While still in Hungary Leo grew, his affection for the two
house cats, Miko and Bushi, was uncanny. He grew very fast and by the age of
almost two he appeared to be at least four. He was too big to romp around with
them, but the two cats gathered around him, followed him, and curled up to him
on the bed, the floor, or any place he happened to be and slept with him. Leo's
father did not know what to make of it. He was a cat lover like Helena, but Leo
was supposed to be a human, not a cat, and it created ambivalent emotions in
him.
Leo, like all cats, loved meat and Helena had her hands full
to keep him away from Ajax's dish, their dog, a mix of Labrador and German
shepherd. Ajax was not very happy with the child initially and growled whenever
he came close. Leo contested the dog's chow and contributed more to his
mother's confusion about his being. Leo's sharp, pronounced eyeteeth made him
look definitely like a carnivore. Defending his food, Ajax bared his teeth and
growled, but Leo swatted him and the beaten dog slinked away with his tail
between his legs.
With time and Helena's coaching, Leo and the dog became
accustomed to each other, and the two unlikely friends spent a lot of time
together and shared a dish, very much in secret because Helena still wanted to
see a human child in him, and his cat's look and eating Ajax' food was not
helping to settle her mind. Leo seemed to know and with time desisted from
eating the dog's food.
When Ajax and Leo played, they bolted around the house and
the yard like two animals. Leo running on all fours like a dog seemed to be
most comfortable for him. Not so for his parents. They wanted him to walk like
a human. Leo's parents observed with mixed feelings when the two played, the
dog barking and snapping at Leo and Leo's lightning fast evasions, then Leo
jumping on the dog's back, pulling him down and sinking his teeth into the fur
on his neck. Though Leo wanted to play, he didn't know his strength, and the
dog would often be on the losing end. Yelping and whimpering, he cowed to Leo.
His parents didn't think that was funny, especially when either got hurt.
Helena resigned to accept her son's strangeness but Gábor couldn't. He resented
Leo's ‘un-human’ like behaviour. Leo never drew blood, but they had to
intervene sometimes when it got too rough Helena took Leo's side and Gábor
mostly defended Ajax and tensions escalated. It was a nightmare.
When the winter was mild, the patio door was open to let
fresh air circulate through the house and leaves blew in from the trees. Leo
chased them as any cat would, but Helena was only half-amused. After all, he
was supposed to be a human child and not a kitten at play.
Her concerns
grew in accordance with Leo's remarkable growth; the bigger Leo got, the bigger
her concern. Leo looked and acted as if he knew how she felt and stopped
chasing leaves or items like toilet paper, newspaper, children's toys, or other
loose things inside the house. That Gábor's large property was well hidden was
very fortunate. He went outside to play when Helena worked in the house. Bushi
and Miko were a bit too small to tumble around with, but Ajax could take it,
although he lost every contest and Helena was okay with that.
Leo's facial features changed as well. After the age of two,
his mother had to cut his hair or fur as it was, once a week. It grew fast,
faster than normal. The reddish chestnut color fur had faint markings like a
tabby cat. Markings around his eyes and forehead formed a letter "M"
and a line of darker fur ran from his eyes toward the base of his large, smooth
rounded ears. Helena shaved his face the best she could when they expected
someone to drop by, just in case they saw him or when it was necessary to be in
public with him. On those occasions, they claimed he had a severe case of
Down's syndrome and hoped people would swallow the story.
He had a broad nose with a cleft-line down to his lips; his
chin and jowls became cat-like and fine whiskers began to show. It was a
beautiful face… for a lion. As a matter of fact, he was much better looking
with the fur on his face as when they tried to make him appear human. Leo's
hands and fingers resembled that of the cats he played with, complete with
retractable, sharp claws. Unusually furry over his entire body by now, the
protruding tailbone he had as a baby, had become a long, furry tail and they
concealed it in his pants. When people saw Leo's face on occasional events,
they turned away to hide their shock at his disfigurement. Usually, they first
assumed that he was an animal. Poor parents, they thought when they found out
it was their child; they are a good looking couple; too bad about their… their
thing.
