Beauty and the Beast

by Laurel Cain Haws

  Tony, Kipper, and Jamie had finished their supper at about the same time and had been talking together.

  Kipper was twelve going on forty. He was slender with curly dark brown hair and eyes and a very serious attitude about everything. Kipper was really good at following instructions and loved running errands for everyone. He had taken it upon himself to always take the special soups

  William prepared for Catherine to her at Peter’s house, and that was what he was getting ready to do now.

  “Well, 111 see you guys later. I’m taking Cathy’s soup to her now,” Kipper told Tony and Jamie. They both said “good-bye” to him and got up to leave themselves. Then they went out the door as Kipper was getting the covered bowl of soup from William.

  Tony and Jamie walked together out of the kitchen doorway and went to the right down the tunnel. When they got to the fork, Jamie went down the right tunnel to find a place to get in some target practice with her new crossbow. Tony started down the left tunnel to go to his chamber and get some sleep.

  Suddenly, they both heard the impossible. Kipper had just come out of the kitchen with the soup for Catherine and had started to the left to go to Peter’s when he heard Vincent speak behind him. Vincent had come out of the tunnel across from the kitchen, but facing the tunnel from the kitchen, its opening was to the right of the kitchen doorway, so Kipper hadn’t seen him coming when he walked out of the kitchen. Tony and Jamie both whirled around and looked at each other in wide-eyed horror.

  Vincent spoke to Kipper again, and this time Kipper turned around and then was rooted to the spot completely dumfounded. “Is someone sick, Kipper?” Vincent asked again.

  Fortunately, William appeared in the kitchen doorway and took charge of the situation, giving Tony a few

  moments to come up with a plan. Vincent had his back to Tony, and Jamie was down the tunnel fork out of sight.

  “Are you still hungry, Vincent? Come in and 111 fix you something.” William coaxed. William could see Tony behind Vincent.

  Vincent smiled at him. “No thank you, William. You fed me plenty earlier. Actually, I’m not sure how I ended up here. I was headed for Father’s chamber, got lost in my thoughts, and wound up here.”

  While William and Vincent were talking, a plan popped into Tony’s head. He looked at Jamie, pointed at her, stuck his finger down his throat and acted like he was throwing up, and then laid his head on his hands pressed together. She got the message, spun around, and took off running. Then Tony stepped forward and asked, “Is that the soup for Jamie, Kipper?”

  Kipper looked vastly relieved. “Yes! I was just going to take it to her.”

  Poor Vincent looked really worried. “Jamie is sick? She’s never sick!”

  Tony responded, “She doesn’t feel well at all and went to her chamber to go to bed.” He thought to himself, “She looked pretty sick to me!”

  Vincent did just what Tony and Jamie knew he would. He said, “Let me have the soup, Kipper. Ill take it to her and see what I can do to make her feel better.”

  Just then, Tony heard the alarm on the pipes in the new code: “King at large!” He thought to himself. “That

  must be Father just now realizing that Vincent didn’t go there. Ill take care of that in a minute.”

  Vincent stopped with a puzzled look on his face, and Tony held his breath. Then Vincent said, “Pascal must be trying to work out a new code on the pipes, or he has invented some new game of chess to play on them. That king piece is all over the place!”

  Fortunately, Vincent was headed on down the tunnel and couldn’t see both Tony and William trying to keep straight faces. William called after him. “Well, you know Pascal. If he has come up with a new code, he’s probably using the game to test it. Good night, Vincent.”

  “Good night!” Vincent called back. Then he turned back around and asked Tony, “Tony, would you please let Father and Mary know where I am? Mary is still with Little Jacob.”

  Tony answered, “Sure, Vincent. While I’m in your chamber, 111 read The Elephant’s Child to Little Jacob.” Vincent smiled. “Rudyard Kipling’s The Elephant’s Child was the first story Catherine read to you after you came here from Chicago.”

  Tony looked surprised. “How did you know that, Vincent?”

  Vincent replied, “I was on Catherine’s balcony listening to her read to you as you went to sleep.”

