The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  “Never mind her.” Perry craned his neck above the people near them. “Look who’s here. Billy Johnson. He looks well enough.”

  “Well enough for what?” She asked in all seriousness, eyeing the big man who stood with his hands in his pockets watching the bandstand. She shuddered at the thought of what he could have done to Peregrin. “Ow! Stop pulling on me, Perry.”

  “Shhh!” Perry held up one hand.

  “First up, we have an item from Fred’s barbershop!” The mayor held up a big piece of paper. “A certificate for one year of free haircuts which will include a generous slickerin’ with Fred’s own special oh dee twahlot water. I’m gonna start the bids at twenty dollars.”

  “Hey, Mayor Crosby!” someone shouted from the crowd. “You ought to bid on that one!”

  The mayor took off his hat to display his balding head and the crowd laughed and clapped.

  “Now who’s gonna give me twenty bucks for a year’s shears?” The mayor looked over the crowd. Someone raised a hand and the bid went to twenty-one dollars.

  “Look.” Angelica tugged on his arm. “It’s the Primus! What is he doing?”

  Falco was talking to Edna Atkins and her sister Laura. He looked directly at them and smiled.

  Perry’s eyes widened briefly and then narrowed suspiciously and he bit his bottom lip. He did not answer her, but watched the man intently for several moments. Angelica felt that they were communicating somehow. The two elderly ladies turned to look at Perry and waved at him. He raised one hand briefly to return the greeting.

  “Sold!” The mayor shouted into the microphone and Perry looked up at him. “Mr. Aliger, you just got yourself a year’s worth of Fred’s pitiful jokes and sob stories. Not to mention a headful of gaps and stray strands for twenty-five dollars.”

  “You bought the haircuts?” Angelica looked at him in confusion. “Why? You don’t need haircuts?”

  “It was an accident,” he told her out of the corner of his mouth and took her arm to direct her away from the general area of the Primus. He brought her to the other side of the bandstand and leaned to whisper in her ear. “Stay here. Smile. Don’t raise your hand.”

  She nodded. Something was not right. She knew that Falco had done something to her and that it had something to do with Peregrin, but what was between them? Peregrin’s disregard for the Primus’ status baffled her. It was almost as if they knew each other... quite well. Angelica decided it would be best to allow them to work out their differences without her interference. She could, after all, do nothing as far as Falco was concerned and she’d had very little success with influencing Peregrin either.

  “Perry Aliger!” Edna Atkins called to him when he drew near them. “We’ve just been telling your brother how much we’ve enjoyed the tea and fortune cookies we bought at your shop today.”

  “You have?” Perry looked at her quizzically.

  “Yes. Yes,” her sister Laura chimed in. Her blue eyes sparkled behind her glasses. “Where is your dear wife, Angelica? Didn’t she come with you? We bought some of those cookies from Denmark that she suggested. They are simply divine.”

  The two ladies continued to chatter to him and to each other as he met his ‘brother’s’ eyes over their heads. Falco was laughing at him.

  “Why didn’t you tell us you had a twin brother?” Edna asked him.

  “I never thought about it,” he told her. “I’m glad you ladies enjoyed the... the...cookies.” He stepped past them and stood beside Falco. Several people nearby turned to look at them.

  They returned their attention to the stage as a vacuum cleaner from the hardware store went on the block.

  “Well, Brother,” Perry said in a low voice. “Just what do you think you are doing?”

  “I am waiting for you to decide what we should do.”

  “I suggest you go on to your convention and forget about Angelica,” Perry told him point blank. “I will have my thirty minutes.”

  “I beg to differ, brother,” Falco told him and smiled amiably at a pair of young ladies who were staring at them unabashedly. “I intend to intervene permanently in your life if you try to do that.”

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” Perry told him. “I don’t know where you went wrong, but you are not welcome here.”

  “Welcome?” Falco smiled at him. “That doesn’t bother me.”

  “How do you think Angelica will react when she learns the truth?”

  “It is immaterial what she thinks,” Falco told him.

