2 - Turncoat

Lance took a sip of the dark, bitter brew, “Turncoat. That’s what I’ve been labelled by the leaders.” He huffed staring at his reflection in the almost pitch black americano. He saw his nearly pitch-black hair with eyes almost as dark as the americano contrasting against his pale skin. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt, and black jeans, still feeling demoralized after what happened.

Owen sighed, “Yeah, I heard. I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me, but I am sorry for what they did and how they treated you. They weren’t willing to listen.”

Lance studied Owen for a moment. Although he had taught him for so long, since they were both members of the same association, he was a bit suspicious. At the same time though, Owen was a different kind of mentor than others of this group. He was much more willing to challenge the status quo and had even thought of leaving recently too due to a few other reasons in the background of this association. Owen was a tall, slim man with straight silver hair and emerald green eyes. As part of the culture, and for being a member, he wore a silken scarf around his neck with an eagle, wings outspread symbol, embroidered on each end. Lance couldn’t stomach wearing his scarf after what happened, so he did what was considered very counter-cultural, by not wearing a scarf at all. It meant that he wasn’t a member, or part of any association. Owen wore a loose fitting plain black shirt with a terrible dad-joke style pun on it with a picture of a bear lying down on it, saying, ‘This is just un-bear-able’. He also had a pair of long blue jeans, a black belt, and a pair of gold framed glasses on.

Lance turned his head away to the staff behind the counter, day dreaming for a moment as Owen’s words sank in.

              The pair of them sat in a well-lit café on a bright morning after their shifts were done. It was so early that there was almost no-one there. The only other people that passed by were the occasional fellow early riser out walking with one of their animals. A light mist danced along the path’s surface outside. Inside, some light jazz played in the background while the coffee and barista machines roared and screamed with life while the staff were chatting and getting things ready for a morning rush likely to come at some point soon. With a modernized décor, there were lots of wooden seats and dining tables, however, Owen and Lance sat in dark green single chair sofas by the tall windows with a low coffee table in front of them. Lots of paintings were on a feature wall of all sorts of different characters, while another wall had various posters and events going on in the local area, and the wafting smells of breakfast foods filled the room.

              Lance came back to himself, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, but still I feel…” He reached and rubbed the side and back of his neck, recalling the trauma for an instant, before disregarding it, and pushing the darker thoughts out of his mind.

“That moment still haunting you? I can’t say it doesn’t surprise me. But to think that the leadership had enough power to even get you to think that, that was the best answer is ridiculous. It’s disgusting. No follow-up, and no accountability, but I guess that’s the nature of leadership in a lot of organizations, especially like the association we –”

Lance interrupted sharply to correct him, “You. The association you are in. I am no longer part of it.” He said pointing to his bare neck. The words still hurt to say, but since Lance felt like he had no place there, and was just cast aside, he already knew he couldn’t and wouldn’t return, even if he had been a member for so many years. The thing that surprised Lance the most though, was that almost everyone followed what the leaders’ said, basically without question. As soon as he was labelled, ‘a turncoat’, everyone saw, and treated him differently. By not following through with the oath he was so sure he would fulfill, almost all the others turned against him. Lance continued, “I just couldn’t see it working out. No matter what I did, no matter what path I envisioned, it was always going to end badly. So, I thought it would just be best to ‘rip the bandage off’, otherwise, both of us would have been miserable. We could have even had kids, and if things went downhill, it would be even worse for them.

              Owen took another deep breath and leaned forward, almost as if he would get in trouble if he said this out loud, or if anyone heard, even though there was only them and the staff, although one or two of them were members of the same association as them, “For the record, I think you were brave to do what you did.”

Lance scoffed, “Brave? How? Only cowards are considered turncoats and promise-breakers.”

Owen shook his head, “Simple really. You asked for help, you looked for answers, you tried to find a solution to make things work, but they didn’t. So instead of deciding to stay, or worse, become more miserable, you decided to take action. You could even say that, even though it hurt, what you chose to do now was kinder to the both of you in the long run. Imagine if you kept that oath and were sad for such a long time afterwards only to have those kids and then be involved in a separation. How much worse would it be? By choosing to break the oath now, you prevented a lot of future pain. And that was a brave decision to make. Just like when you’ve tried and been brave in other areas we talked about in the past. Back then, you didn’t even know what to do, or how to do it, but you knew you had to at least try. And man, that takes guts, commitment, and action, so don’t let the leadership’s label hold you down.” He paused, pondering about how to encourage Lance, “This could be a new start.” He motioned for Lance to follow his gaze down to his latte. Owen took the end of a spoon and stuck it in the foam, “Sometimes in life, we see one picture, like this fern here. We expect ourselves to be like all the others and be something like this, but…” He started to elegantly guide the silky foam with the teaspoon’s tip, “Life doesn’t always work out like that. Things happen, and we have to let things go, grow, and move on. What’s the phrase a lot of your generation used? I think it went, ‘Shit happens, but it is what you do afterwards that counts.’?”

