The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  “I have noticed that you exhibit the symptoms of what is commonly referred to as a workaholic. That is unhealthy. And I must also deduce that you have a well-hidden violent side to your disposition as well. You speak like a soldier or a warrior. Have you ever manifested yourself in such a role?” He eyed her solemnly.

  “I have never gotten into the maze in any form. I am only saying that I feel myself more disposed to approach this civilization in that mode rather than labor under a delusion. And are you saying that it is unhealthy to devote oneself to one’s work?” She looked at him sternly. “I’ll tell you what is unhealthy. To engage in street brawls. To handle these disease infested rodents. To play emotional games with Maureen Fitzgerald and Samuel Morris. Those are potentially unhealthy pursuits.”

  “I see. Then you are bothered that I have interjected my influence into their arrangement?”

  “Yes. I am bothered because your attentions to Maureen Fitzgerald have caused Samuel Morris to interject himself into our private affairs. He is first and foremost a predatory businessman and he is after your checkbook, but more disturbing is his extreme jealousy concerning your effect on his fiancée.”

  “And what effect do I have on his fiancée?” Perry worked hard to keep the amusement from his expression .

  “You know perfectly well what effect you have on her. It is the same effect I have on Louis Parks,” she told him.

  “Really? Are you sure it’s the same? Have you been taking notes and making comparisons?”

  “Yes, I have.” She stood up. “I would suggest that you come to bed with me and take at least six hours of rest and stop all this nonsense at once.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on that, Angelica.” He looked up at her. “Feel free to lock your door, but I’ll take a rain check on your offer.”

  Angelica glanced at the rain pounding once more against the windows and frowned.

  “The rain should be ending soon and there will be no more tonight,” she told him. “The atmospheric conditions are changing. A high pressure front is moving in, in case you haven’t noticed. We will most likely be experiencing a dry period for the next several days.”

  “I certainly hope not,” he said and laughed to her growing consternation.

  “You haven’t slept in two days.” She turned to leave him. “You must sleep.”

  “From all that terror teaches, from lies of tongue and pen, from all the easy speeches that comfort cruel men, from sale and profanation of honor and the sword, from sleep and damnation, deliver us, Good Lord.” He stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “I will sleep on the sofa with the cat.”

  “If you become uncomfortable, you are welcome to share the bed,” she told him as she walked down the hall.

  “I would at least prefer to sleep, if I must lie down. Our bed has become unsharable.”

  Angelica stopped outside the bedroom door and looked back at him frowning for a moment before she disappeared inside closing the door behind her. The sound of the lock clicking into place made him smile and shake his head.

  Chapter Seventeen:.

  “Perry?” A timid voice called him from a nightmare wherein a huge muddy boot chased him across a narrow wooden bridge over a yawning abyss. He could not understand where he was or who was calling to him when he opened his eyes. The sky was gray above him with tiny pinholes in it. For a fleeting moment some dim and distant memory played tricks on him and he thought he lying on a bleak windswept plain with the smell of the sea in his nose and the screams of the dying in his ears. He blinked and the memory faded. He was lying on his back and his knees hurt. He fixed his eyes on the only object breaking the gray expanse. A triple light fixture of chrome and white plastic. He raised his head cautiously and was temporarily blinded by the brilliant sunlight streaming through the windshield of the Mercedes. He reached down and touched the toggle of the electric seat control and raised the seat to a more suitable position. He moved his eyes carefully to the right and saw the concerned face of Maureen Fitzgerald peering at him through the passenger door window.

  Opening the door was more of a chore than he had expected. And getting out was even worse. His head pounded. It must have been at least mid-morning if not later.

  Maureen came round to look up at him, frowning. “Have you been in there all night?”

  He attempted to unkink his back without making a big production of it and squinted at her uncertainly. The big Siamese stretched on the passenger seat and then slinked out the door to begin rubbing itself on his leg.

  “I suppose so,” he told her. His mouth felt as if the cat had slept in it.

  “She hasn’t kicked you out completely, has she?” Maureen asked and glanced up at the apartment windows.

  “Kicked me?” Perry’s mind was still in a state of confusion from the dream, the pain and the sight of Maureen Fitzgerald. “Oh no, she didn’t kick me.”

  “Is she still mad at you then?” Maureen laid her purse on the hood of the car and he realized that it was parked on the street and not in the carport out back. Where had he gone? He couldn’t remember.

  “This is not good.” He looked around. “Won’t you come inside?”

  “Oh, I don’t think that would be good either, do you?” Maureen’s eyes widened.

  “Nonsense.” He took her arm and picked up her purse for her. He glanced back at the cat. “Come on, Agamemnon. Time for breakfast.”

  “I brought your policy,” she told him as he virtually dragged her along the sidewalk. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “Yes, yes,” he told her. “I was suppose to sleep on the couch. With Agamemnon... the cat. I think. I did go out. Yes. I did go out for a drive. That’s right. I suppose we didn’t make it back upstairs.’

  “Were you drinking?” She asked as they started up the stairs.

  “No... yes. Not intentionally.”

