Abella & Minerva the Moths: Part Two (rough draft)

The last time I had been in Abella and Minerva’s house was just before I graduated. I was setting them up with someone else who could take care of their lawn since I would be away for college. Abella had made a rather big lunch, I suppose she was trying to get me to linger for a bit before I had to go.

“Are you sure you want to go into law of all things?” Minerva asked. She had seemed disappointed in my dream of becoming a detective one day since I expressed my love of crime procedural shows. At the time though, I was interested in going to law school.

“I’m pretty sure,” I told her.

“You’re seventeen, what the hell do you know?” Minerva rapt her nails against the tabletop as she watched me. “You’re too sweet a boy for that!”

“Don’t get emotional over this, Minerva,” Abella came from the stove, setting down the potato and ham stew she had made. It had always been my favorite when I was younger, so she made it for me often. Or at least back then she claimed to love it to excuse why she did make it so often.

Minerva sighed, taking her hands away from the table and tucking them into her lap. “I’m not,” she huffed. “I just want him to realize he doesn’t have to make a decision right now for what he wants. He’s young. Vulnerable.” Her voice held a tremor in it I had never heard before. I had always known Minerva as the tough one, the strong one. It didn’t make sense for her to be wavering.

“He’ll be fine, he’s bright.” Abella sat down at the table with a smile on her face. With one hand, she touched Minverva’s; with two others, she served soup into big, round mugs. “He has his whole life ahead of him, and we both know how long that can be. And time offers opportunities. Sometimes you have to be patient.”

“I’ll really be okay, Ms. Minerva.” I passed the note to her with the information of the guy who was taking over my lawn work. “I think I’ll be good at it.”

“Then get tough,” Minerva snapped at me. “Get mean.” She clenched a fist in the air then brought it down upon the table. “Don’t be a dick, but don’t let others be a dick to you. This world is more cruel than you’ve seen, and your mother has done a damn fine job of keeping it from you. But this is a world that seems to be swinging closer and closer towards hate these days.” She stopped herself as Abella’s hand squeezed down upon her own. Minerva took a long, slow breath in and sighed.

“You’re going to learn some hard truths out there. One thing I can recommend is finding someone who loves you to suffer through it with you.” Minerva’s eyes turned to Abella who smiled so brightly. “Nothing has made this world seem like a better place than that. Remember boy, you’re complete as is. That whole soulmates and missing pieces shit is made up to sell cards. Find someone who makes you better, who adds to you. You’ll be amazed at what you can do.”

“I’m in no rush for such things,” I laughed. I was still really nervous about myself. I’d fooled around a few times at a gay bar out of town, but I was yet to truly feel comfortable with myself. I wouldn’t discover that until college, and I wouldn’t find Rian until much later.

I hated that now, coming back to see them, it wasn’t on the best of terms. Coming up to their house, I noticed that things had gotten overgrown. The oleander bushes looked more like trees now and there were vines covering most of the house. I knocked on their front door, noticing some decay on their steps.

The door opened just a crack. “Yes?” A small, soft voice asked. “Who goes there?”

“Ms. Abella?” I smiled brightly upon hearing her voice. “I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Talia’s boy. I used to work for you a long time ago.”

The door closed and I heard chains rattle and locks come undone. The door opened wide again and Abella stood there, looking so much smaller than I remember her. She reached out to me, patting my arms with two hands while holding mine with the other two. “Of course I remember you, sweetheart! My! Look how tall you’ve gotten. Thank goodness you still look like your mother. What brings you here after all this time?”

I felt my initial joy at seeing her fade away. “Actually, I’m here about the recent deaths in town. I’m a homicide detective the local station has brought in. I was hoping I could ask you some questions.”

Her hands squeezed a little harder. “My goodness,” she whispered. “What a turn your life took, didn’t it! Going off for bigger and grander things, only to come back here for something so chilling. Come in, come in.” She ushered me into her home. A house I once knew so well.

The door had more locks and bolts on it, and I think I saw a handgun hanging on a nail by the door. The windows were all covered, some were even shuttered by boards. Abella took me into the kitchen, which was faded but looked exactly the same as when I was a boy.

