American Savage

by Matt Whyman

  ‘Sorry!’ he cried, on rushing past Felicia. Even if she’d heard his admission, frankly she looked more upset by the mess.

  ‘OK, cool down, fellas!’ he heard her order the team in a voice that sounded more like a battle cry. Glancing over his shoulder, Ivan caught sight of Felicia stepping out to block their path, along with several other football moms. All of them appeared to have summoned some inner warrior queen as they faced down Bryce, Chad and Ryan and the rest of the team behind them. ‘Do you know how hard we’ve worked to lay on this spread?’ Felicia screamed. ‘Now you three clean up this mess and then return to your refreshments. Nobody leaves until you’ve finished my flapjacks!’

  It was Crystal who led the flight through the corridor, heading away from the pitch before barrelling into the sunshine outside the front of the school. Ivan ran close behind, holding his bag to his chest with the gerbil uppermost in his mind. He could’ve handled a beating, if that’s what it had come to, but there was no way he could let Tinky Dinks suffer, he thought, as they fled through the gates. Crystal led the way to the corner of the block, and only stopped after checking that Ryan, Bryce and Chad weren’t in pursuit. Ivan pulled up alongside her, panting as much as she was, and then gasped when she slapped his cheek hard.

  ‘What were you thinking?’ she yelled at him, and held up the sandwich she had taken. ‘I had a bad feeling about these, and when you left the match it fell into place.’

  ‘They deserved it,’ said Ivan with a shrug, despite smarting from where he had been struck. ‘Who are those guys to stop me from fitting in?’

  ‘Ivan, if you want to be accepted, just be comfortable with who you are. Poisoning people is only going to earn you attention for all the wrong reasons.’

  The boy heard what Crystal had to say. It was hard to swallow, but she was right. If he was going to be himself in the one place where that was possible – locked away in the villa with a family that shared his taste for human flesh – then it was important to keep out of trouble. It didn’t ease his desire to get even with those boys, but in this instance he recognised that he had been saved from himself. With some humility, Ivan took the sandwich from her and stuffed it into the side pocket of his bag along with the folded plate. Plunging his hands into his trouser pockets, he then kicked at the weeds in the sidewalk cracks.

  ‘It’s tough being me sometimes,’ he told her. ‘I want to do the right thing, but it always ends up wrong.’

  ‘You can change that,’ she said, which earned his full attention. Crystal nodded at the bag on the sidewalk. ‘Why not start by sending Tinky Dinks back to pre-school?’

  Ivan took a step back, scooping up the bag protectively.

  ‘Why would I do that?’ he asked.

  ‘To prove to people that you have feelings. That you’re not some distant loner, like everyone thinks you are.’

  ‘But I’d just get into trouble.’

  ‘For what?’ asked Crystal. ‘For looking after a defenceless creature that had escaped from its cage? For feeding and housing him all this time? For showing him you’re capable of love?’

  Ivan responded with a blink of surprise and a little shiver. Nobody had ever used that word around him apart from his mother, and she always did so in a way that meant well but left him feeling suffocated. This time, however, it seemed to make his heart beat with what he could only describe as pride. The boy crouched beside the bag. Gently, he scooped Tinky Dinks into the palm of his hand. The little gerbil sniffed the air, and then sat back to clean his whiskers, looking completely at ease in his care.

  ‘So, you think they’d be grateful?’ he asked.

  ‘Overjoyed.’ Crystal tucked a bang of hair behind her ear. ‘Just think of all the little children who’ll be delighted that he’s back from the dead. Tinky would have a companion in the gerbil that was supposed to stand in for him, and you’d be a hero, Ivan. Not just to them,’ she said to finish, and smiled shyly, ‘but also to me.’

  The sun was on the slide when Angelica first spotted the boat from the jetty. As it sank away to the west, every ripple on the water appeared to detonate with light. It meant she had to cup her brow against the glare to count the people on board, and then torment herself until she could be sure that Titus was among that number.

  ‘Kat, why don’t you run inside?’ she said to the little girl clasping her hand. ‘Daddy and I need to chat.’

  ‘OK, Mom.’

