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    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments
    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments
    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments
    Ebook356 pages5 hours

    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments

    By E W Farnsworth

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    About this ebook

    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments brings together the cream of the author's romance stories. Among Water Fowl is a December-May romance of a man and a woman whose lives are tied to a secret world in England though they find that love conquers all. 

    Bow Bells End, is a love story of a brilliant mathematician and his childhood sweetheart from London's East End.

    Ronnie's Bucket List shows that a super-centenarian can still lead a productive life, bringing together star-crossed lovers who need a new start. 

    Old Flames sweetly unites long time lovers at long last. 

    Both Goddess of the Corn and Beluah portray the throes of contrasting cross-cultural loves in Africa.

    Rosina the Fortune Teller and Rosina and Rinaldo tell the story of Romani lovers who meet accidentally, yet everything turns out for the best in spite of distance and adversity. 

    In Endangered, Brenda's Constancy and A Girl Named Sam, we learn that sometimes love conquers and sometimes... it is clearly not to be. 
    The reader can delve into this collection and dream, smile or reflect. The variety of perspectives—from melancholic to comic—offers much for nearly
    every mood and inclination.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZimbell House Publishing
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781942818922
    Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments
    Author

    E W Farnsworth

    E. W. Farnsworth lives and writes in Arizona. Over two hundred fifty of his short stories were published at a variety of venues from London to Hong Kong in the period 2014 through 2018. Published in 2015 were his collected Arizona westerns Desert Sun, Red Blood, his thriller about cryptocurrency crimes Bitcoin Fandango, his John Fulghum Mysteries, Volume I, and Engaging Rachel, an Anderson romance/thriller, the latter two by Zimbell House Publishing. Published by Zimbell House in 2016 and 2017 were Farnsworth’s Pirate Tales, John Fulghum Mysteries, Volumes II, III, IV and V, Baro Xaimos: A Novel of the Gypsy Holocaust, The Black Marble Griffon and Other Disturbing Tales, Among Waterfowl and Other Entertainments and Fantasy, Myth and Fairy Tales. Published by Audio Arcadia in 2016 were DarkFire at the Edge of Time, Farnsworth’s collection of visionary science fiction stories, Nightworld, A Novel of Virtual Reality, and two collections of stories, The Black Arts and Black Secrets. Also published by Audio Arcadia in 2017 were Odd Angles on the 1950s, The Otio in Negotio: The Comical Accidence of Business and DarkFire Continuum: Science Fiction Stories of the Apocalypse. In 2018 Audio Arcadia released A Selection of Stories by E. W. Farnsworth. Farnsworth’s Dead Cat Bounce, an Inspector Allhoff novel, appeared in 2016 from Pro Se Productions, which will also publish his Desert Sun, Red Blood, Volume II, The Secret Adventures of Agents Salamander and Crow and a series of three Al Katana superhero novels in 2017 and 2018. E. W. Farnsworth is now working on an epic poem, The Voyage of the Spaceship Arcturus, about the future of humankind when humans, avatars and artificial intelligence must work together to instantiate a second Eden after the Chaos Wars bring an end to life on Earth. For updates, please see www.ewfarnsworth.com.

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      Among Water Fowl and Other Entertainments - E W Farnsworth

      This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. All characters appearing in this work are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the written permission of the publisher.

      For permission requests, write to the publisher:

      Attention; Permissions Coordinator

      Zimbell House Publishing

      PO Box 1172

      Union Lake, Michigan 48387

      emailto; info@zimbellhousepublishing.com

      © 2016 E.W. Farnsworth

      Published in the United States by Zimbell House Publishing

      All Rights Reserved

      Print ISBN: 9781942818908

      Electronic ISBN: 9781942818922

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950160

      First Edition: September/2016

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      Among Water Fowl

      In springtime these days, Mary Princips, DVM spent her lunch breaks as she did when she was a student; feeding waterfowl in the city garden. The mallard pairs, swans, and mergansers paraded on the shallow water or gathered where she scattered breadcrumbs to dip and bob and squabble. Mary had worked hard during the last few years, working her way through college and veterinary school to obtain her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. In all that time, she had no chance to relax even for a few days and no time at all for romance, and that was only the beginning. Then she had to set up her practice, and that was only just starting to pay off with referrals coming weekly now and her new admin assistant, Hildy, coming up to speed.

