The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Promise Made

By [Po], ©Rose A. Campbell 2006

1.

   Harry King’s daughter wasn’t looking at the lovely park scenery. She wasn’t listening to the chatter of birds and squirrels or lying back on the manicured grass gazing at fluffy white clouds as they scuttled across a bluer-than-blue sky. She wasn’t skipping stones across the peaceful pond or returning admiring glances from passing young men. Lilah King was jacked-in to her MP3 player, blasting speed metal tunes through her brain to block out any stray thoughts as she glared into her handheld, cramming figures in preparation for the big meeting. She was only pacing the park for one reason. It was the last place anyone would look for her, and she could work in peace at last.

  Slipping one of the headphones back from her ear, she flipped her cell open and speed-dialed. “Lorna, email me the numbers on ATROM, ’01, right away. Never mind where I am. Just email them to me! Yes, I’ll be there in plenty of time for the meeting. Have I ever missed a meeting? Tell Shaun no coffee, just Earl Grey. No, Hessler won’t touch that Chinese garbage! I don’t care how much it cost! Send Shaun out for Earl Grey. I don’t give a damn if my father prefers Shin-Won. This merger is about Hessler! If Hessler isn’t happy, there is no merger. Tell my father – no, I’ll tell him. Just get that email sent, Lorna.”

   With a sigh, Lilah smacked the phone shut. Less than two hours before the merger that would bring King Enterprises to the forefront of the market, Daddy was making waves. Again. It wasn’t right. At his age, Harry King should be in top form, in his prime as a moneymaker. Yet there were signs showing, bad signs in Lilah’s opinion. Giving an extra five grand to that homeless shelter, for one. Buying roses for Mother. Allowing Daniel to decide which college to attend! And that was just in his personal life. Things at the office were much worse, so much so that Lilah refused to even ponder them. She feared that he was going senile or, worse, gaining a conscience! The more she thought, the angrier she became. In half a second, the cell was dialing Harry King’s private office line.

   “Daddy, what’s with you giving Shaun a hard time about the tea? Are you actively trying to sabotage – no, no, Daddy, I do not like Shin-Won better than Earl Grey! Does it matter? You know that we have one single chance to impress Don Hessler, and if we don’t, this merger is down the drain. No, I’m not being obsessive! This is an important deal, Daddy! It may well bring me – us – to the highest point we can achieve!” Lilah paced in a tight circle at the edge of the gravel path overlooking a small lily-pond. Her tone slid from argumentative to shrill as the conversation progressed. “What? What in God’s name are you talking about, Daddy? Settle down, me? Ha! Why would I risk my career just when I’m finally becoming successful? Give me a break, Dad. Why are you trying to change the subject? Just – I’m going to hang up now. I’m hanging up, Daddy. Please, don’t do anything...don’t do anything until I get there. I’ll see you in a bit. Yeah, you too. Goodbye, Dad!”

   Lilah peered furiously at her handheld for a moment, soaking in the music still pounding in her ear, searching desperately for a Zen moment. “Breathe, Lilah, breathe. Deep cleansing breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth.” she chanted softly. “Find your quiet place. Dammit, why can’t he just retire already and save me all this drama?"

   Forcing calm, steady movement, Lilah reached into the Hermés handbag dangling from her elbow, deposited her cellphone and handheld, and deftly switched off the MP3 player. With a resigned sigh, she stepped onto the path to head back to the office. She was focused on untangling the headphone cord from the clasp on the bag.

   “Hey watchit!” a panicked voice cried, and Lilah glanced up at helmet and hands before the rollerblader slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.

   “Oh my God, are you ok?” the young man helped her to her feet, trying to brush dirt and leaves off her. His expression went from contrite to shock when she shooed him off and surveyed the damage to her suit. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry! Is that Donna Karan?”

   “Versace.” Lilah snapped.

   “Please, let me pay for the dry-cleaning and the um...repairs...” He eyed the tear in her fitted skirt as he absently searched his bike shorts. “I...don’t suppose you have a pen on you?”