  Before Angelica could make her sigh heard, Katya had turned and skipped back to the villa. It did little to ease Angelica’s growing tension headache. Titus had deliberately left his cell phone at home, as he always did on any expedition that might result in a body coming back with him. She understood how important it was that he couldn’t be traced to the scene of a crime, but it was torture for her to see the device on the kitchen table throughout the day. As the boat crossed the inlet, Angelica stood with her arms folded and waited. She knew that Titus had seen her, but it was another minute before they held each other’s gaze. Judging by his grave expression, it was clear he’d had a challenging day. That Nikolai Zolotov was absent from the boat told her the reason why. As for Lev and Kiril, seated on the bench behind her husband, they just looked shamefaced. Lev also seemed a little sunburned. As Titus slowed the boat and threw the line to Angelica, he simply shook his head at her, as if the pair were badly behaved mongrels who had ignored his whistle on a walk.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ he said, turning to address them once he’d shut off the engine, ‘I expect your families are wondering where you are. My advice is to head home, give them a hug and let them know you’ll be spending more time with them now you’re involvement with the café is over. I think today’s events calls it quits, no?’

  Both men avoided eye contact with Angelica, who stood aside as they left the boat.

  ‘For the record,’ said Lev, who had also been badly bitten by mosquitoes, ‘we knew the piece was jammed.’

  ‘We just couldn’t refuse his request,’ Kiril added helplessly. ‘The guy eats people alive, man. I didn’t see that we had a choice.’

  Titus took the key from the ignition. Angelica could tell that he was weighing up the explanation.

  ‘Well, you’re off the menu,’ he told them, with just a glance at his wife. ‘For now.’

  Angelica offered Titus a private smile. While Lev and Kiril could have no way of knowing that they were in the presence of the ultimate carnivores, she could tell by her husband’s tone that they had come close to not returning from the trip. Lev scratched at a mosquito bite on the back of his neck. Kiril had clearly taken precautions against the bugs and the sun, but that didn’t stop him looking equally unsettled in his own skin.

  ‘After you left us,’ he said hesitantly, ‘what happened between you and Nikolai?’

  Titus pocketed the key and shrugged.

  ‘Let me give you guys a lesson in life,’ he told him, removing his cap to rub his dome. ‘There are times when a bad thing has to happen so that some good can follow.’ He paused to step onto the jetty. ‘A bad thing happened today. As a result, The Lentil Rebel is a legitimate business. There’s no more dirty money to wash, or any need to expand into a chain. I dare say Rolan will be upset that there’s no job in it for him, but perhaps he’ll learn to stand on his own two feet now his uncle is gone.’

  Angelica focused her attention on Lev and Kiril. It was clear they understood that Zolotov was out of the picture and no longer a threat. Even so, they didn’t look thrilled.

  ‘But we made a cut of that money,’ said Lev. ‘What’s in this for us?’

  ‘If you want to put food on the table, you have to work hard for it.’ Titus narrowed his eyes at the man for a moment before his expression softened. Then he took a step back and Angelica found him addressing her as much as the two expats. ‘As it happens, I have a job-share you might be interested in. Having fought to keep the café under our control, I feel I should be more involved in the day-to-day running, alongside my wife and our lodger. As a
result, there’s a vacancy down at the condo. I’m thinking you’d both make capable property managers.’

  Lev and Kiril glanced at one another.

  ‘Maintenance we can handle,’ said Lev. ‘The tenants? Not so much.’

  ‘Let’s just say we lack the sensitivity,’ Kiril admitted, and picked at his teeth with his little finger.

  Angelica caught her husband’s eye. He nodded at her.

  ‘Titus will continue to handle them,’ she said, and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘He’s a people kind of person.’

  40

  Amanda Dias floated into the villa with the cell phone pressed to her ear and a smile painted across her face.

