Thursday, October 26, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 6. the kingdom


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas

part six of six

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





a pleasant evening. a pink sunset over the forest surrounding the airport.

alfredo stood with twenty other drivers of limousines in a waiting area outside the main terminal.

he was waiting for beatriz, whom he had not seen since he had had a brief look at her when she had driven him to the dock on the lake .

don reynard had explained to him that in order to maintain the fiction that beatriz was a journalist and alfredo her bodyguard, beatriz would arrive on a plane, alfredo would meet her, and they would then drive to the compound where the child - the target of the operation - was held.


suddenly beatriz approached. the plane had apparently arrived early. alfredo had not even taken out the little sign identifying himself as her driver.

she was even more beautiful than alfredo remembered.

“you are early,” alfredo told her.

“yes, just as i planned,” beatriz replied.

they understood each other perfectly.

“let’s go,” beatriz said. “i know a place we can stop.”

*


maria paced nervously, pausing every few minutes to look out a window, although night had fallen and she could not see past the walls of the compound.

she could not understand why a journalist was to be admitted to the compound. it seemed to contradict everything that had been done previously to protect gerald and guard his privacy.

she had been given reasons but she did not really believe them.

gerald was in his usual place in front of the cold fireplace, with a sketchpad, drawing a graphic novel.

“something is going to happen,” maria blurted out.

“of course something is going to happen,” gerald replied. “how could nothing happen?”

*


only a few lights were visible on the highway outside the motel.

beatriz pulled the shade on the window. she turned to alfredo. “you know they are probably watching everything we do.”

“do you care?” alfredo asked.

’not really.”

and then alfredo took her.

he took her as no man had ever taken a woman before.

he took her as a volcano takes an island as it disappears into the ocean forever, as the last star in the universe blazes outward and consumes a million galaxies….


and still beatriz cried for more…

*

watching the proceedings on his little screen in his bungalow, don reynard roared with laughter.

“go, big fellow, go!” he cried. “go!”

“come and look at this!” he shouted over his shoulder. “you don’t want to miss this!”

*

“do you think we could make a run for it?” beatriz asked alfredo, as she watched him button up his shirt. “and leave all this nonsense behind?”


“we could try,” alfredo told her. “but i contracted to do a job.”

“oh, of course. and you want your reward - your kingdom.”

“i contracted to do a job,” alfredo repeated. “i never liked welshers.”

“but you have not gotten the kingdom yet,” beatriz replied. “if you do not do the job, no one will be cheated of anything.”

“i contracted to do the job.”

“oh, very well.” beatriz sat up and began picking her clothes off the floor. “i suppose we may as well run over the details of this happy proceeding.”


“yes,” alfredo agreed.

“will you try to bring a weapon in with you?”

“it is worth a try, but anything too elaborate might backfire.” alfredo produced a small pistol and showed it to beatriz.

“this is a 259 coronado with 17 g’s of blast power, filed down with an 88 dominican grip, capable of 60 pops, 20 second.”

“it looks like a toy.”


“it is not much more than a toy. we can try to get it in playing innocent - ‘ i am a bodyguard, of course i need a weapon’. or you could use such charms on the guards that they forget all about me. perhaps try your charms first, fall back on the innocence.”

“yes, that sounds as good as anything, i suppose. no doubt if we can not get the gun in, you have other methods.”

“that is what they are paying me for.”

*


gerald put down his sketchbook and stood up when the woman and the man, the journalist and her bodyguard, entered the room. they were unaccompanied by any guards, although maria and gerald had heard some palavering in the outer room before their entry.

“good evening,” maria greeted beatriz. she felt strangely calm.

“good evening,” beatriz replied with her most charming smile. behind her, alfredo scanned the room.

“and who is charming little man?” beatriz continued, looking at gerald, who stared directly into her eyes.


“this is gerald,” maria answered easily. “and he is prepared to answer any questions you might have. are you not, gerald?”

“who is he?” gerald asked, pointing to alfredo.

“who am i?” alfredo smiled and stepped forward and looked at gerald.

and in that moment he knew the truth.

the child was himself.

alfredo took the 259 coronado out of his pocket and shot gerald between the eyes.

*

seated side by side on the couch, don reynard and don carlos watched gerald fall backward.

and alfredo disappear in a cloud of green and red smoke.

“that went well, “ said don reynard.

