The Grounds Keeper

Chapter 3 A Wizard Is Born

 The smell of mothballs wafted out of the room, it was dark and the entry was covered by a large pile of fabrics. He waded through the river of clothing at hip height, the deeper he walked the thicker the environment would become, he even found clothing hanging from the roof, it was as if he were walking through a jungle made entirely of fabric. As he emerged to the other side there was what looked like an igloo constructed of cloth and a sound of what seemed like a violent argument coming from within.

"TEETH! I mean what's the price of art made with toes? I mean it stands to reason. Flint and scratching I said, Tumble the shirlyman I said I said I said FEET!

Eathon's brow creased, he hesitantly called out

"Um hello, master cupid, my names Eathon I'm here for, OH MY GOD"

A face dropped in front of him hanging upside down from the roof, Eathon jumped back in shock and swung his fist hitting the mark point blank between the eyes, what looked like a young boy back flipped from a clothing hanger landing in a disheveled mess in a pile of discarded clothing

He got up rubbing tenderly at his head. His voice was different; it no longer seemed to be the rambling of a mad man but now consisted of the clip precise accent of a high born gentleman

"oh I am ever so sorry young man, it would appear you caught me during one of my little episodes, you see I suffer from a bad personality disorder, it manifested itself only around 100 years ago or so, needless to say my job as angel of love has been terminated as a result, I was getting rather indiscriminate with the arrows you see once made a man fall deeply in love with his own shadow. It was sort of amusing at first till he broke a rather sensitive part of the male anatomy attempting to make love to the floor. Hence my posting here as clothier and supplier to the needs of young students such as yourself."

He fluttered his wings and seemed to hover in front of Eathon. He proffered his hand

"Cupid my dear boy and you are?"

Eathon smiled awkwardly

"you are cupid, like the actual cupid. Naked baby with the arrows, you look sort of different in your artwork"

Eathon looked at the small, hairy armed, stocky, bearded and bold man in front of him, had it not been for the wings and white robe he would have sworn this was some barbarian warrior who misplaced his axe and ale mug somewhere

The angel narrowed its busy eyebrows in a frown of annoyance "Art work, by which artist, and why would I be naked? And who would trust a baby in matters of love they don't have the common sense to not shit their pants yet alone understand the workings of intimacy. The only thing a baby knows is the fact that men grab for a tit as eagerly as they do."

Eathon could see he had insulted the man and attempted t change the subject by grasping the proffered hand firmly

"I'm Eathon Lorenzo, It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Cupid"

The bearded man grinned showing his perfect teeth

"Oh goody your that new boy, the groundskeeper, I've a feeling there going to have a hard time with you, do excuse me."

The young boy walked into the igloo like construction made of what look like yarn and old denim jeans and the sound of straining could be heard as though a heavy object was being dragged, he appeared out of the entry pulling behind him by a rope a long paper storage cabinet, it seemed to never end, it wasn't possible for such a thing to fit in so little a space, finally having run out of room to push cupid walked to a section labelled T and opened the drawer, he waved at Eathon to come closer, and nodded his head toward the opening, it was a watery vision of liquid silver. With a smile Cupid jumped in disappearing into the nothingness. A few seconds later a little hand popped out and gestured for Eathon to follow.