Pulse of Heroes (38 page)

Just as Michelle climbed into the passenger
seat, Samantha’s bug pulled into the adjacent parking space. Sam
complimented Michelle on her new chauffeur service, and Elliot
smiled shyly at Samantha, who waved back at him
overenthusiastically. He wondered how it was that he found himself
surrounded by high school kids, noticing that the VW had stickers
on the back that made the car look like it had a smiley face. Here
were these semi-adults, yet their responsibilities were no more
than those of children. Elliot valued the lifelong pursuit of
knowledge, as he himself was forever learning, but today’s schools
seemed to create a fake reality of what he considered unneeded and
superficial stress. He was already daydreaming that he and Michelle
were living in a different time so they could just get on with
their lives as two adults. The sneaking around and pretending was
getting on his nerves.

When Elliot failed to turn on the ignition
and instead just stared out into nothingness, Michelle knew that he
was deep in thought. She always wondered about how his perspective
must be so different from the rest of humanity. He simply
fascinated her. His face was so beautiful, she thought as she
scrutinized him. She couldn’t decide if his large eyes and long
lashes were his best features, or his full and very kissable lips.
When Elliot realized that Michelle was staring at him he slowly
smiled at her and asked if anything was the matter.

“Nothing,” she answered coyly.

“You’re not going to tell me?” he kissed her
on her cheek. “Even if I kiss you?” Michelle squirmed in her seat a
bit and bashfully asked him if she was strange because she just
liked to look at him. Elliot had heard those words before. He shook
his head.

“So you won’t be mad at me if I tell you that
I think you’re so beautiful that I wonder how anyone like you can
exist at all?” Elliot was well aware that women and men alike found
him to be ethereally beautiful, although he would have preferred
handsome. Throughout all those years, nothing had changed when it
came to beauty; everyone craved it. He wondered if that craving was
more than just wanting to find a healthy suitable partner. Perhaps
somewhere in the human sub-consciousness everyone was still
searching for their maker, the image of perfection. After all, he
was still searching for his, and when he looked into the mirror he
was probably staring at a version of his father because he sure
didn’t resemble anyone in his mother’s family.

Elliot drove onto a small dirt road and
killed the engine under a large willow tree. He reached out to the
anticipating Michelle and kissed her passionately. Michelle’s head
immediately became light, and she leaned backwards against the
window smiling in bliss.

“You are the most beautiful creature that
I’ve ever seen myself,” Elliot smiled.

“Don’t lie to me just to make me feel better,
because you’re perfect.”

Elliot told Michelle that he wasn’t lying,
and besides, he was far from perfect. He kissed her even harder to
prove his point. “You have to stop that,” Michelle slurred as if
drunk while making a feeble attempt to push him away. “I gotta
study.”

When Elliot was lost in passion and yearning
it was almost impossible to control how that affected his partner.
He knew that if he continued there would be no turning back and
Michelle would want him completely. And he knew himself well enough
to know that it would be next to impossible to turn her down.

After a few hours of studying on the
library’s outdoor patio, Elliot and Michelle walked to a small
diner nearby. It was filled with old people who smiled at the young
couple as they were seated. After ordering, Michelle asked Elliot
about the oil press and about Argos Vela, and Elliot confirmed what
she had heard from the other guys at the school.

“I was the ship’s helmsman. But I didn’t go
there for the gold. Procuring riches was for the King. We were
seeking an even rarer ore and the secrets to its metallurgy.”

“And the Golden Fleece, is that made up?” she
asked, “and what about Jason?”

Elliot gave out a little laugh and told her
that ‘Yason’ is one of their kind and that he was indeed the leader
of the journey.

“Jason was extremely arrogant. And it’s true
that he enjoyed women just a little too much for his own good. He
was the one that wanted our story to be recorded to begin with, but
as time went on the tale got more and more fantastic and took on a
life of its own. It even entertained us, and we were there. Last
time I checked, Jason was still living somewhere in South
America.”

