The Waiting Room
~ Chapter Forty-Two
Sparrow's Gold Coin
While
Mort and Sparrow’s confrontation held the attention of the Room, an
oddly matched couple continued to converse on the far side at the
foot of the bookcase ladder.
“I still don’t understand
how I mixed up Tinkerbell with her sister, Alice. I swore I had Tink
in my pocket,” the Scotsman tried to explain. The Commander gave a
sympathetic nod.
“It is quite easy I assure you, Mr. Barrie,
to mistake fairies. They do look so much alike. But what’s done is
done. And what needs to be done now is to save her from the monkey
before she is harmed in any way.
“And by capturing the
simian, we accomplish many things. The Captain has his monkey and his
coin, Alice is saved and I…I…” Spencer’s eyes glazed. Barrie
did not know if he was remembering something or if he now had a
medical dilemma on his hands, fearing the astronaut was slipping into
a seizure.
“Commander, I say, Commander,” Barrie gently
tugged at Spencer’s sleeve. It broke the trance as Armacost shook
his head and came back to the present.
“Sorry, you were
saying?” Spencer asked Barrie.
“No, sir, it was not I
speaking. It was you. But I fear that your attention was diverted
away for a moment. I do hope that you are feeling well.” The young
writer stepped away from the Commander, now fearing perhaps he had
something contagious.
Spencer cast a dark look to Barrie.
“No, no, I am fine.”
He looked up towards the bookcase. Alice
had been speaking to him. Telling him where to find her.
With
concentrated calculation, Spencer began to climb the ladder, slow and
sure, quiet footfall upon each rung as he made his way to the top.
Barrie watched as the astronaut stood stone still on the final rungs,
paused in brief anticipation.
From his view on the floor
Barrie could see nothing on top of the bookcase that was swathed in
shadows. Ever so slowly, Spencer raised his arm until his hand was
near his head, fingers wide as readied himself.
He gave a
small cock of his head as if listening for sounds that did not fall
on Barrie’s own ears. Then with the speed of a striking snake, his
hand went into the shadows, and just as quick, snapped out.
In
his grasp, Spencer had the monkey by the neck. The minute he had
grabbed it the creature screamed and with front paws and back feet
trying to pull at Spencer’s hand, its tail wrapped firmly around
his forearm.
In its struggle it had released both the coin
and the fairy. The coin fell to the floor, rolling out of sight
before anyone realized what was happening above them.
Alice
the fairy shot straight across to the other side of the room,
slamming into books, knocking them to floor. The falling tomes landed
inches from Mort who was still boiling with anger from Sparrow’s
last stinging remark.
Rainey snapped his head up to see the
bright light of the tiny imp and transferred his hatred from Sparrow
to Alice. He leaned down and snatched a book from the floor and with
all his might heaved it in the direction of the fairy.
“Freaking
fairies!” He screamed. “Freaking Room! Freaks! All of you!
Freaks!” He wanted to get away from them all and turned to run
towards the bedroom but froze to the spot when a blood-curdling
scream came from beyond the door.
Slowly his breathing
returned to normal and he looked about the Room. To his embarrassment
all eyes were on him. He straighten himself , brushing at his shirt,
clearing his throat.
The moment passed quickly as the monkey
continued to howl, fighting Spencer’s death like grip. He had not
moved from the ladder as he held on to the primate, watching it as it
struggled in his hand.
“Me monkey!” Sparrow cried out.
“Give me the bloody thing! Let me throw the bloody thing into the
cage!”
At last, he thought, I got me coin back!
But
to his horror he saw Spencer move the monkey back to the top of the
case, releasing him.
“NO!” Sparrow screamed from the
bottom of ladder. “Why in the bloody ‘ell did you do that for!”
The pirate whipped out his pistol and leveled it up at
Spencer.
“Get it back!” He ordered. “Get the monkey
back so I can be getting me coin!”
Spencer looked down,
unfazed by the weapon Jack was aiming.
“He dropped the
coin,” Spencer told Sparrow.
“What do ye mean? He dropped
the coin?” The pirate waved the pistol menacingly at the astronaut.
“Just what I said, Captain. The monkey dropped the coin. It
landed on the floor somewhere.” He began to climb down the ladder.
“Uh?” Sparrow looked down to the floor and did not see
the coin. He put away the pistol and dropped to all fours,
frantically searching for the missing gold piece.
“Hey,
Sparrow?”
Jack popped up at the sound of his name, looking
over the couch back towards the direction of the voice.
“Is
this yours?”
Across the Room, Mort was seated on the corner
of his desk, a wicked smile crossing his face as he held up his hand.
Between his fingers something flashed in the overhead light.
Something small, and round, and gold.