CATHEDRAL by Patrick Sean Lee (novels to improve english .txt) š
- Author: Patrick Sean Lee
Book online Ā«CATHEDRAL by Patrick Sean Lee (novels to improve english .txt) šĀ». Author Patrick Sean Lee
āWhat do you do, Mr. Ash?ā I finally ask. It surprises me that weāve been eating for five minutes and no one has bothered to ask him. I see him as a CPA, or CFO for some large firm back on the coast, maybe. Yes, heās a Californian. You can spot them a mile away.
His answer surprises me, and I wonder again about the truth of it, until the name clicks in my head. Ash. The author. Yes, of course, āSaving Isabelleā. Matthew Ash, winner of the 1996 something or otherāPen and Faulkner awardāyes, I remember. I was twenty-four and so was his Isabelle in that bookāa feckless sex fiend, the way I read it! The near-exactness of the names always made me want to puke, and her hair was black! Now Iām certain I donāt like him, famous or not.
He looks kindly over at me. I stare him down while I chew on a piece of cabbage.
āI donāt think you told me your name,ā he says, disregarding the black widow look in my eyes.
āMine ends with an āaā, not an āeā.ā
He doesnāt have a clue what Iām talking about. Why Iām curt and have decided I will not like him no matter if he has sold a trillion books. His Isabelleāa prostitute, for gosh sakes! And heās probably a pervert! Staring at me from across the lake.
āI beg your pardon?ā
āI knew you wouldnāt make the connection. Isabell-ah. Not Isa-belle, like in ding-dong! Isabellaā¦like in Queen! And I could never understand why anyone would give you an award for thatā¦thatā¦thing you claim is literature,ā I rip him.
āI agree,ā he answers. āHonestly, I could never understand it myself.ā
Iām shocked. This guy is pretty good, in an ancient sort of way. So almost-humble. Heās trying to sneak in the back door after that disaster a couple of hours ago. Heās telling me heās an Aries, and he wants to know my sign. Iām on to him. I stumble, though.
āReally?ā
āYes. I was blown away, of course. Thatās a pretty prestigious awardāitās the Pen/Faulkner, by the wayāand youāre right. I donāt think Saving Isabelle was nearly as good as everyone screamed it was. But what do we know, huh?ā Mr. Ash looks straight into my eyes, and the funniest feeling overwhelms me. Heās handsome, okay, and his voice is pleasantly even, low, velvety, butā¦I shake my head a little and wonder if perhaps I should begin a new diet. One containing animal. Iām a little dizzy. The message begins to echo all over again.
āBelieve this. Believe this, my heartā¦ā
The words in my head are mine, and yet they are not. And then it hits me. The haunting voice I keep hearing could be this guyās. Itās soft, anyway, like his.
Jesus. Iām going crazy.
I might be crazy. Okay, I am. Iām all upset over Brad. Yes, thatās it. A little post-love wacky. Hey, I think, why am I bringing love into this? This disco-daddy sitting across from me has probably sweet-talked a hundred young women into his bed. Thatās what heās up to. The voice in my head be damned. If I have to stay with him in this lodge, I resolve to beat him at his own game somehow.
Believe this, believe thisā¦
No way can he be connected to these haunting words I keep hearing.
After Dinner
Matthew
Calyx. I smell her perfume, the same fragrance I bought for Allison two months ago for her twenty-sixth birthday. The salesgirl at Nordstrom swore by it. I placed a little golden chain with a diamond dangling from it inside the carrying case, and then wrapped it all up in green paper and a velvet bow. Her favorite colors, green and gold. Allison reacted the way I knew she would, which was a sexual romp that lasted into the wee hours of the next morning. It was a good choice of perfumes. I saw her admiring the diamond necklace often enough in the following days and weeks, but Iāll be damned if I ever smelled the perfume againāuntil a few moments ago on Isabella, the queen, not the ding-dong.
Not that I thought sheād follow me into the sitting room, out of earshot and sight of Frank and his lovely wife, but within minutes of my sitting down in front of the fireplace, in she comes. Isabella is freshly scented and stunning in her simple white shift and burgundy patent loafers.
When she walks past me, she says nothing beyond a cursory, āHi.ā She is elegant in white, with wisps of her black hair touching her cheekbones. I secretly wish sheād strike up a conciliatory, friendly conversation. Something a bit less abusive than the sparring match we endured during dinner a bit ago. I pretend not to see her, pay any attention to how she picks up the magazine and crosses one shapely leg over the other, but I find myself flashing my eyes over the top of my own magazine, an old edition of National Geographic. I know she doesnāt see me looking, Iām sure of it, as I study her with fractured glances. A second here, two or three seconds there. She is intriguing. Her jaw line is almost square, and her mouth is small, thin, with some hue of red placed on it perfectly, practiced. Her nose is delicate, like her lips, and I begin to compare Allison to her with her close-cropped blonde pixie cut. And then I stop. Thatās exactly what I did with Allison and my ex-wife five years ago. Allie won.