  “Does she know you were missing all night?” Maureen asked and looked at the door and resisted going any further.

  He bent to check the mouse’s home before opening the door.

  “Come on in. Please.” He took her arm and her resolve to leave disappeared.

  He escorted her to the dining room and pulled out a chair for her. Maureen sat in the chair and was surprised to see the little mouse sitting on the counter peering at her curiously while nibbling on a piece of broken cracker.

  “Good morning, Paris," he spoke to the mouse and then to Maureen. "I’ll find Angelica,” he said and left her to go in search of his ‘wife’.

  Angelica was nowhere to be found. He called back down the hall to Maureen to wait for him and then went to change clothes.

  “She’s not here,” he told her a few moments later as he opened a can of cat food for the lazy cat who lay sunning himself in the light from the window.

  She stood up immediately.

  “Then I really think I should be going,” she told him pulling the policy from her oversized handbag. “I’ll just leave this with you.”

  “No, wait.” He frowned at her. Something was wrong. He touched her arm again and she sat down. He could not feel Angelica’s presence. “Don’t go.”

  “Sam told me that he came by to apologize to you,” Maureen admitted. He couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Where was Angelica?

  “Yes, he did,” he said distractedly. “He brought some fruit and a box with paper in it.”

  “He probably tried to get you to move your bank account,” she said somewhat disgustedly and watched him as he fed the cat and then reached to pet the mouse absently.

  “He did invite me to come see him at... where ever it is,” he said and blinked at her.

  “I’m sorry things are the way they are.” She smiled sadly. “I’ve decided to move out.” She continued when he did not respond to her.

  Someone was coming. Another unexpected guest. Perry brushed the cracker crumbs from the counter.

  “I have a nice house over on Broadmoor Street.”

  What was
wrong with him? He walked into the kitchen. Maureen got up and followed him. Make coffee. Make coffee. She watched him expectantly.

  “It’s sitting there vacant. All I have to do is move my clothes back there.”

  He took two cups from the cabinet and set them on the counter, then reached for a third and set it on the counter beside the first two.

  “I make a fair living at Paine and Litzman,” she continued. “I’m tired of Sam putting me off. I’ve been his fool long enough.”

  “Yes, of course,” he thought he should say something to her.

  “I have a confession to make,” Maureen almost whispered and leaned on the counter.

  Somehow he knew that Angelica would be very unhappy with Maureen’s confession.

  “A confession?” He tried to bring her into focus. She stood watching him from crystal blue eyes. So unlike Angelica, he thought.

  “Yes.” She smiled and looked down at her hands. “I hated to bring this policy over to you.”

  “Then why did you do it?” He asked in confusion. “I could have stopped by to pick it up.”

  “No,” she said. “It was no bother.”

  “You say you hated to do it, but it was no bother. I don’t understand.” He frowned at his hands as if something were missing and then went to get milk from the refrigerator.

  “You see...” she said slowly. “I knew that once I had delivered it, I would have no more legitimate reasons to see you.”

  “Surely that isn’t true.” He stood on tip toe to look out the window over the sink. He knew someone was coming. He spilled the sugar on the counter and raked it into his hand and tossed it in his mouth. “Magnolia Springs is a very small town. I’m sure we would see each other again.”

  “Do I make you nervous?” She asked.

  “No, why?” He asked and looked at her.

  “Do you usually eat everything you spill on the counter?” She laughed.

  Perry looked down at the sugar. “No, not everything.”

  He picked up the milk and set it in the cabinet next to the coffee cups.

  “So do you want to hear my confession?” She asked.

  “I’m not a priest,” he told her and then smiled at her. “But I suppose I could be.”

  “I do make you nervous.” She went to take the milk from the cabinet and returned it to the refrigerator. “That’s a good sign. I’ve been worried about you being a married man, but I see that you are already in trouble. I don’t see the harm in making something right if it is already messed up.”

  “Yes, thank you.” He thought she was referring to his mistake with the milk.

  What had happened between his drive and waking up in the car? Where was Angelica?

  “I’m not very good at these sorts of things.” He referred to making coffee.

  “I see.” She came to stand next to him. “You are very good with words, but very bad with actions.”

  “You’re right,” he told her. “If I could just say it into existence, I would.”

  He glanced at the coffee maker which was gurgling and steaming. He hoped he had remembered to put the coffee in the basket.

  “Just say the word.” She looked up at him.

  “The word?” He looked down at her. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

  Perry touched her lips with the tip of his forefinger and a blue spark flashed. Maureen opened her eyes and shook her head. He escorted her quickly back to the table and set her down in the chair then spread the contents of the packet she had delivered in front of her. She sat staring straight ahead with a dazed look in her eyes. A few seconds later, he set two cups of coffee on the table and sat down across from her.

  “And that is all there is to it?” He asked and she blinked at him.

  “Yes,” she told him and started folding up the papers to replace them in the envelope.

