Edgar Aeternum, Book 1: Tales of Aeternal Love (23 page)

"Sounds great!" came the response from near
the window. Maddi was watching the storm, which had built in
intensity. "May I?" he asked Edgar.

"Certainly," said Edgar, retrieving the empty
cocoa mugs and heading for the kitchen. "Have at it."

"Thanks!" Maddi said. "I'll be right there."
Edgar continued to the kitchen. He heard Maddi's voice a moment
later. "Computer." The familiar chime sounded and Maddi continued,
"Play music, classical,
Beethoven Symphony number five
." The
HC chimed and the symphony began. Edgar was impressed; Maddi chose
a perfect piece to accompany a thunderstorm. The younger man joined
him in the kitchen moments later.

"I hope you like it," Maddi said, coming up
behind Edgar at the dishwasher and giving him a hug.

"It's perfect, Maddi," Edgar said. "You
definitely have good music sense. I would probably have picked that
one, myself." He turned and swept Maddi into an embrace.

"I thought so, too," Maddi said, burying his
face in Edgar's chest. "Need any help?"

"Actually, yes, thanks," Edgar replied. "Can
you open that bottle of wine, please?" he pointed to the bottle of
Barolo Riserva
in the chiller on the counter. "There's a
decanter in the cupboard just above the chiller. Once you've got
the bottle open, pour it into the decanter quickly, and then put it
into the chiller without the stopper though; we want it to
breathe."

"Sure thing, Chef!" Maddi said cheerfully.
"I'm used to it; my roommates are huge wine geeks, and I do this
for them all the time. It's funny, I thought they were crazy, but
it really makes a difference."

"It sure will with this one," Edgar said.
"Have you had a
Barolo
before?"

Maddi paused in his efforts to open the
bottle of wine. "I don't believe I have, actually," he said. "So
this'll be new; I like new," he smiled.

Edgar returned the smile and unpacked the
necessary ingredients from the 'fridge. He was pulling out a mixing
bowl to use for tossing the baby reds as Beethoven's Fifth came to
a close. Maddi was pouring the
Barolo
into the decanter and
Edgar turned to ask, "Mind if I pick the next one?"

"Be my guest," Maddi answered.

"Play music, twen-cen rock, The Doors,
Riders on the Storm
," Edgar instructed. The computer chimed
and the opening notes of the song filled the kitchen followed by
Morrison's sultry voice.

Maddi closed the chiller door and stood,
transfixed by the music. Edgar grinned like the Cheshire Cat,
enjoying watching Maddi get lost in the song. He turned back to the
task of prepping the baby reds; soon, they were spread on a baking
sheet and slid into the oven. Next, Edgar turned his attention to
the lamb chops, unwrapped the package, then grabbed olive oil, sea
salt, pepper, and a lemon.

Edgar snuck a peak at Maddi as he lightly
coated the chops with olive oil. The younger man stood, leaning
against the counter, eyes closed. He was swaying slightly to the
music, clearly entranced by it. Edgar washed his hands and ground
the salt and pepper over the lamb; he'd finish with a splash of
lemon juice just before putting them on a plate next to the indoor
grill.

Once again, he washed up; the song was just
about over so, rather than starting the asparagus, he leaned
against the counter and watched Maddi. As the song came to a close,
Maddi opened his eyes and looked at Edgar as though the man had
presented him with the crown jewels. Maddi came to Edgar, rose on
his tiptoes and kissed him. Stepping back, he said, "How did I not
know about this?"

Edgar chuckled. "Maybe because it was four
hundred years before your time, hmm?"

Maddi rolled his eyes in mock exaggeration.
"It was four hundred years before your time, too! Maybe you should
lay off the weed tonight?"

Edgar belly laughed before he picked Maddi up
in a bear hug and swung him 'round the kitchen. "Smart-ass!" he
said as he lowered Maddi to the floor.

"Nope! Just well-trained!" he quipped, giving
Edgar a playful smack on the ass. "See? I'm a quick learner."

"I guess so," Edgar said. He looked at Maddi
with a serious expression. "I like that about you. What was it you
said? Oh! 'So this'll be new; I like new.' And I like that you're
open to new things, even if they are hundreds of years old."

