive look around the camp. She got up and huddled up next to him, throwing the blanket round their shoulders.
"It's still early - we could catch a few more minutes of sleep maybe..." she whispered in his ear. Alonzo could have sworn he saw a gleam in her eye. Sleep suddenly was very far down on his list of priorities. Very far down... Alonzo took a long, casual look round the camp then with a straight face, asked: "Your place or mine?"
***
Morgan squinted against the morning sunshine that filtered into the tent through a crack in the tent flap. He sat up, pushing his long hair out of his eyes and scratching his chin where a beard was starting to show. God, what an awful night it had been. Alonzo practically took up half the floor and Walman's teeth - now Morgan knew why the man was forever on watch duty.
He rubbed his sore neck and groaning, picked himself off the floor. He blinked at the watch on his wrist - it read half past nine. He hoped Bess had saved him some breakfast before shaking his head groggily - what on earth made him think Bess would do that for him? Her behaviour in the last twenty four hours made her the perfect running mate if Hecate was gunning for President. The Evil Dream Ticket they would be.
Somewhere inside his head a voice squeaked in protest. Nonsense - Bess is a wonderfully sweet woman whom you happen to love and whom you think the world of. Morgan slapped himself several times as Bess smiling face and nubile form floated before his mind's eye. He scratched his hair in frustration - hell, when was it the last time he had an early night with Bess and the two of them got down to some serious patty cake under the thermal blanket? Obviously too long. He must be seriously hungry thought Morgan as he stepped out of the tent - he was starting to have random thoughts.
He glanced around the camp and stifled a yawn. In the corner, he saw Julia and Alonzo talking quietly. Alonzo especially looked like the cat that got the cream, Morgan thought, scowling at the same time. His glance came to rest on Bess who was hefting a rather heavy looking supply box. To his surprise, he stepped up and took the box from his wife.
"Let me help you get that.." he heard himself saying.
He could see Bess features begin their transformation into a scowl. "Bess, sweetie - I want to apologise for my outrageous behaviour yesterday - it was utterly insensitive what I did. I didn't give any thought at all to how you would feel and that was selfish and boorish of me. Can you forgive me Bess?" Where the hell did that come from? thought Morgan. His wife's features softened. Morgan smiled weakly back at his wife - that box was getting really heavy.
"Oh Morgan... I guess I overreacted a little you know. I know you don't mean any harm when you're in your VR buffet hall..." She smoothed his hair back from his fringe. "I guess I just wanted to be appreciated a little you know?" she murmured and for a moment, Morgan felt a flash of understanding.
"Honey, put the box down - let's go make you some breakfast..." Morgan dropped the box immediately and followed his wife off to the make-shift kitchen.
"Morgan... honey?"
"Yes Bess?"
"It was so quiet without you last night - I really missed you..."
***
"What are you doing here?"
"Could you two stop bickering please?"
"Hey mind your own business!"
"You two are behaving like absolute children you know that?..." "Is that the best you can do goody-goody two shoes? Anyway, what *are* you doing here?" Mars scowled at the beautiful toga clad female that stood in between him and Venus. "Mars, did anyone ever tell you that you're a real cosmic pain in the ass? And Venus, girl, this whole business is really giving love a bad name...sister, what are you doing to the universe?Do you have any idea? I've had to go all out to sort out the mess you two have caused so far... " "Get to the point.." Venus said in a bored voice. There was definitely no lost love between Venus and the meddling intruder. She filed her already perfect fingernails and adjusted her toga for the latest off the shoulder look. Pity Mars was immune to her charms or she would have been off the bloody battlefield ages ago.
"You two don't know what kind of trouble you're in. The big man wants to see you."
"Me?" Venus feigned, raising her perfectly curled eyelashes in innocence.
"Yes. And don't think you're off the hook, Mars. He wants to see both of you."
Mars tapped a sandal clad foot in god like irritation. "Oh Hades" he cursed. "Now? I was just getting the upper hand here...hold on - your big man doesn't have jurisdiction here. We're Roman thank you... and I happen to know that Jupiter is on vacation on Earth somewhere."
"Think again sweetie. The unspoken rule is that while the cat's away, you rats don't get to play. The big man agreed to keep an eye on you lot while your boss is playing hooky down on Earth."
"Oh drat upon drat drat drat.." Mars groaned.
"Uh huh - and if I were you, I'd start thinking about borrowing your buddy Mercury's sandals for the day - he is real mad - uh huh."
"I suppose we better get going then.." said Venus flippantly. It took only the blink of a human eye for Venus and Mars to arrive at their destination - but by god standards, it was pretty slow.
"Mars, Venus - it took you two long enough.." "Sorry, but Venus was busy mussing with her hair.." Mars sniped.
"You mean you were busy trying to hit it off with messenger girl here..." Venus retorted.
"Shut up the two of you. Would you two like to explain yourselves?" Zeus asked, his irritation barely contained.
"143 year cycle feuds have been around for eons old boy - It's even marked on the universal cosmic calendar..." Mars said, shrugging his shoulders.
