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Chapter 36
Tea shivered in her scanty clothing, moving slowly, feeling the sharp point of the gun poking at her back as Ram walked behind her in the darkness. They were in front of the building as the pale moon hovered above them, lighting the night in a silvery splendor.
“Turn around,” he said.
When she turned he stood directly in front of her, towering above her.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Just another devil,” he said smiling, putting the gun into his belt and stepping back a bit.
“Did you kill, Cherry?”
“No.”
“But, Blair said you did.”
“I told her I did, but it wasn’t me.” He moved closer to her. “ I want to touch you,” he said, his voice a dark, seductive whisper. As he approached her Tea looked down at the gun that was just inches from her hand. He smiled knowingly. “The chamber is empty...I only had three bullets. But...I have a knife in my boot. And I’ll use it if I have to. I only want to touch you....let me.”
Tea stiffened as he approached. Reaching out his hand he touched her face delicately, tracing his fingertips along her cheek down to her lips, running them slowly down her throat and stopping at her heart. “Give me your soul, angel, and I’ll give you this key and disappear forever into the darkness of night. Would you do that to free Todd?” He held the key in the palm of his open hand. “Would you give your soul to save him?”
Tea looked down at the key and answered without a moments’ hesitation.
“Yes,” she said, reaching out and taking it. “But, Todd has my soul. If you want it you’ll have to take that up with him. And...devil to devil...you’re no match for Todd Manning.”
Ram laughed out loud and bowed to her once more.
“Yes, I know. That’s why it was necessary to restrain him. He has the power of your love coursing through his body...even I can’t fight that, adorada.”
Turning suddenly, he walked away into the darkness, his laughter dispersing into the air, carried upward by the night wind.
“Adios.”
She heard his deep voice calling out to her.
“La luna hace girar su rodaje de sueno.
Me miran con tus ojos las estrellas mas grandes.
Y como yo te amo, los pinos en el viento,
Quieren cantar tu nombre con sus hojas de alambre.”
[The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind,
Want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.]
“Pablo Neruda,” said Tea to herself, looking into the night till his voice disappeared and there was only the sound of chirping crickets and the rustling of the wind. “How did he know that?”
She stared at the key in her palm when suddenly she heard Todd’s voice coming out of the darkness, calling for her. Turning quickly she ran toward it.
* * * *
(A few weeks later)
The rain beat lightly against the roof. Todd stood in the foyer listening for signs of intrusion, but there was only the sound of raindrops tapping against the windows in a pleasant, pulsating patter and the melodic chiming of the tall wall clock proclaiming the lateness of the hour, its mahogany gargoyles keeping their nightly watch over the place.
Bolting the door securely and shutting off the lights in the foyer, he hurried up the stair’s, stopping on the landing of the second floor. He smiled hearing Hedda’s measured snoring and peaked into the nursery at Alma sleeping soundly in her crib. Walking softly into the room he watched her for a few minutes remembering the instance of her birth, one of the most genuinely, unadulterated moments of pure happiness he’d ever experienced...seeing her beautiful, blood-spattered head emerging from between Tea’s thighs as he watched in wonder, crying his eyes out. He’d worried that he’d spread himself too thin, that there was no way he could love another person as much as he loved Starr and Tea, but...from the moment of her arrival she took up equal space in his heart.
Turning quickly and squelching the desire to squeeze her until she giggled and smiled at him with her two, little teeth, he hurried down the hall noticing the light beneath Starr’s door. He knocked softly.
“Come in.”
As he entered he noticed her lying on her bed, writing in her journal.
“Hey, Starr, are you okay?”
“Daddy, you ask me that, like, every five minutes. I’m fine,” she said, looking up at him in her pink pajamas.
The last month had been a traumatic one for her and the most recent break with her mother had been difficult. Todd had become a bit over-protective since the kidnapping.
A lot had happened in the last few weeks. Bo had threatened to charge both he and Tea with obstruction of justice for their part in the kidnapping, but, in the end, he did nothing. Blair had a masterful mental breakdown after her plan with Ram was exposed but thanks to Sam’s legal skills she was sentenced to only a few year’s in St. Anne’s. Cherry’s killer was never found.
“I know. It’s just that, well, a lot has happened.”
Starr sat up.
“I know. But, everything’s okay now...and mommy will get better. She did all that stuff because she was sick, daddy, just like Grandma Addy. I told her I’d see Jack all the time and take lots of pictures so she won’t miss anything. And I’ll write her every week to cheer her up.”
Todd nodded, proud of her maturity and compassion...moved by her beautiful heart. He sat on the bed with her.
