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Part VIII: 1896- Hate's Consequence
"Oh, Timothy!" Evangeline tut-tutted, "Can you not see we are entertaining? Everybody is appreciating Sto-Ghee now. There will be time for you to exercise your talents for, after all, who should doubt them? Sto-Ghee, however, is of a special type."
Like everything she'd said, this seemed kindly meant, at least on the surface of it, though she did not look the little boy in the face once as she spoke to him.
-Evangeline
"But, Mother!" Timothy stomped his foot impatiently.
"Oh, let the boy perform, Evangeline," Joseephus chimed in. "Tim-o-thee here has been ree-hearsing for well over a fortnight now. 'Sides, I'm sure we don't wanna wear Stoh-Gee out too much now."
"Yes!" Stogie blurted out instinctively.
"And if we do that, he won't be able to perform afterwards!"
"WHAT?" Stogie and Timothy shouted at the same time, for different reasons.
Timothy elaborated on his. "But this Chinaman just showed up! Why does he get to perform, too?"
"Perform? What am I performing? What? WHAT?"
"Don't worry, Stoh-Gee," Joseephus jollily waved him off. "Just do your usual Chinese antics!"
"BUT I'M NOT CHINESE!" But Stogie was ignored.
"What say you, dear Evangeline?" Joseephus turned to his wife.
-Timothy, Joseephus, and Stogie
"Oh, as if I had a say in the matter!" Evangeline let out a whooping laugh, joining in with her husband.
This obnoxious rancor continued for approximately five minutes before Evangeline stopped short, patting Stogie on the shoulder, "Sit down now, Sto-ghee, and I shall fetch your garb."
-Evangeline
"Garb?" But before anybody could answer Stogie's inquiry, they were already chuckling up the joint. He held his head in anguish.
Joseephus clinked his glass. "Lay-deez and gen-tell-men, we present to you your first entertainment of the evenin', Timothy Lennox!"
Stogie sat down on a loveseat, still holding his head. He could have sworn the kid was doing some "I am a teapot, short and stout" routine but Stogie had too much of a headache to care.
"Hey, Stogie! Psst! Over here!"
Stogie didn't look up. "Please, I have nothing to say about China. I don't have any silk or fortune cookies or any other racist shit to say. Leave me alone."
"No, young Stogie! Look up!"
Stogie did, only to find... "Dr. White Castle!" Dressed like he was Colonel Sanders, white suit and bola tie and all!
"Galdamez, young Stogie! Dr. Galdamez!" He bit into some sponge cake (with cream, of course). "Oh, do keep up."
"Keep up?" Stogie let out a hollow laugh. "You want me to keep up?" He spoke through gritted teeth. "You take my friends on a wild scavenger hunt, conduct some ungodly ritual, send me back in time to...to..."
"The Gilded Age?"
"Which is a racist time!" Stogie continued with his grievances. "Next thing I know I'm bearing witness to cross burnings while people are poking and prodding me like I'm a dead frog in Biology 101. Now I'm stuck at the Klan people's house. I almost choke on sponge cake..."
"Did you apply the cream?" Galdamez asked, concern.
"No, I didn't apply the cream!" Stogie got closer fuming. "Now I have to perform after that little sport, whatever that means. And then you have the nads to show up dressed as Colonel fucking Sanders when I met you in a White Castle, as if I wasn't already confused enough...and you tell me to keep up? I'm usually a chill guy, man, but you really, really are testing my patience!"
Silence. All that can be heard is Timothy singing, "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques/Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?"
Finally, Galdamez spoke up. "Perhaps I have been unkind. You did not know what you were signing up for, outside of morbid curiosity. 'Twas unfair to think you'd fare well here."
"OK," Stogie nodded, seething but keeping his cool. "So can you take me out of here?"
"No, that's not how it works."
Stogie was about to scream, but for the sake of his cover, repressed it, his eyes bulging out of his sockets as a muffled yell of despair barely left his sealed lips. "What do you mean? You're a magic man! Do your magic!"
"Oh, you think too much of me," Galdamez chuckled sheepishly.
Stogie's mouth was agape. "You talk to ghosts!"
"The parameters of the enchantment require you to bear witness to the truth of what happened on this link in the chain of la mort."
"Oh, again with the chain of la Morty..."
