A Kiss in Time (28 page)

Malvolia clears her throat, and when I turn, I see her disapproval.

No, thats wrong, I say. Ive been working on this. Its a design. My design for a garden.

My dad opens it. For a long moment, I can only hear the pages and the wind outside. I cant
look at Dad, so I look out the window at the chestnut tree, the one I saw before with the
streamer of green fabric blowing at the top. Im sure now that Talia is here. She climbed
the tree, like I taught her, and tied the green fabric to the branch, so I would see it,
so I would come rescue her.

So? Dad says.

So I want to do this, I say, to do landscape design. Im good at it.

Dad rolls his eyes. You think so? I can tell he doesnt, but I say, Yeah, I do. And then
the dragon does the thing I most feared. He doesnt breathe fire. He laughs. Uproariously, as if hes never heard anything more
hilarious in his life. There are tears running down his face, and between gales of
laughter, he says, You, a landscape designer? You!

Whats wrong with it? I fight the urge to stomp my foot. Im reverting to infancy around my
dad, but I know I have to hold my ground.

Dad clutches his sides to contain his hilarity. I pay a guy fifty bucks a month who has
more talent than you! He holds out some brochures for business schools, brochures that seem to have materialized in
a third big pile on his desk. Heres what you need, an education, a degree from a good
schoolIll pay someone off to make sure you get in and get through. And then, after that, I
can get you a job.

Youll get me a job? Why?

Havent you noticed, Jack? Youre a loser, a slacker. Youve never succeeded in anything in
your life, no matter how much we do for you. We have some hope for Meryl, but the only way
you wont be a complete embarrassment to your mother and me is if you let us control every
aspect of your life.

Thats . . . I feel wet heat behind my eyes, and I try to control it. I have to stay calm.
Thats not true.

Loser. Party boy. You couldnt even get Amber to stay with you.

Amber? This is so out of left field I dont comprehend his words for a second. I dont even
want Amber.

But you see, thats what you do. Whenever anything gets difficult for you, you walk away,
you give up. You couldnt keep Amber, so now you want this girl. When you fail to save her
and she dies, youll decide you didnt like her, either. Thats just your way. Youve never
been serious about anything in your life. Youre a screwup.

I can barely see his face through the clouds of anger inside me. How dare he say that
about Talia? How dare he even compare her to Amber? That isnt true. I love Talia. Im serious about her. Dad starts to laugh again, so hard I have to raise my voice to be heard over him. And Im serious about this, too, about landscape design. This is what Im going to do with my life. If I go to college, thats what Im going
for.

Dad stops laughing, and I think hes finally hearing me. Listen to me, Jack. If youre
serious, Im going to get serious with you. To make it in a field like landscape design,
you have to have talent. And the fact is, you dont. He reaches for my drawing, which is
under a pile of B-school pamphlets. This isnt any good. It sucks.

It . . . I stop. What? It sucks. Sucks? Dad would never say sucks. And thats when I
realize this isnt the real Dad. Hes just a fake thing, a test Malvolia came up with, like all the game shows. In fact, maybe this
Dad is all in my head, my worst fears of Dad. In which case, the way to pass the test is
by standing up to him. I take a deep breath.

Im sorry you think my design sucks . . . Dad. But thats what Im planning on doing with my
life. And the other thing Im planning on doing is rescuing Talia. So if you could please
get out of my way, Id really appreci- ate it.

You cant speak that way to me. You cant show such disrespect. Hes tearing out what little
hair he has with one hand while pushing papers to the floor with the other. I know you dont really feel that way. You came all the way to Euphrasia. You wouldnt have
done that if you thought I was just a stupid slacker. And when I see the real you, Ill be
sure and show you my designs. Im excited about them, and I bet youll like them, too. But
now . . .

I gesture toward him, and he vanishes into thin air. I was right.

I look at Malvolia, who is still there. Did I do it? Did I pass the test?

She gestures toward something in the corner. Only one more.

And then I see her. There, on a mattress on the floor, is Talia. Or, at least, Talias
body. Is she dead? Or just sleep- ing? I rush to kneel beside her. I take her hand. Theres
a pulse.

