3   HELENA

Helena was preparing baked salmon with sour cream, rice for a side dish, and tossed salad. Now that the greetings were over, she focused her attention back to her cooking. The two men watched her for a few seconds before they regarded each other, but before either could speak, Helena turned toward them and with an elegant move handed each a mug, the teakettle, and a bottle of rum.

"This should warm you up," she smiled and returned to the kitchen.

"Let's have that tea now, you lucky man," Ivan said and poured tea with a shot of rum. The two men moved to the fireplace and sipped their brew; Gábor laced his tea generously with rum. It was obvious that he was nervous. Something was on his mind. Ivan did not make an effort to make it easy or hard; he just remained open. Let the man work it out for himself, he thought.

He watched Gábor as he put a pinch of fish food into the water at the foot of the rock wall that faced the fireplace and the goldfish came to pick at the flakes. Putting another log on the fire, he brushed his hands on his long, gray pants. When Helena asked her husband to set the dishes, both men got up, moved over to the dining area, and assisted with the setting of the table.

The aroma of the baked fish wafted around them and made their mouths water. Ivan observed Helena from the side as she served. The sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving a turquoise and red sky over the Georgia Straight, and the light accented Helena's beauty.

The first time he met the Fabians, he thought her to be a young woman, very beautiful, no more than twenty-five, give or take a couple of years and he fell in love with her. Gábor looked to be about forty-five, handsome, and fit. They appeared shy and withdrawn in the beginning, but in the course of their work on their house, they turned out to be friendly, generous, and loved good humour. However, they seemed to be guarding some secret and did not share much private information about themselves.

Now, almost three years later, Ivan found out Helena was thirty-five when he had assisted her in filling out some official forms at the immigration office. She moved with the grace of a willow and he knew she practiced Aikido downtown and Jujutsu here at their place with Gábor.

To him, she was a personified female, a sophisticated, classy beauty. Her large, wide-set, clear brown eyes with long, natural lashes, her full eyebrows curved gently, almost straight and untouched by tweezers, lent her a Slavic appearance. Her high cheekbones enforced the impression.

Her jaw line, refined and soft, created an image of a high-class aristocrat. Her straight nose was fine, her forehead high and wide. A lock of hair on her left side covered a scar high on her hairline and was the only indication of her activity in the martial arts. Crowned by chestnut brown, wavy hair, worn long to the shoulder blades, now in a ponytail, she came across as a woman of great influence. Her full, sensuous lips were relatively wide and seemed to issue a permanent invitation to be kissed. A hidden smile seemed to play on them when she was relaxed. A good chin and matching jawbone gave a hint of a strong will and implied a warrior's characteristics. Her neck was long and betrayed physical exercise on a regular basis.

Helena wore no bra and did not need it. Her high, firm bust was that of a teenager. The blouse she wore revealed shapely breasts. A hint of her nipples poked through the fabric, and Ivan could imagine them swelling much larger under t

he right circumstances. Of average height, slender, trim and fit with a flat belly, flaring hips, narrow waist, and round buttocks, she was very feminine and sexy. Her beautiful long legs and muscled calves with fine ankles over her small feet complemented her overall appearance.

Today she wore a tan cultured buckskin skirt, which covered her from waist to about halfway down her legs, and a red blouse buttoned in front just high enough to be modest, but low enough to be intriguing. He noticed her cleavage and a necklace with a crystal hanging off it, and he smiled, remembering looking at her when he assisted with the building of the house.

He'd seen her body a few times in shorts and halter-tops and enjoyed the view at her peek-a-boo attire. Helena knew the art of dressing and was very beautiful. She could be a model, even a centerfold, he thought. Her playful sing-song voice made him think of his now departed wife, and he wished to hear Helena talking and laughing more, but she was not a talkative type, a contrast to how his wife had been. Ivan had a secret crush on her. He'd be tempted to take her to bed if she'd come to him. He was a man of the old school, and Gábor was his friend but Helena… he'd sleep with her and deal with the situation later.

She must have felt him looking at her because she turned her head, looked over her shoulder, and asked.

"Why are you not married, Ivan?"

Did she read his mind? He answered with a shrug of his shoulder.

"After Irina died, I didn't feel like dating and you were taken by this man here," he grinned. "I trained more and had an outlet. When I moved here, twenty years ago, there were only bears, and they don't tickle my fancy. And then, of course, there is an issue with my age."

"Are you saying you're too old to perform with a woman?" Helena inquired sceptically, pleased with his jesting interest but not believing his claim about age. He appeared to be in top shape and as virile as Gábor. She had felt his hard-on last night during the dance.

"Oh. No, no. I have no problem with performance. I like younger women and outperform them. The issue lies with them. They often want quantity, not quality. You know, that's like refried beans. They have to repeat it because they didn't do it right the first time. Once is enough if it's done well. There is no need to remind a woman five times a day how pleasant it can be. If it's done right, the woman will remember it, and how enjoyable it was, ten years after," he winked.