Other parents hushed their children away from him or hid
them behind themselves as to protect them from harm. Leo's parents tried to
hide his deformity with clothing, but his face was becoming more catlike from
month to month. It became necessary to have him wear a cape when he was
outside. Very much to his parents' dismay, Leo still preferred to walk on all
four limbs and made strange, throaty sounds, but didn't speak. They hid him
away when visitors came, and if someone asked where the child was, they said he
was either at some neighbour’s place or playing with other kids.
When visitors came unannounced, Leo was ushered hastily to
bed, covers pulled over his body, pillows piled around his face, and his mother
claimed he was sick. They hated this charade and retreated more and more from
human contact and turned secretive. She talked with him about this situation
almost daily, pondering what to do or whom to speak with to find out what the
cause of Leo's condition was and how to reverse it. Surfing the Internet didn't
yield results, and so Leo's condition remained a singularity.
Gábor's apparent resignation upset Helena. She could not
give up believing Leo was intelligent and just misshapen. Their arguments often
ended with both of them in tears. They could not find anyone they could trust
and settled on the fact that Leo was a freak of nature, and their worries grew.
The child eventually would have to attend school, and they wondered what would
happen. On top of all this, they began to doubt whether or not Leo was human.
Helena loved Leo, except she wondered if she had given birth to a child or a
pet. Gábor's ambivalent feelings towards Leo were a problem for both. In his
mind, Leo was an animal. Foreseeing problems if they ever wanted to travel
abroad, he had suggested shaving Leo's face for ID-card photos and putting him
on Helena's passport to avoid the hassle. In addition, if Leo kept changing at
the rate he was now, they would have to come up with something else.
Since Leo turned one year old and the changes began, Helena
lived in a controlled, but steady panic and doubt about her future. What if her
husband lost interest in her? She was a woman who gave birth to a deformed
child...no…not a deformed child, but apparently an animal instead in his view.
There had to be something wrong with her. Gábor was attractive and could easily
find another woman and have a human child with her. That wouldn't have bothered
her. She was very autonomous and didn't need anyone's support, and she loved
him almost obsessively. As long as he would love and stay with her, he could
have as many women as he wanted. Gábor was a good and virile man and her best
friend and she valued trust and friendship much higher than fidelity.
Helena had no idea that similar thoughts were also on
Gábor's mind about himself. What if it was his ‘faulty' genes that were
responsible for Leo's deformity? Would Helena leave him and find a man who
could give her normal children? He loved Helena more than life, and if it meant
not having a family, or if there was some kind of guarantee another man could
produce a normal child with her, then so be it, but he wanted her in his life
forever. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her.
They'd
looked for ways to deal with the situation without exposing Leo and a personal
growth seminar they attended brought some relief. At least Gábor and she
remained together. She hoped by making love with him as often as possible would
keep him interested in her, but she was afraid of getting old without a family.
She wanted to be a mother to many of his children. They shared that dream. He
had hoped for little girls to see her in them, while she thought of boys, but
never expected them to be animals, at least not in the literally meaning of the
word. Neither one of them had thought previously about the possibility of
having other than normal, healthy children.
Their
medical record was perfect and Helena scored extremely high in all tests. She
was the perfect picture of health, therefore, the setback was that much more
devastating and left them destitute without knowing what to do.
Once in the darkest moments, they had even talked about just
leaving Leo out in the woods somewhere to meet his fate. But how could they do
that? Both loved him; they were his parents regardless of his appearance.
Seeing human characteristics in him, they would do everything to protect him in
spite of his strangeness and un-human looks. There was no way they would do any
harm to him or leave him, but they also knew society would never tolerate a
being like him. He would grow up to be a freak, a circus attraction, an
abomination. Society would not let him live a normal life if it let him live at
all. How could they keep Leo from the harm that others would do to him? Society
had not learned to accept strangeness in their own kind, whether it was just
the wrong color of eyes or a different point of view. Since Leo's
transformation they had experienced discrimination as well; in the form of
excuses of all kinds, nobody invited them to parties anymore, gatherings or
meetings on social or professional levels and friends and relatives shunned
them persistently and talked behind their back, calling them the werewolf pack.