  Tony was amazed, “I didn’t even know you were there.” Vincent explained, “You had not seen me yet, and I didn’t want to frighten you. I guess I had better get this

  soup to Jamie while it is still hot. Good night and thank you for relaying my message.”

  “You’re welcome! Good night, Vincent.” Tony answered.

  When Vincent was out of sight, William looked at Tony with admiration. “That was some quick thinking, young man.”

  Tony grinned. “I’m a Gypsy! That’s what I do!”

  Tony went to the nearest pipe and tapped out that Vincent’s next location would be in Jamie’s chamber, and then he headed for Vincent’s chamber to read to Little Jacob. Meanwhile, William took Kipper back into the kitchen for another bowl of soup for Catherine.

  Jamie’s and Mouse’s chambers were two of the lowest bedroom chambers in their world. Jamie’s was not far from Mouse’s. Jamie was in a panic because, even running as fast as she could, she would never make it to her chamber going this way before Vincent did. She knew very well that Vincent would come to check on her, and she had to get there first. Then she remembered Mouse’s express chute, which she could reach in seconds. She arrived breathless at the lion’s-head lever for the chute, pulled it, and then dropped like a rock through the trap door in the floor.

  She screamed out, “Look out below! I’m coming down!” Mouse rolled off his bed just in time to avoid being smashed as Jamie tumbled onto his bed and then

  bounced off it. “Vincent’s coming and I’m going to be sick!” Mouse just stood there and stared at her open-mouthed as if she had lost her mind. “I mean! Oh! Never mind what I mean! Just distract him for a few minutes!” Mouse looked completely bewildered, “Distract Vincent?”

  Jamie nodded her head furiously as she raced out of his chamber towards her own. Suddenly, she turned back around and ran back. The twelve-year-old orphans, Samantha and Geoffrey, were in Mouse’s chamber playing with Mouse’s pet raccoon, Arthur. “Geoffrey, please come with me. You can watch out for Vincent for me.” She looked at both Samantha and Mouse. “Don’t tell him I was here!” Then Jamie and Geoffrey ran out the door and down the tunnel toward her chamber.

  Mouse shook his head. “OK good! OK fine! Distract Vincent! Distract Vincent! How distract Vincent?” Then an idea hit him. “I know how!”

  Mouse stepped out of his chamber and started down the tunnel to meet Vincent. When Vincent turned the corner carrying the soup Mouse stopped him. “Vincent! Good! Coming to get you. Need help!”

  Vincent smiled at him. “What do you need help with, Mouse?”

  Mouse looked determined, “Need to move a table.

  Can’t do it alone! Can’t think with it where it is!”

  Vincent chuckled, “Well, we can’t have that now, can we? Let me take this soup to Jamie while it is still warm,

  and I will come back and help you.”

  Mouse looked confused for a second and then said excitedly, “Samantha can take! Then you help Mouse!” Samantha was truly an intelligent child and had quickly caught on to what Jamie was trying to do, although she wasn’t sure what had happened to make her strange behavior necessary. She was sure there was a really good reason for it, though. She stepped up to Vincent and held out her hands to take the soup. “Ill take it to her, Vincent, so you can help Mouse.”

  Vincent handed her the soup. “Tell Jamie 111 be there in a few minutes to check on her, OK?”

  “Ill tell her, Vincent,” and Samantha left with the soup.

  When Samantha arrived at Jamie’s chamber, Geoffrey was dutifully standing guard outside her doorwa
y. As Samantha entered the room, she found Jamie frantically shedding her hiking clothes, and they were strewn all over the floor. One shoe was in the middle of her clothes, and the other was nowhere in sight. The only things Jamie had taken off that had managed to end up where they belonged were her crossbow and quiver of arrows. They were hanging on their hooks in the middle of her other weapons. Samantha decided it would be best not to interrupt her by asking questions, so she just stood there quietly. When Jamie was finally down to her undergarments, she ran to her wardrobe, pulled out a nightgown, and yanked it over her head. Then she grabbed a canteen off her dresser and poured its contents out into her wash basin. She took the soup Samantha was holding, removed the cover, and poured about three fourths of it into the canteen and handed the now nearly empty bowl back to Samantha.

  Samantha finally couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “What on earth are you doing and why?” She asked Jamie.

