Evendella’s Commision

Thematic content includes parental abandonment, child mortality, conveyance of criminal activity, immoral infringements, and violence.

He scuffled a handful of Adams' Cheese Korn Kurls from the crinkled bag; a few spilled between his fingers onto the flooring behind the accelerator and brake petals. Hadrian hated when that happened inside his Pontiac Streamliner, especially after he cleaned it. Rolling down the window, the solstice chill whipped against the side of his face, and his leathered jacketed arm reached around to the tip of the window wiper. He tossed the curly nibbles on his hood over the melting snow due to the warm engine. The seagulls need not hear a tinkle as they descend to nip up their treats. 

Hadrian pressed on his cap and shoved the door open, and he kneeled outside to reach for the loose munchies on the floorboard, throwing them as close to the dock piers as possible. He conjectured why his attachment to these feathered fellows. Is it because he feels they are the only ones attentive to him? The realization is evident each holiday season; the ease of driving a taxi when no family and friends are calling to express their greetings. Where does he often shift the blame? 

My biological father propelled me early to feel unworthy of myself. He, a married man, impregnated my mom, ditching her to care for me alone while he tended to his official family.

Through his workman's garb, he sensed a radiating presence behind him. Turning on his knees and ankles, he beheld a tall, slender, chocolate-skinned woman with a marbled flamingo-hued iris and luscious thick rosy lips. Wearing a wool beret over her head, her satin black hair flowed down the sides of her face like the Tugela waterfall. And her splendid face is indescribable; it was like no one had seen her before.

She cannot be over thirty and wore a faux fur lapel collar coat over a plaid print swing dress. For the moment, as he was stunned, Hadrian could not move. His stiffened neck failed to tilt downward to notice her sheer charcoal iron button boots. Yet her smooth classical voice became a cause to lubricate his muscles' tissues to respond and peer upward. He felt the warming effect of her presence a few inches away. 

"Driver," she asked. "Are you accepting any rides?"

......

"Hadrian, we're stopping here," she said with her eyes focused on the opposite side of the street housing a trolley train line and its bus stop at the sidewalk.

He remained bewildered, with his eyes fixated on the rearview mirror as the cab slowed to a park.

"Have you not seen black women? You stare at me. It's a wonder you drive safe."

Hadrian smiled, "I have not envisioned a lady like you who has yet to tell me her name."

"I am Evendella." Her sight focused on the area of the bus stop. "We wait here."

A trolley's light flickered in the evening darkness through the falling snowflakes condensing in the sky until it stopped before the stand. The sound of its sliding side doors opens, and Evendella unlocks her passenger door. 

"Come with me, honey; it's time to start business." She spoke.

"Hey, I'm the black cabbie guy sitting on the sideline. You go in and out at your will. I drive but don't follow."

"Come with me, please," Evendella expressed with a sweetened firmness. Her vocals plucked him like guitar picks.

He crossed the street with her as the trolley departed, leaving a young African American woman wearing a second-hand coat over factory attire at the bus stop. Noticing Evendella, the girl cringed like a stone in apprehension; her eyes popped in white, her sepia iris enlarging.

"You betrayed me; why did you eject my brother?" Evendella addressed her, grabbing her forearm and examining it. "Your soul trembles. Why did you not fear to cause me displeasure?

A rushed, resentful recollection Hadrian immediately discarded; my mom abandoned me at the Saint Mary orphanage to fetch a new boyfriend.

The woman cascaded tears icing along her cheeks, "my dad pressured me; he threatened to evict me." She sank her knees into the snow, her head bowed. Evendella threw down her arm.

"Adele, I trusted you and vowed to protect you. If only you called and trusted me."

The industrial worker fastened her hands prayerfully, seeing upward at Evendella.

"I am in sorrow, so sorry, forgive me. I tell you everything in my voice of confession," pleaded Adele.

"I'm aware of the details and the culprits who forced you."