"Tragedy is afoot, young Stogie," Galdamez placed his hand on Stogie's thigh, as if to emphasize the urgency of the situation. "Bear witness to the tragedy, its victims and its perpetrator. Only then will you be set free from the past and back to your own time."
Stogie blinked, weighing the task that was assigned to him. So this was his way home...just sit and watch things play out. That seems easy enou...
The room filled with applause. The kid was taking his bow.
Joseephus clinked his glass. "Fantastical! Fantabulous! Wonderful! Thank you, Tim-o-thee! Now, it is time for our newest addition to the family to perform!"
Like a hive mind, every head turned to Stogie, each leering at him perversely.
Stogie gulped. "Uh oh."
-Stogie, Joseephus, Timothy, and Galdamez
"Sto-Ghee, your garments!" Evangeline approached, with Stogie's new garb: a sailor suit slightly larger than that worn by Timothy, but still looking too small to fit one of Stogie's size.
-Evangeline
Stogie paled like a ghost when he was beholden to the sailor suit. What, did all kids wear them in this time period? "Uhhhhhh...no thank you."
"Oh, but you must!" Evangeline insisted, "You needn't fear that they've been used. Their intended was never..."
-Evangeline
"Evangeline." For the first time, Joseephus's tone was solemn, as if warning her.
Galdamez took advantage of this awkward silence to whisper in Stogie's ear, "Solve the mystery, young Stogie. Discover hate's consequence!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Stogie whispered back, but he was already being pulled up by Joseephus.
"Come along now, Stoh-Gee!" The master of the house urged him. "Get dressed! I promise it will be a jam-bo-ree!" Then, his face lighting up, "I know! I'll get my ban-Joe, in order to assist you with musical oh-com-pah-nee-ment!"
"But, father!" Timothy whined. "You didn't play music for my performance!"
"Oh, Tim-o-thee," Joseephus got down on his knee and pinched the tyke's cheek. "You don't need ya daddy's help because you got pure blood--our blood. The same can't be said for Stoh-Gee." He got back to his feet, and signaled for Stogie to come along, leaving Timothy pouting.
Stogie awkwardly waved at the kid. "Hey, little guy."
"I hope you fail, Chinaman!" He hissed and spat, before retreating into the crowd.
Stogie sighed, now dreading the kid killing him in his sleep, and followed Joseephus to the door. "OK, just give me the sailor outfit. I'll get dressed."
"Oh, you misunderstand," Joseephus purred.
"Um...what?" Stogie turned to Evangeline, confused.
-Joseephus, Galdamez, Stogie, and Timothy
"Come through to the parlor here," Evangeline smiled invitingly, "I'll help you figure your way around our American clothes."
She placed both hands on his shoulders and steered him through the door.
-Evangeline
"Wait, what no NO NO I CAN DO IT MYSELF I CAN DO IT MYSEL..."
The door shut. Soon enough it was just Stogie and Evangeline.
"Um..." He swallowed heard, sweating bullets. "I appreciate the effort but...I can put on clothes."
"Not our clothes, surely!" Evangeline declared, "Come, I relish the chance to dress a man! Joseephus is far too particular about his slacks."
-Evangeline
"No! No! Get back! GET BACK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The crowded huddled close to the door, listening intently to Stogie's muffled screaming, very much intrigued and amused.
Galdamez continued eating his sponge cake, although he felt a feeling of guilt (?) disturbing his appetite. As if to avoid some sense of shame, he unenthusiastically held his hand to his head, as if to tune out Stogie's cries for helps.
About ten minutes later, Stogie left the dressing room, dressed in an ill-fitting sailor's suit and looking like an absolute mess.
"Stoh-Gee!" Ellis cheered. "My, you look like a true Southern gentleman!"
"I don't wanna hear it, man." Stogie replied, exasperated.
"Well, Stoh-Gee," Joseephus approached him, banjo in hand. "I got my 'twanger,' as it were. What do you have planned for us?"
Stogie looked up, somewhat offended. "Nothing. I don't know what you guys want from me?"
Someone from the back shouted, "Chinese stuff!"
Another cried, "Do a ritual!"
"Teach us your ways!"
"Uhhhhhhh..." Stogie turned to Joseephus. "Can I have my Heelies...I mean, my magic shoes back?"
"No, those are still under observation." Joseephus's face lit up. "I know! How about a song? I can even play along. I have studied a variety of Oriental poetry."
