by Paul Kater
is the reason I came to you in the first place. I have sent a few letters out for carriages, but I am not certain if there is room for everyone. If necessary, would you be willing to wait here in the airship, with me and Selma, until there is a carriage available?"
Lily wondered what she should do. Answer his question? Let him hold her hand? Slap him for taking her hand? Enjoy the sincerity in his face and the honesty in his presence? Her hand trembled a little as she put down the teacup. Now she was facing these problems as well! "No. I mean yes. I mean, I'll wait if there are not enough carriages." She looked at her hand in his hand.
"Oh..."
Lily did not miss the slight hint of disappointment in his voice as he slowly let her hand slip from his fingers. Silently she picked up the teacup again and quickly took a sip, hoping her cheeks would hide behind the cup. She knew they were red again.
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The airship touched down on the snow-covered field from where they had left. To everyone's relief there were plenty of carriages. Billy and the airship's crew worked dilligently to unload the luggage, making certain that everyone was handed back their proper possessions. Billy joined Lily in the carriage that would take her home. He insisted on helping her with her luggage, and she could not find it in herself to tell him no. It would not have been beneficial to keeping her cover up either. Most of the way they were silent, occupied with their own thoughts. Only when the carriage turned into the street where Lily lived, Billy noticed that the street was mostly clear of snow. "Maybe we've seen the worst of the winter now," he said.
"I hope so," Lily responded. The silence had been nice but they needed to shatter it now the journey was coming to an end.
The carriage came to a halt. Billy hopped out of the carriage. Lily envied him, she wanted to do that too, but her wide skirts and heavy coat prevented that; her keeping up appearances added to that annoyance. She let him help her as she left the warmth of the coach and went to open the door as Billy and the driver unloaded her suitcases.
"Mind me asking, miss, but what you have in here?" the driver asked as he hauled the case with Lily's Masked Woman outfit to the doorstep.
"A gun, and a whip, and big boots," Lily told him truthfully, "and also a sword and a lot of knives."
The driver almost dropped the case for laughter. "You really have a sense o' humour, miss!" He then carefully placed the heavy suitcase in the door opening, on the rug Lily had laid down for it. Billy had already taken the one with her clothes into the house and put it on the floor in the hall following Lily's directions.
"Will you be all right with everything like this?" Billy asked as he stepped over the case near the door. Lily nodded and thanked him and the carriage driver for their assistance. "You're more than welcome, Lily." Billy hesitated for a moment, then took off a glove and held out his hand. Lily hesitated also. Then she too pulled off her glove and put her hand in his. As he lifted her hand and kissed it ever so lightly, she could slap herself.
"Have a nice day, Billy," she said instead, "and give my regards to your uncle and your aunt."
"Most certainly," the young man said, holding her hand longer than was necessary. Then he smiled and turned to walk to the carriage.
Lily closed the door and leaned against it, her eyes closed. "Lily Marin, what's gotten into you?" she asked herself. "You are not falling in love, do you hear me? What if he finds out about the abomination that you really are?" But despite her self-punishment, a little voice in the back of her head told her that perhaps it wasn't all that bad, and she could not make it stop talking. The only thing she could do to ignore it was to build a fire in the living room, as the house had gotten very cold over these last days. With the fire doing its best to chase the cold out, Lily walked to the case holding her Masked Woman outfit. She lifted it up with ease. Then, for a moment, she was compelled to throw the thing through the hall, through the living room, through a window and out of her life - but that would not undo what had been done to her. She'd never get rid of her alter ego, that part of her that shared her body, no matter how far away she would throw the suitcase.
Lily couldn't wait for night to come. She wanted to be the Masked Woman again, who went out to pick some miscreants off the street, and visit Dr. Calgori. In the meantime she would unpack her luggage...
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About the author:
Paul Kater was born in the Netherlands in 1960. He quickly developed a feel for languages but did not pursue a career in those as his native language, Dutch, did not offer many options in that time.
After learning far too much about computers he started to make a living with them. During all that time he always wrote short stories; little things to entertain family and friends, but mostly himself with.
Since 2003 he's been writing more seriously, first posting his scribblings on an amateur writer's mailing list, and then publishing shorter and longer stories on the internet. Due to the international character of the Internet, all Paul's stories so far are written in English.
Paul currently lives in Cuijk, in the Netherlands, with his books and the many characters he's developed in the past years, who claim he is a figment of their imagination.
If you want to connect with me online:
My website: https://www.paulkater.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.kater.author
Google+: https://plus.google.com/114266956039786259104
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