The Spinetinglers Anthology 2011 by Dougan Nolene-Patricia

Author:Dougan, Nolene-Patricia [Dougan, Nolene-Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Spinetinglers Elite Publishing
Published: 2011-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

***

They arrived at destination. A large oval sort of chamber. The belly of the beast. Shelves upon shelves of dusty old manuscripts, torn and dishevelled, the fire crackling, the red rug before it. The desk piled high. The long dead plants, stringing their last across a forgotten window sill, gasping their last in their own personal potted Sahara.

Cornelius headed for his desk out of habit and sat in the wooden chair behind. Constantin took to the leather armchair beside the fire. He leaned right back into it. Comfortable. His eyes rose from admiring the rich red rug on the floor to meet those of the old mans, just visible over skyscrapers of papers, those untapped stacks, that nearly obscured the old man completely.

“How absurd,” Cornelius crinkled his glance. “I have not had company here in so long that the stacks are near up to eye level and I didn’t even notice. Why, I never have the inclination to look up at anyone, only downwards at these many, many pages.”

He waved a hand of fatigue, indicating that his reference applied, not just to the stacks of paper atop his desk, but to the whole cavernous room. A hand which behaved as if all these words had gone and run their course, before he’d reached the ending.

He stood up and signalled for Constantin to do the same.

“We will start in the east corner, my boy, and work ourselves westwards.”

“Like the sun,” Constantin said with understanding

“Ah yes! Indeed. The course of the sun for my newly acquired son, how apt”

“Excuse me Sir, Your son?”

“Of course boy, you do your job well and you shall inherit nothing less than my estate.”

“But you have so many children sir, by six wives, if I believe myself to be correct, and that I do.”

“It is that precise correctness which wins you your inheritance child. Yes, I do happen to have a vast quantity of children, 18 by 6 wives indeed, how divisible of me! But alas they are grown and gone and none of them ever so much as hinted at your level of assured correctness. If there is one thing to desire from the world, it is the stability of knowing one’s truth, of being sure of oneself and of getting it right repeatedly, and you, my boy appear agent to all of these factions.

You know Constantin, I do believe your demeanour to be something of that which I had searched for in the cat, how ironic that I should pay such funds for a false preconception and then go on to find exactly what I had anticipated on a whimsical trip to the local market last Friday.

There you were, my boy, selling candles and matches and oil lamps, with such assured correctivity. And I said to myself, Cornelius, you simply must employ this boy. You amuse me Constantin in the way I desire to be amused and yet you evoke my respect, if I believe myself to be correct and I do, I should say you have a splendid combination about you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.