The Future Scrolls

by Fern Michaels

  Strong gusts of wind blew Dani’s hair across her face as she sat on a bench outside the United Nations. What the hell was she doing here acting like some adolescent schoolgirl who’d just been dumped by the captain of the football team? Life would go on. So would she.

  A tear forced itself from the corner of her left eye and rolled down her cheek. She wiped it with the back of her hand and looked up at the sound of the sharp rat-a-tat of the multicolored flags as they whipped in the wind.

  Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to help matters and it was starting to get dark. She was a long way from her snug apartment. At least there she could always lick her wounds. Still, she hesitated. She felt the need to stay outside in the cool, bracing air. She knew she should go home. She wanted to go home. She belonged at home. Still, she didn’t move. Instead, she reached into her bag and fished around for a crumpled pack of cigarettes. One cigarette while she let her mind loose. She had to pull everything out in the open and look at it. She held the small butane lighter close to the cigarette, the wind almost extinguishing the hardy flame.

  Dani dragged deeply on the cigarette as she watched a small girl on the opposite bench. A picture-pretty child. She looked as Dani felt. It was almost dark. The girl should be home safe behind closed doors. What in the world was she doing here? Dani frowned. Another ten minutes and it would be completely dark. She watched as the child rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, just as Dani herself had done minutes ago.

  Dani looked around, not a soul in sight. Not even a policeman. The child’s mother must be worried sick.

  Don’t get involved. What did that mean exactly? Don’t care about the next person. Do your thing and let the rest hang loose. She sighed. Well, it wasn’t the way she did things. She always got involved one way or the other. A weary smile played around the corners of her mouth. What was it her father had always said? That tired old trite saying, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” She tried. And for the most part it worked. Her father had always said, “Your mother and I did the best we could for you and your brother; now the rest is up to you. Use your common sense and heed advice, but make your own decisions. Keep your morals intact and hope and pray that the next person is doing the same.” How many times those words had come to haunt her. New York wasn’t the easiest place in the world to live. She had to compromise so many times. However, she sighed wearily, she had done the best she could, of that she was sure. Oh, there were times when she had to beat her breast in frustration and anger but, in the end, as her father said it would, her common sense had won out.

  I am a good person, she murmured, defending her thoughts. I know I am. So I will get involved. I have to, that’s part of my belief. Shades of the Good Samaritan straight from Sunday school. I’ve gotten my fingers burned before, but that’s the chance I’ll have to take. It’s what I believe in.

  Dani walked over to the child and looked down at her. “Can I help you?” she asked softly. There was no reply.

  “Are you lost? Would you like me to take you home?”

  No reply. The little girl looked up and stared at Dani. There was fear and dislike in the child’s eyes. Something else, what was it? Dani thought. It was gone so quickly she could not put a name to it.”

  She sat down on the bench next to her. “Did you by any chance run away from home?” she asked in a conversational tone. “If so, I expect there are scads of policemen just waiting to take you home.” Still no reply. “Would you like to have me drop you off someplace? I plan to take a taxi home. Come,” she said, taking hold of the bright plaid sleeve of the girl’s coat.

  The young girl jerked her arm away so fast one would have thought Dani’s gentle touch was a wasp sting. Obviously the child had been taught not to trust strangers.

  “Well if that is the way you feel about it, then I suppose you’d better stay,” Dani said gently. “I only wanted to help you. I have to leave now. You see, I have a most demanding friend who is right this minute at home waiting for me to serve him his dinner and if he doesn’t eat on time he gets quite impatient with me. There’s no telling what I’ll find when I get home,” Dani confided in mock horror. “Why, this time I wouldn’t be surprised if he slinks into the bathroom and knocks over my expensive bottle of Avocado Bath Oil and laps it all up!”

