Grup and Jacob sit next to the pool, feet in the water. Grup has a 5 lb bag of ice held to his swollen testicles. “I reach for the sky but never reach it,” Grup mutters. “The Cat must have written this. its terrible poetry.”
“You can do better?” Jacob jokes. looking up at the group of people assembling a stage on the back side of the kidney pool.
“I ever reach for the sky, for the beauty above, ever reaching, ever trying; I never triumph,” Grup spits out.
“Oh, so you can…” Jacob says.
There is a long silence.
“What do you think it means?” Jacob asks, kicking his feet in the pool water.
“I don’t know…” Grup says as the ice is melting and running into the pool. ‘I am going to have to kill a god,’ his thoughts grind.
“Who do we ask?” Jacob asks, laying back looking at the blue sky.
“I don’t know,” Grup answers again.
“Do we try, Mr. Harrington?” Jacob asks, “Is the sky always so cloudless here? Sometimes it makes it feel like you could touch it.”
“I don’t know,” Grup says angrily, throwing the bag of ice toward the building. The bag rips, sending ice tumbling down.
Jacob jumps and sits up. “Yeesh, are you ok? It’s just a competition, right?” Jacob says, carefully watching if Grup is going to react and toss him like a bag of ice.
“It’s Scarlet. She is beyond upset. Her child is missing.” “Grup,” says in a single breath. Then pauses, “She ran back to Mars because he claims he can get the child back.” “Grup says,” his hand on his thigh, the dull ache in his nuts a constant reminder of his failure.
“Oh,” Jacob says. ‘What do you say in this situation?’ he thinks. ‘Bro, Mars is a god? Maybe he can get the child back?’
Grup continues. “My best hope of winning her back is to find the child,” he taps the concrete for emphasis.
Jacob nods, following along.
“I heard the cat is going to give a genie wish to the winner,” Grup says, his finger denting the concrete.
Jacob’s eyes the dented concrete. ‘It’s ok; you’re not a bag of ice.’
The group goes further. “So the best chance to find the child is to win this competition.”
“And the cat is giving out a prize; the rumor is it’s a wish from a genie,” Grup whispers, replaying the fight with Mars in his head.
Jacob stands up and holds out his hand to Grup. “Then we better go find a phoenix feather; maybe I can call in a favor from Harrington.”
Grup looks at Jacob’s hand and understands if he tries to use it to stand up, he is likely to just remove Jacob’s arm. “The sentiment is valiant,” Grup grunts.
Grup stands up with a wince, and Jacob walks over to where the plastic bag that used to contain ice is littering the small garden next to the building.
Jacob grabs the plastic and looks at the flower garden. Hardly bigger than a few steps wide at its biggest. Jacob doesn’t remember it being here. He walks around it, looking at it closely. “Was this always here, Grup?” he asks.
“Maybe,” Grup looks over. “What does it matter? It’s just flowers, not a phoenix.” The group looks out into the pool.
Jacob looks the garden over. “I am pretty sure it wasn’t.” He looks at the plants growing inside it. A fire-red plant grows in the middle; a small brass placard near it says “Phoenix Feather—Asia.” He quickly picks a singular leaf from the plant and brings it back to Grup, holding it above his head in triumph.
“This is it—a plant that reaches for the sky but never reaches it. And it’s called a phoenix feather,” Jacob says as he touches it. The plant is cool to the touch, but not more so than you would expect. “It’s just a plant… Here I thought The Cat would do something ridiculous like make it be sentient and try to have sex with me. I keep thinking it will have tentacles? or vines? Or maybe the pollen of the flower makes us all so horny we have sex until we can’t walk?”
Grup pats Jacob on the back. “I knew you were smart. But this is real life; you need to stop watching old episodes of Star Trek.”
“I wasn’t the one who threw the ice,” Jacob says.
Grup grunts and looks at Jacob. “It rekindled my warrior spirit from the ashes of despair. What is the next Herculean feat?” “Grup?” asks, adjusting his testicles.
Jacob tucks the leaf into his pocket next to the coin and pulls out the sheet.
“A maiden so fair with skin without flaw. Her undergarments are precious, each sewn with precious care.” Jacob reads his face scrunched up in thought.
“What else does it say?” Grup asks, looking at the paper blankly.
“Hint: She lives in the earth where they locked her below. To find this maiden, there you must go.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Jacob whispers, his mind flicking to the one woman he knows with flawless skin who lives underground.
“Yes, I too did not know you had an earth mother as we do. She wreaks havoc where I am from whenever she can build enough strength.” He nods his head. “This world is so soft; she must be very weak.” Grup looks around. “Where do we dig to find her?”
“What? No, it has to be Audrey, but how do we convince her to give us her panties?” Jacob asks, biting his cheek. He pauses and turns to Grup. “You have an earth mother who climbs out of the ground and attacks you whenever she regains her strength?”
“So you do not?” The group responds.
“No… So how do we get Audrey to give us her panties?” Jacob asks.
“What would a warrior do?” Grup says, standing up.
“I guess we can ask?” Jacob says doubtfully and filled with apprehension.
Jacob and Grup step out of the elevator to the busy medical lobby, usually so quiet, now a scene with groups of two lying on cots. Some are crying; others are just quietly dozing off into the distance. One humanoid is having a bone set in a cast.
Nurse Happy is smoking a cigarette while taping a diaper shut with an old-fashioned telephone held between her shoulder and her ear. She looks up at the pair with an icy coldness with a look that says, “Your legs better be broken, or you’re going last in line… In hell.”
“That fucking cat is at his games again,” Nurse Happy shouts at her phone. “This scavenger hunt is getting people hurt; put a stop to it.”
Grup’s eyebrows furrow. “What sort of warrior could do this to so many? They must be fierce! How have I not met them?”
“Audrey is fierce, that’s for sure.” Jacob says, tugging at Grup to get him to move into the nursery hallway, “Let’s do this,” Jacob says, his voice trembling.