“as well as could be expected,” don carlos agreed.

“so is the universe saved now?” don reynard asked.

“until the next time.”


the end



Wednesday, October 25, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 5. the job


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas

part five of six

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





don reynard stood up when alfredo entered. he looked like every other man who had ever hired alfredo to do what he did.

the room was bare except for a pair of couches facing each other, with a low table between them. on the table were a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses.

“we meet at last, my dear sir,” don reynard addressed alfredo. he did not offer to shake hands, but indicated that alfredo should sit down across from him. “i have heard a great deal about you.”

“no doubt, “ alfredo replied, as he seated himself on the edge of the offered couch.

“i hope you did not find the elaborate means i took to arrange this meeting too onerous.”

“no doubt you had your reasons.”


“i did. would you care for a drink?”

“i doubt if you went to all this trouble to bring me here to poison me. so, yes, i’ll have a drink.”

don reynard poured two stiff drinks from the bottle on the low table. he indicated that alfredo could take either one, and he took one.

“my sources tell me,” said don reynard.leaning back on his couch, “that you spoke with don carlos.”

alfredo just shrugged.

“no doubt he told you some story about myself. perhaps some story about a man named bud johnson.”

“he may have.”

“don carlos is a fool.” don reynard laughed. “there is no such person as bud johnson, he is a fiction we have imposed on him.”

“if you say so.”

“in any case, you came to me.”

“i told him you had contacted me first, and that therefore i would hear what you had to say first.”

“ha ha. no doubt you are thinking that if you go to him he will tell you that i am deluded, that he has imposed some fiction on me.”

alfredo took a sip of his drink. “he told me he was the richest man in the world.”

“yes, it pleases him to think so. as it pleases him to tell you about my concern with bud johnson, who does not exist.”


“be that as it may,” said alfredo, “you must want me to do something to somebody.”

“yes, of course. look here.” don reynard reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and took out a tablet the size of a wallet. he placed it on the table and unfolded it so that its screen faced alfredo.

“this is real time,” said don reynard. “the picture is not quite the best.”

“it is good enough,” said alfredo. “but what exactly am i watching?”

the picture showed a moderately beautiful young woman, dressed very plainly in slacks and a white shirt, sitting in a wicker chair with a book. the picture was clear enough to show that she was not concentrating on the book, but kept glancing at -


a boy about eight or nine years old, seated on the floor in front of a fireplace, turning the pages of an oversized book. the boy rocked back and forth slightly as he perused the book.

“it is the boy we are interested in,” said don reynard. “not the woman.”

“you want me to kidnap him?”

“if you can. but kill him if you can not.”

alfredo nodded.

“i assume you have no qualms about killing a child.”


“i do not know what qualms are.”

“well, you can always look it up in the dictionary under ‘q’ if you are curious.”

alftedo stared at the screen. “they must be well guarded.”

“of course. we would not have gone to the trouble of enquiring as to your services if it were otherwise. “

“speaking of my services -“

“we are aware of their value. what did you have in mind? any particular currency?”

“what is money in today’s world? i was thinking of something more substantial.”

don reynard smiled. “such as?”


“a kingdom.”

“ah.”

“preferably an island. it need not be a large one.”

“i am sure it can be arranged. do we have a deal, then?”

“tell me more about this job. do you have any entry at all to this well guarded target- or am i to work from scratch?”

“ah. i have no doubt you could work from scratch, as you put it, but we do have an entry, one we would prefer to use, as it is in place, and we would like to get this whole affair over and done with as quickly as possible.”

“go on.”

“you have met beatriz.”

“i have? you mean - “

“the woman who picked you up and drove you to the dock.”

“oh. i hardly saw her. except when she let me out at the dock. she did not introduce herself.”

“but you noticed her. eh?”

alberto shrugged. “a woman is a woman.”

“ha, ha, to are sure. a most worthy sentiment. what a different world it would be, eh, if all adhered to it?”

“well, what of this beatriz? “ alberto replied impatiently.


“i see you are all business, my friend. well, beatriz will impersonate a reporter, a reporter for a european newspaper -“

“a newspaper?”

“yes, one of the last in existence, and as such she will gain entrance to interview the child and the governess. you will accompany her as a bodyguard. the child has been represented as some sort of prodigy, in order to justify to the curious the massive security around it. a journalist will be allowed admittance, to counter allegations of fraud.“

“i see. and once inside this massive security i am to kidnap or kill the child and the governess, and then get out, with them and this beatriz in tow?”