There's an idea. But Stogie didn't know much music...except...
He turned to Evangeline. "You guys got a piano?"
-Stogie, Ellis, and Joseephus
"Why, but of course!" Evangeline indicated a sleek grand piano across the parlor, "Are you a musician, Sto-Ghee?"
-Evangeline
"I dabble," Stogie replied, taking his seat at the piano. He had only seen the music video on YouTube, but he didn't know anything about music. Maybe he had perfect pitch or it would just come naturally. Maybe if he just believed...
You'll have to believe. God knows what they'll do you if you fail. He thought, weighing his options. Maybe more mockery, more laughter, more treating you like a kid. Whatever you do, you're gonna do it with pride. PRIDE!
Stogie had the spirit. He just needed to start, get into the flow. But all he remembered was the video...
The music video. He'd go by that.
"Your moms is so poor...she went to McDonalds and put a shake on layaway."
The crowd murmured in confusion. "Is he talking to us?" "He doesn't even know my mother!" "Does he mean Farmer McDonald?"
Stogie gulped. Perhaps this was a risky way to start, but it was the only way he could get into the spirit of the classic.
"Your mother so old, she knew Central Park when it was just a plant."
More murmurs from the crowd "More about the mothers!" "What sort of Eastern tradition is this?" "My mother is dead."
Stogie took a deep breath, keeping his cool.
"Your mom's head is so nappy, she has to take painkillers to comb her hair."
Everyone just looked confused, even Galdamez, who was still working on his sponge cake.
Time for the inciting incident!
"Oh, yo, yo! Hey! Look at that! This is what's happenin'! You got what I need, baby!"
This was when some hot women came onto the scene, so he turned to the nearest women. First to a wealthy old dowager, who was quickly grabbed by her husband; then to a kid but that wasn't ethical. So finally, his eyes rested on Evangeline.
Joseephus, excited, whispered in his wife's ear, "You have been chosen, honeysuckle!"
-Stogie, Ellis, and Joseephus
"Oh my!" Evangeline giggled, pressing a hand to her heart, "Should I remove my shoes?"
-Evangeline
Stogie timidly raised his hand, as if to signal her to "take it easy." He then resumed his performance.
"It's over like that, baby? How 'bout you then? Ay, you comin' back?"
Then, a solemn silence. The crowd became concerned. Stogie continues, his tone becoming more commanding.
"Yo, yo, yo, yo, forget them girls! I got a little story to tell you."
Everybody leaned in, fascinated.
Stogie finally dropped the beat on the piano.
"Have you ever met a girl that you tried to date/But a year to make love she wanted you to wait/Let me tell ya a story of my situation /I was talkin' to this girl from the U.S. Nation..."
The crowd was startled, surprised by Stogie's effortless rhyming and flow. Galdamez raised his eyebrows, intrigued.
"The way that I met her was on tour at a concert/She had long hair and a short miniskirt/I just got onstage drippin', pourin' with sweat/I was walkin' through the crowd and guess who I met..."
Stogie played with passion, with soul. This was the only song he knew. It was his song, his ballad. Even though he was far from proficient with any musical instrument, Stogie would do this song right. He had to.
"I whispered in her ear, 'Come to the picture booth/So I can ask you some questions to see if you are a hundred proof.'/I asked her her name, she said blah-blah-blah/She had nine tenth pants and a very big bra..."
Joseephus swayed back and forth, trying his hardest to catch the rhythm. But how could he play to this euphoric--no, angelic--tune?!
"I took a couple of flicks and she was enthused/I said, 'How do you like the show?'/She said, 'I was very amused.'/I started throwin' bass, she started throwin' back mid-range/But when I sprung the question, she acted kind of strange..."
Ellis didn't realize it but he began to bob up and down, in rhythm with Stogie's piano. While his upper body was stiff, his knees were getting to into it. Since he was an important political figure and all, the rest of the crowd slowly followed in suit, everybody bouncing up and down.
"Then when I asked, 'Do ya have a man?' she tried to pretend/She said, 'No I don't, I only have a friend.'"
Stogie knew he had to overcome nerves here, because the song was nothing without personality. So gone was the fright, in with the doubting pout.
"Come on, I'm not even goin' for it/This is what I'm goin' sing..."
Then, with great force, Stogie got to his feet, still playing the piano. The ferocity of the move caught everyone off-guard, as he boomed the chorus to the point of straining his vocal cords.