“You sit right here. I’ll get some tea going once I go and fetch Minerva. She will be so excited to see you!” Abella seemed to not be bothered by the reason for my visit. “Be right back.” She patted my back before shuffling off.

I sat there in that kitchen, feeling as small as I did the first time Abella invited me inside for something cold to drink. The same plates were hung on the wall, the same old painting of violets, the framed poem that kept falling because of the door was still there too.

Abella came in and went to the stove to set the kettle. Meanwhile a dark shape emerged from the hallway. She was smaller than I remember too, which was probably the most shocking part about this. Minerva came into the room on a cane, her back a little bent, and her form less rigid than it used to be. She hobbled in, having serious trouble with one leg which moved slower than the other.

I stood up to help her sit down. “Look at you,” she sniffed. “Left a boy, came back some sort of man.”

I chuckled. “Good to see you too, Ms. Minerva.”

“So,” she clicked her tongue. “You became a cop, eh? Was law school too hard for you?”

“No, dear,” Abella tutted. “He became a homicide detective!” She said that way too cheerily for what the job was.

Minerva cut her eyes back to me. “Let me guess, all the dead assholes around here started stinking too much.”

“That is one way to put it.” I sat back down. “I heard you both had some issues with some of the deceased. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the matter.”

Minerva sighed heavily. “I feel no remorse for their passing,” she replied. “Especially the big one. I don’t think the world needs him, he’s better off gone.”

“Minnie!” Abella scolded.

Minerva scoffed and waved her off. “It’s the truth. Ever since he moved in, he took over. Made this little neighborhood his own personal kingdom and he was the dictator.” Minerva scowled as she looked up at me. “Is it a crime to hate somebody?”

I shook my head. “No. You’re allowed to do that.”

“Then good. I’ll confess to that all damn day. He and all his little sycophants.” She grumbled as she adjusted herself in the chair.

“I was told you had an altercation with him in the Sir Save parking lot. Could you tell me about that?” I started.

“Heard about that, huh?” Minerva rapt her fingers to the table top. Although none of them held the trademark nails I remember.

“It was a topic of discussion,” I replied. Not only had I heard it from my mom, but it was brought up at the police station during briefings.

“Horrible day,” Abella shook her head.

Minerva looked cross. I had seen her look mildly annoyed at everything in life, but this was a genuine look of anger. “No one wanted to hear me back then, why all of a sudden now does it matter?”

“People are dead of possible homicide, Ms. Minerva,” I said as gently as I could. “Anything could help us. If he had a history of such instances, there could be more possible suspects than we can assume on our own.”

“Oh,” Minerva started to chuckle. “So I’m a suspect!”

“There is a possibility,” I answered honestly. “Yes.”

Minerva chuckled and leaned back into her chair. She held her side where her ribs must have been broken. “I’m not surprised, boy. I’m honestly shocked they didn’t arrest me right away.”

“Thankfully that isn’t how things work.”

“But it’s how they would like them too!” Minerva continued to laugh. “To have it all go their way and never the other way. It’s so easy to just point and laugh at someone else rather than turn and look at yourself in the mirror.”

“Minnie,” Abella scolded.

Minerva sighed. “I tried to make myself heard before, and I was turned away all because it was claimed that I swung first. He said he would be kind and he wouldn’t file any charges of assault against me if I didn’t file any against him.”

I furrowed my brow. “So you didn’t?”

“No. I figured if I let it go, it would all go.” She struggled with holding something back. I could almost see flames licking up around her eyes from inside.

The tea kettle whistled and Abella removed it from the eye.

“I need you to tell me about it now, it could possibly help you, Ms. Minerva. Anything at all about it could direct us elsewhere.” I stiffened my jaw as I tried to stay professional.

“What do you want me to say? It was a windy day? He almost backed into me while I was trying to get the cart to the car?” She seemed more affected as she began to talk about it. “I was just trying to get home. I don’t know what the hell he was doing.”

Every story I had heard, she was the one who rammed her cart into the truck.

“Minnie, Minnie,” Abella placed her arms upon Minerva’s shoulders to calm her. “It’s still kind of hard to talk about. For both of us. That day started a really long streak of bad days for us.”

“Were you being harassed?” I asked.

