THE CYCLOPS
Charlie stood in the middle of Kitty’s living room, trying to come to terms with what he’d just seen. The purple smoke cleared. The smell of burning cedar lingered in the air and then it too disappeared. Although it took more than a few moments, Charlie realized he’d just witnessed a poof. This was the first time his circumstances hadn’t felt doomed since Shirley had cut out his heart. It was at this precise moment that the door to Kitty’s apartment opened and the white shag carpet started to move in swells, like deep water on the open sea. The waves swept Charlie out of the living room and into the hallway. The door closed, all on its own.
Charlie walked down the stairs and onto the street. It was no longer snowing. The soft, fluffy white snow on the ground was already melting, turning into a dirty, thick slush. Charlie’s joy at so easily finding the location of Twiggy’s heart was tempered by the fact that he remained in the Sad Christmas District, a very sorrowful place. Another drunken Santa bumped into Charlie’s shoulder. A faint mewing came from inside the bag over his shoulder. This made Charlie shudder. The street lights flickered in time to ‘Jingle Bells.’ The sad eyes of an elderly woman watched Charlie through dirty faded curtains as they waited for relatives who would never arrive. Drunken men stopped on street corners, struggling to maintain their balance as they stared at the wrinkled photographs of their children clutched in their hands.
Charlie walked slowly. He thought about his own children. He contemplated the Christmases he’d provided for them and concluded that they were only marginally better than this one. He did not try to hail the many cabs that splashed slush onto his pant legs as they raced by. He didn’t think he deserved the luxury of a cab ride. He just kept walking. With every step, his spirits sank a little bit more and the ticking in his ears got a tiny bit louder. He was practically deaf and barely holding back his tears as he neared the parking lot of the Disappointment. Unable to resist any longer, Charlie raised his arm. He looked at his wrist:
19 HR 14 MIN 15 SEC
Knowing how quickly time was passing did not make Charlie walk any faster. His car was the only one left in Disappointment parking lot. He got the keys out of his pocket and noticed a Cyclops lumbering toward him. The Cyclops appeared to be angry, although it was hard to decipher the look in his eye.
‘You Charlie Waterfield?’ the Cyclops asked.
‘No?’
‘Is this your car?’
‘A red Corvette? I would think not.’
‘Then why are there car keys in your hand?’’
‘Okay. So it is my car. But I’m not Charlie Waterfield.’
‘Oh, I think you are, Charlie.’ The Cyclops put two fingers under Charlie’s chin and with very little effort lifted him off the ground.
‘Want to know how I know you’re Waterfield?’
Charlie didn’t respond. His feet kicked at everything that wasn’t there.
‘Because you’re an idiot. Only an idiot would sleep with a Cyclops’s wife.’
‘Wanda’s married?’
A look of shock and hurt crossed the Cyclops’s face. It stayed there for several moments. Charlie stopped kicking at nothing. He recognized that look. He knew how much hurt it took to provoke it. Charlie’s empathy went out to the poor wounded giant. The Cyclops took his fingers away and Charlie crashed to the sidewalk. He didn’t look up as the Cyclops started to cry. The creature’s tears landed on Charlie’s head, drenching him.
Not knowing what else to do, Charlie reached up and took the Cyclops’s hand. It was an odd thing to do, but the Cyclops seemed to appreciate the gesture. He held Charlie’s hand tightly. Charlie saw a lot of himself in the Cyclops. It was easy to imagine what the Cyclops was feeling; Charlie had been there before. In fact, this was the first time he had been the other in a relationship. On all other occasions, Charlie had been in the Cyclops’s position. He had to admit that it felt better being the one on this side, although not by as big a degree as he’d imagined.
Charlie tugged on the Cyclops’s hand until he sat down beside him. They leaned against the front bumper of Charlie’s car. Charlie took out his pack of Ten Pints. He gave one to the Cyclops.
‘I have to have two or I get nothing from it,’ said the Cyclops.
Charlie shook out another cigarette. He lit all three and passed two to the Cyclops. They smoked in silence. Charlie noticed that the ash in the Cyclops’s cigarettes turned to snow just before it hit the ground.
‘Here’s an idea,’ Charlie said. ‘Maybe it’s a myth that love is supposed to last forever. Maybe love isn’t indestructible. Some loves last longer than others, but all of them end.’
‘I wanted mine to last forever.’
‘I wanted that too. But how do we know a love that lasts forever doesn’t cause more pain than one that ends? Or is even as tender and rewarding? There’s a lot more evidence that the opposite is true.’
‘Doesn’t a love that ends mean it wasn’t a true love in the first place?’
‘I hadn’t really thought about that.’ Charlie became lost in thought. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the Cyclops’s fist was centimetres from his face. Charlie threw up his hands and shut his eyes. Several moments passed. No punch landed. Charlie looked up. Directly in front of him was the Cyclops’s open palm. In the middle of it was a wedding ring.
‘Next time you see Wanda, you give her this.’
The Cyclops dropped his wedding ring. It fell to the sidewalk and left a heart-shaped impression in the concrete. Then the Cyclops walked away. Charlie traced the heart-shaped divot with his index finger.
He stared at the ring for twenty-six minutes, which, considering how few minutes Charlie had left, was a very long time.