Chapter 41: Chapter 41 – A new chance

Leaving behind the mental muddles of the protagonists and, taking advantage of the fact that Madeleine had now gone from harassing him with questions about the villain to ignoring him in the most absolute way, Oscar was able to concentrate even better on his work.

With no debts bothering him, he no longer had any qualms about turning down unnecessary chores. He, too, wasn´t as vigilant as months ago. Not that he neglected his obligations, but he no longer walked with leaden feet through life.

He did what he was ordered to do regarding the care of the gardens, and still had plenty of time to devote to the stories he had never stopped publishing in the local newspaper.

And speaking of the newspaper, even though he was absent from his second job the time he was at Fairview, plus with the unforeseen cold, he still had kept pace with the deadlines. It wasn't as if this distressed him too much, as he had good ideas and was quick to use them. Yet once he returned to the local press offices, he realized  he didn´t have to deal with his own stories alone. That, on the desk that was supposed to belong to him, there was a box full of missives he had to take care of reading and responding as soon as possible.

Upon seeing this and speaking with Mr. Simmons, the director of the establishment, he understood that those letters constituted the entire repertoire of complaints that in those days Oscar's accounts had received.

And, naturally, Oscar was nervous when he realized there were at least fifty letters referring to him, dated from a couple of days before he left Snodland. On top of that, since he hardly used to pass the office a couple of times a month, the letters had accumulated more than usual. Being that now, before him, three or four weeks of insults and curses had to be hovered regarding his work as a narrator.

This was unheard of. That is, as in all newspapers, employees received complaints and suggestions from readers. But never dozens of them in such a short period! Oscar knew there were two or three citizens dissatisfied with his stories, either because they didn´t like the genre he wrote about, because it seemed inappropriate to always leave the endings in suspense, or because the newspaper published an update of his works only every week. But that was it. He had never a hater who, after a polite response to his complaints, decided to continue harassing him.

Now, all the fear and nervousness that he could have felt feel vanished after reading the first of the notes. Or perhaps even before reading it, he would have already removed any fear that he might have felt. Well, the envelope of said letter was signed by a certain "ladyheathcliff04".

Oscar didn't bother to arrange the letters in chronological order, because it seemed like a waste of time and energy, but seeing there was a letter from the writer, he thought: ‘What if there were more?’ So, before reading it, he began to rummage through the missives. And indeed, ninety-nine percent of the letters found there belonged to Dianne.

That was a headache, and not what he had felt during his stay at Fairview.

Oscar hastened to read and answer the ones that belonged to other villagers. Then, sighing as if he had no choice but to write his last will and testament, he picked up a random letter from the ones the author wrote. And what was it about? There wouldn't be much to comment on, although it was hilarious to read how Dianne struggled to harshly criticize a story that she, it was noticeable from several leagues away, hadn't even read. Not even the title she had written well!

Besides, it wasn´t only in one of the letters where she complained about his narrative. No. The box was overflowing with similar notes! Although responding in a single note to all that was enough, Oscar was lazy just thinking he would have to read it.

Therefore, he read it all above. As soon as he saw that the notes turned into something offensive, charging him with guilt that he didn´t have, or talking about scenes he did not even remember writing, he put the paper aside and took the next one. He was doing that for seven or eight letters, already thinking that Dianne was running out of ideas to sabotage him, until he found one different from the others.

The letter in question was a plain and simple request from Dianne to meet her and talk about the novelties in the plot of ‘My impure obsession.’ And that was all. There were neither insults nor blackmail in that letter. It appeared that the author had tried to contact him in Lilac Hall but, either because of the hunt preparations or because someone refused to pass the message, she was unable to do so. As a result, Dianne had to turn to the newspaper where she knew Oscar was still working. And, since Oscar didn't immediately respond to her request for contact, she must have thought he was deliberately ignoring her.

She really did look like Madeleine, they were both tiresome to say the least!

"If you don't want to answer, you don't have to," Mr. Simmons had told him, perhaps concerned by the dark smile that Oscar had put on when he realized there had been two or three notes the writer had sent him asking to meet. “That woman is the same one who tried to sneak us erotic propaganda in the middle of the parish bulletin, it´s better to ignore her”

"So it's okay if I don´t answer? Wouldn't you fire me or anything?”

