The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  “I’ll tell them to come in only if you give me the gun,” Tyler told him.

  Sam drew a deep breath and then held out the pistol. Tyler took it from him quickly and waved to the two women to come inside. He took the pistol out to his truck and put it behind the seat and the locked the door. He had no idea if it was the only gun in the house, but at least this one was out of the way.

  He followed his aunt and Sam’s mother inside the house.

  Sam had gone to lie on the sofa, throwing one arm over his eyes. The house smelled awful, like blood, whiskey and vomit. Tyler swallowed hard and forced himself to sit down in one of the leather armchairs. Mud was tracked all over the white carpet and red stains trailed here and there. The heavy coffee table made of twisted tree roots was shoved to one side. Tyler looked at it in amazement. He'd never seen anything like it. He had to tell Mike about this wood! He jerked his attention back to the situation. Sam was no doubt in need of medical attention. He took a quick tour of the immediate vicinity looking for more weapons.

  “Oh, God!” Mildred swore as she leaned over her son and perused his sorry condition. “Tyler will you please help me get him into the tub?”

  Tyler sighed and stood up.

  “Mary?” Mrs. Morris looked at his aunt who stood looking about the big house in shock at the mess and the smell. “There’s coffee in the kitchen. Would you see about making some for us?”

  Mary nodded and went off to see what she could find.

  “My, my, my.” Tyler heard his aunt muttering as she searched for the kitchen.

  Perry stood looking at the chest in despair. How could these things keep happening to him? He wondered if perhaps the Primus might be playing with him. He had no idea which paper went in which box and didn’t know if it made any difference. But what if it did? He would have to read the papers in order to put them in their correct vessels and he had no idea if he would be affected by it. Such a thing had never happened before.

  The first slip he picked up belonged to Reggie Greene. It read in big block letters ‘dont want to be skeerd no more’. He retrieved the proper box and deposited the scroll inside it, clicking it shut.

  He looked up to see Angelica sliding down the embankment in her slippers. He put the box in the chest and rushed toward her in a panic.

  “No! NO!” He shouted up to her and she froze. He ran to where she stood, picked her up and carried her down the sandbar to a half-buried tree trunk and placed her on it gently. “Now you just stay right there and don’t move. It will only take a few minutes for me to finish up here.”

  Angelica sat on the tree watching him.

  He went back to find a second scroll, unrolled it and read ‘Make Sam stop hating his father’.

  He located Mildred Morris’ box and returned the paper to it’s rightful place.

  Angelica slid down off the tree.

  “No!” He turned to look at her. “Don’t move! The sand can be treacherous and you’ll get your feet wet. You might catch a cold. You shouldn’t have come out here without your shoes. This is all my father’s fault! I told him I didn’t want to come here! I told him that I wanted to stay with him! But no! He said ‘Son, you must go out and accomplish something!’ Now look what I’ve accomplished. I hope he’s happy wherever he is!”

  “How can this be your father’s fault, Peregrin?” Angelica asked him. “He’s not even here. Please let me help you.”

  “No, no, no,” Perry insisted and set Mildred’s box in the chest and ran back to her. He picked her up again in spite of her protests and put her back on the tree. “Now stay there, Sweetheart. You might slip down or hurt yourself. Now do as I say.”

  Angelica sighed and sat on the trunk.

  “You shouldn’t have come here with me.” He shook his head and went back to work.

  The third box was Maureen’s. The words in neat print said ‘I don’t want to be an old maid’.

  “That idiot!” Perry folded the paper and shoved it in Maureen’s box. “He thinks I’m going to give up Angelica. We’re going to be married and that’s final. He’s probably been talking to my father! Damn both of them to perdition. But what if he can do something to stop it? I can’t be afraid of him! I’m not afraid of marriage. I just haven’t found the right partner. That’s all.”

