Iron Quill: The Past Reborn - The Oasis of Tin

[admiralvorkraft]

Secret ingredients; The Gentleman Caller, Crag, and (in a very meta sense) The Past Reborn

It's a bit abrupt, but such is life. Comments, critiques, etc. are welcome.

 

The Oasis of Tin

“And he’s a proper gentleman?” My mother called from the couch where she lay, a soft cloth covering her eyes, “Because I won’t accept anything less for our Laura.”

 

“He’s a steamfitter mother, he’s as much of a gentleman as I am.” I kept myself busy at the mechanical hearth, my brass fingers clicked loudly against pots and pans. I enjoyed the work, the succulent sweet smoke was a welcome relief from the smells of the factory and there were no firing pistons hungry for careless limbs. I reached into the hearth to baste the stuffed duck and flames licked up around the brandy glaze. If I were on my own… but a cook’s salary would never support the three of us in Malifaux City.

 

“Does he make decent money at the least?” My mother asked with the dramatic sigh of a plantation owner’s daughter.

 

“He’s a pay grade above me already,” I said, shifting the bread to a higher rack in the hearth, to let the crust form, “and he’ll be in line for the next foreman position to open up, or the one after that at least.”

 

“Well I suppose so long as he has prospects…” She flung out one pale fingered hand, “Laura, darling, would you be a dear and bring Mommy a cider?”

 

Laura looked up, she was brushing imagined dust from the collection of tin animals that was her pride and joy, her pinched face was framed in dark curls and her eyes were empty. She brought back the animals after her long walks through the city, and she never paid for them - or if she did she didn’t get the money from me. They formed a little oasis on our coffee table.

 

“Right away.” She said.

 

“No,” Mother contradicted herself, “Let Tom bring it for me, you might spill on your dress and we can’t have that. Your caller may be along any moment.”

 

I had already pulled the ceramic jug from the icebox and poured a few fingers of cider into one of the delicate crystal glasses my father had left us with, and that my mother was too proud to sell. I crossed half our tiny apartment in the twenty four steps it took to reach my mother’s day couch. She took the glass from me and held it to her nose, making a disapproving sound in the back of her throat.

 

“It’s alright Laura.” Mother said, “Your gentleman is rich, we’ll be drinking fine cider again before the year is out, no more of this vinegar for us!”

I bit my lip.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The knock on the door came as I was whisking together an Italian meringue that I planned to chill in the icebox and serve with molasses caramels for dessert. “Can one of you two get that?” I asked, though even as the words escaped my lips I knew the question was a rhetorical

one. “Come in.” I called with my next breath.

 

Alexi stepped inside with all the grace that a man with one good leg could muster. He was tall and striking, though not what anyone would call handsome, with a much singed beard and wild green eyes.

 

As soon as he was through the door my mother went into hosting mode.

 

The transformation has always astounded me, the vapid child wandering from bed to couch and calling, aching for cider vanished in an instant and in her place was a hostess of the first degree. A bounce appeared in her step and she wore a broad smile showing off teeth to match her pearl necklace and her hands become alive, independent characters in the three person drama of her welcome. I could see at once that Alexi was taken in by her grace and charm and my heart skipped a beat.

 

I spread quite the table for him; trays of roasted meats and fresh bread, five sauces to delight all parts of the palate, an interplay of textures and styles that the Governor General himself would enjoy. Mother made sure to sit next to Alexi and kept up a steady stream of chatter so that he could enjoy looking across at Laura, and feel like he was getting to know her, even though she never opened her mouth.

 

Laura was, for her part, beautiful. Mother had taught her to be that and nothing else, and the effort showed. Her gown was lovely, a stark white that seemed to glow against the gray of our apartment and her face was a relaxed smile that betrayed none of the insecurities that woke her up in the middle of the night, nor the fantasies that more and more stole her from my life.

