Felicity – A Philosophical Fable [Chapter 21]
The house was half empty. Tripp and Fae had gone to the Fair and Ryder was with the stewards.
Somewhere in the house Sunny was painting. And Mimi was reading or sleeping or gardening. Wave didn’t know. He was focused on his music. It had been his turn to go to the Fair, but he was working on a composition so he gave his turn to Tripp.
It was not the first time Wave had given up his turn to one of the others. When he was creating a new piece of music he didn’t want to stop.
Tripp was happy to take an extra turn. He had many poems to bring to the Fair and he derived much pleasure from hearing the poems of others. It was only at the Fair that he got to talk to other poets. And he always brought home the best poems he had heard.
Fae loved going to the Fair too. She loved it so much that she couldn’t fathom why anyone would give up a turn. With Ryder she understood a little. Ryder was different. But when Wave or Sunny chose not to go she was astonished. So she chuckled when Wave said he was staying home.
“You’re funny,” she teased. And he liked the way she said it.
Wave had been making progress with his composition, but then he got stuck on a riff. It didn’t sound right. He tried it over and over, this way and that, and it still didn’t sound right. He needed to clear his head.
He picked up a lute and plucked a simple melody. The sweet notes were soothing. He allowed his mind to relax, to refresh itself after its labors.
Then he heard it. A loud crash. One moment, there was nothing but the silence and the lute. The next, a crash and a blinding white light. He dropped the lute and jumped to his feet. He couldn’t see a thing. But he didn’t need to see to know what it was. To know who it was. It was the two intruders who escaped during the first invasion. They were back.
They had waited until the household was most vulnerable. It was a clever strategy. To wait and attack when the numbers were even. When Tripp and Fae and Ryder were away. It was a clever strategy, but a hopeless one. And surely they knew that. Surely they knew they were only bringing about their own deaths. But they couldn’t help it. They had to try even though they were doomed to fail. Doomed to die.
Wave understood. It was what anyone would do. It didn’t make sense. But it wasn’t a matter of sense. It was a matter of need. Having come so close to a Felicity, the yearning would be unbearable. The need to try would be irresistible. It didn’t make sense, but it was what anyone in their position would do.
Wave knew his life was in danger. The intruders would die. That was certain. But they would kill him first if they had the chance. They would kill him and Sunny too. Wave knew this, but he couldn’t see a thing. He could only stand firm and listen for any sound that would reveal the intruders’ movements.
He heard nothing but he suddenly saw something. A flash of black. He felt it too. It brushed against him. It was Mimi.
A club fell to the floor as the man wielding it was devoured. It fell right at Wave’s feet. The intruder had been directly in front of him and he had not known. In another second the man would have brought the club down on Wave’s skull. Had Mimi not been there, Wave would have been killed.
He was momentarily dazed. He didn’t even see the second intruder meet her fate, nor the forlorn look on her face before she perished.
The sound of Sunny’s rapid footsteps roused him. She ran up to him. They looked at each other, relieved. Then at Mimi. She was sitting on a sofa, slumped forward. Wave picked her up, cradling her limp body in his arms. He carried her to her room.
Sunny followed. She stood in the doorway as Wave entered with Mimi. He bent down to lay her on the bed.
Sunny viewed the scene with the eye of a painter. It was picturesque. The warm orange bed cover with its red and brown design, the vivid blue of Mimi’s kimono, the illumination of the multi-colored fairy lights. And in the center of it all, the two figures, two gently curved lines.
Wave carefully lowered Mimi’s head onto the pillow. Then he lingered for a moment near the soft still form on the bed. He felt glad to be alive.