The Bookkeeper's Son

Assmachestan annexed nilbmah without even a speed bump. jacob's press-driven national brainwashing, more than set the stage, it stole the show. The first two and a half days after the surge, the citadel was on complete lock down, universal house arrest. In spite of their immense size, few actually witnessed the Assmachestani assassins like the one that haunted elizabeth; by the end of the week, they were hardly more than stuff of wive's tales.

The morning, early morning, after the lock-down, neighborhoods were rustled outside into their respective plazas by strange men and women in strange uniforms. With the gentry gathered in bathrobes and slippers, the soldiers (because of course that’s what the must be dressed in uniforms like that) told the people of nilbmah they had been saved. In every single neighborhood the story was the same, down to the prepositions. Foggistan, nilbmah was told, was on the cusp of a global siege. The recently arrived fleet had waited only to ease them into the illusion of security and they very nearly reproduced the atrocity of LusciousLocks in nilbmah. It was very lucky that they, the soldiers in strange uniforms, had managed to intervene on nilbmah’s behave. They, the soldiers, were from a distance galaxy where they were arch-rivals of Foggistan, who had usurped and destroyed their original planet. In order to prevent other peoples from living this same fate, they amassed a great military force and had been monitoring Forggistan to a science. It was only through such diligence that they had been able to thwart the Foggistanni siege of nilbmah. Two days ago, Foggistanni forces had infiltrated nilbmah’s politburo and assassinated all the political figures. That’s when they, the soldiers, took action. They surprised the Foggistanni forces and managed to rescue a few politicians. However since they were unsure of the extent of Foggistan’s infiltration, they put the nation on lock down while they purged nilbmah of its enemy presence. Unfortunately, they, the people of nilbmah, still weren’t safe. Foggistani’s space fleet could still carry out the siege. So in order to keep nilbmah safe, they, the soldiers, were going to keep nilbmah in military mode. The politicians they managed to save voted to give them, the foreigners, emergency power to secure the nation. When the citizens returned to their homes, they would find a copy of the post explaining everything that had happened as well as a pamphlet detailing all the new regulations that would keep them safe while Foggistan was routed from Coralende.

elizabeth after three minutes of clinical death came to in the arms of a bookkeeper’s son with a letter in her hand and a teaspoon in the other. sempere, the bookkeeper’s son, managed to pull elizabeth into bookstore and into the apartment above it before the shock of rescuing a woman from a bat-wolf chimera came waterfalling down ice cold.

“Oh my. Oh my. Oh my my my!” sempere’s father had watched the whole episode from the window and greeted them at the door. “What in heavens, semp. What in heavens indeed. Oh semp. Oh my. Oh my. Lay her here on the couch. That’s it. That’s it. With the pillow. Oh my. Oh my. But semp! Oh my. We must get her some tea. Go put on the kettle.”

But sempere, collapsed in the chair across from the sofa, was still being thrashed by the shock of it all and didn’t budge. So the old man, after a moment while the scene saturated, turned and shuffled to the kitchen to put on the kettle, humming the same as always.

Meanwhile, elizabeth was awake on the couch but hardly responsive. Her eyes rolled over the room but failed to lock in on sempere’s face as they should. sempere should have called emergency services and should have been monitoring elizabeth for signs of shock. These were second nature to a blooming paramedic, but that day nature was doing summersaults.

Only the whine of the teapot jerked both sempere and elizabeth to attention.  The ritual of making tea had a tranquilizing effect on mr. livral, sempere’s father, who came bumbling in still humming with the tea. In spite of his tabby appearance, the tea display was queen’s-palace elegant. The arrangement of saucers and afternoon cookies was measured to the millimeter. The dainty blue seemed as if it might blow off the china, but its humble design was vaguely stabilizing. mr. livral served the tea with a steadiness that thumbed its nose at the chaos of the situation. They drank their tea, elizabeth too, and dunked their afternoon cookies in silence. elizabeth unconsciously put the spoon and the letter in her pocket.

“So, um, what’s your name?” sempere broke the silence. elizabeth completely failed to register the silence. Or the extended stares of the livrals.

“Excuse me, madam. What’s your name?”

Finally, elizabeth landed. She looked around a bit startled and asked, “Oh, so sorry. What was the question?”

“I’m sempere livral and this is my father, walter livral. Who are you?”

 “I’m elizabeth garner, ceo of mobile 9…”

Even though both sempere and mr. livral recognized the name, they said nothing and neither did elizabeth, not for a while.

“…but I guess that won’t much matter given the current state of affairs…”

“…whatever that even is,” finished mr. livral after elizabeth faded.

After another long pause and internal retreat by all parties, mr. livral final announced, “Well, I’ll go make another cup o’. If there was ever a day for two teas, call me sassafras if it’s not today.” And just as before he hummed off to the kitchen, leaving elizabeth and sempere to stir their brewing thoughts.