"Thanks, Edgar. I've been like this forever,
it seems. My parents tell me that there wasn't anything, no matter
how outrageous or dangerous, that I wouldn't try as a kid," he
said. "It keeps life interesting; otherwise, it's just the same old
thing, day in-day out, and who could cope with that level of
boredom? I know I sure can't."

Edgar shook his head once and looked at
Maddi, smiling again. "You never cease to amaze me, Maddox Bristow,
and I hardly know you. Yet," he said.

"Likewise, Edgar Aeternum. If I have any say
in the matter, though, we'll both know each other much better as
time goes by," Maddi said, also smiling. "Unless you send me away,
I don't intend to disappear from your life any time soon."

Edgar's heart skipped a beat at Maddi's
words. Partly because they were exactly what he wanted to hear and
partly because the secret of his immortality would eventually
become an issue. Mostly, he admitted to himself, it was the former;
the latter hardly seemed worth a thought, surprisingly. He walked
toward Maddi and took the younger man's hands in his own. "Unless
you try to kill me in my sleep, I can't imagine sending you away,
Maddi," he paused, looking down into Maddi's upturned face. "I
can't explain it, but you are exactly what I need most in my life.
You're like a breath of fresh air after a long, long shuttle ride.
I don't know the future, but I can tell you one thing: As long as
you'll have me, I want to keep doing whatever it is we're doing
here. It feels so right and so much better than anything I've
experienced in quite a while."

Maddi looked up at Edgar, grinning from ear
to ear. "You've got a deal, Edgar. No chance I'm gonna try to kill
you in your sleep. Seriously though, you took the words right out
of my mouth. You're not a psy'er, are you?" he stepped back a
little.

"Me? Hell no. I don't like people playing
around in my head and I wouldn't want to do that to anyone else,"
Edgar said.

"Cool," Maddi replied. "I had a bad
experience with a psy'er once. I tend to avoid them. Back to us..."
he continued, "I'm with you all the way. This evening is turning
out better than I imagined. I hoped we'd hit it off, but this... It
feels like we've always been close. Who knows - and who cares -
what the future holds. The present is this," he squeezed Edgar's
hands, "and that's all I care about."

Edgar pulled Maddi in for a hug, planting a
kiss on the top of his head. The young man was absolutely correct
in that this wasn't a time to let the future interfere. "I agree,"
Edgar said. "So, shall we get this dinner going, speaking of the
present?"

"Sounds good," Maddi said. "More music? That
last one was amazing! Are you an amateur archaeosociologist or
something?"

Edgar laughed. "Or something," he said.
"Actually, I suppose you could say I am, but I find that a lot of
their theories are a little... crazy." He waited for Maddi's
reaction. The look on Maddi's face said that he pretty much agreed.
"They just don't make sense to me," Edgar said, not mentioning, of
course, that he knew the truth about the period from first-hand
experience.

"Yeah," Maddi said. "I could never wrap my
head around the concept that some punk-kid pop star won the popular
vote for president. It just didn't make sense; neither did that bit
about a disease almost wiping out humanity. I mean, it was an STD!
I'm sure people would've been smart enough to just not fuck without
a condom."

Edgar shook his head, laughing. "Yeah, I
remember hearing about that first one. Justin Bieber as president?
Not a freakin' chance! First off, he was Canadian and never became
a U.S. citizen. Sadly, the second one is true. You'd think it
would've been easy to contain the disease, but many people didn't
know they had it. It was a great day when the Swedes found the
cure."

"Wow," Maddi said. "I had no idea that was
true."

"Yep," Edgar said. "Some of the archaeosocs
get it right, but it's really hit and miss. Ah!" Edgar had a
thought. "Play music, twen-cen, rock, Tina Turner,
I Can't Stand
the Rain
."

"How appropriate," Maddi said. "After my trip
through it, I find myself in total agreement with Miss Turner."

"I can imagine," said Edgar. "It's a
beautiful song. The title is appropriate to our weather, but it's
actually a song about missing a loved one. I like it though; it's
got a good groove."

Maddi leaned against the counter again and
closed his eyes, losing himself in the song. "Yes it does," he
said, swaying slightly.

"Enjoy," Edgar whispered and began setting
the table for dinner. Once finished, he went to his desk, tapped
the onscreen microphone and ordered a playlist he thought Maddi
would enjoy. Tina was almost to the end of the song as Edgar
returned to the kitchen. Maddi was still swaying to the music, but
his robe had come undone.

