ALL NOVEL 5. The Letter
Well, that bit with Evelyn was a bit of a bore, and here I thought I could really cheer me up. Would you prefer if we had some adventures with Felicity instead? Consider that we would have been friends in another life and all that. Good? Good. I followed Felicity in the afternoon, she lived in a house in the top of a steep, very steep hill, so sometimes, the carriages had difficulties to arrive, Felicity would usually get worried that the horses would give up and her carriage end up rolling down the hill, which was just funny to me, seeing her try to hold herself over the walls of the little carriage made me chuckle. You should just see her, what a goof, what a little ol funny gal.
She entered the house and was greeted by the servant of the house. “Good afternoon, Ms. Felicity, I see you have arrived just in time! Lunch will be served in 20 minutes!”
“Thank you, Dolores. I’ll be in my room once it is ready.”
“Absolutely, ma’am.”
Felicity started walking upstairs but she stopped herself and turned around, “Dolores, do you know anything about what the locals have been saying these days?”
“The locals?”
“Yes, I just have heard things have been a bit… uneasy, in the city?” Really smooth, girl, yeah, she was hopeless.
“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
“Well, please, don’t worry about it. You can go back to work now.”
“Absolutely, now, if you’ll excuse me.” The servant left the living room and walked towards the kitchen. Felicity on the other hand walked towards her bedroom. After entering, she closed the door and sat on her bed.
Now if she just made something dumb now for me to laugh at! Come on girl! Spirits need to be entertained too!
Someone knocked on the room, “Felicity, is that you dear? Are you already home?” It was the voice of a man, Felicity’s father.
Felicity got startled, “father? Yes! It’s me! I don’t have any classes in the afternoon so I came to lunch,” she slowly stood up and opened the door for him.
“Dear, we were looking for you this morning, what were you doing outside?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, father. Evelyn asked me to accompany her for something she wanted to talk to me about.”
“Hmmm, well. In that case, it’s alright. I wanted to ask you about something Father Maxim had told me about the other day.”
“Yes?”
“He had said that you had a discussion with your previous fiance, was that right?”
“Oh, with Joseph? Yes, well, I was going to tell you about it later.”
“Oh, I see, do you need any help?”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m working on stuff for the university right now. It has been ready this week.
“I see, that’s good. I know you have done really well with his course, I also wanted to congratulate you.”
“Of course, I ended up reading a few more of what I expected, but I am focused on writing the book– the report now, I mean.”
“Very well, I’ll be speaking with Dolores, anything you need to tell her?”
“Oh, tell her to prepare more milk candy, the one she made before was just lovely.”
“Sure will, thank you, Felicity.”
Felicity closed the door with an annoyed expression in her face, both lips and eyebrows. She went back to her desk and continued working on her paper while the lunch was prepared. To be honest I didn’t pay attention to what she was writing about, I wasn’t interested, but I had a small peek at her books and notes around the desk about several religious figures, don’t ask me about it I don’t remember it, I just remember a few about with titles about Xenothropides and other stuff of the sort. In the end I just got the idea that she was studying Theology or something.
When it was time to eat, Felicity asked Dolores to bring her lunch to her room despite her mother's claims that it would be indecent to do so. She argued that she aimed to finish the report that same afternoon and that she needed concentration.
“That is everything, do you need anything else from me, ma’am?” Dolores asked after leaving the plates at her side.
“Well…” Felicity tasted the glass of wine. “What wine is this?”
“Uh, that one is from last year’s harvest, ma’am.”
“Bring me one of the harvest of 9887,” she was scratching one of her eyebrows with empty eyes towards the desk wall. She was pretending to focus on the report, but I knew what she was thinking, she just didn’t want to look Dolores in the eyes.
“From 87? Are you sure ma’am?””
“Yes, why do you ask, Dolores?”
“Well, it is an 11 year old wine, ma’am. Your father told me that one was only for special occasions.”
“Don’t worry about it, if he says anything, I will talk to him directly.”
“If you say so. Anything else?”