  “He thinks he’s omnipotent with all his comments! What if he is omnipotent?” Perry continued to gripe as he looked about the sand. “I will get married when I damn well please and I don’t care what my father thinks either. Angelica! Stay where you are! There are fragments of glass and metal embedded in this sandbar.” He pointed nervously at the sandbar around him.

  The next box he found was the one he had left with Hannah Lipscomb after he had repaired her plumbing. He picked up the paper nearest the box and read it. ‘I don’t want to drink no more.’

  There were two open boxes left on the sand. He picked up one of them and read ‘Don’t let Chris’ stutter come back’. Joanne Parker’s tiny script on the crumpled paper identified which of the two boxes it belonged in. Perry crumpled it quickly and stuffed it in the box.

  “He thinks he’s going to take you away!” He called to Angelica as he replaced the box inside the chest. “He plans to take you back to the center with him. Did you know that? And Sam th... thinks that Maureen will just forgive and fo... forget and take him back, even m... m... marry him! I think not! She may have other ideas and as far as I am concerned, you and I are pr... practically married already except that it hasn’t been recognized by the Collective Body. It’s just a matter of a few formalities although I may want to wait awhile before we make it a permanent arrangement. Not that I do... don’t want to be married, you see, but it might not be the right time yet. Of course, Maureen would not want to be incorporated into the Collective Body. She is much too independent for such close associations. I th... think that she would not mind being married. I mean, I think that she would marry me, if I chose to stay here, but if I have to go ba...ba... back to the Collective Body and face down my father, I will do that in order to marry you... when I’m ready to be married of course. I am almost done here. Just st... stay where you are and I’ll come g... g... get you momentarily.” He looked about. That was it. All the boxes were in the chest again. He was glad no more of them had been opened. He could have been in serious trouble.

  Angelica sat staring at him. His words were completely confusing. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she stayed where she was waiting for him to finish picking up the boxes.

  Perry picked up the chest awkwardly and carried it down to the water. He paused at the edge of the water frowning. It seemed he was reluctant to step into the brown stream. Angelica watched as he waded into the creek and disappeared amid a swirl of brown water and bubbles. A short time later he came up in the middle of the stream splashing and gasping for breath. He waded wearily back to the sandbar and came to lean on the tree, panting from the exertion.

  “C.. c... come on,” he shivered and shook. “I c... c... can’t carry you. Too t... t... ti... ti.. exhausted.” It seemed he wanted to frown at his own lips.

  She followed him up the bank to the car where he opened the driver’s door and motioned for her to get in.

  “You d... d... drive,” he told her and went around to the passenger side.

  “I didn’t bring my license,” she protested but he ignored her and got in to close the door.

  She looked closely at him before starting the car. His face was pale and his lips were bluish. He shivered visibly and clutched his shoulders leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed.

  “Are you all right?” She asked him.

  “Just c... c... cold,” he answered without looking at her. “I n... n... need something to dr... dr... drink. It was awful d... d... down there! Horrible!”

  Angelica knew immediately what had happened. He had been affected by every scrap of paper he’d picked up. He had taken on all the discarded things in the Pandora Boxes. She wondered if it would be perman
ent. This was not good at all.

  “Be c... c... careful, sw.. sw.. suga,” he told her. “This is a tr.. treach... treacherous st.. st... stretch of ro.. ro.. highway.”

  She quickly started up the Mercedes and drove them toward home, but what would happen when they got there? What would Falco do? What had Perry been talking about when he’d said that Falco had plans to take her back to the Center? And what had he meant about marrying her and not marrying her and marrying Maureen and not marrying Maureen? It was all too confusing for her. And how would she be able to come between Peregrin and the First Order Citizen if they had a serious disagreement? All she wanted to do was get home and do the research she had promised Peregrin she would do and get ready for their romantic dinner date. Surely he would be recovered from all this enough to participate by eight o’clock in her new endeavor.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight:.

  Mildred Morris let go of Aunt Mary and took both of her hands to press them to her chubby, tear-stained cheeks.

