Most of the time when people come home after extended abscences, they are greeted with joy and happy friends who have missed them. Most teenagers are different. Most teenagers, when their parents have been away for some time, are not quite happy to end the endless amounts of trouble they seem to have gotten in during the time the parents were not home. Ludoviko, however, is torn. He wants to be happy that his parents are coming home, but he knows that very soon, he will never see them again. That makes him sad. So, with melancholy in our minds, we begin a new scene, this one the return of Ludoviko's parents.
"Vespera, stay here. I'll be back really soon, but I have to go pick up Mom and Dad at the airport, and I don't think Mom will be too happy that I got a pet while they were gone. Please, be good and do not tear anything to shreds, okay? I'll be back around nine, so be a good girl." Ludoviko knows that Vespera, who has begun to grow into a large pup, can't hear him. She's fast asleep and dreaming away the daylight hours. Sighing, he shuts the door quietly and tip-toes down the stairs. As he gets to the door, he grabs his coat, his keys, and a handful of cash. He closes the door, locks it behind him, and heads to his car.
A young man, who is about the age of Ludoviko, is leaning on the car in Ludoviko's driveway. "Ludo," he says, grinning. He is tanned, though usually white, and has blonde hair. He has one ear pierced and his opposite side's eyebrow similarly mutilated. He nods to the boy in recognition.
Ludoviko rolls his eyes inwardly. Paul never seems to go away, even after the two had a falling out the day before graduation. Paul had seemed to think that Ludoviko had been hitting on his girlfriend. Ludoviko, who personally thought that Sara, Paul's girlfriend at that time, was so horrifically ugly as well as possessing horrific table manners, could not seem to find a tactful way of avoiding the altercation. Now, though, the two were graduated, and soon Paul would never be seen again, either. Maybe being forced from the house wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"Paul," Ludoviko responds as he approaches the car. He breathes deeply and unlocks the car. He then pops the trunk and cleans out various items he had picked up over the past few days and hands them to Paul. Most of the items are stones, twigs, empty cartons of various items, and none possess any monetary or sentimental value.
"What is this crap, Ludo?"
"I have to pick my parents up, Paul," Ludoviko responds flatly. "I need room for their bags in my trunk."
"Yeah, yeah. So where's this dog?"
"She's asleep. No, you may not see her. I've got to be on time for the plane. Maybe tomorrow, Paul."
"What kind of dog is it? Got a pedigree? Papers? AKC certs?"
"A mutt, no, no, and no."
"Some dog."
"She's something else, though."
"Uh-huh, and I'm Marie, Queen of Scotts."
"It's Mary, not Marie."
"'Tever."
"Look, I have to go. I'll drive you home and whatnot, okay?"
"Nah, I gots me own wheels, Ludo, man. Carla's meeting me at the Getty and then we be heading out to the Cliff. She's a vixen, man."
"You know, if you keep sleeping around like this, you're bound to develop either a very bad social standing with the ladies or a very nasty veneral. Maybe both."
"'Tever. Later, Ludo."
"Sure you don't need a ride?"
"Getty's in the other way from the airport, man."
Ludoviko shrugs and closes the trunk. He hops into the car and starts it up. "Your loss," he states and drives carefully from the driveway. "Later," he states and waves as he pulls into the streets. Within minutes, he's on the highway and heading to the airport.
"Ludoviko, Darling!" a mildly plump woman calls and waves from the crowd. She is somewhere between Ludoviko's color and white. She is shorter, too, so she seems to jump every now and again while she is waving.
"Hi, Mom. Dad," Ludoviko responds, nodding. He grabs one of the bags on the floor with one hand, hands the keys to his father, who is the darker, more ethnic of the pair, and grabs the other bag. He grins, kisses his mother on the cheek, kisses his father on the cheek, and leads the way from the airport to the car.
"Are you certain he has to leave, Henry?" Ludoviko's mother asks.
"It'll make a man of him, don't you worry, Merideth," Henry responds. The rest of the way from the airport, the two are silent.
"Pop the trunk for me, won't you, Dad?" Ludoviko asks, as they reach the car. His father obliges. As Ludoviko packs the suitcases into the car, his mother speaks up again.
"Are you saying that he's not a man already?" she demands.
"He practices archery and he runs for Christ's sake." When Merideth gasps at the use of the Lord's name, Henry coughs. "Pete's sake, sorry, Merideth." He sighs and continues. "If he were a man, he'd play real sports like wrestling and soccer. He wouldn't read nearly half so much, either. I love him to death, Merideth, but there's only so much a man can take, you know?"
Ludoviko tactfully and tacitly ignores the conversation. He takes the keys from his father and hops into the front seat. He then unlocks the other doors, closes his, waits for his passengers to enter, buckles up, and starts the engine. Sighing, he again waits for his parents to strap themselves in before setting off out of the airport. He pays his parking fee and they set off down the highway.
