William McKinley, the twenty-fifth President of the United States, looked out a White House window on an evening early in the year 1900 and remarked to his wife, Ida, about the guests arriving for a reception.
“They are the cream of the crop, my dear Ida. It should make for a splendid reception. Are you sure you won’t meet the guests.”
The demure Ida wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and smiled a sweet smile. “No, Will, I don’t feel well this evening. Tender my apology.”
McKinley kissed his wife and fed a cracker to his pet Mexican yellow parrot then proceeded downstairs to meet his guests.
The one hundred- ten guests arriving that night in stylish carriages did indeed represent the top layer of American aristocracy. They owned railroads, factories, sat on boards of directors and did not much else but clip their dividends, but the president could count on them to contribute generously to his re-election campaign in the fall. The men symbolized the epitome of success in their top hats, striped trousers and black cutaway tailcoats; and the ladies strode in, dressed in jewels and silk gowns. Few of these wealthy people deigned to discuss the plight of the workers toiling sixteen hours a day to produce their riches or the working children made deaf by machinery in plants owned by them.
The center of attention this night focused on Richard Preston Chastain, a forty-year old heir to a timber fortune in the Pacific Northwest and his fiancé, the young debutante, Evangeline Harper. The couple announced their engagement the week before, and Washington society speculated on who would make the guest list to their wedding. The dark-haired handsome Chastain fit the requirements for leadership in this plutocracy. Chastain doubled his family’s fortune in ten years; traveled the world in search of priceless artifacts; and owned the world’s largest private collection of Greek antiquities. His wardrobe, tailor- made for him in Paris, earned him the sobriquet “best dressed man of his day.” Chastain walked beside his fiancé, whose red hair and green eyes sparkled under the lights of the White House.
Crystal chandeliers bedecked with flowers cast light down on the guests as they partook a light supper supplemented with ice water and wine. The Marine Corps band played selections from “La Traviata” until President McKinley arrived . The band played “Hail To The Chief,” and the somber- faced chief executive, who wore a black tuxedo with tails, shook hands with his benefactors.
“The president should be careful in public,” said Chastain.” He has many enemies, and he is not well protected in receiving lines.” Chastain and Evangeline met the president.”When are you and this brilliant young man going to be married?” McKinley asked Evangeline.
“We haven’t set a date yet, Mr. President. Richard must go out to Oregon first.”
“Don’t stay in the wilds of Oregon too long, Chastain. I’m going to need you to work on my campaign. William Jennings Bryan still has a dragon’s tongue and will give me a run for the money.”
“The people have confidence in your leadership, sir,” said Chastain.
“I’m depending on you to steer this man in the right direction, my dear Evangeline. If he plays his cards right, he may some day live in this house.”
Richard and Evangeline danced and socialized with other guests. None of the assembled guests doubted the Chastains would produce beautiful children and have their portraits painted by John Singer Sargeant.
The reception ended at midnight, and Richard and Evangeline returned to their carriage.
“I wish you weren’t making the trip out west, Richard. I want to be with you.”
“I loathe it when we are apart, but I must attend to some business. I won’t be long.”
“I’ve never been to Oregon. Is it full of bandits?”
“No, that would be too romantic. It’s picturesque, and someday I want you to see it.”
“I want to so much. Now, go on your way and return to me soon.”
Chastain arrived in Oregon five days later. His home stood atop a ridge overlooking the Columbia River. The Victorian style mansion boasted turrets that soared into the morning sky. Chastain’s butler, Gifford, greeted him.
“Did we have a pleasant trip, sir?’
“Yes. Is everything ready?”
The frail, white-haired Gifford followed Chastain down dark corridors and rooms decorated with oriental rugs, paintings and gold plates that Chastain collected from all over the world. They came to the gold door of the room called the Parthenon.
“The lady is waiting for you,sir.”
