Second Draft Part 2: Chapter 13

Just as I was leaning over another box, there was a knock at the door. I stood up and went over to the door to answer it. Icarus was standing in the doorway. “Oh, hello Icarus.” I opened the door for him, and then I went back to the boxes.

“Hello Jonny,” Icarus said. He stuck his head in tentatively through the doorway. “Um, I’ll just invite myself in I guess, okay Jonny?”

I opened another box. “What? Oh, yeah, come in Icarus. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. I’ve just got a lot of unpacking to do.”

“Still?” Icarus walked in and looked around. “Jonny, we’ve been here for a week, and you still haven’t unpacked yet?”

I threw some clothes on a shelf. “I’ve been busy.”

“You didn’t even have time to unpack? What in the world have you been doing? Classes don’t even start for another couple of days.”

I had spent most of that time out on the Cadet fields, training either with Orion or by myself. Registration for the first year Cadets was only a few days away, and Orion wanted to make sure I made the leadership cut.

“You know, having fun,” I answered.

Icarus collapsed into one of my chairs. That was one thing about Icarus. Everything always had to be so dramatic. He couldn’t sit down normally. He had to almost fall backwards into my chair. “Hey, I stopped by David’s dorm room earlier,” he said. “No one was there. Do you know where he went?”

“Yeah, he’s out with Helen.”

Icarus leaned back in my chair and drummed his fingers on my desk. Icarus could never sit still for long. “That figures. Those two are always together, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“You’d think they were married or something. How long have they been going out now anyway?”

“Oh, about a couple years now.”

“That long already?” Icarus rocked the chair back and forth. He looked out the window as he continued drumming his fingers on the table. “Do you see David much these days?”

“A little bit,” I answered, folding some shirts. “It’s not like it used to be.”

Icarus stood up and opened the window. “Lots of things aren’t like they used to be.” He spit out the window. “Hey, check it out Jonny, I made it all the way to the sidewalk.”

I made a point of not looking at Icarus as I continued unpacking. “Nice Icarus.”

The brief distraction had broken Icarus’s train of thought. “Now what was I saying? Oh yeah. Things are really changing. I mean, we’re at the University now. The University Jonny. Think about it. We’re not kids anymore. Did you ever think we’d really end up here?”

“I knew I had to go somewhere.”

“You know what I mean. Did you ever think we’d be this old? Didn’t you think we’d be kids forever?”

I stopped what I was doing and looked over at Icarus. “There was a part of me that thought that, yeah.”

Icarus walked away from the window to come over and look at my boxes. “Need any help unpacking?”

“Nah, I got it.”

“Hey, how come you didn’t get stuck with a roommate like the rest of us?” I shrugged the question off as if to say I didn’t know and it wasn’t important. Icarus looked over at me, and then his face melted from a quizzical expression into a knowing one. “Because of your father, huh? Old Flash made sure you got your own room.”

I decided to change the subject. “How is your roommate?”

Icarus scowled. “He’s an absolute moron, Jonny. I hate him already.” Icarus looked around the room as if searching for something, and then added, “Hey, Jonny, do you have anything to eat? I’m starving over here.”

Lately this had become a common theme. Every time Icarus dropped by to see he asked for food. “You’re not scrounging my food again Icarus.”

“Ah come on. You’re dad can afford it.”

I opened a desk drawer and took out half a loaf of bread. “Here, take it,” I said, throwing it at Icarus.

The strength with which I threw it at him caught him off guard, but he recovered quickly. “Thanks a lot.” He bit into it hungrily. Then with a full mouth he continued, “Well, I suppose you’re wondering what you’re doing tonight.”

I took out my socks and started putting them in the dresser. “I know what I’m doing tonight. I’m unpacking.”

“Not tonight you’re not. Tonight you’re going to the University art show.” Icarus took a crumpled flier out of his back pocket, and began unfolded it. “Check this out Jonny,” he said, holding the flier up in my face. “All art by University students on display. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?” He stopped shaking the flying in front of my face and took it back to read from it. “See art on display by your fellow students, interact with fellow art lovers…” Icarus stopped to take another bit of bread, and for a while his words were muffled by the sound of his chewing “…mmm hmm learmmm mmmm other cultural events that the University offers, and find out how you can contribute to the art community. Icarus finished reading and looked at me expectantly.

