Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 09:04:49 EDT
From: Djedoric58@aol.com
Subject: Cup Bearer 8

CHAPTER EIGHT


At precisely one minute to midnight on New Years Eve, Emilio followed Don
Clooney up the stairs to the second floor flat of a run-down Victorian
house in Altrincham. They stopped outside a door with peeling paint, and
heard the sound of childish laughter and music. According to Thomas, the
family would be watching the festivities on the television while toasting
the New Year with the bottles of wine and soft drinks Thomas had brought
with him. Emilio examined the door and wondered how easy it would be to
break it down, just like the one they had passed on the ground floor. He
wrinkled his nose at the smell of cat spray, urine and stale beer wafting
up from below. That, and a couple of youths sniffing aerosols in the
shelter of the ground floor hallway, painted a far different picture from
the glittering party he would have enjoyed with Tony's Country Music
friends in Nashville.

Don handed him a heavy carrier bag then stepped back to merge with the
shadows, checked his watch and signalled for him to knock on the
door. Emilio glanced down at the carrier bag, and felt trapped. Too bad all
the flights back to Nashville were booked up till Monday. He rapped sharply
on the door.

Nothing happened and he glanced round at Don. The man made a knocking
motion with his hand and Emilio knocked again. Almost immediately, the door
swung open and Emilio found himself staring at a young version of his
mother. She wore a frilled Spanish skirt and red dance shoes, and her hair
was piled up on top and pinned with a mantilla comb. Little Maria? My
little playmate? How could I have forgotten her?  "Hi Maria."

The girl shrieked with delight and rushed forward. "Emmie!"  She flung her
arms round his neck and almost overbalanced him. Before he could recover,
she dragged him forward and into the flat where the rest of the family
crowded round to greet him and look him over. His mother kissed him and
introduced the others; Perquita gave him a peck on the cheek but Jose
stared solemnly at him, hinting of future antagonism. He was the same
height as Emilio but he was Guido all over again; a bully in the making.

Ramon looked him up and down and started giggling. "Your my big brother?
You look more like a girl with all that hair."

His mother nudged him. "Ramon, shush! ¿Dónde están tus maneras?"

Emilio bit back a cutting remark. "That's all right, I'm used to it." He
glanced to where Thomas and Gillian sat at a large table in the middle of
the cramped lounge. Now what is she doing here?

She smiled as she shuffled a deck of strange looking cards. "Come and try
this Uno game, Emilio. I think I'm getting addicted to it."

Thomas looked quite at home without his business suit and with the sleeves
of a thick sweater pushed up his arms. The man nodded to him and Emilio
took out the first of the objects in the bag, a small nugget of coal. There
was an open fire to his left and he walked over to it. "According to your
New Year custom, I bring you coal that you may never be cold." He leaned
down and placed the nugget on the fire. He gave Perquita a drum of salt
from the bag. "Salt that the essence of life will never leave you." Next,
he pulled some dinner cobs, scrounged from the hotel, and handed them to
the younger children. "Bread that you may never go hungry, and money that
your bills will always be paid." This last gift was an addition Emilio
himself had decided upon as a surprise for Rita, and he was rewarded by the
startled but happy look on her face as he handed ten crisp new ten pound
notes. "A Happy New Year to you all."

While the family clapped and tried to talk to him all at once, Thomas
poured him a glass of wine and lemonade. He took a few sips of it then the
boys insisted on taking him on a tour of the flat. It boasted two small
bedrooms where the older children slept, while Rita and the little one
slept on the sofa bed in the lounge. Thomas had already given Emilio an
outline of their circumstances, and the run down state of the flat. Ten
minutes was all it took him to note the serious condensation problem in the
kitchen, and the dry rot in a corner of the girl's bedroom floor. He also
noted the patches of plaster threatening to fall from the lounge
ceiling. Then Don arrived with the next gift, and the cramped flat became
even more overcrowded.

"Roses and carnations at this time of year?" Rita gasped as Emilio handed
her the huge bouquet.

"Emilio shrugged his shoulders. "It's knowing people who know a thing or
two." Rita read the gift card and smiled her thanks then kissed him on the
cheek.

Emilio exchanged glances with Thomas then he looked round the room. "I've
just realised, there is someone missing."  "You mean Lucia?" Rita pointed
to the sofa bed under the window and what Emilio had thought was a large,
lumpy cushion. Emilio went to the sofa and leaned down to lift a corner of
a cover. Beneath it, a little cherub lay curled up small and in a deep
sleep, her tiny hands bunched into sturdy fists. Like brother like sister.
We can sleep through a thunderstorm.

With a sigh, he straightened up and faced the family. "I've decided. I'm
not staying here. I can't."

