The Cavaliers-Ethan Booker

“On the evening of the 15^th (November 1864) the entire city of Atlanta was committed to the flames.”

–Unknown Historian

Nathan Cavalier is outside his father’s plantation house watching the media circus clambering behind the broad wrought-iron gate at the foot of the hill, the sun setting behind them. He rocks quietly in his father’s chair, smiling at the falling star fading orange to red to purple to black. Tomorrow evening Nathan will duel a Confederate Lieutenant for the love of a girl he cannot love. But tonight Nathan Cavalier is in high spirits for the first time in a long while. His father just passed away and he is the new President of Cavalier Rum. Nathan smiles as his mother wails inside, flashbulbs going off at the bottom of the hill.

A week prior, on a Friday, Franklin Cavalier is sitting on the front lawn sipping iced tea, looking out onto his seven hundred acres of sugarcane fields. His fortune. Cavalier Rum is the cheapest lousiest booze in the region. But they sold assloads of it, and the Cavaliers quickly became the biggest name in Atlanta. They made all their money on capital because slaves took care of the rest: the planting, harvesting, and processing of sugarcane into delicious (well, decent) Cavalier Rum.

The Cavaliers have been pressured by board members to stop all the company’s slave labor and set the workers free. Northern abolitionists have brought much media attention to their picketing of the company and business has slowed to a halt. Nathan, the future President of Cavalier Rum, is insisting on the release of all slaves to appease the shareholders, but Franklin Cavalier won’t budge. He feels stepping down now would emasculate his image in the public eye. Nathan is hoping that the company won’t completely go under before his dad does. Franklin Cavalier had been consigned to a wheelchair since a slave uprising on a neighbor’s plantation ten years prior. No slaves were responsible for Franklin’s paralysis, though he hated them nevertheless. Slipping on a cow paddy may look hilarious but it can, on the odd occasion, paralyze you from the waist down.

That night Franklin, his youngest son Patrick, and Lt. Gen. Meriweather Warkilling are enjoying some Cavalier Rum when Nathan and his cousin, Nikola Allison, come indoors from an evening stroll on the plantation grounds. Niki sits down with Mr. Cavalier and Warkilling takes Nathan aside with some good news. The Lieutenant is smiling, busting with joy.

“You know how your father keeps badgering me about finding a date, getting hitched? Well I think I just solved all that. Your cousin, Nikola.”

Nathan bites his tongue. “Fuck!”

He looks around the room as all conversation stops, and he clears his throat. “Um, it’s Niki actually, and do you really think she’s the one for you?”

“Well your father’s not all that jazzed about me and her, but god. I mean, didn’t you see that chemistry between us?”

Nathan stares blankly at the Lieutenant. “Yeah it was unmistakeable.”

A few hours earlier on the front lawn Warkilling had introduced himself to Nikola. “Oh my god, I think I just had a War of Northern Aggression in my pants.”

Franklin slaps his forehead and Nikola fights back a smile.

Warkilling puffs his chest out. “Yeah, she pretty much wants me. Hey too bad she’s your cousin, huh?”

Warkilling slaps Nathan on the back and Nathan winces as Warkilling makes his way towards Niki.

Patrick creeps up behind Nathan and jumps him with a tap on the shoulder. “I need you to help hide me. I can’t go to war.”

Franklin had signed Patrick up to fight for the Confederacy, build his character. Nathan takes his brother, still in uniform, and helps him go AWOL in the very home they grew up in.

In their father’s study (a room their father had never ventured to), Nathan pours out his heart to his younger sibling who’s not exactly too sharp on the uptake.

“But wait wait wait a minute brother. She’s your cousin!”

“I know, that’s the crux of the problem Patrick. She’s completely off-limits. It’s deeper than that though, there’s this connection.”

Patrick is taken aback. “You connected naughty bits?!”

Nathan shakes his head. “No, not a literal connection and I can’t believe you still call them naughty bits. It’s a deeply ingrained spiritual connection.”

Patrick nods like he’s understanding. “Oh, so like ghosts?”

Nathan throws up his hands and gets up off the recliner. “Yeah, like ghosts Patrick. Honestly, talking to you is like talking to you.”

Nathan tucks Patrick in for the night.

Saturday morning Nathan is bringing some ham hocks up to the study when he spots a plain-dressed man who thinks he’s sneaking by undetected. He tiptoes down the hallway and slowly slinks by Nathan holding his hand over his face, he then breaks into a sprint for the backyard. William Graham slinks out the backdoor to where Corinthea Cavalier is enjoying the rays. As Nikola’s ex-fiancee he has no interest in running into her this afternoon but he is willing to risk exposure for Corinthea, the young Cavalier girl who’s stolen his heart. They escape to a gazebo on the other side of the plantation, out of the sight of William’s ex-fiancee.

That night after dinner Nathan escorts Niki through the halls of his father’s art gallery, pausing to pontificate on each portrait.

“You certainly do know a lot about art.”

Nathan grins. “Well I enjoy beautiful things. I see something of great beauty and I must have it.”

Niki blushes. “Oh you must, must you?”

“Fraid so.”

