Chapter 20 of The Half Life of Dragons
by Sonja Hakala
Previously in The Half Life of Dragons: It’s an emotional day, very emotional day, in the life of teenager Suzanna Owen. Born to a destabilized mother and an unknown father, she’s been trying to resolve her paternity for a while now. So here she is, sitting in a office with Nicholas Kelvey, the former guitarist of the cult band Calliope, the man who just might be able to tell her what she so desperately wants to know.
But paternity isn’t the only answer that Kelvey provides. He’s unraveling secrets that began with Suzanna’s birth, a day that will arrive much sooner than expected.
We’re rounding the corner to the last chapters of The Half Life of Dragons. If you need a catch-up, just click this link and it will bring you to the right place.
No one broke the silence in Kelvey’s office while Suzanna perused the pictures she’d been given, handing each of them on to her Uncle Ted one by one. “Mom and my father look happy,” she said.
“Yes, I can honestly tell you they were in love,” Nicholas said. He thought about adding, “and they would have been great parents,” but he opted not to.
Ted dabbed his eyes one more time. “Allie was so young when Oliver died. In all these years, I’ve never taken the time to consider how lost she must have been. I was angry about Mom, and angry that Allie left. Shame on me,” he murmured.
“How old were you when your sister left home?” Nicholas asked.
Ted tilted his head while he did the math. “I was just hitting twenty-two, in my last year of college.”
“And how many of us are mature and well-thought-out at that age?” Nicholas asked. “I know I wasn’t. My main concerns back then were getting high, getting laid, and getting a band together.” He glanced at Suzanna. “Sorry for my language but it was true about me at the time.”
“Was my father like that?” Suzanna asked.
“When I first met him, yeah. But Ollie grew up before the rest of us. In fact, when your mother came out to California, Ollie was downright fatherly toward her at first, especially after he found out that it was Smugs who suggested she move to the Sunshine State,” Nicholas said. “I might add that your mother was a beautiful and funny but kinda-lost young woman at the time. I’m sure that’s why Ollie felt so protective of her. Personally, I believe that’s why Smugs grew to hate your father. He wanted Allie for himself.”
Suzanna shook herself. “Creepy.”
“Yeah, that’s Smugs Gallagher in a nutshell.”
Suzanna nodded as she picked up her birth certificate again, tracing each line with her fingertips. “Oliver Cole Quigley,” she said. “It’s a nice name, and…hey, wait a minute, this can’t be right. It says my birthdate is March 11. There must be some mistake. My birthday’s in October. If this is true, I’ll be eighteen tomorrow! What gives with that?”
Ted got up to look over her shoulder. “It was notarized in Colorado.” He looked at Nicholas. “Is this another lie? We want the truth.”
“The truth, yes. Isn’t that what we all want and need? Okay, to start, tomorrow is Suzanna’s true birthday,” Nicholas said. “I’m sorry you’ve never known but at the time, it seemed like the best way to protect you. We figured Suzanna would be safe from Smugs as long as he thought she was under age.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’m handling this well at all.”
“Mr. Kelvey, I’m young but not a child. Tell me everything,” Suzanna said.
Nicholas drummed his fingers on his desk. “I haven’t talked about this for a very long time, and I still find it difficult.” He took a deep breath, and Suzanna realized she wasn’t the only one feeling challenged by this twist of fate. “You have to understand that Timmen had big, big problems with Calliope’s fame. His and the band’s popularity came as a huge shock to all of us, but it just scared the hell out of him. That’s why we retreated to Carding. He knew the town because he had had an uncle who lived there, and his family visited in the summers. He thought he’d be safe and unknown there, but he wasn’t. The fans…they found him and nearly drove him mad. And there was Smugs, watching it all like a big old spider with Timmen as the fly.”
“So what happened?”
“Like I said, Smugs was angling for total control of Calliope. Ollie once said that we were nothing but little cash cows to Smugs, and he was right. When we decided to write up a contract for the band, the negotiations, if you could even call them that, were horrific,” Nicholas said. “Smugs raged at Timmen so much, he retreated to his bedroom and locked the door. He was ready to give Smugs everything if he would just go away. But Ollie and I, especially Ollie, were having none of it.”
He grinned at Suzanna. “You know, I see your father’s face flash across yours. You hold your head the same way he did, and you had the same flinty eyes just now when you got touchy with me about your birthday. So,” he nodded, smiling to himself, “your father finally had enough, and put his fist into Smugs’ face. I have to say I was shocked, Ollie didn’t do ‘anger’ as a rule, but it was a beautiful thing to see.”