The decision of immigrating to Canada solidified.
When they arrived in Canada with all their pets, they
realized more and more that they were misfits. Even though Canada appeared to
be a more accepting and broad-minded society, it was the same as it had been in
Hungary for them. Remarks were made about Leo's face, that it resembled a
predator, a cat perhaps, and the gossip began to circulate of a genetic
abnormality in his parents. He had still resembled a human child when they
moved to Canada, but as he got older, his human looks turned into the looks of
an animal rapidly, a little human, yet mostly cat and still mute aside from
snarling and strange, rumbling sounds. This had upset Gábor and Helena and
cemented their decision to move away from populated areas to escape the
small-world view of some deep-rooted superstitious intolerance.
Some insights came to them in their self-isolation about
their own judgments, and after introspection they made changes in behaviour
toward Leo. But still, Gábor had reservations about allowing Leo to share their
bed with them while he had no problem to allow the house cats to sleep on the
bed, and it wasn't because of Leo's size. He withdrew from Helena to avoid
another pregnancy and sex became irregular. Gábor was angry with himself about
it, he was irritable and snapped at Helena when she allowed Leo to curl up with
her, and then he retreated, contrite and ashamed of his stupid reaction. They
had to break down their own judgments and allow themselves to be more open,
making mental adjustments in their own minds and learn to accept Leo as he was.
It was hardest on Gábor.
The thing ripping them apart was the love they had for each
other and the fear of what the future would be for them all. Both had hoped for
a big family, but now dreaded the possibility of misshaped children. Leo's
morphing had suddenly buried that dream and she felt the rift between her and
Gábor getting wider with each passing day. The accusations were never really
voiced, but they were there, silently festering like an ugly boil. A child that
would have cemented their union threatened to destroy them.
Helena loved Gábor to the end of the earth and back and was
sure he loved her just as much too. She
loved Leo as any mother would, even if he was deformed, but the fear of Leo's
strangeness and society’s cruelty against him and themselves, eroded their
resolve to bear it out. People all over the world had learned to deal with
natural enemies like wild animals and calamities. Modern weapons and technology
made it possible to lose the fear of these things to a great extent, but now
those tools and weapons meant they had to fear their own kind. Leo's looks
would bring out the worst in humans; fears and revulsion toward anything not
like them would lead them to extremes. Leo would have no chance to go to
school, no friends, no places to go, and nowhere to hide. His only companions
were the two cats, Bushi, Miko, and Ajax, the old dog. They thought they had to
do something with Leo. There was no choice, no way out of this predicament.
They would not allow anyone to harm Leo, but secretly hoped and feared at the
same time he would just run away into the wild. The contradiction of their
emotions, torn between love and confusion about Leo's appearance, themselves,
and whether he was human or animal, created an impossible situation and made
them both irrational and irritable. Their sizzling sex life slumped and they
limited themselves to manual and oral sex practices, but it wasn't very
fulfilling for either. Both missed regular sex and so their intimacy dried up,
but not their desire.
Helena had suggested once using Ivan as a surrogate father,
having a child with him, reasoning and arguing they would know whose genes
caused the deformation, secretly yearning to feel that she was still a woman
and wanted, but her husband objected. His counter argument that if it were her
genes, then that child would be the same as Leo, and Ivan would have the same
problem as he had. Her having sex with Ivan he could have tolerated if it would
result in a human child, but then challenging her out of insecurity, he had
asked whether she really just wanted to know whose genes were defective or
perhaps sex with him wasn't sufficient for her. She had countered that sex with
him would be enough for her if they just had it. In his anger and frustration,
he blew up and told her if she needed more sex than he was willing to risk with
her, she should find a Bigfoot to fuck with. At least that would add variety to
the zoo.
That argument had nearly ended their marriage and Helena
broke down and moved with Leo into the camper for a week and cried every night
while he felt sorry for himself in the tent. He was in no better shape than she
was, and one day he came to her and apologized. She forgave him, but it was
hard to forget. His fear of having another deformed child overpowered his
reason and desire to have intercourse the way nature intended, he said. He
would love to make love with her like before and even considered a vasectomy.
