The Vampire (THE VAMPIRE Book 1) (17 page)

He got to his room, changed and dried himself off, went to make a sandwich and forgot about the maid question until he saw Augere later that afternoon in the library.

“Are we still watching that Woody Allen movie?” he asked Augere.

“Of course. Eight o’clock.”

“Good. This new class is great so far. This week we are going to be looking at the way Hollywood portrays outcasts. I should have some interesting stuff to share with you even before the end of the week. You know…maybe next semester, you could take a class with me, or maybe even another class you might want to do on your own…”

Augere’s pen paused as he sat writing in his journal. He remained thoughtfully poised for several moments before the scratching sound of the pen resumed. “Doubtful.”

“Well, the offer stands if you change your mind. I think you would be an asset to have in class. Oh—Mr. Augere—I was wondering…” The pen paused again but Augere did not glance up. “Do we have a maid? Everything always seems so clean and polished all the time. I know it’s not me. And I didn’t think that you…”

“I have a maid.” Augere glanced up at him briefly and then lowered his gaze. “She looks after me.”

“Oh. Well, I’ve never even seen her.”

“She is here twice a week. Early mornings. The flowers arrive on those days. She divides the flowers…I did not think to provide you—”

“Oh, no, it’s fine, really. I pretty much do everything for myself.” Damn. That came out all wrong. Jason regretted the words too late. What did his choice of words imply about Augere?

“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that. I thought maybe you just sent your laundry out, or something.”

“I am rather lazy. But I am not…” Augere seemed to be searching for the right word or phrase. “…high…maintenance.”

Jason laughed gently. “My mother thinks all guys are high maintenance. I’m just surprised it took me so long to figure it out about the maid. I’ve always thought I was very observant and somehow I missed something so obvious.”

Augere was studying him with a wary look. Jason caught the fleeting, pained expression on his face, and although he had become so attentive to Augere’s every gesture and expression that anything not seen before was immediately noted and analyzed he didn’t quite know what to make of Augere’s response.

“Well, at least if I do see her now, I can introduce myself.”

“She only speaks Portuguese.”

“Oh. I see…and you speak…Portuguese?”

“Yes.”

“Well, anyway, that clears up that mystery.”

Augere nodded.

The end of the week found them together in the library again, discussing material from Jason’s class. “We discussed several categories related to outcasts as portrayed in literature and then in movies,” Jason began. “One category was: ‘they were never like us.’ Some examples were: Quasimodo, the human gargoyle who was feared and taunted because of his grotesque appearance; and the Elephant Man, ostracized, exploited and mistreated because of his outward appearance. Society was unable or unwilling to see any humanity beneath their exterior; but their conditions were something they couldn’t help; they were born that way. Yet society judged them harshly.” He paused, observed Augere’s solemn expression and then continued.

“Another category was: ‘they were like us once but not anymore.’ The case could be made for Frankenstein’s monster; derived from human parts, but still not like us. Other examples were The Mummy: once human, until a curse gave him immortality and forever changed him; he still has human emotions: revenge; mourning a lost love. But he is forever cut off from the rest of society. A tragic figure really.” Jason took a sip of his hot tea, and glanced up from his notes. Augere was gazing into the fireplace that wasn’t lit but seemed to be holding his attention. “And then there is the example of Brundlefly with Jeff Goldblum in the remake of The Fly. We discussed the scene when he has begun to change and his girlfriend comes to visit…” Jason paused again to look up from his notes to see if Augere could acknowledge familiarity with that particular scene. Augere nodded hesitantly.

“Brundlefly has just regurgitated onto some donuts so he will be able to eat and digest them; he does so unconsciously, a natural thing for him now as it is part of his new nature. Then he looks up to see the look of horror on his girlfriend’s face. He still has enough humanity left to be able to acknowledge her response and to say “I’m sorry—that is disgusting isn’t it?” but not enough humanity left in him to do anything about it. This is what he has become now. He has already irreversibly changed.” Jason looked up again to get Augere’s response.

