Alan & Ceola
Alan yawned and stretched in his bed. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was one minute before eight. Alan watched with quiet satisfaction as the minute hand snapped to the top of the clock face. He woke up every morning precisely at 8 o’clock. Then he got up, splashed his face with cold water and got dressed. He walked out of his room to rouse the twins…At the doorstep his daily cycle was interrupted by a steaming cup of cocoa and biscuits on a small plate. Alan looked around, searching for the reason of this nice welcoming of the new day. He saw nobody, so he took the plate and shared it with his sleepy protégés.
What was curious, the following day another cup of cocoa greeted Alan as he walked out of his room. This time there was a note attached to it. “It’s for you,” it said. Alan took the liberty to interpret the “you” as plural and he pleased the twins with hot cocoa in bed again.
“It’s for you only, Alan,” another note told the Neverhoodian on the next morning. Alan searched the entire floor for the mysterious person who brought him such nice little gifts. When he found no one, he brought the small plate into his room and enjoyed the sweet snack by himself. While he was at it, he went over household members one by one and thought whether they could be the donor. He excluded Ottoborg because he wasn’t so persistent. He excluded the twins because they wouldn’t get up so early. He excluded Bortor because he wasn’t so sweet. Finally, after a careful consideration, he excluded Caline because she served breakfast equally to everybody.
Why would Ceola get up early to give Alan a sweet warm snack?
“Well… the way I see it…” Klayzi scratched his chin. “It’s because she likes you.”
When Alan didn’t answer for a long time, Klayzi added: “Something wrong with that?”
Alan snapped back to attention. “No. Not at all. I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”
Klayzi shrugged. “I think it’s nice. Do you like her?”
“Uh… Yes, I do,” Alan said. “As a sister. I didn’t realise that she adores me so much. It’s a little strange.” He fell silent. After a while he asked: “What should I do about it?”
Klayzi smiled broadly. He was flattered that Alan had come to him specifically for advice. “You don’t have to do anything really. Just thank her for the presents and say that you appreciate them.”
“Won’t she get the wrong idea? I don’t want to give her false hopes,” Alan said nervously. “I… I don’t really like her that way…”
“Don’t worry about it.” Klayzi patted his nephew’s shoulder.
“I’m worried about Ceola,” Alan said softly. Ottimo and Tuborg looked up from the workbench they were tinkering on.
“Why?” the asked simultaneously.
“I think she’s taking to me,” Alan replied. He set down a bright yellow screwdriver he’d been playing with. “And I think she deserves someone better.”
“Who better?” Ottimo asked lightly. “Who could be better than you, Alan?”
“You’re handsome, you’re a gentleman…” Tuborg itemised.
“When you wake people up, you take a while to listen to their dreams,” Ottimo added.
“And you are immortal. Perfect match,” Tuborg concluded.
“I’m serious,” Alan frowned.
“Well, sorry.” Ottimo grabbed the yellow screwdriver and changed its colour to orange. “What’s so bad about Ceola liking you anyway?”
“It isn’t bad…”
“Don’t you like her?”
“I do…”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t like her the way I should…”
“Oh please, the most Ceola wants to do to you is massage your feet.”
“Ooh, Alan-kun, pleeease offer your smelly legs…”
“Stop that!” Alan snapped at the twins. Ottimo and Tuborg fell still. “I could ruin Ceola’s life right now. You know how reserved she is. If she brings me hot cocoa in the morning, what she really feels is probably something that could move mountains. And here I am, not loving her back – is that the kind of person she deserves? What would she think if I turned her down? What would she do?”
Ottimo and Tuborg glanced at each other. “Now there,” Tuborg said.
“You’re taking it too seriously,” Ottimo told the Hoodian.
“Yeah, you’re getting really excited over it. It’s not that a big deal,” Tuborg continued.
“It’ll turn out somehow eventually,” Ottimo nodded.
Alan crossed his arms on his chest. “Turn out somehow eventually,” he mumbled under his breath. “I hate that phrase.”
“Mom, I hate to use phrases but… I am in love,” Ceola said without looking up from her portion of ironing. Caline nodded her head and her big stems bobbed up and down.
“I have guessed it. Who is it?”
Very quietly, Ceola replied: “It’s Alan.”
Caline stopped moving the iron on Ottoborg’s purple cape and stared off into distance. She chuckled. “It’s in our blood, it seems. Nehmen and I didn’t work out. But our children will. Our families will be connected one way or another.”
Ceola studied her mom’s face carefully. Then her gaze slid down to Caline’s iron. “Um, mom, you’re burning dad’s cape.”
Alan threw his head back and laughed heartily. “Did she now? Aw, poor Ottoborg. He liked that cape. Even though he never wore it.”
Ceola bent over to pluck a daisy from the grass they were walking on. “He was of the opinion that it was too fancy to be worn.”