Lance chuckled, “Yeah, something like that.”

Owen finished the foam art piece with a few gentle strokes, “Well, that part of the picture is only one life event, but in fact, you were being made into something different all along.” He delicately took out the spoon and the white foam fern had been morphed and guided to look like a swan instead, and turned it to him, “See.”

Lance stared at the coffee, then back at Owen and raised an eyebrow, “You really love your metaphors, don’t you?” He said with a chuckle.

“You know I do.”

“I never get how you are able to do that, change something bad that I see, and see the good in it. How do you do that?”

“Time and practice. Just got to learn to see the good, and the opportunities. So, what do you see now?” Owen inquired.

Lance sighed and sat back in his chair, swirling the americano before relishing its flavor as he drank more of it and set it back on the table, “I think –”

“Stop.” Owen interjected, “Before you answer, what does your gut tell you?”

“My gut? What do you mean?”

“Well, we all have a few instinct types we follow. First is the head, its logical and analytical, the one you use best. The second is the heart, its all feelings based. The third is less discussed, the gut. This instinct is different from either heart or head. It’s more like an intuition. Like a personal insight that isn’t guided by conscious reasoning, or by feelings/emotions. An innate sense of knowing what to do next. So, try that again, what do you see as your next step?”

“By gut instinct? Actually, that’s surprisingly clear.”

“Go on.”

“Start a new life. In a new place. A fresh start. Plus, if I don’t take this opportunity now, I’m not sure if it will ever come back. I think I would just get tied here.”

Owen clapped him on the shoulder, “I think a fresh start is a great idea. Good on you. I really admire people who are willing to take risks and go. Plus, you’ve been mentored by me long enough anyway. It’s time for you to stretch your wings and really explore what it’s like out there. You can’t be here forever.”

Lance chuckled again, “Come on now, you would have given the same answer irrespective of what I said.”

“No. No I wouldn’t. You know that all to well. I taught you after all. It’s my job to be honest with you, and to help you grow as a person, and look at you. Now you’ve grown.”

Lance turned his gaze upward and smiled. Owen, for the first time saw hope, and a gleam in Lance’s eyes. It was the first time in the last few months he saw it, and it was nice to see that familiar, genuine smile again. The sun peeked behind some morning clouds, giving a fresh beam to illuminate his face. Owen just sat and basked in Lance’s glow for a moment, happy to see him with a fresh new view on life. “Do you know where you want to go?”

“Actually, yes, there’s an archipelago far away from here that I want to visit, maybe I could start there. It’s a huge series of islands connected by bridges going both above and below the water. I found out I have some distant relatives over there not too long ago, you know, like long, lost family types. I wanted to go over and visit them and start from there.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s called Eystrandene. Have you heard of it?”

Owen’s eyes widened, “Heard of it, I own an apartment on one of the main islands! Actually…” He fumbled around in his pockets and brought out a set of keys, “I can get another key cut today for you, but if you want a homebase, why not use my place? I only go there in their summers when it is our winter, but if you want a place, it’s there for you to use. It would be nice to have someone as an apartment-sitter anyway. Better than it being unoccupied this whole time, plus I know you will keep it clean.”

Lance was taken aback by the offer, “Yeah, that would be amazing, thank you!”

Owen reached out a hand and Lance took it in tow, “Wonderful, it’s agreed then. We can get both our ends ready, make a plan and go from there. I’ll get in contact with one of my friends who was checking on the place each week, and we can make this happen. She can welcome you to the area and show you around as well. Plus, I’m sure we’ll meet again through Gui-” He cut himself off, remembering he couldn’t say anything about it. Owen pretended he had something stuck in his throat and cleared it to cover what he was about to say.

“You alright?” Lance asked, you sounded like you were trying to finish a sentence and cut yourself off.”

“Hmm?” Owen answered. He paused, then shook his head and laughed, “No, sorry! It’s escaped my brain. But either way, we will meet again. That I’m sure of. Always got video chats after all.”

“True.”

The pair sat down again and just enjoyed being in the café, in each other’s company, the comfort of the seats, and the warmth of their coffees, pondering about the future ahead.

              A few minutes passed, and the door behind them opened, interrupting their silence; the bell above the door chiming the presence of a customer. Her high heels clomping on the floor stood out prominently from all the other noises in the café. She made her order, received her coffee and turned around to see Lance and Owen. Her countenance changed from one of joy, to fury. She placed the coffee down, and started to menacingly approach the pair of them, the intensity aimed completely at Lance. She stopped in front of them, “YOU!” She almost screamed at Lance. The staff, Lance, and Owen all suddenly stopped and stared at her, “YOU TURNCOAT! How dare you break her heart!” She pointed a finger at Lance, her hand shaking with anger towards him before letting it down, and placing her hands on her hips. She glanced over at Owen, “I’m sorry you have to see this Owen, but this has to be said.” She said trying to dismiss her own foul, childish behaviour, “We don’t want turncoats like you polluting our association! You’re right to not wear our scarf. You don’t belong!”