Chastain designed the two-story room to replicate the Parthenon that stood in ancient Greece. Crystal columns rose from the malachite floor up past red gold walls into a domed sapphire ceiling. A gold-plated statue of the goddess Athena, clad in spear and a shield adorned with a figure of a serpent, stood in the center. A meal of caviar, oysters, turtles and squid lay on a table. Chastain poured a glass of Ismarian wine and toasted the goddess.
“I salute you my, queen. My love for you will endure forever.”
A woman in her early twenties emerged from behind a curtain. She undressed Chastain and laid him on a cushion.
“Who are you, girl?”
“My name is Annie, sir. “
“Where did you come from?”
“I come form Portland, sir. I was a maid, sir.”
“You were a strumpet, and you served wealthy men. You are the best of the litter, Annie, and I shall take supreme pleasure in your body”
Chastain forgot his love for Evangeline as he made love to the woman. He closed his eyes to savor the sex and reached for a glass of wine. He suddenly felt an excruciating pain. Chastain opened his eyes and found himself caught in the coils of a python. He struggled to free himself, but the snake tightened its paralyzing grip every time he inhaled, and he heard his bones begin to crumble. Blood gushed from his mouth as Chastain felt the life’s breath being forced out of his body. He managed to free his right arm and take hold of a Greek artifact sword lying nearby. Chastain swung at the serpent’s head and severed it. He fainted, but when he revived, he found the woman’s severed head beside him. The snake had disappeared. The head opened its eyes and looked at Chastain.
“Did you get your money’s worth out of me, sir?”
Chastain screamed. “Has the world turned inside out? This is complete madness!” He rolled on the floor and beat his head against the table.
“Chastain!” The voice rang in his ears.
“Who is it?”
“It is I. Athena.”
Chastain looked up and saw the ruby eyes of the stone goddess on fire.
“Thou hast disgraced my holy temple with thy foul bestiality, and for this I have punished thee. Beware, for I seek thy doom.”
“It was complete madness! One moment I held a girl in my hands, the next I saw her head on the floor,” said Chastain as he sat in the office of his attorney several days later.
C.L. Morely, a short man with a walrus moustache, lit a Cuban cigar and sat back in the buffalo leather chair and listened to Chastain tell his story.
“Where did you get this woman?”
“One of my agents found her working as a prostitute along the waterfront in Portland.”
“She also happened to be a minister’s daughter and the father filed a missing persons report. These soiled doves have strange relations.”
“Passion can make a man do foolish things.”
“This whole thing mystifies me, Richard. How does a thoroughly straightforward man such as yourself, who has everything he could possible want, lose his wits and do such a thing? Were you intoxicated?”
“I have not always been the man I appear to be. I indulged my whims, and it finally caught up with me. I have had many women and I have used them as I pleased.” Chastain did not tell Morely that the girl turned into a python. The lawyer would plead insanity in a court of law-and be correct. That secret remained hidden within Chastain.
“If the newspapers get hold of this, it could reflect on President McKinley’s re-election campaign,” said Morely.
“That would be tragic.”
“The smartest move is to get you out of the public eye for awhile. We may be able to pay the girl’s father to let this die out. I’ll use my contacts at the police department to keep this under wraps.”
“I could go to Europe.”
“You should be close by where I can contact you if I need. There is a deserted island off the southern Oregon coast. I’m going to send you down there for a few months until this blows over.”
“I must tell Evangeline about this.”
“Horse manure! You know how women are. You tell them a secret and they blat their brains out. Tell your fiancé that you decided to take a cruise to the south pacific to inspect some business properties. Tell her to contact me if she wants to get in touch with you.”
Chastain, dressed in great coat and woolen cap, stood on a windswept beach as he waited for a fisherman to take him out to his place of hiding. He thought of the glittering social life of Washington, and Evangeline, and how he had betrayed her trust and fallen to the depths of despair. Chastain got into a dingy and set out for a large piece of rock about one-half mile off shore. An aged, one-eyed fisherman dressed in a blue raincoat manned the helm.