   “Sure.” she reached for her bag, preoccupied with a particularly stubborn smudge of dirt. Her hand encountered only air. Startled, she searched the ground for it. “My bag!”

   “There it is!” the rollerblader called, pointing toward the pond. She spun in the direction he was pointing, barely aware that he was backing up. “I can’t help you with that one, Lady. I gotta go. Sorry!”

   There lay her goldenrod alligator-skin Hermés handbag, nestled snugly if not completely upright, within a gathering of waterlilies, and riding the waves caused by its unceremonious landing. Lilah’s heart flopped, sending unsettling ripples through her gut. In a moment of utter helplessness, she whimpered. “Oh, help!”

   Tossing her pumps on the grass, she waded into the pond, casting about for a long stick or branch. The muddy bottom sucked unpleasantly at her stockinged feet, squishing coldly between her toes as she inched toward the clump of lilies, careful to keep the hem of her skirt above the waterline. Thrusting the pitiful branch she’d found at the bag, she only managed to dislodge it, making it slide precariously toward the water. Straining, she stretched her body as far as she could, holding the branch with her fingertips. It promptly slipped from her fingers, falling to a watery grave. Lilah fought the heat and prickle of frustrated tears. “Dammit!”

   “Take me with you.”

   “What the hell?” Lilah started at the rasping voice beside her. Her eyes darted wildly, searching for the owner, but there was nobody in sight. Shaking it off as imagination, she hitched her skirt up as far as she dared without exposing herself, inching her way toward the teetering handbag. She simply had to get to it before it decided to slide into the water. Her entire life was in that bag. “Girl, you have to stop letting the pressure get to you like that...”

   “Take me with you, and I’ll get it for you.”

   Lilah stopped moving. Fighting an urge to scream and run, she whispered, “Who’s there?”

   “Just me.”

   She giggled, just a little bit. “Who are you? Why can’t I see you?”

   “I don’t know. You need glasses? You’re practically staring right at me.”

   “But there’s nobody here but me...and that big ugly frog...” Lilah shuddered. She hated frogs, ever since the day Daniel had hidden half a dozen of them in her sheets and she climbed in bed with the slimy, smelly, cold creatures.

   “I knew you weren’t blind!” the voice croaked, and the frog sitting on the lilypad in front of her raised its front leg with a wink.

   “But...but...” was all she could manage. This was beyond reason. It was not naturally possible. “This is absurd! I’m not standing here in the muck and wet, talking to a frog!”

   “I know, I know. Not too often that a frog gets to talk to a bigshot business exec, is it? Ah, no matter. You haven’t told me if you accept my offer yet.”

   “What offer?”

   “Weren’t you listening? Honestly, how rude! My offer to help you with your purse. Which, by the way, looks about to visit Davey Jones’ locker. You wouldn’t happen to have anything important in there, would you?”

   “Oh my God! My Hermés! Please, get it, quickly! I have to make that meeting!” The urgency of her position struck Lilah harder than the possibility that she was having a psychotic break. She could forget she was talking to a frog if she made the Hessler meeting.

   “Do you agree to my terms?” the frog asked.

   “What terms?”

   “In exchange for retrieving that pretty little purse over there, you agree to take me with you when you leave. I’m pretty useful in a business setting. I can help you clinch that merger you’re so stressed about.”

  “I don’t need your help!” Lilah scoffed. “I have an MBA from NYU. I know what I’m doing.”

   “Yeah, and I have a Shove-it-up-your-A from FU. Now let me finish the terms of our agreement, before your pocketbook goes swimming with the fishes and we’re both screwed.” the frog snapped.

   “Fine, finish.”

   “You let me nail the merger. Then we have a nice dinner with the family, enjoy relaxing by the fire for a bit, then hop in bed. And by that, I mean I get to sleep with you, in your bed. After a few days we can tie the knot, and live happily ever after. What do you say?” his webbed feet kneaded the lilypad in anticipation.

