First Draft: Chapter 22

“Well I suppose there’s no use in denying it any longer.  Winter is here.”  Icarus stood by my window with his hands folded loosely behind his back.  “It was a nice fall while it lasted but I’m afraid the last bit of it has all but disappeared.  It’s a shame, isn’t it Jonny?”
“I don’t mind winter all that much,” I answered.
Icarus gave me a disgusted look and then turned his head back towards the window.  “What?  What’s wrong with winter?”
“There’s nothing wrong with winter Jon, but it wouldn’t hurt you to morn the passing of fall a little.”
I put my hand gently on his shoulder.  “Would you like to be alone for a while?”
I got another disgusted look.  “Fall is a real beautiful time of year Jon.  It’s the artist’s time of year I think.  Everything’s so colorful, and beautiful and always changing.  That’s probably the best thing about fall, all the changes.  Winter is so dead, and boring.  For three months everything is the same.  And it would be one thing if we got some snow, but we don’t even get that here in Urbae.”
“Well Icarus, have you ever thought that the reason everything is so dead in the winter is because all the leaves die in the fall?”
He turned to me for the third time, but this time I received an impressed look.  “Why what an interesting way to look at things Jon.”  We both stared out the window in silence for a while.
“So how are your courses going,” I asked after a while.
“Not too bad.  What about you Jon?”
“Well, believe it or not I’m meeting with the Duke tomorrow.”
“Really?”  I nodded.  “Wow, Old Flash himself.  Boy, some days I would sure like to have your connections Jon.  What does he want to talk to you about?”
I could make a pretty good guess.  “I don’t know.”
“He just wants to have you over for no apparent reason?”
“I guess.”
“Man Jonny, it must be nice to have your connections,” he repeated.
And we just looked out the window for a little while longer.  “Hey, you like fall because it keeps changing, right?” I asked after a minute or two or silence.
“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons.”
“Well, shouldn’t you be excited about winter coming then?  It means the seasons are changing.”
The fourth look I got from Icarus was the sort of pitying look one gives to a small naïve child.  “No winter isn’t change Jon.  Winter marks the end of change.  For three long months there is no change.”
“But—“
“Enough talking Jon.  Let’s just watch winter in silence.”

The Duke visited campus often enough that he had his own office there.  It was kind of fitting because everyone knew he controlled the University anyway.  He worked mostly behind the scenes, but no one was deceived.  Nobody received a teaching appointment without the approval of the Duke.  No courses were added or dropped from the curriculum without Old Flash’s approval.  Nobody really did much of anything unless Flash approved it.
The day before I had gotten a message delivered to my dorm room.  It read:
“Dear Jonathon, I hope this message finds you well.  I would very much like to meet with you.  I will be at my on-campus office tomorrow from 12-2 P.M.  Please drop by if that is convenient.”  Sincerely, the Duke.
And so, the next day around 12:30ish found me timidly knocking at his door.  “Come in,” the voice inside bellowed.  I opened the door.  “Ah, Jonathon.  I was hoping you would make it.”
The University President had his office on the same floor as Old Flash, and the contrast was really quite interesting.  I had never been in the office of the University President.  I couldn’t have gotten in if I wanted to.  He had a secretary out front who screened all his visitors.  The secretary only let through big important people, who needed to talk about big important things.  Other than that, the President was strictly not to be disturbed.
But even though I never went inside, I could tell a lot just by walking by the office.  The doors leading into the office were large and in the shape of an arc.  It was like the entrance to some old church or something.  The doors were completely made of glass, with the President’s name written on with fancy calligraphy.  The windows looking out from the office were made of stained glass and had all sorts of pretty designs on it.  Like the dorms, they too were in the shape of an arc.  It’s really a wonder the University chaplain never got confused and started praying in front of the President’s office.
Old Flash was much too clever for that.  His office was just a small room, with his tittle, “University Advisor,” written on a flimsy little sign that looked like it was going to fall off any minute.  If someone didn’t know better, they would have thought they were entering a janitor’s office.
And that’s exactly the way Flash wanted it.  He wanted people to think that the most powerful man in all of Fabulae was just a little nobody and that the real power on campus rested with the University President.  It was really a well done little ploy, but everyone saw right through it.