“But in the story everyone has Greek names,”
Michelle pointed out, and Elliot explained to her that all of them
use different names and aliases regularly. It was a necessity to
reinvent oneself when one lives so long. Michelle immediately asked
if ‘Elliot’ was his real name or a fake one, and to her surprise
Elliot seemed a little irritated by the question. She tried to tell
him that it didn’t matter, but Elliot thought that it did.

“It’s a legitimate question. It’s just
strange for me to be bringing this up all over again.” Elliot
didn’t want to play pretend with Michelle. If she was going to be
by his side, she would have to make peace with his past. “Elliot is
the name given to me by my first wife.” Michelle swallowed hard at
hearing the word ‘wife’, and was equally disturbed by the fact that
he was still using a name that she had chosen for him. Still,
Michelle didn’t want Elliot to sense her foreboding; she wanted to
indicate that she didn’t care.

“So, what is your real name?” she asked.

“No, you’re not getting it. Elliot is my
name. It will always be.” Elliot’s eyes appeared distant again and
Michelle’s feelings were hurt. Was he still carrying a torch for
his first wife too? And for that Leta? Michelle shifted in her
chair and played with her straw rather than look up at him. Luckily
the waiter appeared and placed their meals on the table. Michelle
looked down at her burger and fries, begging for the food to entice
her because she had lost her appetite. Thinking about Elliot being
with other women made her stomach turn, she just couldn’t help it.
Meanwhile, Elliot wondered if Michelle was strong enough to deal
with him. He wasn’t going to apologize for his past, and he wasn’t
about to lie about it if she asked. Come on Michelle, he urged her
in his mind. You’re a big girl, isn’t this what you wanted?
Michelle looked up at Elliot as if she heard him. She picked up a
large fry, dipped it in ketchup and extended it to him as an
offering.

“These are really good. Try one.” Elliot
looked straight into Michelle’s eyes and she knew that she had
upset him. Elliot knew that Michelle knew exactly what she was
doing, pulling such a classic avoidance behavior, much like that of
a toddler. She didn’t want to deal with something that made her
feel uncomfortable, so she changed the subject. He wanted to tell
her that in real life she couldn’t pull such tricks, that avoidance
does not make things go away, and if anything, the more one avoids
something, the more dangerous and powerful that thing becomes.
Instead of cowering down, Michelle stared right back at him,
challenging him to say something about how she was being immature.
She didn’t care; she had the right to act like that. After all, she
was a baby compared to him, and she just wasn’t ready to deal with
other women in his life. Michelle didn’t feel secure about her
place at Elliot’s side, and until she did, she couldn’t handle any
competition.

As a gesture of concession, Elliot took the
now-cold fry from Michelle’s outstretched hand and ate it, despite
having the same fries on his own plate.

Later, Michelle asked Elliot to drop her off
in front of Samantha’s, explaining that her parents would never
approve of her hanging out with him. Truth was, he really didn’t
care whether they approved of him or not, but he decided to pretend
for Michelle’s sake. She even revealed to him that the home
security system had been installed to prevent any of the
Hekademos
‘hooligans’ from gaining access into the house.
Elliot burst out laughing. Not only because he had easily evaded
the system, but because he found it ironic that her mother’s fears
had become a reality.

“I would probably cage up my daughters too if
those guys at the school moved in next to me,” he snickered.
Michelle hit Elliot lightly on his shoulder and told him to stop
laughing at her parents because they were good people. But seeing
Michelle angry like that made Elliot laugh even more. Michelle
turned to look out the car’s window.

“When you’re done laughing at me, let me
know.”

Elliot stopped laughing at once and picked up
her hand, which made Michelle turn around and bump straight into
his face. His lips were ready and waiting for her. “I’m sorry about
earlier,” she told him, and he apologized back for expecting her to
deal with unfathomable situations. With her heart still racing from
the long kiss, Michelle got out of the vehicle and slammed the door
behind her. She didn’t want to look back for fear that she might
yell out to him to stop.