“No, of course not! How are we going to fire you for this? If it´s seen from afar that all the letters she has sent you are pure nonsense! There were even some out there talking about I don't know what about people reincarnating in a novel. We already have enough with what there is, as long as she continues to write letters like a madwoman and doesn´t come here to set the place on fire...”

"Still, I'll answer," Oscar resolved. “We don´t want there to be a misfortune because these kind of maniacs aren´t paid a minimum of attention, right?”

Mr. Simmons was grateful that his employee went outside the norm to properly serve a reader who wasn´t worth it. Affirming, regarding this matter, that he was already thinking about calling the police if things didn´t calm down.

Thus it was that Oscar ended up meeting in one of the taverns on the main street with the author, barely an hour after having read a part of the letters that she had sent him. A meeting, to inform her, he had planned to carry out anyway. Since the two agreed long ago they would update each other on the changes in the plot as it progressed. It was just that, perhaps deliberately, Oscar had forgotten he was still accountable to the writer. After all, what was it going to do him to hear from her right now?

But he had to agree to the meeting, even though what the protagonists did now no longer affected him at all. So it was with the simple objective of preventing her from continuing to harass the Snodland reporters.

"Everything is wrong in this novel," Dianne had declared as soon as she took a seat at one of the tables in the establishment.

And maybe it was true that the plot had long since collapsed, that the characters were acting in a way they shouldn't. But the truth is that the only one who seemed to be wrong there was the author herself. Who, somewhat disheveled and with dark circles, one could intuit she had been for some nights without even being able to sleep.

"Didn't you get Edmund Cornell to improve his finances?" Oscar asked, in a tone that must have sounded like a reproach to her. “I thought you were going to take care of that”

"Because of you, there´s nothing to do in that matter! As you took care of scaring him, his closeness to the governess ceased. And, when he considered that he was already safe and could resume his adventure, it was too late! Miss Groves got tired of waiting for him, you know? I overheard them arguing one day and she said she had no interest in continuing to date a coward who doesn´t stand up to the meanest servant”

"And what did Cornell do? Did he cry her and beg her not to leave?”

"She left anyway, a few weeks ago. She sent a postcard from London; seems like she took over a family business and now she´s a wealthy and successful woman from the capital. Oh, and single. Especially single, because she was bitter, she stayed that way”

"I suppose you'd be mad if I said I'm happy for her," Oscar laughed. “But I'm not going to say it, don't worry”

"And while the biggest crisis at the Cornell house was going on, what were you doing? Go on a field trip! No, don't start with your useless protests and clarifications, I know Madeleine was the one who dragged you there. So please tell me that you at least got the main characters to secure their union”.

At this point, Oscar had to relate the entire event in Fairview, trying not to laugh at the writer, as he progressed through a story that seemed to have little to do with the plot of the original novel. Oscar elaborated as he pleased, starting from the moment that Madeleine cajoled him into helping her tie up her hunk to an unwanted marriage and ending with the part where the Northrop carriage stopped before Lilac Hall to drop him off at his job after a long week of absence.

"In short, I don't care if the main characters hang out with each other, look for a secondary character to take care of their shit, or decide to spend the money in a brothel," Oscar had said, to top it all off. “I have already notified Patrick; As soon as this year comes to an end, I´ll leave the job”

"After all this mess, how are you going to quit!?” Dianne was outraged. “Do you have a better offer? And no, don't mention that seedy newspaper to me. That cannot be compared to the possibility of working in a large mansion for a family as respected as the Seymours”

"I don't know if I could say I got a better offer, but I did ask Mr. Simmons if I could put in more hours for his newspaper, even if it was just cleaning or layout work, in case I couldn't find another job soon. And he gladly agreed” Seeing that the author had stared at him, not saying a word, but with an expression of palpable fury, he snapped. “What? Can´t I?”

"Let's see if I understand," she began, with a calm that looked frightening. “You volunteered to help Madeleine get engaged to Patrick. After releasing your brilliant plan, you ignored what she did and the murder, not caring at all that what happened in the original book was so different from how it was happening that day. You went to the mountains to play with the dogs, you talked to the wrong person, you almost got my lead killed and, finally, you spent the rest of your trip locked up in the company of the villain. Villain who, what a surprise, was delighted to keep you company. As if he had no other things to do or people to torment!”

