Revenge of Cornelius (9 page)

"Woo-hoo!" Rosie exclaimed rubbing her
hands together. "I absolutely love Nana's pancakes. Don't you,
Pops?"

"Yes, I absolutely love them," Michael
replied.

Mira took a last sip of her coffee,
then got up and joined them at the table. She sat next to her
father.

"While Mom's getting the pancakes,
could you go and grab my purse, sweetheart? I need to make a dash
to the store," Mira said.

"You're going without me?" Rosie asked
curiously.

"You actually wanna go?"

"No way, Mom. Pops and I are having
pancakes! Tricked ya!" The child merrily skipped off.

Mira leaned in toward her father. "How
are you doing, Dad? I mean, how are you really feeling?"

"I feel good." He nodded. "I was a
little more tired than usual yesterday. Didn't get much sleep the
night before. That's all."

She gazed at him.

"I know all that stuff your mother
told you must have caught you off guard, but I'm as strong as an
ox. I'll be around for a long time. You'll see. Don't you worry
your little head."

Mira's eyes started to well with tears
again.

"Now put that away!" He demanded. "We
have to think of Rosie. She's too young to handle all the snibbling
and snootering and all that crap I don't like."

"Okay, Dad." Mira quickly dried her
eyes.

"We'll talk about this some more
later, okay?"

"Okay," she replied.

She could see the love in her father's
eyes and yearned more than anything right then to find a secluded
spot and scream the frustration away. She needed to get it all out.
Staying awake for half the night and crying herself to sleep wasn't
nearly enough to even begin to ease the pain inside her
heart.

Rosie returned a moment later and Sara
arrived with the pancakes.

"Thanks, honey." Mira gave Rosie a
peck on the forehead for the purse. "I'll see you when I get
back."

"Drive safely, now!" Sara said as Mira
headed for the door, car-keys dangling in her hand.

* * *

Sara was in the process of clearing
the table when there was a knock at the front door.

"I'll get it." She tossed the
dish-towel across her shoulder as Michael and Rosie continued their
conversation in the dining room.

As was her custom, she never used the
peephole, but opened the door right up. She was surprised to see
who was standing on her porch. Though they had never met, Sara had
a strong inkling as to the woman's identity and the youngster
standing beside her.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you," the
lady started. "My name is Andrea Benjamin; I live just up the
street there. I suppose you're Mira's mother?"

"Oh, yes. And I suppose this handsome
young man next to you is Alex?" Sara returned with a
smile.

Alex, who had once been staring the
older lady down, hung his head shyly when she placed him in the
spotlight.

"Rosie hasn't stopped mentioning your
name hardly since her first visit. He's such a precious boy," she
said to Andrea.

"Thank you. Alex, are you going to say
thank you?" Andrea nudged him gently.

"Thank you," the boy answered softly,
giving Sara a quick glance before burying his head into his
mother's skirt.

"Please come in," Sara moved to the
side. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Benjamin."

Andrea and Alex stepped
inside.

"We're not going to take up much of
your time, Mrs. Cullen. I was just wondering if Mira was
here."

"She went to the store. You can wait
if you'd like. She'll be back real soon."

"No, that's okay. You can just let her
know that I popped by and I'll speak with her later."

"Well, please let me at least
introduce you to my husband," Sara said. "Do come
through."

Right then, Rosie appeared. "Hi, Mrs.
Benjamin! Hi, Alex!"

"Why hello, Rosie." Andrea smiled.
"How are you today?"

"Fine, thank you," the dainty child
responded. "Did you come for me?"

Andrea laughed. "I came to see your
mom. You know, I promised to take Alex to McKerry's on Saturday.
They have the biggest burgers in town. If you want, I can find out
from your Mom if you can come along."

"Oh yes! I'd love to come!"

"I'm sure it'll be all right," Sara
inserted.

Michael was slowly
approaching.

"Honey, this is our neighbor, Mrs.
Benjamin and her son, Alex."

"A real, nice pleasure to meet you."
Michael extended his hand to Andrea.

"Nice meeting you too, sir," Andrea
replied.

"Little man, nice shoes you've got
there!" He pointed.

Alex edged in closer to his mother
again. "Thank you," he responded almost in a whisper.

"Your husband didn't tag along?"
Michael asked.

"No. He's at work, so…"

"I'm terribly sorry we all didn't meet
sooner. My sincerest apologies on behalf of my family. Perhaps,
we'll meet Mister Benjamin soon."

"Yes. I'm sure," Andrea
said.

"Well, I'll be moving along. You all
take care now."

"Thank you, sir."

Michael continued toward the master
bedroom.

"Are you sure you didn't want to wait
for Mira?" Sara asked again. "I have fresh coffee if you'd like a
cup."

"That's nice of you to offer, Mrs.
Cullen, but I'll have to take a rain-check. Alex and I have quite a
number of chores to do. So if you'll just let Mira know I passed by
and she can give me a call when she gets the chance…"

"Certainly," Sara walked with them to
the door. "I'm glad you stopped by."

"Likewise and good meeting
you."

"Bye, Mrs. Benjamin! Bye, Alex!" Rosie
cried behind them.

"Bye." Alex waved, happy that he was
leaving the house of strangers.

Andrea said farewell to Rosie, then
walked with Alex to the car. After hopping inside, she felt an
acute sense of relief that Mira actually wasn't there. It was
difficult enough forcing herself out in the first place to confront
Mira with questions that she wasn't sure she even wanted to ask.
She was aware that if Theo knew of her intentions, things would
turn out very badly since the unwritten code was that what happened
at the house was to remain at the house—no matter what.