"What? Have you two any idea what havoc you've wreaked?" Zeus moaned.
"Hey.. the calendar said as long as we kept the influences away from earth, it was OK.." Venus said, as she sank onto one of the benches lazily, fanning herself. "Besides, I wasn't going to let those 143 years in the gym every Sabbath go to waste.."
"Hydra's Head, get me my flipping calendar.." Zeus bellowed. In a flash it was in his hand. Zeus reached into his toga and pulled out his bifocals. "I thought I told them to take this date out of the calendar...didn't we agree that after that last fiasco these silly Roman 143 year cycles would be removed from the universal calender?" he thundered, looking up.
"Where's the Calendar Keeper?"
In a blink, a little man waddled in, his toga flapping at his feet. "You sent for me oh mighty Zeus?" he inquired, a little nervously.
"Yes - I thought I told you that these 143 year fisticuffs were no longer to be inserted into the universal cosmic calendar...after the last business lunch I did with Jupiter at Madame Hydra's , we agreed they were a damned nuisance and a flagrant waste of godly time and powers." he stated.
"You did...." the little man quivered a little in his sandals.
"Then how in Hercules name did this get put in?" Zeus demanded.
The little man studied the calendar. Little beads of sweat started to appear on his bald pate. "Oh mighty one, I can only speculate - I think my PA made a mistake...she's Roman..." offered the little man.
"Bloody Romans - can't ever get anything right..." swore Zeus.
"Hey watch it twinkle toes...that sounded like discrimination to me!" snapped Mars.
"It might have been that new Windows 97...upsetting our Lotus calendar programme..." the little man whimpered on.
"Caius Gregorious - this is Olympus - we do not make mistakes. Do you have any idea what havoc your PA has wreaked?" asked Zeus, using the little man's full name - a sign of his terrible anger.
"N-n-n-n-n-o-o-o-o...sir..." Caius Gregorious shook and he fidgeted nervously with his toga.
"By the time I found out what was going on, Mars and Venus here - who were obviously unable to contain their zeal at the opportunity of being the dominant cosmic force for the day - had done so much damage, I had to bloody well send in Aphrodite to conduct the damage control exercise.." Zeus thundered, pointing at the lovely goddess standing between Mars and Venus. "You know what Aphrodite's power can do when used on humans - it can be worse than Venus after she's been listening to Elvis Presley singing Love Me Tender Unplugged - do you think I'd let her out unless it was a major emergency?"
"No sir, but surely the damage wasn't so bad - the calendar did say to stay away from earth.." Caius Gregarious said, trying a little damage limitation himself.
"Hades help me - Caius - you've got to keep up with these humans...get your head out of the clouds and look down on earth once in a while..." reprimanded Zeus. "They'll be in every corner of the bloody universe as we know it soon which is precisely why we ordered those silly 143 year cycles discontinued..in anticipation of this...it was the one damned thing Jupiter and I could actually agree on."
Caius Gregorius prayed hard that Zeus was in a good mood. He liked his job as Calendar Keeper. He'd heard that there was a vacancy down at Hades for a toll keeper. Rumour had it Charon was getting fed up with ferrying all those sent to Hades across the Styx for free and demanded a minimum wage or else he'd strike. Zeus agreed when Hades told him that if Charon stopped working, there would be a serious backlog down in Hell.So it was decided that everyone sent to Hades now also had to pay for the privilege. Caius Gregorius hoped that Zeus wasn't going to send him there. Hades did have frightful mood swings and that bloody rabid dog of his - Hades never thought to put on a leash when he took it ‘walkies'. Plus, it was incredibly hot down in Hades - not pleasantly cooling as it was on Olympus.And Caius Gregorius didn't think he could put up with all those doomed souls whom he would have to collect the toll from.
Fortunately, Zeus had become distracted and waved Caius Gregorius away as he peered into the crystal clear pool in the room which afforded him a view of life on earth. Caius Gregorius scuttled away gratefully while Zeus turned his attention to the two humans.
"Adair - dammit, why aren't we packed up yet?" "Packed up? We just stopped..."
"Woman - we've got a long way to go.."
"I would prefer it Danziger if you stopped using such a patronising tone with me.."
"OK, if you stop using that big boss tone on me.." "Danziger, I'll let you know that I have never, never treated you as a..... I've always looked at you as an equal..." "Yeah? Well I say we should move out while there's cloud and it's still cool. Once the sun comes out, the vehicles might over heat..."
Zeus frowned.
"Aphrodite - you missed two.." he said, pointing a finger at the two bickering humans in his pool.
Aphrodite skipped over and glanced into the pool. "No way Zeus - those two were the first two that I undid. They were still sleeping and I thought it would be better to unravel whatever Mars and Venus did while they were still asleep..to limit the effects of my powers..." Aphrodite shook her head.
"But they're still fighting.." Zeus pointed out. "Mars?" he growled, turning to look at the young god.
"Nothing to do with me..." Mars snapped.
Zeus sighed and looked at the watery vision and the argument that was going on. "I guess some things are beyond even the gods.."
-The End-
Chapter End Notes:
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