Tangents, vol 1

by Rae Agatha

  Matylda began to wonder if her relationship was really what she wanted and needed. As 2003 was ending, she made a kind of summary of what the year had looked like. She had lost her parents, that area of her life was closed. She knew they sometimes spoke with Adam on the phone and that they never asked him about her. Matylda knew it was all because of the coming out thing. They might have someday come to terms with the fact she had left, but never that she was living a sin that, as they had been told their whole lives, was disgusting and destroyed any way to salvation.

  They also didn’t want her to return. They worried that someone might discover what she was and thus cover them in shame. Matylda had a new job she hated and was living in a city she felt absolutely no connection to. All because Dorota was fulfilling her ambitions and liked her life, all because some months ago she made the decision for both of them, concerning both of them, but without even asking her about it first. Matylda began to feel she had made far too many sacrifices. She wasn’t happy. She had to talk with Dorota about this; perhaps it was time for them both to move on, to follow other paths in their lives.

  On January 8th 2004, early in the morning, she was waiting for her plane to Madrid, knowing, feeling, it was the last time she would be going there, but she still had to figure out what to do, where to go afterwards. She knew Dorota was already back, the language school had their first post-Christmas classes on January 7th. She was still listening to the music, hid the photos back in her wallet, and fell asleep.

  ***

  “Go ahead, Matylda, spin the bottle,” Dan said.

  She grabbed it and twisted it. It stopped pointing at Rick.

  “Okay, I’m all ears,” he said.

  Matylda was looking at him, at Anna and Dan and had no idea what question to ask.

  “Um, I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders. “How old are you?”

  Rick laughed, “Okay, that’s an easy question, I’m thirty-five. And how old are you?”

  “I’m nineteen.”

  “Alright, so I guess it’s my turn now, right?” He spun the bottle. It indicated Dan.

  “What’s the worst thing about your job?”

  Dan looked at him seriously and took a deep breath. “I’d say the meetings. We regularly have meetings during which we debate the more complicated cases of compensations and we do whatever we can to make sure people get as little money as possible,” he said and threw a small rock into the water. It made a splash and sank quickly.

  “Was that the metaphor of those meetings?” Rick asked. He wanted to make it sound as if he was making a joke, a light remark, but it came out quite seriously.

  Dan smiled sadly, “Yes, you might say that.”

  “What’s the worst case you’ve had to deal with?” Anna asked.

  “Nah, you don’t want to know,” Dan said and thought about the widow whose husband died while banging the girl in the club. “It’s really nothing to be proud of,” he waved his hand. “So, I’m spinning it again, right?” He asked, pointed at himself and reached for the bottle. It stopped pointing at Anna.

  “Was it worth it? Brian?”

  “Oh my God, and here I thought we would be talking about favorite colors, bands or books,” she laughed. “Was it worth it? In the sense that I’ve lost my job and have been stalked by a lunatic French literature teacher because of the romance?”

  “Well, if there’s any other sense in it, then please, by all means, you can choose your options,” Dan laughed. He realized his shirt was entirely dry already. The sun was amazingly strong.

  “Okay, okay. Guys, you don’t know,” she said looking at Rick and Matylda, “I am having a romance with my student, who is over ten years younger than me. Because of the affair, I now have no job, he got suspended, and it turned out I was followed by my fellow colleague who is obsessed about me and was taking pictures of me and Brian and reported on me to the Academia’s board.”

  “Fun,” Rick said. He stretched his leg, it was hurting him again, he had no idea how to sit to ease the pain.

  “Let it swing from the pier, it’ll be good for the joint, it’ll relieve it,” Matylda said. Rick did and it really did feel better.

  “Thanks,” he said. “So, it’s illegal to sleep with an adult student?”

  “The funny thing is, I don’t even really know. I got fired for acting immorally as a teacher, that’s what the commission said. I don’t even know if there’s any regulation against it.”

  “Against acting immorally?” Matylda asked.

