Word Count: 1961

“Madame, more wine?” A penguin suited man stood obsequiously by Alice’s side. The mahogany table was illuminated by the big, gold candelabras. Candlelight danced across the wine glass, throwing deep red patterns across her plate.

“Yes, thank you.” Alice subtly leaned out of his way to make the pour easier on him. It was a trick she learned from her waitressing days in college. Anyone could find their way to a clean pour, but the diners who made room for the staff to work were the kindest.

“It’s from the vault. Drink up.” Carl raised a glass to Alice.

“This your smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em phase, grandfather?” James was messing with his grandfather, but Alice figured he had earned himself a bit of snark after enduring the embarrassment in the parlor.

“Shut up, James.”

Now that both Willa and Sonya had left, the dinner party was very intimate. Alice felt like a voyeur on her ex-husband’s personal life. To create the illusion of privacy for the pair, she focused on her food.

Claudette was a great cook, but Carl Dyson had taken the chef from a Michelin-starred restaurant to be his personal cook. That’s the kind of power the Dyson dynasty had. As Alice took a bite of truffle pate, she was grateful for it.

Though her sense of sight, smell, and taste were filled with the gastronomical bliss she was enjoying, her ears heard everything.

“You didn’t need to be that rude to Willa. She’s never done anything to you.”

“I don’t need to live with your bad choices, James. The fact is, I just don’t like her.”

“You’re such a snob.”

“Give me a break. I’m the opposite of a snob. I’m salt of the earth.”

“Oh, that’s rich!”

“It’s true. I built all this from nothing. Unlike you, born at third base, think you hit a home run.”

Alice couldn’t help but snort at that. She brought her napkin to her mouth, pretending she was coughing.

“Excuse me.” She glanced up at the Dyson men. Carl turned his attention to her.

“So, Alice, how is life in New York? Are you remarried?”

“No, I remain an independent woman.”

“So you have boyfriends. Good for you.”

Alice laughed. “You, of all people, know how much time it takes to build a business. During what hours am I expected to be dating?”

“The after dark hours.” Carl winked at Alice. It made her skin crawl. She was all for making James uncomfortable with some mild grandfather flirtation, but that exchange was not meant for James. Carl was trying to engage her, and her alone.

“That.” James pointed accusingly at Carl. “That right there is how you’re gonna burn this company to the ground. You can’t talk to women like that anymore, grandfather.”

Alice was startled by James’ outburst. Or, more precisely, she was startled by her own response to it. James coming to her defense like that made her feel protected. And, ashamed as she was to admit it to herself, slightly aroused. She knew it was a lizard brain response left over from the caveman days, but there was something to a man coming in to rescue her from danger that just woke her up.

SFX: Candelabra banging against the floor.

Alice jumped in her seat. A waiter rushed to stamp out the flames from the mostly extinguished candelabra that Carl had just hurled across the table at James. James held his side, looking like he had the wind knocked out of him.

Carl returned to eating, as nonchalant as could be.

“You are an animal.” James was out of breath. He definitely had the wind knocked out by the bulky candelabra.

He balled up his napkin, throwing it on his plate as he rose.

“And you’re going to die. Soon. Just like every other animal. And all your wealth and all your waning power, all your last gasps at control and mean schemes, will not help you avoid that, grandfather. So drink your damn wine and – “

“Shut up and sit down. Nobody needs your grandstanding. We’re having a nice dinner, aren’t we, Alice?” Carl didn’t wait for Alice’s reply. “When did you become the moral compass of the community, anyway?”

“I recently learned an interesting fact about the compass. Did you know that it was originally used for fortune telling purposes, and not navigation at all?” Alice put her fork down, eager to change the subject.

“Is that right?” Carl seemed wholly interested in what she had to say. Whether he was doing that to annoy James or because he was going a bit senile, Alice did not know.

“Yes. Apparently the tool was invented in China during the Han Dynasty, somewhere around 1,000 B.C., and it was seen as a spiritual tool, not a science. People used it for fortune telling and Feng Shui.” Alice watched James in her peripheral vision. He sat silently, clearly wounded. Though whether it was only physically or also his ego, Alice couldn’t tell.

“People used it for hocus pocus nonsense.” Carl chuckled. “When they could have been using it to sail around the world, gain resources, build empires.”

“Right.” Alice looked at James now, wanting to let him know he was not as alone as he probably felt. It seemed to work. James shifted in his seat.

“Well, eventually we got there, too, didn’t we?” James began eating again.

“What do you think the compass of today is? What’s the thing we’re all treating like it’s just a simple thing to incorporate into our current systems, but it’s actually going to change our whole perception of the world?” Alice genuinely wanted to know James’ answer. She was surprised to discover that she was still interested in the man’s brain.