"You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/And you say he's just a friend, oh baby/You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/But you say he's just a friend, oh baby/You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/But you say he's just a friend..."
Galdamez spilt his cream, as he muttered breathlessly, "Oh sweet Baphomet, the boy's lost his marbles."
Joseephus thought the opposite, as he said with a wide smile, "That boy is something else!" He then joined in with his banjo, surprisingly jiving well with Stogie's piano. The crowd cheered, now fully invested in the performance and clapping along.
"So I took blah-blah's word for it at this time/I thought just havin' a friend couldn't be no crime/'Cause I have friends and that's a fact/Like Agnes, Agatha, Germaine, and Jack..."
Stogie pointed out several people in the crowd as he listed the names, with little Timothy turning out to be Jack. However, the youth was becoming sour that this Oriental was receiving more applause than he ever did, and refrained to licking his lollipop out of spite.
"Forget about that, let's go into the story/About a girl named blah-blah-blah that adored me/So we started talkin', gettin' familiar/Spendin' a lot of time so we can build up..."
Stogie stifled emotion now, perhaps the song beginning to get a bit too personal for his taste. For now, he kept his cool.
"A relationship or some understanding/I was gonna be in the future we was plannin'/Everything sounded so dandy and sweet/I had no idea I was in for a treat..."
A very drunk Ellis could be heard musing, "A treat! What's the treat?!"
"After this was established, everything was cool/The tour was over and she went back to school/I called every day to see how she was doin'/Every time that I called her it seemed somethin' was brewin'..."
Stogie knew he wasn't just singing a song; he was telling a story, one with universal connotations that even these scumbag, racist, Klanspeople had to understand. He almost felt bad gifting these bigots with such a beauty...but it would be an equal disgrace to do the song wrong.
"I called her room a guy picked up, and then I called again/I said, "Yo, who was that?" "Oh, he's just a friend"/Don't gimme that, don't ever gimme that/Jus' bust this..."
Equal parts frustration and despair. Such was the way of heartbreak. Perhaps the chorus would give some hope...
"You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/And you say he's just a friend, oh baby/You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/But you say he's just a friend, oh baby/You, you got what I need but you say he's just a friend/But you say he's just a friend..."
Stogie was back on his feet, sweating up a storm. The performance had to be physical, even visceral. He didn't care who he was performing for. He had to give it his all! Stogie never phoned it in!!!
"So I came to her college on a surprise visit/To see my girl that was so exquisite..."
Stogie shot Evangeline a wink, being the charismatic performer he was.
"It was a school day, I knew she was there/The first semester of the school year/I went to a gate to ask where was her dorm/This guy made me fill out a visitor's form..."
While Stogie sang "visitor's form" with the venomous contempt it deserved, Joseephus was circling the room with his bango, encouraging everybody to join along and clap. Not that they needed much convincing. They already were.
"He told me where it was and I was on my way/To see my baby doll, I was happy to say/I arrived in front of the dormitory/Yo, could you tell me where is door three?"
Stogie gestured back to the door where a sailor outfit was forced onto him. Funny what could happen in the span of ten minutes.
"They showed me where it was for the moment/I didn't know I was in for such an event/So I came to her room and opened the door/Oh, snap! Guess what I saw?"
Everybody excepting Timothy leaned in, curious, demanding to know the answer.
"A fella tongue-kissin' my girl in the mouth/I was so in shock my heart went down south..."
The crowd roared in surprise, causing even a few ladies (and even Ellis Maddox!) to catch the vapors. The scandal! The intrigue! As Joseephus promptly noted, "The tragedy! A beautiful tragedy!"
Stogie knew it was time to bring it in for a landing and direct the moral of the story.
"So please listen to the message that I say/Don't ever talk to a girl who says she just has a friend, has a friend, has a friend, has a friend, has a friend, has a friend..."
He repeated the last lyric just like the music video echoed in its final moments. Tears were streaming down his cheeks now, the crowd was emotional, but the music kept on. Such was the way of life.
But unfortunately, the music had to end eventually. So delicately, Stogie brought the tune to a neat ending. The performance was over.
For a moment, everyone was silent, as if processing what they had just experienced.
They exploded in uproarious cheering.
"Well, I'll be!"
"Amazing! Stupendous!"
