Ekron

Crepuscular Lullaby - 2

Vladimir had worked at the thermo-electric plant, since he was eight years old. With sixteen years of age, he already had back problems, but supplemented them with a powerful and lean musculature. He had shaved his head during a recent lice epidemic at the plant, to avoid bringing them home. As he had been practically raised in that plant, it would be fair to say that Lev, an older work partner, was like a father to him. They had transported the coal and fed it to the boilers together every day for the last eight years; Lev was one of the few people in his world that Vlad trusted.

They were throwing shovelfuls of coal at the industrial fire, on a Thursday evening, when Vladimir took a time to ask Lev about something.

"I want to ask you something, but I don't want you to make fun of me."

"Never!" Lev made fun of him every day, but never in a mean way.

"What is a Harlequin?" asked Vladimir.

Lev held back his laugher, then replied, "Why you want to know?"

"Alondra's birthday is this Saturday, and she wants a costume party."

"Wow, fancy girl."

"No, it will not be expensive, her little friends will bring food and refreshments, I will only have to make her a cake and a costume. The problem is, when I asked her what costume she wanted, she told me that she wanted to be a Harlequin. I have no idea what that is, and I don't want her to see me as an ignorant, so I just said yes. Now I need to know what in this world that is."

"Do you play cards?"

"A little, yes."

"It looks like a joker, like a classy clown or something."

They kept feeding the boilers until sunset, then walked together the dusty way back to Kish. Ruins of a city before the Annihilation War were scattered before them.

"What was the name of this city before the war?"

"Which war? There were so many."

"When people lived on the surface."

"I believe it was Wien."

"Did they have costumes in Wien?"

"Well, they certainly had dresses, lets scavenger around, we may find something you can use for that costume."

"But, what about radiation?"

"There isn't, things would glow in the dark if there was."

They wandered forgotten streets with broken crystals in their showcases. Inside one of them, a black dress with green and red stripes, little bells on the waist and lace flowers on the neck, caught their eyes.

"This would do," said Lev.

Vladimir put it in his backpack, and they headed home. Lights were already down when Vlad picked up his sister Alondra at Sonja's house, a gentle neighbor lady that took care of the girl while Vlad was at work. Alondra was almost eight, curly red hair to her knees, wearing a green beret matching her eyes and school uniform. Vlad kissed her forehead, thanked Sonja, and took her hand to walk home. Inside, he prepared her some milk, and saw her take care of her school homework. Then, while she was studying, he took the black dress, collected its bells, washed it, and let it dry in a place that he knew she would not notice. Then he took her to bed and under Kish's eternal gloom, sang her a crepuscular lullaby until she fell asleep. As he had no time to wait for the dress to dry completely, he carefully finished the process with hot iron. Then he cut the dress in the best pattern he was able to imagine, tested, sewed, and stitched it until three in the morning. He woke up to work at five and the next night he finished the costume at four. The next morning, was Alondra's eighth birthday.

Most people have an idea of how much they care for their loved ones. Some even understand what unconditional love may mean and are lucky enough to never encounter a situation where that love is really put to test. Vladimir's love for Alondra was not only unconditional, but it was also hardened by desperation. He never knew his father, and his mother died when Alondra was born; he was eight. He left school at that age and entered workforce at the thermo-electric plant. With Sonja's aid, he managed to raise his sister, providing her food, clothing, and care. Most of all, he prevented her from enter public childcare system, a certain death in Kish. He projected his own sense of abandonment and unprotection onto her, the more resenting and aching his own lack of parental care became, the more his love for her got impregnated with melancholy and compassion, that reflected the compassion that he felt for himself, but could never consciously acknowledge in a world that demanded him to be made of stone, an iron tool, a beast of burden. Like a minuscule point of light between countless abysses of darkness, his love for Alondra was something that Vlad's soul desperately clung to stay afloat, to stay alive. He was barely aware of it, as he did not see her as an idealized or perfect child, but with all her defects, because he needed her to be real, not just an idea. It was in fact her normality, her unaware lack of self-pity and her indulgent determination, so similar to his own, that made him love her the most. He had the distant hope that if managed to save her, he could save himself too, as they shared the same disgrace. Deep in his heart he knew that any joy or transcendence achievable in his humble life, would invariably be through her. That's how Vlad loved Alondra.

That Saturday, Alondra woke up at noon with her hair all over her bed, as usually. She stood up and went to the kitchen, in that state that children can allow themselves to be: unaware of when or where they are. She sat by the table and Vlad served her a cup of milk while she tried to keep her hair away from her face, with her eyes only half open. Vlad stared at her and suddenly she remembered, her eyes opened like apples and Vlad smiled.

"Happy birthday!"

"Yaaa, Happy birthday to meee!"

Vlad hugged her and gave her a wrapped package, she opened it and took out her harlequin costume, black, red, and green; a three-pointed hat with a little bell in each point; pointy shoes made of the same fabric with rubber soles and a bell in their toes.

She screamed and smiled, and Vlad said, "Drink your milk and go to change, your friends will arrive soon."

Alondra drank the milk in a couple seconds and flew to her room to try her costume. Her friends started to appear with cookies and chocolate milk. Vlad served them some sweets while they waited for Alondra. There were six children in the kitchen disguised as cats, rats, and squids, when Alondra showed up like a little joker moving her head and making the bells ring. The kitchen became absolute madness with the kids jumping and Alondra stomping the floor to make the shoes' bells ring. They went out and played with balloons, blew whistles, and chased cats and rats for three hours.

Vlad observed them, just in case one of them would get injured in that whirlpool, then he noticed something slightly unsettling. When playing to catch a rat, in a sudden turn of the chase, Alondra momentarily suspended herself in the air, changed direction without touching the ground and advanced four feet before stepping down again, then continued her run. The children didn't notice and kept playing as if nothing had happened, but Vlad knew that what he saw wasn't natural.

Vlad had heard the stories about the vampire Queen, eater of children and possessor of girls, gifted girls; but had always discarded them as fantasies. As most people do when they are young, he often clumsily simplified universe dynamics to those rules applying in the limited frame of his own experience. In previous Crom ruled societies, as Kish not so long before, humans had a routine contact with Croms as they were an important part of the population, so, humans had a continuous glimpse into the dark pit of their souls and were able to believe that kind of stories. But Vlad lived in a human society, ruled by only one Crom, so that kind of obscurity was unknown for him. Besides, he had never seen the Queen in person, only in photographs and video. So, he let that thought fade away and kept enjoying Alondra's birthday party.

Vlad called the children inside and presented a small birthday cake he had baked, with eight lit matches as candles. They sang "Happy Birthday" to Alondra, and she blew until all matches were off. Vlad distributed the cake to all those red faces and his happiness was complete.

When lights went down and her friends were gone, Alondra collapsed on her bed and fell asleep with her costume on. Vlad covered her with a blanket and went to sleep too, unaware that Sunday had a nightmare prepared for him.