Chapter Seven

Matt has dinner with his guests

And that was how I ended up with some unexpected house guests. I spent the rest of that day down in the shop after settling the Tryvors in my apartment. Mrs. Tryvor was very polite and understanding about the whole situation, more so than I was. Her boy was more of the silent type now that others were there with us. He had moved off to one corner of the room, and had sat quietly at a window, staring out at the less than grand scenery that was outside. My view of the city wasn’t of one of the bests parts of town, and all he really had to look at was a number of older buildings that had been turned into either apartments or small shops much like mine.

I took Edwin down with me, just so I could whisper in his ear on the way down that it would be best if he didn’t say anything until this was all over. I had no clue as to how much surveillance Michelle intended to have us under, and I didn’t need a recording of me talking to a bird who talked back, especially in complete and coherent sentences. That would be pretty hard to explain away, and I just didn’t need that hassle right now. I was having enough trouble as it was right now.

I had a handful of customers that day. They either didn’t notice the moving van across the street that neither moved nor did any moving, or they just chose to ignore it. I sort of wondered how many customers had shied away from the place due to the vehicle, but it wasn’t such a bad day, so I didn’t give it too much thought. I didn’t always do a grand amount of business every day, so a slow day didn’t mean anything was wrong, and it wouldn’t kill my profit margin in the end.

I got back up to my room to find a couple of plains clothes cops sitting on my couch, enjoying my food I might add, and Mrs. Tryvor and the boy sitting down to a late lunch at my table.

I went over to them, and sat down next to them. Nodding at the pot sitting in the middle of the table, I asked, “Any good?”

Mrs. Tryvor smiled, and pushed the pot and a bowl in my direction. “Please, have some. I just tossed a few things I found around the place in. I hope you don’t mind.”

I would have been a bit worried if I kept my special ingredients in the kitchen, but I had a special place in my bedroom where I kept such things, so I was sure that there wasn’t anything harmful in the pot. Not unless she was a terrible cook, that was. I took a bite, and found that it was actually quite good. “That’s not bad,” I complimented her.

“Mom’s a great cook,” the boy chirped up with a huge grin on his face before spooning another bite of the soup into his mouth. He seemed rather joyful, considering the situation, and I thought of how he must be a very happy, well loved child to be handling this all so well. They were handling this better than I was, and they were the ones that had been forced out of their home and into a stranger’s place to keep the two of them safe from a madman.

I nodded to the bedroom off to one side of the apartment. “The two of you can sleep in there. I’ll take the couch.” I looked over at the two cops as I said this to make sure there was an understanding between us. I was not crashing on the floor of my own place. They could take the blankets and carpets while I slept a bit more peacefully.

Mrs. Tryvor looked off in the direction I had nodded in, and stuttered, “Oh, we couldn’t possibly do that. This is your place. We couldn’t run you out of your own bed. That just wouldn’t be right.”

I held up a hand, and shook my head to indicate that I would have none of it. “Please, it’s a big bed, large enough for the two of you to comfortably sleep on. Besides, I usually pass out in front of the tv anyway most nights, so I won’t even notice.” Actually, that was a bit of a lie. I usually took to bed to get away from Edwin’s insistent snoring, but I guess I would just have to deal with that tonight. My only consolation was that the two cops would have to listen to him too. This brought a wicked smile to my face that I quickly smothered before anyone could see it.

“If you’re that sure,” she said rather timidly.

“I insist,” I assured her. After a short pause in the conversation, I asked, “Where is Mr. Tryvor?”

She looked down at her soup, fiddling with her spoon. “He is at his parents’ right now. He didn’t take to the news of our son’s…disappearance too well, and is there until things settle down.”

“He doesn’t blame you for it, does he?” I asked, already knowing the answer. When couples weren’t getting along, they usually blamed each other for the stupidest of things involving their children, even if it was something they themselves would have been unable to prevent.

“He is rather upset about it,” she admitted.

“But it wasn’t your fault,” I assured her, feeling sorry for her. It was hard enough losing a kid, even for a while, but to have it blamed on you when you needed support the most, that was just criminal in my book.

“If I had been there to pick him up that day, none of this would have happened.” She dabbed at the corner of her eye with a napkin.

“Do you usually pick him up?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, I get off of work about an hour after he gets home.”

“Then why would you be expected to pick him up then? You were out, doing what you have to do to make a living for the two of you. No one can fault you for that, and this isn’t your fault. None of it. You didn’t make that man the way he is, and you sure didn’t put your son in harm’s way on purpose.”

She nodded her head, but I had the feeling that my words were falling on deaf ears. I could tell by the way she acted that she was use to being the bad guy, getting blamed for things that weren’t her fault, and just taking it. It had probably started a long time ago, when she was a child, and there would be no quick fix for it now.

I got up to gather up the empty bowls. She almost jumped out of her chair to stop me. “I’ll get that.”

I shook my head. “This is my place. I’ll take care of it. How about you and your son go and watch a little tv. I think there’s a cartoon channel on that thing somewhere.”

That was all I needed to say to get the boy moving. I think he just about pushed the cops out of the way to get to the couch, which he plopped down on and grabbed up the remote before anyone else had a chance to stop him. In just a few moments, a bright colored, yellow square thing with clothes was dancing merrily on my television set. What would a kid these days not watch?

I felt a gentle touch upon my arm as I picked up the last of the bowls, and turned to see Mrs. Tryvor staring at me with wide, soulful eyes. “Thank you for taking us in on such short notice. I know this must be asking a lot of you, but I wouldn’t have wanted to go home tonight, not with that man still out there. It just doesn‘t seem like it would have been a safe thing to do.”