Once I was inside Flash’s office, things looked a little better.  Nothing too showy, no big pictures on the wall or anything but a desk that looked like it was made of high quality wood.  Along the back wall was a whole liquor cabinet.  The chair the Duke sat in was pretty luxurious.  The chair across from his desk, which he motioned for me to sit in, wasn’t bad either.  As I sat in it the cushions met my body at all the right angels.  Even the armrests were cushioned.
“Well Jonathon, it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?”
“Yes sir it has.”
“Relax Jonathon.  You don’t need to call me sir.  Just pretend you’re talking to one of your friends.”
It was an impossible request.  There was no way I could even briefly fool myself into believing that the man on the other side of the desk was one of my friends, but I humored him.  “Okay, cool man.”
Flash smiled.  “That’s the spirit.  You know I miss seeing you every week at church Jonathon.  Any chance you might come back for a Sunday sometime?”
Not a chance in the world.  Church wasn’t one of my favorite places to go in the first place, and to go now would mean I would have to face my father there.  “Yeah, you never know.”
Flash stood up and began walking towards his liquor cabinet.  “Would you like a drink?” he asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
Flash laughed.  “Always so polite Jonathon.  Your dad raised you well.  Let me rephrase myself.  I don’t like to drink alone, so you’re having a drink.  What would you like?”
“Water’s fine.”
“Jonathon, how old are you?  23?  24?”
“I’m 21.”
“21?  Well I think you’re old enough to enjoy a man’s drink for a change.  Now, where’s that stuff your father and I drink?”  Flash searched through his cabinet.  He was getting older, no doubt about that.  He was probably in his early fifties.  His once jet-black hair was already beginning to show signs of gray.  “Ah, here it is.  Your father’s favorite.”  The Duke set a big bottle of it on the table.  “Tithonus Ale.  Have you had any of this stuff before?”
“Well I was never allowed to.  I tasted it once when my father was away.”  Actually I had tried it several times.  The first time was when I was about seven, and it caused me to vomit all over the floor.  That scared me off for a few years, but then when I was twelve I was confident I was now old enough to enjoy it.  I didn’t throw up when I was twelve, but I can’t say I enjoyed the experience tremendously either.  I couldn’t really understand it though.  My father loved the stuff, why didn’t I like it too?  The curiosity caused me to retry it just a few months later, but again it was a horrible experience.
“Now that the Jonathon I remember,” Flash said, pouring me a glass.  “Always getting into trouble the minute you turn your back on him.  Okay, now would you consider yourself a veteran at this stuff?”
“Hardly sir, I mean, no way man.”
Flash smiled at me.  “Way to catch yourself Jonathon.  All right, now this is rather strong stuff, so whatever you do don’t drink the whole glass at once.  You probably weren’t planning on that anyway, were you?”
“Certainly not.”
“Okay, now your taste buds are going to be a little unaccustomed to this, so just take a quick swallow and don’t let it linger in your mouth too long.  Just shoot it right down your throat, and you ought to be fine.”  The Duke started pouring himself a glass.  “Wait for me, Jonathon, we’ll have our first swallow together.”  Flash finished pouring his glass, eyed it, and then took a quick drink.  “That one doesn’t count,” he explained, winking at me.  “I was just testing it.  All right, are you ready?  One, two, three.”
I tried to follow the Duke’s instructions.  I brought the glass to my lips, let in only enough for a quick swallow, and tried to just gulp it down as quickly as I could.  I expected my face would go into all sorts of twists and turns, but what actually happened was much worse.  Against my will I started coughing violently.  The liquid in my mouth never made it too my throat, but instead was coughed up all over the Duke’s nice clean desk.  And I kept coughing.
“Okay, easy Jonathon.  No, don’t worry about that.  I’ll clean it up.  That’s what these towels are here for.”  I tried to thank the Duke, but I couldn’t say anything through the coughing fit.  “Well, my apologies.  I guess that wasn’t your drink after all.  Hey, you’re looking oftly red.  Are you getting enough air in between those coughs.”  I tried to nod.  “Here, put your head down between your legs.  Yeah, that usually helps me.”  The coughing still continued for about another minute or so.  “Well, let’s get these things as far away from you as possible,” Flash joked, removing all the Tithonus Ale to his side of the table.  Finally, my coughing subsided.
