Chapter 29: Of Worth and Devils - Pt.4 of 4

“Well, here comes one of the greatest storytellers I know, not about fiction though, but about life”, Cane said as Nelly came back into earshot with both chairs. “He underselling me again?” she said with a firm smile, as Cane simply said “always, makes it easier for you to knock them down after I set them up, if you remember?” he teased playfully. Nelly and Kate too their seats, although Nelly reversed hers, the back though not high, faced them as she sat over the seat spread legged. As Cane eyed her with a mischievous grin, his eye always on the small details as he said “old habits still firmly in place I see”, he said recognizing her choice of seating arrangement for what it was, even as Kate sat clueless, equally intrigued “around you my dear, nothing less is advisable”, she said with a steady grin as Warren and Sandra made their way over to them “You mind if we hang out with the other guys running the store and get to know everyone, we never really got any formal introductions so this way we could keep it casual whilst you catch up”, he offered, as they all agreed “yeah that sounds nice”, Nelly said “agreed, just remember it’s easy to lose yourself in here with the characters you’ll find both inside “and” outside any books you see here, I know I did, more than once, and I am more than just grateful for it”, he said knowingly as he looked at both Nelly and Kate in turn with appreciative glances.

They watched both Warren and Sara disappear steadily down the stairs as Kate and Nelly stared at Cane with joint look of affection his earlier comment, its true meaning not lost on them as they both knew the depth of his feelings for both of them. “If I were to say I was in love with Nelly since I first saw her, I’d be lying, because I could see clearly worth a dogs piss to be fair”, he said frankly, “naturally, this was because I was in a bar fight and the em owner did not share same enthusiasm I had for my downward spiral, following your mothers untimely breakup with me into a form of unleaded burning hell to leather approach with alcohol one might naturally assume a bartender might appreciate as good for business, on the booze side of it anyways”, Cane said with a lightness in his tone that left Kate unexpectedly speechless. “But in finding my inner demons and embracing them whole as a form of safety blanket, I also found the woman who would rip it from me and show me something else, albeit after I sobered up, moderately ... well enough to piss straight without fear of missing the target ... completely”, he added unable to keep a straight face as Nelly simply giggled into her open hand and said “they used to call him the BFJerk as you can imagine he wasn’t such a friendly giant back then, but your twenties are never really kind to anyone who has to discover themselves the hard way, and pain, emotional pain can be life’s greatest teacher or the best excuse for an early grave”, she said with a tone that seemed to speak from experience as she added. “I found him in a bar, and it wasn’t one of those nice swanky one’s where you meet and chat and talk about what you want to do afterwards, in either his or your place if you’re feeling naughty”, she said with an almost fond remembrance as Kate noticed Cane just as raptly attentive to her as Kate was, seemingly growing entranced and Nelly knew it. “No this was a biker bar and that meant there was more than a fifty, fifty chance someone in there was gonna’ try to jump you either outside in broad daylight and or inside with all their friends, especially when you show up looking for more than an ego to bruise and a chip on your shoulder the size of the heart ache you were carrying”, she said her tone solemn, almost worried. “Seems that happens allot”, she said as she looked at Cane”, “I know it’s why I was there”, he admitted.

“I just happened to be there for his crowning achievement he’s been building up to the whole week. Everyone’s ready, even the barkeep who was a friend of mine in the professional sense since he’d seen my “work” in action on previous nights when someone felt particularly brave and felt like testing fate with a slap on the ass or especially “endearing” comment I can’t repeat in polite conversation”, she said as she smiled almost evil “and after he said that to me and my brass knuckles which I kept handy, I think he decided it was a Nobel prize winning idea not say again, at least to me”, she said with a satisfied grin, as she seemed to be picturing with an almost faraway gaze what she’d done to this unknown patron. But as they say “cry not for fools, else you’ll be doing so all day”, she said with her familiar smirk Kate found just as disarming as ever if abit alarming in its implications.