  “Mary,” she said and sniffed loudly. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you or thank you for what you’ve done. I would do anything for you. I just hope you can forgive me for all the mean things I’ve said to you and about you.”

  “I don’t want repayment, Millie,” Aunt Mary smiled. “But I don’t see where I really did much for you or Sam.”

  “I’m going to make it all up to you,” Mildred told her and let go of her hands to allow her to climb into Tyler’s truck. Mary no longer needed Tyler’s help to get into his truck. She climbed up and sat down primly on the passenger side while Mildred closed the door for her. She glanced at Tyler who was struggling to pull his abused ribs into the truck on the other side.

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” Mildred told her through the open window. “You just take care of yourself now.”

  “I will,” Mary nodded to her.

  Tyler let out a long sigh and sat staring out the front window for a few moments before he started the truck and put it in gear.

  “I just don’t know what to think, Tyler,” Aunt Mary told him as they drove away from Morris’ house. “What on Earth do you suppose?”

  “Sam sure let that guy get to him,” Tyler shook his head. He’d never thought he’d see the day when he found himself giving Sam Morris a bath. Things sure had been happening fast lately. He didn’t think he’d tell Mike about this one. “It’s plum weird. I guess it was a combination of losing Maureen and then seeing Billy almost die in his house and then he was drinking, too. Not a good combination at all.”

  “You think he’ll be all right? We won’t get in trouble for not calling the police, will we? I mean, if something should happen now.” Aunt Mary was troubled. “Do you think there was anything to what Sam said about those two Aliger boys causing Billy Johnson to have a heart attack? Maybe there is something odd about them.”

  “Now, Aunt Mary.” Tyler looked at her disapprovingly. “Don’t you go start believing all that mumbo-jumbo. Billy’s a fool and he’s not in the best of health. He drinks like a fish and he don’t eat right. It was time for him to keel over. He’s been runnin’ around town tryin’ to beat up on everybody. Sooner or later it was bound to get to him.”

  But Tyler was thinking about things himself. Paula Anne had made some pretty strange remarks about Perry Aliger. Not only Perry, but his wife as well. He tried to remember what she had said about Angelica Aliger. Tyler had commented on the success of the new fertility drug she had taken after she’d talked to her mother and Paula Anne had told him that she didn’t think it had anything to do with the drugs. She had told him that Angelica Aliger had told her about the power of positive thinking. No not positive thinking... what was that she had said? He wished he had paid more attention to her. He tried to remember where Paula Anne had put her own Pandora Box and wondered if she had written anything in it. He didn’t remember seeing it after they had come home from the dance. His mind strayed back to all the ominous warnings Mike Padgett had been spouting since the Aligers had moved to town, but Mike was always saying weird stuff. It was just part of his make up. Tyler made up his mind to go find Mike and talk to him. He didn’t want to tell him about Sam, but he might have to. He just wouldn’t tell him all the details.

  “I’m sorry,” Tyler apologized as he realized his aunt had been talking and he had not heard a word. “What did you say?”

  “Nothing.” Aunt Mary frowned and stared out the window as if she, too, were lost in thought.

  Sam lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. His mother sat beside him patting his arm.

  “Sammy, you scared the bejesus out of me,” she told him again. “How are you feeling now? Better?”

  “Yes,” he told her honestly. The little gold box was clutched in his hand and he held it against his chest as if he were afraid it would disappear.

  “That’s good.” His mother smiled tearfully and got up with the intention of trying to clean up some of the mess he’d made all over his house.

  “Where is my pistol?” Sam raised his head to look at her.

  “It’s in the closet. I had Tyler put it up for you. You don’t need it,” she told him and came back to look at him worriedly. “I’m going to take care of you now.”

  “I asked Maureen to marry me this morning,” he said simply.

  “You did?” His mother was surprised. She wondered how he had managed to find her. She sat down on the end of the big bed. “What did she say?” She asked hesitantly.

  “She said she would give me an answer tonight.” Sam tried to sit up. “But I need to know if I am well.”

