Of Waves and War

22: may everything come true

Penelope

Telemachus has always had whatever he wants from his father and I. I realize we spoil him, being an only child and  later in our lives than most had children. But I like to think I was slightly more the disciplinarian than my husband. There is no way it should have been that easy for a two year old child to talk an adult man into doing whatever he wanted.

"You got up to check on him an hour ago," I said, leaning in the kitchen doorway.

"I'm well aware, yes, but we're busy right now," Eulises said, holding our two year old aloft in his arms. "He had a plan and was entirely persuasive."

I smothered laughter and said nothing because I couldn't possibly be cross with either of them.

"'ocolate 'ake?" Telemachus said, hopefully, pointing with a fat baby fist.

"Excellent idea, yes," Eulises said, getting it for him and setting child and cake down on the counter.

"Telemachus, you're supposed to know better. You're not supposed to eat cake at midnight," I tell him.

"I'm not," he said, completely seriously, cramming cake in his mouth.

"Good boy, admit nothing," Eulises said, patting his son's hair with obvious pride.

"This gonna be so bad once he can actually talk in complete sentences," I said, rubbing my face.

"It's good training for him. What are you going to say when grandma asks who touched her cakes?"

"Burglar."

"Good job, yes, we were clearly burgled," Eulises said, picking up cake to try to put in my mouth.

"I'm not a party to this," I said, taking it anyway.

"Right, none of us were actually, here were we Tel?" he asked our son.

"No," Telemachus, his mouth full of cake.

"Why am I surprised anymore?" my mother in law walked in to glare at her son.

"Good thing we came when we did someone had broken in and stolen cake," Eulises said, completely seriously, "I had to let the lad have some after scaring off a burglar."

"This is your fault for marrying him and giving him a child," she said, not even mad, pointing at me.

"You made that one," I said, pointing at Eulises.

"Unfortunately," she said, cuffing his cheek, "I'd hide your precious bow if the draft people weren't coming round soon."

"I'm getting out of that," Eulises said, his face darkening.

"I don't think those plans are going to work," I said.

"I do, and I have eighteen of them, one ought to," he said.

"Wars happen," his mother said, shrugging, "It's not like you're not clever enough to live through it."

"No, but I'd sooner see my son grow up," he said, staring at Telemachus.

"And I'm selfish I'd rather not have him go," I said.

"You're a masochistic more like. Eulises, should your father and I just vacate the premises for your evil schemes?" his mother asked.

"Hmm, probably, one of them involves your death real or imaginary."

"Eulises," I elbowed him.

"It's fine," his mother said, wiping chocolate off of Telemachus' face.

"Not eating cake," Telemachus told her, cramming cake into his mouth.

"Gods above, help us," she muttered.

"Several plans before that I pretend to be insane, which disqualifies me from the army."

"Pretend?" his mother, of course.

"I don't think that plan will work either, you're not known for your honesty," I say.

"Pretend?"

"But you'll help?" Eulises said.

"Obviously, I'll tell them whatever you like," I sighed, "I'd tell them you were missing but this will be the tenth time they've come around and I've given you every disease and excuse I can think of."

"Pretend?"

"Shut up, mother, yeah this time you'll have to let them see I'm here I'll be out plowing the fields," Eulises said.

"We don't HAVE fields," his mother, so tired.

"What part of 'pretend to be insane' was confusing, mother?"

"The 'pretend' part. You are feeding your infant cake at midnight probably because the child said 'want cake'. I've told you since you were born Eulises, you're not a well person," she said, with clear affection.

"He was very persuasive, we've got to start somewhere with schemes," Eulises said, ruffling Telemachus' hair, "What do you want to do next, sweet prince?"

"Story with mummy."

"All right, come on, one more story then maybe sleep?" I asked, scooping him up.

"'on't want to sleep."

"Okay then we won't," Eulises said, his mother and I glared at him. "What? He gets whatever he wants. I'm sorry. I don't make the rules. It's his mother's fault he's perfect not mine, clearly."

"Are the three of you actually going to bed?" my mother in law asked, tiredly.

"It's clearly up to the two of them," I said.

"Assert your dominance over your baby and my idiot son, Penelope," she sighed.

"Yes please," Eulises of course.

"Go to bed, all three of you," she said, slapping her son away from wrapping up the cake, "Get off and be young and stupid and in love."

I think we all knew that we wouldn't get many more nights like that, and so each we treasured more than the last. For within a few weeks he would be gone. They refused to believe any of the various plausible explanations he gave for why he could not go, none of them true, of course, but they were all very logical. And soon I was standing on a dock, seeing him off. I told myself that he would be back soon. That this was something that happened. Somehow we both knew we wouldn't see each other for a long, long time.

"Bet you'll miss me when I'm gone," he said, voice cracking, our heads bent so close he was blurry in my vision.

"I lose," I said, chocking back tears from my voice.

He kissed his fingers then gently cupped his hand to my cheek, tears spilling out of his black eyes.

"Look at me. You come home. I don't care what you have to do. You come home to me. I can't lose half my soul," I whispered.

"I swear it, the gods fury couldn't stop me from getting back to you," he said, hand still on my cheek.

"Daddy?" Telemachus wasn't used to us both crying. He tugged at his father's strange uniform, frowning.

"You take care of your mother now, for me. You're the man while I'm gone, all right?" Eulises said, forcing cheer into his voice before kissing our son's face.

"Come home," I whispered, then I kissed him. I kissed him like I knew it would be over a decade without his touch. And he held us both so tightly there were marks on my arms from his fingers.

And then he was gone. The last I saw him, I was standing on the end of the dock, with the other women, holding our child in my arms, and he was staring back at me, unblinking, from the bow of the ship.