Minerva looked away from me, her fingers rapting harder and faster against the table top. Abella placed tea into her hand, soothing the repetitive motion. Abella looked at me, her expression so soft and sweet it took me twenty-years into the past.

“Sometimes, people get wound up in the wrong things, they don’t understand it. They just get led astray and assured that what they’re doing is okay because everyone else is. I try my hardest not to blame those people. Everyone can be re-educated and taught to do better. But there are others who can’t be saved.” Abella sat down at the table and served me tea. She then placed her hands upon Minerva’s arm. “I hate to say this, but men like your father.”

I nodded, trying to keep a stiff upper lip. “I don’t recall him.”

“Good!” Minerva scoffed. “It’s good your father is dead too. He and that asshole would have made a grand pair. But now, they’re both where they belong, hopefully in hell.”

Abella gasped. “Minnie!”

I didn’t know my father was dead. I had been told he had left when I was young. I assumed he was still somewhere in this world. But I never knew he was dead. I swallowed it down as it wasn’t important now.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked to change the subject. “Between the two of you and the rest of the neighborhood.”

Abella looked sadly at Minerva. “The two of us have had to put up with a lot living here. But we did it because we knew it could be worse everywhere else.We stayed because the world was small here. We owned this home. We didn’t want to give it up. We tolerated the names, the stares, the vicious rumors, because nothing ever came of it. It was all words. But then he came, and he made words into actions. It wasn’t just us either. There were others who had moved in, most of them gone now. He chased them off.”

“Anyone that you can think of who would be worth a conversation with?” I asked.

“All of them,” Minerva quipped. “Even some of the small fries who moved in his group. Big people like that have a way of stepping on everybody.”

“Which is why I really need to know about the altercation at the Sir Save. Anyone who was there, anyone who witnessed it. Tell me what you can.”

Minerva recoiled and tightened her arm around herself. “I was leaving,” she started. “There was someone else ahead of me, a man who just bought a jar of honey. He was standing at the back of his car while I was pushing the buggy to mine. That asshole had just gotten into his truck, there were still a couple of people standing beside it. He started pulling out and he hit my buggy.”

Abella’s hand on her arm squeezed tighter.

“He jumped out,” Minerva continued shakily. “Accused me of ramming into his truck. Pointed out scratches or dents or something, I don’t know. I couldn’t see anything.” Her voice choked up more and she leaned closer to Abella.

“His friends all ganged up, accusing me of the same thing. I don’t know if they saw anything or if they were just going along with him. By then a few more people had come out of the store. But I had gotten so angry it didn’t matter. I couldn’t tell you who was there if I tried.” Her voice then began to warble and break. Tears came into her eyes. “When he hit me and I fell against the buggy return, I really thought I was going to die.”

“The man who had honey, would you identify him if you could?” I asked.

Minerva nodded as she tried to collect herself. Abella was doting on her, drying up her cheek and whispering so only she could hear. “I think so.”

I got a list from her of other people this guy had harassed, and those who were often seen with him. There were a lot of new names that came up. I was kept busy with interviews and investigative work for a while. I didn’t get back to see Abella and Minerva again, although they had been interviewed a couple of more times by someone else.

“So, how is the search going so far?” Rian asked me one night.

“Not really anywhere,” I told him. “It’s getting really hard to track anything down.” I laid back in bed, talking to him on the phone was one of my few comforts lately. The case was getting so heavy, both with lack of evidence and a plethora of information being brought in daily. “It’s really getting bogged down. So many people want to insert themselves into it. It’s a circus.”

“And what are you wearing?” Rian teased.

“Stop,” I laughed. “I’m being serious.”

“I wanted to make you laugh. It sounds like you haven’t in a while.” Rian replied sweetly. “So, too many fingers and not enough pies?”

“Yeah,” I sighed heavily. “There’s evidence now that leads us to believe these people were poisoned by possibly oleanders. But this neighborhood is literally overrun with them. Everyone has them in their yards. And everyone who could be a suspect has one so-” I trailed off, staring into the ceiling of my childhood bedroom. There was too much going on and this case could end with nothing because of all the testimonies.

“What do you think it is?” Rian then asked.