   “Hell no!” Lilah spat, her shoulders tightening in disgust.

   “Suit yourself.” he said, effortlessly hopping to her bag. He raised one of his strong back legs and gently rested his toes against the corner of the purse, tipping the edge into the murky water. “I hope you don’t need anything in here...”

   “Wait! No!” Lilah screamed. Humor the damned frog, he’s just a hallucination! “Ok, all right! I’ll do it!”

   “Promise!” he demanded.

   “I do! I promise, I promise! Just bring me my bag!” she wailed.

   With an audible plop! and barely a ripple, the frog disappeared under the surface of the water. Seconds later, the Hermés handbag lifted gently above the waterline and began to hover toward the shore. Lilah scurried to the low embankment and dragged herself out of the water, dripping cold mud and slime down her legs. Tucking her shoes under her arm, she stretched toward the slowly hovering handbag. As soon as her fingers touched the handles, she yanked it from the surprised frog and backpedaled away from the water. Her practiced hand had her cellphone speed-dialing the office immediately.

   “Lorna!” she yelled as she ran with all her speed away from the ranting frog. “Get a hot shower ready for me, and pull out the grey Gucci. Don’t ask any questions, just do it! What the hell do I pay you for? And get me an appointment with Dr. Hyslop immediately! I just had a conversation with Kermit’s little brother...”

2.

  

   There were benefits to making work your life, Lilah realized as she smoothed a fresh pair of silk stockings up her now-clean legs. She had anything she could possibly need available to her anytime. Her executive office was equipped with its own private bar, bathroom, and a small bedroom. There was even a kitchenette, should she decide to cook. It was almost like a real home.

   When Lilah came out of the bathroom, Lorna was there with a stack of thick folders and a concerned look. “Miz King, here are those numbers you were looking for. Apparently someone over at ATROM felt that hard copy was better than electronic format, so these were unavailable for email.”

   With a sigh, Lilah leaned over her desk and slid her laptop toward her. A few strokes of the stylus on the plasma screen, and she stood looking at a neat spreadsheet of all the files held in her assistants’ hands. Lorna looked chagrined. “I had one of the interns transfer all of this quite a while ago, when this merger was just a rumor tickling my father’s ear. Really, Lorna, you’re slipping. Once upon a time, nothing could get by you in this place. Do you have the PowerPoint presentation set up in the conference room?”

   Not awaiting Lorna’s confirmation, Lilah collected her laptop and strode out of her office, toward the conference room. Nerves jangled through her body, trembling her tightly fisted hands. Don Hessler was there already, she knew. Daddy and Howard Nolan and Maxine Hubbardston and Norma Ziff and Eugene Arnault were all there too, but Hessler was the important one, the one to impress. He would be a hard sell. His opinion was the driving force behind the ATROM Corporation, and he was a bulldog. Lilah looked forward to convincing him that merging King Enterprises with his company was the most beneficial thing for both businesses. As confident in her abilities as she was, Lilah couldn’t quite convince herself that Hessler would bite, but she would enjoy dangling the bait. Reaching the conference room doors, she took a deep breath and shook out her tension, then swept into the room with a radiant smile. “Good afternoon, gentlemen, ladies!”

   Her gaze brushed the inquisitive faces gathered around the table, pausing for a second at each of the high-powered buisinesspeople gathered there. Hessler sat at the head of the table, her father at his left, an empty seat at his right. Lilah shook his hand and set her laptop on the table beside him. Tapping a few keys, she dimmed the lights and pulled up her presentation. “If you would all please direct your attention to the screen at the front of the room, we can begi-ahh!”

   Heads turned as Lilah scudded back from the table’s edge with a cry. “Impossible!”

   Sitting in the seat at Don Hessler’s right hand was the frog from the pond. He winked at her, then stretched out his long back legs and propped himself against the table with short forelegs. Then he addressed the room.