“I’m not going.”

Icarus refolded the flier and returned it to his pocket. “What? Give me one good reason why not?”

“I don’t like art and I have to unpack tonight.”

I opened another box, but Icarus walked over and promptly closed it again. “Jonny, this stuff has been in boxes all week. It can wait another night.”

“I have to unpack sometime.”

“Tomorrow is sometime.”

“Icarus, I don’t even like art.”

Icarus attempted to give me a disgusted look, but he the effect of this was ruined when he stopped to take another bite of my bread. “Don’t like art? Well then Jonny, I absolutely insist that you come. Besides I’m sure we’ll meet all sorts of new people there.”

“But I don’t-.”

“Come on,” Icarus said as he opened the door. “We’re going to be late.” I just stared blankly at him, so he added, “Come on Jonny, just spend two hours with me at this art show, and I promise I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night.”

I looked from my boxes and then back to Icarus. Briefly at my boxes, and then Icarus again. “Two hours?”

“That’s all I ask of you.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Two hours. Only.”

**********************************************************

I don’t know what I expected. The University had a lot of grand old beautiful buildings that would have been great for this event. I guess I expected the art show to be in one of those buildings with tall magnificent dome ceilings painted with beautiful frescos and long glass windows stretching all the way to the ceiling.

Instead the art show was in a basement. It was lit by torches so that the art work could be seen well enough, but it had the dim feeling of a dungeon.

Icarus is the kind of person who always has to make a fantastic entrance whenever he goes anywhere. He grabbed the handles of both doors, and pulled them both open at once, and then entered the art show walking proud and erect as if he were some visiting foreign dignity. A few heads turned towards him. I sneaked in quietly afterwards trying to look as if I was here by myself.

There were a few portraits on the wall where we first entered. Icarus stood looking at them for some time. I stood a comfortable distance away from Icarus and just tried to take in the different people who were there. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but everyone struck me as just looking very normal. There didn’t appear to be any wild-eyed artist types. In fact probably the nuttiest person in the room was the one I had come with.

“Hey, Jonny, pay attention to the paintings. You’re embarrassing me. I brought you to an art show, so quit staring at the people.” Icarus thought about what he had just said, and added in a quieter tone, “Do you see any pretty girls.”

“No.”

“Oh. Well quit staring at the people then. Look at the art. Why do you think I brought you here?”

I looked at the art for a while to make Icarus happy. He was really intently studying the paintings, and I pretended I was doing the same. In reality my brain was drifting to all sorts of different things. A first year student always has a lot on his mind. I was thinking about the upcoming first day of classes, and registration for Cadets. I was wondering what David and Helen were doing right now, and probably above all my mind kept wandering back to the unpacked boxes in my dorm room.

I don’t know how long we were standing there in silence. Probably a couple minutes. Icarus turned and lightly hit me on the shoulder. “Alright Jonny, which one’s your favorite?”

“Um, that one I guess.”

“Which one?”

“The one on the right.”

“Really?” Icarus scrunched up his face and scrutinized my choice with a critical look. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It looks the most realistic.”

Icarus simply took a deep breath and said, “Hmmm.” I could tell by the way he “hmmm-ed” that he didn’t approve, but I didn’t want to give him an opening by asking him about his own choice, even though I knew he was waiting for me to do it.

We walked a little bit down the hall. Icarus stopped me suddenly. “Now look at that Jonny. That is art. Do you see that painting? Absolutely beautiful. That really speaks to me. Look at the way the colors play with each other; the message of conflict inherit in the piece. I must meet this artist.”

Icarus spoke in his usual loud conversational tone, and I began to wonder if I was the only one who thought he was acting strange, or if this was the way one was supposed to talk at art shows. I looked around, and saw several pairs of eyes staring at us strangely. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except this was the first week of University. I didn’t even know any of the other students at this art show. I put my hand up to my face with my index and middle finger against my temple in order to look like I was concentrating on the picture. This also had the effect of shielding my face from the side.