  Jamie replied, “Vincent caught Kipper coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of soup for Cathy. Now that bowl of soup is mine. I just had supper. If I eat this much soup too, I will be sick!”

  Understanding dawned on Samantha’s face. “Oh, I see! Whose bright idea was that?”

  Jamie grinned at her, “Our resident Gypsy, Tony’s!” “Of course it was!” Then Samantha’s eyes widened and she couldn’t help but ask, “You are going to lie to Vincent?”

  Jamie looked at her and smiled lovingly. “Oh no, Honey! I really do have cramps. I just don’t usually let them put me into bed.”

  Samantha looked confused, “Cramps?”

  Jamie said softly, “something I hope you never have to find out about!” Jamie then jumped into bed and pulled the covers up over her. “Now, give me the soup, please.” Samantha handed it to her and stood by the bed while they waited for Vincent.

  A couple of minutes later Geoffrey stepped into the room and told them that Vincent was coming. Geoffrey then sat down on the end of Jamie’s bed. Samantha and Geoffrey were both orphans in the community. They looked like brother and sister although they weren’t. They were very attractive with dark wavy hair and brown eyes. Both of them were brilliant and could even beat Father at chess now. It was rare not to see them together, because they were best friends and fierce competitors with one another.

  When Vincent came in he looked deeply concerned. “Tony told me you were sick!” He looked at Jamie’s clothes strewn all over the floor. “You really must be sick. You are always one of the neatest people in our community!” He began picking up her clothes, folding them, and laying them on top of her dresser.

  Jamie protested, “You don’t have to do that, Vincent!

  Ill pick them up when I feel better.”

  Vincent didn’t stop. “It’s my pleasure. What has made you ill?”

  Jamie assured him, “It’s nothing serious. I just have cramps.”

  Father had always taught all of the children to be very open about anything that had to do with their bodies and biological functions and to be sure to report any physical problems they had. So, Jamie wasn’t embarrassed when Vincent asked, “Menstrual cramps?”

  “I’m afraid so.” She replied.

  “Father has medication for that. Do you want me to go get some of it from him for you?” He asked.

  “That won’t be necessary, Vincent. This usually doesn’t put me in bed. I just need some extra sleep, and 111 be fine.”

  He looked at her nearly empty bowl of soup. “I need to get you some more soup!”

  Jamie tried not to giggle. “Oh, no thank you, Vincent, this was more than enough!”

  He had finished picking her clothes up, and was holding the one shoe that had been in the pile. He wandered around her chamber until he located its mate on the other side of her bed. Then he placed the pair in the bottom of her wardrobe. He walked to her bedside and took the bowl from her. “Well, are you too old for me to read to you while you try to go to sleep?”

  Jamie smiled up at him. “Ill never get too old for you to read to me, Vincent!”

  “What book are you reading now?” He asked.

  “It’s there on the nightstand.” She pointed at it. Vincent laid the bowl down and picked up the volume and looked at it. “Wuthering Heights? That’s kind of a dark romance, isn’t it? You don’t think that you are doomed to wander these tunnels forever in vain, looking for love, do you?”

  Jamie laughed, “No! My Heathcliff is out there somewhere, and I’m not going to be stupid enough to ruin him by sending him packing when I do find him!”

  It was Vincent’s turn to laugh. “I’m sure that will be a great relief to him!”

  Vincent settled down in Jamie’s huge recliner and opened the book to where she had marked it. Samantha had moved next to the chair to read along with him. He opened his arms and she climbed onto his lap and settled back against his broad chest. Geoffrey had curled up on the end of Jamie’s bed. Vincent read for almost an hour before looking up. When he did, Jamie was sound asleep.

  Samantha looked up at him, and he said quietly, “We had better go and let Jamie sleep. Ill walk you up to your sleeping chambers.”

  Samantha pointed at Geoffrey. “Look, Vincent, Geoffrey has fallen asleep also.”

  “That’s all right, 111 carry him,” Vincent said.

  Samantha climbed off his lap and he got up, put Jamie’s book back on her nightstand, and tucked the covers around her. Then he gathered up the sleeping boy. He and Samantha left Jamie’s chamber and started the trip back up to the children’s sleeping chambers.