“My name is Yost” said the oarsman.” I been fishing these waters for many year.”
“What is this place called, Yost?”
“The Ice Island.”
“It looks as ominous as the surface of the moon.”
“There was a big ice storm back in 1880.A ship ran against the rocks on the island and everybody got killed but one man. He stayed alive by eating the dead men. I found him in spring. He had crucified himself by pounding spikes into his hand and feet.”
“Not the ideal spot.”
“That isn’t all. There have been others. Criminals who hid out there. Insane persons kept there by relatives, but none of them left the island alive.”
Chastain saw plovers and sandpipers flying over the island . The island was a barren piece of basalt rock surrounded by tide pools filled with green anemones and starfish.
“It’s one hundred foot to the top of the rock” said the fisherman. “There’s a cave up there that’ll give you some cover. I stocked some grub in there for you. I got my orders. You are to get a resupply of food and water rand a bottle of whiskey once a week. You aren’t to have any contact with nobody but me. “
“How long will I be here?”
“I got no idea or do I care. I get paid for this.”
“I hope I can leave in spring.”
“I bet you don’t live past a month, if you want the truth, but that’s not my concern. You can’t escape and no man ever ventures out here. This place got a bad reputation.”
The fisherman left Chastain alone on the rock.
“Be on the lookout for all those ghosts who live on the island,” the fisherman yelled back in mockery. Chastain spent that evening and all the evenings for the next six months in the cave in front of the fire thinking of Evangeline and the circumstances which lead to him being on the Ice Island. He wondered if Evangeline had found love with another man. Always, he turned the incident with the girl, Annie, over in his mind. ”What happened,” he continued to ask himself.”How could a young girl who made her living by selling her body become a snake?” “How could a piece of stone come alive?”The statue of the goddess Athena served as a monument to his wealth, his ability to collect priceless artifacts; however, that statue of Athena turned the girl into a serpent and vowed revenge against Chastain. He could not deny that for he heard it with his own ears. The entire incident defied logical explanation. Yet, there must be an explanation for it. In July, the fisherman brought a letter from Morely informing him the investigation into the girl’s disappearance ended without naming him as a suspect, but that the police were conducting a search of Chastain’s house. Morely told the police that Chastain left for the south Pacific. Morely told Chastain he must remain incommunicado for several more months. The letter also stated Evangeline had come to Oregon in search of Chastain.
“There was a dandy looking gal come to our village a few weeks back asking about you,” said the fisherman. “Real pretty. Enough to make a man stand up and take notice. If you get me.” Chastain cursed the fisherman as he sailed back to shore.
“If you ever come back here, I’ll kill you.!”
Chastain got drunk that night in the cave. “I’ve got to get off the island. I can make a raft out of wood from the ship’s wreckage. If I can get to Evangeline, we can work things out. There’s got to be a sane explanation for all this. I’ve got to try even if it kills me.”
He drank himself to sleep, but awakened in the middle of the night to sound of a violent storm. The overpowering odor of vomit filled the warm night air. Chastain head a woman’s singing voice. He visited the world’s greatest opera houses, but never had he heard such a glorious soprano voice.
“Is someone else on the island or am I finally losing my mind?”
Chastain felt something warm touch his arm and recognized it as human feces. He looked up into the dark sky and saw a bird swooping down upon him. The bird landed in front of Chastain. The avian had a wingspan of double the height of a man. The talons and abdomen were that of a bird, but the creature had the face of a beautiful, blonde-haired woman. Chastain determined it to be a harpy, a mythical monster, half-bird, half-human that carried out the orders of the gods. The creature addressed Chastain. “My name is Aello and I have come at the command of the goddess Athena. You have defiled her sacred temple with your vile orgies, and for this you must pay with your life. I have come to take you to hell.”
“I was carried away by my passions because I am only human. I did not intend to harm that woman. I beg for mercy.”
