Confrontation4

    Michele didn't mind that Jessica had left her. She had something else in mind. She left her table and approached Mack behind the bar. Grabbing him, she forcibly pulled him down behind the bar and kissed him. Everyone was curious about what was going on. But before anyone could find out, a shout of indignation came from Jessica. One of the customers had accused her of picking his pocket. It was Julius. Michele, not knowing what the commotion was about, immediately went to find out.
     "I wouldn't go near enough to you to steal your purse! I don't want to get fleas!"
     "Give it back, you thieving wench!" He seized Jessica by the arm, but she broke away and hid behind Michele.
     "Ask her if I took it," she insisted, appealing to Michele. "She was watching me all the while."
     "She's in league with you, then, but I'll have it out of you anyway!" He turned on Michele. "Just you try to stop me if you dare!"
     "It's nothing to do with me!" Michele protested. "She's no friend of mine," she said to avoid a fight.
     "You're a coward as well as a thief," he goaded. By now, all other pastimes at the Eastside Tavern had stopped, as people gathered around in hopes of a fight.
     Michele was furious. Why did that little chit have to single her out to defend her? Michele knew that Jessica was not a thief, but she was too proud to refuse a public challenge. Reluctantly, she got to her feet and faced her accuser.
     "You've no knife." she said as she unsheathed her hunting knife. Though Michele was left-handed, she took the weapon in her right hand and wrapped a table cloth carefully around her left arm.
     He grinned and drew his own blade, also winding a table cloth around his free arm as a shield. The crowd made room for them and there was a murmur of excited speculation: the wagering favored Michele.
    The fighters circled warily, taking the measure of one another's speed and agility. Michele realized that her opponent was no mere tavern brawler--he handled himself too skillfully and responded too swiftly to her feints. He was in earnest, and she knew that she must either disarm him or kill him. But she couldn't risk coming before the city magistrate now. For a moment she seemed to drop her guard, uncertain, and he lunged forward at once to press his advantage. But even as he closed in, Michele flung out her lowered left arm, freeing the furled table cloth, whipping the cloth across his face, blinding him momentarily. Without a pause, she seized his wrist and twisted his arm back, kicking sharply into the side of his knee.
     When he let his knife fall, Michele stepped on it firmly, then helped him to his feet. "Perhaps you've changed your mind," she suggested. He backed away, then turned and made for the door, shouldering his way through the jeering crowd.
     Michele kicked the knife away and Mack picked it up, scowling at her. "Put up your blade, Michele," he ordered gruffly. "I won't have bloodshed in here."
     Michele shrugged and sheathed her knife. "It wasn't of my seeking. It was Je... where'd she go?" Michele, feeling that Jessica had made a fool of her, hurried out into the street, looking for her. "When I get hold of that little...."
     "I'm over here," Jessica called from across the street. Michele could just make out a slight figure, half hidden in the shadows of the alley. As she approached, Jessica drew back out of sight and waited in a dark doorway.
     "Curse you, girl! I should wring your neck for dragging me into a fight with that madman. You owe me for chasing him off."
     "It wasn't my fault. That man has hated me ever since I refused to marry him," Jessica remarked.
     "Marry you!"
     "Yes, marry me."
     "Let's leave before you and your madman get me into more trouble."
     Michele and Jessica began to walk home.

The Confrontation
Page 4

The Catherine Brosnan