She didn't like that idea at all. Perhaps he could have a baby with another
woman. She wanted a family. He replied that it still wouldn't satisfy her
desire to have normal and regular sex with him and what if it was his genes
that were causing the deformity. He wouldn't want to risk another deformed
child. Adopting a child would be an option, Helena suggested and both
considered it, but hoped that there would be a possibility to have their own
‘normal' children and dropped the idea of adoption. Medical science was still
inadequate to deal with the common flu and Leo's condition was a bit more
complicated than that. Helena saw no way
out and contemplated having her tubes tied to prevent pregnancy. She didn't
want to give up Gábor even if it meant having no family. But it still wouldn't
answer the question whose genes caused the disfigurement.
Their desperation grew daily as Leo changed more and more
into a large cat. His chest expanded, his hair had changed into a reddish brown
mane, his nose was broad, and he still did not speak and his parents gave up
teaching him to talk. His eyes shone with intelligence when Helena spoke to
Leo. He seemed to be listening attentively and it even seemed he tried to
imitate sounds. Some of them resembled words, but only his mother tried to
understand him. Leo's walk was smooth like that of a cat when allowed to move
on all four limbs, but upright he lumbered. His toes and fingers had
retractable claws, and once when Helena tried to trim them, he let out a roar
like a lion in pain and struck her hard enough that she did not try again.
Gábor became more distant to him; he felt ashamed about
Leo's disfigurement and guilty about his feelings. Repeatedly, they were
mentally strained whether to see him as their son or their pet, they tried to
figure out what he was, an animal trying to speak or a human trapped in an
animal body. They had a child that was an animal. It seemed, two humans
produced a child that looked like an animal, but the same human society would
not allow him to exist among them as a human, if he was one. Even his parents
had a hard time accepting him the way he was.
They were conditioned to see humans as the only intelligent life form,
and if it didn't look human, it wasn't intelligent, and therefore an animal.
Funny how people are; they have heard of Siamese twins,
joined at their hips, backs or heads, two heads, or other unusual deformations,
and the medical miracles succeeding sometimes to separate them or correct the problem.
Often these children lived a normal life aside from the fact that they endured
the gawking and finger-pointing and were often circus attractions. But if they
looked like an animal, people's attitudes became hostile. It had not come to
their awareness yet that intelligence does not require a human body; perhaps
that would come later. They loved their pets; even shed tears when they died,
but it was still just an animal.
Leo was their product, their flesh, and blood, not a pet
they picked up from the SPCA. Helena was his mother, and Leo was the result of
their love. Sure, he looked alien, part human, but a mostly animal. But still,
it should not matter how different he was, they kept telling themselves; what
mattered was that he was their child. Yet it affected them, it affected them
strongly. Why else did they choose to move so far away from Secret Cove or
Sechelt? The closest settlement, Welcome Beach, was three kilometers to the
Northwest from their house with just one little convenience store and a few
houses. They felt shame and guilt, wondering how this happened and why.
Leo's change progressed slower now. Some human features
remained, but the characteristics of a cat were prominent. They were relieved
that they had elected to be far away from prying eyes. They knew, when
something they did felt right, coming from the gut, it proved to be a wise
choice. But now, faced with only difficult options for their child, they were
lost as to what the next right choice was. No silent voice whispered solutions
into their ears, and they tried to find an answer in their heads and not their
gut. Their despair came like waves. They tried to be reasonable and juggle
society's conventions with the cruel games of the Universe. Gábor had no idea
how this could have happened and often thought his ancestors must have been
Neanderthal and passed down some weird genes. Both had secretly blamed the
other for Leo's condition and once they had a huge argument and almost filed
for divorce, but could not imagine being apart and tore up the divorce forms
and made up. They would rather die together and even talked seriously about it.
