When he had finished reading about the Supremes on that day, he tore all these pages and stuffed them in his pockets before giving the book back to Miss Putin. The questions troubling him now were, "What if someone already had suspicions that he was the Anonymous?" and "Why did the Finch betray his grandfather and all those other magician scientists?" So many stressing questions left him uneasy. If only he had gotten rid of the potion and never gone looking for the Finch maybe all this would not be happening. If only he had not gulped down all the contents of that potion! So many questions in his head were carrying the words "If" and "only". The only way for things to get back to normal, he thought, was to put an end to all this madness.
*
Brendan was greeted by the doorbell when he reached the foot of the stairs. He was ready for school and he was not feeling like breakfast. He wondered who could be at his door at eight o'clock in the morning.
Standing by his door were a short elderly woman and a tall middle-aged man. The man had a roughly carved face, dark brown eyes and he was in a black suit and black leather gloves and a sailor's hat. The woman had thoughtful looking light-blue eyes, neither fat nor skinny but right in the middle of the seesaw, and she was wearing a long blue dress, white garden gloves and white tennis shoes.
'Good morning, sir,' they both greeted him. The mixture of their voices was discordant because of the difference in depth.
Brendan noticed something familiar in the background; his black convertible sports car parked in his yard, then he realized who these two strangers were. They were the chauffeur and the maid. 'You must be here for the chauffeur and maid jobs..?'
They nodded.
He looked at the time on the watch on his wrist and he knew that too much talk would delay him. 'I'm going to be late so, why don't you get inside…' he pointed at his new maid, 'and you..,' he pointed at his new chauffeur, '…take me to school. I'll check your license and…whatever else later.'
They both followed instructions. The maid got inside the house and the chauffeur opened the passenger seat for him; the car was a two-seater. The seats were milk-white and as soft and smooth as a puppy's fur.
Not a second later had the car been started had it zoomed off.
On the way, Brendan learnt that his chauffeur's name was Todd Bishop and the maid's name was Miriam Bowman. 'Todd..,' he thought to himself, 'It fits the guy perfectly.' Names like, Bruce, Steven, James, and Todd were at most times given to guys of hard exterior and soldier-like expressions.
Brendan had told Mr. Drewmorphin that anyone interested in these jobs should call him. He had also asked him to get him some guys to build him a garage.
When he arrived at school, everyone was gaping at his car. As soon as the roof of his car began retracting to reveal Brendan and Todd, the crowds of watching students became amazed all the more.
Todd opened the door for him.
'Is that Brendan…the orphan?' This was the voice of one tenth grader watching.
'He changed his name to Payne right..? Maybe his father was a filthy-rich crime boss,' and this was the voice of another watching student. It was like the whole school had come out to see him.
So many people were trying to talk to him until he got into class. The school had turned into a sudden busy beehive of questions because of his unpredicted and sudden transformation from a poor outcast to a rich and popular celebrity.
'As you all know, tonight is the night of the School Dance,' Mrs. Cooke reminded them as she walked slowly up and down the classroom with her hands behind her back.
Murmurs of excitement, disapproval and boredom swept through the classroom like resurrecting demons of gossip.
'We all expect you to be at your best behavior. Mr. Benson, Mr. Price, Mr. Sparrow and I will be there to make sure that no monkey business takes place.' She walked over to Brendan and placed her hand on his shoulder. 'Don't get tempted,' she whispered into his ear.
He scratched the back of his head and bowed low in embarrassment. Did the whole city know that he was rich?
'So what if everybody knows you're a millionaire?' Simon asked him as the three sat in the cafeteria at recess.
'Don't you get it..? Everybody thinks that I'm bound to fall for seduction!'
'You should fall for seduction..,' Owen said, 'I mean…think about all the hot mamas that will be there!' he added.
'Well, I'm not the kind of guy who takes advantage of girls because he's rich!' Brendan disagreed.
'You're probably one of the richest guys in this city now. You can have any woman of your choice…even a married one,' Owen said.
Brendan stared at him, his mouth gaping in bafflement and disgust. 'Do you know what language "Quino Destros" is?' he changed the subject suddenly, getting uncomfortable with it.
'That has got to be Italian,' Simon said.
'No, I've heard my father talking about it with some researcher,' said Owen, 'It's not a common language.'
'Is it Greek, then?' Simon mockingly asked him, devouring muffins at the same time.
'No!' Owen snapped.
'Plutonian?' he teased again.
'No!'
'Jupiterian?'
'No, it is not Jupiterian!' Owen was getting furious with Simon's silly guesses.
'I know! I know! I remember now..!' Simon shouted with his forefinger in the sky, 'It's Saturnish!'