Bold and Simful

“Yes, Mr. Mendenhall?” Arcadia Santander studiously avoided contact with her employer, but today she failed the class.

“Does dusting require so much noise?” Francis was still in his bathrobe, unusual for so late in the day even a weekend day.

“But it wasn’t me.  I didn’t make any noise,” Arcadia twisted her fingers in knots.  Being around her employers made her so nervous, she could not afford to be fired.

“Faaatthher,” the call came from downstairs.

“Oh, the boy.  I should have known,” Francis muttered and retreated without an apology to his daily.

“Don’t be nervous, Kit,” Xavier tried to calm his girlfriend’s nerves.

“Easy for you to say.  He already likes you,” Kitty was beginning to hyperventilate. Meeting Francis Mendenhall was scary enough but to announce at the first meeting that you were going to marry into his family was terrifying.

“The jury is still out on Pop liking me,” Xavier laughed remembering how often his father had been disappointed in him. He hoped, though he never got his hopes too high, that showing his father that he was planning to settle down after graduation would earn him a few brownie points.

“Can’t I meet your mother first?” Kitty sounded pleading. “She’s allowed visitors, isn’t she?”

“Hey, there’s a piano in the living room.  You can go play while we are waiting for His Highness,” Xavier suggested, knowing that Kitty often got carried away by music.

Kitty did get lost in the music, so much so that she didn’t notice Francis Mendenhall enter the room.  As they say, music does sooth the savage beast and for a moment Francis slipped away, remembering how his mother had played that very same piano.

His father had been tough on him, just like he was on his kids, but his mother had been everything a wife, mother and woman should be.

Xavier was far more nervous than he had let on to Kitty, but there was no reason to be.  Music was still having its effect on Francis and he was highly complimentary to his son’s girlfriend.

“You’re very good,” Francis admired after being introduced to Kitty. “Cwik, did you say?  Is your father…oh, yes, yes he would be.  Terrible thing there, railroaded, I say.”

“Why, thank you! and I’ll pass along your well wishes,” Kitty  was surprised by Francis’ interpretation of her father’s unfortunate incarceration, she and her mother had been living in shame since the day the headlines appeared in the paper.  If her mother knew how sympathetic the community was to her father’s situation, she might be willing to venture out of the family home.

“Pop,” Xavier interjected, “Can we talk? I have some important news.”

“So what is it?” Francis didn’t mince words when he and Xavier sat down to lunch.  Kitty had returned to the piano to leave the men to talk in private.

“I’m glad you liked Kitty, Pop because I’m going to marry her,” Xavier had been nervous that his father wouldn’t approve of Kitty but Francis’ mood had lulled him into a false sense of ease.  Unluckily for Xavier, Kitty broke a nail at that exact moment and the music stopped.

“A Cwik? You’re planning to marry a convict’s daughter?” Francis was back to his old self.

“POP!” Xavier exclaimed.

“Absolutely not! I forbid it!” The front door slammed behind a fleeing Kitty Cwik.

“POP! You just said he was railroaded,” Xavier protested, glancing toward the front door.

“That doesn’t make him any less of a convict and his innocence is debatable,” Francis reasoned. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, Xavier, but you will not contaminate the family name.  Even the Bettencourt girl would be a better choice.”

“You are a complete jackass,” Xavier finally snapped.  “That’s why you’re all alone in this big house and its why mom’s a drunk and Elizabeth exhausts herself trying to get As.  I don’t know why any of us bother to try to please you, ’cause it’s not gonna happen. Nothing is ever good enough.”

Xavier had stormed out, leaving Francis’ anger without an outlet.  Arcadia had already left for the day, claiming once again that everything was clean.  ‘If this is clean, I would hate to see her house.  What the hell am I paying her for if I have to go behind her and do her job?‘

Anger and soap bubbles kept building until Francis finally exhausted himself.  Wandering through the study on his way to the kitchen, his footfalls echoed through the house and suddenly he felt tired and lonely but most of all, he felt old.

Shelly Placer was home when Francis arrived. Her availability was one of the things he liked about her, that and her youth.

