Auld Lang Syne, Part 2
"Ivvvyyy," Zack seethed through chattering teeth, "Weeee’rrrre
heeerrre. Rinnnngg the belllllll."
"Oh come on, Zack, don’t be such a wimp," Ivy said as she approached
the oak door. The house was painted white with green trim. It was of
moderate size as far as houses went and she had the oddest feeling of deja
vu, like she’d seen the place before. She reached out with a near frozen
hand and rang the doorbell. "Besides," she said, "Weren’t you the one who
was so pysched about having snow?"
"Yeah well, Sis, it’s no winter wonderland when you can’t feel your
toes!" Zack shouted sarcastically.
"Shhhh! I think someone’s coming."
Zack and Ivy watched as the door slowly opened. Behind it was a
woman in her early thirties. Her dark hair was piled on her head somewhat
haphazardly and the sleeves on her cheery red sweater were rolled up to her
elbows. Between the smears of flour on her face, Ivy could make out a pair
of tired, but rather piercing blue eyes. As the woman’s gaze fell upon
them, she gasped.
"Zack? Ivy," she said puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
"Carmen?" they both asked dumfounded.
* * * * * * * *
Fifteen minutes later Zack and Ivy were thawing out in front of a
crackling fire. Ivy’s eyes wandered around the room. Carmen had told them
that it was the former Golden Gate Girl’s School, and Zack had remarked
that it must have been quite a paint job. It was a warm-hearted room,
creme colored walls, polished hardwood floors, and comfortable stuffed
armchairs. There wasn’t a dominant style to the decor, in one corner an
Oriental vase sat next to a colonial style brass lamp, but, it didn’t seem
to clash either. Somehow all the different styles mixed harmoniously
together. In fact, it reminded her of Carmen in a way.
"Hey, Ivy," Zack said from the chair next to her. "Now that
Carmen’s out of the room, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you think she
brought us here on purpose?"
"You mean causing our car to go off the road? That was just an
accident, little bro. But you’re right, it is a strange coincidence..."
"Just think about it, Sis. Carmen’s got a lot of power, who says
that this freak storm isn’t due to one of her technological gadgets?"
"I say it isn’t," Carmen interrupted. "Thank you for the
compliment, Zack, but controlling the weather isn’t my department. You’ll
have to talk to Sara Bellum about that. Here, I brought you both hot
chocolate and some cookies," she said softly while setting down a tray at
the coffee table.
"Ivy, don’t eat anything," Zack whispered. "She probably poisoned
it."
"I heard that," Carmen said turning around scornfully. "Really,
Zack. I’d thought you’d know me a bit better than that. If I wanted to kill
you, I don’t think I would have taken you in out of the storm."
"Is this some caper of yours, Carmen?" Ivy questioned. "Did you
bring us here?"
"No, I was just planning on spending my holidays here by myself. I
didn’t expect you to show up on my doorstep."
"I still don’t believe you, Carmen. After all the times you’ve
lied to us in the past, you’re going to have to come up with a better
excuse than that."
"Exactly," said Zack leery of what Carmen had to say. "If you’re
spending Christmas here, then where’s the rest of V.I.L.E? Hiding in the
basement? In the closet?" he asked suspiciously.
"Come now, Zack. Henchmen in the closet! What a preposterous idea!
If you must know, I gave everyone time off for the holidays this year to
spend with their families. It may surprise you to know this, detectives,
but even criminals have families," Carmen spoke while stirring the embers
of the fire.
"No way!" Zack shouted in disbelief. "C’mon, well...not Sara Bellum."
"Not that it’s any or your business, Zack, but I believe that Sara’s
chosen to spend the holidays with her nephew."
"And I thought my relatives were nuts. Poor kid. He’s going to need
some major therapy..."
"Sara’s had some problems in the past, but she’s improving and has
sought professional help," Carmen said as she shot Zack a disdainful look.
"But, as I said before, even criminals have families."
"All except you, Carmen," Ivy said coolly. She immediately
regretted her words the minute they came out of her mouth.
"Yes, Ivy," Carmen said softly with her face turned away, "all
except for me."
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Zack, who had been
busily stuffing himself with Christmas cookies tried to lighten up the
situation with, "Mmmm, these cookies are pretty good. Better than
Grandma’s. Are you turning over a new leaf here, Carmen? You’re not
looking your usual glamorous self. No offense," he said between bites, "but
Martha Stewart’s not your style."
Carmen chuckled with a twinkle in her eye, "You’re digesting my
second endeavor, there. The first was not exactly a masterpiece," she said
pointing to the trash can. "I know, I know. I’m not really suited to the
mundane, but I’d thought I’d give it a shot." They all laughed.
"Speaking of Grandma," Ivy said seriously, "We really should give
her a call and tell her where we are. Mom and Dad are probably worried
sick about us now."
"The phone’s in the dining room. If you’ll excuse me for a moment,
I think that other batch of cookies is finished." With that, Carmen exited
the room. Ivy went to the phone and dialed the number, "Hi! Yes, this is
Ivy. Hello, Aunt Marcy, yes I’m doing fine. Yes, my hair’s still red,"
Ivy said with a roll of her eyes. Aunt Marcy tended to be a little crazy
at times, and a little overbearing, too. "Can I talk to mom? Yes, I’ll hold
on. Mom, it’s me, Ivy. Listen, we’ve had a little trouble getting here
because of the storm. The car went off the road and we had to pull over
for the night. No, we’re fine, we’re all in one piece. Oh, you want to
talk to Zack. Here he is." She handed the phone to her brother.
