A Moonlit Task

by Tom Hansen

  The room was small, maybe ten feet square, with lucarne dormers looking out all four cardinal directions. The entire room consisted of wall-to-wall bookshelves, varying in height from two-feet tall where the roof slanted down at a sharp angle, to six feet in height. On these shelves was the oddest array of books she had ever seen. An eclectic mix of ancient unnamed leather-bound tomes and sixties science-fiction pulp novels, formed an alternating pattern. Leaning against them was an an old Nancy Drew paperback with the name torn off featuring a flapper-looking Nancy going up a staircase. She glanced back to the doorway and the stairs leading down and smirked.

  Leaning up against one of the bookcases was a pile of what Nancy expected the room to be filled with. The old and yellowing boxes seemed to barely be hanging together. A few had dried glue from what was probably World War II. Some had split, allowing books and magazines from after the war to fall to the floor.

  In the center of the entire room hung a single dingy bulb, suspended over a worn leather chair that faced the staircase.

  A small dust-covered side table sat next to the chair and on it sat a book.

  Like it’s waiting for him to come back and finish where he left off.

  Peter flicked on the light switch next to the stairway. To Nancy's surprise, the light bulb worked, sputtering at first then growing in luminescence. Nancy walked over to the chair in the center and picked up the book.

  What was Richard reading last?

  Before looking at it, she turned to Peter. “Breakfast is done; why don’t you go grab something to eat while I take a look around?”

  A gleam in his eyes from free food, Peter practically fell down the stairs on his way to the kitchen.

  She pulled the book out from under her arm and brushed off the cover.

  She read off the title in her head. She read it a second time, not believing the first.

  He was reading The Notebook.

  It was the signed first edition hardback that he had surprised her with for their twentieth anniversary. She thought she had lost that book.

  Overwhelmed by emotion, she carefully placed the book back where it had been, making sure to line up the edges with the imprint of dust.

  With that, Nancy turned off the light, and made her way back down the stairs, fighting back tears the whole way.

  Chapter Ten

  As Peter dove into his meal, Nancy decided it was finally time to start asking questions.

  “Were Linda and Anca … you know”—Nancy didn’t even want to say the word herself—“lesbians?”

  Peter looked up with an odd expression on his face. He shrugged. “I think so.” He went back to eating.

  “But they lived together across the alleyway from you?”

  Mouth full of eggs, Peter nodded again.

  Nancy waited until he had swallowed before asking her next question.

  “I was thinking about what you said about your father raising you by himself. He must be a good man to do that, to raise you without a mother.”

  “He did okay, I guess.”

  She paused, sucking in a slow breath to calm her nerves.

  “Peter, I know it’s none of my business, but if you ever need to talk, you know you are always welcome here, okay? I guess I worry about you. Anca seems very controlling of you is all and … I’m sorry. I’m probably reading into this too much.”

  Peter nodded, very briefly.

  She reached out her hand, touched his forearm, and smiled wistfully at him.

  “Forgive an old woman and her craziness.”

  Peter’s expression was contemplative, like someone trying to work out if they were offended or not. “Thanks for the meal, ma’am. I really should get working on those boxes. I … I should go.”

  With that statement, Peter got up and hurried upstairs.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid!

  Nancy cleared away the plates and loaded them into the sink for washing later. She heard Peter walking down the stairs and decided to go say one last thing before she left him alone.

  He carried a large box. Dust streamed out from behind him as he stepped off the staircase and made his way down the hallway to the parlor. His face was red and puffy.

  When she saw him, she lost the nerve to push him further. She decided to just apologize.

  “Peter, I’m sorry if I said something to upset you. It seems like you really liked Linda. I guess finding her in the alley got to me.” She paused, collecting her thoughts. “I can’t get the notion out of my head that she was worried about you. She gave me something to give to you. We don’t have to do it now. We can wait till after you are done. I just haven’t had the nerve to give it to you yet.”

  Peter’s face went white.

  Nancy let out a nervous laugh. “My life has been different since I met Linda. Things are happening to me lately and I’m not sure how to explain them. Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for being so blunt and forward. It was wrong of me to pry into your life.”

  The box started to slip from his grasp, but he caught it and put it down at his feet. “She was a really nice lady. I’m sorry she died.” His face was awash with so much pent-up emotion that Nancy wanted to give him a hug, but she resisted. She was already pressing him enough.

  He turned back to look out to the hallway. “I should get going on more boxes.” He thumbed behind him then turned and started back toward the staircase. He stopped right before the corner in the hallway and pivoted back around.

  “Nancy?”

  Shocked that he used her first name, she smiled and looked up at him, hands clasped together in anticipation.

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you for this job. It means a lot to me. I haven’t had a lot of friends since I got here and, well, some people I thought were my friends turned out to just want to use me. It’s nice to know that there are good people out there. I’m sorry for not telling you everything, it’s just that …”

  “You barely know me?”

  He shrugged. “It’s not just that. It’s complicated, I guess.”

  He turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner.