“I was once a great singer but I was ridiculed by vile humans who were jealous of me, so I forsook the opera stage. Now, I have my revenge.” The bird opened its mouth, and Chastain saw the head of the fisherman inside. The fisherman winked at Chastain. “Mighty nice inside here. Care to join us?”
The harpy pointed its talon at Chastain. “I will take you to hell, and return to eat your beloved Evangeline. She will make a delicious meal.” The harpy grabbed Chastain by the shirt and flew away with him. The bird carried him up into the dark sky toward the moon. Chastain knew he would die, but Evangeline must live. He began stabbing the bird in the stomach with his knife. The remains of half-digested victims poured out. Chastain kept stabbing the harpy, and the bird let out a scream, and fell toward the ocean. It dropped Chastain into the water a few feet from shore and disappeared into the waves. Chastain swam to the shore. “This is total madness,” he gasped.
“There I was, my darling, swimming for my life, and all I could think about was you.”
Chastain sat on a sofa and smoked a cigar while Evangeline tended her flowers.
“I could hardly believe my ears when your lawyer, Mr. Morely ,told me you decided to live the life of an aesthetic on that silly old island.”
“It was just one of those whimsies one has, I guess. I will not do it again.”
“When we found you, you said something about…what was it? Harpies? Whatever did you mean?”
“Did I say that? I didn’t say that? If I did, I was only joking. One has to make humorous once in a while to keep one’s sanity.”
“Now, I shall take up all your time, Richard, and I won’t give you a minute to indulge your idol fantasies. The opera season has just begun, and the opera has engaged a brilliant young soprano from Europe. She will eclipse the greatest singers now performing.”
“’Dee-lighted’, as our new vice-president, Teddy Roosevelt, would say.”
“That’s not all. I told her about your experiences and she is most anxious to hear about them, so she invited us over to her apartment for lunch today. We’re late for it now.”
“Even more splendid.”
“She says she has planned something very special for us.”
“Fine. What’s her name?”
“Aello, and she is positively starving, so let’s be on our way.”
“They are the cream of the crop, my dear Ida. It should make for a splendid reception. Are you sure you won’t meet the guests.”
The demure Ida wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and smiled a sweet smile. “No, Will, I don’t feel well this evening. Tender my apology.”
McKinley kissed his wife and fed a cracker to his pet Mexican yellow parrot then proceeded downstairs to meet his guests.
The one hundred- ten guests arriving that night in stylish carriages did indeed represent the top layer of American aristocracy. They owned railroads, factories, sat on boards of directors and did not much else but clip their dividends, but the president could count on them to contribute generously to his re-election campaign in the fall. The men symbolized the epitome of success in their top hats, striped trousers and black cutaway tailcoats; and the ladies strode in, dressed in jewels and silk gowns. Few of these wealthy people deigned to discuss the plight of the workers toiling sixteen hours a day to produce their riches or the working children made deaf by machinery in plants owned by them.
The center of attention this night focused on Richard Preston Chastain, a forty-year old heir to a timber fortune in the Pacific Northwest and his fiancé, the young debutante, Evangeline Harper. The couple announced their engagement the week before, and Washington society speculated on who would make the guest list to their wedding. The dark-haired handsome Chastain fit the requirements for leadership in this plutocracy. Chastain doubled his family’s fortune in ten years; traveled the world in search of priceless artifacts; and owned the world’s largest private collection of Greek antiquities. His wardrobe, tailor- made for him in Paris, earned him the sobriquet “best dressed man of his day.” Chastain walked beside his fiancé, whose red hair and green eyes sparkled under the lights of the White House.
Crystal chandeliers bedecked with flowers cast light down on the guests as they partook a light supper supplemented with ice water and wine. The Marine Corps band played selections from “La Traviata” until President McKinley arrived . The band played “Hail To The Chief,” and the somber- faced chief executive, who wore a black tuxedo with tails, shook hands with his benefactors.
“The president should be careful in public,” said Chastain.” He has many enemies, and he is not well protected in receiving lines.” Chastain and Evangeline met the president.”When are you and this brilliant young man going to be married?” McKinley asked Evangeline.