Lance had gotten sick and tired of this labelling from over the last few weeks. He felt such disdain about even still being a member, and so much shame about this ‘turncoat’ label, that he couldn’t even stomach wearing it anymore. He remained silent and waited.

“What’s wrong? Got nothing to say? I wouldn’t either I suppose after deciding that your own selfish desires were more important than keeping a relationship alive and thriving. What a quitter. Gives up at the first sign of trouble.”

Owen interjected, “Stop this, look at what you’re doing. You’re disturbing the staff here, and we just want to enjoy-”

“This turncoat doesn’t have any right to ‘enjoy’ things like this after scarring someone else for life, and being cowardly enough to not even try. Turncoat and quitter, that’s all you are.”

Owen was about to continue, but Lance raised a hand calmly and politely to have him not answer on his behalf. Owen was impressed. He had never seen Lance with that much confidence before.

Lance’s gaze shifted back to the woman and he glared at her with a malevolence he never even knew he had in him, “How is it going in that ignorant little world of yours? I guess it must be pretty nice.”

“Why you disrespectful piece of-”

He stood up, “Furthermore,” he said cutting her off before she could finish her malicious taunting, “I don’t ponder about the uninformed opinions of naïve children so biased that they can’t even bother to question if what they interpret is correct.”

The woman felt her blood boiling, “How dare you speak to me like that!” She drew her hand back sharply, ready to deliver indignation, and with a swift, resolute motion, swung her open palm forward, aiming for Lance’s cheek.

However, Lance caught her wrist to stop the assault, gently pushing the arm away and continuing his argument. He completely disregarded her violent attempt, like it was nothing but a meaningless trivial matter to him, “Tell me something. How is this changing anything? What does it prove? What does taunting, and trying to attack me give you?”

“Proof. Proof, that I am willing to stand up for my friend and give you what you deserve.”

“Is it though?” Lance asked, “If so, how? Do you even really know her if you think she can’t stand up for herself? Or that she needs you to stand up for her?”

“She’s in a place of hurting so someone has to do something! You are the bad guy here! You deserve to be punished, not her!”

Lance sighed again, “If you really think this world is so black and white, then just get out. There’s nothing further to discuss. You’ve proven nothing there other than you’re just a naïve child who hasn’t grown up yet.”

Her scowl deepened, “Nothing further to discuss? You broke her heart! You are the one in the wrong!”

“Did you ever stop and ask yourself why I broke her heart, that there might not be malicious intent behind it? That there isn’t even a ‘bad side’ in this situation?”

“Hmph. No. You are wrong and that’s that.” She tossed one end of her scarf over her shoulder, returned for her coffee and left without another word.

Owen rose to his feet and laid a hand between Lance’s shoulder-blades. All the staff behind the counter were frozen, staring at them. A woman in a suit wearing the same scarf as the association Owen was a member of, started to applaud, then Owen joined in, and the other staff members followed suit.

The woman in the suit ceased her applause, then calmly and confidently strode over to Owen and Lance, both of them being the only customers now. She pulled over a chair to sit down, and motioned for them to do the same. Owen and Lance did so respectfully.

The woman introduced herself, “My name is Kari. I am the owner of this café. What you just did, was very impressive. You stood up to her. You could have chosen violence, but didn’t, even when she did. You used cleverly chosen words to try and teach her, while defending yourself at the same time. I am very impressed. Here.” She handed Lance a business card, “If you ever need me, contact me. Owen here knows me as well. We are both well connected.” Owen was surprised, she knew that Kari was very protective of her businesses, and especially her contact details. Kari continued, “If you need me, contact me. I might be calling on you in the future too.” She winked, “I’ve rarely seen such effective conflict management and communication skills done in real time. Also…” She stood, and came back with two menus, “Order what you like for breakfast. That and the coffees are on the house for both of you.” She looked at Lance one last time and extended a hand. She recognized him, and noticed his lack of the association’s scarf.

Lance took and shook her hand firmly and politely, “Lance.”

“A pleasure to meet you Lance.” She said releasing his hand, “I remember seeing you with Owen now. I will definitely remember you from this point onward. It’s sad to see our association have someone so bright, feel like they have to leave due to misguided leadership. This will need to be addressed.” She clapped her hands together, “But that’s for another time. For now though, please, enjoy the rest of your stay here.” She turned back to the gawking staff, “Well, what are you standing around for? Back to it! Customers are on the way, and when these two order, I want the best possible breakfast you’ve ever made, made for them!”