A Recipe for Punch, Chapter 59

Chapter 59
A Storm



"You needn't have lured me here."  Lennie frowned at the spirit.  "I tend to tire quickly of theatrics.  I've had my fill already."

"Insolent."  The Duchess of Fallbridge snapped, or seemed to.  The voice sounded clear and loud, yet, the visage of the specter was unmoving--merely a mask-like countenance which appeared to hang in the light, above something like the shape of a woman's body.

"I rather thought your response would be something of the like, Mother.  And, so, our introduction begins."

"You will not address me in such a manner, Ellen."

"You will not address me as Ellen."  Lennie replied.

"It is your name, is it not?"

"Not any longer."  Lennie replied.  "I am called Lennie now.  Ellen is dead.  Much as you are.  I am Lennie, Lady Fallbridge--as created by the Queen herself.  The Queen has shown me great favor.  Did Her Majesty ever show you such favor, Mother?"

"I warn you...you shan't speak to me so--not in my own home!"  The shade roared, though its lips still did not move.

"Your home?"  Lennie scoffed.  "This is not your home.  This is my brother's home."

"Certainly not.  It never shall be."

"You are dead.  The law favors the living, Mother.  This and all Fallbridge land--all Molliner land...it's all Pu...Julian's."

"You began to call him by the other name."  The phantom laughed.  "The name encouraged by his...companion."

"Why should I not?  That is who he is.  We've nothing to hide from you.  My brother, the kind soul that he is, has tried to shield me from you, to protect me from the truth of what you were.  I know what you were, and I am beginning to see the extent of your wickedness.  Yet, I do not fear you, Mother.  I saw what you became."

"You know nothing, Ellen."

"I know that you were nothing but a desiccated thing--a wine-sack of bones hanging in a pantry, done-up in fancy-dress.  This--this whatever you are now...you're a trick of the light and the play of the wind.  You can do no more harm than a storm."

"A storm can do much harm, Girl."

"Yes.  This is true.  However, the living can always repair the damage."

"A storm can kill."

"True, yet, if one is prepared, one can seek shelter."  Lennie replied.

"You are not unlike your sister, Ellen."  The shade replied.  "You are Barbara's match in cleverness.  What you lack in her magnificent beauty, you make up for in bravery."

"I am nothing like Barbara. Nothing at all.  I am nothing like you either.  If I am like anyone in the family, it is my brother."

"That must be why I gave you away."  The vision answered cruelly.

"We've finished our conversation."  Lennie shook her head.  "You have taken enough of my time.  Return to your husk, foul thing.  I shall return to the living.  You're not welcome here any longer.  This is no longer your home.  You shall reside with the bones and skulls in the crypt."

"A storm resides wherever it wishes."  The thing replied.

"Until it dissipates and sinks into the earth."  Lennie sniffed.

With that, she turned and walked away.


Did you miss Chapters 1-58 of A Recipe for Punch?  If so, you can read them here.  Come back tomorrow for Chapter 60.