She found Cane trying to stifle some laughter as he looked at Kate’s expression and said “you had to be there, more than just in that particular moment, but the era Kate. This was before the internet exploded, when people still actually watched TV and paid vivid attention to the radios. There were no mp3 players, no affordable, compact computers you or me would have been able to get our hands on in comparison to how commercially viable they are today. No social media, no networks or friends hooked onto them aside from those you kept in touch with over a landline or pay phone, letters or word of mouth. It was more intimate and at the same time it could be much more isolating as a result”, he said honestly. “And one thing about biker bars is you weren’t going to end up there to make friends”, Nelly added almost eagerly, “so you weren’t exactly feeling guilty about anything you did to the “clientele” afterwards, since they were probably planning to do worse to you afterwards on average, eventually”, before she added “unless you looked like you were about to go overboard, which was why the barkeep kept me on with an unlimited tab whilst I was there, so I could help keep the peace, I was both a sucker punch for anyone who didn’t expect me and a “troubleshooter” before the term became popular in computing. Luckily I never had to apply the brakes too hard, except for ol’Cane here”, she said as she rested her elbow on the reversed curve of the wooden seat in front of her and with her chin resting on her palm, as she indicated with her eyes and a slightly nod of her head in Cane’s direction albeit with a growing toothy grin.

“I could see then, what I know I can’t see now, he wanted to go abit old testament, maybe crack an over eager head or two open”, she said with a dazzling look building in her eyes, as she looked at him “Luckily”, Cane said in a warm tone fill with genuine gratitude “She had her fun with me first, before I got a real chance to let those demons free”, he said by way of general summary. “But in reality”, Nelly said as she cracked a hearty laugh “I knocked out the poor baby with a handy bat the barkeep passed to me when Cane’s back was turned as quiet as a lamb, so he wouldn’t see it coming”, she said with a grin that told them the best was yet to come which Cane confirmed by saying “here it comes, sucker punch of the century”, with a warm smile and equally warm tone, as she smiled devilishly and said “you have to admit it though a five foot something eighteen year old girl, weighing about what was I? Sixty-six pounds then?” she queried him as Cane made a thoughtful expression on his face before he said”

“I’d say more like fifty-five soaking wet with a brick in her pocket”, he said with a wink to Kate that had her snorting in laughter as Nelly’s eyes narrowed playfully “you know, I’m not above using that bat on you again”, she said with a smile that never left her face. “So as I was saying”, she began as she eyed Cane with a mock scowl on her face, “the poor baby never stood a chance, I snuck up behind him as let his hamstrings know the business end of a black, painted hickory swatter, nothing a few moments of contemplation on his part couldn’t have solved, but like I said he wanted to go ol’testament so I obliged and became “David” to his “Goliath”, luckily and left him with a good placed shot to his mandibular nerve that bounced him off the floor”, she said with no small amount of relish, as Cane simply smiled, the relish on his own face seemingly mirroring her own until he saw what effect it was having on Kate, his smile faltered a little as he saw her slightly horrified expression, “I’m okay Kate, she’s not that bad, she’s just...”, but Kate had already turned her gaze to Nelly and was saying “you know, I can totally see it, especially with the way you tell it, you share a history and an easy fondness that comes with it, but what ... what confuses me is why you two didn’t stay together, because you seem more fond than eachother than just friends, so If I may ask, was the breakup up over your sexual preference or discovery?”, she asked with a genuine curiosity, edged with more than just a little trepidation, unsure of if she was overstepping a boundary.

To which they both in unison, as if rehearsed for this very moment burst out laughing in perfect sync as Kate was left to blink rapidly trying to process this sudden turn of events. Before Cane urged Nelly to answer as she said whipped away a tear from her eye as she frankly said “Fuck no”, with a gentle smile as she turned to Cane with what Kate could only presume was a look of familiar longing he’d received from her countless times before Cane interjected and said “allot of people perceive there is only one side to any given art, but more than often this is not true, the same principle applies to people, especially “Nell”, here who doesn’t conform to limits set so easily by others, which is why I loved her and always cherished her wild spirit. Allot of people for the same reason see her and respectfully Florence only as a “same sex couple” or similar label that’s easier to contend with because it’s more familiar, but that’s like calling a dragon a bird because it has wings and can fly, sure it can fly but it’s not a bird, it’s a thing of nobility and myth and chaos and destruction”, he said with a chuckle.

