The Taboo

Part III of our story. Characters are Cassie, Fr Amber Labdanum, Frankincense (Cassie's Father) and Neroli (Cassie's Mother). The characters in the story are based on natural essences, their personalities constructed around the notes of the essences they represent. How they relate represents how they various essences would go together if their notes were to mingle. Cassie is a young woman who lives alone, her father has just died and her friendship with the parish priest gets a bit "hot under the collar". We also find out more about Cassie's mother.

Fr Labdanum knocks on the front door of Cassie Lights house. He stands there for a minute or two. When nobody comes to the door he takes a couple of steps to the left and tries to see through the lace curtains. He can’t see any sign of life. He thinks for a moment and then he remembers the day Frankincense died and he was standing there waiting for Cassie to return with the front door key. Where did she go, he wonders.

He goes over to the tall black gate at the side of the house. He puts his hand through the small opening and slides the bolt open easily.

The back garden is cloaked in sunlight and as Fr Labdanum emerges from the passageway he has to shield his eyes so that he can see. He spots the black wrought iron fire escape and he looks up and notices a door at the top which is open. He can hear music. "White Ladder" by David Gray floats down to meet him as he climbs up the steps.

Fr. Amber Labdanum is in his early 30’s and despite his standing in the priesthood he still enjoys listening to contemporary music.

He coughs when he reaches the door and he gives a gentle tap.

He looks inside and he sees Cassie, with her back to him. She is standing at a small table that is strewn with wild flowers and what look like long trailing vines of dark green ivy. She is swaying her hips and her shoulders in time to the song while she is doing something with her hands. “This years lovin’ better last, heaven knows it’s high time…”

“Cassie” Fr Labdanum calls. Cassie turns and smiles when she see him standing there.

An hour passes and the pair are still talking. Cassie’s beautiful wild flower arrangement is on the table and the room is filled with fragrance of wild irises and meadowsweet. Fr Labdanum is leaning back on the sofa, comfortable, with one leg thrown up across his thigh. Cassie is sitting on the footstool opposite him with her knees drawn up close to her chest. She is leaning towards him.

“I don’t remember your mother” Fr labdanum says, “It was only yourself and Frank were here when I came to the parish. Do you know much about her?” he asks Cassie gently. Cassie gets up and goes to her bedside locker. She takes a small photo frame and comes back and sits beside Fr Labdanum on the sofa. She holds the photo frame up so that he can see it and strokes the glass with her thumb to clean away some dust. “This is my mother” Cassie says “Her name was Neroli. Wasn’t she beautiful?”

Cassie looks into Fr Labdanum’s face, taking in his expression as he looks at the photo. Fr Labdanum looks at the faded picture of a young woman who is sitting under a canopy of trees, she is wearing a white dress and a floppy summer hat. She is smiling. “You are the image of her” Fr Labdanum says to Cassie.

“She died the day I was born” Cassie explains, “my father stopped speaking when she died. My Aunt raised me on a farm in Wicklow and she passed away when I was 17. There was no where else for me to go so I came back home. My father brought me up here to this part of the house. He showed me where I could cook my food and where I could sleep, I had some money from my Aunt which kept me going until I got a job.”

“My Aunt told me about my mother”, Cassie continued, “she told me that she had a beautiful singing voice and that she was a wonderful dancer. She told me that my mother was delicate from the time she was born and that she was too frail for this world”. Cassie gets up again and puts the photo frame back on her bedside table. She takes her yellow dress from the wardrobe and holds it up against her to show the priest. “When my father gave me this dress he spoke the only words he ever said to me. "Wear this and you may visit me every Sunday at noon'”. Cassie looks at Father Labdanum, his expression reflects the sadness she feels. She looks down at the yellow fabric of the dress, “It was my mothers dress” she says, and she tries to smile, but instead her eyes well up with tears and a lump forms in her throat. Fr Labdanum gets up from where he is sitting, he goes to Cassie and puts his arms out to her. She walks into him and he holds her. With her head pressed against his chest she cries. Fr Labdanum strokes her soft hair. Slowly, Cassie feels the tears subside. She notices the coarse wool of Fr Labdanum's black tunic and she smells the warm churchy incense from his clothes mixing with the deep musky smell of his skin.

Cassie lifts her head, there is a moment when they both know that they should pull away. Instead Fr Labdanum looks down into Cassie’s face. Her skin is shiny from tears and her cheeks are flushed pink. He takes a deep breath full of longing and Cassie stands on her tip toes and kisses him softly on his lips. She kisses him again and again and he cannot resist her. He can smell her skin like soft flowers and he is unable to think. He kisses her and soon the two of them are pulling at each others clothes and their breaths are hot and heavy.

Cassie takes Fr Labdanum to her bed, and he tells her to call him Amber. They make love tenderly and hopelessly until the place is in darkness.

To be continued…

The Demise of Frankincense (St Patricks Avenue Part 2 - see part 1 below)

It is just an ordinary Sunday morning for Cassie.

