“What
shall we speak of when we are as old as you?” ~ Cymbeline
11:00 AM, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
EUGENE’S PIZZERIA was becoming a landmark in Manhattan Beach.
Eugene’s second wife was keen on selling while it was hot but Eugene would not
hear of it.
“Well, he cannot blame Baxter anymore,” Madame Ethel Danglers
sighed while giving her landlord his usual free reading.
“Baxter has at long last returned?” Eddie Nathan perked up.
“No, but he has signed away his interest in the pizzeria. The feud
has ended,” Madame Danglers smiled.
“Then our work begins”, Nathan darted out of MADAME DANGLERS before
his tarot card reading was finished. He entered the pizzeria to begin the
process of relieving Eugene of his substantial wealth, for it was his intention
to purchase every property on the block in order to build a fabulous boutique
hotel. Before he could enter the pizzeria next-door, a large can of sliced
olives shattered the plate glass window. Nathan returned to MADAME DANGLERS
forthwith.
Eugene chased his adopted son, Westley, out into the traffic.
“Married to my daughter! I took you in and this is how you repay
me?!” Eugene threw a can of tomato paste at Westley. Westley ducked. The can
hit the window of a yellow cab.
“I will die for this!” Westley slammed his palms on the hood of the
taxi and bid the driver let him pass by first.
“Husband!” Eugene’s daughter Evelyn cried out!
“My love!” Westley shouted before disappearing down a side street.
Ethel joined her husband on the side walk. Eugene stared out to
sea in a trance of rage.
“They are married! Away with this wayward one. Lock her in her
room!”
11:00 PM, TWO HARBORS, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND
Joaquin and Jacapo ate the last of the smores. A twig snapped.
Westley stepped out of the shadows. The men drank beer and talked about the
events of the day. Westley thanked them for giving him sanctuary at Camp
Emerald Bay.
“No woman could ever be as perfect as she seems to you now. I’ll bet
that I could turn her head,” Jacapo bragged.
“As I am unemployed and in need of cash, I will bet you cannot,” Westley
wagered.
11:00 PM, HENNESSEYS TAVERN, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
A waitress and a busboy took their break in the alley.
“There is a help wanted sign at EUGENE’S,” the waitress pointed.
“Are you thinking of applying?”
“I would but that gypsy lady gives me the creeps. The way she
hovers. I don’t like her.”
“She has bewitched Eugene and made him forget himself. Since the
kidnapping of his sons and death of his wife, Madame Ethel has made herself available
to him, going so far as to dress and speak in the manner of his deceased wife.
“I bet Madame is boiling mad that her precious son Preston doesn’t
get to marry Evelyn.”
“That oaf is claiming he would have beaten Westley to a pulp if he
had not been held back by cooler heads.”
2:00 AM, EUGENE’S PIZZERIA
“I didn’t get to tell him good bye,” Evelyn cleaned the
countertop. Her eyes were red, swollen from weeping.
“Rest assured that he knows you love him,” Giovanni called out as
he loaded the dishwasher.
“Show me again the bracelet he gave you,” The cashier paused to admire
the token of love Westley had given his new wife.
10:00 AM, MADAME DANGLERS PARLOR, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Dr. Kern had known Ethel Danglers ever since she opened her new
age store by the sea. He was beginning to wish he never met her. Her heart was
hard and cold. Slowly, but surely, she had taken him to dark places he never
would have believed he would have ventured into before. She indebted him with
gifts and extracted increasingly deadly medications from him. Her boldness
spoke to her confidence that somehow she owned him. He gave her the new
medication but it was not the medication she asked for. He gave her a potion
that would cause a seeming death, but the victim would awaken refreshed in a
matter of hours. Dr. Kern added a compound, a tracer that would stain the lips
and tongue of each poor soul Madame Danglers tried to kill a bright, neon
orange. Eager to test her poison, Madame Danglers dismissed the doctor and went
to find her first victim, Westley’s best friend, Giovanni.
10:30 AM, EUGENE’S PIZZERIA, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
“Where is Giovanni?” Madame Danglers entered the pizzeria in a
festive mood. Madame Danglers found the
hardworking employee and gifted him with what she believed to be a deadly
potion, insisting that he deserved a reward for his excellent service. She
claimed that the expensive, rare potion was a favorite of Eugene’s and had cured
many ailments. She encouraged him to share the elixir with poor Evelyn to help
her with her grief over the loss of her Westley.
Madame Danglers went back to her parlor.
By and by Jacapo and his girlfriend Vampa came to the pizzeria to
visit Evelyn with news from Westley. Giovanni informed them that Evelyn was
surfing and where on the beach they might find her. Jacapo noticed Evelyn was
not wearing the bracelet. He asked her permission to address a private matter
but first excused himself to use the restroom. He called Vampa and told her to
slip into Evelyn’s apartment and find the precious bracelet that Westley had
described the night before.
Jacapo presented Evelyn with a love letter from Westley and told
her it was a pack of lies, that in fact Westley was cheating on her with many
women. He attempted to seduce her while Vampa was stealing the bracelet. Evelyn
rebuked him and sent him on his way.