“But no, sexuality placed no ... permanence on our decision to break up, she is not as you’ll discover lesbian and I can’t speak for Florence, but as far as Nelly goes’ I understand she’s bisexual, which back then was not as easy to understand let alone accept, it was not the norm to advertise such things, and when she told me, I didn’t reject or disbelieve her, I simply wished she’d told me sooner, so she could be as honest as possible with me, without feeling threatened or intimidated by the idea that I wouldn’t see her in the same light, which is a feeling I’m sure no one wants to experience as I’m sure you know Kate”, he said with a knowing look at Kate, as she nodded slightly, as she looked at Nelly, in a new light before she said “to be fair he didn’t use those words exactly, more like a series of grunts and prayers he offered to anyone who was listening, that he be allowed to survive the night with me, now that I felt I could fully “unleash” myself on him with total and reckless abandon. The bed we shared on the other hand was not so lucky”, she said with a cute giggle at the end as she tried to cover it up with her hand but failed to, as Cane hung his head, barely containing his own laughter as he said “I loved that bed, I thought toward the end it would outlive us all”, he said half jokingly “before it firmly collapsed around us, thankfully it wasn’t a four-poster or else we might not be here to tell the tale”, he added as he broke into a new fit of laughter, as Nelly joined him.

Kate though could only blush slightly, her mind racing. “To be fair when you did replace it within the same day my father thought you a permanent fixture, which was rare of him to show such an emotional connection”, Nelly said she picked up her chair and set beside Cane the seating style still reversed as Kate asked simply “do you normally always do that with your seat?”, she asked her as Nelly noticed her gaze and said “it’s a habit from my old bouncer days, makes it easier to get up and out when things get hectic, which in a place like that, was often. I’d make sure by back was against a solid surface I could still see the main bar from, and used the back of the seat itself which unlike the stools was more stable to lean against”, she said “it also put a nice piece of wood between you and anyone you thought might try and take a stab at you with a switchblade or anything quick and nasty they could use to poke your guts with”, she said with an almost blasé attitude Kate found both disturbing and fascinating.

Cane only nodded to this sagely as he said “I learned that very same night she knocked me out what was in store for me with the “Fools Noose”, she put me through, which despite what the name suggests is not what your imagining, as he smiled evilly as Nelly, knowing she was eager to tell the story of their first night together and she obliged.”We em had a way of breaking down violent ego’s so they felt less inclined to walk into the bar next time and start a serious fight, especially if they stood out like a Cane here, as large as life and twice as mean”, she said with a familiar smirk “the Fools Noose, as we called it, was a tub set in the back, exposed to the wind and the barren elements at large. We’d keep it clean for the particular lesson we needed educate only the worst offenders with, as in we would lay their helpless, prone forms in the tub, and strap them in with those industrial air line luggage straps they use to fix things like crates travelling in the cargo hold of a plane, you know the kind that you couldn’t even break if you had the strength of ten men and the determination of a bull with its nuts in a vice”, she said with a look that was both nostalgic and slightly terrifying as Kate tried to imagine such a sight and failed. “Well, we used that to keep him down and we had a pressure release valve tied to a foot pump by the foot of the bath that would feed into the shower nozzle overhead. The idea was we had three buckets, filled separately with water, beer and piss from every patron he hadn’t taken a liking to”, she said as she let Kate fill in the blanks as her expression grew more and more horrified as Cane chuckled lightly beside her, his expression slightly apologetic as he said “it was a very effective way to keep the peace, and it’s a long story how it got its name but I’ll let Nelly finish as you can tell she so eagerly wants to”, he added unable to help hanging his head in fresh laughter’s as Nelly, continued with “and I told him, either he could cool down himself or we could help him if he felt he wasn’t capable, and to be fair we told him exactly what was in the contents of the three buckets, the reason being the beer we used was some homebrew moonshine the bartender sold apart for an extra buck before he invested his time a more legalized form of micro brewing. The principle was, we would brace you with cold, icy water, then we’d pour the moonshine on you so that it would essentially help “cheer” you up from whatever bug you had up your butt, which he most understandably had, and if that didn’t work we’d sour the entire experience and dump enough unfiltered piss to ruin the whole night and douse your ego in a wave of embarrassment, you’d take your time living down before you ever thought of raising your fist in anger again around that same bar. It was non-lethal and I won’t say it was without it’s risk as some of the regulars were known to fail their weekly “drug tests”, when they were on parole and attending the pub”, she said letting the implications hang in the air, as Kate felt like she had just walked into a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie and had no idea how to get out without being part of it, she swallowed thickly and said “so ... so you two had quite the history together”, she said, trying to keep the conversation flowing without her voice cracking.

