Kate & Leopold

von Marcus Krug

Kate and Leopold used to be inseparable. Which is quite an achievement when you take into account that their relationship is that of daughter and foster dad. But that was long ago. It was before Ailbhe died, and she is dead twenty years now.

“Hey there, can I borrow a lighter?” The boy said, sneaking up on Kate on the dimly lit platform of a rundown suburban train station.

“What? …Hey, a lighter, you say. … Of course, here you go!” And Kate lit the cigarette sticking out of the boy’s face.

“Thanks.” The boy with the greasy hair said. It was raining and the water was dripping off his highly hydrophobic head. “It’s quite something, isn’t?!” But Kate, who was the only other person on the platform with him, didn’t respond. “The weather, I mean.”

“Yeah, the rain is quite something.” Kate said, not really in the mood for small talk. It was early in the morning – a Monday morning at that. And it was Ailbhe’s birthday. The home-made cake was in her bag on the bench next to her. He will be so excited about the cake, Kate thought, it is his favourite, which is actually rather strange, since it is her birthday. But she would have been happy with that.

“You aren’t really the talkative type, are you?” The boy again. “My name is Andrew, by the way.”

“Kate’s the name, and it’s a pleasure.”

“Okay, I’m just in a binged up mood for a chat while we’re waiting for the train. But if you don’t want to, just say the word, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, you won’t.” Kate said, smirking. “And since we’re waiting for the same train, we might as well kill some time chatting.”

“Well, you’re taking the six thirty train, too? Where are you going?”

“The last stop.”

“What a coincidence, me too. What are you doing there? Are you going to the correctional facilities?”

“Yes, I am on my way to the prison, visiting someone. And you, are you visiting somebody, as well?”

“No, today is my first day. I am starting my new job there. I am the new kitchen hand.” Andrew said, beaming.

“Oh, the new kitchen help. How old are you anyway? You look like fifteen, tops.”

“No, I am actually twenty years old. Well, technically speaking I am still nineteen. But I am in my twentieth year, which I will have completed on Friday. So I am more or less twenty.” Andrew chuckled. And Kate, she didn’t respond, because she wasn’t even listening.

Ailbhe had left them the same year this boy was born. Twenty years ago. The same year he went to prison. Kate blinked away some tears. But today is her birthday not the day she died, and it is something that keeps us together, Kate thought, and I’ll be able to spend some time with him. Now Kate could even smile in anticipation.

“Who are you visiting in the prison?”

“Leopold, my dad. But he doesn’t belong there.”

“Most of them don’t, I suppose. What’s he in prison for?”

“God damn it! The fucking train is late, as always!” Kate cursed to divert from the unpleasant subject. More herself than the boy.

“Yeah, I suppose, I am going to be late on my first day in the new job. But I don’t really care, you know, because we’ll drown anyway, anytime soon. It’s been chucking it down for almost forty days, and if we don’t make it to the big ship, we’ll get washed away by the great flood.” Andrew laughed.

There was nothing that could have prevented their story from resurfacing, not even the boy’s terrible jokes. Twenty years ago Leopold had been accused of child abuse and manslaughter. The trail had torn the small family into shreds. Ailbhe knew that Leopold was innocent and this was so hard on her that it killed her even before the unjust end of this horrible trail.

“What’s Leopold, I mean your dad, in prison for?” The boy didn’t let go. And after a little while of silence he added “If you don’t want to talk about it – it’s fine with me.”

Leopold had been a preschool teacher for many years, until one day a girl was found dead in a shed on the school premises. There were also signs that the girl had been raped before she was smothered to death with her own parka. As the only male teacher in the small school, the spotlight was, of course, on Leopold. Even though Leopold was very popular with the children in the school, most of the girls said that he had been touching them and had asked them to do things they didn’t want to do. And that they were afraid, so they obeyed. They accused him, because they thought it was expected from them. For the grown-ups usually know what they are doing, right?! However, when the girls wanted to withdraw their statements, because they saw that it wasn’t right and what the baseless accusations were doing to Kate, Leopold and Ailbhe, the school counsellor said that they were traumatised by the terrible events, but still must speak the truth, which was to identify Leopold as the offender.

“Well then, it was nice talking to you but you look really spaced out right now, so I leave you to yourself.” Andrew said, putting out the cigarette on the bench’s armrest, and leaning back.

Kate had come to Ailbhe and Leopold at the age of two as their foster child. By the time of the accusations she was five. Kate had never had any situations where Leopold had touched her inappropriately. Of course, Leopold liked physical contact, but he was never the awkward touchy-feely type. Anyway, this shouldn’t be the basis of a witch hunt like this. But it was, and in the end they even found particles of his skin under the dead girl’s fingernails. How it got there, Leopold did not know, since he did not do it. But this did not prevent the jury and the judge from convicting him of child abuse and manslaughter.

“Jesus F. Christ! It’s a quarter past seven, and now the train is coming, finally. If we get there without any further delay, I’ll still be late as fuck!” Andrew fumed, now a little bit less relaxed than before.

For Kate it was slightly different, she wouldn’t be late in the sense Andrew was running late. But if the train took its usual one and a half hours to get there, she would only have ten minutes left of her assigned time slot to celebrate Ailbhe’s birthday and eat the cake with Leopold. But this was, of course, exclusive the time needed for the security procedure when entering the facilities.