Evendella came around Adele's rear and lifted her to standing. 

"You compelled me to make tough decisions. And I must find my brother."

"He is dead. There's no one to find." Adele insisted.

"He's alive." Evendella came to him and smoothed her black leathered glove against Hadrian's back. "Take her to your cab. She needs rest and recovery at her apartment."

"Please don't kill my father," Adele cried.

"Time expired to plead, girl, judgment set." Answered Evendella.

......

Marshall Tuck's rust-colored teeth were exposed after tasting his favorite rum. His lifetime buddies in their mid-50s, the black guys of his boyhood. They cackled and hooted with him as they viewed the Chicago Blackhawks against the New York Rangers. The bartender, Tony, loved the company of fellows and positioned his RCA Radio television at the rear mirror wall from where they sat at the counter, gusting down their drinks.

Marshall's merriment halted when two silhouetted figures moved in the shadows of the bar lights, a man and woman. Hadrian and Evendella came into his view, and no one else noted them except Mister Tuck. He alerted their attention. For some odd reason, the guys forgot Marshall was with them.

"Guys, do you see the lassie with the pink eyes next to the young gent?" Tuck jabbed his fingers at her.

"What did you do to your daughter as a reason to destroy another life?" Evendella demanded, "Answered me, you drunken deviant."

"I don't know who you are or how you knew about me. I didn't do anything wrong but removed a little problem." Said, Marshall. "Now, get away from me."

"Don't speak to womenfolk that way, sir." Hadrian rebutted.

Marshall waved them goodbye and turned away. He jokingly shook a friend's shoulder for attention, but the man was unresponsive.

She drew near to the heavyset Tuck and twisted him on his stool to her. "Was 'it' your problem, Marshall Tuck? That it is a man who is my friend."

"It does not matter what or who they were; I won't be the daddy for my daughter's child. I have a reputation."

"You monster," Hadrian yelled.

"Shut up, boy. You'll take what you can get when you reach my age." Tuck leered at him.

"Disgusting, shame on you," said the taxi driver.

"Enough." Said the woman; she reversed from Tuck and withdrew a tinted metallic, decorative circle with tiny holes. 

"What's your toy," teased Tuck, "one of your black magic sorcery charms?"

Evendella swayed Hadrian behind her. She pointed the ring at Marshall, and three thread-like light beams shot at Tuck's chest.

"Your daughter and anyone else will never know you existed. And that's the way it should be." She spoke.

Marshall screamed as he lit up in a purplish glow and exploded into trillions of illuminated micro-specks disappearing mid-air. Hadrian's skin vibrated over his tingling nerves, and he gasped. Then again, the other people inside the saloon had not detected what had happened. It was as if Tuck was never present. On the black and white small screen, right winger Bill Mosienko scored through the legs of the goalie, and the men cheered.

"What did you do to him?" Hadrian spoke in increased desperation.

"It was necessary. After tonight, you won't remember it." Evendella pocketed the circular weapon.

"Who are you? Tell me, what kind of craziness have you got me involved in? This is insane." The sweat bejeweled on Hadrian's forehead, and anxiety kicked in.

Evendella faced him at eye level, raised her hands to rub his cheeks, and stroked tenderly underneath, lining his chin. He peered into her hypnotizing iris; the cones and rods brightened as neuron synapses.

"The coolness of the weather shall calm you." She spoke. "We must rescue my companion; let us go, and I'll explain on the way."

......

"If I have it correct, Miss Adele was a carrier for your friend to be born in my world. And things got complicated when her father violated her." Hadrian gripped the steering as he coasted the street, observing in the rearview mirror for her acknowledgment.

"You sum it appropriately; thank you for listening." She said with a smirk and wink.

"Of all the flying saucers flicks I've seen, never in my imagination would an alien from a distant galaxy be my passenger."

"I wish humans stop calling us aliens as if we are instinctive like earth's creatures." 