“Let me guess, Smugs backed down,” Ted said.
“Oh yes, immediately. Just like all bullies, he was big until he met someone who said no to him,” Nicholas said. “Things changed pretty quickly after that. Ollie and I wrote up the Calliope contract, and added specific provisions about the copyright on most of the Calliope songs.” He looked at Suzanna. “Then we all signed the thing in front of Carding’s town clerk, she notarized it, and it was legal.”
“Where is the contract now?” Ted asked.
“I wish I knew. Timmen told me that he entrusted it to Ashley Bentsen, telling her to keep it a secret. They were really close back then. I think she was the only one who understood his aversion to sex because, as far as I know, she was like that too.” He looked at Ted. “I know she died a few years back but I have no idea if she still had that paperwork. I was hoping you could tell me.”
Ted shook his head. “Her mother passed away last week, and I know her sons are going through the house. Maybe they will turn up something.”
“That’s not the end of the story, is it?” Suzanna said.
“Huh, I wish it was,” Nicholas said. “It was a couple of days after the contract was notarized that Smugs brought a girl to the farmhouse. It didn’t take long before she was crying, and yelling, and Smugs was slapping her to get her to shut up, and then Ollie stepped in. The girl ran out of the farmhouse, saying she was going to the cops. Timmen just collapsed, and Ollie and I knew we had to get him out of Carding. I put some stuff in Timmen’s Karmann Ghia, handed Ashley a bunch of money and the keys, gave her the address of a friend’s house in California, and told her not to stop for anything. Ollie and I both had trucks, and we filled them with whatever we could put our hands on. When I left, I thought Ollie was right behind me. But he stayed to make sure Smugs was really gone. I found out later that Ollie was still there when that girl’s parents showed up looking for us.”
“But you all eventually landed in California,” Ted said.
“Yeah, eventually. Ollie and Ashley and I had our hands full with Timmen. We had to get him out of the country because those Calliope culties were just relentless. Ashley found this hospital in New Zealand where Timmen could be anonymous, and we just got on a plane and flew there,” Nicholas said.
“Where is Smugs now?” Ted asked.
“I’m not absolutely sure. He keeps a very low profile, and uses various names.” Kelvey hesitated. “It is possible, given that this is the seventh year that Timmen has been assumed missing, that Smugs is in Vermont angling to have Timmen declared dead in order to further some scheme or another. Allie knows this is a possibility. It’s one of the reasons—but not the only reason—why she wanted to see her father,” he looked at Ted, “and you. She wants you to be on your guard. Smugs uses people like other people use money to buy coffee. He’ll stay invisible while maneuvering to get to someone close to you.”
Now he turned to Suzanna. “You say you’re not a child, okay then. You need to know that when Smugs got out of jail, he found out that Timmen was gone. Then he found your father, and threatened to kill him if he didn’t reveal where Timmen had gone. That’s why you were born in Colorado Springs. It’s why your mother and father manufactured a birthday for you. They wanted to be sure that you were already eighteen so that Smugs couldn’t use you to break the trust your parents set up for you.”
“Trust? What trust?”
“Ollie and your mother directed all the money from the copyright of your father’s work into a trust that’s yours when you turn eighteen,” Nicholas said. He sagged back into his chair, feeling spent. Truth telling was hard work. He opened his top desk drawer to remove one last envelope. It was pale blue, made of heavy paper, and it bore the logo of Brownlow, Smith & Brownlow, attorneys-at-law.
“Your mother asked me to give you this on your eighteenth birthday. I think one day early will be all right,” Nicholas said. “It’s the trust documents, your father’s legacy.”
Suzanna’s hands shook as she accepted the paperwork. “Thank you, I think.”
Silence fell among them but it was not an uncomfortable silence. It was more the silence of the emotionally exhausted. Suzanna was the first to rouse herself, gently gathering all the papers and pictures that Nicholas had spread across his desk. “Do you have a really big envelope that I could have, Mr. Kelvey?” she asked.
“Please, after today, call me Nick. When you say Mr. Kelvey, I turn around expecting to see my father.” He smiled. “Not that that would be a bad thing. Just unexpected. I am really glad to have met you, Suzanna, and yes, I do have a big envelope for you.”
Suzanna stood up, a little unsteady on her feet. “We’re going to be at Black Mountain for the next two days, at the lodge.” She sighed as she slid papers and pictures into place. “I’m feeling a bit—I don’t know—weird.”