      When Mary interviewed Hildy, she saw a vision of herself from ten years earlier, and she felt a touch of envy for the pretty girl with her illusions and hopes intact. Mary had almost rejected Hildy’s application out of jealousy, but then she thought better of the situation and resolved to hire Hildy, and to fix the problem in herself that had caused the jealousy. She felt so old and cold and lonely. She needed someone, but she felt she was past her prime, and she had never played the game of love anyway because she had been obsessed with her dream. Now that she had achieved her dream and completed her bucket list, she felt adrift and sad. She was not having second thoughts about the path she had taken. She had just not figured that achieving her dream would leave a feeling of emptiness inside. A tear ran down her cheek as she regarded two mallards swimming together, their webbed feet busily working beneath the smooth water. She wiped her eyes, shook her bag of crumbs over the water, crumpled the bag and tossed it in a trash can on her way back to her office.

      Hildy always held the fort while Mary fed the ducks and geese for half an hour, and when Mary returned to her office and put on her vet gear, Hildy gaily rattled off the schedule for the next hour and then dashed out for her hour lunch break with her boyfriend Bob the stockbroker and his colleagues in the square.

      It was a good thing that Mary loved her work, and she went about it with gusto. She cheerily greeted Mrs. Marshall with her two leaping dachshunds. After petting them, she led the two dogs by their leashes to the examining room to record their vitals, draw their blood samples and administer their annual rabies vaccinations.

      Back in the waiting room was the unknown handsome gentleman with his long, manicured hands holding the enormous long-haired cat on his lap. The elderly Mrs. Krupp with her cockapoo fresh from the doggie salon sat patiently, and the shy young man with the cockatiel on his shoulder, who was making a habit of weekly visits for no apparent medical reason as far as his bird was concerned.

      At least two dozen other pet owners had scheduled appointments straight through until six o’clock. Even with Hildy returning in an hour, it was going to be a long afternoon, and that did not count the emergency cases that popped up at least once a day for the last two weeks. Word had clearly gotten around about Mary’s efficiency, professionalism, and flexibility, and she was in demand.

      Mary assured Mrs. Marshall that Siegfried and Sieglund were doing just fine, that she would call about the results of their blood work and see them again in six months if no problems arose in the meantime. She looked up inquiringly at the gentleman with the cat, and he rose spryly with his cat on his arm to introduce himself as Dr. Douglas Livingston and his enormous cat as Standfast. Mary was surprised to see how tall Dr. Livingston was and how deftly he handled his thirty-two-pound cat. Dr. Livingston’s eyes were sparkling blue, with a twinkle, and he had a nice smile with even white teeth. Mary saw that the man wore no rings. She shook her head in disbelief at her thoughts and took Standfast with her to the examining room, with Dr. Livingston following her to observe.

      So, Standfast, how are you doing today? You are the largest feline I’ve ever examined here, though I once examined a leopard for the city zoo. Everything about you seems just fine. Why then are you not eating? Dr. Livingston, your call indicated a problem with Standfast’s diet, but his vitals are all on track, and nothing is extraordinary about his physical condition. Since according to his records, he is up to date on his shots, I will take a blood sample for analysis.

      She picked up a syringe with a perplexed expression on her face as she looked over toward his owner. Until I get the blood analysis report, I suggest you continue doing whatever you have done.

      Dr. Livingston was watching Mary closely as she performed her examination of Standfast and as she drew his blood. He regarded her face closely as she gave him her analysis. She was matter-of-fact and so absorbed in her analysis that it took her a moment to realize the man was more interested in her than in his cat. She blushed and looked down.

      Remarkable, Dr. Livingston said. I am sorry for seeming distracted.

      Mary handed Standfast back over to him.

      Oh yes, thank you. Standfast sometimes gets notional about what he eats. I have to vary his diet, or he becomes bored. I work so hard that I sometimes forget to be inventive with his food, though I do give him undivided attention for a half hour each morning and again each evening. He picked up Standfast and was about to leave.

