Truth and Love
by Seldom (seldomlasts@yahoo.com)
Euphegenia deals with the cops and visits the boys.


***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

The sequel to "Dreamy". I hope you enjoy it. Feedback welcome.

* * * * *

Officer Travis sighed and shook his head in disbelief as he entered the
unused hospital room he had co-opted for his interrogations. The tall
blonde girl sat patiently waiting for him, her wide-eyed gaze as always
drifting lazily around the room, seeming never to focus on anything.
Between her slow responses and her refusal to answer a direct question,
her interrogation had taken forty-five minutes. In Travis' opinion, she
was a total space cadet. Gorgeous though.

He sat down backwards in an unused chair and scooted up to face her. Her
eyes drifted across his face and slid away again. She was humming
something unidentifiable to herself. He had trouble believing this
slender big-titted blonde had just put two star football players in the
emergency room, but the evidence was ample. Like her chest, he thought.

He cleared his throat. Her gaze slowly came back to rest on his rugged
features, but only momentarily. Her eyes shifted and she seemed to stare
at a point just over his right shoulder. Damn that was unnerving.

"The boy Fulton's story corroborates with yours," he said gruffly, still
not wanting to believe it. "He admits you acted in self-defense, and the
defense of, um, Melvin Small." His parents must hate him, Travis
thought. "He, uh, also wanted me to give you this." The officer held out
a small piece of paper with a phone number on it.

"Thank you, officer." Euphegenia smiled dreamily and took the paper
without looking at it, moving to slip it into her pocket but missing and
letting it flutter to the ground instead. She didn't seem to notice.

Travis was thrown off for a moment, not sure whether to point out her
mistake. He decided not to. "So, um, you're not being charged with
anything. The three boys I'm going to charge with assault and battery,
and a few other things, unless Melvin or his parents say otherwise.
They're bullying pricks, err, sorry ma'am." Euphegenia hummed softly and
her shoulders moved in what might have been a shrug. "I mean, they acted
maliciously and cruelly and I intend to see that they get the maximum.
Picking on a scrawny defenseless kid like that...just wrong." Again
Euphegenia moved almost imperceptibly, maybe a shrug, maybe simply
shifting in her seat.

"Melvin won the state math tournament last year," she said happily.

Officer Travis was weirded out by her and wanted to leave, but he was
determined to finish what he had to say. "Right, err, so well, obviously
we can't ask Fulton to testify, fifth amendment you know, but I was
wondering if you'd be willing to help."

"You're married," Euphegenia replied, briefly glancing at his wedding
ring.

"Um, yeah, twelve years," Travis said, exasperated. Why couldn't she
just say she would testify so they could all go home?

"Do you love her?" she asked in that far-off voice.

Travis shook his head, realizing he'd have to play along. "Very much,"
he said. "My wife's a wonderful woman. So...will you testify?"

Euphegenia smiled again. "I want to help Melvin. He helps so many
people. He tutors my sister in math. She's in sixth grade," she added
thoughtfully.

Great, another scatterbrain, Travis thought. "So, that's a yes, then?"
he asked, trying hard to keep his temper.

"Yes, of course I'll testify. I'll tell the truth," Euphegenia said in
the same lazy voice, as if she possessed infinite patience and nothing
to do.

"Thank you, Miss Henryson," Travis said, immensely relieved.

Euphegenia smiled softly and looked him in the eyes. "Euphegenia,
please, Officer Travis," she said. Amazingly her eyes stayed focused on
him and she held out her slender hand gracefully, palm down.

Travis instinctively went to shake it, but something about her position
and proper demeanor changed his mind, so instead he lifted her hand to
his lips and briefly kissed it. "Euphegenia," he said politely, dropping
her hand.

He turned to leave the room, but glanced back at the humming blonde
girl. Her eyes found his again and she favored him with a pleased smile.
Somehow she no longer seemed quite so ditzy. He shook his head with a
smile and left the room. "Takes all kinds," he muttered to himself.

Euphegenia wandered into Gary and Tony's room after a brief stop at the
hospital's gift shop. They were still unconscious, so she left them each
a get well soon card. On both cards was scribbled "I'm sorry I hurt you.
I hope we can be friends. Love, Euphegenia". She placed a little
Hershey's kiss on each card and smiled to herself.

She drifted into Melvin's room next. He was sucking on a milkshake. His
eyes widened when he saw her enter. She looked around the room,
examining everything with equal curiosity. Eventually she pulled a chair
over to his bed and sat down.

"Hi Euphegenia," Melvin said quietly. He smiled shyly.

"I brought you something," Euphegenia said brightly, handing him a green
piece of molded plastic.

"Um, thanks, you didn't have to do that," Melvin said, putting it on a
table.

"It's a frog. It flips when you push on its tail!" she said, gazing at
the plastic frog fondly.

"Yeah, um..." Melvin, like all men, felt hopelessly confused and lost
around her.

Euphegenia's mind had a logic all its own, completely incomprehensible
to anyone else. Women just didn't bother trying. Men doggedly pursued
her for her beauty, willing to put up with a girl they didn't understand
for a while, but eventually they all gave up. Nobody knew if she even
had any comprehension of what dating was.

