What have you there?

What have you there?

He was working a little later than usual and was not expecting company. His last appointment had been several hours prior, and all of his people had left for the day.

He was thus somewhat surprised when a man walked through his door and seated himself across the desk from him.

His desk was expansive and more than a century old. It was teak and ivory and had taken nearly a week to have installed in his third floor office. That time was due to the fact that the desk was too large to fit through the entryway to his office and the outer wall of his office had been taken out to admit the thing into his workplace. It had been placed with the operation of a work crew utilizing ropes, pulleys, and other mechanical marvels. Then the outer wall had been replaced and the entire office had been repainted because he figured; why not!

The man had not spoken as he entered the office through the open door. The door to his office was almost famously open. It was his policy to give audience to any who might seek his counsel.

The man carried with him a small valise which he placed on the floor next to the chair he sat upon after inclining his head slightly to the compact man across the large desk.

“Mr. Penrose,” the man said as he inclined his head. Across the desk, the smaller man replied with “Thomas”.

He spoke, “I suppose you know why I’m here?” Penrose replied, “I’m not exactly sure Thomas.”

The man looked at the Enterprise boss and folded his hands atop the old desk. He looked lost, adrift maybe. Penrose asked the other man, “would you care for a drink?”

“No thank you Mr. Penrose.” Thomas picked up the small valise and placed it on the desk directly in front of himself. The case was old, scuffed, a bit worse for wear, but still clearly a quality carrying case.

Penrose waited for the other man to speak. He could be quite patient when the need was present. He would often wait for several minutes while one of his best troubleshooters gathered his thoughts. That time was mainly worth it because Teague could be quite insightful. So Penrose waited for Thomas to speak.

He watched the other man. Thomas was middle aged, in good shape, a few years younger than himself. He knew the man’s history. Penrose made a habit of knowing people that lived in his territory. He watched as Thomas slowly stroked the handle of the small valise.

After several minutes of silence Penrose asked “are you sure you don’t want something? If not a drink, perhaps I could put the kettle on.”

Thomas looked up from the case and the other man could see that his visitors’ eyes were moist, and somewhat bloodshot.

Before Penrose could speak again, Thomas asked “do you have any children Mr. Penrose?”

He didn’t have to think on it, so responded directly with “I do not.”

Thomas looked down at the valise and said quietly, “neither do I”. There was a slight pause and he added in a soft voice that Penrose struggled to hear, “anymore.”

Penrose had an idea what brought Thomas to his office. He asked the other man, “What have you there Thomas?”

It was Penrose’s habit to speak to others using their Christian name. He didn’t use nicknames, or even titles normally. One recent exception had been with a Pixie by the name of Pecht. Penrose still didn’t know if that were his given name or surname, or even if Fae Folk went by that naming convention.

Thomas opened the case. He reached in and took something out. When he slid the case to the left, the other man could see what was in Thomas’ hand.

Penrose was a hard man. He had spent years building an Enterprise that controlled his part of the city. He had done things along the way; and prior to his arrival in the city that many would find distasteful. Many considered him a dangerous man. This was true; but he tried to at least be fair, if not benevolent to those who fell under his domain.

Thomas held it in one hand for a moment and then gingerly placed it on the desktop near to himself.

The only outward sign that Penrose displayed was a slight rise of his eyebrows as he watched the other man lightly place the metal object on the desk. It made a small but heavy click as it made contact with the surface.

The Enterprise leader looked at the metal item on his desk. It was nearly a meter away from him; the desk was quite large.

The object was nearly 12 centimetres in height. He knew it weighed close to three quarters of a kilo and could see by the pattern in the cast iron casing why it was often referred to as a pineapple.

Penrose could see the other man lightly caressing the object and had to take several slow breaths to maintain his composure before speaking again to Thomas.

“That is a Mills bomb.” He told the other man. Thomas replied with “yes sir Mr. Penrose.”

“why do you have such a thing Thomas?” Penrose asked his visitor.

Thomas took a slow deep breath before asking, “do you know what happened to my Millie?”

Penrose did know. He had looked into the thing when it occurred. He was thinking about how to respond to his distraught visitor, and thinking about what he knew of the explosive device that was sitting across the desk from him.

He knew that Sir William Mills had invented the bomb and it had seen widespread use in the great war. It was his contributions to his nations armory that had likely been the reason for his knighthood.

He hadn’t served in that war but his best man Teague had been there and came back with the V.C. along with physical and no doubt emotional scars that were sometimes hard to hide. His troubleshooter didn’t display any outward signs of shellshock, but Penrose had an idea of how deeply effected the man had been.