      Dr. Livingston, what do you find remarkable? She was genuinely curious.

      Your resemblance to a woman I once knew is uncanny. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Canning, a brilliant woman, and my mentor.

      Professor Elizabeth Canning became Elizabeth Princips when she married my father. I am her daughter. I’m afraid she passed away last year about this time. She sounded matter-of-fact.

      My condolences, Dr. Princip, your mother was a very fine lady. She was one of the bravest I have ever known. I shall miss her very much. Dr. Livingston shook Mary’s hand gently, and he departed with the large pile of blue and gray-furred Standfast under his arm.

      Mary worked in a daze for the remainder of the day. She was so good at her work that no one would have realized how unsettling her meeting with Dr. Livingston had been for her. Through the afternoon’s procession of dogs, cats, birds, a hamster family, a porcupine, an anaconda, a hare, and fending off the infatuation of a young man with a cockatiel, Dr. Princip focused on her work with her left brain functions while her right brain wrestled with memories of her mother and whatever Dr. Livingston’s relation to her must have been. The mathematics of love would have made her mother twenty years older than Livingston, and she must have known him before she met her father, when she worked special projects for the Department of Defense. Vaguely she recalled the name Douglas Livingston as one of her mother’s favorite protégés, but she had so many brilliant, young men in her group that it was hard even for her mother, with her prodigious gifts, to keep up with them.

      Mary spent the evening thinking more about her mother than about Dr. Livingston, for she and her mother had been fierce rivals for the attention of her father, who passed two years prior to his wife in a freak automobile accident, just like the one that killed her mother. After her father’s death, Mary and her mother had drifted apart. The two women were professionals to the core, so they buried themselves in their work. This gave Mary the advantage of privacy, but she sometimes missed not having her mother’s always-trustworthy advice. When her mother passed, Mary felt a great burden of loss and significant guilt for not having paid her more attention when she was alive.

      Elizabeth Canning Princip’s funeral had been great theater with several princes and princesses from Europe, as well as countless civil servants and officers in uniform coming to pay their last respects. Flowers covered the chapel stage. A twenty-one-gun salute was conducted, and as part of the graveside ceremonies, a trifold flag was presented to her as her mother’s representative, indicating that her mother had at one time been in uniform.

      Some of the mourners shook Mary’s hand and gave her their condolences. The princess from the Netherlands told Mary that no one could ever know the contributions her mother had made to her nation’s defense, but her nation was eternally grateful. All thoughts of the funeral came back to her conscious memory that evening after she had eaten a modest meal and washed up carefully afterward, and she searched into every crevice of her mind but could not find evidence of the Dr. Douglas Livingston who had appeared in her office today.

      Mary went to bed with the features of Dr. Livingston impressed firmly in her thoughts. Of all his comely features, his sparkling blue eyes stood out above the rest. Why did she bother to make such a fuss? Perhaps, she thought, the man was a link to the mother for whom she had such a love-hate relationship that it continued after her mother’s demise. As she fell asleep, the image that came to her was a superimposition of the impossible blue-gray angora with a deep memory of John Buchan, the British author of cheap spy fiction. Standfast had been one of his fictional characters. Could her mother have been a spy?

      Dr. Princip received the blood work for Standfast three days after the office visit, and nothing stood out from the norm. Relieved, Mary called Dr. Livingston with the news. A young woman answered the phone in a rehearsed script. Good morning. Livingston residence. Carrie Livingston speaking. With whom do you wish to speak? When Mary said that Dr. Princip was calling Dr. Douglas Livingston about the results of lab work for his cat Standfast, Carrie called out, Cousin, your cat’s lab work, line one.

      Dr. Princip, thank you for your call. How did Standfast do?

      Dr. Livingston, Standfast is doing just fine. All the lab work shows no problems. I will be mailing you a copy of the results today, so you should receive it by the day after tomorrow. Is Standfast’s appetite back?

      Well, things are improving. I tried sliced, fresh beef kidney the night after our visit to your office, and he ate like a lion. I have been trying such like raw innards since, and Standfast is perking up, sharpening his claws on his clawing post and running around with his mouse toys. Say, would you mind my changing the subject for the moment?