Flash was obviously sort of embarrassed by the whole incident (as was I).  “I’m really sorry Jonathon,” he said.  “My mistake.  That is not the drink for you I guess.  Would you like anything else?  I have all sorts of other Alcohol.”  He made a sweeping motion with his hand, indicating the cabinet behind me.
“Do you have any juice?” I asked in a raspy voice.
“Juice?”  He stood up and went to the cabinet.  “No, I don’t see any here.”  And before I could say that it was no big deal he was opening up his door and yelling down the hallway.  “Hey, I need some juice over here.”  And when Flash wants juice, Flash gets juice.  Pretty soon people started running over with all sorts of stuff.  “What kind did you want?” Flash asked me.
“Um, grape is fine.  Whatever though.”  My voice was still raspy from all the coughing.  I tried to clear my throat.
“Okay, thanks.  That’ll be good,” Flash said to whoever was in the hallway.  Flash closed the door and came in with a bottle of grape juice.  He pulled out a fresh glass and poured I full for me.  “Hopefully this will help clear your throat up,” he said.  “Just remember that this stuff does stain so try not to cough it up again.”  I took a sip.  My throat was still on fire, but fortunately I didn’t cough up the juice.  The Duke sat opposite me and took another swallow of his Tithonus Ale.  “Well, this should make everyone happy.  I can have my drink and you can have your juice.”  Although I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, the word juice was uttered with somewhat an air of distaste.  “Well, let’s get down to business, shall we?  How’s your voice doing.”
“Better sir.”  The juice had calmed down my throat a lot, although my voice still had somewhat of a raspy edge to it.
“Good, good.  Well Jon, you probably have a pretty good idea of why I wanted to talk to you right?”  I nodded.  “You know Jonathon, it wasn’t all that long ago that I cam to work and your father was just furious, and he said the tow of you had gotten in a fight the night before.  You remember that night of course.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Now I’m not going to get involved in that argument.  That’s between you and your father.  You two can work it out or not work it out or whatever you want.  Kids your age aren’t supposed to get along good with their parents, right?  I didn’t get along with my parents when I was your age.  So, I ‘m not here to judge you.  You understand that?”  I nodded.  “Anyway, your father told me he wasn’t going to par for your tuition anymore, so I went straight to the University that very day and I told them about your situation, and I told them that you were a personal friend of mine and so I wanted them to overlook the fact that no one was paying your tuition.  I told them to treat you just as if your tuition was paid in full.  So, I want you to keep that in min Jonathon.  I want you to consider me your friend just as I consider you my friend.”  My head began to hurt.  So that’s why I was still at the University.  “Do you consider me a friend, Jonathon.”
“Yes I do.”
“Now, as a friend I want to talk to you about this FJC thing.  But only as a friend, keep that in mind.”
“Alright.”
“Now, this is a rather stick situation.  The law is quite clear on what happens to someone in your position, isn’t it?”  I nodded.  “I mean there’s just no way to quit the FJC.  You should be in jail right now.  I don’t like to see my friends go to jail though, and that’s why you’re still outside.  So Jonathon, I’m not going to make any threats or punish you with anything.  Friends don’t force friends to do anything, right?  I’m just going to ask you, as one person to another, to reconsider quitting the FJC.  I’d make sure you weren’t treated badly or anything.  It would be like you never quit.  I’d force them to welcome you back with open arms.”  He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink.  “Now I know you didn’t like the FJC in the first place.  Why else would you quit?  I know this is probably hard to believe, but I was young once too.  So was your father.  We both probably felt a lot of the same things that you’re feeling right now.”  He took a larger sip.  “Maybe that’s what makes it hard for us to connect with you, as ironic as that is.  We both did a lot of dumb things when we were younger and we learned from those mistakes, and we thought we could stop you from making those same mistakes.  But I suppose experience isn’t anything that can be taught.  Each generation must make the same mistakes as the one that came before it. “  His voice was beginning to sound a little hoarse, but he replenished it with alcohol.  “It’s just painful for us to watch Jonathon.  To see you go through so much when if you would only listen to us you would save yourself so much trouble.