   “As I was saying before we were interrupted, a merger between our two companies can be nothing but beneficial. The numbers prove that the increased production rates alone make this a worthwhile venture. Lilah darling, be a dear and pull up the graphs for the summer of ’02, will you? I think Mr. Hessler may be interested in comparing them with our projections for next quarter.” the frog croaked.

   Numbly, Lilah did as requested, settling back into an empty seat, her mind blank with shock. The other execs simply listened to the frog, nodding at points or interjecting with opposing viewpoints as they saw fit. None of them appeared to mind that the meeting was being led by an amphibian.

3.

   A gentle hand shook Lilah’s shoulder. Slowly she came out of her daze, shaking the nothingness from her mind, focusing on the man standing before her. “Honey, are you okay?”

   “Oh, Daddy!” She cried, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in the lapels of his Armani suit. “I have to see Dr. Hyslop right away! I think I might be having delusions!”

   “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hon, but I have to say, your tactics for this merger are top-notch! The way you played on Hessler’s antiquated ideas of a woman’s place, using an actor, it really worked in our favor. He’s willing to sign over all of ATROM to us now! And this guy of yours, Tad Green? He’s priceless! I hope you don’t mind, but I invited him to dinner tonight.” Harry King leaned down and hugged his daughter. He was so giddy, it hurt Lilah to look at him straight. “Sounds like you two are pretty serious, the way he tells it. Now I see why you’ve been avoiding the subject of settling down...don’t want the old man to stick his nose in something you have a good handle on! Oh, I have to go, sign on the dotted line and all that. I’ll see you tonight!”

   Lilah left the boardroom to the sound of croaking laughter and manly banter between Hessler, her father, and the frog. Barely pausing to collect her precious Hermés bag, she headed to the elevators and her parents’ house.

   The maid barely cast Lilah a glance as she entered the foyer. All I need is a nice long soak, and I’ll be fine. She swept up the grand staircase purposefully, trying to shake the disturbing idea that she was losing her grip on reality. Her mind kept trying to form reasons that could explain the lunatic situation she was in. Daddy inviting a frog – which he obviously thought was a man – to dinner; that nobody else saw ‘Tad Green’ as a frog; the inane idea that she was somehow romantically linked to this frog! Lilah found it odd that her father was so excited about the relationship he perceived existed. Always pragmatic and practical, Harry King had never shown her much of an emotional side until recently. Lately, though, he had indeed been focusing more on the more sentimental aspects of life. As Lilah topped the risers, she heard her brothers’ voice down the hall. By his tone, he was apparently arguing with someone.

   As quietly as she could, Lilah placed herself outside the study and peered through the fissure between frame and unclosed door. She could see her mother looking distraught at the antique oak desk, its massiveness dwarfing the petite woman. The point of Daniel’s elbow was visible just on the other side of the door. “...how could I not know, Mom? His doctor called here for you this morning, looking for you, wanting to discuss his latest treatment options! It’s cancer, Mom! Why didn’t you tell us?”

   “Your father didn’t want you two to know. He is determined to keep life as normal as possible for you and your sister before he goes, Dan.” she looked so weary, and old. Older than Lilah had ever thought to see her. “We’ll not tell your sister, she doesn’t need to know.”

   “What are you talking about? Of course she has to know!” Daniel smacked his hand against the door, slamming it closed. Lilah simply stood there, tears stinging in the back of her eyes. Cancer! Oh, Daddy!
  

4.

   Harry King laughed and joked throughout dinner, nudging ‘Tad’s’ little frog body with his elbow and casting knowing glances frequently at Lilah. She fought with herself to maintain her equilibrium, still afraid she was losing her mind, but now even more afraid of doing something that might disappoint Daddy. Now that she knew that he was sick – no, dying – she understood what lay behind all the changes she’d noted in him. For his sake, she endured dinner, and drinks after dinner; and only for his sake, she led the frog to her room with smiles and flirting glances when the time came.

   Lilah turned from locking the door to see the frog sitting atop her vanity. Her mouth tightened against the nausea at his lumpish sliminess. He winked lewdly at her. “Alone at last, ‘eh Princess? Why don’t you put some mood music on?”

