A Conversation With Vesutto

originally posted May 24, 2006

"Very odd," Vesutto mentioned.
I was speaking with him on the western terrace, looking out over the groves of black wine trees.
"What troubles you, my friend?" I inquired.
"Nothing troubling, nothing like that," he responded. "It is just odd is all."
"You are not a woman," I answered. "Therefore, it is not a simple matter to discern precisely what you are thinking. Perhaps you might enlighten me."
"Your companion," he said. "I was just thinking of the coincidence is all."
"Coincidence?" I replied.
"Yes. You mentioned that you had not seen the Lady since you were in Jort's Ferry," he started.
"Indeed. What you have stated is precisely true," I responded.
"And then, the morning of the day you are to renew your contract of companionship with her, she suddenly returns," he stated.
"Again," I said. "As you have stated it, that is precisely true. That is odd to you?"
"No," he said. "That is merely ironic. What is odd is the skinny one with the pale flesh and the short hair..."
"She?" I asked. "The one with the painted mouth and ovate eyes?"
"Yes. She. That same morning when your companion abruptly returned, your slave, She, disappeared," he said, piecing it together.
"Are you suggesting that the two occurences are somehow related? Do you suspect something nefarious?" I inquired.
"No," he replied after a moment of thought, stroking the finely trimmed beard about his chin. "I suppose there is nothing really nefarious about it all."
We both chuckled a bit. It was true.
There was nothing truly nefarious about it at all.