  At the child’s look of disbelief, Dani laughed and explained, “My permanent guest for dinner is a most remarkable and, I might add, very elegant cat named Bismarck. You can come if you want to. If not, then stay here. Goodbye, whatever your name is.” Quickly, Dani stood and started to walk away. Presently she looked down at her side and saw the young girl, her black patent leather shoes making tapping sounds on the hard concrete. Dani looked at the shiny shoes and the white knee socks in the dim street lighting and thought that she hadn’t seen a child dressed so well in a long time. All the kids today wore blue jeans and ratty sneakers. She wondered where the girl came from.

  Dani hailed the first taxi she saw and she and the child climbed in. Having given her address to the driver, Dani leaned back against the hard seat. She eyed the steel grille that separated her and the child from the driver. She whispered to the little girl, “I wouldn’t drive a cab in New York if they paid me diamonds at the end of the day.” She’d had enough of city traffic when she returned Stash’s car that afternoon on the way back from the airport.

  Maybe taking the girl wasn’t such a good idea. Good Lord, what am I going to do with her? Should I take her to the nearest precinct? Or should I ask her for her parents’ phone number and give them a call? I can phone them and they can come and pick her up. That’s what I’ll do, I’ll contact them as soon as I get home. She risked a glance at the tired, tight-lipped girl perched on the edge of the seat next to her.

  The cab made excellent progress across town and they were home before she knew it. Once she had paid the driver, she helped the youngster from the cab. “Come on, I live here,” Dani said, pointing to a large building.

  Two

  As Dani switched on the lamp by the front door, she noticed the little girl’s nervousness. She watched as the child’s gaze swept around the room. When she saw nothing to frighten her, she let out a sigh. As yet the youngster hadn’t uttered her first word.

  “You can hang your coat here,” Dani said, opening a closet door. She watched as the child carefully unfastened a row of shiny buttons and removed her coat. Meticulously. She took off her matching hat and stuck it in the sleeve of the coat. Her task completed, she stood back, her arms folded in front of her. Dani looked at the glen-plaid pleated skirt and the soft beige cashmere sweater with the Peter Pan collar. While her dress was neat, it was dated, and Dani wondered if it was a uniform of sorts. Nowadays, kids wouldn’t be caught dead in a similar outfit. Dani estimated her age at ten or eleven. “Come on, I bet you’re as hungry as I am. I make pretty good scrambled eggs, even if I do say so myself.” The little girl followed Dani and then sat down at the yellow-and-white table. Out of nowhere, a large tomcat leaped into the kitchen and proceeded to mew its delight at the sight of his mistress.

  “Hi, Bismarck,” Dani said as she opened the door of the refrigerator. “I know, it’s chow time.”

  At the sound of her voice, Bismarck started to purr so loudly that Dani laughed. She watched as he tiptoed daintily to the refrigerator and sat back on his haunches. He favored his mistress with a woeful, hurry-up-and-feed-me look.

  Seeing that his meal was in progress, the old tom licked his whiskers and looked around the bright kitchen. With one leap, he pounced on the child’s lap. With a lot of squirming and jostling, he settled himself, much to her delight. Dani laughed. “I see he’s found himself a soft spot. He loves to be held; he’s worse than a baby,” she explained to the little girl.

  Hurriedly, she spooned cat food into a small dish and set a matching bowl of milk on the floor. Next she opened some soup and poured it into a saucepan. Dani beat the eggs and within minutes she had a light, tempting supper before the chil
d. The girl ate greedily, never raising her eyes. She finished everything on the plate, and the last drop of soup in the bowl. Dani handed her a tall glass of milk and a thick slice of pound cake. She finished both the milk and the cake. Evidently, the child hadn’t eaten for some time. Bismarck sniffed disdainfully when no crumbs dropped at his feet.”