She stirs slightly. Shes breathing. I shake her. Call her name. Nothing. But then I know
what I have to do. I dont know if my kiss will be enough, if she loves me enough, too, but I need to try. I lean over and think
about Talia, about meeting her, being in Europe with her, then in America, how she was
with Meryl, my parents, how she actually cared about the stuff I cared about and didnt
think it was stupid. How I loved her. I love her.

I love you, Talia, I whisper. I put my lips to hers. She stirs. She wakes. You are here! Talia says. She looks around the room. But how long have I slept? A year? Or
twenty? Are you an old man? Let me see your face.

I laugh. It took me three days to climb the hill.

Days? Merely days? But where . . . ? She glances around. Where is Malvolia?

I look behind me. Sure enough, shes gone. She left.

Oh, no, Talia says. But she was kind to me. She showed me how to make this dress.

Its beautiful. Youre beautiful.

I hold my hand out to Talia. I want to touch her and not stop touching her, to prove to
myself that shes real and alive and here. I think we have to go.

In a moment. She pulls me toward her and kisses me a bunch more times, on my cheeks, my
hair, even my eyes. I throw my arms around her and hold her a really long time until
finally the cottage door starts banging with the wind, and the noise reminds me that
everyones waiting for us, Talias parents and the people in the castle. And Dad, too.

We should go, I say.

She nods and allows me to help her up. With a final glance around the room, we leave,
closing the door behind us.

As we descend the hill, she says, Do you know what I was thinking, Jack?

What? I stop to kiss her again. I rescued this princess, so I should be able to kiss her
all I want, as long as she wants to, too. The wind, which had been roaring in our ears,
has stopped. Afterward, she says, I think you were my true love all the time. That must be why I woke.
Malvolia was wrong.

You think?

Yes, but she had her reasons. I wish I knew where she went. Perhaps if we come back
another day . . . She ges- tures uphill at the cottage, then gasps.

I look at what shes looking at but see nothing. The cot- tage is gone.

Well, thats the end of that, I say. Hey, maybe we can walk a little faster? Im hungry, and
like I said, it took me three days to walk up here.

Yes, Talia says. And I need to see Father. We must talk.

She starts to run, and because were holding hands, I run, too. We run down the hill so
fast it feels like were flying.

W
hen we reach the castle grounds, I clutch Jacks hand. Whats wrong? he says.

I am frightened. Of what? Of what? Let us see . . . Father was already angry at me a week ago for destroying his kingdom. Now add to that the offense of running away,
getting on an airplane, leaving the country, losing my jewels Oh, I forgot to tell you, Meryl found the jewels. I brought them with me.

All right. Not the jewels. But nonetheless . . . and the offense of falling in love with a
commoner. I gaze up at him. Not that that is an offense to me, my dearest.

He rolls his eyes. Of course not. But Father may possibly disagree with me. Understood. Hes been in a bad mood. So do I not
have reason to be frightened? But at that moment, the castle door is thrown open and a mob descendsnot only people, although every scullery maid, cook, lady-in-waiting, groom,
and guard is there, but also animals, the palace dogs and cats and chickens and cows and
horses, and even the five fairies, Flavia, Celia, Violet, Leila, and Xanthe, all pour
forth from the castle door to see me, to greet me, their beloved princess.

At the head of the group are Father and Mother. I drop Jacks handhe will forgive meand run
screaming into their arms.

You are not angry at me, Father? I ask as soon as I can easily breathe under his embrace.

No, no, my dearest.

Mother says, Your father lost his temper, dear. But now, he realizes you could not have
helped what happened. You were dealing, after all, with the forces of evil.

I remember Malvolias story of the baby, and I know I should protest. But on the other
hand, Malvolia is gone, and Mother and Father have stopped being angry at me. There will
be time to straighten out that matter in the future. And I will straighten it out.

I am so glad to be home! I say, and we hug some more.

Behind me, I hear a tiny voiceFlavias voicesaying, He was her true love after all! Besides, Father says, I believe we have it all settled now, how Euphrasia will survive in
the twenty-first century.

