Life In The Palace (11 page)

I started walking out of the park.
I’m not sure I’m going to make it that far. Wait a second, maybe I don’t have to.

I looked at the houses opposite the park.
Big oak tree with funny cabbage-looking flowers.

“Please god, I know you’re busy but I really need a bathroom. Could you make this the right house? Thanks.”

I walked up the step and knocked on the door.

A girl about my age answered the door.

“Hi Tal, could I please use your bathroom?”

Chapter 8

T
al had her
hair down. I never noticed how pretty she was before. Her hazel eyes had little flecks of gold.
Does she usually wear glasses? Her clothes are better now.
Usually she wore the same old denim skirt with some sort of t-shirt. All of a sudden she was wearing a pretty black skirt with maroon embroidery and beading, and a matching maroon shirt. I think she had earrings on, and makeup.

“Tal, are you going somewhere?” I ask as Tal does a double take. I guess she didn’t exactly expect me to turn up on her doorstep.

“Is now a bad time?” I asked as Tal does a triple take.

“Tal?” A pretty woman who looks a lot like Tal came to the door. She was wearing a light blue sweater than came just below her elbows and a skirt in a slightly darker blue. But that’s not what I noticed first. First, I saw the stunning scarf wrapped around her head like a turban. It must have been silk and the colors blended from the blue of her sweater through to brilliant turquoise. She was wearing opal drop earrings. Now it was my turn to stare.

The pretty woman looked at both of us.

“Hi, I don’t believe we’ve met,” She said brightly to me.

“I’m Chloe. I study with Tal. I didn’t mean to drop in at a bad time. I was just passing by and I needed the bathroom and I thought you wouldn’t mind,” I stammered.

The women smiled, “It’s not a bad time, of course you can use our bathroom. I’m Nava, Tal’s sister,” she said as she held the door open for me.

“The bathroom’s this way,” Tal managed to say.

I peeked in the living room door on the way down the hall to the bathroom. A large mahogany table was set for a feast. It looked like Thanksgiving, or how Thanksgiving is on TV because my mom usually serves on paper dishes to save washing up. The table was set with a white tablecloth, fine china and wine glasses. In a corner there were candles burning.

Shoot, I really did come at a bad time. I’d better get out of there as soon as my bladder allows.

The relief to use the bathroom was worth the intense embarrassment of having to make my way back down the hall and apologize for busting into their family party.

“Chloe.” Tal leapt up from the couch as she saw me edge past the living room door. “Do you want to come in?”

“I think I’d better be going,” I said hesitantly.

“Surely you’d like a cold drink first?” an elegant middle-aged woman said, coming to stand next to Tal. She was wearing a black shift dress with a white long shelved shell underneath, and a choker of pearls. On her head was a black hat with very little brim. It must be Tal’s mother.

“I’m Mrs. Perr. I’ve heard all about you. It’s so nice for Tal to find such a devoted study partner.” She called to someone in the room, “Dava, please bring Tal’s friend a drink.”

Before I knew what was happening to me, I was sitting on the brown leather couch sipping iced tea. I have never felt so underdressed. I was wearing the clothes I had put on in the morning to study, my most faded jeans, a plain white T-shirt and my converse. In the park I’d slipped on the white cheese cloth shirt I’d brought in case it got cooler in the evening. My hair was pulled messily on top of my head and around my throat was a black leather cord that I like to wear when I don’t want to bother with jewelry. I was introduced to everyone and instantly forgot their names. Besides Tal’s sister and her daughter, there were two friends here for dinner.

“You’re from Texas, right Chloe? That’s a long way to come for school,” Mrs. Perr smiled.

“This school has a very good reputation. It’s supposed to be the Ivy League of Canada. My Dad was happy because it’s a lot cheaper. My sister was going to Dartmouth and then you really pay for the real Ivy League experience.”

“It’s so convenient for us that it’s here in Montreal. We pay even less as locals. And then Tal can live at home. It’s the best of both worlds,” Mrs. Perr beamed.

Tal looked less happy.

“What do your parents do, Chloe?” Mrs. Perr asked.

“My father’s a chemical engineer and my mother’s a florist.” I sipped my tea to steady my nerves.

“A florist, how nice. Does she have a shop?”

I nodded, “Yes, in a small strip mall.”