"I'll make that my campaign song, I swear!" Ellis, in particular, bellowed, before downing another drink.
Joseephus came over and shook Stogie by the shoulders. "What a find you were, Stoh-Gee! What. A. Find!"
Stogie couldn't say anything, he was so exhausted. The sailor suit was completely wet with his sweat. But he didn't mind that. He was too proud. Not of appeasing the crowd. No, Stogie was never about that. He was proud that for the first time since he was sent here, Stogie was purely and solely himself.
And that was enough.
-Stogie, Joseephus, Galdamez, Ellis, and Timothy
Stogie's ballad had a gripping, almost hypnotic grip on the party. Even Netta, in the dinette, was listening, ear pressed to the door, bobbing her head up and down with the music, a little smile on her face as she reflected on the tale the mysterious foreign guest was so skillfully spinning.
***
"Oh, wonderful, wonderful!" Evangeline applauded, ecstatic, leading the rest of the assemblage in a chorus of adulation, "Sto-Ghee, wherever did you learn such a wonderful song?"
-Netta and Evangeline
"The East, Evangeline! The East!" Joseephus quickly answered for Stogie, somewhat embarrassed by his wife. "Likely an epic poem passed down by his great emperors!"
Stogie was tempted to just say "yes" and let that be the end of that...but he thought on it more. Maybe he was feeling himself, but Stogie's pride pushed him to engage with Evangeline's question.
"No," he said with a smile. "Even better."
"Even better than an emperor?!?!?!" Joseephus's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull in shock. "Then who? WHO?!"
Giving away nothing, Stogie answered smugly, "Biz Markie."
-Joseephus and Stogie
"Oh! But then who is this Biz Markie?" Evangeline was almost teetering on her perch in excitement, "A poet? A philosopher? A man of letters?"
-Evangeline
"Nope. It was written..." Stogie smirked with an almost tangible confidence. "...by a black guy."
A shriek from the back! The wealthy old dowager fainted in pure shock! Panicked shouting spread across the parlor room like wildfire, the aristocrats fanning themselves and shaking their heads in denial!
"No! No! It cannot be!"
"Lies! The Chinaman lies!"
"A superior melody such as that...created by a...a...OHHHH!" Ellis stumbled back into the buffet table, absolutely floored that he grew to like such a song!
"That's right! That's right!" Stogie cheered, stepping on the piano for everyone to see. "It was written, composed, and performed by a black man! How does that make you feel?!"
A sobbing woman covered her ears in fright. "Oh, make him stop! Make him stop!"
"An untamed animal from the East, that's what he is!" Cried a man, fuming with rage.
"What? Don't you want an encore?" Stogie began to sloppily play the tune with his feet. "You! You got what I neeeeeeed! But you say he's just a friend! You say he's just a friend!"
Ellis began to vomit profusely, disgusted that he was hearing the song with this new knowledge.
A holy man in the crowd pressed his hands to head, preaching, "The tempting siren of the devil truly is beautiful! Have mercy, oh, have mercy!"
"No! Fuck you, Father Fuckface!" Stogie continued playing with his feet to further get on their nerves.
Joseephus stepped forward, hands extended in a pleading fashion. "Stoh-Gee, please! You're ruining the e-vent!"
"Good! Because I've had enough of you racists poking and prodding and maybe later probing me!" Stogie bellowed louder than all the patrons' panic. "You shitheads are sick! Maybe even subhuman! And I'm not gonna stand for it! We're gonna take this operation down and correct the course of history! Isn't that right, Dr. Galda..."
He turned to where Galdamez was sitting but he was no longer there. All Stogie glimpsed was him stepping out of the room in a hurry in closing the door behind.
Stogie's eyes widened. "Son of a..."
Suddenly, Stogie took a cream pie in the face, thrown by none other than little Timothy! "Take that, Chinaman!"
"Oh my God, it's burning my eyeOH FUCK!" Another pie to the face, thrown with such velocity, it sent Stogie staggering off the piano and against the wall. Barely managing to stay on his feet, he tried to wipe the cream from his eyes, only to see an angry mob approaching him, cursing vehemently.
Stogie had really gone and done it now...
-Stogie, Ellis, Joseephus, Galdamez, and Timothy
Evangeline blanched at the chaos unraveling around them. She hardly even had the presence of mind to panic about all those custard pies flying around the drawing room.
