Robert Liston - The Tower of Evil

Byerly sat, Doreen didn’t.

“It’s cancer, isn’t it?” she said.

“Wouldn‘t you rather sit first, DeeDee?”

“Stop pussy-footing around. Tell me the truth.”

“Very well, yes, a carcinoma was found.”

“I knew it, I knew it.” She clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oh God…” She breathed deeply once, twice. “Oh God, how much time do we have?”

Phil Van Zant looked at her, started to laugh, then suppressed it. “Why don’t you have a seat, DeeDee?”

“I don’t want a seat, dammit. How long does Walter have?”

Now he laughed, quite heartily. “How would I know, DeeDee? He could be hit by a car leaving my office. Maybe lightning will strike as we sit here. There are always coronaries and strokes, various contagions that take a man when he least expects it. Shoot, Walter might even die of cancer.”

She gaped at him. “But you said…”

“Walter has prostate cancer, but chances are he’ll die of any or all the aforementioned before his prostate does him in.”

Byerly pulled Doreen down into her chair. “I’m on Doreen’s side, Phil. How can I have cancer, yet-”

Doreen jumped up. “I know, you’re going to operate, take it out, He’ll be okay then, right?”

Byerly pulled her down again. “Please, Doreen, with you talking, who can learn anything?”

She glared at him. ”Maybe you can take cancer in your good ol’ male chauvinist stride, but I’m fighting for my life, my life with you, my…happiness.”

Phil Van Zant laughed again. “You’re doing a good job of it, DeeDee. And I thought I was the bearer of good news.”

“Good news?’

“Yes, DeeDee, Walt’s cancer is of a very slow growing variety. Chances are he’ll die of other causes before it gets him, as I tried to tell you.” Van Zant looked at him. “I thought you’d be more pleased, Walt.”

“I am, I guess. I just don’t understand.” He sighed. “Maybe I don’t like having a foreign growth inside me. Isn’t there some kind of treatment?”

“It’s called watchful waiting. We test you regularly, keep an eye on it. If anything happens, we should have plenty of time to remove it before it becomes a danger to you. You’re going to be fine, Walt, trust me.”

Doreen was having as much trouble believing all this as he was. “Isn’t there something for Walter to do?”

“Of course, keep on doing whatever he has been.”

“You mean, he’s okay?”

“That’s exactly what I mean, DeeDee.” He stood up. “I’ll see you in six months, Walt.”

She recognized the beautiful face at once. “Why Hyacinth, how good to see you!”

“Do you remember me, DeeDee?”

“How could I forget, but what brings you to my shop?”

“I was walking by, saw your sign and…remembered you…as so…very nice…to me.”

DeeDee put her arm around her. “My dear, you’re crying, what’s the matter?”

“Everything.”

She remembered. “Didn’t your movie work out?”

Hyacinth wailed and shook her head at the same time. “It was horrible. Mr. Dragon sent me to a…porno flick. They wanted me to…and to-”

”You needn’t explain, dear, I can imagine.”

“I wouldn’t do it… I couldn’t. It was too…awful!”

“Of course, you couldn’t.” She hugged her. “I’m so proud of you.”

“You are?”

“Lots of girls wouldn’t have your courage.” She touched her chin. “Hyacinth, I want you to hold your head up and show that beautiful smile. Don’t be discouraged. You’ll get your movie career, if that’s what you want.”

She smiled. “Thank you, DeeDee, you’re-”

“Are you going back to your old job?”

“I can’t, not with Mr. Dragon there.”

“I doubt if you’ll see much of him, he’s in jail.”

“He is?”

“Not for what he did to you, but something far more serious. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

“I still can’t go back there-ever!” She wailed anew. “What am I going to do, I need a job?”

She looked around her shop. “Karen has left me and I need someone. Do you think you’d like to work in a flower shop?”

“Oh yes, do you think I could?”

“With a name like Hyacinth, you’re a natural.”

Doreen took his arm as they mounted the steps. “Are we at the right place, love?”

“Josh said the Biltmore.” The Four Seasons Biltmore lay just down the beach from their house, and they wined and dined there often. “Who are we to quarrel with four-star elegance, not to mention poshness, a killer view and class?”

“Does he have any idea what a private party costs here?”

“Do you?”

“My inheritance.”

“You’ve already spent that.”

“On this gown, surely, but it is nice to dress elegantly for a change. You’re handsome in your tux, dear.”

“I don’t believe you. You once said I looked nice in my birthday suit.”

“You did, love, but that was a special occasion.”

They were inside now, crossing the tiled floor under the glorious painted ceiling. “Did you know you called me DeeDee?”

“Never.”

“Oh yes you did, at the gate when I was in the tower. I heard you distinctly.”

He stopped and turned to her. “Hmm. I wanted you back, even empty-headed.”

She smiled beautifully. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I can do better. Do you remember asking Phil Van Zant how long I had to live?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve been thinking about what I’d do if he’d said I only had a month?”

“And?”

“I’d go to bed with you-and die with a smile on my face.”

“You’re right, that is nicer. What if he’d said three months?”

“Now you’re talking big grin.”

Josh greeted them. “Here you are at last, the guests of honor.”

“I still don’t know what the occasion is.”

“You’ll figure it out.”

Byerly smiled at him. “I see you bought a comb.”

Josh touched his now flat hair and smiled sheepishly. “Granddad insisted.”

Everyone was there. Addie was radiant, Lupe lovely and Mandy beautiful. Jamie even wore a suit. But mostly Byerly was drawn to the figure in the wheelchair. He went to him, offered his hand, said, “Good to see you, Mr. Kinkaid.”

The old man held on to his hand, wouldn’t let go. “I understand I have you to thank for giving my grandson back to me.”

“I don’t think he’d really gone anywhere, sir. I think you just lost sight of him for awhile.”

“Well put, Byerly. I did sort of have blinders on, didn’t I? All my fault, falling for a woman like-”

“But what would we do without them, sir?”

Josh raised his voice. “I’d like to make a toast.” He raised his glass of wine. Doreen, holding Jamie, showed him how to lift his glass of ginger ale. “To Walt and DeeDee, for helping me get back my mother and my grandfather.”

“Just see that you don’t lose us again,” Addie said.

Later, at dinner, Byerly made his own toast. “Here’s to happy endings.”

“Here, here,” Lupe said.

“It’s hardly happy,” Doreen said, “with Mandy and Jamie going back to Boston. Must you?”

“I think it’s best. Cyn Wu and I can make a life there.”

“But I’ll miss this little one so much.” Jamie sat beside her in a high chair. She put her arm around him.

“I’ll write and phone, so will he when he’s older, and we’ll visit back and forth.”

“It had better happen that way. You promised to bring him next year.”

“Are you going to be okay financially?” Byerly asked. “Is the settlement from Wright enough?”