ROMAN ROMULUS
Time passed by very quickly, weeks turned into months. I’d weathered the storm for the following several days after the Cinema X incident. Mom and I were at it but things calmed down as time passed.
I think we both knew that the next fight would likely be our last one. In this case scenario one of us would have to leave, no compromise either.
I did most of my walking in the better part of town. I didn’t want to spend my days and nights strolling through the downtown core for at least a year, unless I had business therein. Business can mean food or shopping.
Walking through the downtown core would certainly manifest old memories, memories of Blackie, Ricky and Comrade. I knew that it was totally over between them and me.
Then, I met quite an interesting person while taking an early morning walk on the Lachine Canal walkway.
It was nice out, sunny and warm with not a single overhead cloud in sight and a barely detectable breeze.
A boy of perhaps eight or so years-old, handsome, average build, confident and intelligent-looking was walking due east while I was walking due west. It appeared that we were going to pass each other.
As soon as the boy was parallel to me, we stopped walking simultaneously and checked each other out for a few seconds. The boy smiled at me, I returned the smile.
“Hey, where are you from?” “Umm, I’m from around?”
“C’mon, you can’t be that ashamed of your hometown. Please, you don’t have to do a run-around with me. As you can see, I’m a cat.”
But even before the boy answered me I sensed that something was unusual about him. My acute feline senses were telling me that he wasn’t even a human being.
I scanned his body with my eyes and scented him all over. My hunch was right. The boy had pointed ears and slanted eyebrows. Furthermore, I detected a barely noticeable skin pigmentation that I’d never seen before on any human.
Somehow, the words ‘Star Trek’ flashed in my mind. Why, I surely didn’t know. My feline instincts forced me to continue snooping.
“Listen, my name is Zoe Marshall Thomas and I’m from Montreal. Now, I came clean with you, you must do the same with me, okay?”
“Okay, but promise you won’t tell anyone in the whole world, even if it’s your own mother, okay?”
“Of course I won’t tell. Now, please tell me who you are.” “Zoe, my name is Roman Romulus I’m from the planet Romulus.
As you probably suspected, I’m not a human being, I’m a Romulan.
Actually, I’m not supposed to be on Earth. I hopped into a shuttle craft without permission and flew around for a while.
Unfortunately, in my haste and in my fear of not being discovered I didn’t notice the warnings on the control panel.
Zoe, my shuttle craft was being serviced. It needed some major repairs.
Luckily, I contacted Star Ship Romulus, spoke to the captain, who happens to be my father, and gave him my coordinates.
I’m supposed to be leaving Earth within a day or two. I have my communication device with me and will use it in case of an emergency. My father will order his crew to put Star Ship Romulus into warp nine if necessary.”
“Hey, look, Roman, I need a good friend for a day or two. How about you, do you need the same?”
“Yes, actually I was just thinking about that. That’s why I was strolling through the Lachine Canal walkway.”
Roman and I hit it on really well. We walked around for a few hours and I got to know him quite well. That’s when I invited him over to my place. I wanted him to eat supper and spend the night at my place.”
“Roman, would you like to eat supper at my place?” “Sure, that would be nice.”
“But wait, just a minute, listen Roman ... my mother has a serious problem. She has racist inclinations.
Roman, I’ll tell my mother that you’re of Swedish origin, okay? You were born right here in Montreal and your parents were born in Stockholm. My mother has never seen a Swede before.
There aren’t that many of them in this part of Canada.
Roman I have to explain your pointy ears and your slanted eyebrows. And your skin tone is slightly different than ours.
Are you cool with that?”
“No problem, Zoe. I’m cool with it. Now, take me to your home, please. I’m kind of tired.”
“So am I, Roman, we can rest up as soon as we arrive at my place.”
We headed home, walking up a steep hill until arriving at the junction of Atwater Street and Sherbrooke Street. I scanned the area, searching for a nice place to rest for a while before continuing on.
I decided that we should sit on a couple of Dixie bikes parked nearby. Normally, the city rents them out, but there were so many of them parked, there was no chance of anyone being harmed by our action.
“Roman, do you want to sit on a Dixie bike?”