“Anyway, I was going somewhere with this,’ He said, snapping himself out of the contemplative mood he had let himself fall into.  “Your father and I were both in FJC together.  Now neither of us really enjoyed it.  I didn’t really have much fun waking up early in the morning, or exercising until I puked, or getting yelled at constantly.  You can identify with a lot of this maybe?”  I nodded vigorously.  “I don’t think your father really enjoyed it all that much either.  But we stuck it out Jonathon, and let me tell you that the little FJC line on your resume will someday help you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine right now.  Take any government job you want.  You know, take any job that pays you half way decent wages.  And you can kiss it good-bye without that little one line endorsement on your resume.”  The Duke paused for another drink.  “But what am I doing?  I’m sure you’ve heard all this stuff many times over from your father.”
“Many times over,” I repeated for emphasis.
“And the reason I had you over is to give you my perspective.  The stuff you’re not going to hear from your old man.  Does that sound good to you?”  He didn’t even wait for a response.  “Well here’s how I fell Jonathon.  You’re my friend, and so you’re not going to jail, but you’re putting me in a really awkward position here.  Everyone can see that this is blatant favoritism, and Zeus is so mad I’ve been thinking about having him committed lately.  And this whole thing is really creating a bad precedent.  What are we going to tell the next kid who wants to quit FJC?  So, if you wanted to—“ he stopped to correct himself, “If you decided to rejoin FJC, I would consider it a personal favor, and I would remember it Jonathon.  Some day when you need a favor back, just come to me and I’ll work everything out.  Besides, you’ve only got a year and a half left before you graduate.  I mean, you’re over half way through.  You can tough the rest out, right?”
Flash began waving his hands around to indicate he was changing the subject.  “Okay, that’s point one.  That’s it, there it is, I’m not going to harp on it anymore.  The second point I wanted to talk about is—“ he paused, took a deep breath, and then a sip of the alcohol, “Well let’s be honest here, huh?  We both know this war is going to be unavoidable.”
I just about spit out stainable grape juice all over the Duke’s white rug.  “What?”
“I mean I don’t foresee the situation with Amicae improving anytime soon.”  I must have had a blank look on my face.  “Oh no, my dear boy tell me you know what I’m talking about.  Haven’t you been following the news?”  I shook my head.  “Ah, to be young and blissfully ignorant again.  How I envy your irresponsibility sometimes.  Well, you can read all about it when you get home.  It should be on the front page of every newspaper.  The bottom line is that if war does break out, which it probably will, then I’m going to need every man possible in the FJC.  Now I’m not going to send you to the front lines or anything.  You won’t be in any real danger.  I’ll have you working support back here or something.  But I could certainly use your help, and more importantly we would need a unified FJC.  I understand you broke Matthew’s nose the other night.”  He raised his hand to silence me before I could protest, “And that’s okay.  That’s in self-defense.  I can understand that.  But Matthew’s an able bodied young man who could serve us well in a war.  I want Zeus focused on getting his troops ready for the war, not focused on how he could get you.  Understand?”  I nodded.  “Now, I don’t’ even want to hear what your answer is now.  I want you to think about it for a couple days.  Have a few glasses of grape juice maybe, talk it over with your friends, and then give me your answer.”
“Alright.”
“Now I know very few people are enthusiastic about FJC.  When your father and I did it, the only one in our class who liked it was Zeus, and now he does this for a living.  So, neither your father nor I really expect you to enjoy it.  In fact the only person from your class who I think enjoys it is Orion.  You know him, right?”
“I’ve encountered him a couple times.”
“Man that kid is something else.  He’s been enthusiastic about this stuff as long as I can remember.  He was so excited when we gave him a Strate’s hat.  How old was he back then?  Fourteen?  What’s wrong Jonathon, you look ill.”

A knock sounded on my door, disturbing my studying.  “Come in,” I announced, somewhat disturbed.
The door opened just a little bit.  A slender hand lingered by the door.  I could see only the delicate fingers gripping around the door.  The rest of her was still hidden on the other side.  “Is now a bad time Jon?” the beautiful voice called out.
Helen!  I immediately softened my tone.  “Oh no, not at all.  Come in.”
She entered cautiously.  “You sounded somewhat annoyed.”
“I’m just frustrated by this studying.  I could use a little break actually.  It’s good to see you Helen.  I haven’t talked to you in a while.”
And she flashed me that fabulous smile.  Her teeth, perfectly white.  Her eyes, sparkling.  “No, I’m sorry I’m never around.”