“Yes, can you bring me Alfonzo, please?”
“Oh, Alfonzo is talking with your father at this moment inside their studio, ma’am. I can tell him to come here once he is free if you prefer?”
“Yes, please. I have something rather delicate to ask him to do for me.”
“Understood, in that case I’ll take my leave.”
“Thank you, Dolores.”
After 5 minutes her mother went to her room. Felicity continued to pretend to work in her report while she talked to her.
“Felicity, I heard you say you need to talk to Alfonzo about something rather sensible?”
“Yes, mom.” Felicity panicked, she didn’t want her Mother to know what she and Evelyn were planning to do.
“Can you tell me what this is for?”
“Evelyn and I are worried.” She turned to face her mother.
“I see,” Her mother frowned in confusion “I rarely see you worried about something in particular, what is going on?”
“Do you think this country will keep the Dominion as their government for long?”
Her mother tilted her head.
“Felicity? I’m not sure what you are asking me here.”
“Well,” she looked away, trying to find the words for the conversation, she didn’t want her mother to have her eyes on her. “I heard there was a fight at a business in the north of the city.”
“A fight?”
“Yes, a pair of Lucianans asked someone in a Basilian business to borrow their longcase clock for a dinner they had planned, but the owner denied it to them.”
“I see, but I don’t get how you would need to worry about that, dear.”
“I know, it’s just that it seems things are rather uneasy lately.”
“And that is why you want to talk with Alfonzo?”
“Yes, I just... I need him to investigate something for me.”
“What for? I don’t really see the need really and–.”
“It’s only to give me a piece of mind, nothing serious, really.”
“Hmm, if you say so.”
Felicity looked back at the small drawer where the old letter was and then continued writing. Every time she thought about it she felt a small knot forming in the superior right part of her head. What? A knot, like a knot in a vein, or something, I don’t know, like she felt a knot in her head, something like that, I’m not a doctor.
She looked outside her window. There it was, the city, ever so encompassing, but still never quite friendly. Felicity opened a drawer from her desk and took out a little box from inside, with a key hanging up in a collar from her neck, she opened the box and took out a small, worn and wrinkled letter from it.
She wasn’t reading the letter, she was just eyeing it passively while she looked out the window from time to time while she was thinking about what she just had asked Dolores, but in the meantime, I took the opportunity to read it myself.
“I must thank you for your kind comprehension in these poor times for my wife and myself. After we lost Maria, Carmen couldn’t eat or sleep, I thought I would lose her, and if I lost her too, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I had already seen the horrors of tuberculosis within my family due to a cousin I had long ago. It is not something I didn’t want to relive, but if that’s Divinity’s will, then… somehow we will have to accept it. The mole below her left eye reminds us of Maria too, so we think this is the one. We appreciate your help with this matter in particular, Father, and we thank your parish too. If the parents of this little child are so long gone from this world, we will do our best to take care of her as if she was our own. You can be sure that no matter if she comes from Lucianan parents, we will take care of her as if she were a Basilian girl.”
Looking at her memories, I found out it was a dusty old letter that Felicity had found inside a box of her father’s office between many worn out and also wrinkled papers with countable records from the house's expenses and notes. The letter had several spelling errors and some markings between letters, as well several crossed out words, if Felicity and I weren't wrong, that letter was probably just a draft from what became to be the real letter.
Felicity thought back to Dolores. A knot in her stomach came up when thought about having to leave if things ever got ugly. I sat at her side on the bed, but she didn’t notice me, of course, how could she? But I stayed there anyway, and looked outside the window along with her.
She went back from looking out the window to back to the letter a few times. She stared at it, frowned at it, then she left it at her side. She said she had to continue studying. She finally opened the window since she thought she needed some fresh air. Suddenly after opening it up, a gust of wind entered the room and blew the letter away. It was in front of her house.