She took a deep sigh, started the
ignition and drove away.

* * *

"Hey! How are you? I called for you
several times." Bobby saw Mira at the check-out line. He was
holding a small cart as Mira's items were being struck up at the
counter.

"I wasn't feeling so well. Sorry. I
told Mom I didn't feel like speaking with anyone," Mira
said.

"That's…okay. I totally
understand."

"Mom told you?" She paid for the
items.

"Told me what?"

"Dad's sick"

The cashier glanced up at them for a
moment, then carried on collecting the change from the
drawer.

"Really? I'm very sorry to hear that.
Hope he feels better soon." Bobby replied.

Mira took the change and grabbed her
grocery bag. "I'll wait for you at the door."

Bobby only had two items, so in a
minute, he had caught up to Mira and they left the store
together.

Several feet away from the entrance,
Mira stopped suddenly and looked up at Bobby. "I don't want you to
let my dad know I told you this, but he's really sick, Bobby." She
felt a lump in her throat and forcefully pushed it back. "Dad has
cancer. He's going to die!" Tears started to form again.

Bobby did the only thing he thought to
do in that instant. He pulled her close and held her. "I'm sorry,
Mira. I'm really sorry." Such news wasn't something he cared to
hear about any member of the Cullen family.

The tears were racing down her cheeks
now. "I just wanna scream. I need to get this all out," Mira said,
her voice breaking.

"Well, why don't you?" Bobby asked.
"Don't let anything hold you back."

"You mean…here?"

"Why not? There's a slight chance that
someone might call the cops thinking I'm attacking you or
something, but you could always explain yourself later if push
comes to shove." Bobby thought the remark might make her feel a
little better. He couldn't tell if it did.

Without warning, came an ear-piercing
scream that had 'eardrum bursting' potential. It may have lasted
for thirty seconds.

"That-a-girl," Bobby rubbed Mira's
back gently. Her head was resting against his firm chest
now.

"Is she all right?" A middle-aged lady
stopped and asked.

"She's fine. Just a bit upset," Bobby
quickly answered.

"Miss…"

"Yes," Mira raised her head slightly,
drying her tears. "I'm fine. Just needed to vent."

The lady gave her a confused look, but
took her word for it, nonetheless, and went into the
store.

"Feeling better?" Bobby asked
Mira.

"Yeah, a little."

"Will you be okay to
drive?"

"Yeah. I'm fine now.
Thanks."

Bobby walked her to her
car.

"So how long does he have?" Bobby
asked.

"I don't know. They can't know for
sure," Mira responded.

"Well, I'm here for all of you if you
need me for anything and I'm still coming by to do the yard work.
You'll have to try and convince your dad to leave it to me
now."

"I think at this point convincing him
to do that might not be so hard."

They were standing at her
car.

"I'm sorry I let you down yesterday.
Things didn't go as planned."

"I understand, Mira. There's no need
to explain. We can do it another time," Bobby returned. "Right now,
I know your focus is on your dad and there's no way I'm gonna even
try to get in the middle of that."

"Thanks." Mira managed a slight smile.
"Just so you know…I've decided to extend my and Rosie's stay for
another week or so. Depending on how things progress with Dad, it
might be longer. We'll see."

"Okay."

Mira inserted the key into the car
door. "I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah. I'll come by the house this
Saturday. Remember, when I get there, you have to convince your
dad…"

"I know. Thanks for being here for
me."

"Don't mention it. Anytime," Bobby
replied.

He watched her slowly leave the
parking lot and a tear of his own escaped down his cheek as he
considered the plight of the man who had become like a father to
him—the only one he had ever known.

Mira learned of Andrea Benjamin's
visit when she returned home and immediately made the phone
call.

"Sure, Rosie can go to McKerry's with
you guys," Mira stated. "She'll love it."

"Would you like to join us, Mira?"
Andrea asked.

"I would, but Rosie thinks that she
and I hang together enough back at home in L.A., so when she comes
here, she prefers to do things without me. Strange, but
true…"

Andrea giggled softly. "Okay. Alex and
I will pop by on Saturday, then. That's also my cupcakes day, so if
you want, Rosie can help out and save some for you all."

"I'm sure she'll love to. That's fine,
Andrea. And it's so nice of you to allow her to come by so often
and play with Alex."

"My pleasure. She's a sweet
child."

That was the totality of the
conversation as Andrea decided not to veer again into the uncharted
territory she had found herself swimming in just hours earlier due
to pure and utter desperation.

* * *

That night…

Lights flickered alongside the massive
structure, and whispering sounds penetrated the solitude of the
child's room. One of the voices was loud and succinct enough in his
ear to wake him. Alex peeled his eyes open and as consciousness
rushed through his brain, he turned and scanned the bedroom. Only
blackness greeted him and silence once again. Then appeared a faint
glow near the closet—very small at first, but seemed to be
increasing in size and mysterious severity by the second, and
forming into something wavy. Suddenly, the indistinct, frenzied
whispers started up again—here, there and everywhere. They were
coming from all directions, yet the light near the closet remained
still, except for its changing shape. In less than a mere minute,
it was almost three feet tall. Alex kept looking around as the
dread inside mounted to a level by which he could feel his little
heart pounding and his throat tightening. It was a truly detestable
state as it prevented him from doing the most logical thing—
screaming his little lungs out!