They all laughed. Ivan loved to make them laugh, especially to see Helena's smile. He provoked her with jokes whenever he could to see those dimples more often.

Ivan's face strongly resembled David Carradine or Albert Einstein. Some would say he looked like the character Mr. Miyagi in the movie ‘Karate Kid' and called him that. Once he doubled for him in one of his movies, so Helena did not buy his story; he was attractive and very interesting. Fit as a fiddle, he moved with ease. He was flexible and strong, and when he talked, his voice resonated with a deep bass. Many women would feel attracted to him, just as Helena was. Ivan was a manly character, and she liked him. Once after a heated argument, not a year ago, Gábor had withdrawn completely for over a month and she felt sexually deprived, craving his affection, but he had refused her. Frustrated she had thought about seeing Ivan and just about did.

"I know what you mean. I married Gábor because I prefer quality and frequently. Ten years in between would not do it for me. And it's true, quality in young men is hard to find. With them, it is all over before it really begins. Like an April shower, it's usually finished before one has had a chance to get wet. You would be wise to make an effort in quantity if hard times call for action," she said with a double meaning and winked. "Life would be too dry getting wet only once in ten years. Even a month is too long."

That was a hint with a crowbar aimed at Gábor and perhaps Ivan as well. This brought out another round of laughter. Gábor visibly loosened up. Helena had the talent to ease his tension, Ivan noticed.

"If I'd find someone like you, I'd answer the call of duty," he laughed and changed the subject quickly to cover up his overt remark.

"Where is…uh, Leo?"

"Oh, he's outside and will join us after dinner. He ate earlier, and we asked him to join us after we talked to you. He knows you're coming," answered Helena and Ivan sensed some anxiety in her.

"Must be something big, I think," said Ivan with a glance at Gábor.

"Huge," said Gábor rubbing his earlobe and looking furtive. They began to eat and didn't talk much during that time.

When they finished, they all washed their dishes and put them away. Gábor reached for the rum and three glasses and offered one to Ivan. With a nod, he accepted the drink. Gábor poured three fingers into each glass, a pretty stiff drink for a man who rarely touches alcohol, Ivan thought.

"This must be really big. I never saw you with a drink, not even yesterday," observed Ivan, raising an eyebrow.

"It loosens my tongue, and now it is important, a matter of life and death, and it's easier for me to talk when I'm half drunk," he said.

Gábor's face was hard as he poured the drinks. Helena had a tall glass and mixed hers with pineapple juice from the fridge. Ivan looked closer and remembered when he met Gábor the first time, a little more than three years ago. Gábor had looked worry-free then, but today his face looked like that of a person who had seen the future, and it didn't look good.

"Cheers."

They raised their glasses, touched them with a little "clink," and took a sip.

"You look worried. It's about Leo, isn't it?" Ivan ventured.

Gábor regarded Ivan with a measuring glance, nodded heavily, and an exasperated breath escaped his mouth.

"Yes, among other things." A long silence ensued and for a minute, nobody spoke.

"Look, to make it a bit easier for you, I think I know what this is about," Ivan said, breaking the silence. "I think I saw something near my place snooping around one late afternoon and, in fact, at first I thought I saw you, wondering why you didn't come in. I recognized your parka, but then it looked like a cougar on the prowl. It was from a distance, and because of your anorak, it could have been you or Leo dressed as a cougar or a cougar dressed as you. If it weren't you, then Leo would be my next guess. If it was Leo, then it was just a child's prank. It's nothing to worry about. You did that too when you were a kid. We all did, I'm sure. He likes to dress up or play weird games? Kids do that. Is that the problem?" Ivan inquired, then stopped, and looked at Helena and their eyes locked.

From Gábor and Helena's reaction, he figured he was on the right track. Ivan cocked an eyebrow.

"I think that is why you invited me, to talk about Leo?" He finished his sentence with a questioning enunciation in his voice.

"When and where did you see him did you say?"

"About a month ago, halfway between your place and mine." He looked from Gábor to Helena. Helena's eyes were serene and calm. Gábor licked his lips and took a sip from his glass. Ivan reached for his and turned his attention to Gábor.

"Tell me," Ivan encouraged and drank a mouthful.

"Well, it's a bit more than dressing up, Ivan," Gábor began haltingly.

"I might as well lay it out as there is no way to interpret facts." He stopped and sipped his drink, took a deep breath and continued.

"A very strange thing has been happening to him since he turned one year old. He started to grow fur on his body and face, and then he began to look like a large cat and it has gotten progressively worse. Now that he is almost six, he has changed completely into a lion, or perhaps a cougar and can't talk," Gábor commenced. Noticing Ivan's raised eyebrows and startled facial expression, he continued with more emphasis.