Another difficult year passed. Leo turned five and the
changes in him had become permanent, eighty percent lion, twenty percent human,
but he still grew. Without closer scrutiny, he looked much more like a lion
than a human. Walking upright, he plodded and preferred moving about on all
four limbs and appeared far more natural that way. His parents gave up
insisting that he should walk like a human. Let him behave like an animal if
that's what he wanted. Both had given up making him appear to be human when
they were alone and that resulted in an uneasy peace. Thanks to a personal
growth seminar, Gábor had settled into a state of apathy after that. They stopped
trying to make Leo appear to be human but remained strict about letting other
people see him. It had become a habit for Leo to slink away or retreat into his
room in the basement/dojo when he sensed people coming.
Trying to cover up and cope with his depression, Gábor
buried himself in improvement to the house and went for long walks in the bush.
On those occasions, Helena urged him to take Leo with him and reluctantly he
did. Helena stayed home most of the time, but on occasions, she joined them on
their walks in the bush, but Gábor seemed inhibited dealing with Leo and seemed
distant. With a heavy heart, Helena accepted Gábor's withdrawal from the
nightly intimate activity, but during the day she enjoyed his attention. He was
loving and courteous with her, hugged and kissed her, but she felt his
desperation as much as her own. He mostly went to sleep in the other bedroom,
his reasoning being that he wanted her too much and wouldn't be able to control
his urges. Confused and lonely, missing his physical presence at night, she
felt deserted by her husband and decided to purchase a vibrator to satisfy her
sexual needs. Imagining Gábor, she used it at least twice a week. It kept her
from going insane or seeking relief with Ivan or elsewhere. She suspected Gábor
found relief through masturbation privately unless he had someone on the side,
but she doubted that; he was too straight and it saddened her that they
couldn't share pleasures together like before.
On Helena's thirty-fifth birthday in September, she requested
as a birthday gift from him taking a tantric course with her and he had agreed.
He promised to go with her the following week and did. They hoped it would help
them to be more aware and break free from learned responses and prejudices that
imprisoned their minds and lives.
Helena taught yoga in Hungary and still practiced it, and
Gábor practiced Zen, but this Tantric path was much more difficult than they
thought it would be. It challenged all their conditioned beliefs and accepted
truths of what life was about. Because established views were all around them,
very subtle and seemingly real, making changes was easier said than done. The
cage of accepted beliefs and conditioned responses was deeply ingrained and
hard to break. Nevertheless, they began to see patterns that governed their
attitudes and lives and how they had uncritically accepted established cultural
views.
After the tantric seminar, Gábor crawled out of his cave and
joined Helena in bed on the condition they have sex only during safe days and
use other preventatives. Sex was back on the menu for a total of one week out
of a month, By far not what it used to be, or what either of them would have
liked. But as Helena once said, having a bird in the bush occasionally is
better than an eagle in the sky forever.
This period they called the dark times. Gábor loved Leo in
his own way. They had long walks in the woods around the house and into the
mountains, but it was a relationship one has with their dog, or as the case
was, with a large, exotic cat. Gábor asked himself why he couldn't see him more
as his son rather than a pet. A nearly six-year-old child/cat now, Leo was the
size of a fourteen to a sixteen-year-old child and as tall standing up as his
mother. He seemed to have learned to articulate a few words and Gábor wondered
if those sounds were attempts to speak or just sounds. Unknown to Gábor and
Helena, Leo had tried to communicate with his parents the way he knew, but gave
up when he realized they didn't understand him.
To his father's surprise, Leo had a very deep understanding
of natural things. He could follow trails of other animals with ease and move
as silently as a shadow. Often he went outside the house and came back with
some meat he got somehow and presented it to Helena or Gábor. Most of the time
it was a rabbit or a hare and sometimes even a deer. Obviously, he was capable
of looking after himself. When they asked how he got it, he just lifted his
paws. Were they communicating, or should they just put it down to wishful thinking?
Leo's hearing and smell were as keen as the dog's, and he seemed to have night
vision. He knew in advance when someone came to the house and usually left
before they came in sight or just went to his favourite hiding place, his room
in the basement. His other room upstairs, he used only when he was sure no one
was coming to visit.