"No, no!" she cried wildly, flailing her arms about in the air, "Please, everybody, compose yourselves! Sto-Ghee is merely ignorant to our customs! He must be taught, not attOH!" her elaborate hat was knocked clear off her head by a thrown fruit fool.
-Evangeline
Stogie held his arm out, pleading, "Please...get away from me!" He thought he was done for, until...
"E-nough!" Joseephus bellowed, with a commanding strum of his banjo. Everyone was silenced. "I will take charge of the sit-u-ay-shun!" Stepping forward, he spoke to Stogie, "Come with me."
The fear in Stogie's gut prevented him from forming any words, so he nodded feebly.
As Joseephus tugged him by the arm, he whispered to Evangeline, "Entertain the guests while I converse with Stoh-Gee."
-Stogie and Joseephus
"But what am I supposed to..." Evangeline whined, but she let out a laborious sigh, licking whipped cream from her lips, and turning to the crowd of moaning, panting, cake-coated guests.
You were queen of the Beauty Scene once, Miss 'Vangeline. You know how to grab a crowd's attention.
Facing the crowd, she began can-can kicking up and down the parlor, her voice raised in song, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord/He is trapling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored/He have loosed the faithful lightening of his terrible swift sword/His truth is marching on... Come on, everyone! Glory, glory hallelujah/Glory, glory hallelujah/Glory, glory hallelujah! His truth is marching on..."
-Evangeline
At first, the crowd didn't catch on, but Ellis, somewhat delirious from his sudden illness, began to sing along. "Glory, glory, halle..." He stifled more vomit. "Glory, glory, hallelujah."
And since he was the mayoral candidate, the crowd joined with him, all singing along, slowly and unsurely, still rocked by the trauma of moments ago.
***
Joseephus ushered Stogie into his office, closing the door behind them. The room's walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases containing all sorts of tomes and artefacts. Swords, death masks, and hand-drawn maps were hung in between these cases, proving Joseephus was a well-travelled man, above all else. He also appeared to be a hobbyist, as there was a table for his calligraphy, a chemistry set, and an easel with a canvas that appeared to be a work in progress.
The master of the house brushed past Stogie and approached his desk. He remained silent.
Stogie, still covered with cream pie, figured he'd take yet another risk against his better judgement and speak up. "Thanks for, uh, getting me out of there. Thought they were gonna, um...brutalize me and stuff."
"No, we can't have that. You're much too valuable." Joseephus didn't look up from the papers he was bent over and shuffling through.
"Right." Stogie paused. "Because I'm Asian?"
Joseephus looked up. "Do you realize how lucky you found yourself here, among people of class and well repute, young Stoh-Gee?" He gestured Stogie to come closer, which he did, to look at a map of America on his desk. "If you were to land here, out West..." Joseephus's finger fell on California. "...among some lower class folk, you'd be com-busting yourself building the railroads. Instead, you're among educated folk, who can appreciate the peculiarities of your culture." Then, as if disappointed, he added, "Yet, you still target our dignity and try to make us feel..." He fished for the words. "You likened us to an inferior race, Stoh-Gee. That was not appreciated."
Stogie scoffed. "So I'm good to gawk at and to hell with the rest? Is that it?"
"You clearly aren't a man of science, Stoh-Gee," Joseephus shook his head. "This is simply a fact of nature. The Hindus understand. Society is only manageable with a rigid caste system in place. We can't live on daydreams that everyone is of equal merit. That is pre-pos-ter-us!"
"And well, it's what the founding fathers wanted! I know that much!" Stogie exclaimed, feeling somewhat empowered.
Joseephus only smiled at this. "The founding fathers. A handful of great men of a certain...physiognomy. As it was meant to be, and as it always will. Take the fellow you've hue-mill-e-ated today, Ellis Maddox. Now there is an exceptional man. Do you know what his destiny is?"
Stogie tried to think of his best one-liner. "No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me." He also didn't want to guess, so this felt like the easiest answer.
"Look at the canvas there," Joseephus gestured to his unfinished work. "I have been working on that picture for nearly five years, ever since I came back from a fascinating trip to Nepal. It was inspired by a dream I had of a hallowed place: Shambala. Have you heard of it, Stoh-Gee?" He smiled. "It's alright. Take your time."
Stogie stayed quiet.