You have? I say. Yes. Perhaps we should discuss it over breakfast. We adjourn into the
castle. The dining table is laid for a small group, a dozen or so, and Mother is all smiles. Did you know, she says, that they
have something called a truck now, which moves so quickly that it is possible to bring in
food and other necessities from Belgium and even France?

I beam. I did know that. I move closer to Jack, for it has occurred to me thattrue love or
notwe may not be long in each others company. He must go back to America, for school, and
I will stay in Euphrasia with Father and Mother. But we are together now, and I shall make
the most of it.

Evan. My father turns to Jacks father. Tell them about Royal Euphrasia.

Whats Royal Euphrasia? Jack and I both say together.

Well, its an idea King Louis and I had, a joint venture between the Euphrasian government
and my company. King Louis was concerned that now that Euphrasia is visible againnow that
the hedge is gonethe kingdom might be vulnerable to some sort of outside takeover. King
Louis might be overthrown. He did not want that, so we had to think of a way in which
Euphrasia could support itself. Support itself? I think of the world I have seen, a world of airplanes and computers,
photographs and televi- sions. How can Euphrasia possibly compete?

But Jacks father continues. See, when the kids were little, my wife and I liked to go to
these tourist attractions Colonial Williamsburg, Medieval Times . . . remember, Jack?

Jack nods. That was fun.

So when I saw this place, I thought what a great idea it would be to develop Euphrasia as
a tourist attraction. It would be just like Williamsburg, only real, with real people from
the seventeenth century, and maybe we could open some cute little hotels where people
could actually live like they did in your time.

With no toilets? Jack says.

I have to admit, I really do like toilets, I say, although I am ready to say I like
anything at all if it will make Father happy. Perhaps we could have some toilets.

But you see, Talia, Father says, in this way, the people of Euphrasia could continue to
live as they are accustomed. And I would be able to continue being a king, and you a
princess. The curse caused the world to forget us. But once they find out that we are
here, that we are back again, there may be a movement to change things.

I nod. I remember seeing Euphrasia from the airplane. It was small, but it was there.

Of course, wed need to do some painting and repairs before we could open, Mr. ONeill says,
and maybe get some better costumes for people. But what they are wearing is authentic, I say. Oh, I
know, Mother says. But Mr. ONeill explained that there is authentic and there is authentic. People want things to be more colorful,
and not have the townspeople running about looking like mushrooms.

And in a second, I think, I could sew the clothes. Would they allow me to sew?

And wed need to do some better landscaping, too, Mr. ONeill says. Ive just found this
design my son has been working on.

I hear Jack draw in a breath. You found that?

I draw my breath, too. Jack told me, on the way back, how he showed his landscape design
to the dragon father Malvolia created. He told me that, in this vision, his father laughed
at him, ridiculed him. I pray he will be strong. I dearly hope his father will not hurt
him.

So . . . Jack kicks the ground with his shoe, not mak- ing eye contact with his father. Do
you like it?

Please let him like it.

His father nods, smiling. It was the inspiration for all of this. Once we found this, it
helped us to visualize, and thats how the whole plan got started. You have talent, Jack.
You can work with the landscape designers to help us achieve a really great look for Royal
Euphrasia.

But . . . Jack stammers. But I thought you wanted me to go to business school.

That was before I saw what a talent you had for this. Your mother and I hadnt realized you had an interest in landscape design. For a while, we
worried you werent interested in anything. But now . . .

It is as Meryl said. Jacks parents were worried about him, as mine were about me.

Jack has a talent for gardening, I say, a great affinity for the land.

Jacks father nods. You can help us with Royal Euphrasia in the summers.

Really? I could stay here and work on it? Jack asks.

Well, for the rest of the summer . . . and then you could come over for Christmas break
and spring break and, of course, college.

I know how Jack detests talk of college, but now he says, Yeah, thatd be cool. I could go
to college in Europe and maybe major in landscape design. He glances at his father, whose
face is inscrutable. I could minor in busi- ness, so Ill be able to help you with this.