“Yes, let’s do it for a while, until we’re well rested.
Thereafter, we can head to your place.”
We sat on the Dixie bikes for roughly an hour. Afterwards, we headed to my home.
As soon as we entered the apartment building I reminded Zoe about the ‘Stockholm answer’. I wasn’t taking any chances.
As soon as we entered the apartment guess who was right there, waiting for us and with a wicked expression on her face, all red-eyed and grinding her teeth. It was my mother.
“Zoe, where have you been and who is this person with you?” “Mom, I was taking a walk and by luck crossed paths with Roman Romulus.
Guess what Roman’s parents are from Stockholm Sweden. He was born right here, in Montreal. What do you think of that?”
“How dare you insult my intelligence; my mother was born in Stockholm!”
“Huh, she was, umm, I mean, Roman’s really from Oslo Norway, yeah that’s right.”
“Zoe Marshall Thomas, how dare you try to insult my intelligence for a second time? I know exactly who you (pointing to Roman) are. You’re a Romulan.
Damn it, I’ve watched every single Star Trek episode of every single season for all the Star Trek series.
Roman, you’re not welcome inside my home. I don’t care how young you are.”
“Mom what kind of host are you? Mom, please ... shut up!” “Zoe, I knew those creeps were a bad influence on you. Good thing I gave them a piece of my mind.”
“Mom, who and what are you talking about?”
“Zoe, I’m talking about Comrade that stinking Commie Bolshevik and Ricky La Racoon.”
“Mom, you had no right to ‘bitch them out’! Why did you do that, and don’t tell me that Comrade’s a Commie Bolshevik, because he isn’t. He had relatives who spent time in the Gulags for being so-called enemies of the state; the communist state.
Mom, you’re the one being like those Bolsheviks. Ease up on your stereotypes.”
My mother looked me in the eyes, knelt down and then got really close to me. I could actually see her tonsils.
“Honey, don’t you know that there’s a horrible ‘white slavery’ trade going on. It’s a horrific conspiracy.
Beautiful white women like me are kidnapped and then sent off to far-off places. The first thing the pimps do is break-in the poor woman; multiple sex partners and likely a beating. The Russian Mob’s deeply involved in this.”
“Mom, you got your facts all wrong. ‘They’ almost never kidnap women like you. You’re a Canadian living in Canada. I’m not saying that it never happens in Canada. Unfortunately, it does. But, mom, you’re really blowing this out of proportion.
What about my friend Ricky, he’s ‘like us’, isn’t he?”
“Zoe, I fear the ‘La’ in his name.” “Mom, what are you talking about?”
“Honey, I don’t want you to lose your ‘English language’ or your ‘English heritage’. Your friend Ricky will try to metamorphose you into a Francophone.
At first, he’ll teach you simple words, then phrases, then paragraphs, then pages and then he’ll have you in his pocket.
He’ll go back to his friends and tell them the good news. That’s when they’ll give each other high fives.”
“Mom, it’s over! I simply don’t know what to do; you’re a big problem for me.”
“Zoe, I know what to do with you.
Zoe, tomorrow after breakfast you must leave my apartment and never return.”
I motioned Roman to follow me into my room. We were so exhausted Roman and I fell onto my bed.
But that’s not all. I think we were also really bummed out at my mother’s behaviour. Something had to be done, and thankfully, because we slept till the following day our heads were cleared.
“Roman, I apologize for my mother’s behaviour, I really do.”
“Zoe, don’t worry about it, it’s really nothing. You know something we Romulans have the same problem back home. Some individuals on Romulus try to create divisions between different groups, finding any differences even minute ones.
These individuals capitalize on the minute differences, aggrandizing them into giant mountains.”
“Roman, I’ve made up my mind about my mother. I think that she should be committed. I’ve been in denial for so long, it’s time to come clean on this matter.
I have a game plan, but this is my problem not yours.
Besides, I don’t want to destroy your chances of leaving Earth.
How about we eat a hardy breakfast and then take a nice walk? Thereafter, we can part ways.
Roman, I think you’re a really swell guy. Unfortunately, I understand that you must return to Romulus very soon.”