"Okay, what should I consider your existence?" Hadrian asked Evendella.

"Is there anything wrong with viewing us as individuals? Are we not people but from another habitation, an organized and functional society?" She explained.

"Maybe," Hadrian tried acknowledging, "maybe you're more than what we ought to be."

She paused in quietness, sitting in her thoughts with her eyes close. Evendella beamed, her lips reflecting a shine from the streetlights. "If this is a compliment, I'll accept it."

An immense cargo ship passed through Calumet River, and the Ewing Avenue drawbridge lowered to permit Hadrian's yellow checker box steamliner and other autos to pass through to South Lake Shore Drive. 

"After I head east on route 41, how far do you want me to go? Is it beyond East 85th Street?" He inquired.

"Do you sight the Chevrolet Bel Air a few cars ahead of you? Please follow it." She responded.

Hadrian asked, "are we tailing a rich, white person? I can get in trouble like tarred and feathered big time."

"Don't worry; her skin is non-Caucasian. And her heart isn't pure."

......

The snow stopped to a few flurries; a winter fog descended like a theater curtain. The Bel Air driver parked near a closed seafood eatery popular with dock workers; the taxi driver knew as he watched with his customer outside the cab.

"There's no such contraption as flying saucers." Whispered Evendella, "our vessels are much more sophisticated than what earth residents envisaged."

The driver is a middle-aged, brown-skinned woman who must have relished mink coats with her Russian-styled hat. She removed a bowling bag size baggage from her trunk; it was dripping a kind of crimson liquid from the bottom - blood. 

The woman cursed and said, "they stained my liner. I must bleach it, wasted work, worthless scrapes."

The drippings led to the west side of the north slip, deserted of eyewitnesses as this fancy winter coat woman was well-aware. She looked around her to check. Then she held the bag over the edge, about to release her fingers.

"Hold it," a male issued, stalling the woman's movement. "What are you throwing in the water, madam? Dumping is illegal."

"Come, take a look; I'll open it," she invited the uniformed man running to her.

From a distance, the taxi driver and his passenger observed a security guard approaching the grinning woman unzipping her bag. 

He peered inside, and his face registered disgust and horror. With her sharp hand movement, a carrot length edge metal flashed in the dim lighting and lurched into the guard in an audible ripping thrust; his throat was gurgling. She then allowed the man's fall into the ice-surfaced bay.

"I don't like interruptions," she said with a rancorous stare.

Hadrian exclaimed in the hurt of his heart, "the world gone mad. A 'sister' murdered a 'brother.' We against each other, what madness."

The woman in the mink shouted, "who said that?"

Evendella's fingers graced his face, "Stay behind me, and remember her sort exemplifies the wicked of humanity, never the good folks."

The young woman marched into her view with her hands pocketed, targeting her eyes at the individual holding the bottom-punctured bag.

"Mrs. Vaximum, my brother is inside your bag. Leave it there." Evendella commanded. "Go home and wait for law enforcement to arrest you."

Hadrian came behind his patron; they were a couple feet from Mrs. Vaximum.

"Unfortunately, I shall not eliminate you. Your blood money is funding your son's medical education. Go home."

Mrs. Vaximum scuffed, "little girl, I'm old enough to be your grand momma and great-godmother in one. Don't be fresh. Get lost."

Repositioning her hand over the edge, Vaximum was about to drop the bag.

"Don't do it, lady," urged Hadrian.

"Fasten your mouth, boy, and get a handle on your girlfriend." Mrs. Vaximum spread her fingers wide, releasing in her jollies the bag.

The sound of ice breaking and the lake splashing disturbed Evendella's emotions.

"Oh, what a bother, stupid hellion." The taxi patron displayed her metallic ring, aimed the woman in mink, and blasted her into trillions of evaporating, blue-illuminated bits. 

