All Is Fair In Love- A Short Story (Old Man Dar-3)

"Stop. All of you stop. OK. What do you want?"

Darry sat down in his favorite chair with an exaggerated Huff. The children had been doing "chores" around the house even when he had asked them to go away and refused to tell them a new story. He was under siege and could not stand to look at sad faces anymore. Surrender was the only option Darry could think of.

Soon enough the seven children sat comfortably on huge cushions in front of the crackling fire, facing Darry. Mara, the eldest of them, repeated their request.

"Old Man Dar. Tell us about Ariana."

Darry took a few moments to polish his spectacles and then replied.

"Look, let me tell you how they met. That is very interesting." With nods of acknowledgement from the children Darry began telling the story.

"That was the year the plague had overwhelmed all of us with sudden ferocity. Sheep, goats, all small animals, even wild rabbits were falling dead. Men and women were falling sick, most of whom would never recover. Darrian along with some others had chosen to go up to Brenton City. Brenton was a big bustling place with cars alongside horse carriages and factories near the outskirts. Darrian joined up as guard with one of the stagecoach services. A couple of weeks and a few skirmishes later Darrian was offered a better job- that of a guard at The Merchant's Hall.

The ground floor of the Hall housed The Brenton Savings Bank. The first floor housed the dealers and agents of the city and the third floor was the Traders Association and Federal Office of Food and Commodities Distribution. Darrian adored the building but the people were a another matter. There was a clear distinction between the well to do traders, bankers, lawyers and such and all the others. Then among the wealthy there were a handful of people to whom nobody dared to talk back, it was clearly a feudal set up.

Darrian had been witness to more than a couple of shouting matches out side the Brenton Savings Bank. On that day the lady doing the shouting was Ariana. She was as tall as Darrian, wide shoulders tapering to a shapely waist and long legs. A strong jaw would have not suited many ladies but on her it was just right, underlining the determined scowl of her wide mouth. Before he knew it, Darrian had already walked towards her trying to get a better look at her face. She turned, noticing his approach. The startling grey eyes had turned on him and he stood frozen as she continued to speak to the manager.

"..so you do not get to tell me how to my business. The contracts are three months old and I can not raise the prices. You do not have any complaints against us for all the years we have done business, so let it be."

Darrian gathered himself to follow her as she stalked out but was snagged by a bank clerk and had to make do with asking him her name. The bank clerk replied. "That's Ariana Sheardon, They own the canning factory. But not for long Juden has us looking into the penalty clauses."

Ramon Juden was old money and one of the big guys of Brenton. He owned half the bank and had his own trading house and he managed the Merchant's Hall. He was Darrian's ultimate boss. Darrian did not have time to think much about it for the day. Darrian never got thinking about it till fifteen days later when he was returning from delivering some documents and he saw Ariana Sheardan or rather heard her throwing abuses at the bank. She was standing outside the doors angry enough to spit fire and every few seconds she would call the bank a thief, a thug, greedy pigs and worse.

Soon enough a grim faced guard stepped out and would have pushed her down the steps to the pavement but for Darrian stepping in front of Ariana. When the guard stopped short Darrian waved him to wait and turned to face Ariana.

"Miss, you need to calm down."

Ariana turned to him. " Bleeding cheats. Calm down! Hell. You had no right to take away the consignments. All our stuff for this season. Thieves you are, rich bloody thieving goons."

"Miss, I am requesting you to at least walk a few steps with me. Away from the door...Please. This is doing no good."

Darrian picked up her bag that had fallen and stepped away half turning and gesturing her towards her to follow. After some more patient persuasion Darrian led Ariana down the steps before many passerbys could gather around. They sat on a bench at the nearby Twins Cafe. Ariana went from angry to depressed barely acknowledging Darrian who was sitting beside her and was asking her to talk. Ariana was still deciding what to do and how to break this news to her sick father; she took the glass of soda Darrian had offered and only after a sip did she wake up to her surroundings.

"This is orange."

Darrian earnestly offered to change it but Ariana waved him away. "No. Its fine."

"Can you tell me about it? What happened, a few days ago I saw you walk out of the bank; telling them to stay put."