“We haven’t set a date yet, Mr. President. Richard must go out to Oregon first.”
“Don’t stay in the wilds of Oregon too long, Chastain. I’m going to need you to work on my campaign. William Jennings Bryan still has a dragon’s tongue and will give me a run for the money.”
“The people have confidence in your leadership, sir,” said Chastain.
“I’m depending on you to steer this man in the right direction, my dear Evangeline. If he plays his cards right, he may some day live in this house.”
Richard and Evangeline danced and socialized with other guests. None of the assembled guests doubted the Chastains would produce beautiful children and have their portraits painted by John Singer Sargeant.
The reception ended at midnight, and Richard and Evangeline returned to their carriage.
“I wish you weren’t making the trip out west, Richard. I want to be with you.”
“I loathe it when we are apart, but I must attend to some business. I won’t be long.”
“I’ve never been to Oregon. Is it full of bandits?”
“No, that would be too romantic. It’s picturesque, and someday I want you to see it.”
“I want to so much. Now, go on your way and return to me soon.”
Chastain arrived in Oregon five days later. His home stood atop a ridge overlooking the Columbia River. The Victorian style mansion boasted turrets that soared into the morning sky. Chastain’s butler, Gifford, greeted him.
“Did we have a pleasant trip, sir?’
“Yes. Is everything ready?”
The frail, white-haired Gifford followed Chastain down dark corridors and rooms decorated with oriental rugs, paintings and gold plates that Chastain collected from all over the world. They came to the gold door of the room called the Parthenon.
“The lady is waiting for you,sir.”
Chastain designed the two-story room to replicate the Parthenon that stood in ancient Greece. Crystal columns rose from the malachite floor up past red gold walls into a domed sapphire ceiling. A gold-plated statue of the goddess Athena, clad in spear and a shield adorned with a figure of a serpent, stood in the center. A meal of caviar, oysters, turtles and squid lay on a table. Chastain poured a glass of Ismarian wine and toasted the goddess.
“I salute you my, queen. My love for you will endure forever.”
A woman in her early twenties emerged from behind a curtain. She undressed Chastain and laid him on a cushion.
“Who are you, girl?”
“My name is Annie, sir. “
“Where did you come from?”
“I come form Portland, sir. I was a maid, sir.”
“You were a strumpet, and you served wealthy men. You are the best of the litter, Annie, and I shall take supreme pleasure in your body”
Chastain forgot his love for Evangeline as he made love to the woman. He closed his eyes to savor the sex and reached for a glass of wine. He suddenly felt an excruciating pain. Chastain opened his eyes and found himself caught in the coils of a python. He struggled to free himself, but the snake tightened its paralyzing grip every time he inhaled, and he heard his bones begin to crumble. Blood gushed from his mouth as Chastain felt the life’s breath being forced out of his body. He managed to free his right arm and take hold of a Greek artifact sword lying nearby. Chastain swung at the serpent’s head and severed it. He fainted, but when he revived, he found the woman’s severed head beside him. The snake had disappeared. The head opened its eyes and looked at Chastain.
“Did you get your money’s worth out of me, sir?”
Chastain screamed. “Has the world turned inside out? This is complete madness!” He rolled on the floor and beat his head against the table.
“Chastain!” The voice rang in his ears.
“Who is it?”
“It is I. Athena.”
Chastain looked up and saw the ruby eyes of the stone goddess on fire.
“Thou hast disgraced my holy temple with thy foul bestiality, and for this I have punished thee. Beware, for I seek thy doom.”
“It was complete madness! One moment I held a girl in my hands, the next I saw her head on the floor,” said Chastain as he sat in the office of his attorney several days later.
C.L. Morely, a short man with a walrus moustache, lit a Cuban cigar and sat back in the buffalo leather chair and listened to Chastain tell his story.
“Where did you get this woman?”