“the governess is of no importance. beatriz can take care of herself. as for the rest, that is what you are being paid for.”

alberto nodded.

part 6



Tuesday, October 24, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 4. the woman


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas

part four of six

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





nothing ever surprised alfredo.

he had seen and done many things, most of them too terrible to be described.

and yet when the black limousine turned off the highway into the barely visible dirt road he felt that he was about to come to the end of his long journey.

or to start a new one.

the limo bounced along the dirt road. and bounced and bounced. thick vegetation covered both sides of the road, and brushed up against the tinted windows.

the rear passenger seat that alfredo occupied was blocked off from the front seat and alfredo could not tell how many persons, if any, were in the front seat.

alfredo wondered how often the limo, or any vehicle, drove the road and how often any vehicle that did had to be repaired and serviced.


finally the limo stopped. alfredo waited.

the door was opened. by the most beautiful woman alfredo had ever seen. and alfredo had seen a great many beautiful women.

the woman was wearing a uniform of some kind. a chauffeur’s uniform? a military uniform? who was she?

alfredo only knew that he would possess her. if he had to destroy the universe to do so.

but he would bide his time. the woman motioned to alfredo to get out of the limousine.

when alfredp got out of the limo he saw that it had pulled up to a dock at what looked like a large lake. nothing was visible on its horizon.


a small boat waited at the dock. the woman pointed to it and its motor started up.

“this is getting a bit tiresome,” alfredo told the woman. “ will this boat take me to don reynard?”

“one way or another,” she answered.

alfredo looked around. the lake seemed surrounded by dense jungle. except for the dirt road they had arrived by, he did not see any other openings. there was no beach of any kind, and there were no buildings visible.

“no one is forcing you to do anything, sir,” the woman said. “if you wish to meet don reynard, get on the boat.”


“and if i do not wish to do so, will i be driven back?”

“if you like. but who is being tiresome now?”

alfredo smiled and nodded. his eyes burned into the woman, telling her, we will meet again. he turned and got on to the boat.

the boat started up immediately. it had no human crew, and was obviously remote controlled, or sentient. it headed directly into the center of the lake, toward the bare horizon.

alfredo turned his eyes back to the shore. the woman and the limousine were gone.

part 5



Monday, October 23, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 3. the child


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas

part three of six

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





gerald had done well on his latest tests, so maria was forced to let him out into the garden, even though she felt he did not really deserve it.

maria watched as gerald prowled around the garden.

why am i watching him, she wondered, do i not get enough of him during the day? and sometimes during the night?

it was not necessary for maria to watch gerald. he - like herself - was under the constant surveillance of a company of guards who patrolled the compound she and gerald were domiciled in.

and who watched, 24 hours a day, the monitors fed by the innumerable hidden cameras in the compound that recorded every word and action of maria and gerald.


doctor remigio had assured maria, at the outset, that the cameras would not record her most intimate moments, and she had gone along with the charade, and expressed her gratitude, as she had gone along with everything else since she had awakened from the dream of her previously sheltered existence.

maria also assumed that a recording device had been placed in her brain so that the doctor could survey all her thoughts and dreams, including - most especially including - those she was unaware of herself.

when you thought about it, was that really so remarkable? most humans - and perhaps most other animals - since the dawn of time had assumed that they had no secrets from gods and demons and angels and saints.

doctor remigio - and his gang of thugs patrolling the grounds - were her gods and demons, that was all.


maria turned away from the window and went over to the piano, and played a few notes of her favorite piece - the sonata number 6 of merline. she played it often. if the doctor or captain mendoza or any of the thugs didn’t like it and were sick of it - too bad.

maria had been tutoring gerald for almost a year now. he was almost eight years old and starting to show a distressing amount of energy.

especially for a child who was being brought up and groomed to be the apostle of a new religion of universal peace and love.

maria and gerald lived “alone “ in the compound, visited only occasionally by doctor remigio and less occasionally by the manly but ponderously polite captain mendoza , captain of the company of guards.


doctor remigio had visited only a few days before, and expressed himself satisfied with gerald’s progress. he liked to vary the time between his visits so as not to be predictable, but maria felt he would not be back for a while.