“Does most of her business come from weddings or does she get much walk in business?” Mrs. Perr asked. I was beginning to feel like I was at a job interview.

I blushed, “Actually, most of her business comes from funerals. These days people usually pay for their own weddings, so sometimes they scrimp on the flowers, but for funerals everyone’s trying to assuage their guilt and outdo the other family members.”

Everyone laughed, although it wasn’t that funny.

“Have you been shopping?” Nava asked pointing to my bag.

“My boyfriend’s really into cooking so I saw this Indian food store in the car the other day and I came back to see if I could get him some spices.” I looked desperately at Tal.

“The other day?” Mrs Perr said to Tal.

“Chloe came with us to the old age home to sing,” Tal explained miserably.

Mrs. Perr smiled and nodded but I sensed Tal was in trouble.

“I’ve got a new dress,” a little blond girl of about four announced, coming to twirl in front of me. It was a pink party dress with petticoats that swirled as she turned.

“What a lovely dress,” I said with enthusiasm. “I had a dress like that when I was five, my aunt Theresa gave it to me. It had a big bow at the back.”

The little girl turned to show me that she also had a bow on the back.

“Do you have new shoes, too?” I asked, glad for the spotlight to be shifted away from me.

The girl shook her head solemnly. “No, I only got a new dress because the other one was too small. I have to wait for the Day of Accounting for new shoes.”

I had no idea what she was talking about but I shrugged in sympathy.

Nava looked up and said, “It’s eight-thirty.”

“Wow, really? I should be going. Thanks for the drink. I guess I’ll see you at the exam on Monday, Tal?”

Tal looked visibly relieved, “Sure, yes, thanks for stopping by.”

Mrs. Perr stood to see me out, “It was so nice to meet you Chloe. Feel free to stop by again.” Her voice was warm, but I was sure she didn’t mean it.

“Thank you so much for the hospitality. You really saved my life on the bathroom front.”

We were just making our way towards the front door when it opened and through it walked a group of men all wearing suits.

We all froze.

“You’re home early,” Mrs. Perr said brightly.

“A lot of people are on vacation so things moved more quickly,” one of the men explained.

“Who’s this?” a youngish guy asked. He might have been the brother-in-law.

“This is Chloe, Tal’s study partner. She just stopped by for few minutes.”

I would have smiled and made my way towards the door if it wasn’t for the fact that I had lost all control over my body. I just stood there and stared. I didn’t even care if by now they thought I was beyond weird.

Behind each of the men was a large shape of fire and light. I couldn’t actually see them. It was more like my mind told me they were there, without bothering to bypass my eyes. Part of my mind was telling me it wasn’t true, while the other part was just staring at these huge figures radiating splendor. It would be an understatement to say I’d never seen anything like it. I’d never imagined anything like it. I’m not sure if Steven Spielberg has ever imagined anything like it.

Tal was introducing me to her brother and acting like everything was normal. I don’t even think I said hello to him. When I did speak I couldn’t even remember to fake politeness.

“What is that?” I didn’t even blink. I just stood and stared. I might have been in shock.

Tal looked shifty, “That’s my Dad.”

“What’s the problem?” One of Tal’s friends asked the other.

“I think it’s because he’s wearing a hat,” the other replied.

“Who cares about the hat?” The panic was apparent in my voice. I still didn’t take my eyes off them. “Behind him,” I croaked, “Can’t you see them?”

The whole room froze.

“See who?” Tal’s mother asked casually. She’s a good actor, only her eyes betrayed her.

Tal was less cool, “What’s there to see?”

Sweat was pouring down my back, I was about to totally lose my cool. “The giant creatures of light and fire standing behind him.”

“Ahhh, behind all of you!” I leapt back. I wrapped my arms around myself so they wouldn’t see how my hands were shaking. Now even Mrs. Perr was having trouble playing it cool. We all just looked at each other for five horrible seconds.

“It’s the angels,” a voice piped up. Tal’s little niece smiled brightly while her mother clearly considered infanticide.

“The angels?” I wasn’t sure the voice was my own.

A vein on Tal’s left temple was throbbing. “I did tell you,” she said very quickly. “Angels come to our house on the weekend.”

“You didn’t tell me it was fucking TRUE!!” I exploded.

