Paths Not of Glory

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Scruffy, unkempt, his fur twisted in odd directions, Thomas Whiteheart sat glumly in the clearing morning mist on a set of ancient stone steps. Behind him stood a centuries old building, one that had once been his home. At least, that was what the paper he’d been given said. In one ratty pocket of the green pants he wore, pants that were new ten years ago, was a single key. He was waiting, waiting for the other his letter had mentioned. According to the paper he wasn’t to even try to enter until the other arrived. Though the sky was slowly becoming a bright blue his heart was dull grey, after all he’d grown up in an orphanage. No one in this country had wanted a left pawed mink. No one with half a mind. God claimed that left pawed meant cursed, cursed to live in darkness all his life. At least that’s what the priests kept screaming when they saw him. Defiant, he’d refused to learn to make his right paw dominate, and it’d cost him.

“Maybe that’s why mom an dad got rid of me” he growled thickly at a delicate stand of tea roses. “Who wants a lefty? Can’t even get a decent job.” His mood darkened further, seeming to turn the very air about him thicker. As he dug deeper into his own pit of emotional morass a small car rolled up. Electric, it’s nearly silent arrival caught him by surprise. Looking up he stared impolitely as a rather well built female mink stepped out. She looked up at the house, checked a paper in her paw, then closed her cars door. “Must be tha trophy wife” Thomas gruffed as she approached. “Fine looker.”

“You’re the other?” the woman asked as she walked up to Thomas. Her voice was surprisingly rough for a trophy wife, like whiskey over ice. At his nod she opened her purse, digging in it until she found what she was looking for. “I’m Melissa. You’ve got the second key, I’ve got the first one. Shall we go see what’s here?”

“Why not?” Thomas gruffed. “Names Thomas” he suddenly offered, oddly wanting to know this woman a bit better. He stood, waiting until his new companion walked past. ‘Nice scent’ he thought. ‘Kinda familiar.’ He waited until she’d unlocked the heavy walnut door, wondering why anyone would waste good money on such an expense. As it opened he pushed roughly past, only to be stopped as a spotlight pinned him in place. A crackle, then an older mans voice filled the room.

“Thomas? Melissa?” the voice asked. “You’ve had a hard life. To that I’m deeply sorry. Still there was no choice. I leave this land, this house and all in it to both of you. I’m sorry. I hope... when you see.. That you’ll understand. Thomas, your key opens the basement door. Be careful, the third step’s sorta loose. Good luck. Goodbye, to both of you.”

As quickly as it had come both voice and light vanished. Thomas snorted in disgust. “Full of himself wasn’t he” he snapped.

“I don’t know” Melissa answered. “I never met him.”

“You never...” Thomas turned, staring at his companion. “Then your not...”

“His wife? His main squeeze? His bed warmer of the hour? Me? A lefty?” Melissa laughed. “No, like you I received a letter and this key. Like you all I knew was to come here today, at this time.” She shrugged, looking around at the dim interior. “Do not enter until you were here it said. And probably just like you I almost didn’t come. It was hard to get half a day off, to drive nearly a hundred miles in that old car. I’ll need to find someplace that will let me recharge it before I go home.” She dropped her key in her purse. “This had better be worth the trip.”

“Basement then” Thomas agreed. “You got a job? I’m ah day laborer, lefty like you.” He glanced around. “Where would a basement door be anyway?”

“Try the kitchen” Melissa suggested. “Or the main hall. I’ve never been in a house with a basement.” She giggled suddenly. “Heck, after I ran away I’ve been staying in apartments. First just friends sofas, now one I share with a friend. You?”

“Bridges” Thomas admitted. “Can’t keep up the act, people notice. I end up fired. People want yah to dig ditches they don’t care your left or right. Just dig it this deep and that long.”

“You could use a bath.”

He tugged at his shirt, noticing the weeks old dirt stains. “I could use ah life” he admitted. “Lets find this basement then get outta here. Spooky, like I been here before.”

It was after all in the kitchen, the basement door. As promised Thomas’s key did unlock it. Reaching inside he found a switch, turning on lights far below. “Must be two levels down” he gasped, staring through the door. Taking a step he felt Melissa’s paw on his shoulder.

“Third step” she reminded him, then gentle released him.

That third step wasn’t loose, it was made of painted paper. A trap, but why? Nothing seemed to make sense. If it weren’t for his curiosity, and the fact he’d already wasted a days possible work Thomas would have turned and left. Besides, who would give him a key to a house? “What’s your last name anyway Melissa” he asked as they walked down the steps.

“Whitewood” she answered. “You?”

“Whiteheart. Kinda funny, almost tha same name ahn we’re both lefties. Must be kismat of somthin.”