"You tutor my sister. She tells me about you. She thinks you're very
good," Euphegenia said after a few moments of gazing around the room.

"Oh. Um, I didn't know you had a sister," Melvin said. Truth be told,
nobody knew very much about her, except that she had appeared at the
beginning of sophomore year, and she was very weird.

"Her name's Virginia, but she likes to be called Ginny," Euphegenia
said, a slight hint of disapproval in her voice.

Ginny was a tall tough-looking blonde girl in his after-school tutoring
group. Now that he thought about it, she did look vaguely like
Euphegenia, but without the spacey and confusing mannerisms, and much
broader and more muscular. She was much more a typical tomboy, very into
sports and beating up boys. Though she was already taller than Melvin,
she respected him and his tutoring help, and made sure the other kids
did, too.

"Ginny's a good kid," Melvin said fondly.

"Yes, Virginia is," Euphegenia said with an emphasis on "Virginia".

Melvin tried to laugh but his busted ribs hurt, so his laugh turned into
a painful moan. He spasmed, which only hurt more.

"Oh no," Euphegenia cooed, her hand suddenly pressing gently on his
shoulder, though she hadn't appeared to move. She easily pushed him back
to lie flat on the bed. "You shouldn't try to move yet, you're hurt,"
she admonished softly.

Melvin was amazed. It was almost like they were communicating. He looked
at her, and she seemed to be making a special effort to follow the
conversation. Her eyes remained locked on his, for once not idly
wandering.

"Euphegenia?" he said softly.

She leaned in closer. "Do you need anything?" she asked.

"I, I just wanted to thank you. For saving my life," Melvin said.

Euphegenia's eyes brimmed with tears and opened even wider in deep pain.
"They were hurting you," she whispered. "They liked making you cry." The
shock of discovering such an evil pleasure overwhelmed her and tears
streamed down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, please don't cry," Melvin said. "I'm okay now, see? I'm fine
now, thanks to you."

Euphegenia's beautiful face was so close to Melvin's that her tears
dripped off her cheeks onto his. He bravely reached a hand up to wipe
away her tears. She accepted his touch. She was trembling. "They were so
mean," she whispered. "So...cruel."

"I know, I know," Melvin said. "But you stopped them."

"I hurt them badly. And I...I enjoyed it," she confessed. More tears
flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto Melvin. "I'm no better than they
are," she said, clenching her eyes shut. Her body was trembling
violently now.

"No...no," Melvin said. He was shocked by her revelation, appalled even,
but then he remembered how he felt when he looked up to see his saviour
and steeled his resolve. "No," he said more firmly. "You had to stop
them. You saved me." He felt a flood of gratitude and the desire to make
Euphegenia understand it, and immense frustration that he couldn't
express how he felt.

She seemed to calm a bit. "You don't think I'm a monster now?" she asked
skeptically.

"You could never be a monster," Melvin said with feeling. "Don't you
ever think that."

"I was always taught that you can overcome anything bad with enough love
and goodwill," Euphegenia said. "But you can't, can you? I had to stop
them, I had to hurt them, didn't I? Maybe, maybe I could have stopped
them without hurting them? Maybe I enjoyed hurting them so I did it even
though I didn't have to?" She bit her lip. Guilt was clearly eating her
up.

The last thing she should be feeling is guilt, Melvin thought, and tried
hard to make her see that. "You just defended yourself," he said. "And
me. I'll always be grateful to you, Euphegenia. Always."

"Your face is all wet," she whispered, sounding surprised.

Melvin laughed softly, careful not to disturb his ribs. "Feeling
better?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I like cats," she replied.

"Me too," he said.

A hopeful smile spread across her beautiful face, like the sun rising on
a troubled day. She leaned in toward him. She kissed him confidently, no
trembling left in her body. Her warm, moist lips pressed firmly against
his for a few moments, then she drew away slowly, her eyes closed, still
smiling.

Melvin was in shock. He had been caught totally unprepared, and just lay
there like a dead fish while the most beautiful and wonderful girl he'd
ever met had kissed him. Hot shame flushed his cheeks. "I-I'm sorry,
that was my first kiss," he said plaintively.

"Mine too. I love tulips," Euphegenia murmured happily. "We have a
history test on Friday." Her eyes finally opened and drifted around. She
didn't seem to notice his deep blush.

"I-I know," he stammered. "I don't think I'll make it." He thought of
his shattered ankles and wondered if he would ever be able to walk
again. The doctors wouldn't tell him anything so soon after surgery.

"Maybe Mr. Troufador will Xerox a copy for you," she suggested. Melvin
didn't see what that had to do with anything, but at the moment he
didn't care. She had saved him, and visited him, and kissed him. And she
was still talking to him. His blush turned into a warm glow that settled
through his body, dulling the constant pain from his ribs and ankles.

Euphegenia leaned in and kissed him again. This time Melvin recovered
from his surprise in time to part his lips and kiss her back. Again she
broke away after a few moments. "I have to go," she said.

"Okay," Melvin said. "Goodbye."

Euphegenia stood without replying and wandered out of the room. Melvin
looked at her present to him, the plastic frog, and flicked its tail. It
flipped in the air and landed upright, ready to flip again. "I love
you," he sighed.