I snapped from my stupor and furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”

“What do you think the answer is? In your heart of hearts, what do you think is happening here?”

I thought for a moment. “If I had to say it out loud to the world right now? What would I say?”

“Exactly,” Rian murmured.

“I would say-” I hesitated as I tried to think. There was so much to consider. “I would say-” I trailed off again. “There is a chance there are multiple people at fault.”

“Is that really what to want to say?”

“No,” I sighed. “I want to say I’ll be home tomorrow.”

“When do you get to say that?” Rian asked.

I smiled and heard my mother coming into the house. “You here?” She called out. “I’ve got groceries.”

“Yeah, one second!” I shouted back. “Rian? I’ll call you back later, okay?”

Rian chuckled. “Okay. take care. I love you.”

“Love you too.” I got up and went to help mom bring groceries inside. As I was helping her put things away, I noticed a honey bear in one of the bags.

“You know this isn’t really honey, right?” I asked.

“I know!” She snatched it from my hands. “I used to get my honey from Abella but she doesn’t sell it anymore. She says she donates it or something.”

I furrowed my brow. “That’s weird. That was her whole business. I thought she relied on that income.”

Mom scoffed. “Yeah, well, she changed her mind, I guess. After she and Minerva went on that trip to get away, she got rid of all her bees. She’s only started getting them back now.”

I stopped what I was doing. “Wait, she got rid of them?”

“I think so,” my mom replied. She opened a box of cookies and started eating them as she put them into the jar. “Because when they left, I asked her if she wanted me to help take care of them, but she said it wasn’t a concern because she got rid of them.”

“That’s...strange,” I murmured.

“I know!” My mom came back out, dusting her hands off. “They must have been so stressed out during that time. I really don’t blame her. One less thing to worry about.”

I then remembered something. Minerva had blurted it out like it was nothing. Through all the investigation process, I had almost forgotten it. “Hey, Mom?” I set aside the honey bear. “What did ever happen to my father?”

She stalled at the counter, her arm stretched up to place something inside the cabinet. She slowly drew her arm down and looked back at me. “Why do you ask?”

“Minerva said he was dead. Is he?”

My mom reached for that opened box of cookies and took one out, gnawing away at it. “Why does it matter? He’s not part of your life. He never was.”

“I just want an answer. It may not matter, but I want it.”

Mom set the cookies aside and dusted off her hands. “Well then, he’s dead.”

I furrowed my brow at her. “Why didn’t you ever say anything to me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it would matter to you. You never wanted to know about him. He might as well have not existed.”<<

This felt odd, even for her. “When did he die?”

Mom scoffed. “If Minerva told you he was dead, then ask her!” She stormed away from me and I heard a door slam down the hall.

I knew she didn’t like to talk about my father, but this was strange even for her. I finished putting away the groceries and then I went on my evening run. I went to Ms. Abella and Ms. Minerva’s house and, standing outside, I felt a strange sense of doom wash over me. Something didn’t feel right, especially with a place I once considered an extension of my home. The way the windows were shuttered, the slight decay at the base, the peeling paint, the faded roof. Nothing looked familiar anymore.

The door opened and Abella stepped out onto the front porch. She waved her fingers to me. “Come on in. No sense in just standing out there.”

I flinched, surprised by her sudden appearance. “Sure, good evening. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Not at all. Come inside for a break.” Abella led me in then closed the door. “How has the case been going?”

“I can’t exactly talk about it, Ms. Abella. But it is frustrating.” I went with her into the kitchen, sitting down at the same place I always used to.

“Such a shame.” Ms. Abella reached into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade. “Would you like some?”

“Sure.” I looked around the kitchen while she poured. “Mom said you got rid of your bees.”

Abella sighed sadly. “It was such a shame, but I had no choice.” She placed the glass of cold lemonade before me then took a seat herself. “But with all the trouble after Minerva’s altercation, I couldn’t take good enough care of them.”

“Where is Minerva?” I asked.

Abella nodded down the hall. “Sleeping. I’m afraid she’s-” She hesitated and looked off into the distance. Her eyes became unfocused and the color from her wings seemed to fade into gray.

“Ms. Abella?” I asked.