"No harm in telling it. We, my father and I, run Bluehills Canning. We mostly can meat and our suppliers, who are local farmers from around here get the animals to the factory and after a week they take the canned meat to the Navy base out west. We pay the farmers half the approximate amount three months before the culling season, so we have enough supply to run the factory for the whole month. And after the farmers take the canned meat and sell it to the Navy they return us the money plus a twenty five percent of the full amount for the canning and processing. Due to the plague scare we did not get enough animals and we asked the bank to extend a fourth of the loan amount till the autumn season. They suggested us to increase the prices but the contracts are old and we don't want to renege. Yesterday Ramon Juden sent thugs out to the factory and seized all the canned product as loan repayment. He's had his eye on the factory for years and now he's gone and snatched it up."

"If you are .... OK with it. I can try to help you keep the factory."

"You're rich?"

"No, not at all. But let me help. I can try for sure."

"You know that sleaze Juden? Who are you? How much will it cost me?"

"Not personally but I can find a way.. I think. Look, I'm just a guy who maybe in the right place. And for now it costs you nothing."

"Fine. I need to go now. Come by the factory. I am in the office till 4."

Ariana got up to leave and Darrian hastily added. "Don't tell anyone just yet."

Darrian, spent the afternoon thinking. Clerks complained and he got shouted at and his fellow workers had to cover for him but for this afternoon Darrian had only one purpose. He started thinking about things that could help Ariana. He could not steal the consignment or rob the bank- it was too difficult and too risky; and he definitely did not have much money or meat. So the alternative was to make Ramon back off or better help out. So what would push Ramon to act that way. A chance of profit... or a way to avoid losses.

Two days later Darrian knocked at the door of Ariana's office. Ariana looked pale and drawn. She took a few moments to recognize Darrian.

"Darry right! From the bank. You actually came... Come in, have a seat, please."

"So Miss, Ramon Juden will send somebody to you..."

"Why? They have loaded the trucks for delivery. The shiff is charging the navy more than double the normal rates and they have given him the cheque. The dirtbag will get much more than the loan amount. While we will have to sell out to pay the farmers."

"So, Miss.."

"Araina, is OK."

"Ariana." Darrian savored the name for a moment and then continued, embarrassed. "Juden will send somebody with new contracts dated from three days ago. Saying that the consignment and the money is both your property and the bank has allowed the extension of the loan. Tell the clerk that the bank will have to forego interest, that you can't survive with that burden. They will agree."

One of the workers knocked at the office door.

"Ma'aam. Som'un from th' bank'sh here."

Ariana looked at Darrian, eyes wide in shock. Darrian stood up and said. "Trust me." Adriana nodded and asked the worker to send him in. She then led Darrian to a smaller office and asked him to wait. After sometime Ariana came back and they went back to her office where two cups of coffee were waiting.

"So Darry what did you do?"

"I got a look at the Navy's contract. They had this penalty clause for damaged/unfit product and I knew the fear of plague infection was still a big thing. So I went to my friend, a clerk in Federal Office of Food and Commodities Distribution on the third floor and got a copy of an old test certificate saying that the animal carcass was infected and unfit for consumption."

Darrian looked up to see a gleam in Ariana's grey eyes which made her seem more alive. He continued.

"So I changed the date and the product description. And then I carried the certificate and "accidentally" bumped into the manager. I apologized and said that I was taking the certificate to the Navy Officer waiting outside. The manager did a quick read and I snatched it and rushed out. Saying that it was confidential. I saw the manager panic and rush towards the big guy's offices. I got a look at the papers as they were being typed and then hurried to you."

"You know, the Navy does not test it. We sent them the test results a week ago when we had finished the processing of the first six batches."

"But the bank does not know that."

"You defrauded the bank. You stole money from the big guy himself. Why?"

Darrian was speechless for a few moments but Ariana now a mischievous turn to her mouth continued to press on.

"You are blushing a deep red."

Darrian stood up, very nervous now. Ariana stood up and took hold of Darrian's hand and said.

"Thank You."

OK. Kids that's it. Go on now let me be in peace."

Darry slept in the chair. A smile on his face as he dreamed of his Ariana once more.

PICTURE CREDIT: PEXELS.COM