  ‘That sounds good,’ she purred, having walked home from the café in conversation with the young fitness trainer, who had popped in for lunch and stayed for several hours. Joaquín Mendez had seemed a little jittery when Amanda approached to take his order. Still, he’d settled down by the time she served him a plate of freshly baked mushroom croustades. What’s more, he went on to claim to relish every mouthful more than anything he’d ever tasted. Even the breaded veal his mother used to make, he told her, and that was a lifelong favourite. Amanda did wonder whether Titus might’ve set him up as a challenge, but by then she was finding it hard to resist his shy smile, toasted brown eyes and sense of humility in her presence. By the time it came to ordering coffee, she had dared to take a chair at his table and suggest they swap numbers. ‘Then I’ll see you tomorrow,’ she said down the line just then, clicking the door to the villa shut with her heel. ‘I’m looking forward to it already.’

  She closed the call just as Katya skipped out of the kitchen with a plastic dolly in one hand. It had been the little girl’s favourite toy for years, as was evident from the threadbare dress and chewed limbs.

  ‘Dad is home,’ she told the lodger.

  ‘With something to eat?’

  Katya shrugged and then shook her head.

  ‘How much longer do we have to wait, Amanda? I’m hungry.’

  Amanda knew just what she meant. Ever since experiencing her first feast, the sense of anticipation she carried towards each new one could sometimes feel intolerable.

  ‘Not long,’ she assured Kat all the same, and then turned on hearing someone trot down the stairs.

  ‘Zolotov is dead meat.’ Ivan was wearing a black cotton hoody and looked strikingly pleased with himself. ‘Trust me, I’ve taken care of things.’

  ‘Really?’ Amanda’s note of surprise was matched by a sense of relief. ‘How?’

  Ivan brushed past, heading out to meet his father.

  ‘You know that saying, “The surest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”? Well, you can reach his entire system with the right parasite!’

  Amanda looked down at Katya, who seemed equally perplexed. Without word, the pair followed the boy. They only had to venture as far as the kitchen to find him facing Titus and Angelica, who had just closed the back door behind her.

  ‘That sandwich,’ said Titus, looking gravely at his son, and crossed the tiles to the island table top. ‘Was it intended for Zolotov?’

  ‘Does it matter?’ Ivan looked to his feet. ‘In a few weeks from now he’s going to realise his days are numbered.’

  ‘I think he realised that a little quicker than you intended, Ivan. Thankfully, he’s no longer in a position to hunt you down.’

  Ivan looked to his trainers. Thinking back, all that mucking about with the meat over recent days might have left it open to a little bacterial contamination. Had the three jocks eaten their sandwiches, he realised, then within twenty-four hours he might have been a marked man.

  ‘So, maybe it was more potent than I planned,’ he said, ‘but at least I got the job done.’

  ‘Fortunately for you we’ll never know. Nevertheless you still can’t turn food into a lethal weapon!’ Titus had barely raised his voice, but suddenly it commanded the boy’s full attention. Amanda glanced at Angelica, who lifted her shoulders as if to signal that she was none the wiser. ‘Are there any more? We could have a public health risk on our hands!’

  Ivan responded with a sigh and a shake of his head.

  ‘I binned them,’ he admitted. ‘Along with my hopes of ever finding a place on the squad. With three players down, I was sure the coach would have to pick me to fill a place.’

  Immediately, Amanda identified Ivan’s intended targets. He had never talked about it to his family, but only recently she had overheard him in his room; muttering about a trio of tormentors and how he’d like to see them suffer. Given that he spent so much time in his own company, Amanda just assumed he had been acting out some fantasy to an imaginary friend. Even if he was talking to thin air, she realised now, all the promises of payback he had made were clearly for real. That didn’t make Ivan some crazed avenger through her eyes, however. Knowing how life had been challenging for him at times, it made him a victim.

  ‘You know, there’s only one effective way to deal with bullies,’ she said, drawing the attention of Titus as well as his son. ‘You just have to tell a teacher.’

  ‘She’s right,’ said Titus. ‘And if that fails to bring results then you come to me.’

  Ivan didn’t look convinced by his father’s offer. That much was evident to Amanda, who shared the boy’s misgivings.

  ‘With all due respect,’ she said to Titus quietly, ‘you’ve been struggling to bring back a feast for the table lately. All Ivan tried to do here is take care of a situation himself.’

  ‘So, what stopped you?’ Angelica asked her son. ‘Though may I say how deeply relieved I am that you didn’t just take out three members of the team. Your dad and I have gone to great lengths to teach you the values in our family tradition, and that doesn’t extend to recklessly poisoning people!’

