The Tolerance Wars - 22
a very complex game
upper and lowercase version
begin at the beginning—Chapter 1
The Tolerance Wars
22.
a very complex game
We’d been working for a few days, and got several things that Tony considered worth keeping, before anyone heard anything from our friends about what might’ve happened to the hat. Eventually there was a phone call. Happily I still had the phone plugged in, so it rang. Also happily we weren’t recording at the time.
“You got a minute?” It was sparechange. Tony welcomed the break. So, yeah, we had a minute. Maybe more. Told him I’d call him back once I’d got in touch with Archer. Turned out she had a minute too. Tony went to pick her up while I made coffee. Inside of an hour we were all settled in my front room. Which was more people at myplace not making music than had happened in a while. Maybe ever.
Sparechange was last to arrive. With a small leather bag. Without speaking I’d handed him a mug of the good stuff the way I knew he liked it. He took a sip and nodded in appreciation. No one said anything. I guess we were waiting for buddy. And he was busy savouring the moment. I guess the coffee was good.
Eventually it was Archer who spoke first. “So…”
He looked up, as if he’d been in a dream. Not an unpleasant one. But one he was still unpacking the meaning of. “Mmm?” he said.
“The hat,” she prompted. “Did you find it?”
“Mm hm.” Which sounded like an affirmative. But we were in weird territory, so I was reminding myself lately to check all my assumptions.
“Do you have it with you?” She looked at the leather bag on the floor beside him. “Is it intact? can I see it?”
He shook his head. Definitely a negative. “Don’t have it with me.” I could see the scientist sag slightly. “But I know where it is.”
I heard my front door open. Then the sound of someone coming up the stairs. “Hello the house!” Marcus. Mot unwelcome. But I looked a question at buddy.
“Seemed like a good idea,” He shrugged, “And I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“So, this is where all the creativity takes place.” As he took the last step the big man paused and looked around, taking in my space. Casually enough. But somehow I got the sense he was, I don’t know, memorizing details. “Good to finally have an excuse to see where it all happens.”
“Nothin’ special.” I spoke the truth as I saw it, poured another mug and handed it to him.
“Sometimes the most wonderful things happen in everyday surroundings.” He accepted. “If we waited for everything to be perfect there would be far less wonderful in the world.” He took a sip, “And wonderful is our job.” And looked at me, “Isn’t it?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Although it was a thought I’d maybe expressed before. In other settings. To other people. Actually, come to think of it, to some of the people sitting here right now. Still wasn’t sure what he was getting at, though. And if I had said it, I would’ve been talking about laying down the tunes. But I got the sense he had something else in mind.
He turned his attention to sparechange. “So, Jomi, you have news. Tell me it’s good news.”
“Not the best,” a non-committal shrug, “not the worst.”
Marcus looked down at the bag at buddy’s feet. “You have your kit. So you didn’t have time to go home before you came here. This is fresh news.”
Another shrug. “Didn’t end up needing it.”
The big man smiled and nodded. “Sometimes we must go looking for enlightenment. At other times enlightenment looks for us.”
“Something like that.” Felt like we were watching two old friends running over some of their favourite lines. None of us interrupted.
I saw a look on Marcus’ face, reminded me of being onstage, when I’ve taken in how Josie’s feelin’ it, when I’ve understood where McShane’s lines are heading, how waits has grounded the whole thing for us, when I’ve got the shape of where everything’s at. And now I just need a second to make some kind of sense of it all before I can lay down some kind of suggestion about where we might wanna take the tunes. He didn’t seem frustrated. More like buddy’d set him a challenge. A puzzle for him to figure out. It came to me that this was clearly a game they’d played before. Probably many times.
“You set out thinking that you would need your kit. That suggests you had a destination in mind.” Buddy’s face went flat, muscles slack, his expression offering his friend no clues. Though I was getting a sense they’d done this often enough Marcus probably didn’t need them. “You were out somewhere…” I noticed he wasn’t actually looking at buddy. Like that would just be a distraction. Or even misleading. He had his mug cradled in both hands and was alternating between taking in the aroma and looking over the edge of the mug into the middle distance, unfocussed and thought heavy. This was a very complex game they were playing. “But before heading to your destination… hmm…” Silence for a beat. “…you wanted just a bit more information.” I saw the tiniest hint of a smile on buddy’s face before it disappeared. “For someone who lives in the moment, Jomi, you do have an unusual desire to be just a little more informed.” He paused again, looking for confirmation. Seeing none, he returned to the aroma. And the middle distance. Then, “Ah, of course!” Could’ve sworn that was buddy showing disappointment for a second, then again the slack. No clues. Marcus smiled and ran his finger around the rim of the mug. “You went somewhere hoping to get some information to make your path easier.” A sip of the coffee. Then, “And instead you learned something that made your original plan unnecessary.” He finally looked over at his friend, “Maybe even dangerous?” Must’ve seen some invisible clue that I missed completely, the smile got even wider. “You’ve confirmed who has miss Archer’s hat. And where it is right now. And that it will not be a simple task to retrieve it.” I saw both players relax. Round over.