I glance across the room at Isabella one more time, I swear to myself the last, unable to resist her in the snowfall of white. She looks up at the same instant and catches my eyes.
āWhat?ā she asks.
Is it menacingly, or merely a question laced with disdain? Whatever it is, it isnāt particularly friendly, that Iām sure of. I endeavor to rescue myself, caught, as I have been with my hand in the cookie jarāfor the second time today. I decide to be blunt. What do I have to lose? Look how I am suffering here with my battered leg propped up on an ottoman, throbbing, all on account of trying to catch a glimpse of her unnoticed. If I could, Iād rise and stride toward her. Confront her like a lawyer in a courtroom, motion at her with my magazine waving like a purloined document discovered in her boudoir. I am writing in my head again; living in a land of imagination, creating campy scenes. I canāt comfortably rise, and so I simply lower the magazine and address her.
āI donāt know what you think of me, but honestly I was just trying to get down to the lakeās edge. You just happened to be there when I slipped.ā
She answers, āYes, I believe that.ā
āGood. Itās the truth.ā
āThe whole truth, and nothing but the truth?ā
I hesitate. Why is something so simple as falling into the water turning into a courtroom drama I wonder?
āYes.ā
No. Okay, itās tough because I have to omit the real ending, the precise reason. āCan we start all over again? My name is Matt. I write books, sorry.ā
Isabella closes the magazine sheās holding in her lap, and then leans forward, bringing her elbows to rest gently on her knees. She studies me for a second.
Iām unsure. Iām nervous.
Sheās taking her sweet time. Fuck, I hate this. I smell the sweet pine of the fire and I smell her perfume and I want to stand up and go to her. Put my hand on her cheek, or her handāor better yet, her small breast. I think she knows, too. Maybe sheās a clairvoyant. Maybe Iām screwed.
At last she decides to break the uncomfortable silence.
āYou didnāt even bother to thank me.ā
It takes a second or two for the statement to sink in, but then I flash back to the shore of the lake. āAhā¦yes. Well, you see, I was in agony, andā¦I was very embarrassed, I guess. Thank you. I wish Iād taken you up on the offer to help me down the mountain. I slid most of the way in the mud on my rear. Not pleasant.ā
āI wondered when I saw you in the dining room how youād managed to get back. Congratulations. How does your knee feel?ā
āTerrible, thank you.ā Thatās two thank youās, now. Maybe that will suffice. I find her stunning.
āDo you play chess?ā she asks unexpectedly after lifting the magazine, pretending to read it.
I look over at her as if she just asked me a question about quantum physics. But I answer, āUmmā¦yes, I suppose soā¦but itās been a while.ā I remember seeing the chessboard on the table behind me and I think hard. Pawns can sometimes move two spaces; most times one. Theyāre not worth much. Queens get to go all over the place. Thatās women for you, I laugh inwardly. Horses jump two/one, or one/two. Yes, yes, I remember, sort of. But I rarely ever wonāI guess because I tend to think on the right side of my brain, which limits me to planning only what Iām going to do at the moment. Then again, maybe itās the left side? I canāt remember. What the hell, Iāll play her.
āI havenāt played in a very long time. Probably pretty rusty, but if you likeā¦ā
āGood! I mean, thatās okay. Iāll go easy until you warm up. I was champion of the Young Womenās Chess Club in Santa Monica a few years back. Iām probably rustier than you, though.ā Isabella lays the magazine aside and rises from the sofa. She moves elegantly, smoothly, like a dancer or a floor gymnast. Her white skirt follows the movement of her body, almost in slow motion, and my eyes follow it. For a second I donāt think about the fact that within minutes Iām probably going to tumble into another lakeāone with kings and bishops and the horse pieces, overseen by an altogether different kind of queen. Shit, Iām in trouble here. I donāt mind losing at chess, but Iām finding myself spinning.
She strides around the sofa Iām sitting on and gathers two chairs from another table. I take a deep breath, ease my leg off the cushiony surface of the ottoman, then join her as casually as a man with only one working leg can. She doesnāt bother to pull my chair out for me, in fact seems to take no notice of my delicate condition at all. I think Isabella is already contemplating her tenth and final move. She has taken her seat on the side of the table where the white pieces stand like Napoleonās army at Austerlitz. My black guys look good, but I believe they wonāt know
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