‘Thanks, Zoe. And regarding breakfast and our walk, let’s go for it. I plan on leaving Earth today. Later, I’ll contact our spaceship and ask the crew to beam me up.”
Roman and I ate a hardy breakfast, used the restroom and then washed up. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice that my mother was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was at school.
Then I remembered that my mother was hitting the book really hard for her final exams. Soon, she’d have an undergraduate degree in history from a well-respected institution, McGill University.
“Roman, are you ready?”
“I certainly am. Let’s take our walk, and Zoe, let’s make it a very enjoyable walk at that, a long, relaxing walk.”
“Of course, that’s what I’ve planned for us.”
Zoe and I left the apartment building and then headed for the Pepsi Forum. As soon as we arrived at the entrance we looked up at the sky to see if there were any clouds in sight. There were none. It was a beautiful day; blue engulfed the whole area reaching the horizon.
“Roman, we can go inside and sit on the mini-bleachers. We can relax and talk for an hour or two. Thereafter, we can continue our walk.
By the way, Roman, how was your stay on Earth?”
“Zoe, it was okay until I saw you. Thereafter, it became quite enjoyable. With the exception of a brief pause when your mother freaked out, I’m satisfied.
Unfortunately, this isn’t my home. Whether I want to or not, I must leave today.”
“I understand. How about I treat you, I mean, can I buy you a snack or better yet a full meal?”
“No, that’s all right. Breakfast was tasty. Let’s sit around here for a while.”
Roman became teary-eyed. I didn’t bring up the subject in fear of him taking it personally. Maybe, he’d think that I was somehow making fun of him.
We stayed at the Pepsi Forum for three hours. Thereafter, we got up and then left from the south exit facing Wino Park.
“Zoe, I can smell the booze from here. But it’s worse at night. The authorities should clean up this place.”
“Actually, Roman, sometimes the police drive a van or patrol car inside the park. There’s a carved out dirt path for them.
Yes, sometimes they do clean out this area of trouble. However, most of the winos in this park don’t bother or intimidate passersby. If the police were to kick all of them out they’ll have to stand in a more public place. Maybe, that won’t be such a good idea.
Roman, while we were in the Pepsi Forum I forgot to go upstairs to drink some water.
Listen, how about we enter the Montreal Children’s Hospital. We can walk around therein, and we can get some water to drink.
But I must warn you, if we walk through the ‘sick areas’ we’re bound to see some really sad looking children. They’re hidden from the public.”
“Zoe, I need to get a drink too. I also want to see what sick human children look like.”
We crossed the street toward the Montreal Children’s Hospital. As soon as we were in front of the entrance we each took a deep breath and then entered.
“Roman, we mustn’t attract any attention. We should try not to speak to anyone nor make sustained eye contact, especially at any of the security guards or receptionists. If we do, they’re likely to take notice of us. This in turn, will induce them to ask us what are business is.”
We got onto the ramp and waited until reaching the 2nd floor. Therein, we saw children with their parents in a large waiting room. Thankfully, we didn’t see any seriously ill children in this area.
After scanning the area we decided to go to the elevator and stroll through another floor.
As soon as we entered the elevator Roman pressed the number five button; we waited anxiously for the elevator to reach the 5th floor.
As soon as the elevator doors opened we stepped out into the 5th floor hallway.
The first thing that hit us was the dimness of the place. The scent of chemicals, medicines, sickness and cleansers was in the air.
Roman and I also sensed a sad aura. There was much sickness herein; some of the children would make a full recovery, others a partial; another category would endure lifelong illness; and the last category are the ones who’ll die in the hospital.
We scanned the area, trying to determine which way to go, left or right.
We decided to go right. As we strolled through the hallway we couldn’t help but notice the utter stress shown on the nurses’ faces. This was a stressful ward, indeed. We had to see ‘sickness’ to understand it.
As soon as we were parallel to the next room down the hallway, we’d peer into it. It was the same ole story; sad children, some were smiling but at least in my case, my feline senses and instincts identified serious illness.
But it wasn’t until we peered into room #509 that we stopped dead cold.
Therein