“Well, when you put it like that”, Cane said with a cheerful smile “it sounds like we were destined to get foiled robbing a bank and go out Bonny and Clyde style”, he said with a broad smile and light laugh, which only made Nelly laugh harder, her laughter infectious as Kate couldn’t help but to smile in response. “But, no, I ... conceded, that Nelly had the right of it and never got as far as even the water stage of the whole affair. I ... actually had an eye opening experience, believe it or not whilst I was knocked out and it left me ... wandering I guess you could say, like really trying to do more than guess if what I saw and what I heard was real or just part of my subconscious telling me with the blunt force of a hammer that I needed more help than I was willing to give myself at the time”, he said, the humour gone from his voice, replaced instead with thoughtful introspection. “You wanna’ tell her what you saw or shoulder I?”, Nelly offered, her own tone quiet, considerate, at odds with her usual disarming disposition that she normally filled the room with, as she looked and suddenly sounded like she’d been muted of all colour except for the poignant crimson lipstick and nail polish she wore, standing out eerily, matching the same style and intensity as shown in Warrens first portrait as Cane looked at her and said “no, I think it might mean more coming from me, in case it scares her, I know it scared the shit out of me and that later when I told you it had the same effect”, he said as he gratefully held her hand in his and squeezed it before letting go.

“You’ve heard you fair share of rock I believe in your life Kate right?” he began simply, as Kate nodded unsure of where he was going with this. “So if I mention the names Johnny Cash and Scott Stapp, what comes to mind?” he queried with genuine curiosity. “Johnny Cash was the man in black, known for his deep baritone voice, and a history of drugs and prison but ultimately redemption”, Kate replied with a nod “and Scott Stapp?” he asked with a slight frown. “He was the lead singer of Creed, had a rough patch with his own demons, but ended up making it through, I believe”, she said, unsure of the relevance. “Exactly”, Cane said with a nod “both men, very different lives, different demons but both men had their moments of clarity and their moments of darkness, but what they shared was the power of music to reach them in those moments of need. And that’s what I saw when I was out cold except, it didn’t feel like a dream that slips out of your waking mind as is the nature of such things, but more like a memory you wish would just leave you as quickly as it became real,” he said with a look in his eyes that told her he meant every word of it, as he continued “I...”, he started with a bitter laugh before he pushed through as Nelly held his hand for a moment before he said “I saw myself splayed out as I was on the steps of a church with no one around to help me, and all I could hear was Johnny Cash whisper on the wind about how I’d met my end on those cold grey steps, that seemed larger than life itself as they led up to the church and behind it, my vision rose above my body as I looked towards the graveyard. The next part I admit I can’t express as well as I wish I could because I never acquired a good ear for tone or pitch or inflection when it came to singing but years later when I heard Creed come out with “Bullets” in 2001 I almost started in shock when Scott Stapp belted out “I think they shoot ‘cause they want it”, in the same style and force I heard in the dream years after before they even formed a band or released anything and it sounded ... it sounded like they were raging against the dying of the light like Bob Dylan wrote about and...”, the tears were flowing easily now as he tried to wipe them away, Nelly cooing him with soft words only he could hear as she held him to her sympathetically, before he recovered his composure after a long moment and let her know she was okay.

Kate sat there, stunned by Cane’s revelation, the weight of his words hanging heavily in the air. She had never seen him so vulnerable, and the raw emotion etched on his face was a stark contrast to the jovial, carefree persona he usually presented to the world. The silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity before she found her voice, whispering, “You saw your own ... mortality?”

Cane looked at her with a certainty in his eyes that could only come from seeing it for yourself when he said “I saw my own coffin Kate, on the shoulders of friends as grey and as undeniable as those stone steps I’d lay on, with “Creed” howling alongside with the thunder and the rain. I ... couldn’t make out the words then and I can’t now but it struck a nerve and it stuck. It felt like...” he pointed at Sara’s piece of Charles Dickens Christmas Carol. “It felt like being visited by death, only no apparition, only a dread certainty that fills every bone, nerve and vein until it squeezes out all doubt and leaves you either screaming in denial or you wake up to it as a reality you might soon face”, he said his expression bellying the gravity of his words. “My only saving grace was that when I did wake up it was to this grateful angel who stood above me, eager promise of redemption in hand if I listened and behaved”, he said as he turned to hug Nelly, which she returned with a gentle nod and a whisper in his ear that Kate couldn’t quite make out.