Edgar stood, watching his young companion
moving fluidly to Tina's smoky voice. Every move that Maddi made,
every roll of his hips, every tilt of his head, flowed like water
and Edgar drank eyes drank him in as though life depended on it.
Starting at his face, eyes closed, lips slightly parted and
trailing down his lithe body to the small brown triangle above his
cock and balls. Maddi's movements were so graceful that even those
parts moved like liquid, framed on either side by his lean,
muscular legs. Edgar's visual journey ended at the younger man's
feet, slender like the rest of his body, toes flexing and relaxing
with each surge of the music.

Edgar was as lost in Maddi as Maddi was in
the music. Vaguely, he recognized the denouement of the song and
stopped staring like a peeping Tom. He moved further into the
kitchen and gently cleared his throat. As the last notes of the
song faded, Maddi's eyes fluttered open as though he rose from a
trance. It took him a few seconds to realize his robe was open and
he lazily closed it again.

"Amazing," he said, but it came out as a
dreamy half-whisper. He swallowed and tried again. "That was
amazing, Edgar. Did she do more?"

Edgar chuckled and gave Maddi's shoulder a
squeeze. "She had an awesome career, Maddi. She performed and
recorded for decades. I remember seeing her once..." he caught
himself, "...in a photograph. It was taken at a concert on her
farewell tour; it was her fiftieth anniversary tour. At
sixty-eight, she looked amazing. Nowadays, it's nothing to see a
person of that age looking like they're in their forties, but back
then it was an accomplishment, unless you had surgical
intervention. She was also known for her stage presence. She moved,
I don't mean walking back and forth on the stage, she danced and
fast! And she had a boyfriend several years younger than she
was."

Maddi soaked in the information as though it
would be on an exam; he found it fascinating. He was about to ask
Edgar if he had any vid records when the next song began. Sticking
with the rain theme, the first notes of Toto's
Africa
sounded in the kitchen wiping away the question from Maddi's
thoughts. He looked at Edgar, mouth open. Edgar just smiled and
ruffled Maddi's hair.

"If you want, I can leave the two of you
alone," he joked. "But I'll warn you, while he's a good HC, he
gives lousy head."

Maddi laughed and threw himself into Edgar's
arms. "Don't you dare leave!" he said, looking up at Edgar
happily.

Edgar held him closer and said, "Deal. No
leaving. It's just cool to watch how intensely you get into the
music, like you're tranced out or something."

"I kinda am," Maddi replied. "I love music
almost as much as I love animals. If I wasn't going to be a vet, I
would've become a professional musician. I just love the way music
makes me feel. This music," he waved a free arm at the air, "is so
different to me; it feels like pure freedom."

"Maddi," Edgar said, "you just summed up why
I like it so much. Many of my favorites are from the 1980's. Music
like this was played every day and night. I'm so glad you like it!
I play this stuff more than anything else, to be honest."

"No complaints here," Maddi said. "I look
forward to hearing more."

"Stick around and you will," Edgar said with
a smile.

"Count on it!" Maddie replied.

"I will," replied Edgar. He checked on the
potatoes, found them at the right stage in roasting to start the
chops and asparagus and did so. The HC's enviro-system whisked away
the smoke from the hot grill so perfectly that only the aroma of
the meat filled the air. Toto finished blessing the rains as Edgar
took the decanter of
Barolo
out of the chiller. He handed it
to Maddi and the boy took it to the dining table.

As Maddi came back the kitchen, Madonna took
center stage on the speakers, with
Rain
. True to form, Maddi
was mesmerized by the powerful comparison of rain to the experience
of being with one's lover. At the first "your love's coming down
like rain," Maddi came to the grill and wrapped himself around
Edgar, who returned the embrace, resting his chin on the top of the
younger man's head. "I take it you like," he said.

"I do. I had no idea I was missing such great
music. Thank you again for sharing this with me," Maddi said.

"My pleasure," Edgar replied. "I have a few
more rain-related songs queued up, but there's so much more from
that period that I left the theme." Edgar released Maddi and turned
back to the grill. "Chops and veggies are almost done! I hope
you're hungry!"

Maddi laid a hand on Edgar's back feeling a
need for continued contact. He said, "Hungry? I could eat the whole
animal at this point. Don't be alarmed, but I eat a lot and I don't
do the whole 'eat like a bird 'cuz I'm on a date' thing."