      He gave her no chance to reply but jumped straight into his next question. Could we meet somewhere out of your office to talk? Just for a few minutes. I don’t want to intrude on your private life, but I want to share a few words about your mother.

      She felt apprehensive and somewhat skeptical, yet she was curious as well. So they made a date to meet in the city park to feed the waterfowl the next day just before noon.

      Nature conspired against them with blustery winds and rain and shifting, threatening skies, yet the two met under separate umbrellas, each with a bag of muffin crumbs to feed the ducks that had disappeared from view.

      Dr. Princip, I am very glad you came. May I call you Mary?

      Of course, you may!

      Good. Please call me Doug. That was what your mother called me. Well, then, I have to tell you that I was one of perhaps a dozen people, all males but one, who worked very closely with your mother on very secret work for many governments. She had the vision, and we were all specialists and operational people. I don’t suppose she told you about her work?

      Mary shook her head.

      No? Well, that is fine, as expected. She took her secrets to the grave with her, loyal to the last. I hope I shall do the same. One secret, though, you need to know, and it is not a government secret so I can tell it to you. That is why I am here. For all the feuding that you and your mother did, she wanted me to tell you—made me promise that I would tell you—that she loved you more than anyone in the world and that she was so very proud of you, not because you were like her, but because you were nothing like her at all.

      Mary wept quietly while Doug said these words, and tears streamed down her face. Doug handed her a handkerchief, which she accepted and applied to her eyes and nose. The wind blew their umbrellas around, and in the pouring rain two mallards flew in and landed in the water near the shore where they stood. Doug began to feed the ducks from his bag of crumbs, and as Mary opened her bag clumsily, struggling with her umbrella in the wind, another pair of ducks landed, and another followed those. The rain abruptly stopped, and through the clouds, a shaft of sunlight fell upon the pond, where the water was still stippled with the breeze.

      Mary shivered and considered Doug for a long while as if making a mental picture of him, and then said, I simply must get back to work.

      Before she shook out the crumbs from her bag, Doug asked her, May we meet again? Just to talk. I have a lot more to say. Perhaps I could just show up here, without the rain if I can, and we will feed the waterfowl together, you and I? You’ve seen both the white and the black swan.

      She remained silent, not ignoring him but considering carefully what he had said.

      Well, if you won’t say, this old man will just appear, and you can ignore me or we can talk. It will be up to you.

      Mary nodded, shook her head at the absurdity of the situation, and walked back to her office as the sunshine spread and the clouds all disappeared.

      Hildy was glad that the doctor had returned because of the menagerie that had gathered in her outer office. She quickly briefed the DVM about the schedule and said that her boyfriend, Bob, the stock broker, had implied that he might be popping the question very soon. She was excited and looked for some sign of approval from her boss, but Mary was preoccupied with the first patient of the afternoon, an Afghan hound with a limp, and all she could do was nod at her assistant.

      Hildy sailed forth with great expectations, wondering whether the doctor knew what she was feeling. Sometimes the woman seemed aloof and unable to connect to the basics, like love and all. Hildy had never asked the doctor about her personal life, so she had invented a life for her. Hildy imagined her boss being swept up by a knight in shining armor, but she laughed in confusion and delight when the knight she envisioned for her boss turned out to be her own boyfriend, Bob. This was one of Hildy’s silly quick daydreams, fraught with quirks and ironies but a critical part of her highly imaginative life nonetheless.

      Again Mary had an afternoon of conflicting thoughts. On the one hand, she worked professionally with her patients and their owners. She had to treat mice, a kangaroo, two three-toed sloths, a baboon and a tarantula. Who would not be intrigued by the parade of creatures that she examined? The doctor did not miss a beat, and once again she saw the cockatiel and spurned the advances of the fatuous, pimply young man whose shoulder was the bird’s perch.

      On the other hand, Mary reconsidered all the events by the pond, from the way the umbrella had pulled at her hand to the feel of Doug’s handkerchief, which was still in her pocket where she had put it after blowing her nose. Throughout the day at odd intervals, she reached into her pocket to touch the white flag of his attentions before she washed up for her next patient. She decided that she would wash and press the kerchief before she gave it back and that she would do so when Doug came to feed the ducks with her at the pond.