Her head moved, but nothing else did. Her eyes remained focused on that same spot and a slight murmur came from her mouth.

“You were the one who taught me about the oleander. Do you remember?”

Her eyes moved and she turned to me. “I didn’t want you getting sick or worse. You need to learn how to keep yourself safe in this world.”

I took a sip of the lemonade. “Then why did you give them to everyone in the neighborhood?”

Abella sighed. “At the time, we had gotten so many new people moving in. It was a chance to make new friends. Minerva and I had so few here, you know?” She tilted her head. “What do you really want to ask me, sweetie?”

I swallowed and the lemonade made my throat feel raw. “I was-” I cleared my throat. “Well, uhm-” I set the glass aside and steeled myself. “Minerva said my dad was dead. But I never knew that.”

“Oh,” she murmured. “Yes, he died when you were still very young. How much did you know about him?”

“I was-” I shook my head. “My mom barely tells me anything. I know he was abusive, but to what extent I don’t know.”

Abella tilted her chin up. “He used to take care of our yard for us for extra money, you know?”

My chest squeezed tight. “No. No, I didn’t.” I breathed out slowly.

“One time he brought you with him. I remember asking him why and he would never answer me. You were crying when he brought you. I tried to help but he wouldn’t let me touch you.” She frowned deeply. “I remember him yelling at you, telling you to shut up. Then when he hit you-”

“He hit me?” I felt cold inside.

Abella’s eyes focused on me. “I was so angry, so livid. Minerva more so. She got to him before I did so I took care of you. Back then Minerva could fight for herself, but your father was-” Her eyes went distant again and her mouth hung slightly open.

I swallowed hard again. “Ms. Abella...what did you do?”

Abella cut her eyes back to me. I had always thought she was so pretty, with her eyes, the color of her wings. How elegant her four hands were. “I protected you and your mother.”

I pushed the lemonade glass away from me. “Ms. Abella-”

“Your father is dead,” she said definitively. “Shall we leave it at that?”

“I can’t just-” I shook my head. “Ms. Abella, what did you do?”

Abella stood up and cleared away my glass. “I don’t suffer bullies in this world. But there are too many who do.” She hung on to the edge of the sink. “I’ve put up with it for far too long. I don’t have much time left in this world, sweetheart. I would like to have some good memories left in it.”

I slowly stood up from my chair. “Thank you for the lemonade.” I left the house and walked slowly home. I wonder how many houses Abella had given her honey too in all these years. I wonder if she ever gave any to my father. I stopped outside my house, looking up at the small front porch and the curtains pulled over the windows. Looking down the street, all the other houses looked the same, so small and afraid, shrouded by the oleander bushes.

Really, it could have been anyone. It could have even been an accident. If he cut down his oleander bush and didn’t know how toxic it was, he could have done it to himself. Same for the others. If they followed his example, then they probably would have jumped off a cliff with him as well.

I went inside and found my mom sitting at the kitchen table. She looked up at me, concerned. I sat down with her and just smiled.

“What?” She whispered.

“You could have told me he died during work,” I murmured.

She screwed up her mouth and nodded. “I hate talking about it.”

I nodded. “I know.” I then rubbed at my face. “I think I’ll be leaving soon. This case isn’t going anywhere, and I think I’m too involved to be unbiased. I’m going to ask to be sent back.”

“That’s your call.” She placed her hand over mine. “But don’t feel like you can’t visit.”

I smiled at her. “I’ll come with Rian next time.”

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t bothered by all this. But I did lie to myself about it after the fact. I went home to Rian and put it all behind me. Once again, my old neighborhood faded into the background for me.

A few months later my mom called with the sad news that Minerva had passed away and, a day after, so had Abella. When I went home for the funeral, I discovered they left me everything. What money they had as well as the old house.

“Let’s keep it,” Rian said. “We can fix it up, make it a nice little home away from home. It would be nice to raise a family here, don’t you think?”

His words echoed in my mind. “We would have to get rid of all the oleander,” I murmured. “It isn’t safe.”

“But it’s so pretty! Why?”

I looked up at the flowering bushes with tears in my eyes. “Because sometimes the most dangerous of things are the prettiest.”