When they parted from the hug, he continued and said “I must have made quite the impression, because “they” as in everyone initially there saw something different in me as if they didn’t doubt for a second that I’d had an “experience” when I was out. I’d learned later on that Nelly’s “light touch”, he said with a sincere smile “had produced one other “epiphany” or sort of on an older man not too far removed from my age now, and he didn’t ... he didn’t “accept” I imagine is the best word to describe whatever he saw looking back at him from wherever we go when sleep and dream of other worlds not wholly unlike our own. I was told he made it two weeks before he ate a double barrel full of lead the aftermath of which didn’t wash out as easily as a spilled drink or a harsh word, and I can only be grateful that it wasn’t me in his place and that I’d had a perfect muse to guide me away from that twin-barrelled tunnel with no light at the end”, he said sincerely as he took Nelly’s hand and kissed it warmly.

Kate could only nod, her thoughts racing as she processed Cane’s revelation. The room felt smaller, the air thick with shared emotion. She had never seen him open up like this, and it was a stark reminder of the depths that lay beneath his jovial exterior. She took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to respond as she brought her seat closer to his. “Cane, I had no idea,” she began, her voice gentle and sincere, “you’ve always been the life of the party, the one to lighten the mood. It’s hard to imagine you going through something so...” she trailed off, unable to find the right words. “Naturally my dear some things come at a cost ... I had to know pain before I came to know peace, as they say”, he offered by way of explanation for the time being, as he looked at her with warm, budding affection that she felt in her core.

“After that Nelly, took a seat with me outside to make sure I wasn’t just “faking” naturally, she had to be sure I wouldn’t be a danger to myself or anyone, so I told her the whole thing and she told me of similar experience they had with a former patron and friend of theirs. She took it in my opinion better than I did, which was reassuring. After talking for what felt like hours, as she leaned her legs over the edge of the tub and listened to me practically bawl over my experience with your mother, although without mentioning her name specifically so as to not risk spreading any unwanted rumours or bad impressions of her in the community. “He was cute bawler, even in his youth”, Nelly said with a soft smile and an affectionate tone, as Cane simply smiled and went on “surely I must have been. Because that very same night, after allot of sobering up and our first official, unofficial first date we both leave the bar and go for a bite to eat. I ... I remember it tasting like the best burger and fries like I’d ever had in my whole life for some reason, like the small things I’d been depriving myself for so long were making sense again to allow myself to feel, as the pain slowly thawed and I let everything back in again, a step at a time”, he said, asking Nelly if she wanted continue the story, which she did with a nod and a warm smile “we got to know eachother, he’d pick me up at the bar after I finished my rounds there are at the end of the day. I held three part-time jobs to help save up for the school I wanted to attend so I could refine my art skills, becoming a teacher later on sort of fell into place, when I realized I wanted to help others mould themselves as much as myself through its medium, regardless how much like a cliché that sounds like even as I’m saying it, as something you might find on an pamphlet advertising an art college or something”, she joked as Kate couldn’t help but laugh a bit with her, the tension in the room easing up a bit.