"Hi, Mom," he said as he picked up the phone. "Yeah, we had a
little accident. I know, I know, it’s all El Nino’s fault," he smirked.
"Whose house are we at?" He looked to his sister for help. "Ummm, some
lady’s," he ventured. "Her name? Uhhhh, name’s Bond," Zack said confidently
remembering the movie he saw this weekend. "Bond. Betty Bond," he said
looking down at a cookbook, "She has a license to cook. Yeah, very funny.
No, you can’t talk to her right now. She’s uhhhh, hanging Christmas lights
outside," Zack saw his sister shake her head. "Yep, I know it’s a blizzard,
but she’s really into the holiday spirit. Well, okay, I love you, too
Mom. No, no! Aunt Judy doesn’t need to save me a slice of fruitcake,
Grandpa can have it. Wish everyone a Merry Christmas for me." Zack sighed
with relief as he hung up the phone.
Ivy who had the biggest smile on her face said, "Oh, now that was a
good one, Zack. "Hanging Christmas lights outside, that was smart, real
smart. And Betty Bond?" Ivy broke into a fit of laughter.
"Indeed, Ivy. Now, there’s an alias I hadn’t thought of," said
Carmen, who had heard all of Zack’s conversation, with a sly smile.
"Well, she bought it, didn’t she?" Zack said a bit miffed as he
went for another cookie. "I couldn’t exactly say, 'Hi mom, I’m at Carmen
Sandiego’s house. Merry Christmas."
"I’m sure that would have went over quite well with your mother,"
Carmen said jokingly.
"Yeah, she does have a few bones to pick with you, Carmen. Probably
mostly over the fact that we see more of you than we do of her." Ivy
shrugged.
"Well, I’m not forcing you to stay here, but the Chief would have
my head if I let you go out in that storm. By the way, how is he?"
"He’s his usually festive and merry self. He tried to talk us into
staying with him at Acme for Christmas, but finally decided that we should
spend time with our family. Why do you ask?" Zack said as he sat down at
the table.
"Oh, just curious,” Carmen said quietly. "It’s just that, well, we
always spent the holidays together when I worked at Acme. I remember one
year Suhara and I were on a stakeout in Vienna. There had been some break
ins at the government buildings there, and we had been sent in right before
Christmas to bust the gang who had been pulling the heists. Now, the Chief
was a robot back then, you probably knew that already, but since I couldn’t
come home to spend Christmas with him, he had himself shipped, Federal
Express, to Austria. Just to spend time with me," Carmen beamed. "Of course,
the executives at Acme were furious, but not for long," she smiled with a
faraway glance in her eyes. "Well," she said regaining her familiar calm
demeanor, "I’d better get the guests rooms ready. I take it you’re
spending the night." Zack and Ivy agreeingly nodded.
After Carmen had left, Zack turned to his sister and said, "Did you
see the expression on her face when she talked about the 'good old days'
back at Acme? I’ve never seen her look so happy before. She was so
animated, so merry, so alive. I don’t get it, Sis. She had a brilliant
career there, she was happy and you can tell she misses it now. Maybe just
a little bit, but it’s obvious she does. Then, why did she leave?"
"I don’t know, little bro. She’s been so different tonight. Well,
not different exactly. I guess she’s always been like this, but I’ve chosen
to ignore it over the years." Ivy sighed as she looked over the artifacts
on Carmen’s mantelpiece. A nineteenth century German clock, some old
books -probably first editions, and a picture. It was one of Carmen,
Suhara, and the Chief. Ivy simply shook her head and said under her breath,
"Sometimes, I just don’t understand you, Carmen Sandiego."
"Hey, Ivy!," Zack yelled from another room. "Come in here!"
"What is it?" she said as she entered.
"Look, Carmen’s got a Steinway Baby Grand in here. Wow! This is so
cool!" Zack sat down at the bench. "Hey, and there’s music on the stand,
too. Doesn’t say what piece it is, but I’ll give it a try." Zack
sight-read the music slowly, and hit enough wrong notes and ugly chords to
have Ivy cover her ears.
"You know, they say music is to be played by all, Zack,"
Carmen commented as she found Zack sitting at her piano, "but please,
you’re butchering my concerto."
"You wrote this Carmen?" Ivy asked surprised.
"Yes, and if Mozart here will step aside, I’d be happy to play it
for you." With that, Carmen sat down at the piano with the grace of an
angel and deftly began to play the instrument. Her song had a strong
elegant melody, strong and driving at times, but soft and tender at others.
Ivy couldn’t really classify its style, it was both classical and jazz at
the same time, if such a piece could be written. Then, suddenly, it stopped
abruptly leaving the room in silence.
"That’s it?" Zack asked taken aback by the beauty of the music.
"That’s all that’s written so far, Zack."
"I didn’t know you played the piano, Carmen," said Ivy curiously.
"Self-taught, age five. There was a piano at the Orphanage. Not a
Baby Grand, mind you. One day, I got bored and started to make up melodies
on it." Carmen began to play a riff of "The Entertainer." "Eventually, I
learned it formally and can play almost anything. Any special requests?"
she ventured casually with a smile.
"How about 'Deck the Halls'?" Zack said. "After all, it is Christmas
Eve.
"All right, but you won’t like my singing, I can guarantee you
that."
"Finally!" Zack said out loud, "We’ve found something you can’t do!"
With that, Carmen broke out into a sly grin and struck up the classic tune.
To be continued...
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