“A.I. It’s going to change our sense of humanity.” James didn’t miss a beat.

“How so?”

“It’s challenging our sense of consciousness. It’s an affront to our very concept of what it is to be human. It’s the most ethically and practically revolutionary tool of the day.”

“What about gene editing?” Alice sipped her wine. This was how Alice and James used to have fun together. “The implications of that for human identity and even the concept of life itself have to be just about as profound as A.I.”

“What is the state of gene editing today?” Carl leaned forward, eager to participate but in over his head. Alice and James turned their attention to him.

“Alice is sure to be more the expert, but as I understand it, scientists now have tools that allow us to selectively remove unwanted genes within each human DNA strand – “

“Or even within an individual cell, say like for caspase, which are the enzymes currently associated with programmed cell death. The theory goes that if you can manipulate these, we may be able to eliminate human death itself.” Alice and James were talking over each other, just as they used to do in the good times.

“But of course this raises all kinds of ethical and philosophical issues – “

“Not to mention the fact that another branch of research explores supplementing the human genome with genetic material from other animals, interspliced with is. So you could in theory create, say, a superhuman who can breathe under water with the help of some amphibian genetic material.”

“It gets very science fiction freaky very fast.”

There was a pause as everyone realized how well Alice and James were getting on. Carl watched the two of them with something between remorse and hope.

“Well, that’s enough excitement for one night. Especially for an old, dying man.” Carl looked sidelong at his grandson, unable to resist the jab.

“The meal was lovely. Thank you.” Alice folded her napkin.

“James, take Alice home.” James looked up, surprised.

“I’m sure Alice has her own – “

“James, I am telling you. Despite all your obvious flaws, you are still a Dyson man and you will be chivalrous.”

“Carl, I’m fine.” Alice felt a strange panic rising in her chest, though she was not sure why. Certainly, things had not been going well when James and Alice had found themselves alone together.

“You are capable and competent. I know that, no matter how much of a Neanderthal my grandson would make me out to be. But you are also a guest in not only our house, but in our city. So it is only right that we will take you home.” Carl gestured to the help – Alice could not be sure if he was a valet or a guard – who came and held the back of Alice’s chair.

As she stood up, he pulled it back. Alice noticed that another guard or butler was doing the same with James’ chair. The former spouses exchanged a look of resignation.

“Zeke will be driving.” James offered this as a consolation.

“Good.” Alice’s response was curt, but not mean.

###

As they walked to the car, Alice saw that James was truly in pain from his grandfather’s attack. He was trying to hide it, so she kept her mouth shut, too. But she walked a little slower to make it easier for him to do the same.

The fact was, he had been abused because he was defending her. When they were married, Alice heard stories of his grandfather’s violent temper. But this was her first time seeing it in action. Considering that old Carl Dyson was James’ primary caregiver, and what a horrible existence that must have been, James was actually quite gentle. At least by comparison.

Not that it was any excuse for his impossible, erratic and controlling behavior. The man was old enough by now to know better. If it had not been for his privilege, he would probably have landed himself in jail by now, or at least in court mandated anger management classes. But that was the double-edged sword of power. It meant you could get away with more. But it also meant you might never be forced to heal.

Zeke held the door open for them. He immediately registered James’ pain.

“I’ll get the medical kit from the back.”

“Thank you, Zeke. We’re dropping Alice off, too.”

“Very good.” Zeke handed James a kit.

As Zeke rolled away, James opened the kit, lifting his shirt to see the damage.

“Oh my God, James.” Alice’s hand went to his body on instinct. The candelabra really got him. There was blood all down his torso, cutting in at the side.

“I’m fine.” James made a half-hearted attempt at brushing her off.

“Stop pretending, you’re just like Nate -” Alice caught herself. “My cat.” Alice took gauze and antibiotic cream out of the kit, expertly cleaning the wound and preparing to bandage it.

“You’re good at this.” James was transfixed by the process. Alice’s touch was so gentle and caring. Motherly, almost. Alice glanced up at him.

“I’m a trained scientist. This is science.” Alice looked back at his wound, trying to control her thoughts. It had been a very long time since she had seen this man’s torso. And it remained as perfect as she remembered.

In the driver’s seat, Zeke kept his eyes on the road, as silent as could be. Alice felt like she was alone with James. Her face inches from his naked chest. Against her will, her breath quickened. She felt warm and tingly as she realized his breath had, too.

James raised his hand, tentatively hovering it over hers. He brought it down, helping her smooth the medical tape across his waist. But the action was wholly unnecessary. He was just responding to the magnetic pull between them.

And they both knew it.