      That evening, Mary decided to have a special treat of two roasted lamb chops for dinner with a glass of red wine. For some reason, she was in the mood for celebration. Maybe her celebration was for the lab work that showed Heine the pit bull’s medicine was working or for the recovery from anesthesia by George the corgi that had been hit by the careless bicyclist or for Alfred the cockatiel that she had proven needed no further medical services from her—ever!

      In any case, she had carefully washed the handkerchief and saw the embroidered letters DGL in one corner, and when she ironed it, folded it and ironed it again, she saw how beautifully made it was. She held it to her cheek for a moment, remembering the concerned look in Doug’s eyes when he offered it to her, and then she placed it in a small Ziploc bag so that it would be in pristine condition when she returned it to Doug at the pond the next day.

      The day was perfect for feeding waterfowl at the pond in the city park; the sunshine was resplendent, the skies were clear of clouds, the wind was gentle, and the birds were sporting a grand regatta on the placid water. The only trouble was that Doug did not show up to feed the waterfowl with her. Perhaps, she thought, she would see him later. Besides, she had work to do. She shrugged, played out her crumbs, shook her bag out and returned to her office a little disappointed. There Hildy was raring to depart, anxious to meet Bob and his friends. She briefed her boss on today’s patients.

      We’ve got Sambo the black Labrador, Elsie the shar pei, Ranunculus the short haired cat, Bluto the small bull python and, again, Alfred the cockatiel who seems to have had a relapse.

      What’s got your goat today, Hildy? You sound miffed about something. Whatever it is, tell me about it. She was curious and a little agitated at Hildy’s disposition.

      Hildy exploded, I’m miffed today about all men because Bob has not proposed, the cad! And what do you suppose he was doing bringing that hussy she-bag Gloria to lunch and holding her hand? I’m not going to lunch today. I’m going to war. I know how to fight, and if that is what he wants, he’ll feel the pain. The very idea! Aren’t you glad you have nothing to do with men?

      Before Mary could find a suitable answer, Hildy had stormed out the door to the wars, and the owner of Bluto the bull python was moving towards the examining room.

      In fact, it was another week before Mary got the chance to walk down to the pond to feed the ducks again. For four days consecutively she had to deal with life-threatening pet emergencies. She saved a diabetic cat, Rhino, from a coma on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she removed a huge malignant growth from the mouth of Fido, a rat terrier. On Thursday, she treated a badly mauled cat named Hermione who had tried unsuccessfully to bring down an enormous sewer rat that had crawled out of a storm drain. On Friday, she spent all day in surgery saving the leg of Poochens, a lap dog that had caught her paw in some sort of a mechanical screw.

      By the weekend, she was exhausted and exhilarated, and Saturday’s schedule was overflowing because double-booking was the order of the day after such a week of schedule dislocations. Mary decided that she would have to take a break before noon, so she went to the pond with no expectations except to feed the waterfowl.

      Mary stood in her usual spot, and she fed the ducks crumbs from her bag until two dozen had gathered in the water before her, with others landing to join the feast. She was reaching back to throw a piece over the assemblage to the newcomer geese when a man’s voice said, Ahem. Nearby. Startled, she looked around to find Doug standing there with a young, pretty woman. Each of them held a bag of crumbs.

      Doug seemed amused as he told his companion, You see, Carrie, how famously Dr. Princip gathers her flock as if she were the natural gooseherd. She is a phantom because she sometimes is not seen by the side of the pond for days, and then suddenly she appears, like today. Dr. Princip, please meet my cousin Carrie, the young lady you spoke with about Standfast’s blood work.

      Carrie extended her hand cheerfully, and Mary took it. Please call me Mary. Why don’t you join me in feeding these waterfowl? I’ll have to be going soon, so they are ready for our changing the guard. Besides, I’m almost out of crumbs.

      Mary, my cousin Carrie wants nothing more in life than to be a veterinarian like you. She hates men and women, but she loves animals of all sorts. Do you think you could give her a few words of advice?

      She turned toward Carrie and focused her entire attention on her. Carrie, if you want to do something more than anything else in the world, just do it. You don’t need any advice, and you shouldn’t look for anyone’s approval. Follow your heart, and your dreams will come true.