"Can't?" At least the females of the family seemed disappointed.

"I can't, and neither can you."  He turned to Thomas and saw his
questioning look.

"Plan `B'?"

"Plan `C' I think." Rita's face lit up and Emilio knew he'd just broken his
most important vow. Never get too close. Round two to the Brothers Grafton.
* * *


Rita stood in the red tiled hallway, listening to Joe and Ramon shouting to
each other on the floor above. She gazed in awe at the dark oak stairs and
the high ceiling.

"Well? What do you think?" Gillian Achres asked.

 "It's... well it's ...big!" To Rita, the house seemed massive after the
confines of the tiny flat.

Emilio stood watching her from the doorway of the front room on her
right. "It's not that big." He pointed into the room. "Come and look at
this." He disappeared and Rita heard the rhythmic tapping of shoes on bare
floorboards.

She looked again at the inventory in her hands. Victorian red brick, double
fronted, with tiled hallway, and ground floor toilet. Two front lounges,
two back living rooms, and kitchen; basement area with gas combination
boiler; four first floor bedrooms and a bathroom. Three attics, and gardens
to the front, side and rear. Gas Central heating. To be sold with all
furniture and furnishings. She shook her head in amazement. Rita Gomez,
this is a palace. .  "Mum?"

"Coming." Folding the inventory she preceded Gillian through the doorway
and found herself in room devoid of anything except for a six-foot high
mirror fixed to the inner wall opposite the window and spanning almost the
width of the room.  Emilio stamped on the pine flooring. "You know what
this is? It's a sprung floor. I'll bet the old lady who owned this was a
dance teacher." He turned to Gillian "How did you know about this place?"

"Wheels within wheels. As I said, I have friends in the area. There are
three more properties to look at but, being New Year's Day, I doubt we can
see them today."

Emilio shook his head. "There's no need. As soon as you showed us the photo
of this place, I knew this was the right one. I wonder how I knew? "  He
looked at Rita and something like an electric charge passed though her. Did
he know, or was he just guessing?

Gillian coughed politely. "I think I'll go and check whether Thomas and Don
have found the boiler yet. I've brought teabags, milk and sugar with me. If
the water's turned on I'll make us a cup a tea. There should be a kettle
somewhere in the kitchen."

Rita waited till the woman had left the room, then said, "You're more gypsy
than you think." Emilio's mouth dropped open and Rita nodded. "My parents
are Irish gypsies, and Manuel is a seventh child of a seventh child."
"Wow!" Emilio shook his head in wonder. "Now that explains a lot of
things."

"Thomas thought you had a fit of some kind, just before he took you back to
the hotel. You just went blank on us and stared at the fire, then you just
came back just like switching a light on. You seemed not to breathe. Did
you see anything?"

"I..." Emilio looked disturbed. "Yes, I saw this place. There's a big front
attic upstairs; I guess that'll be my den. How did you know?"

Rita walked up to him and placed a hand on his arm. "I have them too, now
and then. Perquita knows, but the kids get upset because they think I'm
having an attack. I know when something is going to happen and I try to
shut myself in one of the bedrooms till it passes. I knew you were alive
before Mr. Clooney came to see me. Your trances will be stronger than mine,
of course."

"Why?"

"I had two miscarriages before I had Perquita, and another three before I
had you."

"You're full of surprises, aren't you? First you tell me about my real dad,
now you tell me I'm a...I'm a..."

"Seventh child? Yes. But that isn't all. Your father was a seventh child,
and so was his father."

"What if I don't believe all that stuff? ESP and all that?"

"Don't you?"

"I don't believe in anything except myself."

Rita had the feeling he was mentally backing away from her. She watched the
return of the stranger who had knocked on the door of the hotel bedroom
twenty-four hours ago, and was determined not to lose him a second
time. "Come on, let's go and look at the rest of the house. Isn't it lucky
Gillian managed to have the gas and electric reconnected before the
holiday?"

"I don't believe in luck either." Emilio marched out of the room ahead of
her. In the hallway, they met Thomas and Don coming up from the cellar
where the central heating boiler now produced a faint rumble beneath their
feet.

"Hey, Mr. Grafton, sir, how long have you and Ms. Achres been sitting on
this place? The end of November was it? Things sure happen fast around
here." He switched his focus to Gillian who had popped her head out of the
opposite lounge. "I guess the owners are friends of your too, huh? You
think I'm stupid or something?"

Gillian looked stunned. "I beg your pardon?"

Shocked at Emilio's rudeness, Rita tapped her son on the arm then she saw
the wicked twinkle in his eyes. He wagged a finger at Thomas. "The
Brother's Grafton win again."