“But yeah he was an absolute gentleman, he showed me his love for literature, art, he expressed his thoughts, his humours honestly, and I couldn’t help being drawn by that”, she said with a longful look in her eyes as Cane simply smiled and accepted the compliment with grace. Kate felt a warmth spread through her at their shared love for art, it was like watching two souls that had found refuge in each other, despite the chaotic world they lived in. “He introduced me to his uncle Troy and his mother Lilly, the bookstore he worked at and practically invited me to join in him, but I naturally declined wanting to make my own way as I eventually did”, she said with an uncompromising smile, as Kate herself understood that same feeling of wanting to find your own path by your own means, like she’d done to raise tuition for herself for college. “I think when they saw you for the first time”, Cane began with a cheeky smile “they weren’t sure what to make of you, only that they when they saw how happy you made me that it removed any pause in their minds about me be able to move on with my life in a way that meant something good had taken hold over all the pain and misery I was fostering”, he said honestly, the smile never leaving his face as Nelly added “you would have loved them Kate, Troy had the worst jokes you’ll ever hear and Lilly made sure the one’s she had you could never share with another soul, unless you heard her deliver it first, like she’d become part of joke itself in the best possible way. Troy also had this...”, Nelly trailed off as she looked into the middle distance with a look over rare wonderment “he could design and fabricate dresses that would make you feel not only like royalty but like you were the only person in the world worthy of the title when your wore one of them fitted for you perfectly”, she said with a smile that was sad and happy all at once, like she was trying to keep a secret that she hadn’t told anyone else before, as Cane nodded with a fondness in his gaze that told Kate she wasn’t wrong, they were indeed special people to have had in their lives. “Cane would ... well he did produce a series of dresses that as his earliest work is nothing to look down your nose at, even as he was learning his craft but when he produced that one lavish black dress he made for I thought I was going to have to pay my whole life savings to afford just so I could have it, before he told me...”, she trailed off letting Cane continue “This dress was made for one woman and one woman alone, and denying her the simple pleasure of wearing would be like denying myself the greatest happiness, I want to share with her now and always”, he said, his voice lilting between serious and playful as he spoke. “He was quite the romantic, wasn’t he?” Kate asked with a smile, feeling a warmth in her chest at the thought of such a gesture. “You tell me?”, Nelly said as she showed her a photo they’d taken of her in the dress at the time, digitized and made available on her phone as Kate’s mouth formed a solid O-shape at how beautiful both Nelly and the dress looked, her hair done in a glossy black, curled style that reached her jaw line, along with subtle makeup that only enhanced her subtle beauty, not detracted from it, as the main body of the dress, starting at the bodice was a dissecting pattern of intricate, curling designs like those seen on royal crests but sweeping downwards vertically in a feminine curls accentuating her figure, showing off her slim and desirable frame before it got to her feet beautifully, showing off similarly sparkling shoes that matched the design of the dress poking out from under the hemline, as the actual skirt of the dress flared outwards from the sides of her hips on either side of the curling vertical design touching the floor and adding a layer of elegance that left Kate utterly speechless for a moment before she said “It’s beautiful, absolutely stunning”, her voice filled with genuine admiration for Cane’s talent and for Nelly’s beauty, “Thank you Kate, it was a wonderful time in our lives, and I’m happy to have been part of it”, she said as Kate could feel the sincerity in her words as if they’d been etched into her very soul.

“Not to spoil the mood though...” Kate began as Nelly showed off the image to Cane as he cradled the phone in his hands “but why did you two break up, you seem like the perfect couple after all”, she said as she noticed the sudden shift in their expressions, one of fondness and another of regret. Cane began with “it began with your aunt Silvia, who’d promised me not to contact your mother unless she or one of her family members decided to do so first. She visited me one day at the store and my heart almost leapt out of my chest, with what it could mean, but I let her say her piece as she told me about how she’d heard I’d found happiness with Nelly and was naturally happy I had found the strength to move on. She told me Barbara was fine and that she hadn’t in fact been pregnant, but that she still needed time to discover herself and who she wanted to be in life. To this effect she’d heard through the grapevine that both Nelly and she would be attending the same college. I can tell you honestly it felt like my stomach had bottomed out and a huge weight had suddenly shifted itself in its place, through no foreseeable fault of my own”, he began as he measured the effect of his words choosing them carefully. “I ... I tried to explain and failed spectacularly I think in my opinion...”, he said as he rested his head on his upturned palm, resting on his knee as a pensive expression consumed his face as he concentrated on a spot no one else could see on the ground “ ... that even though I had no problem whatsoever with them ever meeting up as they naturally would sharing classes, teachers and even seating arrangements there, that I didn’t want any bad blood or otherwise to get between them, so I withheld Barbara’s name, her identify, never letting Nelly know who she was for fear that she would seek her out and inadvertently cause your mother or even herself any personal pain. Despite the fact that as you know they eventually did get to know eachother as you no doubt discovered, but it was only revealed later on, after they’d formed a friendship, of who she was, when they’d taken a photo of themselves in front of “Christine” when she told us about what happened with the teacher. My uncle troy recognized Barbara immediately after she showed it to him, when I wasn’t in the room. The look on his face and the look on mine when he found out that I hadn’t told her who she was made it ... less than a comfortable situation, so I relented. I told Nelly everything, even showed her the locket, you’re wearing right now around your neck, the one with your mother and aunts picture in it when they were young, so as to prove it was not a joke or a fantasy and that I truly didn’t want to cause her any pain in the process, despite the way I had almost soured both our friendships to me and your mother in a single moment”, he said, regret written across his face like it had been etched there for years, but had now decided to resurface like a dead weight summoned by the memories unfolding before him.