Then clamped one hand to my mouth as I realized I’d just sworn in front of a bunch of religious people and a swarm of angels. I sank into the sofa behind me. I put my head in my hands, but when I looked up they were still there, radiating eternal light.

“It’s supposed to be a metaphor for spending quality family time together, it’s not supposed to be real,” I said half to myself.

Over my head, I felt an exchange of meaningful looks. Someone reached a decision.

For the first time, Mr. Perr spoke, “It’s all true. There really are angels that come to our house, we really live in the Palace, we really defend the world from Oblivion and Disconnection. We are the Servants of He Who Sees All. It’s real.”

I thought
, holy crap
.

I said, “Oh.”

Then my brain began to function so I added, “So when Tal said you were part of an eternal battle she actually meant that you were, like, part of an eternal battle?”

Cautiously, Tal nodded.

“All those stories are true?” I asked.

Tal nodded again.

“Anything anyone missed?” I asked more brightly than the moment called for.

The blond friend put up her hand, “There really is a force in side of us that drives us away from the true path.”

“You’re actually possessed?”

“A bit. Somewhat. Maybe,” she floundered.

“We prefer to think of it as being provided with daily challenges to become greater,” explained Mr. Perr. He’s slick. I wonder if he was a motivational speaker or a divorce lawyer.

They seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

“How come you guys don’t tell anyone about all of this?”

“We do,” said Tal.

“They just don’t believe us,” the clean cut guy, who I presumed was her brother, explained.

“The angels aren’t a giveaway?”

“Others, people who are not of our kind, can’t usually see them so we tell the whole truth and they don’t believe us.” The brother looked around for encouragement. The others nodded.

“Why can you see them?” The blond friend asked.

I shrugged, “Gifted?”

They all considered it. There may have been another unseen exchange because Mrs. Perr suddenly smiled brightly and asked, “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Right then, going home to watch X-files re-runs seemed a little lame, so I stayed.

I sat at the table trying to get a grip on myself.
Angels are real, God is real. Ok, it’s not that bad, I suspected that He was real. I could have extrapolated to include the angels. It’s just a bit surprising to see them up close and personal. Now that I’m actually paying attention, they do seem to have a bit of a glow about them, Tal and all of these People. I guess they really are not quite human.
I concentrated on breathing deeply and lowering my heart beat without anyone else noticing.

Maybe someone’s just doing me a favor over here, a couple of hours ago I was freaking out about the whole meeting my soul mate thing, and now it seems positively mundane. Seth’s the one I was destined for, we’ll be together forever and beyond; that’s easy in comparison to this. After tonight I can go home and live out my epic love for the rest of my life and be quite happy knowing I could have had much worse things to deal with. At least Buffy got a funky wardrobe, Tal’s seriously lacking in that department.

Mr. Perr said some sort of grace thing in a language I didn’t recognize, and the angels seemed to take a step backward, not out of the room just a little out of what I think of as reality.

“Where’d they go?” I whispered to Tal.

“They can’t eat,” Tal explained in her normal talking voice. “It’s not very polite to eat a whole meal in front of them when they can’t eat, so they go a little further into the Palace while we eat our meal.”

I nodded. It didn’t make any less sense than anything else I had heard that night.

They passed around wine and bread. Since I hadn’t understood the grace part, I wasn’t sure if it was holy wine and bread or just regular. I took a tiny sip of the wine, which was way too sweet but the bread was pretty good. Tal’s friends rose with Mrs. Perr to bring in the food. I wondered if Tal was assigned babysitting me as her official job. They each made two trips to and from the kitchen. There was a lot of food.

The brother-in-law smiled at me across the table as I eyed it all. “This is just the first course.”

I looked over with disbelief. “Really?”

“It’s a good idea to pace yourself.”

“Thanks.” I carefully took only half a piece of salmon, one of the big stuffed mushroom things and a little salad.
Seth would love this place
.

Nava looked quizzically at her husband, “How did you know to say that?”

“When I was in college I was assigned Service in outreach, people would often assume what they saw was all they were getting and then eat too much at the first course. I learned it paid to warn people to leave room for later.” He seemed to have no trouble tucking into a mounded plate.

It seemed I was allowed to ask questions, “Do you have much luck getting new members?”

Everyone looked over Mr. Perr at the head of the table.