Subj: Charade: Chapter 16
Date: 11/30/01 1:53:28 AM Central Standard Time
From: Nicole

December 8, 2008, Collinwood, 6:00 PM-Parallel Time

Her mother had told her not to go to the west wing. Unfortunately, Gwynneth had not been listening. She waited until both her parents were well out of sight and hearing range to creep away from her sleeping brother and the inattentive Mrs. Castle. Gwynneth almost felt bad for sneaking away from the elderly woman but that guilt passed through her quickly, freeing her up to make the trek to the other side of the house. Since she had spent most of her time prowling through either the east wing or the main part of the house, she decided to check out the west wing.

Gwynneth had heard odd stories of the half-formed man sleeping in the west wing. She had heard these stories whispered between her parents for years. Gwynneth did not know how seriously to take these stories because their telling always seemed punctuated by the laughter of both her parents. This half-formed man had to be some kind of sick joke. Why would such a thing be suffered to exist? Why would they hide it away in Collinwood? Gwynneth did not think such a thing was real, but part of her longed to see it for herself. After all, she was only a child.

The quiet of the west wing disturbed her. Gwynneth could hear her footsteps creak along the muck covered wooden floors. The gray/brown grime clung to her shoes, letting her know that someone would find out that she had been where she should not. These were nearly new shoes so she could not throw them away without anyone noticing. Beneath her breath, she spat the curse words she had heard her parents mutter (or occasionally scream) during a fit of passion. She supposed those were the correct words to say for the moment. She knew of nothing else that would express her anger at the time being.

Just when Gwynneth decided that the west wing might be boring, she heard a moan emanate from the room down the hall. She ran down the hall, kicking up dust as she moved toward the origin of the noise. She peaked through the slightly opened door and attempted to maintain her rising “awe.” On the bed lay an abnormally tall man, his face surrounded by mountains of pillows that also seemed to be holding up his body. One of his legs was being worked by a petite blonde woman. She seemed to enjoy the job. Gwynneth could tell by the way her eyes seemed to shine down on the person beneath the pillows. ‘Uh-oh,’ thought Gwynneth. ‘I know who this is.’

Gwynneth could faintly remember the drive to Collinwood. “Now remember,” her mother had murmured quietly. “You can’t say anything bad about your uncle Josef. It’s not his fault that he is the way he is.”

“What way is he, momma?”

Her mother had groaned but her eyes remained focused on the road. “Josef had an accident when he was eleven. I think it happened in February, but that really doesn’t matter. He was playing in the old cottage on the property when it caught fire. He tried to get out and I kinda remember trying to help him but I didn’t succeed. Anyway, he almost got out, but just as he was about to get out, the whole thing crashed in on him. He was about half way out at the time. I’ve seen a few pictures of it (Dear God! I can’t believe someone took pictures of this, but they did) and his entire torso was out. If you see him, his entire upper body is nearly perfect. But it’s the lower half that’s messed up. He had some horrid burn marks on his legs. He had . . . what is it . . . skin grafts to correct the damage. He always wears pants so that people can’t see the scars. He had fallen on top of something large, sharp. He hurt his back. So the combination back injury/burn damage hampers his walking ability. He shouldn’t be able to walk at all, but for some odd reason, he learned to do so after his accident. But that’s not the big thing.”

“What’s the big thing?” Gwynneth had carefully asked.

“Well, there was this stuff from the building, bricks and jagged whatnots that had fallen directly into his lap, pretty much cutting
into all that was there. The doctors were able to save some of him . . . well, reconstruct some of him. The rest had to be removed.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your uncle Josef is a eunuch.”

“That doesn’t really mean anything.”

“It means the world to Josef,” insisted her mother. “Genetically, Josef is male. But remember, he had this operation at eleven. He hadn’t hit puberty. So to look at him, you wouldn’t call him distinctly male; you wouldn’t call him female either. He’s something in between.”

Gwynneth had not understood what her mother had been talking about. Looking at her uncle Josef now, she was not quite sure if she understood. She then saw his pants leg slide down to his knee. She could not help but gasp as she gazed on the pale mutilations that worked their way up his hairless leg in no particular pattern. At least one part of her mother’s story had been true. She did not know about the rest. Finding out would mean getting closer to her uncle Josef than she ever planned. Gwynneth could let the mystery linger.

As Gwynneth tried to step away, she slipped and fell to the floor, kicking the door open with her flying foot. She looked up to see the people inside staring at her. The pretty young nurse looked horrified. Her ward sprang up, pulling his long torso up to a sitting position. Gwynneth held her breath to keep from speaking. He was beautiful in some odd androgynous way. His face walked the thin line between masculinity and femininity, which somehow made it all the more appealing. He might not have been so lovely had he matured. She would have thought him amazing had he not screamed, “Get the hell out of here!”

Josef’s voice cut holes in Gwynneth’s ears. It was high pitched and shrill, sounding like something from a bad dream. “I...I...I didn’t mean to do any harm,” stammered Gwynneth as she inched away from the door.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Josef turned to the nurse and said, “Avery, close the door.” The young woman nodded and walked to the door to close it. As they shut her out, Gwynneth could hear him say, “God, when you see Constance, tell her to keep her brats on her side of the house. Who knows? She might have let the little mutchkin loose to bug me!”

Gwynneth sighed as she stared at the closed door. A second later, she heard the deadbolt turn to lock. Well, she was officially in trouble. There was no need to hide the shoes because her parents would know where she had been before she went to sleep. She might as well go down and face the music before the nurse could tattle on her for Josef.

Gwynneth rose to leave but stood stark still upon standing. Only a few feet away from her stood the man from the day before. She had not seen him since he had taken her to the east wing. “Um . . . are you taking me back to see her?” she asked quietly. He shook his head solemnly. “Well, when are you going to take me back?” He shook his head again. Gwynneth did not understand his behavior. What was he trying to say? “So we’re not going back again,” she stammered. The man smiled and nodded. “Then why are you here?”

The man started to move toward her but suddenly stood still. He turned around and disappeared. Gwynneth ran up to see what had happened when she heard the boom of footsteps echo down the hall. “Gwynneth,” she heard a familiar voice say, “Gwynneth, are you here, honey?”

“I’m right here dad.”

Her father entered the hall and stood in front of her. He looked none too happy to be there. “Gwyn, what are you doing here?” I thought your mother told you earlier that you weren’t supposed to be here?”

“She did but . . . but . . . but I was curious. I wanted to know!”

Her father groaned as he approached her. He lifted her off the floor and held her close to his body. “Now Gwyn,” he whispered, “that’s not a good enough reason to do anything. You have to be more careful of where you go. If your mother or I tell you not to go somewhere, we mean it. Do you understand?”

“Yes father.”

“Good. Now let’s leave before we wake your uncle.”

Gwynneth did not want to tell him that they were too late for that. She could not change what had happened. Besides, she had just received all the scolding she was going to get on the matter. She could even be able to talk her father into not mentioning this incident to her mother. Gwynneth knew she could get away with it if the nurse forgot to tattle, which she certainly would do. She had one problem down. All she had to worry about now was the mystery man. Why was he refusing to take her to the room? She could easily go there herself, but she preferred to have him with her. Gwynneth needed to know what had happened to ruin the arrangement. She had to find the man and persuade him to tell her what had happened. She only hoped she would be able to find him when they were both alone.

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