neither maria nor doctor remigio made any real effort to conceal their distaste for each other.

maria had tried to give up on wondering why doctor remigio had chosen her to tutor gerald. she had tried with even less success to give up wondering why doctor remigio had allowed to her to live, after the coup in which her father, the deposed president, and her other family members had been killed.

her best guess was that doctor remigio was keeping her alive for possible use as a pawn in some future game - but with whom or what?


maria’s playing, and her desultory thoughts, were suddenly interrupted by gerald’s screaming out in the garden. he sounded like he was being attacked by some wild beast.

not again, maria thought. lately gerald had taken to screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason, usually when he was allowed out by himself. maria would almost have been happy to let him just scream until he exhausted himself, but his cries attracted the attentions of the guards.

and one guard in particular, a corporal salazar , who was convinced the child was possessed by demons and had offered more than once to arrange for an exorcism. the other guards were less solicitous, and treated gerald with the same offhand contempt that they treated maria.


and sure enough, when maria got outside, she found portly corporal salazar and a bored looking private approaching gerald at about the same distance as herself.

as always, gerald abruptly stopped his screaming as soon as maria was at his side.

“what were you screaming about this time, gerald?” maria asked, although she already knew the answer.

“screaming? i was not screaming,” gerald answered with a straight face and a bewildered air.

corporal salazar came up to them. “exorcism, miss, exorcism,” he announced without preliminaries. “surely you must agree with me this time.”


“i thank you for your concern,” maria replied. “but gerald seems fine now. in fact, he has just informed me that he was making no noise. isn’t that right, gerald?”

“yes.” gerald looked at corporal salazar with a forlorn air. “i do not know what the fuss is about.”

“i feel i have to inform the captain of this, miss, “ the corporal stated.

“i thought you had already done so,” maria replied. evenly. “do whatever you think is right. come, gerald, i think you have had enough time in the garden. it is time to resume your lessons.”

gerald followed maria back to the house, leaving corporal salazar to his thoughts.


“i don’t want any more lessons today,” gerald said as soon as they were out of the corporal’s hearing. “i want to read comic books.”

i have been indulging him too much lately, maria thought, but answered, “very well, you may read comic books. we will have some lessons after dinner.”

gerald, who never thought more than a few minutes ahead, nodded happily.

maria relaxed.

but her relaxation was destined to be short lived.

part 4



Sunday, October 22, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 2. the number


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas

part two of six

for part one, click here





alfredo had a phone in his pocket, purchased for him by the woman who was keeping him.

he hesitated to use it. he decided to keep walking, on the chance he might encounter a working pay phone.

the sky overhead grew darker.

alfredo left the waterfront behind, and came to an area where high rises fronted the water.

he saw a man sitting alone on a park bench. a white haired man, impeccably groomed, wearing an old fashioned but brand new gray fedora. a stout looking walking stick was balanced on his knee.

alfredo approached the man on the bench . “excuse me. sir, but do you know where avenue a———————— is?” this was the street of the address on the matchbook.


the man looked up at him. “avenue a—————? why, it is all the way on the other side of the city. at the edge of the jungle.”

“ah. thank you.” alfredo looked around. “would you happen to know if there are any public phones nearby?”

“a public phone? no need for that.” the man reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a small phone. “use this, sir. i insist.”

alfredo took the phone. “thank you.”

“may i ask,” the man in the fedora continued, “if you are going to call…. “ he rattled off the eighteen digit number from the matchbook.

“yes, i was,” alfredo, in no way surprised, answered.


“then i advise you not to call it.” the man had turned on the bench and faced alfredo directly. he gripped his walking stick firmly as he spoke.

alfredo smiled. “and why might that be?”

“because i know the man who will answer the call. or one of whose flunkies will answer the call. his name is don reynard de axa and he is a fool. he will offer you a generous sum to kill a man named bud johnson, whom don reynard imagines to be a person of consequence but is actually of no consequence whatever.” the man paused and looked alfredo in the eye. “but i am prepared to make you a much better offer.”

“and who might you be?” asked alfredo.


“you have never heard of me, but i am don carlos and i am the richest man in the world.”

“i see. and you are going to make me an offer to do what —?”

“to carry out a delicate operation. but one i am sure you are capable of.”

“involving - ?”

“involving a kidnapping, among other things.”