"Yeah, basically that happened. And since we're on the murder, have you ever read a detective story? Because what an awful plot you put together in the original! I couldn´t stop, in my review, to tell you about all the nonsense and loose ends you left in that arch, but since we´re...”

"Oscar," Dianne called him curtly, "now tell me the truth, are you trying to seduce the villain?”

“What?”

"He wasn't like that in the original! Or maybe he was, but in any case, he wasn't attached to your character. The most they did, from the moment the story began until the real Oscar was killed, was greet each other a couple of times out of courtesy. Tell me, if it's not seducing him, why the hell are you trying to spend so much time with him!”

"Again with this?"

Yes, it was going to have to be again. He and Dianne had argued before about Albert. That is, the writer didn't care the two of them got along and that they talked from time to time. Well, despite what she might look like, she didn´t like that resentful reviewer so badly as to wish him death in earnest. But from exchanging a few kind words with the villain every three months to visit him every weekend… It was unusual.

And, at first, Dianne didn't say much about it. She complained a bit, but didn't go beyond there. Now, however, the villain must have seemed more interested in having fun with a simple cannon fodder character than in frustrating the love relationship of the protagonists. And that couldn´t be allowed!

"I'm only telling you for your sake," the author insisted. “Do you know which chapter we are in? Well, it doesn't matter if you don't know, I'll remind you. We´re very close to the chapter where your death will be narrated. In three months, I reckon, that man will go mad and kill you”

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"I admit I was afraid of him at first and unable to lower my guard in his presence," Oscar conceded. “Now, on the contrary, I have serious doubts that he was capable of murder in the original novel. If you asked me to make a bet, I´d say he´s innocent and that my character died from another cause ... Whatever it was”.

"You don't want to listen to me, you just think that Albert is innocent because you don't want him to be guilty!"

"It isn´t out of partiality towards him, although it´s true that I get along well with that guy. Him, his sister, and Theresa are the only normal supporting characters I've seen around here”.

"Yes, it´s partiality! If it wasn't and you were still trying to put a safe distance between the two of you, so that another tragedy doesn't happen, why didn't you ask him to leave when he insisted on accompanying you during your convalescence? Or is it that you are a masochist?”

"Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer, wasn't the saying like that?" Oscar joked. “Ah, but I'm not trying to seduce him, he took the initiative”

"It better not be your thing! This way, things still have salvation”

"However…" he continued, "I have to confess I´m bi. So if Albert tries a little harder, he might have a chance”

Dianne could no longer bear that level of shamelessness and, in a fit of fury, she grabbed a piece of bread and tried to throw it at his face. Despite her closeness, Oscar preceded the movement and was able to get away before it reached him. The bread passed by, brushing his cheek, and landing inside a glass, several feet away.

When it fell into a container full of liquid, it must have splashed the shirt of whoever had been drinking it. Because, from that other table, shouts were heard calling the waiter and, afterwards, complaints about an alleged flying bread. Fortunately, that client hadn´t seen who launched the projectile and, therefore, he wasn´t able to accuse anyone in particular.

“Don´t look!” Dianne warned, seeing that Oscar was trying to turn around to see where it had fallen, and she was afraid that, by taking a look at the individual who was making a fuss, he´d give her away. “Because of you, Patrick started avoiding Madeleine and he couldn't be there to come rescue her from the murderer. But that´s not the worst. The worst thing is that, she told me the other day, now she´s decided to leave the protagonist and go to the villain instead”

"Yeah, she told me something before our little fight. I already wished her luck with it”

"What? You don´t care if she goes after your lover?"

"He´s not my lover. And yes, I don't care, she's very free to do whatever she wants. Then, considering how Albert is and the love he has for her, he´ll be in charge of kicking her back to Lilac Hall”

“Seriously?”

"Well, not literally. I can't imagine Albert kicking anyone…! Except for Patrick maybe, that would be fun to watch”

Oscar laughed at his own occurrence, but Dianne remained serious.

"What if Albert lets her seduce him?”