Eventually sempere realized that in his introspection he left his eyes staring at elizabeth. His face flushed and he fidgeted in the chair, which brought elizabeth back to the physical world as well. For a few moments, they awkwardly avoided each other’s gaze while trying to think of something to say.

“I’m afraid I have to use the restroom. You wouldn’t mind?”

sempere dutifully lead elizabeth to the one bathroom in the apartment, still crimson.

elizabeth didn’t actually have to use the restroom. She needed to think, alone, and maybe even sneak a call to smithins. Find out how the resistance was–dammit! She couldn’t even do that.

The memory sucked her under like a wave, flipping her in its murky waters. She had to sit down on the narrow toilet. The rank odor of the garbage where she hid from the monster reached back up her nostrils. The terror as the fiend finally caught her off guard and she thought she would die once again set her heart pounding. And her last conversation on the other side of death rang in her ears for second time. She heard herself say, “They are going to annex nilbmah. Initiate beta phase. Did you get that? Initiate--”

elizabeth prayed to anything and everything that smithins got the message. But now there was absolutely nothing she could do to find out. Any attempt to do so would completely negate the beta phase effort.

Very early on in the resistance, elizabeth and smithins made a worst-case scenario plan. If the resistance were to become completely compromised, they would carry out “beta phase.” This meant the resistance would go up in flames, like a phoenix. All documents would be destroyed save for a vast collection of forged information that narrated an alternative story of the resistance, in which everything came crashing down in a bloody struggle for power. Everyone would go into hiding within the walls of their normal lives; 90% of their ammunition supplies would be forfeited; a few deaths would be faked; there would be no contact between any members and absolute no action by any member for two months after b-day. This last bit was absolutely critical. Any hint of resurgence could jeopardize the resurrection of the movement.

So that is how it stood. elizabeth would have to sit cooped up without doing any resistance work for 2 whole months. Uggh! The thought alone was giving her the gitters. elizabeth waited for no one. But she would have to make an exception this time. Ugggggh!

At least she would have more time to finish up some projects at mobile 9 that had been pushed to the side during past few months. That would be able to distract her while she waited for the two months to pass.

Well, she had been in the bathroom long enough. Social etiquette prompted her return to the rest of the apartment where she found the livral’s both waiting with a fresh set of tea and cookies. Neither of them started their tea until she sat down and brought the cup to her lips. She hadn’t noticed this courtesy the first time. The temperature of the tea told her the gentleman had waited some time.

sempere informed them that they would have to stay in the apartment indefinitely. A colleague of his in Marketing at the university called him to say that strange soldiers, an army of sorts, had taken over the city and they were forcing everyone back into their homes. If you tried to resist them, as his friend had done, they lightning-tasered you until you saw it their way. They didn’t say when you could come out. sempere had tested it out. There were at least five soldiers patrolling the street and one guarding the back alley. He had been wise enough not to test the lightning-tasers.

“So it’s been decide,” concluded mr. livral, “elizabeth, you will be staying with us until all this blows over.”

“But I can’t. I mean, thank you so much for the most generous offer. I sincerely appreciate it, but I just can’t. I can’t. There is so much I have to do at mobile 9. I have to see my bother. Oh god. Andrew. I have to make sure he’s ok. I can’t stay. No really I can’t.”

mr. livral stared down elizabeth with a sternness quite uncharacteristic of the old fellow. The weight of this change was lost on elizabeth, but it did give her pause.

sempere watched the mini-drama like a play.

After running through her options, elizabeth got up slowly and headed towards the door. Neither livral made to get up after her. When she got the door she turned around. “Thank you both so much for everything. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude. I certainly will never forget, all you have done.”

elizabeth turned to leave.

“But I imagine you leave up on the north peak, no?” This time it was sempere who spoke.

The question caught elizabeth off guard. “Well, yes. How did you know that?”

“But that’s halfway across town. You certainly won’t be able to take the CitT or any main roads, now can you? With all the soldiers out there, you will have to plan your routes. Right? Come on, let’s look at the maps.” And with that, sempere walked off into the den. He was slier than he came off.

Still a bit off guard, elizabeth followed sempere out of the living room.

Once in the den, elizabeth found a snow of maps covering everything. Where did they all come from she wondered, but not for long because sempere quickly launched into strategizing the very best routes and alternative paths to take. All the while bring up the myriad obstacles she would face: heightened security around the seven plazas the lay in between the two neighborhoods, the possibility that the soldiers had locked up certain alleyways, the chance that a soldier saw her and, worst of all, what if there were more of those monsters in the sky. But at every single wall, sempere chattered off another implausible counter with all the positivity in the world. elizabeth, on the other hand, felt the impossibility of it all and how she would certainly destroy the whole purpose of beta phase if she tried to leave.

It was only after she decided to stay that elizabeth realized how sempere had all but conned her into staying.

Back in the living room, mr. livral was beaming.