"He was born a human and is a large feline now. We have no idea how much human there is in him if any. It is not a deformation we are dealing with here; it is a complete transformation. First, we were thinking he was developing Down's syndrome, but then you're born with it or not. He progressed steadily from strange eyes and cat features to facial fur, not hair, fur, Ivan. It was all over his face and body, not just some places. His ears have always been a bit strange, smooth, rounded and unusually high on his head, like on a large cat. But now it is even more evident.”

He behaves like a cat and prefers to move on all four limbs instead of walking upright. He turned into a cat, Ivan, a large animal. We had noticed fur growing on his body back in Hungary, and Helena went to see a doctor and that asshole, pardon my language, told her to see a veterinarian, but maybe he was right. Then Leo's face changed and his tail got longer, yes, he's got a tail too, Ivan," he said when he noticed Ivan's raised eyebrows and sceptical look.

He couldn't blame Ivan for being sceptical. It was difficult for him to grasp what was happening to Leo, and he had witnessed the progression over the years and that led to the decision to abstain having sex with Helena during unsafe times. It was hard on both of them. They dreamt of a large family and now that dream was dead, or so he believed.

"Leo is very shy and perhaps aware of his looks," he continued, a bit stronger in his voice and with more desperation in it.

"He sees us and sometimes other children and seems to know that he is different." Gábor sipped some more of the potent drink and felt the burning in his throat, the heat as it ran down his gullet, then pooling in his stomach. He shivered.

"Leo is far more mature than his age would suggest. He is very curious and seems to have far more intelligence than Ajax, and sometimes makes sounds that Lena thinks are attempts to speak, but I believe he is still only an animal, although I often doubt my own assessment of him. He is observant and strong, as strong as I am, but he is also gentle when he needs to be. He seems to know his power. Leo never hurt Ajax intentionally when they were roughhousing, but brought a mule deer to the house once. He has no problem being alone and had taken care of himself since he was two."

He licked his lips and continued, remembering something.

"Shit Ivan, he used the toilet when he was six months old and still a human, but he is young and inexperienced, and I fear society will never tolerate or accept him as human if that's what he is. We tried to teach him to talk, but he can't or won't, only makes strange sounds and Helena thinks he tries to speak, but I do not understand a word if that's what those sounds are.

“She saw him a few times watching TV and thinks it may be a sign of intelligence or at least interest. Incidentally, I believe that generally speaking, TV and videos create more TVidiots rather than increase or promote intelligence, more a reversal; from intelligence to stupidity, but that's not the point I want to make. I don't know what he is, Ivan, human or animal. Should we put him on a leash and get a tag, or teach him to ride a bicycle and play a musical instrument? We have no idea what or how this happened. It is freaky and scares the living daylights out of me.”

“Lena and I would have loved to have more children, but I'm afraid to have another child until we know what this one will be. We don't know who carries the strange genes and I will not bring another child into the world and see it suffering through life. It may sound as if I want to shrink from the responsibility of looking after a child like that and maybe I am, but I'm more concerned how society will treat them. If Helena would get pregnant again what would it be? A human or a large cat?"

‘A living being that deserves your love,' thought Ivan, but it would have been insensitive to say that out loud. Gábor had suffered enough pain and perhaps it wasn't as bad as he thought of their child. How deformed could a human be? A tail wouldn't be a problem if it was taken care of, modern surgery could take care of that. What was the real problem? He thought Gábor was panicking for no good reason.

Glancing at Helena he figured she too looked paranoid. Her face looked as serious as his friend’s and it made him think. She had always seemed to be down to earth, the same as Gábor, so perhaps there was some weight behind his friend's disclosure or perhaps what Gábor said affected her. She must be resonating with him deeply he thought.

Gábor took another sip from his glass and looked at him like a drowning man. With all his turbulent past Ivan couldn't remember seeing a man so lost and he wondered why he never noticed this distressed condition in him, but then recalled that school would be starting in September, their child would have to attend and time was running out to find a solution to the dilemma.

Obviously, that would be some reason to be worried, but that much? He had experienced Gábor to be reasonable and a deep thinking human being with an intelligent and sharp mind. The dojo testified that he was also active in the martial arts. There was an original picture of Gábor with Sensei Matsushita, an adherent to Soto Zen, and a man very few people knew, but was the leading expert in the art of the sword. He was also very reclusive and rumoured to dabble in esoteric matters. Some folks thought of him to be a sorcerer. The katana under the picture was his and now that it was in Gábor's possession spoke volumes. Gábor never spoke of him or how he got to be the owner of that sword, but that he had it meant that Matsushita must have found him worthy to inherit it. If his sensei would be still alive, he would have to be over a hundred years old.

Ivan had heard of Matsushita once and what he's heard was enough to raise respect for his friend. His young wife had chosen well.

Helena was beautiful, intelligent, and well educated, but also with deep insights into the nature of things and people. A woman like her was not something one sees every day. Hell, not even in a year. He could fall in love with her in a heartbeat. Now she seemed at a loss with trepidation.