“One of my agents found her working as a prostitute along the waterfront in Portland.”
“She also happened to be a minister’s daughter and the father filed a missing persons report. These soiled doves have strange relations.”
“Passion can make a man do foolish things.”
“This whole thing mystifies me, Richard. How does a thoroughly straightforward man such as yourself, who has everything he could possible want, lose his wits and do such a thing? Were you intoxicated?”
“I have not always been the man I appear to be. I indulged my whims, and it finally caught up with me. I have had many women and I have used them as I pleased.” Chastain did not tell Morely that the girl turned into a python. The lawyer would plead insanity in a court of law-and be correct. That secret remained hidden within Chastain.
“If the newspapers get hold of this, it could reflect on President McKinley’s re-election campaign,” said Morely.
“That would be tragic.”
“The smartest move is to get you out of the public eye for awhile. We may be able to pay the girl’s father to let this die out. I’ll use my contacts at the police department to keep this under wraps.”
“I could go to Europe.”
“You should be close by where I can contact you if I need. There is a deserted island off the southern Oregon coast. I’m going to send you down there for a few months until this blows over.”
“I must tell Evangeline about this.”
“Horse manure! You know how women are. You tell them a secret and they blat their brains out. Tell your fiancé that you decided to take a cruise to the south pacific to inspect some business properties. Tell her to contact me if she wants to get in touch with you.”
Chastain, dressed in great coat and woolen cap, stood on a windswept beach as he waited for a fisherman to take him out to his place of hiding. He thought of the glittering social life of Washington, and Evangeline, and how he had betrayed her trust and fallen to the depths of despair. Chastain got into a dingy and set out for a large piece of rock about one-half mile off shore. An aged, one-eyed fisherman dressed in a blue raincoat manned the helm.
“My name is Yost” said the oarsman.” I been fishing these waters for many year.”
“What is this place called, Yost?”
“The Ice Island.”
“It looks as ominous as the surface of the moon.”
“There was a big ice storm back in 1880.A ship ran against the rocks on the island and everybody got killed but one man. He stayed alive by eating the dead men. I found him in spring. He had crucified himself by pounding spikes into his hand and feet.”
“Not the ideal spot.”
“That isn’t all. There have been others. Criminals who hid out there. Insane persons kept there by relatives, but none of them left the island alive.”
Chastain saw plovers and sandpipers flying over the island . The island was a barren piece of basalt rock surrounded by tide pools filled with green anemones and starfish.
“It’s one hundred foot to the top of the rock” said the fisherman. “There’s a cave up there that’ll give you some cover. I stocked some grub in there for you. I got my orders. You are to get a resupply of food and water rand a bottle of whiskey once a week. You aren’t to have any contact with nobody but me. “
“How long will I be here?”
“I got no idea or do I care. I get paid for this.”
“I hope I can leave in spring.”
“I bet you don’t live past a month, if you want the truth, but that’s not my concern. You can’t escape and no man ever ventures out here. This place got a bad reputation.”
The fisherman left Chastain alone on the rock.
“Be on the lookout for all those ghosts who live on the island,” the fisherman yelled back in mockery. Chastain spent that evening and all the evenings for the next six months in the cave in front of the fire thinking of Evangeline and the circumstances which lead to him being on the Ice Island. He wondered if Evangeline had found love with another man. Always, he turned the incident with the girl, Annie, over in his mind. ”What happened,” he continued to ask himself.”How could a young girl who made her living by selling her body become a snake?” “How could a piece of stone come alive?”The statue of the goddess Athena served as a monument to his wealth, his ability to collect priceless artifacts; however, that statue of Athena turned the girl into a serpent and vowed revenge against Chastain. He could not deny that for he heard it with his own ears. The entire incident defied logical explanation. Yet, there must be an explanation for it. In July, the fisherman brought a letter from Morely informing him the investigation into the girl’s disappearance ended without naming him as a suspect, but that the police were conducting a search of Chastain’s house. Morely told the police that Chastain left for the south Pacific. Morely told Chastain he must remain incommunicado for several more months. The letter also stated Evangeline had come to Oregon in search of Chastain.