  This time it was Angelica’s turn to bridle her anger. She took a breath and endeavoured to compose herself by smoothing the sides of her dress. By now, Ivan looked on the verge of tears.

  ‘I’ve tried so hard to fit in at school,’ he said after a moment, ‘but it always ends in failure, ridicule or worse – and I’m tired of it. I’m sick of people throwing things at my head in the classroom. I’m fed up with the name-calling and the threats. These guys – Bryce, Ryan and Chad – they’ve made my life a misery ever since we moved here, and I decided it was time to get even. Now, things may not have gone to plan today,’ the boy continued, his voice growing in confidence, ‘but it’s opened my eyes to something in my life that’s helping me to see things differently.’

  ‘What?’ asked Amanda, just as Katya reached for the comfort of her hand.

  ‘A friend,’ said Ivan, who wiped his eyes furiously as they began to gloss. ‘I had a friend all along. I just didn’t know it until Crystal pointed it out.’

  His admission was met by a long pause.

  ‘Isn’t Crystal your friend, too?’ asked Amanda, in a bid to sound encouraging. ‘That makes two, Ivan. You can build on that.’

  ‘But who’s the first?’ asked Angelica, who sounded astonished to hear her son admit to having any friends at all.

  In response, and with some care, Ivan removed his hands from the pouch pocket of his hoody. When he revealed a small but familiar-looking rodent nestling in his gently cupped palms, everyone marked their shock and surprise with a range of gasps and exclamations.

  ‘Mum … Katya … ’ he said hesitantly, addressing them in turn. ‘We need to talk about Tinky Dinks.’

  Oleg Savage dismounted from his mobility scooter in such a hurry that he dropped his walking stick on the drive.

  ‘Dammit,’ he muttered. ‘Being old and in a hurry is murder!’

  It took him a good minute to drop down on one knee to collect the stick, and only a little less to get back up again. Earlier, he had left Priscilla’s bedside after promising her that the restorative meal was imminent. As soon as he had learned from Angelica that Titus was on a boat trip with his Russian visitor, Oleg came to one conclusi
on. A feast was at hand.

  ‘Just in time,’ said Amanda with a smile when she answered the door to him. ‘We’re about to eat.’

  ‘Already?’ Oleg moved her to one side with his stick. ‘Then we need to collect Priscilla. We can’t do this without her.’

  ‘Not that kind of meal,’ Amanda said, to clarify, but already Oleg was making his way into the kitchen.

  ‘So,’ he said, on finding the family gathered at the table with bowls of pasta in front of them. ‘Where’s the dish of the day?’

  Titus glanced at Amanda, who returned to her chair, and then at Angelica.

  ‘Oleg, this is just a quick supper. There is no feast this evening, but you’re welcome to join us.’

  Oleg listened to his daughter-in-law’s invitation with his eyes locked on Titus. Despite arriving in a state of some agitation, just then he possessed the unflinching focus of a marksman with his finger on the trigger.

  ‘Did you finish him?’

  ‘Thankfully, yes.’ Titus set down his fork. ‘But I didn’t think he’d sit well in our stomachs.’

  Oleg broke his stare to address the ceiling in disbelief.

  ‘You took a life and let him go to waste?’

  Titus glanced at Ivan, who suddenly returned to his pasta.

  ‘The man was a little off,’ he said. ‘Quite bad, as it turns out.

  ‘Very well.’ Oleg supported himself with both hands on his stick. ‘If my son can’t provide for his family then I’ll just have to do it myself!’

  The way he spoke, his voice rising in volume and rage, brought Titus and Amanda to their feet.

  ‘Come and sit with us,’ reasoned Angelica, standing just after them. ‘There’s plenty to eat.’

  ‘But nothing to make us feel alive!’ the old man countered, already making his way back to the main door.

  ‘Oleg, we can talk about this.’ Amanda was first to reach him, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The old man shrugged her off, pushing on towards the door.

  ‘Get the oven on, Angelica. Someone has to put proper food on the table! What about the fitness guy?’ he asked. ‘Wasn’t he on the menu at one time? I might be slow on my feet, but he won’t outrun me on my scooter!’