  Her heart broke in two at this young man’s admission. She sat down on the nearest chair as she suddenly felt lightheaded. What was going on with this young man? Why was a nineteen-year-old so troubled?

  “Oh, look at this.” Edna perched on the edge of Nancy’s Queen Anne chair, hunched over the growing pile of boxes. She delved into the second box. Dust flew everywhere. She started coughing a bit, wincing as the dust cloud puffed into the air when she opened the box. “More books.” Edna sneezed again. “I swear there has to be better way to deal with all of this. Can’t you just hire a service to take it all to the dump?”

  “And lose out on all this precious bonding time with my best friend? I think not. Besides, there are some good memories in these boxes.”

  “Really?” Edna held her head back and to the side while she delicately pulled another leather-bound tome from the box.

  Nancy laughed. “You’re not changing a diaper there. It’s just a book.”

  “Yeah, book. Can you even read this? This looks like it’s Russian or German or something.”

  “Really? You can’t tell the difference between Cyrillic and Latin alphabets? Let me see that.”

  Edna passed over the leather-bound book. Dust swirled out into the air and Edna sneezed again. “I gotta go blow my nose, maybe take a pill or something.”

  Nancy smiled and took the book. It was a lot heavier than she’d expected it to be. She ran her hand over the dark cover, brushing away accumulated dust and dirt from the years of storage. Stamped into the cover was a series of characters that Nancy was having trouble pronouncing. They read, Septuaginta Zagulajevi. Rather than trying to sound out the words, she opened it up to look through the pages. The pages inside were brittle and yellow with age. Nancy couldn’t read anything inside, but it looked Germanic to her.

  She put the book down, and pulled out the next thing in the box. It was a
nother book, but this time it was written in English. “The Canterbury Tales. Huh.”

  Edna came back in. “What’s so huh?”

  Nancy held up the book for her friend to see.

  “Oh hey, I’ve heard of that book,” Edna replied.

  “Heard of it? You mean you haven’t read it?”

  Edna snorted. “Of course not, who would have read something …” She trailed off when she caught the expression on Nancy’s face. “Well, I haven’t had the opportunity quite yet to read it.”

  Nancy handed over the book. “Well, now you do.”

  Edna pulled her hands back. “Oh no. Not this. Can’t you see this is a classic? I’m not touching that book. Besides, is it a free book in the public domain? If I really was going to read it, I’d pick it up on my e-reader.”

  Nancy rolled her eyes. “Those devices are just a fad. Real books will make a comeback.”

  “Oh, you’re just a Luddite. Time to embrace the future, my dear.”

  This time Nancy snorted. “Not likely. I’m perfectly happy to keep reading physical books.”

  “Yeah, but meanwhile you’re falling farther and farther behind in technology.” Edna shook her head.

  “Careful. If you keep rolling your eyes like that, they might get stuck.”

  Edna smiled. “Online dating is the way everything is going. You don’t want to be stuck in a more and more digital age as someone who doesn’t even own a computer, do you?”

  Nancy pointed to the corner. “I have a computer.”

  “Yeah, I gave it to you, and how many times have you used it? I have never received an email from you.”

  “Well, why would I email when we can just meet up anyway? Besides, if I’d just spent my entire life on the internet we would have never met. We met face to face the first time, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Edna smiled. “Well, I agree with you there. That was one crazy summer.”

  Nancy grabbed a magazine from underneath a book and put it in her lap. It read Boys Life, had a published date of February 1961, and looked ancient, like everything else in the box.

  She couldn’t stop thinking that this was all Richards stuff. Things he kept in the attic, a place she never went. “I’m still mad at him, but I miss him. I just need to move on.”

  “You do, but you need to do it in your own schedule.”

  “I know, but I guess I’m not ready to do that. It’s only been four years, and there were those postcards.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that he just disappeared on you. There is a lot of trust lost there. Even if he’s alive, it doesn’t change those facts. My husband at least had the decency to up and die on me.”

  “Edna!” Nancy put her hand over her mouth.

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I loved the man to death. But to be honest, I think our marriage was starting to fall apart anyway. Pretty sure he had a girl on the side. Anyway, it sucks, but it did end up being a good thing in the long run. You and I met, for one.”

  “Yes, but one grief counseling week in the woods doesn’t make up for that.”

  “Oh, we’ve had a lot more than just that week. That was just the beginning, as you so love to remind me. We’ve have a lot more that’s happened since then. Need I remind you about our little trip down south?”

  “That poor horse! I promise I never meant for that poor thing to get involved.”

  “He was fine. Besides, I’m sure he was happy to get out of his pen.” Edna winked.

  Nancy couldn’t help but smile. Her smile turned into a single chuckle, which turned into Edna snorting, and Nancy couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. The two abandoned all hope of progress on the book sorting while they cackled and jeered, eventually calming down.

  Nancy had to wipe the tears from her eyes.

  Peter entered the parlor, nodded briefly to the women, and dropped off another box.

  “Oh, he is cute,” Edna said after he had left.

  “He’s way too young, so keep your grubby little hands off the poor boy.”

  Edna nodded slowly, though her gaze never left him leaving the room. “I promise I’ll be good.”

