Queen of the Air

Claire Wheatley

Description

A Riviera villa. An author in the great tradition and a beautiful girl. A bizarre plot. Betrayed, he disappears. Tiime passes. A musungu (white) "goes tropical" in a remote Ethiopian village. Chance word of new wrongs brings roars of laughter. Marseilles. A shadowy figure lands.

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506904849
• Langue: English

Extrait

QUEEN OF THEAIR



A Novel

ClaireWheatley
Queen of the Air
Copyright ©2017 Claire Wheatley

ISBN 978-1506-904-83-2 PRINT
ISBN 978-1506-904-84-9 EBOOK

LCCN 2017948976

December 2017

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276 - 3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r orpublisher .
"The real meaning of any myth is that which it has at thenoblest age of the nation among whom it is current."

John Ruskin
The Queen of the Air
1869
Contents



“The California Of Europe” . 1

1 Old Monty . 2
2 Between Lerici and Turbia 4
3 Little Inexactitudes 6

Part One
Don't Try This At Home . 8

4 The Management and the Porch Furniture 9
5 Tramps About Florence 16
6 At the Pensione Cornuto . 25
7 A Small Buoy and Others 33
8 Forte Sperone Genoa ("The Spur") 43

Part Two
Reports Of My Disappearance Are Mildly Exaggerated . 55

9 A Scoopful of Dust 56
10 Abyssinia, In All the Old Familiar Places 67

Part Three
Un Petit Reglement De Comptes 79

11 The White Man Lands! The Cannon! 80
12 Lemons and Bananas 90
13 Mentone, Cairo, Corfu . 101
14 Epilogue 115

The Cosmopolitan Increases In Seriousness 119
“The California of Europe”
1


Old Monty




Othertitles possibly available:
1.Don't Chute the Piano Player & Other Stories, PennyPress, 1964. (ROTC Lieutenant's wide - eyed mis - assignment to cold - warfrontline paratroops).
2.Cuff - Clips & Togliatti Buttons, Kalligrafos, 1967. (Sunnynovelistic debut celebrating earthy, heartwarming experiences in radiantlyFulbrightened Emilia - Romagna).
3.Bologna Sandwiches, Editore Pasquale, 1968. (Alas largely invented erotic escapadesscribbled to pad scanty fellowship).
4.Cloud Jugglers, Kalligrafos, 1970. (Darkly imagined creative throes, entangleddestinies of Jazz Age expatriate sublimes - Harry Crosby, Zelda Fitzgerald,Hart Crane - across brightly daubed Riviera toiles).
5.Left of Mao, Right at Witherspoon Hall, Gotham Editions, 1973.(Vanity and intrigue in Ivy League faculty at height of 1960's student revolt).
6.Blue Evenings in Bandol, Kalligrafos, 1977. (World - weary ex- academic finds émigré sanctuary in placid arms of matronly aquarelless).
7.Doxa Bums , Kalligrafos, 1984. (High - octane hipsters in Barthesian Paristhrough eyes of Sorbonne solid - propellant).
8.Last Bananas Before Ouagadougou!, Kalligrafos, 1990.(Walking Modern Classics Section turned globe - trotting humanitarian gurulocates off - track ashram in C ȏ ted'Azur micro - climate).
9.Also Sprach CNN, Kalligrafos, 1996. (Vanity and intrigue in EU humanitarianorganization at height of 1990's compassion - fatigue).
10.The Torrents of Autumn, Kalligrafos, 2001. (Recoveredhumanitarian guru answers insistent rappel to authorship).

Probably wrongguess. Fold and return to breastpocket.
Glance again atwatch. Get up, sheath glasses. Stroll to belle - époque comfort station.Careful careful on foot - islets. Recover bag, make click at self in mirror andstep out in Monte Carlo.
Cross to Caféde Paris terrace. A classic Melville Getzky choice.
Sweep tablesblankly. Whoop of welcome somewhere. Waiter gestures banquette. Figures behindtrellis twisting. Someone getting up. Starts through confusion of strays, table- hoppers.
Surprisinglydapper. Steps nimbly, vivacity draining. Wait here. Shoulders tipsy boor asideand bears down, boutonnière blazing. Ready hand. Arrives, glances head - to - footand sidesteps past, eyes tiny points of quark. Stare open - mouthed at emptyflipper - in my inner Minskys.
Waiter returns andwith little cluck steers me by elbow to alcove further back. Mel's gesturingexpansively. Everything stops. Official Meyer Honigsberg's only marginally lessremarkable than imposter. Suddenly realize must've pictured a fleshily tall,pancake - tanned hyena in a blue - silk California suit.
Little,conceivable Stern - Gangster in lizardskin loafers doesn't get up. Mel says,"Any idea what it took to get you two in the same gazebo?" Smile, bymyself not counting Mel.
"Need to besomewhere at two," announces associate shooting cuff. Resemblance toforties filmstar in sixties parts the more striking because he was dead then.
Take out packettied with string. Hand to Tyrone.