Not that there were many visitors. Gábor and Helena lived a
solitary life, and the only occasional visitor was Ivan. He seldom saw Leo, and
when he did, it was mostly dark or when Helena ushered the child away. A few
times when he dropped in for a visit he had seen a fleeting shadow from afar
near Gábor's house and had seen peculiar tracks like those of a cougar, but the
toe imprints were much longer and resembled that of a human hand and foot more
than a cat, but it never occurred to him it was Leo's tracks he'd seen. Perhaps
it was just a cougar with deformed feet prowling around in the area. Thus Leo
had remained an enigma.
Ivan had been a martial arts instructor in the Russian
Special Forces, and he once asked Gábor if he would be interested in him
teaching Leo martial arts. He thought Leo was at the age when he would be most
receptive to training in the art and it would be very beneficial for him.
"After all, you have a great set-up, Gábor, and the
kid, if it was yours that I saw a year ago, is growing faster than I've ever
seen anyone grow and he appears gangly. He looked tall, like ten at least when
I saw him the last time, and that was last year. I do not see him all that
often; he seems to avoid me, and I've never had a good look at him, and that
cape he wears appears permanently attached to his head." Ivan paused for a
second. "I believe it would be the right time for him to begin training,
and we both could train him," he suggested.
"I'd love to teach him all I know," evaded Gábor,
"but he has no interest." He didn't tell him that Leo was fast and he
could barely match him in strength, or that Leo was not human. He wanted to
teach his son techniques, but how? Leo's body was not like that of a human. His
mind probably didn't process what he tried to convey to him and he had given up
because Leo didn't get the idea that even though he had the strength and
swiftness, he still would be vulnerable to hunters if they spotted him. If at
least he would grasp basic techniques of evasion, he would have a better chance
to escape.
Gábor wasn't sure whether it was Leo's youth, his animal
being, or the simple fact that maybe he balked at the idea of teaching an
animal martial arts. Neither did he tell Ivan that in his mind Leo was an
animal, more intelligent than the average animal, but still…
They left it at that, but Gábor knew that one day someone
would want to find out about Leo, why no one had ever met him and talked with
him. Leo was an enigma, like a ghost. Some people knew the Fabien family had a
child, but nobody really saw or knew the kid. This would change when school
began in September. The school board had sent Leo's registration forms, but his
parents had no intention of putting him into a classroom. For his own sake, Leo
had to disappear without a trace before school started. He was an animal, and
nobody would believe any differently. Not even his parents dared to question
that, but they were unwilling to expose Leo to the cruelty of the society that
would come as a result of his revelation, even if they'd accept his to
attending school. There seemed to be no choice.
Leo had to disappear legally from the eyes of the law and
society. But hiding him somewhere where nobody saw him and where he could live
in isolation from people wouldn't solve the problem either. What to tell
authorities where the child was? Somehow Leo needed to disappear, be dead,
legally. Helena and Gábor talked for days about it. They argued, cried, turned
every idea upside down, front and back, looked at any possibility, but the
situation seemed hopeless. And then after long discussions, a plan emerged. Leo
had to become a fatality at sea. There are stories of people falling overboard
and never being seen again, aren't there? That might solve the problem of his
disappearance. If the authorities would want to know where their child was, the
lost at sea scenario was the most believable explanation. Anything else like,
"Hey, sorry, our child was an animal so we set it free to fend for
itself," or "All that matters is love. Who cares how he looks?"
would not go down like a six-pack on a hot summer day, and presenting the child
to society would kill him, in spirit if not physically.
The only way out, they thought, was that the child had to
disappear, and they had to make it look like an accident to avoid criminal
prosecution. Wouldn't that solve the disappearance of their child to the
authorities? They would go on a cruise with Leo and leave him on an island with
no one, or just a few people, and perhaps someone would take him in and look
after him as a pet until the dust over his disappearance had settled and they
could come back for him. Missing their only pet/child for months would be
punishment enough.
It wasn't a good plan, but it was the only one they could
come up with. When they came up with the plot they thought it might solve some
of the problems, but not their fear of a possible childless life or another
deformed child. As much as they would have loved to stay with Leo on the
island, their work, and home required their presence in Canada. Their work was
the only source of income. They weren't financially independent and worked for
a living. Helena and Gábor would come and look after him at least three times a
year for a month and later on join him to live together somewhere.