"Nah, impossible. I doubt he'll even let her get within six feet near him without adequate protection” Before the writer could put into words another catastrophic possibility, he added. “And even if it was the case that both, by obligation, had to be intimate, I would also not care. Dianne, this may surprise you, but people are nobody's property”

"Are you saying you wouldn't be jealous?"

"No, why should I be? Just as I hope I can meet whoever I please without having to explain to anyone, I offer the same treatment with other people. Albert included, of course. Those people, like Madeleine, who ask you to account for every person you speak to on the street makes me nervous”

"I understand what kind of ilk you are." Dianne smiled, surely, thinking that she was looking at a kind of heartless monster that could one day be with one and the next with another. “But that is now irrelevant. What matters is that it is in both of us that Madeleine keeps trying with Patrick”

"Hey, since you can do everything and you've been so attached to Madeleine lately, couldn't you convince the protagonist to pay attention to her a bit? I say, it's a bit misogynistic that Madeleine always has to be begging throughout the novel, don't you think?”

"Are you with me or against me? At one point you say you don't care what Madeleine does and then you blurt this out!”

"It was just a suggestion." Oscar raised his hands in surrender.

This gesture managed to appease a little author who had done well to order tea instead of coffee when she arrived at the meeting point; otherwise she would have been more hysterical than she already was.

"Listen," she continued, "the Cornells are in absolute ruin. They had to sell most of their businesses in the capital, keeping just enough to subsist on the minimum. In other words, like a normal middle-class family, unable to indulge even more than one indulgence a year. Mr. Cornell has decided to sell Rose Cottage. He had been putting it off for a few months, but now it is final: This Christmas will be the last the Cornells spend in their little house in Snodland” Seeing there was no reaction on the part of Oscar, who continued drinking his coffee as if that wasn´t with him, she inquired upset “Don't you have anything to say about this?”

"Yes, I hope they move far away."

Oscar was going to add something along the lines of: ‘If necessary, I'll pay for the carriage now that I got some money saved,’ but Dianne was already glancing at the bread again and he was afraid he wouldn´t be able to dodge a second attack.

"So what do you want to do?" Oscar asked calmly. “Make Patrick fall in love with Madeleine so that he can buy Rose Cottage and these people can continue to live there, as a happy family?”

“Exactly!”

“Oh well. It seems somewhat eccentric to me, but reasonable. Although I doubt you can get enough out of Patrick to agree to that expense: I couldn´t get money for some books or through his beloved girlfriend, so imagine for a house”

"I have a plan for it, but I need your help. And wait, before you refuse, you don't need to get involved with Madeleine. Much less with Patrick. On the contrary! It's in my interest that she doesn't hang out with the villain, so you just keep Albert out of the way”

“But have you heard what I told you before about people being free, that we shouldn't give explanations about who we hang out with, or did it only entered you through one ear and left through the other? Supposing that Albert did have an interest in allowing himself to be cajoled, which I have already told you that he doesn´t, with what right could I go and demand him to leave Madeleine?”

"Pretend you're a jilted lover, that you can't bear to see him pay more attention to another woman. After all, a jilted lover is just what you´ll end up being at this rate. And dead. Because that relationship is going to end badly” Before Oscar could protest, Dianne continued, getting to her feet. “Now I have to go back to work, but I would like to tell you in detail about my idea. Nothing more so that you don´t go blundering, delving into matters that don´t concern you, and unintentionally destroying my plans. Well, I've already seen that you have the talent to do it without realizing. So can we meet here in a week at the same time?”

"We can't," Oscar said. “And before you scold me for refusing, let me tell you that it's not because I don't want to (even though don't think I'm very excited to see your face, anyway). It´s that next weekend I´ll be in London.”

"In London? You?"

"I have ordered all three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It seems that the cousin of the original Oscar, this Thomas guy, is coming back for vacation and I have to go pick him up”

Dianne gave a small exclamation of understanding and didn´t insist further. Yes, the festive dates were approaching and, according to the novel, it was time for a character like that to make an appearance.

"In that case, I'll send a note to Lilac Hall when I see fit. And you better answer!”

“Last time I didn't answer because I was out and I didn't have the opportunity to warn you, besides…”

But Oscar couldn't go on. The author had already left, leaving the bill unpaid.

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