  “You haven’t drunk your coffee,” he said and picked up his own cup. He smiled and attempted to look pleasant. His mind was racing. He had never expected her to fall in love with him, but then it wasn’t real love. It was just what most people called a rebound. His thoughts returned to Angelica. Why had she left without telling him where she was going? But then he had not been there to tell.

  Maureen sipped her coffee and stared at him.

  “Would you wait here, please?” He asked her.

  She nodded.

  He hurried down to the Gift Shop and searched the aisles from one end to the other for Angelica thinking perhaps she had injured herself in the shop. She was not there. He hurried back to the stairs to find Maureen standing on the bottom step.

  “What are you doing?” She asked him and looked about the dim shop. “This is a fascinating place.”

  “I’m sure there are many things here you will find interesting once we are open for business.” He grabbed a scented candle from the nearest table to hold it between them as she stepped off the bottom riser. “This is mulberry. One of my favorites.”

  She took the candle from him and smelled it.

  “Mmmm.” She looked up at him. “There is only one thing here I am interested in.”

  “What is that?” He asked her, his voice cracking.

  “It’s not mulberry candles,” she assured him and set the candle back on the table then stepped closer to him.

  “Maureen,” he backed away “I don’t think this is...”

  “You are worried that your wife will come home and catch us together?” She asked.

  “I thought you were,” he said lamely. “Didn’t you say that you didn’t think it was a good idea...”

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t invite me in,” she told him and pinned him against the shelf. “I was afraid you would send me away, but I can see that I was wrong. I can recognize a cry for help when I hear it.”

  “You can?” He asked afraid to move. “You will hear more than a cry if Angelica finds us.”

  “She won’t.” Maureen placed her hands on his chest.

  “She won’t?”

  “I saw her before I saw you,” Maureen told him and raised her eyebrows. “She was on her way out to Mill Road. Jogging. She goes every morning. She leaves at eight thirty and she stays gone until ten. It’s nine o’clock. We have at least an hour.”

  “Really? I never noticed that,” he said and slid along the counter dragging her with him. She backed him into the door causing the chimes to tinkle. He could see that nothing short of a radical contact would stop her.

  She laid her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. This was not at all what he had expected. In fact, he had expected nothing at all. Something had gone seriously awry in his calculations.

  “I don’t know how it happened or when,” she was telling him. “I’ve never felt like this before about anyone. I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with someone I hardly know, but I feel like I’ve known you for a long, long time. Sam and I just sort of evolved. I know I never had these feelings for him. I can see that you are truly unappreciated by your wife. She must be crazy to kick you out of the house. I’m going to move as soon as possible and then you’ll never have to spend another night in your car.”

  Perry opened his mouth to protest and tried to push her away, but she chose that moment to give him the kiss she had been saving for him. It was like a shock of blue-white lightning that blended with his headache in a way that made him almost faint. This was not working out. The wheels had fallen off of his train. Worse yet, he was beginning to like it. Angelica was right. He was losing control, but there was nothing here he couldn’t repair. The small contact in the kitchen hadn’t worked very well. It was time for drastic action, but he hesitated. He’d never made radical contact with anyone before and he didn’t want to do it now. It would mean erasing most everything that had occurred between himself and Maureen up to and perhaps even including, making her acquaintance. He tried to think how to keep from taking back too much and leaving her with too many unanswered questions. Once more, he pushed he
r away and looked at her. She was not ready for it and neither was he, but Angelica had warned him. He just hoped she never found out about this!

  “Maureen.” He looked into her eyes and she closed them. “No, look at me.”

  She opened her eyes and he swallowed hard. How could he have done this? He felt a new emotion. Guilt! Not at all a pleasant sensation. He would have to deal with it later.

  “No, don’t look at me.” He turned her around and she snuggled into him wrapping his arms around her waist. This was very pleasant, but he was running out of time. He swiveled around in her arms and she tilted her back again, waiting for another kiss. He pulled one arm away from her and reached up to cover her eyes.

  “I want you to understand something...” he began and was rudely interrupted as someone banged on the glass door behind him. He turned around instinctively and put Maureen between himself and the door as an even more unpleasant sensation washed over him. Panic!

  The satin window shade was crooked and Samuel Morris pressed his face against the glass and looked directly at him. Maureen squeaked a protest as he shoved her to one side. Sam rattled the door and called Maureen’s name.

  Maureen righted herself and looked at Sam through the glass.

  “Maureen, this is not good.” Was all Perry could say as his voice went up an octave.

  She turned her back to the door and proceeded to kiss him again with Sam beating furiously on the glass.

  Sam shouted for him to open the door and laced his request with some interesting descriptions of Perry and some colorful elaborations on the particularly unpleasant actions he wished to take.

  “Maureen, stop it,” Perry pushed her aside again. “This won’t do at all.”

  “This town needs a good scandal to wake it up!” Maureen told him and then turned around to take hold of the door knob. Perry made a move to stop her, but she had the door open before he could do anything. Perry uttered an oath in Chinese and stepped back.

  She stood in front of him and faced Sam.

  “Why Sam Morris Junior!” She said sarcastically. “Whatever are you doing here? Don’t you know we’re not open for business?”