Helena had a sudden idea. Just the previous day, Ivan had
run into Gábor and Helena in Horseshoe Bay at "Troll's", a nice
restaurant where they celebrated Gábor's birthday. They had invited him to join
in, and the three of them talked and enjoyed each other's company until it was
quite late that night. Why not invite him to the house and talk with him?
"What if we could talk with Ivan? Perhaps he could stay
with Leo on that island and look after him until we get there. We could ask him
to stay with him for three months and then we could do three and when the time
is right, we could bring Leo back and no one would think about him any longer.
We can have him with us without anyone bothering him or us. What do you
think?"
Gábor thought about that and figured it could work. The
finances would take a big hit, but if it were only for a year or two, they
would recover. His mood lightened up a bit as that nagging emotion he felt
about his own ambiguity lifted.
Ivan had glimpses of Leo during the construction of their
home, and the occasional odd visits, but not too often and did not know the
extent of Leo's disfiguration. He seemed to be more open-minded than any other
person they knew, and they figured he would understand. After all, was he not
practicing Zen Buddhism also? They would have to set it up so that Leo remained
alive, but disappeared, dead or lost at sea without a body to be found.
But to accomplish that, they needed someone to help; it
would not be possible to pull this off all by themselves. Helena and Gábor
decided to involve him if he was willing. He would be an ideal person to pull
off a stunt like that and look after Leo periodically. He was single, retired,
and an outdoorsman.
The next day, Helena and Gábor called Ivan over for dinner,
which astounded him since the Fabien's never initiated contact with anyone. He
figured something had happened otherwise they would not make the first move and
issue an invitation for dinner. He accepted.
The setting sun came out from behind the gray cloud blanket
on this spring Sunday and illuminated the western sky with yellow and orange
light, leaving the house on the northern side in shadows. Ivan pulled up with
his Volkswagen Golf, got out and, Gábor greeted him with a firm handshake.
Helena smiled and, as always her dimples fascinated Ivan. He smiled back at her
and gave her a fatherly hug. "Hello, old Ruskie, long time no see.
Yesterday, wasn't it? Feeling better?"
"Yes, it has been an eternity. And any day that goes by
without seeing a beautiful woman, is a long time. But I feel much better
now."
"I bet you say that to all the female deer in your
area."
"None of them has your beauty," Ivan said it with
a smile.
"You seem to have recovered well," replied Helena
with a wide grin on her face and pleased with his compliment.
"The Vodka-fog has lifted. I'm feeling great, now that
I can see again for a change. That was a tough night, and I'm glad Gábor has a
birthday only once a year. How are you two after last night?"
"We left it to you to fall into the vat, Ivan. So we're
okay." Helena reminded. "You spent a lot of money on booze last
night."
"You and Gábor abandoned me to the drink and someone
had to support the business."
"I danced half the night with you to keep you from
drinking the establishment's entire Vodka supply and leaving nothing to the
other patrons. Then you fell asleep under the table. Gábor had to pull you out,
and we drove you home. You couldn't stand up. Don't you remember?"
"It was cozy where I was and I was tired after all that
dancing on a shifting dance floor."
"You were drunk. And that shifty dance floor was my
feet."
Ivan slapped his forehead as if he had an epiphany.
"Ah, of course; that would explain the swaying of the
entire local. And who wouldn't be drunk after a bottle of Vodka?"
"Make that two," she laughed.
"You were counting?"
"You couldn't and someone had to," she replied,
setting him straight.
It was fun to banter with him after a long time without much
contact. She had almost forgotten. It was good to see him again.
"Good to see you are still alive. How is everything
around here?”
"Busy with the cleanup after the last winter blast.
Come in. Tea?"
"With a bit of rum would be great. It would cure the
hangover. My heater in the car broke
down, and I'm freezing my Petunias."
"Can't let that happen. Let's go inside, shall
we?"
Leading the way into the house, Helena opened the door
and let Ivan pass her. The smell of her cooking made him salivate and he looked
forward to a treat. Gábor followed Helena in and closed the door behind him.