"You mean we`re going to take it?" Rita asked.

"If I get some answers," her son stared directly at Gillian.

Gillian came out into the hall. "Actually, the late owner was a family
friend. She ran a private dance academy. I heard she had died recently and
contacted her son. He's willing to rent the place if you don't want to buy
it. I told Thomas about it and we arranged for you to view it."

"And the amenities being conveniently switched on?"

"If you want to sell a place like this it has to be in tip-top condition;
especially these old houses that don't sell well. The builders have been in
and out over the last few weeks so it made sense to have the facilities
switched on."  Gazing up at Emilio, Rita sensed he and Gillian weren't on
the best of friendly terms. He doesn't trust her for some reason. Come to
think of it, neither do I. She's too smooth.

"Hey, kid," Don spoke for the first time, "even if you don't want to live
here, it'll be great for the kids. It's a lot closer to school for Maria
and Jose, and there's a school just right for Ramon down the street. The
shops are just round the corner on the high street and Trentham is only ten
miles away from Altrincham Ice Rink. Trentham also has its own school of
dancing."

At that moment, Jose and Ramon decided to bounce down the stairs. "We don't
like it," Ramon stated. "It's full of old stuff."

"And it smells," Jose added.

Before Rita could scold them, Emilio moved towards them. "Excuse me, boys,
it's time we had a talk." He pointed towards the kitchen. "Outside, now."

The boys looked at Rita, but she glared at them, and they shuffled towards
the kitchen in front of Emilio. As the three brothers disappeared from
view, Rita burst into laughter. At last she had someone who could help
Perquita control those two rascals.


As Emilio shoved the boys out of the back door he turned to where Perquita
and Maria stood by the kitchen table, about to pour tea into a variety of
mugs and cups they had found. "Perquita, I want a witness. Will you come
outside, please?" He steered the boys into the centre of the lawn and stood
in front of them, calm but stern. "Now get this in your heads. Your
mother's name may be on the documents for this house but it will be me who
pays for it whether we rent or buy, so I'll make a bargain with you. You
can stop acting like a couple of selfish jerks and remember how sick your
mother is and stop getting in Perquita's hair, and I'll let you live
here. If you don't, I'll let the authorities take you into care. And here's
a second bargain. You see that green house over there, Jose? And that shed
down the side of the house? They will be your territory. You were saying
last night you like growing things. Maria says you've got green fingers. So
have I but I don't have the time. Let's see you put your hands where your
mouth is. I want flowers for the gardens and vegetables for the
kitchen. There's plenty of space for a mini-allotment in the side
garden. Ramon, you were complaining, last night, about not being able to
bring your friends home to play. Look at the size of this back garden. You
can bring your friends here any time you want but you've got to help Jose
keep it tidy and keep the grass cut."

By this time the boys wore happy smiles, but Emilio was ready to cut short
their delight. "In return, I won't tell your mother how you used to watch
your father beat me up for something you did and never owned up to. I took
those bruises for you while you laughed your heads off, because I was
stupid enough to love you."

He heard Perquita gasp. "Jose, is this true?" Frowning, Jose looked down at
his feet and Ramon's lower lip started quivering. "Ramon, how could you?
Wait till mum hears about this."

"No, I made a bargain and hold you as witness. Mum doesn't get to know
about this. We have a family to keep together, and a mother who needs a lot
of care. I'll provide you with a home and make it as comfortable as
possible but you two have got to do your bit. If you'd rather go and live
in a kids' home, or be farmed out to foster parents, fine. I'll go back to
the States and forget about you. What I do care about is what's best for
our mother. So, why don't we go back inside, have a cup of tea, and ask her
if she'd like one of the back living rooms as a bedroom so she has no
stairs to climb?"

Perquita shook her head. "She'll still need to go upstairs to use the
bathroom."

"No she won't." Emilio started pushing the boys towards the house. "I can
fix her up with her own en-suite shower and there's a toilet in the hall
cloakroom."

While the boys walked on ahead, Perquita held Emilio back. "You don't want
to stay do you?"

"No."

"Why? Don't you like us?"

Emilio sighed and stared round at the unkempt garden before replying. "It's
not that. Did Don tell you what happened to Tony Grafton?"

"Yes."

"Well, it should have been me who was killed and I don't think the killer
is finished with me. He tried again a couple of days later and shot me in
the head. If I'm in danger, so are you. It's best if I just set you up here
and leave."

"But Mum is so pleased to have you here, it will break her heart if you go
away. And you said yourself you think the house is right for you."

Emilio put his arm round her shoulders and turned her towards the
door. "It'll break her heart even more if one of you are harmed, or even
killed."


*   *   *