Arc Interlude: When Life Gives you Lemons
Spring rolled around again, and school was deep into its second semester. We were graduating in just two short months. It was a about noon on a Saturday and I didn’t really have plans. I looked out the window and saw Felix standing at a tree, looking perplexed. I headed outside and walked up to him. “So what seems to be the problem?”
“Oh, hello, Ash. This tree… you see something wrong with it, don’t you?”
“It’s a tree—“
“How about this?” he said as he pulled a lemon from a branch.
“And?”
“Last year, they were cherry trees, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t always been cherry trees. Someone’s going to notice, aren’t they?”
“Don’t mention it to people. I didn’t notice it was a problem until you brought it up to me, so…”
“I guess. Alright, stay safe, Ash.”
Felix headed off back towards the capitol, only to be stopped by Francisco and Twitch. “Hey, Felix, I have a question.”
“Yes, Francisco?”
“My mother loves to bake, and she sent me out to pick some cherries for her pie—“
“Oh dear,” he said quietly, before clearing his throat and replying, “Go on.”
“And all that’s out here are lemons. These are cherry trees, right?’
“Well, they were, but—“
“And back in the summer, they were apple trees, weren’t they? Care to explain, Felix, or should I explain it to everyone for you?”
“Now look, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here. I can explain the fruit trees.”
“Then do so,” Francisco said menacingly.
“They change fruit seasonally. It was a lot of work, with the grafting and all that, but I think the end result is worth it. Lots of shade, and a wide array of fruit.”
“Really?”654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafTlCkUv6Y
“Yep. So when life gives you lemons, j—“
“I don’t need any of your lemon garbage, Felix.”
“What were you going to tell them, Francisco? I glued lemons to the trees?”
“You hacked them. Because this is a computer, isn’t it?”
“Francisco I’d love to stop and chat but I need to return to my workshop as something important has just come up. Sorry,” Felix said quickly as he ran back to the capitol.
Suddenly I was back at home, in bed. It was a Saturday, only 8:00 in the morning. I looked outside and saw the trees were barren and fruitless. Why wouldn’t they be? As far as I could remember there hadn’t been fruit on the trees except for right as we arrived in town... this had to be Felix’s doing. There he was, right outside. The town looked a bit different, though. I recalled the capitol being just up the street, but now I lived practically across from it. Again, Felix. I tell you, he’s suspicious. I don’t think Francisco is right when he says that he’s evil, though. Just unbelievably shady. I head outside and greet him. “So what are you doing under the tree?”
“Oh, Ash. I have something for you,” he said as he handed me a lemon.
Wait, a lemon. There were lemons on the trees just a minute ago, weren’t there? “So what’d you do?”
“I just scrapped the whole fruit on the trees thing. This’ll be a secret between us, got it? Nobody else knows about the fruit trees anymore.”
“Alright, then. But what about Francisco and Twitch?”
“I’ll be honest, they know more than I’d like them to know, and it’s a bit scary how far their search has gone. The information they have is not something I can really control. It’s nothing of mine, but rather--look, just forget it. Maybe one day I can tell you everything, but for the time being just let me sort it out myself. I know what I’m doing. I trust you, Ash. You’re smart and strong and you stand up for what’s right. That’s more than I can say for a lot of other people. Stay safe, Ash. I’ll do my best, too.”
That was odd.
I headed back home and got on my PC, but found it wouldn’t connect to Steam. On top of that, my phone wouldn’t get a signal. I headed downstairs to find Alex watching Back to the Future again. “Hey, Alex, do you have signal?”
“Lemme check… Nope, odd. Why?”
“I can’t get a signal at all, either. Hold on, I think I know who I can ask.”
I headed across the street and cut through a neighbor’s yard and arrived at the capitol. As I walked in, I saw Felix at his desk. “Yes, Ash?” he said.
“We don’t have signal. Phones don’t work and I can’t get online.”
He sighed, got up from his desk, and walked towards the library. “Let me check something out downstairs. Just give me a moment.”
With that, he headed into the library and vanished from sight. In the meantime, I could watch some Markipl—
Oh, right. Well damn, I don’t know what else I could do. Might as well check out the Capitol a bit better. It’s a pretty nice-looking building, red walls with gold and white trim and white tile floors. His desk is sandwiched between two sets of stairs, and past those are two halls that led to mostly storage rooms and things like that. The library was on the desk’s left, with a glass wall facing in like it was some tank of knowledge, and a large window on the right, looking out towards the town. Where did he get the money for the place, I wondered. He didn’t seem like he’d be the type of guy swimming in wealth. Then again, neither was Tommy Wiseau and I mean he kinda had $6 million laying around to make a film. And another thing is that both men had shady pasts that often contradict themselves. I’m not trying to say Felix is Tommy Wiseau (because they’re pretty much opposites of each other), but it’s obvious that Felix is hiding something from us, some sordid past of some kind. He trusts me, so maybe I could just ask.
‘”Well, Ash, I just went and looked, and nobody is connected at all to the Internet or phone service. Here’s what I can do. I could connect everyone to my services. It’d be just as fast, and I can figure out what to do from there.”
“That’d work,” I said, “Think they’ll ever figure this out?”
“Probably not. It was only down for a few hours, it looks like.”
“Hey, and Felix?”
“What do you need?”
“You’re always saying you’ve lived out here for your whole life. Is that true?”
“I guess,” he said.
“But how’d you afford all this?”
“I, uh… inherited… some funds.”
“Why the pause?”
“It’s complicated. This is a story for another day.”
“Like when?”
“Another day,” he said with a smile as he returned to the library to head to his workshop.
I know he has the door behind the bookshelf in the lobby, so why doesn’t he just use that? Unless that’s because that’s hiding something? Felix is an enigma and honestly hat’s off to anyone who thinks they can figure him out.
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