Quietly resolving never to go anywhere with Icarus again, I looked at the painting. It was simply a swirl of colors; nothing that made sense. Icarus remained fascinated by it, and it was some time before we moved on.

We saw many more sculptures and paintings. Icarus was invariably attracted to the ones that didn’t make sense. He raved about a sculpture that appeared to be just a bunch of random stones thrown together. He talked for a full five minutes about a painting that was just different colored dots.

One painting in particular excited Icarus. He was fascinated by a lot at the art show, but this painting got him even more excited than usual. “Look at this Jonny. This painting is absolutely magnificent. I must meet the artist.”

It was a picture of two different men, one imposed over the other. Both were drawn from the back so that their faces were not visible. Both men had their arms raised, although since their figures overlapped it created a muddled picture and I couldn’t quite tell what either was doing with his hands.

At the center of the painting the men were drawn against a plain white background. At the edges of the painting the artist had drawn a boarder using red, yellow, and black, but only at the fringes. The center of the painting was mostly white.

“Now tell me Jonny, what do you see when you look at this painting?”

The answer seemed obvious. “Two separate men overlapping?”

“No. No, no, no Jonny, what does it mean to you?” Icarus leaned back and contemplated the painting. His eyes narrowed and his hand rested under his chin. He had assumed the posture of an art critic. “Now see Jonny, when I look at this painting, I see the sun?”

“What?”

“No, look. You’ve got pure hot brilliant white in the center, and then it moves out into different colors. You know all color comes from the sun, right Jonny?”

“What about the two men in the middle?”

“They symbolize life. All life is dependent on the sun. And they both have their arms raised, welcoming the sun.”

“But they’re in the sun.”

“No, that’s just symbolic. You need to imagine that they’re on Earth, reaching towards the sun, and yet inside the sun at the same time.” Icarus snapped his fingers, delighted at his own explanation. “This painting is absolutely brilliant. I would love to meet the artist.”

“I know him,” said a voice. Both Icarus and I turned our heads to look at a third boy watching the painting with us. He blushed slightly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help overhearing,” he said. He gave us an apologetic smile. He spoke softly, and had dark brown hair which covered his forehead, but was brushed back slightly at the eyebrows, in a manner that would have perhaps been fashionable ten years ago. “You two must be first year students?”

We nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking you had to be first years,” he said, his black eyes looking over us coolly. “I haven’t seen you around at any of the art shows before. My name’s Adonis.”

We both gave our names, and exchanged casual handshakes. “Hermes is over this way,” Adonis said, stepping down the hall in the direction he indicated. “Hermes is the one who drew that picture.”

Adonis led the way, with the two of us following behind him as if he were a schoolmaster. Icarus flashed me an excited look with his eyebrows raised. “Look at our luck,” it seemed to say.

We walked into the refreshment room at the end of the hall. Adonis lost his shy mannerisms the moment he stepped into the room. He obviously felt more comfortable among this crowd. “Hermes, I have some fans of yours,” he called out to the whole room.

All eyes turned towards the person who must have been Hermes. He was in the middle of eating a piece of cake that he held in his fingers. He hurriedly shoved the rest into his mouth, and then wiped the frosting off on his pant legs as he walked over to Adonis. “Fans of mine?” he asked. He didn’t seem to believe he had heard Adonis correctly.

Adonis looked at Hermes, and then quietly touched his own upper lip. Hermes took the hint and then wiped his sleeve across his mouth to remove the frosting. “The great Hermes,” Adonis said with an elaborate gesture in Hermes’s direction.

Hermes was not a short person, but neither was he particularly tall. The top of his head was about level with my chin. He was dressed differently than what I expected of an artist. In contrast to a lot of the avant-garde styles we saw around us, Hermes had on only a plain white shirt and plain brown pants. His hair was about the same length of Adonis’s, but was colored sandy blonde instead of Adonis’s brown. And instead of being combed back above the eyebrows it was tussled and scattered looking.

Hermes had strong arms. I could see this right away. I had an eye for those kinds of things at the time. When you work out or train a lot, like I was doing at the time, you tend to develop an eye for other people’s muscles that have been defined by exercise.