  “Against having an affair with a student.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, was it worth it?” Dan asked again.

  “I don’t know,” she replied candidly. “Honestly. I don’t think Brian’s, like, the love of my life, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not sure if it was worth it to risk so much, to lose so much just to be with him, not only the job, but the sense of security,” she shrugged her shoulders. She put her hand on the bottle. “So, I’m spinning now, brace yourself.”

  The bottle stopped at Rick.

  “Shoot,” he said.

  “Why have you become a writer?”

  “Do you want an official answer or the truth?” He smiled.

  “Both,” Anna said.

  “That would require double spinning,” he replied pointing to the bottle. “Well, the official answer is that at one point in my life I sort of felt the calling, the need to express myself, the need to be able to describe the world surrounding me using my own words, my own observations. I felt I didn’t really want the others to do it for me anymore.”

  “And what’s the true answer?” She asked.

  “That I had no other idea what to do with myself,” he started laughing. “Seriously. I mean I’ve always felt good at creating stories, making up characters, their lives, events, it has always been kind of natural for me. So, at one point in my life, I decided to try it out, to see if others would be interested in reading what I had to say. Just as simple as that.”

  “Well, I can tell you that with my students we rather focus on the official answer,” she laughed.

  “This is so weird, I mean, like totally bizarre that you’re telling me college literature students read my book. Two-way Mirror, right?”

  “Yep.”

  Rick shook his head with disbelief. “It feels,” he laughed, “I’ve always had this notion that students usually read the works of either very old authors or dead ones. From what you’re saying it seems I will be analyzed in colleges before I’m fifty.”

  “Well, what can you do. Don’t write so well and you’ll be fine,” she answered smiling.

  “Maybe the fact that Rick is going to write more books in the future means we’re coming back home, after all?” Dan asked and hoped he sounded at least a bit funny, but nobody replied.

  “Okay, guess it’s my turn to spin,” Rick said. The bottle stopped at Matylda.

  “All right, Matylda,” he started.

  “Maybe I’ll just save you time, all of us, really, and say that we might continue this inside because, check this out,” she said pointing at the sky. There was a gigantic cloud, covering the whole line of the horizon, piled up so high it seemed it was endless. It wasn’t dark, the color of the base was the mixture of blue and white and the whole core, the stem, was almost perfectly white. From time to time a single flash of lightning was visible and they would hear one majestic, but quite hollow sound of thunder.

  “Holy Christ,” Dan whispered.

  “We still have a bit of time, it hasn’t started moving toward us yet, it’s still piling up, but we need to start picking those supplies if we want to reach the hut before the storm begins.”

  “Anna, what time is it?” Rick asked.

  “It’s almost 11:00 a.m.,” she replied. “Okay, so Dan, we’re going, right?” Anna said.

  “Sure, I’ll go grab the boxes,” he replied and jogged to the hut. Rick got up; he looked at the others frustrated he couldn’t help in any way. Dan came
back and together with Anna they went toward the fruit trees. Matylda helped Rick get back inside the hut.

  “I’ll close the shutters,” she said and left him in the bedroom.

  “Matylda!” He shouted. “It’s already getting darker outside, if you close the shutters, it will be as black as night in here, we won’t be able to see anything!”

  Matylda came back. “Such clouds like the one that’s coming, very often cause hail fall and hail can cause a lot of damage. If everything here is so much bigger than it normally is, who knows how big the hailstones might be? We need to protect the windows.”

  “Right, okay,” he nodded. “Sorry I can’t help!” He said louder as she walked out the door. She came back again and looked at him.

  “Don’t be silly,” she said in her typical way and walked out of the house. Soon Rick heard her walking around the hut and first the kitchen window was shuttered, then his and Dan’s bedroom became dark. About two minutes later, the windows in the girls’ bedroom were secured, too.

  Rick was sitting on the bed. He could hear the wind becoming stronger, it was manifesting itself by single, but powerful gusts. The door of the hut opened and Matylda came in.