“There was a dandy looking gal come to our village a few weeks back asking about you,” said the fisherman. “Real pretty. Enough to make a man stand up and take notice. If you get me.” Chastain cursed the fisherman as he sailed back to shore.
“If you ever come back here, I’ll kill you.!”
Chastain got drunk that night in the cave. “I’ve got to get off the island. I can make a raft out of wood from the ship’s wreckage. If I can get to Evangeline, we can work things out. There’s got to be a sane explanation for all this. I’ve got to try even if it kills me.”
He drank himself to sleep, but awakened in the middle of the night to sound of a violent storm. The overpowering odor of vomit filled the warm night air. Chastain head a woman’s singing voice. He visited the world’s greatest opera houses, but never had he heard such a glorious soprano voice.
“Is someone else on the island or am I finally losing my mind?”
Chastain felt something warm touch his arm and recognized it as human feces. He looked up into the dark sky and saw a bird swooping down upon him. The bird landed in front of Chastain. The avian had a wingspan of double the height of a man. The talons and abdomen were that of a bird, but the creature had the face of a beautiful, blonde-haired woman. Chastain determined it to be a harpy, a mythical monster, half-bird, half-human that carried out the orders of the gods. The creature addressed Chastain. “My name is Aello and I have come at the command of the goddess Athena. You have defiled her sacred temple with your vile orgies, and for this you must pay with your life. I have come to take you to hell.”
“I was carried away by my passions because I am only human. I did not intend to harm that woman. I beg for mercy.”
“I was once a great singer but I was ridiculed by vile humans who were jealous of me, so I forsook the opera stage. Now, I have my revenge.” The bird opened its mouth, and Chastain saw the head of the fisherman inside. The fisherman winked at Chastain. “Mighty nice inside here. Care to join us?”
The harpy pointed its talon at Chastain. “I will take you to hell, and return to eat your beloved Evangeline. She will make a delicious meal.” The harpy grabbed Chastain by the shirt and flew away with him. The bird carried him up into the dark sky toward the moon. Chastain knew he would die, but Evangeline must live. He began stabbing the bird in the stomach with his knife. The remains of half-digested victims poured out. Chastain kept stabbing the harpy, and the bird let out a scream, and fell toward the ocean. It dropped Chastain into the water a few feet from shore and disappeared into the waves. Chastain swam to the shore. “This is total madness,” he gasped.
“There I was, my darling, swimming for my life, and all I could think about was you.”
Chastain sat on a sofa and smoked a cigar while Evangeline tended her flowers.
“I could hardly believe my ears when your lawyer, Mr. Morely ,told me you decided to live the life of an aesthetic on that silly old island.”
“It was just one of those whimsies one has, I guess. I will not do it again.”
“When we found you, you said something about…what was it? Harpies? Whatever did you mean?”
“Did I say that? I didn’t say that? If I did, I was only joking. One has to make humorous once in a while to keep one’s sanity.”
“Now, I shall take up all your time, Richard, and I won’t give you a minute to indulge your idol fantasies. The opera season has just begun, and the opera has engaged a brilliant young soprano from Europe. She will eclipse the greatest singers now performing.”
“’Dee-lighted’, as our new vice-president, Teddy Roosevelt, would say.”
“That’s not all. I told her about your experiences and she is most anxious to hear about them, so she invited us over to her apartment for lunch today. We’re late for it now.”
“Even more splendid.”
“She says she has planned something very special for us.”
“Fine. What’s her name?”
“Aello, and she is positively starving, so let’s be on our way.”
George W. Morrow
has published fiction in Thrillers, Killers N’ Chillers, macabrecadaver, steel moon publishing, Enigma, Creative With Words, Ink Water Press and Oregon Writers Colony Bulletin as well as news and feature articles for several Oregon newspapers.