  When they arrived in the tunnel outside the girls’ and boys’ sleeping chambers, they were met by Angela Choshi. Angela was Father’s surgical nurse, but since surgery was rarely needed in their community, she also enjoyed being the orphaned children’s nanny. She was a very pretty and tiny Japanese woman in her late twenties with lots of energy. Her chamber was positioned between the girls’

  and boys’ chambers, so she could hear if anyone had problems during the night. She had just finished supervising everyone’s bath and preparation for bed, and the children were all in bed now.

  Angela smiled at Vincent. “I wondered where those two were! I see Geoffrey is out like a light. Lay him in his bed, Vincent, and 111 take his shoes off.”

  Vincent looked at Samantha. “Go get your nightgown on and climb into bed. Ill be in shortly to tuck you in.” Samantha smiled, “OK, Vincent.” She went into the girls’ chamber.

  Angela helped Vincent get Geoffrey settled in bed.

  Then they went into the girls’ chamber. All of the girls except Samantha were already asleep. Vincent tucked Samantha in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She turned over and curled up. Then he stood up and listened.

  Angela looked up at Vincent and asked, “What is it, Vincent?”

  Vincent looked down at her and said, “Someone is talking in her sleep.”

  Angela nodded her head, “That would be Lana. She just started doing that a couple of weeks ago.”

  Vincent walked over to Lana’s bed and watched the pretty twelve-year-old brunette as she slept. Presently she talked again, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. Angela was standing by him, and he turned to her. “She doesn’t seem to be distressed. I don’t think she

  is having a nightmare.”

  Angela reassured him, “I’ve never seen any indication that she has nightmares. She just seems to talk.”

  Vincent put his hand gently on Lana’s forehead, and she smiled in her sleep and turned over. Vincent smiled too. “You will let me know if she ever has a nightmare, won’t you Angela?”

  Angela smiled at him, “Of course, Vincent.”

  With the story over, everyone was filing out of the kitchen to begin their daily activities and to go to their school classes. Tall slender Olivia, with her long auburn hair a little more brown than Diana’s, came over smiling, picked up Luke from off Diana’s lap, and left with him.

  Diana shook her head. “Vincent is like a shepherd gathering up all of his
little lost sheep.”

  Rebecca smiled at that apt comparison, “Exactly, little lost sheep like you!”

  Diana echoed, “Yes, like me. Poor Vincent, no wonder he’s still in bed!”

  Rebecca added, “It makes him happy to do that, Diana. He loves watching over us, and he never rests until he knows everyone he loves is safe and well taken care of.”

  Diana got up and grabbed her coat, with the precious journal in the pocket, off the back of the chair. “Will you guide me to Vincent’s chamber, Rebecca? I need to talk to him and Father about the reason he had to come and rescue me last night.”

  Meanwhile, in his chamber Vincent was dreaming again. This time he was reliving the events that had left him abandoned outside St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan thirty-five years earlier:

  Vincent felt safe in his pretty mother’s arms. She had long soft honey-blond hair which he loved to stroke. Her laughing eyes were crystal-blue, and her voice was soft and melodious. She carried Vincent into a room filled with sunlight where the walls and roof were made of glass. Then she showed him a beautiful bush in full bloom with a flowering vine winding up through its branches. The sweet scent was intoxicating, and Vincent reached for the flowers.

  Suddenly, glass was breaking and his mother was screaming. Strange men with angry faces were coming toward them, and his mother pulled him closer to her and backed up. Then he heard the angry roar of a wild lion.

  Vincent’s father burst through the door from the main part of the house. His father looked like he did, except that his father’s hair was black and his eyes were dark grey. The men screamed in terror when they turned around to face his father. They pulled out guns and started shooting at his father, but that didn’t stop him from charging at them.

  Vincent’s mother took advantage of their confusion and ran out the door to the outside and into the city beyond in the frigid January weather. His mother was very scared and so was Vincent, but he stayed quiet as she ran. It seemed like she ran forever, but then she paused in front of a sign. The sign read, St. Vincent’s Hospital.