The next time Michelle saw Francesca, the
lady picked up on her excitement before she said a word. “You are
very energized Michelle and I don’t think school alone can do
that,” Francesca said. Michelle felt like she was going to burst if
she didn’t tell somebody about the wonderful time she had been
spending with Elliot, and she blurted it all out into Francesca’s
ear. Francesca warned her to proceed with the utmost caution until
she had a ring on her finger. But Michelle laughed at that idea.
She had no intention of thinking about marriage at her age.

Michelle was still curious about the old oil
press on Argos Vela Way, and asked Francesca if she remembered
anything about it. “Oh yes… they were a nice Portuguese family,
Jewish I think. I remember that there were two families running the
whole operation. I went to school with one of the girls but I don’t
remember her name. We knew each other in passing. My mother loved
their olive oil because it reminded her of Italy, but I remember
the elder lady always said that it was good because it was holy
oil. They brought the root trees from the Holy Land.” Francesca’s
eyes looked somewhere beyond Michelle, back to the memories as if
they lay along an invisible pathway. She smiled, “You know, if you
didn’t mention the oil I don’t think I would have remembered, but
now I’m sure of it. The girl came to my wedding. My mother invited
her because she thought we were good friends.” Francesca motioned
for Michelle to get closer and whispered to her, “She gave birth to
a son out of wedlock.” Michelle’s eyes widened. “The father
eventually married her and good thing for that. But they all left
after the war.” Francesca walked into her bedroom to grab the
wedding album again. “I hear they turned the place into a school
for criminals.” Michelle marveled that even little old Francesca
knew about the ‘bad’ school.

“They’re not criminals,” Michelle said. “I’ve
met some of the students because the school is close to my house,
and…” Francesca’s eyes widened.

“You don’t tell me that the boy you like is
from there?” Francesca put her hand on her mouth in shock. Michelle
couldn’t lie to her. Francesca asked about Elliot’s parents and
Michelle assured her that they were a very proper and rich family.
“Then why is their boy in there?” she asked, narrowing her eyes
while flipping through pages of sepia-toned photographs. Michelle
repeated the story about the school being a private continuation
school of a sort, and begged Francesca not to tell anybody about
it, especially not her father. Francesca eventually submitted to
Michelle’s pleas, but asked Michelle not to hide anything from her
because that’s how women get in trouble. “Here she is!” Francesca
said, pointing at a tiny image of a woman standing in profile.
Michelle stared at the beautiful tall woman with the flower pinned
to her long dark hair. She looked at the woman’s flowing dress that
was gathered to one side, and at her dainty fingers sticking out of
her lace fingerless gloves. Her features were angular and her lips
were perfectly rouged. Michelle told herself not to go there, but
it was too late. She imagined Elliot kissing those lips and every
muscle in her body convulsed.

On the ride home Michelle sat quietly next to
her father, wondering if Francesca had gotten her facts right.
Could Elliot have fathered a son outside of marriage? Even she knew
that back then such things were almost unheard of. Thinking about
fathering, an image of Elliot in bed with that woman crept into
Michelle’s head and made her gag. She was sure that she threw up
just a tiny bit in the back of her throat. Her father looked at her
worried.

“Michelle, are you about to get sick? Do you
want me to pull over?” he asked, ready to pull the car over to the
side of the road. Michelle really wasn’t feeling well and if she
didn’t stop thinking of all those images in her head she knew that
she would hurl everywhere. Get a hold of yourself, she said to
herself, and took in a deep breath.

“I’m all right, Dad. I think these finals are
finally getting to me.” She hated Elliot.

“Talking about finals, I do hope you pass
them all. Eranka called this afternoon asking about us coming out
to visit.” Her father chuckled. “She said that she was worried she
won’t live to see another summer. Of course she’s been saying that
for years. But she is getting up there in age and your mother wants
you to meet her.” Michelle felt sad because although she had never
met her great aunt, she had been a fixture in her life since the
day Michelle was born.

At dinner, Michelle’s parents discussed the
affordability of the trip to see Eranka, and contemplated the
chances that Michelle would be forced to attend summer school.
Michelle didn’t really know. It all depended on whether she passed
Italian, and she wouldn’t get those results until a week into
summer break.