She never really looks forward to her stoic visits to her father, but it's the only day she is permitted to see the old man at all and so she has learned to make the most of it. Her father is able-bodied enough but he employs a home help who comes in three times a week to do his shopping, washing and cleaning.

Frank is well equipped to light the fire himself every evening and cook simple meals.

Cassie lies in bed for a few minutes before getting up to do her yoga stretches. Then she washes at her washbasin and puts on her yellow woolen dress. The material is scratchy against her bare arms but on this cold February morning she is glad of its warmth.

She sits down at her small table and looks out at the tops of the trees as she eats her breakfast. A bowl of museli pre-soaked in almond milk topped with some freshly sliced banana and drizzled with organic honey. She chews every mouthful well as she calmly contemplates her surroundings.

There is a gentle hush in the air. It's unusual enough that the birds are not chirping away outside but even more unusual is the tiny robin that alights on the window ledge and presses his soft brown head against the glass. Cassie goes to open the window and the robin flies away and lands on the nearest branch, his head cocks to one side and then the other as if he is searching Cassie's face for some sort of explanation. Cassie laughs and leaves the window a little open as she goes to check the time.

At 3 minutes to 12.00 Cassie leaves her upstairs sanctuary. By 1 minute to 12.00 she is standing on her Fathers doorstep waiting to ring the doorbell. Her queue is sound of the bells of St Patrick’s church.

It's always the same. She could count her heartbeats until she hears the creaking of the door of the front room opening and the sound of Frank’s slippers shuffling along the tiles of the hall.

Something is wrong. After one heartbeat too many Cassie knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that something is gravely amiss.

She goes to the front window and her heart is in her mouth. She presses her face up to the glass to see if she can make out anything through the thick lace curtain. She can see shadows. She can see the large form of her father sitting in his chair by the fireplace. His head is slumped to one side.

Cassie reacts and bangs on the window loudly with her knuckles. The hairs are standing up on the back of her neck. She presses her face closer to see if there is any movement. There is none.

She looks up and down the avenue. The last few mass goers are trailing behind late for 12 o’ clock service. In shock Cassie runs to the end of the avenue through the silver church gates and into the churchyard. She hurries over to the open doors of the chapel and as she approaches she can hear the choir singing “Hosanna In Excelsis ".

Mass is over. Cassie is in a daze. She walks to the altar and enters the sacristy at the side. Father Ladanum is disrobing and has his back turned. "Father" Cassie calls him softly. "Excuse me?"

Father Labdanum turns and looks at her. His dark eyes are deep and warm and Cassie feels her knees going weak. The priest rushes forward to take her arm and leads her to the nearby chair. He sees how pale and shaken she is. He bends down on his haunches and looks into her face. He strokes her hair back and tilts his head to one side as if to listen. She can see his black priest’s shirt and collar underneath the white robe that is partially open at the front. She can smell the anointing oils mingled with the musky smell of his skin.

"It's my Father." Cassie says quietly "I think something is wrong with him."

"You're Cassie Light aren't you?" the priest asks.

Cassie nods her head.

"Where is your Father?" he asks her.

"He didn't come to the door”, she answers as if in a trance, “my Sunday visit, he didn't come to the door, he always does. I can see in through the window and I can see he is there in his chair. He's not moving. His head is crooked, oh my god, my father, I have to get back to him"

Cassie rambles, her words are tumbling out of her mouth and fear grips her heart as she suddenly feels she has to go back.

She gets up to leave.

'I'll come with you" Father Labdanum says.

"Have you a key for the house?"

A light went on in Cassie's head and she feels stupid for not remembering sooner. There is a key to the front door in her mother's china trinket box on the bookcase beside her bed.

Father Labdanum waits by the front door while Cassie gets the key. His presence is strong and comforting as Cassie opens the door and enters the house.

Frankincense is dead. They find him as they expected to, sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace. His feet are positioned perfectly. Cassie goes to straighten his head and finds that she cannot.  He is stone cold.

Frankincense is cremated. His ashes are sprinkled in Galway bay. The funeral is small. Cassie meets some old relatives who are very sorry for her loss. They go back to the house after the service and drink tea in the front room. Father Labdanum is there too. When everybody is gone he asks Cassie if she is all right and then he leaves too. Cassie stares at her father’s chair. She closes her eyes and the air smells as if he is still here. The silence tells her nothing has changed. She sits in her chair by the window. She cries and nobody hears.

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To be continued soon: Find out about Cassie’s past, her mother, the secret behind her Fathers strange behavior and Cassie and Father Labdanum get closer.

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Labdanum from Cistus landaniferus: Labdanum comes from the natural exudation of the plant Cistus landaniferus which is a small shrub growing wild in countries of the Mediterranean and the middle east. It grows well near the sea. The Labdanum gum or resinous material is further extracted by solvents to form an absolute. The absolute is commonly used in as a fixative in perfumes of the amber classification. Stefan Arctander says of Labdanum Resin Absolute on P 333 of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin: “The odor of labdanum is sweet, herbaceous-balsamic, somewhat ambra-like and slightly animalic, rich and tenacious.”