  Dani leaned back and lit a cigarette. “Look, I don’t mind being a Good Samaritan and bringing you home and feeding you. I don’t even mind you playing with my cat, but I have to take you home. Now come on, where do you live? If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to call the police. Now what’s it going to be? If there’s one thing I don’t need right now it’s a kidnapping charge. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  The child looked at Dani. Her large brown eyes pleading. Dani, inexperienced as she was with children, didn’t know what to make of it. “Look, you have to tell me. Otherwise how can I help you. I will help, you know. Wouldn’t you like to be friends?” she wheedled. “No, huh? Well I thought you were too smart for that. Now I’m going to ask you one more time; then I call the cops and you get a ride and a free ice-cream cone. One more time, where do you live?”

  “Brooklyn,” came the curt reply.

  “Brooklyn!” Dani looked at the young girl with shrewd eyes. “No, you don’t. Now let’s try it again. Where do you live?”

  “The Bronx,” the girl answered, hopefully.

  “Let’s try Park Avenue around 75th Street. How does that fit for size?”

  The little girl looked puzzled and seemed jittery. She kept fidgeting on the small kitchen chair as she stroked the gray and black tomcat.

  Quickly Dani reached for and grabbed the small patent leather handbag that rested on the shiny tabletop. The child screeched as the cat jumped from her lap.

  “That is mine. Do not dare to open it. It is my personal property,” she said in precise, stilted English.

  “Oho! So the cat does have a tongue,” Dani laughed.

  “What’s in this little bag that makes you afraid to have me look in it? I know, you’re a secret hashish smuggler and you have a secret coded map sewn in the lining,” Dani giggled, trying to put her guest at ease.

  A smile tugged at the corner of the young girl’s mouth. So she was human. Dani continued, “I am well aware of the fact that this is your personal property and I won’t open it if you level with me.”

  “What is that ‘level’?” the child asked, puzzled.

  “That means, to tell the truth. By the way, I really think it’s time we introduced ourselves. I’m Danielle Arnold, Dani for short, and I originally come from Brooklyn,” she said, extending her hand.

  Solemnly, the child said, “I am most happy to make your acquaintance, Danielle Arnold from Brooklyn. I am Maria Elena Magdalene Mendeneres, the daughter of Alexander Renaldo Mendeneres, and I am from South America, newly arrived in this country today. I am also afraid that I am lost. There was no one at the airport to meet me. My luggage appears to have become lost and I have no money. I wonder if you would be so kind as to, how you say,” she frowned, “put me up.”

  “Uh huh, yeah, well . . . Is that the truth?”

  “But of course,” Marie said seriously. “I do not lie. My papa would be very angry if I were to make a lie.” When she said “papa,” the accent rested on the last syllable.

  “He would, huh? Well, just where is this papa of yours that he lets you run around the streets of the wickedest city in the world?”

  “I do not know! There was no one to meet me at the airport. I had to go through the customs myself. You see, I had a ticket pinned to my coat. Just like a refugee,” she said proudly.

  “Where is this ticket?”

  “It blew away in the wind,” Maria replied.

  “I’ll just bet! What’s in this handbag that you don’t want me to see?” Dani asked as she handed the shiny black purse back to Maria Elena Magdalene Mendeneres.

  “Only my passport and my handkerchief. You can see I am quite destitute,” the young child said, trying to suppress a smile. “My papa will reward you handsomely for caring for me,” she said seriously. “You do have money to care for me, do you not?” she asked anxiously.

  “Well, I might have a few stray pesos lying around,” Dani grinned. “But I do work for a living. Unfortunately I don’t have a rich papa. That is how one gets pesos here in New York. It’s called hard work, honey.”

  “I will deliver newspapers,” Maria said dramatically, “to help buy food. You can have your chauffeur drive me to the people who will buy these papers.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Dani said, smothering a laugh. “I have enough money to feed you for a few days until we find your papa. Do you know where your father is staying?” The child shook her head. “Well, do you know what he is doing here in New York? Does he work here?”

  Again, Maria shook her head. “All I know is that he has most important business here. He made arrangements with my grandmother to send me here. Papa wanted me to see the United States. It is my birthday gift. We had plans to see New York and the world of Disney in Florida. My grandmother sent a telegram to my papa, telling him that I was coming here with a note pinned to my coat.”