I could tell Hermes worked out, but apparently only his biceps. His chest looked flat and undefined, which made a funny contrast to his bulking arms. I figured he most do a lot of arm curls with dumbbells, but not much of anything else. He also had a slight belly protruding, which I was guessing might have some relation to the cake he was eating.

Hermes turned from Adonis to us. “Really? You guys liked my work?”

“We loved it,” Icarus responded.

“Really?” It would appear Hermes did not get a lot of regular compliments on his artwork. He didn’t look like he knew what to say. He looked from Icarus to me to make sure this wasn’t some sort of joke. I nodded along with Icarus and tried to look sincere about my love of the painting. “Can I get you guys a drink? Have you tried the punch yet? It’s pretty good, for free punch anyway.”

Hermes turned to the punch bowl. As he was filling up our drinks, Icarus continued, “You sir, are a genius. I found your painting absolutely astounding.”

Hermes handed the drinks back to us. “Which one?”

It hadn’t occurred to Icarus that there might be more than one of Hermes’s paintings on display, and this question threw off his rhythm. “Oh, um, I don’t know actually. Jonny, did you see the name of it?”

“No.”

“Well anyway, it was the big one about the sun.”

“The what?”

“The two people superimposed over each other.”

Hermes snapped his fingers excitedly in recognition. “Ah, yes. That was one of my favorites as well. The colors on that piece turned out really nice.” The pleasure of talking about his painting had made Hermes forget his surprise, and he started to take us in with new eyes, as if suddenly seeing us for the first time. “I didn’t catch either of your names,” he said, extending his hand for us to shake.

We both gave our names, and Hermes added, “Are you guys first year students here?” We answered yes. “That’s cool. I’m a second year student myself. So is Adonis.” Adonis was actually only half in the conversation at this point. He was still standing in our circle, but his gaze was following a girl across the room. He turned quickly back to us when he heard his name mentioned, and affirmed that he was in fact a second year. And then his gaze returned to the girl.

“So where are you from?” Icarus and I both answered we were from Urbae. “Ah, local boys,” Hermes said, draining his punch glass. “In that case you probably know more about the University than I do. I’m from all the way out in Alba.”

I could tell by the confused look on Icarus’s face that he didn’t have a clue where Alba was, so I took over the conversation. “Alba huh? You’ve come a long way to go to school.”

“That’s what everybody says. I’m the only one from my prefecture to come out to Urbae. My parents wanted me to go to school closer to home. But I just had to come out to where the action is. I mean, this is it, isn’t it? Urbae, the capital city. The one you always read about in books.”

Icarus and I exchanged looks. “Listen, Hermes, let me save you the anticipation,” I said. “There’s no action in Urbae.”

“A sleeping city,” Icarus chimed in. “Nothing ever happens here.”

“Oh come on,” Hermes said almost irritably. “What do you mean nothing ever happens here? This was where the Restoration took place, right? The stuff we always read about in history books, it all happened right here.”

“Jonny’s dad would know about that,” Icarus said. I deliberately ignored the comment, and Hermes didn’t seem to pick up on it. He was too excited to get thrown off track of what he was saying.

“I know the Restoration is old news, but what about the uprising two years ago? It happened in this very University. That was all over the country of course. We even had demonstrations in Alba. But it started and finished in this University. {Enthusiasm here possible problem with Hermes later apathy}

“And besides,” Hermes added, his voice going down as he came to the end of his rhetorical flourish, “if things are so boring in Urbae, why did you two stay here?”

“That’s a good question. Why are we still here Jonny?” Icarus asked.

I knew why I was here. It was what my destiny demanded of me. I had to stay in Urbae if I wanted to join the Cadets. As to why Icarus, and for that matter the rest of our class, all went to the same University, I couldn’t really say. I suppose it was like Hermes said: however boring this city seemed, it was still the capital city. Things didn’t become any more exciting in the provincial towns. Many people from the provinces came into Urbae to go to the University. No one from Urbae ever went out to the provinces to attend a University.

But I doubt Icarus, or any of the rest of them, put much conscious thought into this. We all went to the Urbae University because everyone in the class before us had gone to the University. And everyone in the class before them. And the class before that. And all the classes all the way back to the time of the Restoration, to the time of our parents, and before.