  “You’re fine, Sam,” his mother told him afraid that he might become agitated again. “You just drank too much and got too upset. It must have been awful to have that fool, Billy Johnson, barging in on you while you were so upset and depressed. He’s enough to scare anybody and then to have him pass out in your garage. The big idiot. And then...”

  “Mother, please, don’t worry yourself about that,” he told her as he managed to sit up and swing his feet over the side of the bed. “I feel like a fool myself, but I have a score to settle and I intend to settle it one way or another.”

  “Oh, Sammy no!” Mildred stood up. “You’re just upset. Let’s forget all about this. If those Aligers made you feel so bad, then I suggest you stay far away from them.”

  “I won’t ever forget it, Mother,” Sam shook his head. “I hope that you won’t tell any of your friends about this. What would Father have said if I let this guy run off with my girl without a fight?”

  Mildred shook her head. Who would she tell? She had no real friends. None but Mary McDaniels and she already knew. No, she wouldn’t be telling anyone this secret and she hoped that Tyler McDaniels would keep his mouth shut as well.

  “Please don’t do anything rash, Sam,” she told him knowing full well that he would never listen to her. He never had. “You’ll feel much better after you’ve had a good meal and some rest. I’m going to fix you some of those chicken and dumplings you used to love so much. How about that?”

  He nodded.

  “And tonight when you see Maureen,” she added trying to change the subject to a topic better for him, if not for her, “you’ll be ready for her answer. I just hope you won’t be too disappointed if she turns you down. You know how these young ladies are today. So independent.” She really didn’t want Maureen Fitzgerald as a daughter-in-law, but it would be better than losing her son. He was all she had in the world.

  Peregrin was back in the bathtub again, but this time he sat in the midst of millions of bubbles. The air was filled with the aroma of one of the imported candles from the shop. The bathroom was dim, the curtains closing out the light of day. Candles sat around the small room flickering a rainbow of colors in the iridescent bubbles. A portable CD player sat in the corner of the vanity with the sounds of a rain forest waterfall emanating from the speakers. He reached to pick up a bottle of Leibfraumilch from the edge of the tub and refilled his crystal goblet. He
took a mouthful and continued his song as he soaked in the hot, fragrant water.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet, B... B... Baby! You ain’t seen nothing yet. Here’s something... here’s something... here’s something you’re never gonna forget. Yeah, you ain’t seen n... n... nothing yet!”

  He laughed and blew more bubbles into the air and reached to set the goblet on the seat of the toilet, but slipped and disappeared briefly under the suds. He came up sputtering, but managed to keep the wine glass above the water. “Whoops!” He turned up the glass to drink it down. “Better not let it g... g... get away.” He refilled the glass and looked at the bottle, holding it up to one of the candles. Almost all gone. And then froze as his eyes focused on the face behind the bottle. He peeked around the upheld vessel to look into the lovely, heart-shaped face of his wife as she stood near the door gazing at him curiously.

  “Angel.. Angeli... Angelica!” He hiccupped and lowered the bottle. “D... D... Don’t you ever knock? S... S... Since you’re here, would you be a d... d... d... d.... bunny and go down to the sh... sh... shop and g... g... get me another bot... bot... bottle of... of... of...” He thumped at the bottle.

  “I don’t think so, Peregrin,” she shook her head and eyed him disapprovingly. “We really need to talk.”

  “I would a... a... agree, except that... that...” He turned up his glass to take a swallow. “I s... s... seem to be having a d... dif... diffi... hard time d... d... doing that.”

  “I know,” she said and sat on the toilet lid crossing her legs and wrapping her hands around her knee. “That wine was supposed to be for our romantic dinner.”

  “Really?” He squinted at the bottle. “All g... g... gone. But there’s pl... pl... more in the shop.”

  He handed the bottle to her since she had taken over his table.

  “I’ll sh... sha... give you what’s left,” he told her and smiled crookedly.

  Angelica took the bottle and set it on the vanity by the other empty bottle.