  “I beg to differ, brother,” Perry repeated Falco’s words from earlier. “You see, that is where you and I part company. I have made a study of what people think and I find it very important to learn what other people think and take it into consideration. It is very important to me what she thinks. I have spent a great deal of time just asking her about her thoughts. I think she would tell you that she appreciates that.”

  “I doubt it. You and I have been here too long, Peregrin.” Falco looked around at the crowd. “No one comes here any more. I was thinking of leaving.”

  “Where would you go?”

  “Home. And I intend to take Angelica with me.”

  “What if she doesn’t want to go?”

  “I told you how I feel about that. You should go home with us.”

  “This is my home. I won’t ever leave this place.”

  “That’s ludicrous.”

  “You should at least consult with her before you presume so much. She has not completed her study.”

  “I was under the impression that she had abandoned her study of the proliferation of the universal soul and was now pursuing a less lofty subject.”

  “Really? And what area of study is, in your esteemed opinion, so less lofty?”

  “I see you have an esteemed opinion of yourself.”

  “Shh. Here are some friends of mine,” Perry told him as Louis and Julia made their way through the crowd toward them.

  “Mr. Aliger.” Louis reached to shake Perry’s hand. He was apparently basing his recognition of Perry on the fact that Perry still wore the same clothes he had worn earlier in the day, but his eyes were riveted on Falco Atrox. “I wanted you to know that I appreciated your donation to my booth and to thank you for lettin’ me set up in front of your shop. I made over a quarter of the money I needed for the monument.”

  “That’s great,” Perry smiled and looked at Julia. “You’re looking well tonight, Mrs. Parks.”

  “I feel well,” Julia told him and looked at his ‘brother’.

  “This is my brother, Fred,” Perry looked at Falco. “My twin brother.”

  “How do you do?” Falco shook Louis’ hand and nodded to Julia.

  “I can’t believe there are two of you,” Louis said in a small voice.

  “Me either,” Perry agreed readily.

  “Will you be staying long?” Louis asked Fred.

  “You’ll have to forgive my husband’s bluntness, Mr. Aliger,” Julia spoke to Falco. “He’s a policeman.”

  “Yes, you would be one, wouldn’t you?” Falco looked at Louis in amusement. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, sir. And I’m not sure how long I will be in town. I’m just on my way to New Orleans.”

  “And are you also from Houston?” Louis ventured another question which sounded ridiculous in light of the fact that Perry had just introduced him as his twin brother. Where else would he have been from? But that was what Louis wanted to know.

  “I suppose that would be as good a place as any to be from,” Falco said off-handedly. “I did spent some time south of China.” He glanced at Perry and saw him take in a sharp breath.

  Louis nodded. Perry’s brother was just as strange as Perry was.

  “New Orleans.” Julia smiled. “We spent our honeymoon there. A beautiful, old historic place.”

  “Yes very,” Falco agreed. “There are many disquieted spirits there.”

  “Disquieted spirits?” Louis frowned. “Do you mean ghosts?”

/>   “Yes, among other things.” Falco glanced at Perry who rolled his eyes.

  “You sound like Mike Padgett,” Louis laughed. “Have you met Mike?”

  “No, is he a psychic?”

  “Mike? Psychic? Naw. Psycho, maybe,” Louis laughed nervously and turned to Julia. “Well, we’d best be goin’. I don’t want to miss the Goodyear and Western Auto bids.”

  Falco Atrox and Peregrin watched them go and then went directly back to their previous conversation. “I do believe you are jealous, Peregrin.”

  “Me? Jealous? Of whom, Louis Parks?” Perry scanned the crowd for signs of Angelica. He was beginning to worry about her.

  “Don’t play your silly games with me, Primus. Are you still collecting your contracts?”

  “Don’t you think ‘contract’ sounds a bit sinister?” Perry asked and looked pained. “But, yes, I still find it a worthwhile pursuit from time to time.”

  “What good is it ultimately? Why collect undesirable things?”

  “People tend to be more honest about things they don’t like or don’t want,” Perry told him.

  “Angelica is not being sincere with you,” Falco said lightly. “Perhaps you should revert to the old ways.”

