A YOOK BY ANY OTHER NAME

Chapter 7: Moonlit Peace
By Jo Anzalone

He folded his arms around her, resting his chin atop her head. "You must tell me," he said urgently, "you must!"

"I...I...don't know," she murmured. "I suddenly felt...afraid," she tipped her head back to look into his eyes, "as though something terrible were about to happen."
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Himself had been by the open den window and so had seen Maximus' and Joimus' giggling roll down the lawn. He smiled. Maximus had changed in many ways since the Pittsburgher had become a part of his life. Surely there was angst, but he had never seen the General so happy...had never actually heard him giggle before. He liked it. It pleased him. Then, when he saw them sitting, facing one another as they were doing, and suddenly Joimus looked so stricken, he felt a deep concern. Not only did he know completely what made Maximus tick, but he also knew the inner workings of Sid. Sid had been acting strange of late, even for him. He frowned. Where WAS he now anyway? He heard someone at the door and turned, finding Bunny standing there.

                                     
                              

She, too, had seen the scenario on the lawn. "Sid?" Himself asked, a long question contained in the single word.

 

"I don't know," she replied. "He left."

 

"Left?"

 

"Yes, not long after we arrived this morning. He's been... upset...by what's been happening with Maximus."

"Which way did he go?"

 

"I followed him past a rocky hillock, but then he just took off towards some trees."

 

He knew the area she described. It would take him in the general direction of...of...Bellingen. His eyes narrowed. "Do you know what he's up to?"

 

"No," she replied truthfully, "he only said he had an 'idea'."

 

"You think he means the General harm?" he asked.

 

"Possibly," she said. "He seems almost...obsessed with him."

 

"I know," Himself agreed. "It's worried me for some time now." He looked at her levelly. "I intend to keep a close eye on him."

                                    

She nodded, thinking to herself, "I'd keep a closer one on Maximus." But she didn't say it.

With so many mouths to feed, Himself decided to have a barbecue and just let them sit around the yard. Colin was feeling stronger now that his sideburn was well on its way to mending, so he and Andy joined in with gathering wood for the big fire pit. The evening settled in, fresh and lovely, with high contrails glowing pinkly in the sky. They gathered in an irregular circle about the fire pit, sitting on blankets or lawn chairs, listening to Himself play his guitar and sing for them. Jocelyn, carrying a platter back to the house, stopped on the steps and turned, looking at the group of them. Her eyes glistened with the pleasure of the sight. Terry came up beside her, putting an arm about her waist. "It's nice, Mum, isn't it?"

 

She nodded. "I wish your Dad hadn't gone to Sydney right now. I'd love for him to see this."

 

"He can visit the set, Mum, you know, "Terry said.

 

"Visit the set?" she repeated.

 

"Yeah," he explained, "Russ said he's takin' the lot of them to stay up there during filming. There's not really room here for quite so many and he's worried about all the extra work for you." She sighed, not really surprised.

                            

Laura had permitted Steve to carry her out to a chaise longue set back a bit from the fire pit. Despite the ice, her ankle had swollen and she could not bear her weight on it well at all. Franki had checked it carefully, announcing she did not feel it was broken. Steve brought Laura plates piled way too high with barbecue, baked beans, and all the other foods that were available. She had left her hair loose and as it fell over her shoulders down the front of her suit, the evening breeze gently ruffled it. He liked long hair. Monica had had long, dark hair, but Laura's was thicker, richer in color. His fingers hurt, they wanted to touch it so badly. He sat cross-legged on the ground nearby.

"You live in LA?" he asked.

"Now," she replied, "because Fox is there. I used to live in Pittsburgh, though."
 

"Pittsburgh?" he repeated, looking across the lawn toward Joimus. "Do you know Joimus?" he asked

"You mean the woman with Maximus? No," she laughed, "Pittsburgh is quite a large city. We've never met." She had been very aware of the shorter woman with long, pale hair since she had come into the dining room tucked beside the General, but they had yet to be introduced. "She has been with him...long?"

 

"Since the beginning," Steve explained. "She has this strange, inexplicable relationship with epilife."