“a kidnapping!” alfredo laughed. “in this century?”

“oh, not for ransom, not for ransom ha ha!” don carlos held up his hand. “but the operation will involve kidnapping, among other things.and i am prepared to pay - ”


but alfredo held up his hand in turn. “if it is all the same to you, sir, i think i will hear this don reynard’s offer first. after all, he contacted me first.”

“of course, of course, suit yourself.” don carlos got to his feet. “i will leave you, i don’t wish to intrude on your conversation.”

alfredo held the phone out to don carlos. “i am afraid i would be abusing your hospitality by using your phone.”

“oh keep it, keep it by all means. it is only a telephone.” don carlos pointed down the beach, toward a bend in the bay. “do you see that low building over there? the green one?”

“yes.”


“it is a restaurant with the homely nomenclature of the sunrise cafe. why don’t you meet me there for breakfast tomorrow morning, let us say ten o’clock?”

“thank you. i will do that - if circumstances permit.”

“then i bid you good morning.” don carlos turned and set off down the beach at a brisk pace, swinging his stick.

alfredo watched him go. after a moment’s hesitation alfredo dialed the eighteen digit number.

as he expected his call was answered immediately. “whom am i speaking to?” a voice asked.

“i am alfredo.”


“stay where you are. a car will pick you up shortly.”

alfredo put the phone in his pocket and looked down the road the way he had come.

a few raindrops began to fall.

after five minutes a black limousine with tinted windows appeared.

the back door opened and alfredo got in.


part 3


Saturday, October 21, 2017

ms found in a green notebook - 1. a strange man


by nick nelson

illustrated by roy dismas


part one of six




alfredo was a strange man.

men feared him.

women desired him.

but he walked alone.

men, seeing him pass by on the street, would suddenly realize that they would never be one tenth the man alfredo was, and would go home and shoot themselves.

women, driving down the street in red convertibles. or walking down the street pushing baby carriages, would abandon the convertibles or baby carriages and leave them in the street and follow alftedo - often to their doom.

alfredo, being a gentleman, would usually give these women a night of love - one that could never be repeated for them - and, having his own destiny - leave them.

women , those strange moth-like creatures, created for love and doomed to hopeless longing - could only respond to his abandoning…

with despair and death.

and so alfredo moved through the world, child of destiny, soldier of fate…
now it must be admitted that there were a few persons in this world, men and even a few women, who did not recognize alfredo for what he was.

persons in possession of worldly wealth and power, looking down on the masses from their towers and penthouses, sometimes mistook alfredo for a common spiv or lowlife.

made soft by wealth and ease, they did not sense the powerful forces that had shaped him, and that were unleashed within him…

for alfredo, in following his irresistible destiny, was still a living creature, and had to live day by day like any living creature, from the most humble and timid to the most fierce and terrible…

like most men who are not born to wealth, and who do not surrender their lives and souls to “the daily grind”, alfredo was saved from destitution only by the good graces of women.

women who, willing to die for him, were only too happy to support him.


one dark morning alfredo went for a walk along the waterfront.

the waterfront of one of those enormous cities, dwarfing the ancient capitals of atlantis and london and new york, that are springing up like weeds all over the doomed earth.

he felt that his destiny was - finally - at hand.

the waterfront was deserted. deserted of life, there were a number of small vessels floating in the oily water.

suddenly a man appeared.

he approached alfredo, and did something few men did.

he looked alfredo straight in the eye.


smiled, and walked past

intrigued by this unexpected event, alfredo turned to follow the path of the bold stranger.

but the stranger had anticipated him, and stopped, and faced alfredo.

the stranger held a small object out to alfredo. “you dropped something.”

“i never drop anything,” alfredo replied.

“never is a long time,” the stranger replied with a polite smile. “but i did not say that you dropped it just now. only that you dropped it.”

alfredo never indulged in palaver or small talk. he simply held out his hand for the object the man was offering him.


it was a matchbook. a plain white matchbook. alfredo opened it. an address, that he did recognize but assumed was one in the surrounding city , and an eighteen digit phone number were written inside it.

“i bid you good day,” the stranger announced, with his same courteous smile.

alfredo nodded, and the man turned and walked away.

alfredo watched him go. the man did not hasten or slacken his pace, and disappeared from sight without meeting anyone or being picked up by anyone.

part 2