  “It is more challenging and more interesting this way.”

  “No doubt.” Falco looked about as if searching for something. “And tell me, brother, who is that young lady who keeps peeking at you?”

  “Maureen Fitzgerald. She’s my insurance agent.” Perry had been aware of Maureen’s presence for some time. She was standing near the bandstand in front of a group of teenagers. From time to time, she could be seen craning her neck to see them. He knew she must have been very confused to see them together.

  “Oh. Is that what they call them now?” Falco asked him wickedly.

  “Would you stop prying into everyone’s minds? It’s very rude.”

  “I think I might need to acquire a few insurance agents for myself,” he laughed. “Ooops. I think she might be coming over to inquire about your... policy?”

  Perry repressed the urge to deck him on the spot and smiled at Maureen as she approached him cautiously. She looked from one of them to the other. She obviously did not know who was who.

  “Hello, Perry?” She said hesitantly and looked at both of them.

  “Hello, Maureen,” Perry put her mind at ease.

  “How is your shoulder?” She asked for lack of anything better to say.

  “It’s just fine,” he said and glanced at his ‘brother’. This was getting out of hand and he could see that Falco was loving it. “This is my brother, Fred.”

  “You didn’t tell me there were two of you.” She looked at him and the smile faded from Falco’s face. He looked at Perry in astonishment.

  “How could you have allowed her to...” Falco began then stopped at the sight of Angelica trailing through the crowd. He suddenly took hold of Maureen’s hand and smiled at her. “You will stay for the dance.” It was not a question.

  Maureen nodded. Perry winced and then caught sight of Angelica behind Maureen.

  “Angelica!” He said for Maureen’s benefit. “Your favorite brother-in-law has decided to stay for a few days.”

  Maureen stepped back and placed her hand against her forehead. She looked up at Falco in confusion. Perry grabbed her arm as she swayed slightly.

  “Angelica, would you please take Maureen over to the concession stand and get her a cup of water?” He gave the confused woman over to his ‘wife’. Angelica looked at him in surprise, but took Maureen by the arm to drag her away.

  “My, my, you do work fast, Peregrin. And so smoothly, too.” Falco frowned at him. “Why would you want Angelica when you could have a dozen insurance agents?”

  Perry just looked at him.

  “She wanted to ask you a peculiar question,” the man continued to annoy him. It was becoming very difficult to maintain the slightest semblance of civility. “She wanted to know where you would sleep if I take your sofa. Does Angelica make you sleep on the sofa?”

  “Angelica doesn’t make me do anything.” Perry looked away from him. “You have no honor left at all, do you?”

  “None that I can find.”

  “Why would Maureen want to ask you such a question?” A different voice directly behind them asked this particularly annoying question. They tuned in unison to see who was intervening in their discussion. Samuel Morris Junior had contrived to gain a position within hearing distance without Perry’s awareness. He wore a look on his face that indicated trouble was imminent and sure.

  The sight of Falco must have shocked him, but he appeared much too drunk to react. Perhaps he thought he was seeing double.

  “Aha, the watcher!” ‘Fred’ smiled at him and raised both eyebrows. “The plot thickens as they are wont to say here.”

  “And what do you mean by that?!” Sam blinked at him and then quickly looked at Perry.

  “The watcher who tries so hard to see what he wants to see, that he fails to see what is real and what is not. I have just been asking my dear brother some very similar questions concerning his interest in your former concubine.”

  “Primus!” Perry choked on the word and grabbed hold of Falco’s arm before he realized what he was doing. The touch caused him immense pain in his hand. He jerked his hand back instinctively and looked down at it. “Don’t provoke him!”

  “Which one of you is Aliger?!” Sam demanded and they both looked at him.

  “That’s a stupid question,” they said in unison and then glared at each other.

  Sam launched a misdirected punch at the Primus’ stomach and hit Perry as he stepped forward at the wrong moment in an attempt to separate them. He was as totally unprepared for this as he had been the first time Sam had punched him outside the Gift Shop. He bent over clutching his stomach and then felt himself being yanked aside violently as his ‘brother’ pulled him away from the angry man’s attack.