“I understand.  I don’t see too much of David these days either.”  She smiled nervously.  Was this a sore point?  “Man, you guys have been going out for a long time now, huh?  You know it doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that I first met you.”
“Really?  Wow, that certainly seems like a long time ago to me.  I mean we were what?  Sixteen?”
“Yeah, I guess that was a while ago.”
Her smile grew bigger.  “Now Jon, what’s this I hear about you and a young lady?”
“Did you hear about this from David?”
“From Simon actually.”
“Really?  When did you see Simon?”
“Oh, just on Campus.”  It was an obvious lie, but anything from her lips sounded like the sweetest truth.  “He says you’re pretty official now.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Jon, I’m so happy for you.”  She hugged me.  “I’ve just been waiting for you to find the perfect girl.  Now, when do I get to meet her?”
“Uh, I don’t know.  Maybe the four of us could do something sometime.”
The prospect excited her.  “Oh, that would be a lot of fun.  What a good idea.”
“It’s going to be tricky to find a night when we’re all free,” I reminded her.
“That’s true,” she replied.  “When are you free Jon?”
“Well I’m free just about any night of the week.  Clio is super serious about her school work though.  It’s going to be hard to find a free night for her.  What about you guys?”
“Well,” Helen put her hand lightly by her forehead in thought, “David and I have this sort of Church youth group we go to.  It meets somewhat irregularly.”
“Yeah, I think I’ve heard about this before.”
“Actually, you should come some time Jon.  I think you’d enjoy it.”
“Yeah, I’d be interested in going.  When is the next meeting?”
“Thursday.  You could meet David and I at about 6:30 in my room, and we could all go from there.  If Thursday works for you, that is.”
“Yeah, Thursday’s fine.”
“Well, let’s plan on it then.  I really think this is the kind of thing you’d get into.”
“Hey, where’s David tonight?”
“Oh, he’s studying I think.  He’s gotten a little behind in his school work.”
As much as I didn’t want to be bugged about this Clio thing, I was almost a little hurt that David hadn’t visited me with Helen.  I hardly ever saw him anymore.  “Are you seeing him later tonight?”
“Yeah, we’re going out pretty late tonight.  After the library closes I think.”
“Well, tell him I miss him.”
“I’ll tell him.  Now sit down Jon, I want to hear all about this Clio girl.  Where did you meet her?”
I decided to play things up a bit.  “Well, I saw her paintings at an art guild show, and I decided I just had to meet this girl.”  I knew she’d eat that up.
And I was not disappointed.  “Oh Jon, that’s so romantic.  You fell in love just by looking at her art?”
“Well, I saw her a couple days later, and I just sat down and introduced myself and started talking to her.”
“Jon, I’m so happy for you.  I really think this interest in art you have is so awesome.  And it looks like it’s really leading to some good things.  What is she like?”
“Oh, she’s really cool.  She knows all this stuff about art, and she’s able to explain things to me that I would never have though about before.”
Helen sighed.  “Oh, that’s so cute.  You two talk about art all the time.”
“Well, it’s something we’re both interested in.”
“You know, sometimes I wish David and I had more similar interests.  I envy you two a bit.”
“I thought you and David had a lot of similar interests.”
“Well I certainly thought so when we were first going out.  I noticed he had read a few of my favorite books and I just went nuts.  But, the more I get to know him, the more I realize how dissimilar our interests really are.”  She leaned back.  “I think maybe the more you get to know someone, the more you realize how much of an individual he or she is.  They’re not really like anyone else, and that includes you.  Then one day you realize the differences out way the similarities.”  She shrugged.  “But I don’t mean to scare you Jon.  Maybe you won’t have that with Clio.”
“Do you enjoy art Helen?”
“Oh, some of it yeah.  Why?  Who are your favorite artists Jon?”
“I guess I like mostly modern stuff.  I like Sophocles and Virgil best.”
She grabbed my knee in excitement.  “I love Sophocles.”
“Have you seen the Swan painting?”
“Yes, that’s one of my favorites actually.”
“I like that one a lot too.”
“Listen Jon, I can’t stay late tonight, but I’m really interested in that double date idea.  Talk to Clio.  I’ll try and pin David down for a free night.”  She stood and walked towards the door, pausing only to look back and say, “I’m so excited for you Jon.  I really hope this thing works out.”