Fly littlemasterpiece.
2


Between Lerici and Turbia




Tranquil night asassistant peanut - palmer at baby elephant orphanage.
Sitting now ondeck of Mirazur cafe. Border at backs. Sea in front.
''Your uncle Jakewouldn't have been caught dead at Mykonos."
Smiles. “Just anidea.”
"Ready?"
Upend cups, leavechange, grab sticks and gear. Tricolor stiff in vernal gust. Maginot pillboxand rusty rollout tank - obstacle in rockface. Reach little gorge. Start across Pont St - Louis and step off Ponte San Luigi. Withered wreathsfor poor mugs morts pour la France and caduti per la grandezza dellapatria at respective ends.
"Buongiorno,” to natty - uniformed pair in cubicle, turned to small TV screen andlaughing delightedly together. "Buongiorno,” over shoulder. Don'tsee who's with me.
Choppy blue nowwell below on right. Clamp hats. On left point out imperfectly - blasted Fasces carved in rock.
"Slow downwill you . . . cats." Scrapes scraps from shopping sack. Wary ginger - stripecircles, calico approaches to eat. From crate fat kittens wiggle out. Leaveroadway, start down path between upper and lower border posts. In thicketssardine tins, Italian expulsion - papers, cardboard sleeping arrangements,discarded clothing.
Stoop to addTangier - Algeciras ferry - ticket to artefact collection. "How'd the poordevil get all the way over here?", at disappearing back.
Sea - level, bigcustoms plaza. Catch breath on breakwater. Guardia di Finanza "controlling"every car with girls. Notice us and it's time to get up.
Waves leapingwall. Sailboats at angles. Pick up trail. Big German bunker angled in seawall.Red Cliffs overhead. Small archeological museum on left. Laughs at one aboutskeletal exhibits confirming personal experience with local shellfish. College- boy attendant at side door in tilted chair. Loses balance.
Path drops torugged shoreline. Breakers overflow rockpools. Gulls pivot, clifftop bannersnaps in wind.
Climb past spinylittle peninsula with three or four summer places. Up and over rail - line onfootbridge. Turns to say something, sees gap, develops tactful trouble with non- existent shoe - string. Down flight of steps to stretch beside highway.Honks. Howls of appreciation. Pickup full of ragazzi gets sweeping fico. Lucky for them they keep going.
Highway enterstunnel. Turn instead onto remains of old Roman road. Grassgrown quiet. Olives,parasol pines, coves. Wooded hollow. Low arch, fast stream. Sharp bend to slimtriumphal avenue between high walls. Little Rialto crosses over about mid - point.Gets there first and gazes up at:

DANTE(PURGATORIO III, 19):
TRA LERICI ETURBIA LA PIU DESERTA LA PIU ROMITA VIA E UNA SCALA VERSO DI QUELLA AGEVOI E EDAPORTA.

LONGFELLOWTRANSLATION:
TWIXT LERICI AND TURBIATHE MOST DESERT THE MOST SECLUDED PATHWAY, IS A STAIR EASY AND OPEN, IFCOMPARED WITH THAT.

VIAAURELIA:
ALONG THIS ANCIENTROMAN ROAD PASSED:
- POPE INNOCENTIVth. 7 MAY 1257
- CATHERINE OFSIENA JUNE 1376
- NICCOLOMACHIAVELLI MAY 1511
- CHARLES V.,EMPEROR NOV 1536
- POPE PAUL III 1538
- NAPOLEONBONAPARTE 3 APRIL 1796

Arrive and stareup too. In gallery whisper ask, "If Charlton Heston and Buster Crabbe camecharioteering through here in opposite directions who do you say would giveway?"
Finally turnshead. "Buster who?"
Keep going. Comeout at wide bay. Take steep path up hillside. Eventually belltower and rooftiles start showing through trees. Turn off through underbrush, before longstep out on shelf with view from Cannes to San Remo.
Picnic.
Afterwards clearaway paper plates and stretch out. Smiles, takes out paperback.
Open eyes. Lightchanged.
Marks place withfinger. ''You OK?"
"Fine asfrog's hair."
Licks lips dryly
"Freezing intwenty minutes.”
Tug on jackets andthrow stuff back in sacks. A little later twist under old vaulting, step out on Corso Mentone.
Snake up andaround headland in gathering dusk. Wind picking up again. Break on bench beforestarting down to France. Removes hat with kangaroo on crown and says,"This was interesting."
Still catchingbreath. "Glad."
Looks off asecond. "What about Sochi?"
"Worriedyou'd say Positano."
Smiles. Replaceshat and shoots drawstring - bead.
Get up and finishlong descent. Almost dark recrossing bridge.
Just beyond, mainroute drops to seafront. Bear right instead up 1887 swells' corniche Boulevardde Garavan. Weave in and out of gullies, rearing old villas. Come to lastcypressy ravine. On far side Jacko pacing a balcony with half the lights on incase we're lost.

* * * *
Miss Woolley'sLingerie by Frederick of Prussia.
3


Little Inexactitudes




Be - bop shadesthrough crack in shutters. "Ask a question?"
Little show ofruffled concentration. "Shoot."
Doubtfully. ''Youlook busy."
"Kidding."
"This is amistake."
"Really ...it's OK."
Glance strays."When you getting a computer?"
"It'sinside."
"Look ...better leave you alone."
"Time out thekazoo ... "
Shifts feet."That a pencil?"
"One or twolittle changes. Action. Thrills."
Nods thoughtfully.''Well ... sorry to interrupt."
"Was theresomething else?"
Fingernailstemple.
"Please."
"Notimportant."
"Prettyplease .