Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 00:33:31 -0600 Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Jennifer Lynn Hedberg Subject: OtGDY Ch5 Only the Good Die Young Ch 5 by Gwen Vohs "May I please speak to Joseph Dawson?" "This is he." His mind flagged this call as important. After all, it wasn't every day a woman with a sultry vaugely Mediterranian accent called the shop asking for him so formally. "A friend said you wish to speak to me. Would lunch al Chez Guillaume at 1:00pm be convenient?" "Yes, that would be great. I'll make the reservations immediately." "Don't trouble yourself. I already did." After placing the receiver down, he silently blessed the name of Duncan MacLeod. "Nearly thirteen hundred years!" Now that Darius was gone there were only six or seven left in the whole world that had passed the millenium. He contemplated the number in awe. At 11:30 he left his assistant in charge of the bookstore and headed home to change. As he checked himself in the mirror, he kicked himself for forgetting to ask how he would recognize her...then it dawned on him that she probably knew what he looked like from Duncan. In his best suit and freshly polished shoes he entered the low-key, high-class restaurant feeling like he was on a blind date. The maitre d' greeted him instantly. "Ah, Mr. Dawson. Right this way." Swallowing his surprise, Joe followed him to a table inthe rear where a young lady sat with her back to the door. "Mr. Dawson has arrived, Madame." he announced primly. "I know. You may leave us now." Dawson sat down opposite her and pulled out his tape recorder. "I hope you don't mind I took the liberty of asking Duncan your favorite and ordered for us." "No not at all. Do you mind the tape recorder?" "Not in the least, Joseph. I may call you Joseph, mayn't I?" "Yes, of course. And may I call you Eleni?" "Eleni will do just fine. So what do you want to ask me, Joseph?" He switched the recorder on."Lots of things. If it's not too personal, start with where and when you were born and how you died the first time." As though she were reading from a newspaper or a court transcript,she replied "I was born in Greece in the early 700's. At thirteen I was sold as a bride to the eldest son of a rich family in Constantinople. They called it dowry, but I was bought and paid for. In 731, on my twenty-third birthday, I was beaten to death by my husband for not giving him a son." Joe's jaw fell."That's awful!" "Well, it was a long time ago and he's dead, as are his children's children many times over. There's no need to dwell on it now, yes?" but Somehow she came very close to telling him the truth, that she still had nightmares about her life as a young, despised bride. "Yes, I guess you're right." He had to remind himself that this was work. He was trying to keep a grip on his professional distance, but you know what happens when you try not to think of pink elephants. She gave him one of those serene, "Of course I'm right" smiles that only the very young and very old can wear with grace. Calming herself, she reached forward and turned off the recorder. "My turn. How did your leg become injured?" This chilled him to the marrow. Not even MacLeod had ever asked him a personal question. "Excuse me?" "If you want me to tell you about my life, I have the right to know something about yours, yes?" "But I haven't lived as long as you have, or nearly as well." "answer the question, or I go home, Joseph." Joe took a deep breath. "About ten years ago, I was working as a museum curator. One night I was cataloguing some fairly expensive peices. When I left there were three men waiting for me by my car. they wanted me to help them rob the museum. When I said no, they shot me once in the knee and twice in the thigh. By the time I got to the hospital, it was too late. Nerve function was gone." "All that for a few museum peices? You must be a very brave man." "Not brave. Just honest...and loyal." "In this world it amounts to the same thing. Next question?" He leaned forward and turned the recorder back on. "What did you think and do the first time you, ah, woke up?" "At first I thought the beating must not have been as severe as I thought. Then i opened my eyes and saw my mother-in-law and a preist standing over me, looking as though I'd come from Dante's ninth circle.."she laughed.. "Or at least that's what they would have thought had the Divine Comedy been written five centuries earlier. Thinking I'd been sent back from the dead to avenge myself, I ran about the house screaming for my husband. He came running to see what the noise was. I beat him to a pulp. I beat him till my hands were about to bleed. He didn't dare strike back. Then I walked to the graveyard and prayed 'Dear Lord, you've granted me vengence. Let me come to you now in peace!' But I did not die." She leaned forward and turned off the recorder. "Tell me about how you became a Watcher." End Part 5 =========================================================================