  “Dan and Anna are coming back. Just in time, the cloud is now really close and it’s covering the whole sky. I only hope the storm ends before night comes, otherwise we won’t see the sun for a very, very long time,” she said.

  “There are no lamps here, no electricity, it’ll be really difficult to sit in the darkness for so long.”

  “Who says we’re going to sit in the darkness?” She asked and walked out of the hut.

  Before Rick asked her anything, Dan and Anna came in and put two boxes of fruit on the floor.

  “Why is it so dark in here?” Anna asked.

  “Matylda closed all the shutters in case of hail,” Rick answered, “so that it doesn’t break the glass.”

  “Okay, sure, makes sense.”

  “I’ll bring some water, I’ll be right back,” Dan said, took the jugs from the two bedrooms and went out.

  “It’s getting bad outside, Rick,” Anna said. “The wind is getting stronger with every gust, it’s just nuts.”

  “Yeah, I can hear that,” he replied.

  After a minute, Dan came back with two jugs of water. Put each of them in the bedrooms and took the bowl that Matylda had used to wash the strawberries in. He left again.

  Anna came to Rick and sat on the bed right beside him.

  “I know it may be ridiculous, I mean I’m a big girl and everything, but I always feel a bit anxious during a storm.”

  “A lot of people have that, don’t worry,” he replied. “I can tell you that even though I am not normally afraid of storms, I must admit, I do feel anxious in this place,” he added and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re safe here.”

  “I sure hope so,” she said quietly. Dan came back with the bowl full of water, put it on the table in the kitchen.

  “I tell you all one thing, I only hope, there won’t be a tornado spawned today. Honest to God, I’ve never seen such a horrifying sky, it’s indescribably – malicious,” Dan said. At that point it had become dismally dark.

  “Now that’s a really poetic description, Dan,” Anna said.

  “Yeah, I realize it sounds ridiculous, but, truthfully, I cannot think of any better way of describing it. And, it’s beginning to rain.”

  The moment Dan said that they heard the first drops of rain on the roof. They were dropping slowly, one by one, lazily, unhurriedly, however, soon, a minute, perhaps two, later, there was a real cannonade of rain, which was now banging ferociously on the roof, shutters and walls. It was completely dark inside the hut now, the sun was obviously blanketed by the storm, but when a gigantic lightning bolt tore the sky, it was so bright the flash of light lit them all inside. A second later thunder, as loud as a mortar round, roared exactly above them. Anna screamed, Dan and Rick spontaneously looked up, checking the roof.

  “Where’s Matylda?” Rick asked.

  “She’s not here?!” Anna said.

  “No, she left just as you came with the fruit, and she hasn’t come back yet!”

  They were all speaking loudly even though they were all standing in one room; the sound of torrential rain, deafening thunder and blinding lightning tearing the sky apart one by one made so much noise they couldn’t hear each other clearly. It was pure madness, it seemed like nature was completely out of control, had gone totally berserk.

  “We need to find her!” Rick said.

  “It’s dangerous outside!” Dan replied.

  “We’re not going to leave her outside!” Rick shouted, took his amateur walking stick, got up and started walking toward the door.

  “Rick, damn it,” Dan shouted and walked after him. “Stop, you’re not going anywhere, not with that Judgment Day out there!” He said and blocked his way.

  “What if one of the trees fell on her, what if she needs help?! We can’t just sit here, do nothing and wait for God knows how long for the storm to end!” Rick replied. Another thunder roared outside.

  “You’re not going alone, we’re going with you!” Anna shouted.

  “Anna, you’re staying here,” Dan said. “You’re not going anywhere!”

  “I’m going, Dan,” she replied.

  “Where are you going?” Matylda asked. They all turned around. She was standing behind them safe and sound, looking at them a bit amused. “It’d be really stupid to walk out right now,” she added.

  “Where have you been?” Rick asked.

  “Out back. In the greenhouse.”

  “There’s a greenhouse at the back?” Dan asked.