"It's a paradise, the likes of which man has never known." Joseephus finally answered his own question. "Heaven on earth. Some call it a lost city, but I don't believe that, solely because I recognized it as my dream, the dream of many great men, of Ellis Maddox, of our founding fathers. It's a dream only the ambitious will dare seek out because it is likely one that will outlive us all." He referred again to the unfinished painting. "I've come to terms that I'll never finish that painting in my lifetime. Maybe Timothy will carry on my work. Or his son after him, or his grandson. It's an endless project, where, even though my contributions are small, still advance the grand goal of civilization." Joseephus widened his arms. "It is the culmination of all my work. It is why I borrow so much from your people and its neighboring cultures. Because I want to make the dream real, Stoh-Gee. Don't ya see? I care about hue-man-eh-tee."
After a brief quiet, Stogie glowered the supposed intellectual. "You a mean select few?"
Joseephus shrugged. "If St. Peter were to let everyone in, it would just be earth in the clouds? And then what's the point of that, huh, Stoh-Gee?"
Stogie sighed. "Well, I'm sorry I delayed your dream, bub..."
"That's alright, Stoh-Gee."
"But..." Stogie had a cool monologue lined up after that but then the guy had the nerve to accept his sarcastic apology. "So wait, we're good, now?"
Joseephus smiled again, deep in contemplation. "You know what I find fascinating about you, Stoh-Gee?"
Stogie's eyes darted back and forth. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no but I'm sure you're going to tell me?" The line came off much weaker this time around.
"Unlike many foreigners that have come into this country, your will seems to be strong," Joseephus stroked his goatee. "You are not so willing to bend the knee. There's something almost...romantic about that."
"Um...thanks."
"But it won't last." Joseephus crossed his arms, smiling perversely. "It's just a matter of when. And I look forward to tracking the progress daily, even hourly, of your realization upon finding where you truly belong in this life--outside of Shambala, looking in. I expect we will have made great progress when I put you on dis-play at the World's Fair tomorrow."
Now sweating bullets, Stogie gulped out fright. "Really? And why's that?"
His smile remaining, Joseephus slowly approached Stogie, each footstep making the time traveler's heartbeat go faster and faster. As the master extended his hand, Stogie felt as if he were about to die, wincing in anticipation...
But he only patted Stogie on the shoulder. "Come. Netta will show you to your new quarters.
***
"It's just down the stairs here," said Netta meekly, not looking over her shoulder to make sure Stogie was following. Indeed, she didn't lift her eyes from the floor once as they progressed.
"What did you mean by it?" she asked so quietly it was almost a whisper, "All that carrying on before? You're lucky Mr. Lennox was in a fair mood, or..." she didn't finish the sentence.
-Netta
"Mean by what?" Stogie replied, following Netta closely. "You mean my, er, stand before? For justice?" He feigned modesty and shrugged. "I was just telling facts. Song was cooked up by a black guy from Harlem. Not my fault they didn't wanna hear it." Realizing he forgot to ask, he added, "What did you think, by the way? Of the song?"
"It was very interesting," Netta said at last, "But I must say, I don't know what you were trying to get at," she slowed down, halfway down the stairs, "I don't know what it's like over in Harlem, or China, or wherever it is you're from, but in these parts, a body has to watch his step around people like those. The Lennoxes are not the sort you cross; it don't matter how much they turn you wrong."
She frowned, "Or don't you think I would've sung a pretty song too, if I thought it would do me any good?"
-Netta
"I guess." Stogie scratched the back of his head. "It just sucks, you know? These smug, cocky rich people looking at me like I'm sort of pet. And you, they barely give you the time of day. I just wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine, y'know? Piss in their soup, ruin their day." Then, looking off in the distance with a thousand-yard stare, he said to no one in particular, "God knows my day's gone to shit." Stogie shook his head and returned his attention to Netta. "So yeah, it was kinda stupid. But it was brave, wasn't it?"
"Oh, yes," Netta smiled as they reached the bottommost step, "It was very brave," she sighed, "But look where your bravery's gotten you," she opened the door to the cellar, gesturing for Stogie to enter ahead of her.
-Netta
"Yeah, um..." Stogie looked at the open door. "...the basement." He laughed nonchalantly. "Like, what's in there? A pit of snakes? Vat of acid? Some monster hiding in the dark? Pfft. I know you guys treat me like it, but I'm no kid. Your boss is gonna have to do a lot more to scare me."