Short Story

“All of them fought to get that room. It was a privacy issue I guess; well Oliver won,” Mr. Ackroyd told him. “He’s the quietest one, often has times that he prefers being alone. He’s very social otherwise. They all have loads of friends.” He decided that Neil could go up there another time. Oliver would take him. “Sir, your description of Oliver, would also be a description of me. I often need a quiet place.” “That’s good to know. We thought his quietness was because at times he told us that he felt like a replacement.”

“Franklin, come down,” Abby called. “Have you had lunch son,” she asked him as they descended the stairs.
“No, I had a late breakfast on the plane and I’m a small eater.”
“We can see that,” Beatrice said, pinching …show more content…

Neil said nothing.
“You didn’t bring your cello?” Franklin asked, restoring civility.
“No, I don’t find it comfortable traveling with it. It’s several hundred years old.”
“You can afford a new one,’ Kevin injected, winking at the new member of the fold.
“Kevin,” Abby said, followed by some message with her eyes.
“Kevin, anyone in possession of these instruments never owns them. We are guardians, obligated to see that they will be around for another hundred or more years.”
“Do you know who had it before you?” Kevin asked.
“I have a list of all those previous guardians, a couple of kings, several famous musicians and . . . well I’ll show you that pedigree sometime.”
“What made you pick the cello?” Oliver asked. He amused them with his ‘Large bass fiddle tale’, minimizing Esther’s role in it.
All this time, Abby and Beatrice were dispensing selected food for each plate. “What would you like to drink Owen?” Abby asked.
“I see ice tea. That would be fine, -- mother.”
Mother, it was too artificial, he thought, but a tacit surge of relief emerged as everyone laughed and chattered. Neil saw a hampering of curiosity with only vague and general subjects surfacing.
“Are my grandparents far from here?”
“No son, they’re about ten minutes from here.” Abby said, “If you want, we can have them here for dinner.”
“Yes,” Franklin interrupted, “I had told him it would be up to him.”
“They must be anxious,” Neil said. “So please, call them.