" For crying out it's a brothel. That's the sound an old granny makes while having fun." He said as he hawked the horizon in search of Mason.
" Why not quit the damn craft instead of getting fucked to death. Where's Mason?" She said and went further into the building, harvesting sights that gave her hope and confidence. She could see ladies whose skin were as wrinkled as those of a scrotum, wearing bikinis and smoking cigarettes. She could swear they were the ages of father Abraham of biblical times. What surprised her the most were the young men and teenage boys who couldn't seem to get their hands of them as they bargained a price for their warmth.
" There Mam. That's Mason over there with his friends." Whispered Alcatraz. Fidelia was quick to navigate her way to the table, causing the fellow oldies to peer at the manner she moved. And why she had picked up a bottle in the first place.
" Well oh well. We meet again don't we Mason." She said in a deep whisper causing Mason to turn towards her. " Holy crabs! It's you again!" He said, springing up in fright while the dozen grannies around him were slow to crawl away from the fierce looking lady with a bottle held inverted from the neck.
" You became an ingrate. What happened to you? Why did you change so much. I saved you from choking to death and all you could do was report us to the police." She said in a stern whisper pointing the green bottle at the skull of the Marine engineer who had peed on his body from fear.
" Please don't hurt me. The cops are to blame. They made me say those things on television." Cried Mason with a chunk of mucous rushing down his nostrils. She realized that this wasn't the Mason she knew and even the fact that he was drunk didn't give him the right to behave like the imbecile he was portraying to be.
" Mason what happened to you?" She asked out of compassion, subconsciously letting the bottle fall down from her hands while see sat facing him. With the bottle off her grip, it was time for him to make a run for it as he tried to whisk off.
" Don't think about it!" She cautioned, folding her palm in a fist while she gazed at him with nothing but pity. His scared gaze soon met hers causing him to peer deeper into her eyes like he was onto to getting something from it.
" Mason it's me Fidelia. Do you remember?" She said in soft tenor as she gazed at him.
" Fidelia! Yes" he said, causing her to smile in joy.
" The towel lady at my wedding party." He said with a smile of relief causing her face to invert to a scowl.
" I'm Fidelia. I paid for your heart transplant. How come you don't remember." She asked in a soft tone as she sat gazing at Mason like he was a total stranger.
" Heart Transplant?" He said and was quick to look around him before moving his chair closer to her and spoke.
"How did you know I had a heart transplant. Only my family knows about that." He said in deep whisper and hawked his gaze around the surrounding radius. " Wait! Did that rat Alcatraz tell you about it? He did right? Damn that rat."
" Mason! What really happened to you. Are you pretending not to remember me so you won't be stuck with an old lady or do you really don't recall anything at all." She asked in a solemn tone as her eyes went teary causing him to feel sober himself.
" While I recall some skills and events from my past life. I can't help but feel empty about certain memories that pop up in my head, well not certain, most." " I feel empty." He slowly said in exasperation and sighed softly in sadness.
" Mason. Take a good look at my eyes. Do you recall anything." She said in tone flooded with emotions before flipping her wrinkled eyes wide open. He gazed at them and seemed to blink in flashes, clutching his head with his palms like someone suffering from a splitting migraine. It was a hopeful sight for Fidelia as she felt he was perhaps trying to recall the past like in the movies she saw.
" Do you recall anything?" She asked feeling almost compelled to reach for his hands.
" I felt a sense of déjà vu, then I felt empty. I don't know what's wrong with me. I need to find myself." She could feel the appeal in his tone. He was truly lost and cut off from the past. Hell was much better for her. She felt hopeless.
" Okay then. You owe us an IPhone twenty five and then my friend has lost her job because of you. I will take both the iPhone and then take the compensation for her job loss and then I shall leave you for good Mason." She said in sullen tone and wiped away tears from her eyes.
" My friend broke the phone. He would pay for that. As the for the job. She can work at my beans farm. I pay very well." Said Mason in a subtle tone. The thought of departing with his money didn't go down well with him.
" You will pay everything Mason. Right now and right here." She said in a broken tone. She had given up on him. He was totally a different person entirely and she couldn't waste any more time trying to win him back. Mason was silent for a while then a grin was seen on his face and he spoke;
" Wait then let me get my wallet." He said and stood up. He tiptoed towards the door while she gazed at his silliness with a heavy eye. She knew what he was about to do. Mason was quick to reach for the door walked past it and suddenly ran away in frantic manner that was clumsy, clandestine yet effective for his escape.
" Mam. You seem very hurt. We all are. Ever since he came out of the surgery. He has been a totally different person." Said Alcatraz who walked up to his rescuer. He was looking sober for the first time in many hours.
" I wasted my life and now I have wasted my death. I will have to fix things right with Erica before going back to hell." She sighed and looked around. A dozen great grand grannies in bikinis seemed to take off their eyes of empathy away from the pain of a fellow octogenarian. She stood up and slowly began to walk away only to find Alcatraz walking after her. " Perhaps just to the door." She thought and ignored him until they were past the door, past the gate and eventually on the street. She paused.
" Are you following me?" She asked turning abruptly at the midget.
" Yes I am." He said with an air of surprise.
" Why would you follow me. I don't have a house." She said to him with stern tone.
" Emery would kill me if I return to the Mansion. Where else would I go? I was born in that Mansion and when Mason bought the house, he bought me along with it. Now it's no longer safe to be there. I'm homeless to." He said as he gazed at Fidelia.
" When did you know Mason. You said you knew him before the surgery."
" Yes I did. The owner of the mansion used to invite him over to work on the fountain and drainages of the house. Mason wasn't rich then he was a humble young man and we got along just fine. I was the gardener at that time and I had lots liberty. I was very close to the boss to." Said Alcatraz and sighed softly in reflection.
" How did Mason acquire the Mansion in a short period of time?" She asked.
" After the surgery. He got a mega contract and boom, he was millionaire. Shortly after, my boss died and he willed that his house be sold to Mason and Mason alone…"
" Mason alone? That's strange. That's really strange." She said as she suited her chin with her palm, trying to figure out the strange turn of events.
" That's not as strange as Mason turning cold to us almost over night. I believe it's what money does to people. I hope he gets better soon." Said Alcatraz in a tone of sadness and uncertainty.
" Something isn't adding up here. Tell me midget.. "
" Alcatraz! My name is Alcatraz." He spoke out in protest
" Sorry. Alcatraz. What was the span between the death of your boss and Mason's surgery?"
" Two days apart. The surgery came first and my boss died."
" Was he sickly? I mean your boss. Did he have a fatal medical condition." She asked him as her eyes widened in inquisition.
" He didn't have a fatal Medical condition which I know of. But he was old. Almost eighty years old or whereabouts." Said Alcatraz and yawned from tiredness.
" Old age is not a bullet in the brain. They fall sick before dying." … she inferred.
" I'm hungry!" Exclaimed the Midget who was already so bored with her incessant questions.
" What doctor operated on Mason?" She asked with much eagerness.
" No one knows that. The operation it self is a guided a secret. Only I, mason and boss knew it about it." Said Alcatraz and came to a realization that was birthed by his own words.
" Just wait a second!" He said and paused abruptly. "How did you know about the surgery?" He asked with his eyes thrown open in shock as he stepped away from Fidelia as quick as he could.