Vaximum screeched a loudness, scattering glass bottles littered in the snow. Evendella removed her hat and gave it to her taxi driver. She takes two ping-pong-sized balls in both hands that instantly enlarge and open like Venus Fly plants with little sparkles inside. 

"I'll be back in a jiffy, friend." She spoke. Evendella dived into the bay.

"Evendella, no." He yelled and stared for minutes, the waters relaxing from her plunge. He cried for her name repeatedly.

"Are you becoming hopeless again, as you have been cynical against the parents who forsaken you?" Expressed the speech of a youthful female behind him.

Excitement filled Hadrian. Utterly dried as if she didn't dip in was Evendella smiling happily at him. He leaped and embraced her.

"I told you I'll be back. Learn to trust the right people." 

"Here's your hat."

"Hold it for a moment. Lay it flat in your hand like a cushion," she instructed. Evendella removed one of the balls from her pocket, which reduced its size; it's closed, enlarging again. She placed it on the hat Hadrian was holding. The ball glowed lavender."

"You can touch it." She encouraged.

He did, a pleasant sensation funneled his Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System, and his heart sedated. The ball swiftly flew into the atmosphere.

"Where is it going?" He saw it vanish in the sky.

Evendella revealed the second ball that reacted the same, brightening to a sunny yellow. It flanged from her cupped hands into space. She shouted joyfully.

"What is happening?" He questioned.

But she danced in the snow, skipping about contained in glee. "I saved them."

"The yellow one was my friend. I sent him to a loving female to be born in Brazil. I recovered the security guard, healed him, and left him where an ambulance would transport him. You didn't notice?"

"Woman, I do not have the sight of God. How did you do it?"

Evendella extended her hand to where they came from, suggesting a walk to the taxi. He proceeded with her.

"You did not ask me about the lilac ball. Don't you want to know about her?"

"About her?"

She paused him with her hand. "Your oil-tycoon papa impregnated another girl. He coerced her to eject your sister by the hand of Mrs. Vaximum. I preserved her for the taxi driver I love, a friend who held his sis on my beret."

Hadrian broke down, kneeling, and salty fluid spat on his watch at 11:58 pm. 

"It's unfair for a woman to cause a man to cry."

"Tears of joy, mister," Evendella said. "I transmitted her to the hospital to melt into her mother recovering from the crude abortion. Wait for her. In a couple of decades, your sibling will find you."

Hadrian stood and embraced her, "Thank you for all the money in the world. Your fare is paid."

She wrapped her arms around him, "We're not finished yet."

He released her gently, stepping from her, "what else has to be done?"

"My brother and I are students. He's researching his thesis on earth childhood to experience it first-hand. I require a capable father to care for him with the woman I selected." Evendella explained. "Guess who."

Hadrian rotated from her. "Lady, let's conclude the night."

She made him reverse, a potent magmatism. "Kiss me; it's your way there."

Evendella impelled him closer to her. She reached and removed his cap, then pressed it to her heart. And as their lips depressed, a silvery radiance swamped Hadrian as if he was engulfed in the teal blue ocean.

......

The light dispelled as rainfall ceased pouring; Hadrian deemed his lips unsealing with a female. She is not Evendella. After the kiss, a lovely, golden bronze complexion Latino woman embraced him in her stunning wedding dress. He saw himself attired in a groom's suit. A roar of ovation hails, and jovial hollers surrounded them. 

The minister presented the couple. "I announce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Hadrian and Keila Buhler."

He realized the summery exterior breeze wasn't Chicago. The locality appeared to be a vibrant and tropical Brazilian community. 

"Am I still a taxi driver in the modern 1950s?" He spoke.

"What did you say? They are loud and happy for us." Said his wife.

She saw a bulge inside his tux. Spotting a nip of forest green wool peeping, her curiosity stirred. Keila slipped her hand slightly and withdrew Evendella's beret from his jacket.

"Sweetheart, why do you have a lady's hat with you?" The bride asked.

He would later confine in her. It reminded him of his affection for his sister.