The Arcane: Alistair Mann

CHAPTER 2 THE CORMORANTS

Thalia Cormorant rolls her emerald eyes at her rather ignorant husband whom which she tends to loathe most days. Seeing her mannerism in his periphery he smiles viciously. Retaliating, he says some quip phrase and turns back to his driving. Immediately laughter erupts from the couple's three children in the back which annoys Thalia even further. Her husband and children continue their dance of jokes and banter the entire three-hour car ride, Thalia joining in every so often. After a while she nonchalantly asks Justin Cormorant to turn on some music which he does, turning the station to some contemporary pop tunes. Thalia does not relax though, for she knows that within a few minutes the assembly will join in on the song's catchy beat and will be belting it out horribly in their off-tune voices.

They soon arrive at their destination after the long car ride from Eau Claire, WI to Madison, WI. Justin pulls the car to a stop in a full parking lot of forlorn cars. Thalia steps out of their Ford 250 truck and opens the door for her five-year-old menace, Aleeyah, to which the young girl screeches something completely unacceptable insisting that she can help herself as she blows stray bangs of brown hair out of her eyes.

"I can always cut that for you," Thalia tries.

"It doesn't bother me mommy," Aleeyah says happily.

"Come on let's go!" Aleeyah's two older brothers say excitedly as they run ahead of Justin, which prompts him to pick up his pace and follow.

Aleeyah in turn picks up her pace, her little legs propelling her as fast as they can. Sighing Thalia follows close behind as they catch up to the husband and boys. Smiling, the family sees Thalia's mother approaching them on the grassy hillside. She slides down her giant cat sunglasses, the sun shining confidently down. Mother Agnus walks stiffly up to the Cormorants with a not-so-subtle sneer written on her face.

"Daughter Thalia, Justin," Mother Agnus exhales quickly, "You must keep your family under control. Your behavior is just simply unacceptable, disgraceful. We are at a funeral for goodness sakes, your father's funeral!"

Thalia smiles in return and sighs tiredly, "Good to see you too, mother."

Hearing what she thinks is sarcasm in her daughter's voice Mother Agnus says, "And to think that I doubted disowning you for a brief heartbeat. You know you're only here as a courtesy."

Mother Agnus turns around abruptly and walks away, back to the congregation of mourning relatives. Tears fight to slide down Thalia's red cheeks. She knows that some of those gathered closest to where they stand heard the entire interaction. Justin looks at his wife, still with a smile written on his face and reaches for her hand.

"Let's go sit down," he says.

Thalia nods her head and takes his hand sheepishly.

Arriving late most seats are already taken. The Cormorants eventually find a row of five seats suiting their family in the mid-section of the set-up chairs on the lawn by the side of Lake Mendota. Aleeyah kicks her feet back and forth slowly as she sits as reverently as she can in her five-year-old state of mind. For most of the service she stares up at the sky and clouds as they pass overhead. Occasionally she would start humming "Sunshine on Your Shoulders" to herself and get subsequently shushed by Mother Agnus a few seats away. Thalia knows Mother Agnus does this intentionally, shushing Aleeyah before she can herself, trying to create more excuses that she can use to berate her daughter.

"Don't let it bother you," Justin leans over and says in Thalia's ear.

Thalia ignores Justin and quietly thanks God for keeping her two buck-headed sons reverent during the service. At eleven and twelve they understand the significance of the situation and become reserved of their own accord. After of course getting a talk from Mother Agnus, she would not have it any other way. Several times during the service Thalia heard whispers from other audience members concerning the Cormorant's disrespect for the dead. Once the service is over Thalia is absolutely ready to go home, though she knows that there will be an after-service dinner following.