Tuesday, May 4, 2004

“There is something odd that happened this morning”, he said.
She was looking through the glass doors of the front of the building. The doors had large cracks in them now, but were still in place. It looked to him as though trying to open the doors might cause all that glass to come loose. It made him nervous. “Go on”, she said while taking his arm and leading him away from the building, “you were saying something about this morning.” He was about to tell her about the note from Parker when he noticed her make a little gesture with her thumb over her shoulder and a dark shadow flew over them with great speed. He closed his eyes and plugged his ears, as he knew that the living door that had been inconspicuously following them around was about to crash through the glass.
There was an enormous sound of shattering glass and a thump as Door hit the wall in the entry of the building. Ms. Greanwyloe seemed to not be startled by the noise and was waiting patiently for Theo to continue. “Well, you see there’s this old man that I know. I met him when I was a little boy. He was a friend of my fathers. I see him in the park some mornings because I go through the park to catch the bus to get to the campus. Anyway, most of the time he just likes to talk about the weather or the Doublers games, but this morning he seemed very odd. He gave me his phone number and e-mail address, and he said I would want to talk to him soon.”
“That does seem a bit odd. You say he has never said anything like this before?”
“No, never.”
“So you think maybe he knew this was going to happen.”
“It just seemed odd. But he was smiling when he said he knew I would want to talk with him, so I don’t know. Its not like he was warning me or anything.”
“Maybe you should call him.”
“He said he wouldn’t be back in town until Sunday, or maybe it was after Sunday I don’t remember for certain.”
“Do you still have his number?”
“Yes, it’s right here.” Without thinking Theo took the folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it and looked at it for several seconds.
“Are you sure this is the right paper”, she said as she scanned down the page. Before he could answer she blurted out, “Wait a tic. Look at this.” She turned the page around and poked the page with her finger. “This is a recipe for Gumbo. And not just any recipe, this is my mothers recipe.
“What, that can’t be right.” He was confused. He checked his pockets again, but of course he knew that it was the paper Parker had given him.
“Who gave you this?”
“Mr. Andersen.”
“Parker Andersen?” She shouted.
“Yes, Parker Andersen. You know him.”
“Well yes, I know him…knew him. Many years ago, almost twenty. We were engaged to be married. Why would he give you a recipe I gave him twenty years ago?”
“Maybe he’s just absent minded.” Theo said innocently.
The look on her face was painful. Theo could only guess it was a mixture of disgust and anger. “I would like to give you, and him, the benefit of the doubt, but unless he has had a huge change in character he did this for a reason. You said he was smiling. Was he smiling or grinning when he gave you this?”
“It was more like a grin than a smile.”
“Tell me exactly what he said when he gave it to you.”
“I don’t remember, something about seeing him again soon, and oh yes about not losing the paper.”
“Exactly Theo. I need to know exactly what he said.”
“Why is it important?” He was becoming annoyed by her behavior.
“Because twenty years ago Parker Andersen broke off our engagement and ran off with another woman. He wanted his freedom. I had hoped we would start a family together. I found out that he had several ‘fiancés’ and was lying constantly to everyone. I was young, hurt and very angry and I did something I am not proud to admit.” She looked away and did not look back. She finished telling him in a sad voice, “I put a curse on Parker Andersen. I don’t think he even knows about it.”
Theo would not have believed her, or believed in curses, where it not for the flying door. He was afraid to ask, “What kind of curse?”
“When ever he is lying, he will grin in a most telling way. It’s called the ‘curse of the false friend’ and it is difficult to be rid of. I wish I never made that curse. I paid dearly for making it.”

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