Chapter Two
SIGN
Otis was floating on a purple and gold cocktail barge, drifting in the vicinity of Seattle. He had been on book tours for too long, had too much champagne too many nights in a row. He wasn't listening anymore as the great literay agent, Kalipso, carried on, over the din of the live band and the thumping of the dancing passengers, as to how she would make him immortal.
Otis snapped a photo of the moon with his iphone and sent it to Penny via twitter. He waited for her to send him a photo of the moon from the deck of their home in return. It was a comforting ritual.
Kalipso gave him a document to sign. Otis studied the fountain pen as if he'd never seen one before. The only reason he held a pen these days was to sign autographs, checks and contracts. He sighed deeply when he noticed smoke rising from a chimney on the shore. It brought back memories of the copper coloured fire light dancing on Penny's cheeks back when their love was green and growing.
Otis signed yet another tour agreement without reading it. Kalipso told him it was time for the reading followed by Q & A and autograph portion of the evening.
"Let's get this over with before the heavy drinking begins," Kalipso was thinking of the night before when Otis was so potted that he signed his books using lyrics from THE DOORS: "Poor Otis, dead and gone...."
Otis checked his twitter account again to see Penny's response. It wasn't there. He sent her a direct message asking if her sky was overcast. His post did not go through. It bounced back with the message: "Recipient not following you."
Otis felt as if the full moon had lodged in his throat. He threw the iphone into the sea.
"That was my phone," Kalipso said dryly. "This one is yours."
Otis took the phone Kalipso had in hand and put it in his jacket. He jumped off the barge and swam towards the shore.
"You have a 5 am. We don't have time for this!" Kalipso shouted into the darkness that had swallowed her client.
~ to be continued ~
Chapter Three
THE ROSY FINGER OF FATE
The rosy fingers of dawn stretched across the morning of the last poetry party. He watched her from the beach and forced himself to be patient, to think of a proper way to reenter his world. Otis resisted the urge to to run to Penny. A man cannot circle the globe reciting love poetry to everyone except his wife and then after two decades just expect her to simply take him back into her heart.
The great poet laureate hid behind a lifeguard tower and watched his lovely wife supervise their son Telly leap about on the sun deck of their home. Telly was 21 but due to severe autism, never developed speech. Otis shed tears of remorse for all the years he had missed with his family and may yet lose.
"Professor?" Telly's special ed teacher, Mr. Mentor, put his hand on the sobbing poet's shoulder.
"Shhh!" Otis pulled the teacher from view. Lost in grief, he had not noticed Mr. Mentor coming down the beach for the morning's in home lesson with Telly.
Mr. Mentor was relieved that Otis had returned. He told Otis that Telly had begun having nightmares that kept his mother by his side most of the night and that these nightmares began around the same time that Professor Antonio began to linger after the poetry parties. Mr. Mentor believed it was Telly's way of looking after his mother, making sure she was safe.
Mr. Mentor felt that Telly knew Antonio and the others were eating his food, drinking his father's wine and that Antonio wanted to steal his mother. Mr. Mentor confirmed Otis's worst fears about Telly's nanny, Melanie. She was always telling Mr. Mentor how Professor Antonio would make such a fine step-father for Telly. Otis devised a plan to at least comfort Telly while he worked out a master plan of how to approach Penny after all this time.
When Penny left for the grocery store to shop for the party, Otis slipped past the nasty nanny, Melanie, by wearing Mr. Mentor's cap and jacket. Telly immediately saw though his father's disguise. They had a happy time on the deck while Melanie was busy in the kitchen making as many long distance calls as she could before Penny returned from shopping.
"Look at the fine kite Mr. Mentor brought for you to fly in the kite festival this year! It has a little basket to hold this beanie bag puppy that looks just like Polutropos!"
The real Polutropos scampered across the deck to inspect the basket for anything edible. The chihuahua was tiny and sounded like a centipede wearing tap shoes when he ran.
"You see? This Polutropos has a special job. His job is to remind you that mommy and daddy will always love you. Let's put him in the basket and give him a ride in the clouds so he can tell the angels to watch over you and mommy until I come home to stay." Otis went to the edge of the deck to motion to Mr. Mentor that it was time to change places again. He looked back and saw Telly was holding the toy chihuahua to his heart and watching the real one leave the earth.
"O NO!" cried Otis at the sight of his wife's beloved Polutropos floating high in the sky out over the ocean.
"Polutropos! Stay in the basket!" Otis was sure the chihuahua was no swimmer and even if he was, he would probably serve as some sea creature's hors d'oeuvre before he had the opportunity to drown.
"This is not the way back into my Penny's heart!" Otis ran down the beach following the wayward kite with its trembling, barking cargo. He was almost parallel with the flying puppy when a stranger on the beach warned him to go no further.
"That beach is the turf of the Skylla Surfers! Do not go there! They are very violent this time of year!" The stranger said.
"I'm sure when I tell them the problem, they will understand and offer assistance." Otis was optimistic.
- to be continued -
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