The Patience of the Spider
January
27th,
2013
'Nothing ever turns out as you want.
'But
I always knew how to make
the best out of the worst situations.
'If
I have to eat at another mall's food court, I'll start to shoot
people down. Alain is a good boy, but too provincial for my taste.
The house and some money will be enough for him. He doesn’t desire
anything more beyond his music or his sorry teaching position.
'Nobody
was as perfect for me as
my angel, but he was as crazy as you can be. Bloody father of his!
'The
only good thing that came out of us was my Conor,
but I lost him too. With Pavicevic in power, I can't stay in Europe
any longer. America is not safe enough for me. Only one
more month, and I'll be gone from here too.'
Constantin's
eyes roamed the waiting room, painted in soft colours with its
shinning marble floor and modern paintings on the walls. 'Pictures of
babies would have been too obvious, but better than these
abominations.'
“Mr.
Arseniev? You can see your son now. He's a healthy boy.” The young
nurse took him out of his musings and the man fixed his eyes on the
cheap reproduction of a Miró hanging from the
wall on one of the corridors of the private clinic.
“Thank you,” he answered. “Is the surrogate
mother all right?” he asked for politeness' sake and nothing else.
“The
doctor will speak to
you later,” the nurse answered, feeling very uncomfortable at the
cold tone the man had used to refer to the woman who had just given
birth to a child for him.
“May I see my son now?”
“Yes,
follow me,
please,” she said curtly, and Constantin rose to follow her through
the light blue painted corridors, doing his best to ignore once more
the ugly mass-printed reproductions hanging from the walls.
The
nurse simply planted him in front of the nursery's window
and disappeared inside the softly illuminated room, crowded with
cribs. A minute later she appeared on the other side of the glass,
smiling as she held a newly born baby in her arms.
Constantin
watched the baby asleep in her arms and once more felt a familiar
warmth wash over him, the same he had felt each time he
had seen all of his children for the first time.
'Just like my Connor,' he thought as his right hand
involuntary placed itself over the glass to let him come closer to
the baby.
The nurse turned around and walked to the door to give
the infant to his father. “He's certainly cute,” she said,
watching the small nose and delicate features. “I'll show you how
to do it,” she said, getting ready to show the man how to properly
hold a baby.
“Is
everything all right with
him?” Constantin asked as he took the baby from her hands and
expertly cuddled him to his chest, not waking him up at all.
“Yes,
his Apgar test was nine,” she answered a bit surprised that a
single man could manage so well a newborn and held him so
confidently.
“Has
he eaten?”
“No, not yet. You clearly said you didn't want him to
have much contact with the mother.”
“Well,
you should feed him soon. That he's tired from the surgery and still
sleeping doesn't mean you can overlook your duty
to take care of him,” Constantin said sharply.
“Yes,
sir,” she answered back. “I thought you would prefer
to do it yourself.”
“In the corridor?” he smirked.
She
bit her bottom
lip as she realised he had no room to go, and probably he wouldn't
want to use the suite the surrogate mother was occupying. “I can
provide you with sterile clothes and you can do it inside the
nursery,” she said. “Or you could go to Administration and ask
they assign you a room.”
“A man in a maternity ward is too modern for any
hospital,” Constantin sneered. “An apron will be fine.”
“Yes,
sir,” she answered, opening the first door to the nursery to let
him in. “Wait here, please,” she said as she opened the second
door to enter
the sterile area.
Constantin
sat in the small antechamber and looked at the child with real
tenderness. His eyes took every detail of
the baby’s slightly frowned face, as if he were still not used to
be in the world. Constantin guessed his hair would also be very blond
as the few strands on his head showed a light brown colour under the
white cap. The baby opened his eyes for a brief instant, to close
them quickly under the bright lights, but it was enough to let
Constantin see they were a dark shade of blue, exactly as Guntram's
first child’s had been at birth.
'It was a blessing there were still three embryos left.
You are going to be as handsome as your father and your brother
were.'
* * *
The
man contemplated the certificates the lawyer had left that morning at
the
lobby of his hotel. The papers, lying in disarray over the wooden
table, told him his new life. With a sigh, he left the bottle aside
and gently patted the six-day-old baby, who made soft sounds of
content before closing his eyes to sleep again.
“You
are even more peaceful than Conor, my little Kostya. Must be my
angel's sweet nature influence
on you,” he said to the child in Russian. “We have everything
ready and we will be going away very soon.”
With
great care, Constantin rose from his chair and walked towards the
crib where he laid the sleeping boy and covered him well. At his
side, he placed the large, red and green plush tree frog he
had bought for him, enthralled by the toy's likeness and bright
colours.
'No
more French spellings for us, Kostya,' he thought as he read
the birth certificate for one
Konstantin Arseniev, son of François Arseniev. 'You are a proud
American citizen now.
'Argentina
is the last place on earth Lintorff would
set foot again.
He has nothing left in
that country and Guntram will never return there. It's a safe place
for us.
'No
one will ever look for us there,
and Buenos Aires is good enough for me. After all the havoc Pavicevic
caused back in 2010, Rimsky keeps the area free of crusaders at all
costs. The private schools there are good, and I have more than
enough resources as to live well for the rest of our lives. Nobody
asks you a thing as long as you have money.
'It's a pity you will never meet your brother. He was a
wonderful baby.
'The
most beautiful thing I ever owned. Nothing could compare to my Conor.
No artwork was as incredible as he was. Guntram lost half of his
credit with
me the minute I saw him.
'Now,
after seeing my Konstantin, I really don't care about him any longer.
'Perhaps
I will forget my Conor, too. Perhaps my Kostya wants to be an
engineer or a scientist. Time will tell.
'It's a new beginning for all of us.'
Finis
September
17th,
2012
Gave me the creeps...
ReplyDeleteAnd now, TS3 right ? :))
miles
"The itsy bitsy spider
ReplyDeletewent up the waterspout.
Down came the rain
and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun
and dried up all the rain
and the itsy bitsy spider
went up the spout again."
It's all about context, isn't it? *shudder*
A superb way of finishing this volume of short-stories. It was a most pleasurable reading!
Thank you! ^_^
~ Higashi
It is so sad.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Vall
Thank you very much for the comments. Next week, we continue with the tale.
ReplyDeleteLots of hugs,
Tionne