Augere’s face looked uncharacteristically tense; his jaw was clenched; he was gazing vacantly toward the French doors across the room now, a past sign Jason had witnessed only a few times before. He had soon learned to interpret this not only as a negative response, but generally also as a precursor of Augere’s imminent withdrawal. Augere made no sign he would leave but he seemed quietly upset.

“It is a very disturbing part of the movie, of course. Well, I mean it does get worse though.” Perhaps the film’s imagery had been an unwelcome thought to Augere.

Jason sat quietly. He didn’t understand Augere’s silence. Nor his cold expression. What had he said that could have upset him so much? He and Augere had discussed a lot of movies before that were more intense. This seemed almost personal. He wasn’t sure what to do now.

“Continue.” Augere spoke the word so softly, it was almost a whisper.

Jason was hesitant to go on, but he did as Augere asked. “Another category was: ‘they look just like us, but they are monsters who prey on humans.’ These would be the many different portrayals of serial killers; the guy who lives next door and seems to blend in with the general populace. Norman Bates could fit that category. Any of the Alien creatures, taking up residence in the human host: the outer presentation is still human but an alien presence has taken over. Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The Thing. And of course some of the modern versions of vampires; those who blend in all too well in society. Existing undetected among humans, and preying on them.” Jason paused for another sip of tea. “It would be great to view these films within the context of what was happening in society, popular culture and politics when these films came out. They are thought to be a reflection of what society as a whole was facing, if not a large portion of the population.”

Augere seemed even more quiet than usual. He made little if any eye contact, and did not appear to have much to say about any of those topics.
Maybe I’ve just caught him on a bad day,
Jason reasoned. Usually he was more enthusiastic about the subjects. Jason decided to let it pass. There would be more classes, other discussions to focus on. Maybe they could even come back to this one another time. Jason was curious to hear what Augere had to say about all of it. Clearly though it would not be today.

That weekend Jason found Augere in the library listening to various songs on a portable CD player. Augere, wearing headphones, nodded in his direction as Jason entered the library to return a book he had finished.

Jason perused the shelves, casually observing Augere listening to first one song and then another from a large stack of CDs. He was curious to learn what kinds of music Augere liked. From what Jason already knew, Augere had rather eclectic taste in many things.

Jason came and stood beside him. He heard himself rudely blurt out, “What are you listening to?” before he could catch himself.

Augere seemed unfazed at the bluntness and handed the headphones to Jason. Jason heard “even the best of us can find happiness in misery,” from a song by Fall Out Boy. He nodded and then handed the headphones back. He took a quick glance at the stack of CDs on the coffee table in front of Augere. He went back to selecting the books he wanted, while noting Augere select first one and then another CD to hear one or two songs from each. Jason came back to join him on the sofa.

“I couldn’t help noticing—have you thought about downloading all your favorites from all these different CDs, maybe loading them so you could access them on your phone? I mean, it would be a lot easier, don’t you think?”

Augere gave him a blank look. “I do not take your meaning.”

“Oh, yeah.” Jason nodded. “My dad says the same thing. He just got used to the CD player we got him years ago, and says he doesn’t want ‘one of those damn high tech phone or MP3 things.’ We figure we’ll get him into the 21st century one of these days. Actually, I just have a pretty basic phone myself. I don’t feel like I need one of those damn things either.” Jason laughed. “We should probably go slow with my dad…maybe get him an iPod or something. If those aren’t obsolete already.”

He got another blank look from Augere. “What is this thing you mention…what does it……how does it work?”

“iPods? Well, they are really small devices, and you can put around 4000 songs on even some of the small capacity ones. You can easily carry it around in your pocket. You could categorize the songs, line them up the way you want. Or just shuffle play them.”

The blank look returned.

Jason glanced through the stack of CDs. There was classical; modern cello music; music for tango; various modern rock from the ’60s through the ’90s and some newer stuff. Bob Dylan; Talking Heads; Rolling Stones; Zydeco and Cajun; early Beatles; Celtic music; lots of blues. Jason could hear newer stuff coming from the headphones: Big Data’s “Dangerous.”
Yeah. Augere could probably use an iPod. Probably need to start with something basic
.

“Can you purchase one of those things for me? This process,” he glanced at the stack of CDs, “is rather tedious.”