Nicholas reached out to put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sure you do. This has been a lot to take in, I know, and if you feel I’ve handled it badly, I’m sincerely sorry.” He looked at Ted. “I honestly didn’t know what to do, except try to protect you and Allison from Smugs. And the vermin, that’s what you call the culties, right?”
“Yeah, vermin. You don’t have a way to get rid of them, do you?” Suzanna asked.
“Maybe. We’ll see. Now let me ask you a question,” Nicholas said. “How did you track me down?”
“I dug into everyone who was at that farmhouse when you were in Carding. Eldritch I couldn’t find, though there are lots of people who thought they knew where he was hiding. Ashley Bentsen had died. My mother I didn’t trust. But then I found this Jaini Haskell who does a blog, and she was in Carding when Calliope was there, and she talked about you,” Suzanna said.
“Forget her,” Nicholas said. “She was barely in the picture, and she’s kind of a flake. Who else?”
“Pearl McGregor. I found an old picture of her with you in the frame,” Suzanna said. “That’s when I decided to try and find you.”
Nicholas shook his head. “Stay far away from Pearl. She was always Smugs’ ally, the two peas in the pod thing, you know? And Ollie told me she stole whatever wasn’t nailed down at the farmhouse after Timmen split. You can’t trust her.”
“I don’t know about staying far away,” Suzanna said. “My friend Faye saw her in Carding yesterday.”
They stared at one another as the significance of Suzanna’s news sunk in. “Isn’t today the day Allie is visiting her father in Carding?” Nicholas asked.
Ted glanced at Suzanna. She wasn’t supposed to know about Allison’s visit. “Oh come on, Uncle Ted. Gramps has been so keyed up about my Mom’s visit, he’s talked about it to everyone, including me because he thought I already knew.” She grinned at her uncle’s surprised face. “To tell you the truth Mr. Kelvey—Nick—you were kinda my only hope of finding out what I wanted to know. If you had brushed me off, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“I’m glad you came.” Nicholas took a deep breath. “It’s not my business but it is my business, about your mother.” Suzanna’s eyes flashed. “I know you’re really angry with her, and you have a right to be. But Allie was so young, and Ollie had died, and she was suddenly a single mother, desperate for money. Timmen was in bad shape, and that took my attention away from her. And I know Smugs was making threats.”
He struggled to swallow. “I should have done more, been more mindful of you and your mother. I went back to New Zealand after your father’s funeral, and it was a couple of years before Timmen, Ashley, and I returned to the states. I tried to find your mother then but she had disappeared. It was my wife who finally located her, last year, in Burlington. That’s when we found out that you’d been growing up in Carding. When Allie and I talked, she told me that her brother and father were the best people to take care of you, that she knew you were safe and loved.”
Pointing to the envelope in Suzanna’s arms, he said: “I put my contact information in there. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if there is anything at all that I can tell you. I wish you luck on the slopes, and I hope I see you again.”
Faye and her dad were waiting by the van as Ted and Suzanna emerged from the natural sciences building. “What do you suppose happened in there?” Faye asked her father. “They both look a little, I don’t know…”
“Shocked? Overwhelmed?” Stephen raised his hand to get their attention. “I vote we let them tell us what happened in their own time. Judging by the size of the envelope Suze is holding, she got some answers.”
Inside the building, Nicholas raised the blinds on his office windows in order to watch the scene in the parking lot unfold. Soft footsteps announced the arrival of a second person.
“Were you able to hear everything?” Nicholas asked.
“Pretty nearly every word, yeah,” Timmen said. “I could see some of it too. She is definitely Ollie’s daughter. Gawd, I wish he was here.”
“Yeah, me too.” The two friends watched as Stephen started his van’s engine.
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive her mother?” Timmen asked.
“Yeah, I do. But it’s going to take a while for her to absorb everything. You and I have lived so much of the story, I don’t think we recognize how big it is. Suzanna needs time to catch up,” Nicholas said, “and to forgive. Allie definitely did the right thing by taking her to Carding. That brother of hers is a rock, you can tell.”
They watched until the van with Vermont plates disappeared. “Well,” Timmen said, rubbing his hands together, “now it’s time to raise me from the dead, don’t you think?”
Thanks for sharing some of the minutes of your life with me and Carding, Vermont. I hope you’re enjoying The Half Life of Dragons. We’ll be wrapping it up in September.
It’s going to take a while but I plan to have the entire book ready for sale by the end of the year. In the meantime, if you need to catch up or would like to share this adventure with someone else, you can do so by clicking this link.
~ Sonja Hakala
Sonja Hakala 