Icarus’s single comment had set off a whole train of thought in my mind, and I was now standing like Adonis, in the conversation but not longer part of it. Hermes and Icarus had continued on with the conversation, and I listened to try and pick up the thread.

“Now that was a painting I had fun with. It started out as a simple outline sketch. I had a friend of mine pose, and I drew him from the back.”

“And?”

“Well, like I said it was supposed to be just a simple sketch. I just drew the outline of his body, and then I colored inside the lines with black. Nothing special. I didn’t like the way it looked though, so I finally I just used white to paint over the whole thing.”

Hermes eyes glowed, and he was now completely at ease with Icarus, as if Icarus had been an old friend. The mutual fascination with the painting had turned the two of them into intimates already.

“The interesting thing was that even after painting over the whole thing, I could still see where it had been, so I just traced the outline and put it back on the picture. It looked pretty cool, because now it just had a dark outline, and the rest of it looked faded. But it still needed something, so I got another friend of mine to do a different pose, and I drew that as well, also from the back. I painted his figure over the one I already had. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I thought maybe it would turn out cool. After that I added a lot of color to the edges so it wouldn’t look so plain.”

“But it’s more than just that,” Icarus insisted. “It symbolizes the sun, and life.”

“It’s taken on those meanings as well,” Hermes said diplomatically.

Adonis was gone from our circle now, in body as well as mind. He had at last slipped away unnoticed during this exchange, and was now talking to the girl who had captivated his gaze all this time. Hermes realized Adonis was gone about the same time that I did, and he gave a smile to apologize for Adonis’s rudeness. “Hey, what are you guys doing after the show?” he asked. “Do you want to grab a cup of coffee?”

“All the coffee shops are closed at night,” I answered.

“That’s in the city. Inside the University walls, we keep different hours. I can show you a cool place.”

Icarus volunteered us both. “We’ll come.”

I was annoyed at not being consulted, and Hermes must have seen it on my face. “Jon, is that okay with you?”

I didn’t want to appear rude. “I can’t stay out too late,” I said. “But I can come out for a little while.”

*********************************************************************

Although the University was in the middle of the city, in some ways it acted like a city unto itself behind the high walls. There were many cafeterias for the students to eat at during the daytime, and in the evening there were a few privately run shops and cafes. Hermes led us along the path with the expertise of a veteran second year.

“This place is one of the coolest places on campus,” Hermes said. “It’s a little hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but people who know about it always come back. You guys like coffee, right?”

“We love it,” Icarus answered, again without asking me.

“Actually, the coffee at this place isn’t anything special. The real reason I come here is because of the people. I’ve met some of the most interesting people I know at this place.” Icarus looked really excited when he heard that last part.

Hermes led us around to the back of one of the daytime Cafeterias. I had eaten in the cafeteria before at the beginning of the week, but I never noticed the back of it, nor the stairs that led under it into the basement.

In red paint, above the basement door, the words “The Cave” were painted, but it was obvious not a lot of care had gone into their creation. The letters looked hastily painted, and much of the red paint had dripped down onto the red door before it dried.

Hermes pushed open the old wooden door, which creaked like old wooden doors always do. We followed him inside. There was a flight of narrow stairs immediately after the door, which we climbed down. They were wet and slippery and the place smelled like vomit. As we neared the end of the stairs, the smell of vomit was replaced by the smell of smoke.

The coffee shop itself was a lot larger than the small entrance had led me to believe. The basement obviously filled up the same space as the cafeteria above it, and maybe even a little bit more. And it was packed with smoke. Everyone had a cigarette or a cigar. I think I might have even seen a few pipes scattered here and there. I began to cough involuntarily as the smoke entered my lungs.

Hermes was right about the interesting people. I could tell this from the first minutes. The clothing inside was very unusual, with some of the most unique fashion I had ever seen, not to mention the hairstyles. And for whatever reason a lot of wire rimmed glasses. Near sightedness and this coffee shop must have had some connection.

Icarus elbowed me in the ribs. “Hey, ease up on the coughing. You’re making all the smokers uncomfortable.”