   “Oh, shut up!”

   “What’s the matter, baby? Not in the mood?” he cronked. “Oh, you’re not on the rag, are you?”

   “You’re sick! You know, the only reason I’m even entertaining the thought of your existence is because it makes my father happy. You are not possible! You’re a fucking figment of my imagination!” Lilah hissed the words at him, stepping forward and sweeping her hand in front of him as if to wipe him from her sight. For a moment he regarded her silently, as if he didn’t quite know how to respond. Slowly he stilted up on all fours, his gullet inflating, his entire body twitching. His protruding eyes opened fully. Then he sprang.

   Lilah screeched as the large amphibian smacked against the side of her face and grasped at her hair, muttering ‘figment’. His left foot struggled for purchase against her mouth, one of his toes curling over her lower lip. He battered her ear with his loose foot, and she swatted at him, shaking her head.

   “Let go of me!” She raged, the tears she had been fighting all day bursting from her. She couldn’t handle it anymore. All the strain of the insane day she’d had flowed through her and she reached up with both hands, tearing the frog from her hair. Her fingers pressed into his body as if he was molded gelatin, and his breath wheezed out of him.

   “Wait...”

  “Fuck you!” Lilah pitched him across the room. He rebounded off the wall with a loud splat, his little body landing utterly still on her bed.

   With a shudder, Lilah switched off the light and climbed into bed. She refused to think about the dead frog still lying on the satin comforter just a few feet from her. Hopefully it would be gone when she awoke, proving that it was indeed a twisted creation of her addled mind. Emotionally exhausted, it only took her a few minutes to drift into a deep sleep.

   Lilah dreamed. In her dream, her father comforted her; his loving arms held her close the way he did when she was a child. Gently he pushed her away, still holding her hands, his gaze soft. He kissed her fingers with a contented smile, gesturing behind her. As she turned to look, she could feel him fade away. She tried to turn back, but a glint of bright yellow caught her eye.

   It was her Hermés bag, dangling from the hand of a handsome man who stood smiling. He wore couture Mizrahi. He extended his hand to her, beckoning. She felt drawn to him, connected in a way, although she had never met him. Instantly she was in his arms. Comfort and safety enveloped her with the familiarity of an Elton John song, and in his eyes, she saw longing. He tipped her chin up and kissed her tenderly.

   They were in her bed, gloriously naked and pressed together. Where he touched her, she burned with desire. His fingers traced a map of pure sexual need upon her body. He pulled her close and she yielded wholly to his insistence, savoring the way his touch excited her. Filled with the thrill of his kisses, she opened herself completely to him. His hands and mouth worshipped her, bringing her to pulsing climax repeatedly. She drew him within her, enfolding his body in hers. As he reached his own culmination, Lilah realized that she was no longer dreaming.

   “Oh shit! Who the hell are you?”

   “Ribbit, baby.” he grinned.

Epilogue

   Lilah Green set the calla lilies gently on her father’s gravestone. Wiping a tear from her cheek, she took Tad’s hand and they walked quietly to the car together.

   He had never told her how he’d become a frog. Once, he claimed that he had simply pissed off the wrong person. He wasn’t completely sure what caused the curse to end, either. He was adamant that things would have gone much more smoothly had Lilah simply taken him back to the office with her, though. Most of the time he didn’t bother to entertain the conversation. Past was past, he claimed, and Lilah was inclined to agree. She certainly didn’t feel the need to be reminded of that terrible day.

   Lilah and Tad married a few weeks after they met. It pleased her father to no end.

   “I can’t believe he’s gone.” Lilah said. She pulled a handkerchief from her Dolcé handbag to wipe her tears. Now that Daddy was gone, the company belonged to her. She had also been left a generous inheritance aside from the business, but it was small comfort to her. She had lost one of the most important people in her life.

   Tad gave her an understanding smile, holding her close. “It’ll be okay, baby. All things considered, he did get his Happily Ever After, didn’t he?”





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