He had been feeling rather aged lately, like time had sped up while he had slowed down.  Where he used to look forward to weekdays, he had begun to look forward to weekends so he could sleep in and relax. Just that morning he had slept until 11, but he had still woken up tired. All that slipped away when he saw Shelly.

Darkness had fallen by the time Francis was leaving Shelly’s a few hours later, which was good for Robert since the Gibson’s yard didn’t have any trees. When he heard the door open, he scrambled to his feet and fumbled the camera out of his pocket, “The rooster is leaving the hen house,” he muttered his code to himself.

“What the hell?” Francis shaded his eyes from a bright flash.

“Damn, damn,” Robert cursed under his breath just a few yards away and retreated back into the shadow provided by his employees house, hoping that Francis wouldn’t investigate.

Francis had seriously begun to consider the day when his daughter Elizabeth would take over Mendenhall Enterprises.  He would just have to assure himself that she was capable of handling the responsibility. She would graduate from Hunter soon and was already doing a competent job overseeing the families philanthropic Foundation, a compliment he paid her when he arrived at her office Sunday afternoon.

“You mean it?” Elizabeth was unaccustomed to compliments from her father, even though she had worked her entire life to earn his approval.

“I don’t waste my breath saying things I don’t mean,” Francis answered, “Are you ready to go?”

While waiting for the taxi, Elizabeth noticed that her father still wore his wedding ring and was optimistic enough to comment on it.

“Clients trust a married man far more than they trust a bachelor,” Francis admitted freely.  It was time his daughter recognize that business was an unemotional endeavor. “Speaking of business and relationships, you should understand now that being president of Mendenhall Enterprises will not allow much time for you to have a family. If you were a man, it would be different of course, but you are not.”

“Yes, Father, I understand,” Elizabeth submitted easily.  She had understood the sacrifices that would need to be made in order to keep the business in the family name when her father had first named her as his heir apparent.

‘The rooster is about to be plucked,’ Robert thought smugly as he watched Francis with his daughter. Their conversation seemed pretty intense but Robert couldn’t stand around to eavesdrop, there was a reservation for six coming soon.

Elizabeth was just about to leave her first Mendenhall Enterprises business lunch, when her father stopped her, “About Xavier and the Cwik girl.  Do you think there’s something you could do about that?” Francis waved his hand as if to include all options.

“I really don’t know,” Elizabeth hesitated.  Kitty seemed nice enough to her but she could see her father’s point. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“That’s my girl,” Francis congratulated her for a second time in one day and Elizabeth nearly floated out of the building.

Francis’ exit wasn’t so pleasant.  The party of six had arrived for their reservation.

“Slumming it in the Heights, Francis?” Catherine spat at her husband.

“Go away, woman,” he waved his arm for added effect, “this is not the place.”

“It’s never the place, you toad,” Catherine lost it, just completely lost it and launched into a tirade that burned the ears of her fellow rehabers who stood gaping at the scene from the steps of the patio.

Francis seemed to shrink back but his retreat did nothing but empower Catherine.  She just kept coming. “Your money, your lawyers can’t do a thing, Frankie.  You’re not going to throw me away like trash, I’ve got you!” with that she collected herself, smoothed her hair and walked elegantly to the door as if nothing had happened.

“How are you doing, Catherine?” Dr. Holdon inquired.  He had purposely seated the others at another table so he could speak privately with Catherine if she needed him. He was professionally concerned, this recent confrontation could obliterate all the progress they had made.

“I’m fine, Dr. Holdon.  In fact, I am better than I have been in years,” she breathed a lung-emptying sigh and settled back to read the menu.  “It’s a nice place, Robert has here.”

“Yes, yes it is,” the doctor was caught off guard but he suddenly felt very confident that Catherine had finally healed herself.

——

Note: Please pardon the plumb bobs and sky peaking through in some shots.  It’s really distracting to me, but I’m getting used to a new monitor and I didn’t realize that it would change the way pics were taken. Who knew?!

 

Posted on July 12th, 2008 under Mendenhall. Tags: arcadia, catherine, elizabeth, francis, kitty, Mendenhall, rehab, robert, xavier. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.