Hermes motioned to an empty table. “You guys can sit there. I’ll treat you the first time.”

As Hermes went to the front counter, Icarus and I sat down at the table. Icarus’s face beamed with excitement. “I can’t believe this Jonny! We’re having coffee with this great artist.”

“I think we’re the first fans he’s ever had,” I said. “He’s more concerned with making a good impression on us than we are on him.”

Icarus leaned forward in his chair. “Jonny, do you realize the genius of this man? He’s like a prophet of our generation.”

I didn’t feel like arguing the point, so I just changed the subject. “Have you met any other interesting new people at the University?”

“Tons, yeah. There’re so many more interesting people here than there were at our old school. Our old class was really pretty boring when you think about it.”

Hermes returned with three steaming cups. He gave us each one as he sat down. “Try this. You’ll love it.”

Icarus immediately took a huge swallow. I brought the cup cautiously to my face and smelled the contents. “Is this coffee?”

“It has coffee in it. Go ahead, try it.”

I brought the cup to my lips and took a small sip. An incredibly sweet taste passed through my mouth. I took a bigger gulp. “This is delicious,” I exclaimed. “What is it?”

“It’s a specialty here. Mainly coffee, but there’s a lot of other stuff mixed in with it. It doesn’t even taste like coffee, does it?”

“I don’t like coffee, but I like this.”

Icarus had finished his drink already, and put his cup down, and was already making greedy eyes at mine. Almost as an unconscious gesture I covered my cup protectively as I sipped the sweet drink.

“You know,” Hermes began, “if you guys like art, you should join the art guild. You could display some of your own stuff at the next art show. Do you paint or draw?” The tone in his question assumed as a matter of course that we did one or the other.

“I paint,” Icarus responded. “I have a few pieces I’ve been working on, but I’m not very good yet.” This was the first I had heard about Icarus’s painting, but it did not surprise me. Once I had gotten to know Icarus, nothing about him really surprised me. If he had suddenly sprouted wings and flew out the window I doubt that would have surprised me.

“Don’t worry about it man,” Hermes responded. “We’re all amateurs at the art guild. It’s just for ordinary students. Anyone who wants can display a painting. It doesn’t matter how good you are.” Hermes turned to me to look at me. “What about you?”

“I don’t paint.”

“What do you draw then?”

“No, I don’t do either.”

“Oh.” Hermes was obviously not expecting this answer, and he stared at me in silence for a few seconds. I think it was on his tongue to ask me if I sculpted, or something like that, but he must have discerned from my expression and flat tone of voice that I wasn’t interested in any of it.

“Well you should come anyway,” he said at last. “Maybe we can find something you’re interested in. Otherwise you can just look at the paintings and discuss them with us.”

“I don’t have time. I’m joining the Cadets next week once classes start.”

Again, I don’t think this was an answer Hermes expected. He blurted out “I didn’t know you were one of those,” and then his face immediately reddened once he realized what he had said.

“He’s one of those alright,” Icarus said casually. “Jonny’s father was one of the heroes of the Restoration. You’ve probably heard of him.”

I could feel the embarrassment flowing through my body almost as if it were some tangible force. I glared at Icarus. Icarus never really picked up on these sorts of hints, but fortunately Hermes noticed and he changed the subject. “Okay, I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll write down the details for art guild. Do you have a piece of paper? Never mind, I’ll write it on this napkin. We meet on Tuesday nights at 8 O’clock in the gallery room at the art department. It’s after the Cadets finish training, so you can still come by if you want Jon. Try and stop by just once and see if you like it. You never know, we might find a piece of art that you like.”

Hermes tore the napkin into two pieces and gave Icarus and I each a copy of the same information. I put my half into my pocket and gave what I hoped was a noncommittal smile. “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Hey, do you guys like music?”

The abrupt change of subject startled even Icarus. “I guess so, why?” Icarus answered.

“There’s a band playing in a few minutes over in the music hall. It’s only a short walk from here. I think you guys might really like it. They’re some of my favorite musicians.”

I still had unpacking yet to do, but I was beginning to enjoy Hermes’s company, and the unpacking could wait for another day.