I nodded my head, feeling like a heel over the fight I had had with Michelle over the two staying with me. It was starting to become obvious that they needed a safe place to stay, and what place was safer from an evil warlock than a wizard’s? “It’s really no problem.”

“I just wanted you to know this means a lot to me,” she said, before going over to join her son on the couch.

I went to the kitchen to do the dishes before deciding what to do with the rest of my evening. It was late enough, that I could have gone on with my usual routine, I thought, catching up on some reading that needed to be done for both my profession and my…other profession, but part of me thought that might just be a bit too much for all the normals round me. I didn’t think they would quiet understand why such a nice man who was letting them crash at his place until they felt safe at their own was reading over books of magic. It tended to freak a few people out.

I went to my bedroom, and did a bit of quick cleaning, sweeping all my older, more unusual tomes under the bed where I hoped no one would notice them. Edwin fluttered around my head most of the time, squeaking every now and again when he thought I had left something behind that required hiding as well.

I took in the room with a scrutinizing look, trying to see it from a normal’s point of view, not sure if I had left anything behind that would make them wonder too much at the man who lived here on a regular basis. The king size bed was neatly made, an odd enough thing for a bachelor, I supposed, but not completely and totally suspicious. So I was rather a bit of a neat freak for my gender. There was a wooden chair with a cushion tossed on it for comfort in one corner of the room, a desk, the papers on it neatly stacked, and those concerning confidential matter locked away in the drawers, an ink blotter, a few pens and a desk lamp. The rest of the corners of the room were decorated with large, potted plants, as I enjoyed the smell and look of the things. Most of us wizardly types like things that remind us of nature, and tend to have our fair share of plants sitting about our domiciles. There was a closet off to one side of the room, and I made sure that a lock had been put on it some time ago. There were just things in there that I did not want anyone besides myself and Edwin finding. I made sure the lock was secured before I went back into the living room.

The kid was passed out on the couch, and mom didn’t seem to be too far behind. I walked over to her, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You two ready for bed now? It’s been a pretty long and hectic day.”

She looked up at me with grateful eyes, and nodded. “Yes, it has. I would be delighted if you wouldn’t mind me heading off for the night.”

“Not at all. I’ve got these fine gents to keep me company,” I said, gesturing to the two cops. Both of them gave me looks that let me know they were not the least bit interested in keeping me entertained for the night, which was a good thing. I didn’t feel like keeping them entertained either. If they had to be here, they could just stay out of my way, and play old maid, or whatever it was cops did when they were invading a man’s space.

Mrs. Tryvor moved to pick up her son, but I gestured her away, picking him up as gently as I could so as not to disturb his sleep. He needed it, having had the worse time of us all today. I could complain and gripe about the cops being in my home all I wanted, but at least I had woken up in my own bed that morning. That was a lot more than the poor kid could say for himself.

I carried him off to the bed, and tucked him in for the night before saying good night to his mother. She returned the gesture, and I left the room, quietly closing the door behind me.

I took a book off the self in the living room, and sat at the kitchen table to read, letting the cops enjoy a few more hours of television. They had already turned the channel to one of those cop shows, and I didn’t much care for those. I actually found the things sort of silly to watch, myself.

One of them looked over at me, and said, “What ya reading? How to turn my boss into a toad?” He nudged the other guy in the shoulder, and they both laughed.

“That would be a rather stupid thing to be reading, since I’m my own boss,” I quipped back, not caring how many feathers I ruffled with that one, and I could tell by the sour looks on their faces that I had ruffled more than a few with that. This could almost be as much fun as my verbal sparing with Edwin could be. Part of me said not to antagonize my guests, but the other part said that if they were here, they could live with me.

“What’s with the bird?” the other asked, obviously no longer interested in making jokes about my reading habits. “He’s sort of creepy looking.”

I turned to look at Edwin, who was glaring at the guy with very unfriendly eyes. If he had been an actual raven, I would have honestly been in fear for my eyes if I had been the cop. Maybe he was. “He came with the shop,” I popped off, not really interested in easing the guy’s fear any.

“Why not get rid of him?” the guy wanted to know, and I think he honestly wanted to do just that right now.

“I’ve gotten use to him. He’s great company. He’ll sit and listen to anything I say without arguing at all.” I looked back over at Edwin to see that that look was now directed at me, and I gave him a huge grin, wanting to have as much fun with this as I could, knowing I was going to get an earful when this was all over with.

“Why not get a girlfriend?” the other asked.

“They talk back every now and then, and are just too high maintenance for a guy like me. I like the easy life, no hassles.”

The two turned back to the television program just as a cop was chasing down a guy in a sloppy outfit, cheering their brother in arms on. I quickly got bored of it, knowing they were chasing no one of any real importance, they never showed those on tv, and went back to my reading, wondering if I might come across a spell on changing unwanted guests into toads.

Edwin shuffled about on his perch, keeping a close eye on our guests, and I just knew he didn’t like them being there in the least. It would be God knew how long before the bird would get to talk again, and I knew that was going to drive him mad.

It was starting to get late, and I closed up the book with a loud bang. “Well, it’s late, and I’ve got to open up early in the morning. If you two wouldn’t mind?”

They turned off the television with an audible amount of grumbling, and tossed the remote on the coffee table before getting up off the couch. I tossed them a couple of blankets with a cruel smile, and wished them good night. They settled on the floor, and I took the couch, curling up as best I could for the night. I had thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, what with all those other people in my home, but I was out like a light in no time, trusting Edwin to keep an eye on things for me while I was otherwise indisposed.

Author's Note

First Draft