  “Why you dirty, rotten Scumsucker!” A high-pitched screech from the opposite direction confused the issue as Hannah Lipscomb rushed forward to begin beating Sam with her handbag. He ducked and tried to ward off her attack with his arms. “You leave him alone!” She yelled at him and continued to beat him down with the canvas bag that must have been filled with bricks. Falco let go of Perry, looked down at his hands and winced before taking hold of Hannah to pull her off the unfortunate banker.

  Perry rose up in time to see Billy Johnson step out of the crowd and wrap one arm around his ‘brother’s’ neck.

  “Leave her alone!” Billy told him and then squawked in surprise as Falco reached back to take him by the head, flipping him over his shoulder onto his back on the pavement beside Sam Morris. Sam had recovered from Hannah’s attack enough to renew his attack at the wrong moment. He tripped over Billy’s legs and ended up back on the concrete on his face. Falco stepped back just in time to receive a blow to the side of his head from Mildred Morris’ black patent leather handbag. Perry stepped forward to take her arm before she could deliver another blow to the stunned Falco who stood with both hands against the sides of his head. The crowd had parted, falling back to get out of the way. Billy struggled to get up, rolling about the pavement like a beached walrus. Sam pushed himself up again, lowered his head and charged at Falco’s midsection. Mildred Morris threw her considerable weight against Perry as she tried to swing at Falco with her purse again, turning him slightly and putting his back directly in Sam’s path. Sam hit him full force and knocked the breath from him entirely. The blow slammed him into his ‘brother’ and they both went down. Mrs. Morris’ momentum threw her across Sam as he shot past her and she fell on him with a shriek.

  Hannah’s voice was shrill with laughter at the sight of Mildred Morris rolling on the pavement. She went to help Billy stagger up to his feet. Perry pushed himself up and Sam shot out one hand to grab his ankle. He tried desperately to limp away, dragging Sam with him. He tried to reach Falco’s outstretched hand to help him up, but
found himself back on the ground under the onslaught of Billy Johnson’s booted foot as he kicked at both of them indiscriminately.

  The crowd had packed around the brawl so closely to watch the action that Louis was unable to shove his way through to see what was happening. Two other officers joined him as he tried to wiggle through without mortally wounding the citizenry in the process. Louis groaned inwardly, realizing that the Magnolia Springs police department at it’s finest had absolutely no experience in crowd control. Mayor Crosby was shouting orders into the microphone on the stage for everyone to stand back, to cease and desist, but no one could hear him over the shouts and screams, nor would they have done what he said even if they could have heard him.

  Louis broke through into the inner circle and stopped momentarily to gape at the mini-riot. The altercation did not surprise him, but the identities of some of the participants threw him completely. He regained his purpose and rushed to grab Billy Johnson from behind to pull him away from Perry. Billy began to turn around and around tossing Louis about as if he were a child. Mildred Morris still clinging desperately to her purse, was unable to pick herself up off the ground and rolled about this way and that in a most unbecoming manner for a woman of her age and stature. Falco made it to his feet and tried to assist the flailing woman, but came under attack from Sam Morris again. Sam drew back his arm to throw a punch and inadvertently smashed a big, German chocolate cake into the face of a burly gentleman watching the fray from the sidelines.

  “Abner!” The man’s wife screeched in dismay. “He ruint my cake!”

  The big man dropped the remains of his wife’s cake and wiped the icing from his face before wading into the jostling crowd to take hold of Sam’s shoulder. He spun him around and planted his fist upside the banker’s surprised face. Sam dropped to the pavement like the proverbial rock. Mike Padgett without any better sense, hobbled from the crowd to drag Hannah away from Louis as she was trying to pull him off Billy. Billy crashed into the nearest bystanders setting off a chain reaction as the women screamed and fell back. The men joined in throwing punches and pushing and shoving each other in a full scale mob scene. The mayor pounded the microphone on the podium and continued to shout into it causing a terrible squealing feedback. The scuffle was quickly turning into a riot as more and more people began to fight with each other.