He was about to speak to Thomas when the other man started with. “you know my Mrs was taken by the Flanders Flu when I was away at war.” Penrose did in fact know that about Thomas.

“so my Millie was all that was left to me.” As Thomas spoke, Penrose could see tears start to well on the other man’s face. “she looked so much like her Mum”, Thomas’ breath caught here and Penrose could see the man lower his head and watch as the man caressed the grenade. At least he wasn’t gripping the pin, Penrose thought to himself.

Penrose knew a bit about Sir Mills creation. He knew that it could send out deadly slivers of cast iron farther than a man could throw it. Even his strongest man Branok would be unable to cast it far enough away to be out of danger unless he were to take cover after throwing it.

He knew the common soldier considered it a defensive grenade because they often would toss it from a trench or at least behind substantial cover.

In any case, he was certain that if the man were to pull that pin; unless he could flee through the open door within two to three seconds, that he would die.

Penrose watched the other man. Thomas was quietly weeping. He considered what he should say to the grieving father.

Thomas spoke, “I had considered using this on your man. The one who done it.”

The person in question was one of Penrose’s troubleshooters, by the name of Burton. When this dreadful thing had gone down, he had looked into it.

Thomas continued, “I had even considered using it on you Mr. Penrose.” The enterprise leaders’ eyebrows rose slightly once more.

“I know you weren’t the one that done it,” Thomas said,” but I didn’t know what to do.”

Penrose spoke, he had a pleasant voice and manner, like a kindly uncle. He was far from such a person. “Thomas, I can not, nor would I want to imagine what you must be going through.” The enterprise leader continued, “ I can say how deeply sorry I am.” As Penrose spoke he watched the grieving father closely.

He paused and continued with, “I’ll have you know that I did look into it.” He watched Thomas slowly nod his head and said, “it was a dreadful, tragic accident.”

Based on all the evidence and testimony that Penrose had uncovered, he knew this to be true. The enterprise leader thought for a few moments and continued in a voice that was cold, and lifeless “I’ll also have you know that if my man had done such a thing on purpose, that he would not be around for you to use your bomb on him.”

Penrose watched the man across the desk and thought he heard an audible gulp from him at this pronouncement.

Thomas looked up at the other man across the desk. Tears were slowly flowing down the grieving fathers’ face. “I have nothing, you know.” Penrose slowly nodded as Thomas continued. “I work at the factory but I have nothing.” Thomas shook his head slowly in a negative manner. “I don’t know what to do.”

The man really looked hard at the enterprise leader and asked. “What should I do Mr. Penrose?”

He stroked his chin and considered the question for nearly a minute. Then he spoke to the grieving father.

“Here’s what I think Thomas.” The enterprise leader spoke once more, sounding like the kindly uncle that he was not. “take a minute or two or three, and consider your grief.”

Thomas was listening closely and really seeing the enterprise leader.

Penrose continued, “wrestle with that grief as you must, but grab hold of it and place it in that thing.” He pointed to the bomb on the desk between them.

Thomas looked at the grenade in front of him. Then back at the enterprise leader.

Penrose spoke again. “Once you have done that, I will take that thing from you, and with it your grief.” He could see the grieving father pondering that strange strategy.

Thomas looked down at the Mills bomb and asked in a small voice, “do you think that would work Mr. Penrose?”

The enterprise leader responded. “I think, that after all you went through in that war, those trenches, and your losses, that you can make it work.” He paused and continued, “of course I don’t think it would be easy, and there will still be a bounty of sadness, but I will take your grief from you, along with that thing.”

Penrose paused again and could see Thomas looking hard at the grenade in front of him.

“What say you Thomas?”

It took several minutes, during which time Penrose was carefully watching the other man. If Thomas still chose to pull the pin, he thought that he might be able to make it through the door to his office and even pull the portal shut on his way out. That door was strange and thick and would most likely keep him from lethal shrapnel.

After minutes that seemed to be longer than they actually were; the father picked up the Mills bomb and placed it gently in the small valise. He then closed the case and slid it over to the other man.

Penrose let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding and said “good man!”

He pulled the case fully over to his side of the large desk and slowly stood. He walked around the desk and helped Thomas to his feet.

He walked with the man to the entryway of his office, and as they walked, he assured Thomas that if there were anything he needed, that all he had to do was ask.

The enterprise leader had done brutal things when consolidating his power and hold on his part of the city, but he meant what he said.

After the father left, Penrose closed the door, and locked it.