Chapter 35

Joselyn told me to return to the East Estate and explain all that had just happened to Butler in great detail and to not spare anything. It seems he is the caretaker of the Arto family in every aspect, not just their living quarters and leisure. 

Butler has worked for the Artos forever. He treats the situation as one of little inconvenience. He says, “I’ll wait until you return.”

“Who will run the company? Who will take care of the estate?” I ask.

Butler says, “The same people who always have.” And I swear to God he smiled. I wondered if he was more than just skin pinned over a computer.

“Where am I going?” I ask.

He rested a hand that looked much older than his face on my shoulder. He says, “This happens to everyone. Nothing is wrong. Now go back to the cabin until Master Hans arrives for the funeral. I’ll come get you.”

I start to think, for whatever reason, that getting good grades in college was something to justify the lifestyle. You’re paying for everything outside the scholastic element.

“Butler.” I say, “Where did I meet you?”

And his face started to move the shadows of the dim light unnaturally. And I step away, as he tilts his head back just a smidge.

I say, “Les?”

He says nothing but brings his chin back down.

He tilts his head back again.

James Jacob Hatfield is a displaced engineer, a painter, and many other contradictions. His work has appeared in X-R-A-Y, Maudlin House, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Barely South Review, Chaleur Magazine, Havik, and others. His ekphrasis poem “torrents of lahar, No. 36” was anthologized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. He is a Sterling Fellow and a Weymouth Fellow. He is the creator and curator of the Gemini Sessions Substack. He lives in Durham, NC.

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