“Something” she agreed as she followed, three steps behind. As Thomas’s foot put pressure on the last step even more lights bloomed into being. Before them was... nothing. Just an empty room. “Bad joke” Melissa cursed.

“Very bad, lets go” Thomas agreed.

“Perhaps” a third voice agreed from somewhere. “Still, he did need to know if you’d have the curiosity to look, the honestly not to just take things and run, and the courage to go where you’ve never been.” There was a tiny pause. “And of course the brains to remember that warning.”

“Who are you?” Thomas snapped, his filthy fur trying vainly to rise in reaction to his anger.

An old mink stepped from behind a hidden corner. No white fur on this male, only grey. A soft grey that came only to a few. “I’m your uncle Egbert. Your Thomas Herbert Whiteclaw, she’s Melissa Rose Whiteclaw. Your actually twins you know. Thomas children. You two can thank that overtly religious mother of mine for your lives. Your mother, my youngest sister, died when you were only two. Your father... your father had other things on his mind. It wasn’t until too late that he discovered what his mother in law, my mother, had done with his children. “

“So he waited until he died before contacting us” Melissa asked.

“No, nothing like that. It took time to discover where you had been sent. By then both of you had run away. Very effectively I may say. Time to track you both down. He had planned on being here himself. After all, even today he’d only have been oh, forty seven I believe. Its just... He was killed I’m afraid. Five days ago.”

“Oh” both siblings said. It was all they could say as everything hit them at once. A family in one day, a dead father, now what. Egbert reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box.

“I understand you’ve both had a very hard time of it. Melissa, you work at what? A semi-legal bookkeepers shop. Thomas, you’re a day laborer who’s seen a lot of this cities bad side. What’s your opinions about it?”

“No bodies gonna do anything tah help tha homeless” Thomas answered. “No one cares. They get robbed an beaten fer nothin.”

“Half the police are on the take, incompetent, or both” Melissa added. “So what do you care?”

“Since Iceclaw vanished its begun to get a little worse, hasn’t it. It’ll keep getting worse” Egbert continued. “Someone needs to replace Iceclaw. Do either of you have any suggestions?”

 “Couple guys I know might try” Thomas admitted. “If there was somethin in it fer them.”

“No one I know” Melissa admitted. “Not onna bet. You mess with the bosses they go after your family. Not you. That’s bad.”

“I know” Egbert admitted. “I was the first Iceclaw. Your father the second.” He touched something on his device and the wall behind him started dropping. “Then I was rich, you father was no slouch with money either. I understand Melissa you’ve taken after him.” Light’s started flickering behind him, strange objects slowly coming into view. “With some training Thomas, you’d make a fair Iceclaw.”

“No thanks” Thomas snapped. “Not me. No ones shootin at me fer nothin.”

“I’ll do it” Melissa whispered.

Thomas looked at the woman he had just learned was his sister. “Your crazier than I am.”

“Maybe” she admitted in a soft voice. “Heck, what a way to live. Tighter than fur outfits, fancy cars, boats, planes and oh will the boys drool over me. Left pawed or not. Besides, Iceclaw was always left pawed.”

“This’ll get girls?” Thomas asked. “I mean, pretty girls? Not those frumps down on ninth avenue?”

“You’ve no idea new brother of mine” Melissa giggled. “Models, high society girls. Even college cheerleaders. Not a girl I know doesn’t droll over photos of Iceclaw, myself included. Though I didn’t know he was my dad. All those yummie boys who’ve ignored me...”

“Then I’ll do it too. Why not two Iceclaw’s, one daytime, one nighttime. I’ll be daytime so’s tha girls can get a good look.”

Egbert held up his paws in shock. “No, no, no no. You don’t understand. Iceclaw serves the people. Helps those downtrodden by evil. Aids the police in stopping criminals. Not... Not... Iceclaw isn’t some muscle bound hunk picking up girls.”

Melissa walked past her new uncle, running a paw along the sleek silvergrey surface of the Icemobile. “Who said anything about girls Uncle, I’m not that type” she purred. “So, when do we start training?”

Egbert looked around, stunned. His brother in law had been the ideal replacement. He’d expected so much of the children once they’d been found. It’d taken so long to track down where his closed minded mother had hidden them. Then to find where they’d gone after. He’d missed Melissa by a week, Thomas by a year. Still he’d hoped... But they.... With a sigh of defeat Egbert knew it would work. It would have to work. But it’d be nothing like what it used to be. “All right” he agreed in defeat. “But first you really must move in here, quit your current jobs and Thomas. Please, you simply must take a bath.”

“Deal” answered two voices as one.