 

By dessert I could tell my friend was nearly smitten, overcome by the food and maybe hallucinating from the closeness and heat of the small room. Mother called for a bottle of port and I poured two fingers worth of the sticky wine for her and Alexi, I kept none for myself and splashed a bit in Laura’s glass.

 

“Tom,” she said, extending the O sound and shifting pitch half way through, “I can barely wet my lips with this, you must give me more.”

I smiled thinly and poured her a finger’s worth. She was too young to remember how father got when he was in his cups, but I remembered it clearly, and until my right hand was replaced I had two crooked fingers to help jog my memory. As a consequence I kept away from liquor as much as possible, and did my best to keep Laura sober as well.

 

“Good, good!” Mother crowed, “Pour yourself some as well, don’t you want to have some fun?”

 

“Of course.” I said and gave myself a token splash.

 

“Tom is the most serious man at the factory, I’m always glad when he ends up on my team.” Alexi said, “You can’t tell when some people will come in hungover, but not Tom, he’s always been solid.”

 

I hid my embarrassment behind my glass.

 

“You’ll keep him in mind then, won’t you?” Mother said, “When you make foreman, I mean.”

 

“Yes, well, that is if I make foreman.” Alexi said.

 

“Oh, but Tom is sure you’ll be next in line when a post opens up.” Mother said.

 

“I’m going to have a smoke.” I said, loudly enough to cut off the conversation before it had time to get going, “Alexi, would you care to join me?” I offered him one of the cigarettes I’d rolled that afternoon, just so I’d have an excuse to duck away.

 

“Of course.” He said, there was a question in his eyes.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“What’s wrong?” Alexi asked, out on the fire escape.

 

“What do you want?” I asked, “Out of life, I mean.”

 

“I don’t know,” he said, “family, free time, piles of wealth, a few kids maybe?”

 

“Laura doesn’t know how to read.” I said.

 

“What?”

 

“Mother wouldn’t let me teach her, she said that the books here were all unfit for a ‘lady.’ She’s brought my sister up with insane notions about her place, and what the world owes her. So now Laura floats rather than walks, and while I love my sister I don’t think she can make you or anyone else happy. Least of all herself.” I took a long drag on my cigarette.

 

“I’m confused, I thought you brought me here to meet her, she’s as beautiful as you said she was…”

 

“She is, and terribly sweet, the most harmless, innocent creature the world has ever seen but I only brought you here so that maybe I could escape.” I turned to him, “It’s your choice, but I’m warning you that the second you settle with her I’m gone.”

 

After a long while we went back inside.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“I’m afraid I have to be going.” Alexi said, grabbing his coat from the rack by the door.

 

“Of course, it was lovely to meet you.” Mother all but draped herself over his shoulders, “When will you be back?”

 

“I’m not sure…” He said.

 

“He means that he won’t be.” Laura’s voice sounded far away, “Tom told him something, didn’t you?”

 

I could feel something crawling up my back and when I tried to speak no words came out, so I just shook my head. Laura’s eyes flashed with lightning, there was a skittering all around and I could see tiny tin shadows moving by the floor molding. Mother didn’t see anything, just stood stunned.

 

“Which means I can’t let you go.” Laura said, “You’re my gentleman caller, you’re the one who will save us all.” Alexi turned to fumble with the door but a wave of tiny tin figures swarmed up, covering the wood.

 

I didn’t stay to watch. I was out the window and down the fire escape before the screaming started - apparently my sister wasn't so helpless as I'd thought - and after that I never stopped running. I would have, I wanted to. But any time I found myself settling into some new city I saw her, in a flash of lightning, or a bit of twisted tin. That night I stood on a crag, some precipice, and since then I’ve been falling like some dead leaf.

 

[Hateful Darkblack]

Oh wow! It's like Tennessee Williams remixed Malifaux-style! I dig it!

[admiralvorkraft]

So glad you liked it! As soon as I saw the Gentleman Caller element I new I had to try some weird perversion of The Glass Menagerie. I was worried that it wouldn't work at all, but I had tons of fun writing it anyway...

Sorry, rambling.