      Doug said sorrowfully, having remembered her deceased mother, Mary, the same words might have come from the lips of your dear, departed mother. You have no idea how even your expression is the same as hers when you say things.

      Doug, will you leave us alone for a moment? Go over there and feed the black swans while we talk. Doug was startled but saw that Mary was not annoyed. She was simply focused on talking to Carrie.

      Doug hung his head but brightened at the prospect of feeding the black swans. He went down the shore a few dozen yards to throw crumbs in the water, but the black swans remained aloof.

      Mary, you’ve no idea how much you have done for Doug’s spirits. He was always so glum before you came into his life. Now every day he’s like a little boy scrounging for crumbs and getting dressed to feed the ducks in the park. He came every day looking for you. He called you his ‘Lady of the Lake’. Anyway, whatever’s between you, I don’t care, only I like to see Doug happy, truly happy.

      Mary took a moment to consider the girl’s candid, emotional outburst. She had no idea what Doug had been thinking. Now in Carrie, she had a new window on the man’s soul. She shook her head in amazement. Then she focused again on the girl.

      Carrie, you are how old? Fourteen? I thought as much. I was exactly your age when I decided to become a vet. It came on me all of a sudden and from that time forward the idea of helping animals informed my entire life. I warn you that the gift of a life’s commitment comes as a blessing and a curse. You have to work very hard to get credentialed and set up in an office. If you are lucky, you can find a partner. In the meantime, you have to shut all the other business of a normal life out. I mean boyfriends, girlfriends, marriage, children, everything. The regimen is long and lonely. What if you make the journey and discover that you made the wrong choice? Unintentionally, Mary sounded wistful as if she was lost in thought.

      Do you think you made the wrong choice?

      Not really, but I have regrets. My mother and I became estranged, and I regret that we were both so busy with our separate careers that she passed without our being able to patch things up. My father passed after an automobile accident, and I never had the chance to say goodbye to him. I never had boyfriends or romance because the boys were all immature and men all silly fools, and besides, there’s nothing like marriage to end all thoughts of a career like mine. Look, I haven’t any time to talk further today, but if you want to talk, come feed the ducks. I’m here most days when I’m not caught up in surgeries.

      Mary looked over at Doug. He had lured the swans to shore, and now they were begging for crumbs, their long necks undulating as they advanced on him. When Carrie turned, Mary was gone. She had returned to her office.

      Mary arrived to find Hildy standing with a dog as big as she was tall, its front paws on her shoulders and his tail vigorously wagging from side to side.

      Doctor, this is Arnold the mixed breed rescue dog, and this is the patient’s owner, Freddy Snipes, who thinks Arnold needs an IV with liquids right away.

      Mary took the animal’s leash and led it into the examining room while Hildy briefed her.

      In the waiting room behind Arnold are two Norwegian elkhound puppies, Obo and Milkweed, needing shots, Phyllis the orangutan needing a complete physical, two bearded dragon lizards without names in a terrarium and Omicron, a ferret.

      While she treated the dog, Mary said, How is your war against men going?

      Hildy screwed up her face and ejaculated, I’m thinking of becoming a lesbian because of the cruelty of all men. Bob’s engaged to that hussy. Come to think of it, Gloria shows the artless, faithless wiles of common women! I’d just not go to lunch except I’m very hungry. Maybe I should do a lap dance with Ken, Bob’s best friend. That would show Bob something, or I could get another stud put in my nose. So what do you think, Doctor?

      But before Mary could say anything, Hildy had broken off her conversation and slammed the office door.

      Mary was beginning to think that Carrie might be more sensible than Hildy after all, but by Monday Hildy probably would have done an about face. Anyway, she had an IV to plant in Arnold’s leg and an exam to administer. What had she read about bearded dragon lizards, anyway?

      Sunday was a day for meditation for many people, but for Mary, it was a day of preparation for a busy week in the office. It was spring and therefore tax time, so she had to go through all her receipts and prepare records for her accountant. Being a vet meant being a sole proprietor, and everything a major corporation had to do, Mary had to do for a two-person office. Hildy could not help her with these business details and decisions had to be taken, so she had to do them herself. At three

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