  “Where is your mother, Maria?”

  “I have no mother. Only my papa. My mother was very beautiful and she came from the United States.”

  Tactfully, Dani changed the subject.

  “You said you had luggage. What happened to it? And don’t tell me you don’t know either. Let’s start out on the right foot, Maria. If you don’t lie to me, I won’t lie to you.”

  “My grandmother checked the airline and found a more direct flight for me to take. I was there when she sent papa the message.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “I don’t know why papa did not meet me. When I left customs and saw there was no one to meet me, I decided to take the limousine to the United Nations. I thought someone there would help me. When I tried to get out of the limousine, the man demanded money. I did not have any to give him, so he would not give me my luggage. And,” she said fearfully, “he said he was going to call the police, so I ran into the building and hid in the bathroom for hours.” She spoke pitifully, as she watched Dani to see her reaction.

  “Maria, what made you go to the UN?”

  “I did not know where else to go. The United Nations is supposed to help all nations and all people. I come from Argentina. I thought they would help me.”

  “Did you ask anyone for help?” Dani asked, puzzled.

  “Not exactly. You see,” she explained, “when I finished with the customs and saw there was no one to meet me, I took the car. I guess I should not have done that. I thought the fare was included with my plane ticket. My money is in my suitcase, twenty-seven dollars thirty-three cents,” she added proudly. “I do not usually have to worry about such things. That’s when my problems started.”

  “Hmm. How long were you sitting on that bench before I got there?”

  “Oh, hours, and I was so hungry!”

  Dani crushed out her burning cigarette and looked at the pixie face opposite her. Maria had beautiful olive coloring, rosy cheeks, large dark eyes—correct that, two intelligent brown eyes—and small, even teeth. She was going to be a handful, that was a given. Dani also had the feeling that the child was not telling her something.

  Suddenly, the young girl blurted, “I was afraid of those two men.”

  “What two men? I didn’t see a soul the whole time I was sitting on that bench!”

  “How could you tell? You were crying, so you did not see me at first. Do you have the unrequited love affair?”

  “You’re something, do you know that? How old did you say you were? And not that it’s any of your business about my love affair, unrequited or not.” Dani quickly lit another cigarette to cover her confusion.

  “I am ten and one half, and you should not smoke so much. My papa says it is not good for you.”

  “And what other little gems has your father spoken of
?” Dani was annoyed. She knew she smoked too much and had been trying to cut down. Her ultimate goal was to quit entirely.

  “My father is a very smart man. He almost runs the country single-handedly.”

  “Good for him. I bet he doesn’t smoke either, right?”

  “Actually, he does smoke but in moderation,” was the serious response. “That is the problem with vices, did you know that? They are not bad if they are made in moderation.”

  “Is that another one of papa’s idioms?” Dani shot back sarcastically.

  Maria nodded.

  “I don’t like your papa already. He sounds like a frightful bore. However did he get a child like you?”

  “I am a love child,” Maria replied innocently. “I was germinated right here in this wicked city.”

  “Wha—?” Dani choked on the smoke she’d just inhaled. “Don’t tell me your papa told you that?”

  “Oh, no. Grandmother told me.”

  Dani coughed and snorted as she swallowed the last of her cold coffee.

  “What time does the maid arrive?”

  “Honey, while you stay here with me, you are going to be the maid. So get cracking and put the dishes in the sink. We’ll do them in the morning. I don’t have a maid. I’m only a poor working girl.”

  “I can see that you are poor,” Maria said solicitously. “I will see that my papa helps you when he arrives. You must have a maid and a chauffeur.”

  “You know something, kid, you are absolutely right. Those are the two things I need most right now in my life.”

  Carefully, Maria carried the dishes to the sink and emptied the overflowing ashtray.

  “Now what shall we do?” Maria asked, friendliness personified.

  “That’s a good question. I really don’t know too much about kids. What do you usually do after dinner?”

  “My papa plays a game with me or we read together or he takes me for a drive.”