Drake's coffee was poured from a bronze pot with an ivory handle. The bronze pot was one of the few objects he had managed to bring back home after spending almost a year in Mozambique, along with other treasures that had belonged to his parents' former home. His father was a decent strong man who had cared little for all of what Africa had to offer, and most of what his mother had to offer too about Africa. He spent most of his long well-lived life talking about the location, secrets and sexuality of werewolves. He was far more interested in jaunting around the world, convincing himself that there was more to humans than the normal acceptable biological form, far more in love with the night creatures that circled around, under the full moon, chanting praises in honor of their creator who they barely knew than the havoc caused by watching people live their entire lives tied to a particular location.
Once, Drake's father had gotten involved in an argument with a religious man who took it upon himself to declare openly that werewolves were demonic entities from the pit of hell. Drake's father laughed. A laughter Drake would never forget in his life because it ran for thirty sharp precise seconds. Moments that the zealot could not deal with."You are wise," Drake could remember his father saying to the religious man with clear adulteration. "But you are not wiser than the man who wrote the book you read every day of your blessed life. I shit you not that you are not wiser than the man who counted the first, second and third creation days despite the absence of the sun and moon. Like, who the hell says day one, day two and day three when there is no sun or moon to differentiate? Like, who the hell writes about the creation of light before the creation of the sun?"The religious man did not answer."Just as I expected," Drake could remember his father's mocking laughter. "You absolutely have no idea about what you are saying. And you are here, connecting simple advanced creatures with entities you cannot prove. If your book says that God created everything and loved all, then he should also love what you describe as a demonic entity. Can you see the pattern you just drew by yourself? My religious friend, werewolves are still human beings. If you want them to reveal their secrets, you have to change this attitude you possess."Drake knew his father hated seeing them - the religious men who claimed to know more about life than the unbeliever, because they only served to remind him of his loss. Drake's sister had died on the eve of May 7. Drake's father always called her, 'The One and Only'. He pretended to hate the inconvenience she caused him at the time she was alive, and insisted she would have to make herself useful or leave his house. He had demanded that Sarah learn to watch and learn, and she had, but his demands of consistency had been fruitless. She was dedicated but lazy. She enjoyed neither watching nor observing, nor listening, nor learning. She was hopeless at focusing, came up with no logical evidence at all, hated museums, and the sound of rock music even more. All the things Drake's father loved, she hated. But she liked the church, and the holy adventurous books, and tales of distant, far-off places she would never go to. She went to church services given by absurd, remote old scholars, and often stood out as she debated the historical accuracy of their facts. The day she died, her eyes closed, sniffing every bit of holy air she could take in, thinking of the distant shores that could be reached by the fingertips of her lovely gesture."She is dead," Drake could clearly remember his father's fading voice as he invited his mother to a meeting in his cabinet. Drake's mother was tall. Her smile as bright as sparkling blue."I heard," Drake's mother said, slowly, almost like a whisper."You heard?" Drake's father was furious as he shook his head and shut the door behind him. That was all Drake could hear. The next morning, they were leaving to Paris. It was cold.*"The tea is ready, Drake!"Without looking at his watch, Drake knew that it was almost nine fifteen and the corpse of his fiancee, Rosetta would soon be arriving from the mortuary. He also knew that Rosetta's parents would arrive at any moment, dressed as he was this morning, in black, as though he still had a meeting requiring black attire to attend to. He would try to smile when they come, pretend to be look at the painting of a nineteenth century werewolf in his apartment. And if Rosetta's father tried to speak to him angrily, as he always did, he would admit that he was at fault for his daughter's death, but he would bluntly refuse stolidly to deny that he didn't love her, nor did he not speak to her against her decision to go to the forest alone."Thank you," Drake said as he glared at Rosetta's friend who had offered him a soft dog-like bell, Rori. Once or twice, he avoided staring at her hips as he managed to sip his tea, read the newspaper in front of him, eat three soft-boiled eggs, two slices of bread, drink two more cup of English tea, and then admire her for her kindness. His morning mood did not have a negative impact on Rori, who barely seemed to say anything to him other than, 'sorry!'"What happened to her?" Rori asked, after she had noticed the persistent silence was doing both of them no good."I don't know," Drake said. "It was in the morning. I unusually woke up early that day. I was in the church, looking at our future, writing our future down and dreaming of it. The next thing I knew, I got a phone call. Rosetta was dead. My fiancee was dead.""It is fine," Rori said.Drake started crying.At first, Drake didn't take the first three months of Rosetta's absence seriously. As far as he was concerned, she was gone. And she was never coming back to him. He had been amused when Rosetta's father presented him with a plain sheet of paper, demanding his signature. It seemed more than funny for him to see his almost father-in-law accusing him of murder, and then, eventually, he had realized how much pain Rosetta's death had done to her parents. Her absence had absorbed every tiny bit of energy in them. Then, the sudden discovery of her dead body by the local police close to the river had sparked a deep breath of argument which had led to the formation of opinions by a few members of the small loving community that were considered barbaric. It was a crazy encounter that would go on for days.Drake knew his time of questioning was coming soon. But, he didn't expect it to come as soon as possible. He was well aware that his major political disagreement with Rosetta's father
