Inheritors Chapter 2 – Tommy Ayers, 210 Cavalos Era

Read The Inheritors Chapter 1 – Roland “Ro” Ayers, 27 June 1994

Creator and above level members can download a PDF of this chapter to read offline


The Inheritors Chapter 2 – Tommy Ayers, 210 Cavalos Era

 
“Waek uuhp, Tohmee. Waek uuhp.”

What was Uncle Reynard doing here? Wasn’t he back in Europe? Any second now he’d break into some Romani folksong, some proudful tune of the Hungarian Gypsy people as his hands snuck under the covers to tickle Tommy and Ro awake.

Tommy reached for Ro with his foot but Ro wasn’t on his side of the bed. He must already be awake. Probably had to pee. Ro always had to pee first thing in the morning. Tommy snuggled under the covers, searching for Ro’s warm spot, wanting to stretch into it, to draw comfort from it.

“Tohmee. Kuuhm ohn. Waek uuhp.”

Each word, each syllable, had a note, a tone, associated with it, as if each sound were a small piece of music complete in itself.

But that was Uncle Reynard, his voice breathy and mellow and with a touch of laughter even when he talked to himself.

“Ha. I still sing grandma and grandpa’s songs with this strong Gypsy heart,” and Uncle Reynard would thump his chest with his mutilated, three-fingered left hand. Poor Uncle Reynard. He always lost watches because he refused to wear them on his other arm, where a full hand would stop them from sliding off or flying away. He held up that mutilated hand like a badge of honor. “I don’t mind I lost this hand. You remember, Sam?” he would ask Poppa. “I never forget that. The SS man sits up in the back, we didn’t even know he was there, then tells us to jump and pushes us from the car. He tried to kill us, telling us to jump and pushing us like that, then the car goes and explodes right after we jump out.” Uncle Reynard and Papa were the only ones to escape The Camps when Hitler gathered the Families.

But he laughed about his hand and made fun of himself, his accent so strong it cut into Tommy’s consciousness like strong coffee on a cold, winter morn.

“Tohmee. Waek uuhp.”

Something gently shook his shoulder. A gentle, muffled shaking with each word.

Couldn’t be Uncle Reynard. He came in like rolling thunder, always hugging and kissing and jumping and tugging, always wanting Ro and Ceilly and Tommy to play. He would grab each boy by the belt, one in each hand, lift them to his face and brush his whiskers against them. “Which of you is the heavier today? “He’d shake them one at a time as if deciding. “Everything should balance, you two, you just don’t know it.”

Tommy rolled under the covers. Pumpkin pie. He could smell Mama’s pumpkin pie baking in the oven.

That wasn’t right. Mama never made pumpkin pie for breakfast. Not even for Uncle Reynard.

Sleep yielded to consciousness. Uncle Reynard’s accent resolved itself into Standard. “Tommy. Wake up. You are needed in the Neuroscaphe.”

The gentle shaking continued. Tommy opened his eyes. One of the Librarians stood next to his bed, the two blisters where its eyes should have been still pulsing their message as he moved. The gentle shaking came from the thermal pressure of the Librarian’s “speech” on Tommy’s skin, like knowing there is a candle by feeling a spot of warmth in a cold room.

Tommy sat up. The covers tucked themselves under him and onto the bed. The Community sensed his movement and adjusted itself to allow more light into the room. The Librarian’s head followed him a second later like a whale searching for its echo.

“Good morning, Reynard. You are Reynard, aren’t you?”

The blisters, dark and cold as the Librarian fell silent, heated and pulsed red again. “No. I am the one you call ‘Roland’ and ‘Ro’. Your brother’s name, was it not? Reynard, named for your uncle who will have died in five years, is waiting.”


Greetings! I’m your friendly, neighborhood Threshold Guardian. This is a protected post. Protected posts in the My Work, Marketing, and StoryCrafting categories require a subscription (starting at 1$US/month) to access. Protected posts outside those categories require a General (free) membership.
Members and Subscribers can LogIn. Non members can join. Non-protected posts (there are several) are available to everyone.
Want to learn more about why I use a subscription model? Read More ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes Enjoy!

Joseph Carrabis, Author Shopping Cart
I feel so empty...
Writing Mentoring


Interested in taking your writing to the next level? Want to take a class with other writers and authors perfecting their craft?
Check out Writing Mentoring.
Classes are held on Wednesdays. Each session starts the first Wednesday of the month and ends the last Wednesday of the month. Morning and evening classes available.

Are you a Member? Would you like to be?
Subscribers! Want to be Interviewed?
Sorry, this content is available to paying subscribers only


Watch previous interviews to learn what they’re like.

History
Tagalicious
About Me Americana Analytics Ecology Anthropology A Tale of the Northern Clan Atmosphere Author Interviews Author Tools Bear Bees Behavior Betrayal Birds BizMediaScience Blurbs Body-Mind-Spirit Book Blogs Character Childhood Trauma Children's Stories Chipmunk Conflict Cons-Fairs-Expos Contest Covers Coyote Cozy Murders Creative Non-Fiction Crime Comedy Crime Thrillers Critiques Crow Cymodoce Deer Description Dialogue Economy of Meaning Editing Emotions Empty Sky Espionage Expanded Awareness Experiments in Writing Exposition Fains I Fantasy Fiction Flash Fox Gable Smiled Gel Ink and Rollberball Gender Gothic Romance Great Opening Lines Hanging Tree Harvey Duckman Hawk History Horror Humor Identity iMedia Interpersonal Relationships know Language Learnings Library of Congress Life Linguistics Literature Lively Discussions Lizard Love Story Magic Realism Marketing Mayhem Midnight Garden Midnight Roost Military Mood Music Mystery Myth Narration Neuroscience Newsletters Noir Non-Fiction Old Ones Opossum Owl Pace Performance Artist Personal Finance Personal Improvement Personality Philosophy Plot Podcast Poetry POV Psychology Rabbit Rabbit Hole 5 Rabbit Hole 6 Rabbit Hole 7 Raccoons Readings Recovery Triptych Relationships Reviews Revision Ritchie and Phyl Rob and Joan Carter Romance RoundTable Scenes Science Fiction Search Self-Discovery Self-Help Setting Skunk Snake Social Sociology Spider Spies Spirituality Spoken Word Sports Stating the Obvious StoryCrafting StoryTelling Structure Style SubStack Susan Tag Tales of the Woods Tales Told 'Round Celestial Campfires Tension Terrorism That Think You Do The Alibi The Augmented Man The Change Zone The Goatmen of Aguirra The Inheritors The Shaman