  Nancy heard a crash, followed by a thump coming from the upstairs.

  She was on her feet and turning into the foyer and back toward the stairs before she even realized what she was doing.

  Panic flooded her as she took in the sight on the second-floor balcony. Peter lay on his side, motionless, pushed up against the railing, which kept him from falling down the fifteen feet to the hallway below.

  “Call 911!” she yelled behind her to Edna.

  For the second time this week.

  She rushed up the stairs as if in a dream. Panic filled her thoughts. She got to the top and took in the sight.

  Two ancient, yellowed cardboard boxes lay cracked; their contents, mostly books, spilled out across the landing. A broken lamp lay on its side. The evidence of a shattered bulb was embedded in the carpet.

  Peter lay on his side, back to the balusters, arms out.

  At least he landed on carpet.

  Nancy couldn’t see any blood and the glass had landed far enough away from him that she wasn’t worried about him being cut by the shards.

  She watched him for a moment to make sure his chest rose and fell, which it did.

  Thank God he’s alive.

  She stepped carefully around the broken glass toward the unconscious boy in front of her.

  There was a creak behind her and she turned to see Edna, who was taking in the sight.

  Edna let out a low whistle, her phone in her hand and pressed up to her breast. “They are on their way, a minute or two.”

  Nancy nodded and turned back to the boy. Crouching next to her fallen charge, she checked his pulse, watched the rise and fall of his chest for a moment, and inspected his head. No blood that she could see.

  He was lucky.

  What is it with Asians lately?

  Edna sneezed behind her. “Sorry, too much—” She sneezed again and proceeded to wave her hands around in the air, trying to dispense the clouds of dust threatening to infiltrate her lungs.

  “It’s okay. Wait downstairs and open the door for them. I’ll stay here. He should be fine.”

  I hope.

  Nancy proceeded to pick up some of the glass closest to the fallen boy. Sirens filled the air and stopped outside her house as she dropped the last shard into a garbage can just inside her bedroom.

  She stopped as she stepped out of her bedroom. Peter was on his feet, a wild look in his eyes to complement the crazy hair sticking up around him. He stood where he had fallen, his head swiveling back and forth like he was a trapped animal.

  “Peter? Be careful—”

  “You can’t control me! I know what you’re doing and I will fight it!” His eyes blazed with fury.

  Nancy froze midstride, her smile fading into obscurity as she took in the frightening sight of him and the threat in his voice.

  “Peter?” She fought down a sense of panic, trying to keep calm.

  Peter’s eyes locked on Nancy’s. It must have been a trick of the light, but they almost looked golden.

  He paused, his face scrunched, losing a lot of the rage it had held. His eyes darted back and forth, seemingly trying to process the scene in front of him.

  “Peter, you fell coming down the stairs. Are you okay? The ambulance is on the way just in case. No one is trying to hurt you.” Nancy noticed the worry in her voice even as she said it. He must have hit his head harder than she thought.

  Peter’s face grew dark and sinister, with a wry smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

  “I can see now.” His voice was ominous, deeper than normal. His eyes went wide. He hissed and ran at her.

  Nancy yelped and took a step back as he charged her, but Peter turned and took her stairs three at a time down to the first floor.

  Nancy heard surprised yells coming from below as he ran outside.

  Edna sneezed i
n the distance.

  Nancy, not knowing what else to do, sat down on the floor in the hallway and stared at the spot where Peter had lain. She couldn’t get the image of his eyes out of her head.

  He really did hiss at me. That only happens in movies, doesn’t it?

  She shook her head at the situation and picked herself back up off the floor when she saw Edna’s head appear at the bottom of the stairs.

  Better get downstairs and explain this to the poor paramedics.

  "No, left on Superior."

  "Are you sure?"

  Nancy was developing a headache. She should have driven. Instead, she had to be a passenger to a bat out of hell named Edna.

  "I've been here twice already. I know it's left."

  Two more turns, and they arrived finally at the intersection that held Anca, the Chinese Theater, and Peter, who lived above.

  “Park in the same spot. I need to go see if he’s okay.”

  “He sure seemed okay when he ran past me.”

  “I know, but I think he was scared. He wasn’t in his right mind, and I don’t want Anca to find him like this.”

  “Anca? What are you talking about?”

  Nancy didn’t want to get into the whole thing with her friend. She already felt bad enough that she had been keeping so many secrets from her, but she didn’t really have to time to delve into it right now.

  Soon though, can’t keep stringing this along by myself.

  “I’ll explain when I get back, but the short answer is I think Anca is abusing him.”

  “Abusing? Anca’s like ninety years old, how could she …” Edna trailed off when she saw the deathly serious look on Nancy’s face.

  “Trust me on this. I’ll explain later, I promise.”

  Nancy shut the door to Edna’s BMW a little too hard. She wasn’t mad at Edna. She knew her friend lacked serious details in this matter, but she also didn’t have the time to explain everything. Edna would just have to be okay with this right here, right now.

  She started walking to the alleyway when a loud bang of steel on steel echoed so loud and violent that it gave her pause.