  “Well, maybe not really a greenhouse, it’s rather an empty orangery. Come on,” she waved her hand inviting them to walk with her.

  At the back of the corridor there was one more wooden door. It looked rather like an old-style basement door, quite badly rotten, but still useful. The beams were knitted together and joined by three planks creating a shape similar to a letter Z. Matylda opened it and there was another room ahead of them. The whole place was as wide as the hut itself, its ceiling was made of glass, the walls were made of glass and wood. The floor was in a very bad condition, covered with decayed wooden boards in some places, but mostly it was just bare ground with some grass under their feet. In the middle of the orangery there was a small fire cracking the wood. It was circled by small stones.

  “I thought we might have dinner,” Matylda said and pointed at potatoes covered in embers.

  “Oh my God,” Anna said as they were walking in. “This is the coolest thing I’ve seen, and yet one of the most frightening ones,” she said looking at first at the fire and then up through the glass ceiling. The windows were being completely washed, there were literally gallons of water being smashed mercilessly on them. Through the glass walls they could see the lightning cutting the sky, leaving bright zigzags behind, illuminating the clouds hanging heavily, low above the ground.

  Matylda left them for a second and called Dan for help. He came to her and saw her struggling with the mattress from the storage room. They brought it together, put it on the floor near the fire. Matylda left again and soon came back with one of the jugs. She poured some of the water to a pot she found in one of the chests, added a lot of leaves to it, closed it and, using a long stick, she hung it on the top of the tipi-like construction piled above the flames.

  “Okay, I suppose the dinner will be ready in about half an hour,” she said poking the potatoes with a stick and sat on the mattress. The rest of them sat next to Matylda. The storm around them was still raging outside and Rick thought this was a truly uncanny moment; they were in the middle of a ferocious spectacle, taking place right above them, and yet they all felt safe and warm, even though they could clearly see the pandemonium outside. Judging by the lightning cannonade stampeding among the clouds, it was all far from over.

  “What are those leaves you’ve just put into the pot, Matylda?”
Dan asked.

  “Mint. I’ve found a lot of it growing around the fields here. I’ve also found chamomile.”

  “And it’s as easy as this? You put the leaves into the water and it becomes tea?”

  “Pretty much yes. It tastes entirely different than the one you can buy in shops, though. It’s peppermint, it’s sweater than the mint in the teabags.”

  “Isn’t it a bit dangerous to drink lake water?”

  “It might be, but the bacteria usually die in about seventy degrees Celsius – don’t even ask me about the Fahrenheit equivalent – that is why we’re waiting for it to warm up, it doesn’t even have to boil.”

  “So, Matylda, tell us who you are, how do you know all those things?” Anna asked.

  “I don’t really like talking about myself,” Matylda replied.

  “All right, fair enough,” Anna replied.

  They were sitting by the fire for some time, looking at the flames, mesmerized by their dance. Anna said that looking at it, she thought of a book she came across once. It was Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart. She asked if any of them had heard of it, but nobody had. Anna thought that perhaps it wasn’t published yet in the years they were all coming from. She said that one of the main characters in the novel is Dustfinger, the Fire-eater, a performer who is the master of fire, can command it, control it, make it both appear and disappear. Anna said that Matylda reminded her of him. Matylda was listening to her while poking the potatoes, turning them around to make sure they bake evenly, and smiled to herself. The Fire-eater. She liked it.

  “My girlfriend got me interested in camping,” Matylda suddenly said. They all looked at her and nobody said anything; everyone was waiting for her to continue. She was fascinating; her knowledge, her ability to act cool, her self-restraint they were all curious of her and wanted to find out something about her. She kept on talking, told them her story, about Dorota, about her parents. It was a new experience for her, to tell so much about herself to people she hardly even knew, but, she kind of felt she could trust them, she felt good around them, she felt safe.

  “So that’s my story, nothing special, really,” she sighed. “I think the potatoes are ready,” she said and started rolling some of them out of the embers.