 

"Strange?"

 

He smiled, "Don't ask. I couldn't begin to explain it!"

 

"Is...is that why I am here?" Laura asked.

 

Steve smiled more broadly. "I think why you are here is to be entertained."

 

Her eyes turned then, for some unknown reason, to the General. Without taking her eyes off him, she asked, "He is always referred to as 'The General' and never 'The Slave' or 'The Gladiator'?"

 

"Always," Steve affirmed. "He simply IS the General at all times."

 

 

"I think I like that," she murmured.

The Captain was looking at the General, too, at that very moment. Jack sat, his back resting against a tree trunk, one knee bent, his hands clasped about it, observing them. Maximus was sitting, facing Joimus on a blanket, letting her spoon potato salad into his mouth. He had never seen two people enjoy potato salad quite so thoroughly. She deliberately filled the spoon way too full, getting it all over his lips and even his moustache a bit. Then, leaning close and laughing, she used her own mouth to clean him off. There was this air of innocence about them that made the intimacy of it seem so...so... appealing to him. He had known many women in many ports in his time, but never had he experienced for himself this absolute boundlessness of love and attachment. He sighed, loosening his handclasp, letting the fingers of his right hand play with the tops of the grass blades beside him. A small beetle of a sort only Stephen would probably know the correct naming, clambered clumsily onto his forefinger. He lifted it close to his face, studying it.

                                   

"Hello, little friend," he whispered. "Is there a lady beetle in the lawn nearby?" Sighing again, he let it climb off onto a tall blade. "Godspeed," he murmured, as it disappeared, then lifted his eyes to watch the rising of the moon.

 

On another blanket annsmac sat, her legs curled in front of her, Terry's head resting in the nest they formed. He watched the reflections of the firelight flickering across her face, then lifted one hand, tracing his finger down the length of her left collarbone. "Himself says we are moving to Bellingen tomorrow," he said, his finger tracking now along the bodice line of her dress. "What do you think of that?" he added.

    

"If you continue with what you're doing," she replied, "I shall shortly not be able to think at all."

 

He grinned. "That's the general idea," he chuckled.

 

She smiled down at him. "This is the General's idea...not yours?" she teased.

"Not unless he wants to find himself tossed out of the helicopter," Terry said, sliding his hand behind her neck and pulling her face close to his. It was obvious that, though blunt, he was feeling better.

"I wish it had been this peaceful in Toronto," Jim sighed, looking at Jewelie.

                                  
 

She slid a bit more down the short bench so that her side contacted his. She looked about the large yard at the various couples, the small clusters that were chatting and laughing together. "It IS nice, isn't it?" she agreed. Then turning a very serious gaze on him, added, "But is there any real assurance that it will last? Do scenarios like this ever really LAST in epis?"

 

He thought back over epihistory just in the time since he had arrived at Droogheeda. That very day Joimus had fled in Jewelie's ewe cart, horrified at the all-too-plainly seen results from the spilling of Maximus' seed on the Plains of Sheba. (see A More "General" Storyline if you missed it) Finally, they had tracked her to the Saltflats of Doom where, at last, there had been reunion...only to have her taken off again into Sid's computer in the Toronto library. He could hardly bear to think of what had happened to them all in Toronto. Then The Village, the Polar Express, Maximus almost dying before their eyes. Now here they were, happily eating in the moonlit gardens of Himself's own home. "Oh, Jewelie!" he cried, grasping her hand, "It MUST last! It simply must!"

 

She knew Cinderella Man would not be out for almost half a year yet and that he truly feared he might not live to make the premiere. It was, indeed, a valid fear. And they both had grown quite fond over the long and gruesome months of the other cast members. The thought that any of them could come not only just to harm, but to the waaaay more terrible things that happened to epifolk, wrenched their hearts.

By lantern light, Sid put the final touches on his day's work. Taking the object he had retrieved from beneath the trap door of the red barn in The Village, he lay it beside its future "home". Standing back, he looked around the room. Everything was ready. "Perfect," he said, baring his teeth in a happy smile, "absolutely...perfect!"

                                         

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