Sparechange offered a fake glower to his friend. “Is that the best you can do?” Then he smiled.
A small purse of the lips. An even smaller shrug. “It’s all I need to do.” A smile returned. “We are not opposed, we are working for the same ends. And now that we all understand the shape of things, you can give us whatever information we need. Without unnecessary detail. The time for detail is not now. That will come later. With a grasp of the shape, and just enough information, we can help.”
I looked at the other non-players in the room, clearly not the only one who hadn’t followed all of that. “You wanna maybe unpack that a little for the rest of us?”
“No need, really.” He stood up and put his mug on the counter. Turned to face the room, gave a small stretch of the neck and shoulders as he stood facing us. “Jomi, you’ve located miss Archer’s hat?” Buddy nodded. “And that is to say both who has possession and its location?” Another nod. “And getting it back for miss Archer will not be as straightforward as you had initially hoped?” A small sigh. Another nod. “Even for the prince of thieves?”
Before I could grasp any of what was going on, sparechange had launched himself from his chair, made the space between them, popped his dear friend with a right that sent him down hard, and stood over him. Talking. But what he was saying wasn’t anything like what I expected.
“Aw man, look, I’m sorry, man, but I asked you not to call me that, and I’m really havin’ a hard time right now, and o man, I’m really, really sorry. This is not who I am…”
I noticed Tony go quietly over to the icebox and pull out a bag of frozen peas. The scientist hadn’t moved.
Marcus gathered himself up into a seated position on the floor, nodded thanks when Tony offered him the vegetable matter, placed the bag where you could already see the beginning of a swelling, then through the makeshift ice-pack smiled up at his friend. “Ah, my dear sweet Jomi. It is exactly who you are. And the fault is all mine. If I’m going to tease you, I must remember to set it up better, so the understanding is clear.” He climbed up to where he’d been sitting and set the ice pack on the arm of the chair. “Otherwise I am no better than the taunts you received as a child, after…” There was a strange silence between them for a moment. “I still miss her, you know? After all this time.” He sighed. “She was an astonishing woman.”
I looked over from Marcus. And realized buddy now had the most astounding smile on his face. And his eyes were closed. No one moved. For a few beats. Then, without opening his eyes, he said, “Tell me what she was like.” Felt like a child asking for their favourite bedtime story. I looked back at Marcus. Eyes open. But same smile.
“She was beautiful in all of the ways that matter, her way of being with people, her laughter, her walk. She would have been our queen. If she was willing. But she insisted. Though she did call call you her little prince. You were nine.”
I must’ve looked a little lost. Though I knew this was all mostly none of my business. Marcus took pity on me. Said, quietly, “she was disappeared.” Ah. I remembered reading about that happening in south america, argentina, chile. Governments deciding somebody was just too much trouble. Marcus set me straight. Not just south america. And not just governments. Sometimes just people just do that. To just people. People like buddy’s mum. I could see the telling had taken something out of him. Out of both of them. “But not before she blazed a path of glory. That we all remember.” Marcus pointed a finger in my direction, “To. This. Day.” He looked at buddy for a second. Then back to me, “And so, we all raise a glass on her birthday.” Came that smile again. And what was that, pride? “It’s a special day for us. We use it to remember our fallen friends. And loved ones. All of them. A look back to sparechange, “Which is of course tomorrow.” Buddy nodded. “So I was doubly the fool for my poor joke.”
Sparechange was half-smiling, not quite crying, clearly anxious for the damage he’d caused his friend, just as obviously upset at himself for losing it.
Marcus looked around the room, at Tony and Archer taking this all in, then said to no one in particular, “Our tradition is to raise a glass. With someone we care about.” He looked at buddy, “Jomi? May I make a suggestion?” A small shrug yes, so he continued, “I think you should sit down with a friend tomorrow. I’ve set aside a bottle of armagnac…”
A kind of brandy, I remembered. But, I couldn’t help myself, “I didn’t know that was portuguese.”
“Nah, man. it’s…”
Marcus finished for him, “It is to Jomi’s taste.” He smiled again at his friend. Man, if I ever get that much love directed at me in one look I will die happy. “And it is a rare treat. I wondered if he might enjoy it.” Buddy nodded a rueful smile. “Then here is my suggestion.” He drew himself up to look buddy straight in the eye. “That my small gift be the glass you raise.” Then he waved a hand in my direction, “And this be the friend you raise it with.” Both of us must’ve looked surprised, so he continued with a smile, “Jomi, he is a good man. He is your friend, yes?” There was a nod he didn’t wait for. “And you will have scared him twice now with a…” The smile got even bigger, “…with a whacking.” I could hear Tony snort a laugh, not quite successfully held in. I looked up, Archer had an unreadable expression on her face. And her eyes were slightly glassy. Come to think of it, so were mine.
The big man took a look around the room, checking in with everybody, just like Tony might do. Then he sighed, and nodded his head, in some kind of satisfaction. “Let the glass be mind. And the friend be this one.”
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.
NEXT