“Sure. Do you know what you might want? How much you want to spend? What size capacity? What other features—do you want the nano? Just trying to figure out how you are going to want to use the device.”

Again, he got only a blank look then a confused expression.

“Wait here a second. I’ll show you what I mean.”

Jason returned in a few minutes with a flyer from the Sunday Globe that showed different sizes, colors, etc. of iPod along with various other devices. Augere looked at the images and seemed to be studying them. But then he looked at Jason with a blank expression again.

“Maybe you should come to the store with me. That way you can look them over, try some of them out. See what appeals to you. Okay?” Augere nodded hesitantly.

“Okay. I’ll look around to find a good sale first.”

After the next cinema class, Jason returned home with class notes to share with Augere. He hoped it would go better this time. They had discussed how early black and white films had used shadow and light not only to cast mood and ambience, but to help reveal character as well. Some of these techniques were precursors to film noir, horror films and psychological thrillers. Jason had been able to get re-mastered DVDs from the school library and brought them home so he and Augere could watch them. They had watched M and the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Jason tried to hide his disappointment that Augere had declined to watch Svengali and Nosferatu with him. Jason would have thought Augere would especially have liked those, and they were two of the better examples of what the class discussion was about. But Augere shook his head in stubborn refusal without explanation.

They had made plans to go to the North Shore Mall in Peabody on a Tuesday morning. The shopping excursion would not interfere with Jason’s class and the mall should be less crowded then. They arrived shortly after the mall opened.

Jason felt casually but resplendently gothic in his black attire with a T-shirt that had tattered silvery angel wings across the back—he called it his fallen angel shirt—while the front had some random French phrases in silver lettering. He wore one leather band and a silver chain on one wrist and his favorite black jeans, black boots. Augere managed to nearly out-do him today however. He was elegantly dressed in a black velvet blazer, a black T-shirt with a small silver and purple fleur de lis pattern on the front, slim black jeans, black boots and his requisite black and silver jewelry on both wrists, managing a gothic look effortlessly. Jason thought how appropriate they might appear going out to a club dressed as they were. He just knew Augere got the whole gothic vibe, even if it was never expressed in so many words. It made Jason feel they had a bond.

They maintained a slow amble as they walked through the mall, Augere forgoing his usual brisk pace so he could have a look around. He seemed to be taking everything in, wandering wherever his curiosity led him. He randomly entered a few stores, taking a brief look around in each.

Jason hung back a little, not only to give him space, but to observe how he reacted to others, and more importantly, to see how others reacted to him.

They had not been out in public together all that much and Jason was curious: did others take particular notice of Augere? Did he stand out to them; did they sense something strange and unusual, compelling even, as Jason himself so often did? Jason sometimes felt on the verge of defining what that something different was about Augere, but then, as always, whatever it was remained elusive.

It is like the answer is right there,
Jason thought, keeping a slow pace behind him,
but I just can’t seem to see it
. Like when one stands much too close to an object, it can become a meaningless blur. Jason recalled seeing some of Monet’s masterpieces in a special exhibit at the Boston Museum of Art. He had been able to get so close to some of the paintings of Giverny he could have reached out and touched them. That close, they were just large blobs of paint seemingly placed at random. It wasn’t until you stepped back far enough that the image became clearer and made sense. Jason was just not able to step back far enough to gain that perspective on Augere. Today, by observing others’ reactions, he hoped to test reality a little, and in a sense see Augere through their eyes.

From his reactions, it seemed to Jason as if it had been a long while—if ever—that Augere had been in a mall such as this.

Augere wandered into Build-A-Bear, and watched as a small group of children selected a new stuffed friend, complete with accoutrements. It really said something, Jason thought, that these young kids could turn their gaze away from their new monkey or puppy to stare at Augere as long as they did. It was a little unnerving
.
Augere wandered into an Armani shop and looked over the goods. He gazed in the windows of Au Bon Pain, a favorite of Jason’s, pausing at the display of mouthwatering delights available, but did not venture inside. Jason had eaten breakfast, but was not able to resist buying a treat then.