“Seriously….” She looked annoyed, like really really annoyed, then she stood up and walked back to the entrance to retrieve it, down the stairs, and then across the hallway of the house. Oh, didn’t I describe the house? It was a rather pompous house, unlike most houses that were built in wood with really intricate designs and carpentry in the most rich neighborhoods or adobe in the poorest ones, this one was built entirely on concrete so its strength was something to behold, the walls were all painted with beautiful pastel colors and the floor was covered in ceramic tiles, it was a pretty cozy and comfortable house, if I said so myself.
“Felicity” her father intercepted her in the living room.
“Yes?” She looked outside, the letter was lying on the dirt in front of the house, yeah because despite being still a very fancy house, the front was just dirt, nothing was growing in there. It was just a spot Felicity's family had picked because of the view rather than anything else.
“I heard that you had yet another party with your group of friends last week?”
“Oh? Yes, it was Javier’s birthday, you see, he was turning 18, we wanted all to celebrate with the best we had. You’ll understand.”
“Did it really have to be in that coffee shop?”
“What coffee shop?” She turned back to face the outside. It seemed as if the wind could blow back again at any moment and the letter could simply disappear.
“Ibarra’s coffee shop, that place is really expensive.”
“I mean, I know what you have said but–”
“We have talked about this before, have you seen the bill we got at all?”
“Please, I know what you have said, I wouldn’t have done it this way if it wasn’t because it was for a special friend.”
“Special friend? Did you even discuss this with your fiance?”
“My fiance?”
“Yes, I heard that you two had a discussion last week, was any of this related?”
The letter was about to go away, it was now, or never! Fortunately Alfonzo grabbed it before it flew off the hill.
“Excuse me, I have to talk with Alfonzo for a moment, it’s for something important, but I will be right back.”
“Alfonzo, thank you for that.”
“My lady, it’s me that is thankful for being able to see such lovely sight again with these old eyes.” He gave her back the letter, he hadn’t managed to read it at all, for Felicity’s relief. Alfonzo was an odd jobs kind of guy who stayed with the family, any sort of job, either in the fields or the city, he did, he worked better outside the city than inside of it, though. Draped over his shoulders he had a poncho over a high-collared shirt, fastened with a cravat and knee-high boots. He also had a machete tied to his belt. He was also one of my favorites. He was already in his 50s, but he had that charm that made you feel you could rely on him, even if he was kinda old.
“I appreciate it,” Felicity said, “speak of, I was looking for you, by the way.”
“For me? What would you need my lady to talk to me about?”
“Well… remember what I had asked you about Emilio?”
“Yes, is he giving you trouble again?”
“Oh, no, not at all, well, we had a fight, but this is actually about Mr. Periwinkle.”
“Mr. Periwinkle? Do you mean you heard about it too?”
“Heard what?” She tilted her head in confusion.
“Well, I don’t like to throw gossip around, my lady, but it has been said that he has been rather paranoid lately, it’s rumored he’s now working with smugglers that arrive at the port. His family business has not been doing well.
“Smugglers…”
“Well, that’s what people say, not that I have confirmed it myself, anyway.”
“Well, alright, do you think Marzipan could help us out again?”
“Marzipan…” Alfonzo scratched his chin “I think he’s in the city, but he probably won’t be cheap, espionage has been given the death penalty, because of the murmurs of what has been happening recently.”
“What has been happening recently?”
“Oh, my lady! Haven’t you heard? People feel there might be an insurrection coming soon.”
Felicity felt a chill down her spine.
“I see.”
“Oh, but I don’t think you should worry about it, my lady, I have the feeling that you wouldn’t have to deal with such matters.”
“How so?”
“Your parents always have said that you were a blessing. That mole under your left eye. When you were a baby, they used to say it was a sign of good further. Like my mother used to say, trust and the ones above shall provide.”
“Right,” she looked back at her house and then back to Alfonzo. “Are you going to town now?" Maybe I can talk to you about it on the way there.”
“If you say so, my lady, you say what shall be done, and I shall obey.”
“And don’t worry about the price, this is important.” The both of them walked towards the carriage, Felicity held the letter tightly all the way down the hill.