"She was a very beautiful woman when she was alive. Wasn't she?" Bennett asked. He was Drake's childhood friend who had gone to the same university with him. "You are a handsome lad, aren't you?" Drake replied, faking a laughter."I was when I was a bit younger, and didn't think much about women," Bennett's gentle voice hit the window in his apartment like thunder striking a make-believe pole."We can argue about your beauty and never reach a dead end. It doesn't matter if you believe you are the Prince of Wales or the Duke of Edinburgh, what matters is my perspective about you which is not going to change.""Charming!" Bennett interrupted, dropping the glass of wine in his hands on top of a glass table. His eyes combed Drake, as they always did, expecting to see something that wasn't there and never had been. They had been friends for a long period of time even long before Drake had met Rosetta and had planned a suitable pleasing marriage that will ensure their
Rori's eyes darkened as she thought about Drake. She had considered visiting him without his knowledge because she felt he needed to be with someone who would comfort him even though he denied it. She was about to answer the door in her apartment just behind her when it opened with little force. It was her sister, Sandra in a cloud of green silk and cream-colored lace, her hair cascading over her shoulders as she looked at her in an unusual manner, more like despair. "You are thinking about something," Sandra said. "It is your human friend right?""I don't know what you talking about, Sandy," Rori lied, trying to avoid looking in the direction of her sister's eyes. Sandra sat down, almost in a thud. At full stretch, she stood almost a foot shorter than her younger sister, Rori, and she seemed extremely nervous, as her hands fluttered like tiny birds. "How is Mark?" Rori asked, trying to occupy herself with the onions lined neatly inside a tray."Mark is f
Drake looked truly stunned and Rori had to turn away to conceal her cheerful smile. And when she turned back again their eyes met briefly. It was a short moment. Pure!There was a hidden caress there in Rori's eyes for Drake, not that he would never had known if he decided to take a peek. But there was absolutely no need for that because Rori was not in a position or state of denial. She cared about Drake. It was what mattered to her the most. His state of well-being was the only reason she considered visiting him in the night without thinking about it twice."Thank you," Drake said as he sat down and placed a soft pillow close to his belly."What are you thanking me for?" Rori asked. She was trying to conceal the smile on her face."You came to see me, didn't you?"Rori nodded in approval."It shows you care about me," Drake continued, "because if you didn't, you wouldn't have come here.""True!" Rori affirmed. "I was a bit worried about you
The moment Rori arrived at her sister's apartment, everything seemed to stop dead for a second. Even her voice was gentle in her own ears, and silently, at her sister's own end, she nodded and moved away in a manner that left Rori confused. She wanted to ask her sister if something was wrong somewhere, but she didn't know how. A part of her was even grateful for the call from Sandra Ryder, her sister because she had laughed throughout the conversation in a way that proved that it would take a great amount of evil for both of them to be ever separated. Now, as Rori stood a few metres away from her sister, she could feel a strange uneasiness run through her body as if she had gotten involved in a crime that involved backstabbing her own elder sister. Indeed, she had!"Where are you staying now?"Rori moved closer. "Same old place. But, I am planning on moving to the city to stay with Drake for a while. He is in a bad state now. I would love to get closer to him more. I
Drake was sitting outside the courtroom when Rori arrived with a suitcase in her hand. It didn't take long before he announced to her with joy that Rosetta's parents had dropped all the charges they had laid on him for reasons he could not explain. Rori was excited that he was going to finally sleep in peace, mourning his wife, Rosetta, silently without thinking of her parents trying all they could to make his already hard life more difficult for him. "I will have to go somewhere," Rori told him after he had given her a cup of coffee and escorted her to board a taxi that would take her back to her sister's place. "When will you be back?" Drake asked."As soon as I can set things right with my sister," Rori replied. "I have made a terrible mistake and I am solely at fault for bringing misery into the life of someone who did not deserve it.""What did you do?" Drake asked again. This time, trying to form a unique smile in his face to prove to Rori that he wasn't
Rori was fascinated, though, as she wandered the streets, the women looked chic and the men so well dressed. Somehow, it made the werewolf city where Mark led a pack seem very happy and sleepy, and she tried to describe it all to Sandra when she called her before entering the apartment where she lived with Mark."Everyone in the city seems happy today," she said to Sandra. "You are so lucky, Sandy. I had give anything to be happy the way you are.""Sure, you would," Sandra said, pouring tea inside a ceramic cup. "Why are you here? Did you come here to ask if my husband is around so you can plan how to fuck him when I am away?""I didn't come because of that. But, I did come to see Mark.""Ah! You did come to see Mark. You just don't know what you want to see him for? You haven't decided yet? I can see the options running around your head like a ticking bomb waiting to explode.""You don't have to be so rude to me, Sandra.""Of course, I don't! But, now
"How are you, Rori?" Mark said, smiling. He was wearing heavy white linen trousers and a navy blue blazer. He had a hat pulled low over one eye."What are you doing here?" Rori retorted."Just looking for booze and women," he said, still laughing and stopping to kiss the woman he was with from time to time. "I came to look for you. Heard you were not around. Where have you been, Mark?"Mark turned to woman he was with who was named Samantha. She gave him a wink. "I already told you, little cat. Just looking for booze and women.""You have a wife who is at home, waiting patiently for your arrival.""She can wait for as long as she want. Who gives a fuck? I don't! Even the so-called man sitting above the clouds doesn't give a fuck. Or do you give a fuck, Samantha?""I don't give a fuck about no one," Samantha replied."Exactly what I am trying to make this young lady understand. No one actually gives a fuck about the woman who is waiting in my