An Earlier Heaven

About 30 minutes later, David flashed back into view on the concrete pad. He looked rather pale, but in good spirits. The crowd out front had dissipated, and we were nearly set to head back to the station. Across the courtyard garden, I spied three figures walking towards us. In the center, clear as day, is Kalth, his golden flowing hair and pointy ears are unmistakeable. Beside him is a very old elf, with a wooden knurled staff and a long, white beard, and on the other side, a little elven girl with green hair. When she sees David, she breaks out into a sprint towards him.

She reaches him and David gives her a warm, spinning embrace. She’s crying. She looks very familiar. Wait a minute! That’s the girl that he rescued on the footage Hue showed me! Kalth and this old man approach Leia and I.

“John, this is my childhood teacher, Montgomery.” The old man extends his wrinkled, veiny hand.

Leia gasps, then drops to her hands and knees, in a comically deep, prostrating bow. As I shake his hand, she’s vigorously thanking him for gracefully allowing us in his presence. What is he, royalty?

“Thank you for raising such a fine son, John. Without him, we’d still be eating leaves for dinner every night.” A big grin fills his face.

Eating leaves? Huh?

“I take it he saved your life, sir?”

“Not just mine, but my village, too. If I may be so bold, I’d like to tutor your son, if he agrees to it, of course.”

Leia is nearly overcome with shock.

“We should discuss this over dinner!”, he booms.

Dinner it is. A carriage is called for us, and all six of us load up. We’re not really dressed for the occasion, but I couldn’t care less right now.

We arrive at an extremely classy, glass-walled fine dining establishment. The prices are outrageous. Thankfully, Kalth is paying. Besides me, Leia holds my hand in hers as David gives a firsthand account of his adventure. The drinks are flowing, and our food arrives.

Steak foie gras, depicted on the menu as “Tournedos Rossini”, arrives for me. Some luxury lobster pasta dishes, fresh baked bread, and lamb chops arrive for the others. The old man orders his favorite, a plain porterhouse steak.

We share uproarious laughter as Montgomery explains the difficulties of life as a slug. He’s a good sport about it, all things considered. David and I share a beautiful moment of schadenfreude regarding that attempted pickpocket he humiliated. Kalth and his teacher drill all the details out of him as to the combination spell he used to wipe out the Slime Council.

Finally, David has questions for me.

“Why the hell are you here anyway, Dad?”

“Well, I died, man.”

“I know, but why here?”

I look at Kalth.

“It’s his fault!”

We all share a hearty laugh as David heaps the blame on him. Kalth fires back to defend himself.

“We couldn’t possibly know it was him, David. We find out what the people are like after we bring them over.”

“BUT STILL! It’s HIM! I mean, come on!”

I fire back a little humorous jab of my own.

“Then how did you get here, son?”

David looks up in the air, pensively.

“I don’t remember.”

“I bet you don’t!”

“Speaking of remembering things, what’s with that Orc king you humiliated?”

His eyes go wide.

“That guy? Oh crap. I think I’ve got to go back and see him sometime.”

Sara, his little elven companion, is devouring plate after plate of mashed potatoes. Hearing this, she pauses and looks up at David, next to her.

“What about mom and dad?”

David jumps a little. He’d forgotten about them. He turns to Kalth.

“Her parents are stuck in a slum district of Arctera’s capitol. Can we do something to make sure they’re taken care of?”

Kalth places his hand below his chin and thinks to himself.

“Yes, certainly. We’re in the process of building a new residential district close to the college, anyway. Odds are we’ll have to reach out to Arctera to assist in the transition of power. Just give me their names tomorrow and I’ll see what we can do.”

David’s glare turns to me again.

“And what’s with the new girlfriend?”

Leia turns bright red, even her ears blush.

I try to explain myself.

“It’s not like that, David, she helped me out when I first got here, and...”

She’s leaning in closer to my ear. As I turn to look, she plants a kiss right on my lips. I, too, turn bright red. Montgomery laughs, Kalth has turned a pale white, like a ghost. Sara is watching in sheer amazement.

She stops kissing me and leans back, with a great big smile on her face. Is it the alcohol? What’s gotten into her?

David is judging.

“Uh huh. It’s not like that?”

“I swear, that’s the first time she’s kissed me like that. I promise!”

He’s not believing a word of what I say. Leia giggles to herself. I try to defuse the situation.

“We hadn’t even discussed it. You know how I feel about dating after dealing with your mother, David.”

This gets a chuckle out of him.

“Sooooo?”, she asks, still blushing, squeezing my hand.

“I’m not opposed to the idea.”, I croak out.

“Good!”. She’s proud of herself.

Sara is staring at David now. Uh oh. She’s gotten the idea into her head now. These damned elves! I try to warn him with my eyes.

She grabs his hand, looking up at him with her doleful, teary eyes.

“Am I your girlfriend?”

Eeek! David, she’s young! What are you doing, man? Is he about to reject her right here at the table? This is a DEFCON-1 emergency on our hands. Right now, my shut-in son is going to have to prove his worth in tactfully shooting a girl’s advances down. I don’t think he’s ever been faced with such a terrifying situation.

“Not yet. Maybe in a few years. Don’t worry, you’re very special to me.”

Kalth has turned, somehow, even more pale, almost translucent. I’d seen this before, when Leia first doted on me when we met, but it’s on a completely different level now. The thought of elves and humans talking to eachother like this must be deeply, deeply disturbing to him. Hehehe.

“Okay!”, Sara smiles. She’s fine with that arrangement. Whew, crisis averted. Nicely done, son!

Montgomery chimes in.

“Young man, you do realize that elves do not hold relationships in the same way that humans do, correct?”

He’s clueless. He shakes his head.

“By making that promise to Sara, you may as well have married her right here on the spot.”

The realization flashes across David’s face. They both turn to me.

Wait. Hold on. Leia is smiling, smugly.

Oh no!

I let out an awkward sigh, then facepalm.

We’d both been caught in this trap. Damned elves! There really is no winning here. David and I silently, respectfully share a moment of mutual admission of defeat. We’d done it to ourselves.

The rest of the night continued cheerfully. A delicious second round of appetizers arrived, some fancy desserts, and many more drinks. By the time we were finished, it was dark out, and I eyed Kalth as he received the bill. His eyes grew wide for a moment, then he steeled himself. He handed a golden card to the waiter, who quickly returned and thanked us for coming.

As we stepped out into the street, it occurred to me. David doesn’t have a place to live. He realizes this too.

“Can I stay with you?”

I shrug.

“Just like old times, I guess.”

We gave a very happy farewell to Kalth and Montgomery at the entrance to the college. Homeward bound.

This was David’s first time really seeing my house.

“It’s Japanese!”, he exclaims, as we step through the front gate into the beautiful, manicured garden.

“Hell yeah it is!”, I proudly exclaim.

Leia and Sara don’t understand why we’re nerding out. I gave him a guided tour of the property, showing all the neat features. Sliding rice-paper doors, the nifty exterior hallway, a gazebo, the beautiful markings and designs along the ceiling.

We shared a late night cup of coffee and chatted about the day’s events. As we sit there, laughing amongst ourselves, a subtle, creeping realization overcomes me. The family life I’d watched erode during my career, in my previous life, was here in front of me again. The life I’d wished desperately for but set aside because I had more important things to deal with.

That empty, soulless pit in my stomach, which I’d carried for years, my silent partner, the weight of years of stress and anguish, vanished. This brought a tear to my eye, if just for a moment.

“John, what’s wrong?”, Leia asks, leaning towards me.

“Nothing. I’m just very happy. Don’t worry about it.”