Chapter 31: A Taste for Blood — Part 9

Courtship and Closure, Part 2

Beth isn’t aware she’s starting to stare at Arpie. These comments should have already started, and they would have been the introduction to the usual conversation, one in which there would be a lot of words, most of them flattering, critical, or pointless. The food, while outstanding, is no more so than on any other day, and at first Beth is happy to have a moment of silence in Arpie’s presence. Then it stays too quiet, and Beth’s moment of Zen is corrupted by unwanted curiosity. When she is finished, she gives him an earnest stare, realizing in that moment that he’s been watching her as she eats, his eyes accented by smile wrinkles that extend up and down his cheeks.

“You have something to say that’s so important it has to wait for the rabbit to find its home. So say it, Old Man.” Beth says.

“Food was good. You girls outdid your own sweet selves on this meal.” Arpie says, sipping the tea brought to him by Julia toward the middle of the meal.

“Says the keeper of the gallows.” Beth speaks too low to be fully understood.

“I just want to know something.” Arpie says. “It has me real curious.”

“What is it a dumb little girl like me could tell a Wise Old Man like you?” Beth is sly like that, and Arpie is starting to like the way she works her words.

The clock is ticking on the wall, Julia and Kimble have made themselves scarce, put out a closed sign, the two of them sneaking out the door. A war is brewing, and they want nothing of it. The door is thirty feet from Arpie’s small table, and the room is otherwise quiet, creaking occasionally with the morning heat, The air in the room, though still strong with the smell of food, has become heavy. Arpie lets out a breath.

“The tea was a lot like the meal. You’re a smart girl, Betty.” Arpie starts with a drawl, “What I want to know is what you see in that boy of mine.”

“You gotta a boy now?” Beth laughs, the tinkly tone of it both practiced and impossible without her accent.

Arpie’s smile drifts off his face. “I’m talking about Opus. I’ve got some investment in that Deputee of mine, Betty girl. Has he gotten something in you?”

Beth’s not the striking kind, and she can’t quite tell of Arpie’s being perverted, or making a serious inquiry about how she feels, so she plays tenor to the tone. “What’s it to you, Old Man?”

“I’m just being curious.” Arpie says.

Opus rushes through the door, dressed in a nice shirt and clean pants, and he looks at the table, where Arpie is sitting, pretending for the moment that Opus isn’t standing in the door at the front of the room. Opus freezes, not knowing what to do. He hasn’t quite figured out where things are, what Arpie has said, or if he has said anything. If Beth is noticing him, she’s not showing it. She’s so fixated on Arpie, and Arpie is leaning back so passively that Opus finds himself thinking of Beth as a predator about to strike, and Arpie in an almost defensive position, looking for a way out. Opus knows Arpie well enough to tell it’s just the opposite. Opus hopes that he isn’t too late, even as he starts to move to stop the reversal. Beth leans forward, slowly, baring her teeth as she does so.

“What is this about?” Beth says suddenly, realizing this is all a game to Arpie, sensing that she’s just lost.

There is a pause, and Arpie gloats a little, knowing that the hook is now set. “You ever seen your boy naked?” Arpie asks.

“Not for lack of trying.” Beth says.

Opus walks up to the table, pleading. “Arpie, please.”

“Sorry boy, I got here first. No holds barred.” Arpie says, smiling like a kept man.

“I’m not stupid, you know.” Beth snaps suddenly.

“Betty, I never said you were stupid.” Arpie starts up.

“It’s Beth, Arpie.” Beth says quietly.

“All Right Betty, I get that. Let’s see if you get it. How smart are you?”

“I’m smart enough to be nosy. I know Opus went to the doctors a month ago and they did something down there to him, because he was limping when he left, and crying a little. I know he was sick, or something, but he looked so sad. I know I was going to ask him about it today, because I’m not proud of sneaking, even if I’m not too proud to be sneaky. Nobody talks about Opus, not to me anyway.”

“So there are secrets, and then there are secrets within secrets.” Now it’s Arpie’s turn to be surprised. “Why would a Deputee of mine go to the Doctor and not tell me? I wonder, my oh my, the reason why.” Arpie asks, his chair squeeking a little as he leans against it.

Opus is pale, almost shaken, steadies himself on the table, which squeaks a bit under his weight. He doesn’t take up a chair. “I was not pregnant.” He says suddenly.

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