When Evelyn returned to her room, she found Preston staring at Westley’s
shirt which she had placed on the bed so she could smell his scent every night.
Preston was outraged that Evelyn was so in love with Westley and had no
feelings for him. He threw the flowers he had brought for her on the floor, snatched
Westley’s shirt off the bed and stormed out of the room. When Evelyn could not
find her bracelet, she immediately suspected Preston was the thief.
8:00 PM TWO HARBORS, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND
Westley, Jacapo, and Joaquin met for dinner and drinks at a pub
called THE ISTHMUS. The night soured quickly. Westley refused to believe that
Evelyn had been untrue to him until Jacapo revealed the bracelet. Westley
plunged into despair.
8:00 AM EDDIE NATHAN’S REAL ESTATE OFFICE, REDONDO BEACH,
CALIFORNIA
“It was promised me and I will have it! You do not want me for an
enemy!” Eddie pounded his fist on his desk.
“You obtained no promise from me.” Eugene maintained.
“Your business partner promised me,” Eddie insisted.
“I have no business partner and I’ll have no more of this,” Eugene
let the door slam behind him.
8:00 AM EUGENE’S PIZZERIA, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Giovanni punched the pizza dough and read the letter from Westley
again.
“Fake news! Fake news from my best friend about the love of his
life!” Giovanni punched the dough again as if it had offended him.
“Fake news, Westley has into madness fallen and bids me murder his
faithful wife!”
Westley instructed Giovanni to take Evelyn to the town of Julian
under the guise of reuniting with him and in Julian murder her instead.
6:00 PM BELARIUS ORCHARDS, JULIAN, CALIFORNIA
Belarius watched his sons picking apples. It saddened him to hear them
speak of how small and unfruitful their lives were. He had meant well for them.
“Nothing ever happens to us!” Theodore declared.
“I will have tales to tell when I am old!” Caleb insisted.
“Tall tales, I’ll warrant!” Theodore laughed.
6:00 AM EUGENE’S PIZZERIA, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
“Where is everybody? Where is my daughter? Where is Preston?”
Eugene cried out. No one answered.
3:00 AM JULIAN, CALIFORNIA
“Why are we here? Why do you look at me so? What is wrong
Giovanni? Is my Westley here?” Evelyn was frightened. The pine forest on the
edge of the apple orchard was dark and full of strange sounds.
Giovanni was eaten with guilt. He gave Evelyn the letter where
Westley bid him end her life.
“I dressed you in men’s clothes. I cut your hair. Escape. I must
return or be suspected of helping you. Take this potion to assist you in your
journey. Godspeed.”
Evelyn drank deep of the potion for courage and strength.
Unbeknownst to Giovanni, he and Evelyn had been followed. Preston
stood in the dark, dressed in Westley’s clothing, ready to rape and torture
Evelyn once Giovanni was away enough not to hear her screams. Just when Preston
determined the moment had arrived, a farm tool removed Preston’s head.
“Father, we were too late! The lad is dead,” Caleb cried out when
he discovered Evelyn. The potion had instantly taken her to a death-like state.
“Lay them to rest in the barn. We will give proper burial in the
morning.
5:00 AM EUGENE’S RESIDENCE, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
“What is wrong with my wife?” Eugene asked Dr. Kern.
“She is dying. She talks out of her head. A dementia has overcome
her. She confesses awful crimes, terrible deeds. She screams that she never
loved you, admits that she lied about your business partner to make Baxter appear
guilty and made manipulations to take your money.” Dr Kern threw away a small
vial. The contents of the vial worked their way through Madame Danglers veins.
He took the action after Eddie Nathan died of suspicious circumstances and
Eugene’s lips turned bright orange, indicating that Madame Danglers had indeed
attempted to murder her husband with the potion.
6:00 AM BELARIUS ORCHARD, JULIAN, CALIFORNIA
When Evelyn woke, she found herself next to a headless corpse.
Immediately she recognized her husband’s clothing. Belarius and his sons took
her in and nursed her through her grief. She told them her name was Gunther and
lived on as the younger brother of the two men. She lost herself in tending the
orchard with her new family.
Months went by. One day while tending the apple trees, Gunther was
interrupted by the questions of a man who wore a large floppy hat and kept his
head down. He asked her about apples. He asked her about the weather. He asked
her why she chose the name Gunther and if she would ever forgive him.
Belarius confessed to Theodore and Caleb that he had kidnapped
them for revenge against their real father Eugene. He confessed that his real
name was Baxter and that they were really Guido and Arturo, the missing sons of
Eugene and that Gunther was in fact their sister Evelyn. Baxter had been
wrongfully accused of embezzlement when in fact the culprits were Madame Ethel
and Eddie Nathan.
The family was whole again and the healing years began.
8:00 AM EUGENE’S PIZZERIA, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Eugene adjusted the new sign in the window of his popular pizzeria
that read: “BEST APPLE PIZZA IN THE WEST.”
The End