"I just don't see what's so bad about his interests, Henry. You read plenty."
"And my father threw me from the house for that. Think of it as a tradition of sorts, eh?"
"Need you be so nonchalant about it all?" Merideth sighs.
"Yes, I need to be. If I show too much emotion, you'll force me to let him stay. I love him as much as you do, Merideth, but he's got to know the world. It'll make him strong, confident, and-"
"Dead? He'll die out there, get mugged or pick up a homicidal hitchhiker and die!"
"Don't overreact. He's a runner." Henry scoffs.
"So, how was your trip?" Ludoviko finally speaks up, interrupting the hostile conversation.
"Oh! It was just wonderful! And so warm, too! Arizona is lovely this time of year!" Merideth replies, clasping her hands.
"A lot different than Ohio, eh?"
"Yes, so much!"
"Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Meet anyone new?"
"A wonderful bookseller named Charlise. She's so mild-mannered, and she was so interested in you! She's about four years older than you, but she seemed genuinely enthralled. She gave us her address to give to you, Ludo, and she's a looker!"
"Merideth, must you use that ridiculous nickname on him? He's nearly full-grown; you can at least give him the decency of calling him by the name we chose for him!" Henry interjects.
"Dad, remember your heart doctor said that you need to calm down. That's why you're not driving, remember? Relax, you just came back from a vacation. Did you enjoy the bat caves, Dad?"
Henry merely grunts. He sinks back into his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. He broods, thinking of how soft his son is, how little he'd ever accomplish in the small town that he's known all his life. It's for the best, he'd told himself countless times, ever since his own father had called him up and asked when he would 'make him fend for himself and the like.' Sighing, Henry watches the traffic zoom by on the highway.
"If you'd like, I'll leave tonight, Dad," Ludoviko explains as he pulls his parents' bags from the car. "I don't even need the car if you'd like," he elaborates.
"No, no, no," Merideth insists, opening the door for her only child. "You'll not leave until after your eighteenth!"
"You're mother's right, there, son. The day after, you get the car and a few bills in your pocket, some clothes in a bag, and whatever else you deem necessary," Henry adds.
Ludoviko shrugs and makes his way to his parent's room. It's right below his room. Ludoviko figures it's to make certain that he's not with a girl in the middle of the night, but he never really asked his father.
"So, how was your time, son?" Henry asks, half expecting to see smoke stains and a general disorder in his home. He's surprised to see it in an order relatively similar to that in which he had left it.
"Quiet. I'd just really locked myself away from people, read books, ran, practiced my bow, you know, basically everything I do when you guys are home."
"Don't get snippy with me, buster," Henry warns.
Suddenly, Vespera yelps from upstairs. Merideth shrieks and Henry's eyes grow wide. "What was that, son?" he asks.
"Ummm..." Before Ludoviko has a chance to reply, Merideth is up the stairs and has his door flung open. She screams again.
"Ludoviko!" his mother shrieks.
Sighing, Ludoviko runs up the stairs two at a time. His mother is in his room, plastered against the wall as Vespera is sitting on Ludoviko's still unmade bed. The syrak is baring her wings and a deep rumble is coming from her throat.
"Vespera!" Ludoviko cries, taking the winged creature from off his bed and into his arms. He pets her gently and she calms down, though her eyes do not leave Merideth.
"Son, what in the Sam Hill is that thing?" Henry asks from the doorway, siddling close to his wife to comfort him. Both give Vespera a wide berth.
Ludoviko chuckles. "She is a syrak. Her name is Vespera." Vespera tears her eyes from Ludoviko's parents long enough to lick her bondmate's face affectionately. "I umm... I found her egg in the woods a little bit ago, and I've been raising her ever since. Isn't she cute?" He holds the pup out to show his parents, and Merideth begins to siddle towards the door.
"You what?" Henry asks, incredulous.
"I've been keeping her here while you've been away. She's really smart; she doesn't tear at the sheets, and she's already housebroken." He beams. "And, since I'll be leaving in a few days, I'm keeping her, whether you want me to or not." He winks at his mother and father before sitting on his bed.
"Thats... that's..." Henry begins, but can find no words to finish.
"Wonderful," Merideth finishes, nodding and inching towards the door. "Excuse us, won't you? We need to unpack."
"Naturally," Ludoviko says, smiling.
Merideth and Henry exit, and Ludoviko changes into his pajamas. "That wasn't very nice of you, Vespera. Mom's very jumpy when she meets new things," he says, crawling into bed. Vespera, meanwhile, nestles herself into her nest at the foot of his bed. Soon, they sleep.
In the middle of the night, Vespera awakens. She leaps to the windowsill at Ludoviko's room and stares out at the stars. Suddenly, in the starlight, her body glows, reflecting the patterns of the heavens. Suddenly, she is bigger, and far more tired. Thus, she sleeps once more after diving back into her bed.
Background from Angelfire.