“Alas. What cape will he adore now?” Alan asked lightly.
Ceola blushed a little. “I have been working on a new cape. I have it here,” she pointed to her right stem. “I would like to work on it once we arrive at the hoop tree.”
“Oh,” Alan said, interested, “will you show it to me?”
Ceola played with the small daisy, avoiding Alan’s eyes. “When we get there, maybe.”
And they walked side by side until they reached the hoop tree.
“Kids! You are going out together!” Ottoborg yelled happily, bursting into the living room where Alan and all Otto’s children were sipping tea. Alan choked on his tea and Ceola nearly dropped her cup. They glanced at each other quickly.
Ottoborg continued: “I had, like, no idea what was going on! I’m so happy for you!” Little rainbows were pouring out of his palms as he grabbed Alan with one hand, Ceola with the other and tugged them to their feet. “You make your father very proud!”
Ceola made a horrified face and Alan also seemed to wish to be anywhere but here. Ottimo and Tuborg cheered loudly and Bortor clapped his little hands excitedly.
“Now! I’ll give you – what’s it called? My father blessing! Yeah!” Ottoborg hugged first Alan, then Ceola, very tightly. The two gasped and felt the punctures on their chests.
“Hug of death! Hug of deeeeaaaath!” the twins were chanting.
“Are you okay?” Alan whispered to Ceola. She nodded. Alan turned to Ottoborg. “Uh… thank you… father… we’re um… grateful. For your blessing.” But while was saying it, his voice was clipped and his smile was forced.
Ceola and Alan were sitting on a terrace. They were watching the dark blue night sky in shared silence. It was then that Ceola mustered the courage to ask what had been eating her for twelve years.
“Alan, are you forcing yourself to be with me?”
Alan looked at her in surprise. Ceola lowered her gaze immediately and looked at her hands instead. Alan was silent for a moment and then he sighed.
“I was asking myself that question for many years.”
Ceola’s shoulders sagged. Yet Alan continued in a cheerful tone.
“However, I know the answer now. I am not forcing myself. I like being with you. You are all I could ever wish for in a wife. I must admit…” Alan paused here. His tone was full of affection when he went on: “What I like the most about you is that you know all you should know and you have all the skills a girl should have. You are a great cook, you have a lovely taste in clothes and you are more erudite than your whole family. Yet you are quiet and you know your place. I like that very much.”
Ceola smiled shakily at her hands. “I have been trying to become the best girl for you, Alan. For all my life. I have been trying to become someone who would make you happy forever.”
When Ceola came inside the wedding suite, Alan was sitting on a heart-shaped bed with his face folded in his palms.
“What’s wrong?” she asked softly and went to sit beside him.
Alan looked up. He smiled faintly and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m thinking about the future.”
“Is the future so grim that it makes you sad on our wedding night?”
Alan embraced his wife and she curled up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his torso. She waited until Alan formed his thoughts as clearly as he could. “I’m afraid that I will live forever and you will not.” Alan’s voice shook with raw emotion. “I’ve sprouted from the best klay while you have grown from the Brokenhood. I have seen you age slowly while I was never changing. I am deeply afraid that I’ll watch you crumble away one day, and I’ll live on after that, remembering your kindness and how I lost you, forever.”
Ceola was quick to answer. “During my studies with Bobuslaw, I stumbled upon a theory about one’s span of life. I have researched it and I am quite confident that it’s possible to adjust one’s life span by choosing the klay you eat.”
Alan listened carefully as Ceola continued.
“They say that a person who eats best klay will be saturated by the fine material and his life will be prolonged. I have come to realise that the reverse is also possible. By eating klay of low quality, one can become mortal even if he is a Neverhoodian.”
Alan’s eyes widened. Ceola pushed herself up on her arms and looked Alan straight in the eye.
“How long have you been living in the Brokenhood? How long have you been eating the same food we have been? No, Alan. I don’t think that you are immortal any longer. I think that when I crumble away…” Ceola took her husband’s hand and pressed it. “…you will be at my side.”
Tears pushed in Alan’s eyes. He lowered his head and pressed Ceola’s hand against his forehead. He could only croak: “Thank you.”
“What do you mean, ‘no, thank you’?” king Tuborg hollered.
“We’ve been planning this hunt for ages! And now you say you’re not coming?” king Ottimo pouted like a little boy.
Alan smiled and held his palms up. “I’m sorry guys. I want to spend a quiet evening with Ceola.”
Ottimo whistled in disbelief. Tuborg tried one last time: “Will you really not go with us? The hunt will be really fun. We know you’d enjoy it a lot.”
“I admit, I would love to go hunting with you,” Alan said. “But I love Ceola much more.” And he waved the rejected twin kings goodbye as he set off making cocoa and biscuits for his lovely wife.