“Starr...you never talk about the...uh...you know, kidnapping. Ram, did he...did he do anything to you? Hurt you? You can tell me anything, you know, anything at all.”
Starr stared up at him.
“No, daddy. I already told you Ram treated me okay, accept for tying me up. I hated that part. But, I wasn’t that scared cause, I knew you’d find me.”
Todd smiled.
“Yeah? Really?”
“Yeah.”
Todd leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then got up to leave.
“Go to sleep, Starr. It’s late. I love you.”
“Good night, daddy. Love you too.”
Starr watched the door close. Raising her fingers to her lips she remembered the feel of strange lips on hers, the warmth and softness of her secret birthday present, her first, real kiss. Lying back down, she continued to write in her journal.
Todd headed up to the third level, the master bedroom, closing the door behind him as he came up the stairs quietly. He could hear Tea moving around in the bathroom as he walked over toward the bed and began to undress.
As he removed his shoes and socks, Tea finally came out of the bathroom wearing the long, white and infamous mink coat. Todd started laughing.
“Are you cold?”
“No, not at all. In fact, I’m feeling quite warm.” She walked toward him, freshly bathed, smelling of rose petals, and removed the coat, flinging it across their bed so that it spread out over the surface like a fuzzy quilt. She was naked.
Todd removed the rest of his clothing and pushed her back onto the white fur, lying beside her.
“I feel so free, tonight,” she said, looking up at the ceiling.
“Me too,” he said, feeling her hands running through his hair as he rested his face on her belly.
“I’m glad you changed your mind about us leaving Llanview. I just love our life here, and I love this house. It’s as if we were meant to live in it.
“I know. Now that Blair’s safely tucked away at the funny farm, I don’t feel the same urgency to leave. Besides, what would Llanview do without me? The Buchanans and Gannons would be bored out of their skulls. And the police department would have nothing to do. I can’t leave...I owe it to the community to stick around. Hell, I may even run for Mayor.
Tea laughed and laid back, listening to the rain.
“He was strange, wasn’t he, querido? Ram, I mean?”
“Yeah. He certainly was well informed. It’s like he knew us, like he was in our heads, but...that’s impossible, right?”
“I suppose. You know, Todd, when he took me outside, he asked for my soul in exchange for your freedom.”
“And did you tell him to fuck off?”
Tea sat up and looked down at Todd.
“No, I told him he could have it.”
Todd came up beside her.
“That’s okay. You have a spare...mine,” he said, looking into her beautiful eyes.
Tea laid back across the white fur, pulling him down with her.
“That’s funny, I told him you had mine,” she said smiling.
They stared at one another.
“What exactly is a soul, Tea?”
“A soul is...well...it’s the immaterial essence of each one of us. It’s the moral and emotional nature that makes us different from animals.”
“But, aren’t we just animals...ruled by our needs and our instincts?” he asked, touching her nipple with the tip of his finger.
“I suppose, to a certain degree, but...without a soul we wouldn’t feel love. We’d fuck and eat and sleep and be satisfied with just that. But, we’re not, because our souls yearn for something deeper, something more essential. Our souls allows us to love...and love is what we feel long before and after the affects of the act of lovemaking where off.”
Todd leaned down and kissed her nipple softly, taking it in his mouth and suckling it delicately as Tea closed her eyes and sighed.
“And...where exactly are out souls?”
“Inside each one of us,” said Tea.
“And, how do I find yours,” he whispered, rising up and kissing her throat, his hard erection pressing against her thigh.
“Well, you’ll have to come inside me and feel your way around, I guess. I’m sure you’ll come across it...” said Tea, smiling.
“Yes, I’ll have to come inside you and find it,” he whispered in her ear, biting the lobe tenderly.
They laughed a little as they lay together, smiling at one another.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you...more than life.” He reached up and touched her face. “Now, it’s time I embark on my journey.”
“What journey?”
“The one where I plunge myself deeply into your beautiful cave, forging onward and upward, pushing and thrusting my way through your tight, heavenly tunnel of love in search of your perfect soul. Tell me, love, how will I know when I find it?”
He heard her beautiful voice in the stillness of the room.
“ Y cuando asomas
suenan todos lost rios
en mi cuerpo, sacuden
el cielo las campanas,
y un himno llena el mundo.
Solo tu y yo,
Solo tu Y yo, amor mio,
Lo eschuchamos.”
[And when you appear
all the rivers sound
in my body, bells
shake the sky, and a hymn fills the world.
Only you and I,
Only you and I, my love,
Listen to it.]
“Only you and I, only you and I, my love, listen to it,” said Todd, translating the line perfectly. “Yes...only you and I...
THE END
The poetry is copyrighted by Pablo Neruda.
2003 Copyright by Trog
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