Niki squeezes Nathan’s hand in hers and pulls him closer. “So tell me the truth Nathan.”

His gulp is audible.

“Is there really a ghost in this mansion? Your sister says so.”

Nathan exhales loudly. “My sister’s nuts, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Corinthea’s been sheltered, spoiled her whole life. She doesn’t know up from down.”

Just then an unearthly moaning floats down the hallway to the couple and Niki turns white as a sheet. Nathan slaps his forehead. Patrick. Niki clenches her hand tighter to Nathan’s. “What was that?”

“That? That was the ghost, I’m gonna go tell him to shut up.”

In Franklin’s study, Patrick apologizes for the noise. “I thought we decided the ghost call would signal you to come upstairs.”

Nathan glances at his brother out of the corner of his eye. “Are you sure you were talking with me and not yourself? Now Niki thinks this place is haunted.”

“Well at least my ghost call worked. You’re up here and she’s none the wiser.”

Nathan sits down in a big plush leather love seat. “I don’t know about none the wiser. People are starting to ask questions about my trips up here. Luckily they usually forget the next day, because I’m surrounded by idiots. So what do you want Patrick?”

Patrick glances up from the local newspaper. “Want? Oh nothing, this was just a test run. The

next one will be real.”

Nathan stares at his brother, then turns to leave. “Well, I’ll be looking forward to that.”

Nathan walks back downstairs to see Niki deep in conversation in the parlor with Lt. Warkilling. He silently curses Patrick’s name and continues on to the kitchen.

Sunday afternoon Nathan and his younger sister Corinthea are lying down in the backyard staring up at the clouds. Slave songs curl up over the valley from the fields below and Nathan taps his toes to the rhythm.

“We gotta get those guys outta here. Dad’s not dying anytime soon, but our help is.”

Corinthea curls her black locks round her pinky. “Do you think Tucker likes me?”

Nathan’s head pops up “Tucker? The new driver? You know you’re off limits Cor.”

Corinthea smirks. “That didn’t stop the last two drivers.” She giggles and bites her bottom lip. Nathan leans up on one elbow. “Yeah it did. Our father had them killed remember?”

Corinthea frowns, glancing over at Nathan. “He said he had them transferred.”

Nathan falls back into the lush grass. “Listen sis, Dad listens to you, for whatever reason that is. You’ve gotta get on him about this.”

Corinthea frowns again, still confused. “About Tucker?”

Nathan clenches his fists, knuckles white. “No, about the hundreds of slaves we have working out in those fields.”

Corinthea sits up and tucks her knees under her chin, watching the canefields. “Theyre so cheap though. Why do we have to let them go?”

“Because they’re human beings Corinthea and you don’t treat human beings like this. They have no hope for a future here.”

Corinthea picks a dandelion and blows the seeds up into the air. “Well why does daddy call them lazy n-words?”

Nathan takes his sister by the shoulders. “Corinthea there’s something you need to know about dad. He’s an asshole.”

“Nathan!”

Nathan and his sister, laughing, stand up to see their mother standing behind them.

“How long have you been back there Ma?”

Evelyn scowls at her son. “Long enough, now let me steal your sister. Don’t you have work to do?”

Nathan had been working for Cavalier Rum since he was old enough to walk. Delivering rum as a boy and managing various financial affairs as a man. His work had gone highly underappreciated for years and he had given up on advancement long ago, knowing he wouldn’t have any real power until his father passed on. He was ready to take the helm, but others including his father doubted he had the requisite skills.

After dinner Niki, Nathan, and the Lieutenant are all huddled in the den and Warkilling is bragging about his experience during the Wars in Mexico until Mrs. Cavalier calls Niki up to bed. The two men are left to their own machinations as Niki bids them a fond adieu. Warkilling smiles broadly at Nathan. “So? Whaddya think? Is she not all over me or what?”

Nathan smiles, thinking back to earlier that night.

“Jeez Nikola, you really packed it away at dinner there didn’t you?”

Nathan slaps his forehead and Niki feigns temporary deafness.

“Yeah she really thinks you’re something,” Nathan deadpans.

“You’re damn right something. I’m probably gonna drop by early tomorrow and pay a little visit to your comely cousin. Give her the old Tallahassee Shuffle.”

Nathan stares at Warkilling. “Please don’t tell me what that means.”

Nathan pours himself a drink and passes out in his bed upstairs.

Monday afternoon Nikola joins her cousin Nathan on the front steps. “I had your mom tell Meriweather I was sick today, I couldn’t bear another dreadful conversation with the man.”

Nathan rubs the nape of his neck and stares out at the mountains. “Poor guy, I kinda feel sorry for him, I mean my brother got called up before he did.”

Niki wrinkles her brow, elbowing Nathan in the side. “Liar. You’re brother’s in the second floor study.”

“I gotta find a better hiding place, how’d you know?”

Nikola glances at him skeptically. “That ghost call wasn’t very convincing.”

Nathan looks down at his feet, before gazing into her eyes. “But you were all scared, you knew?”

Niki smiles and quickly jerks her head away blushing. She puts her hand on his and leans against his shoulder but is snapped back into reality by a whipcrack and a loud neigh to their left.

Lt. Warkilling’s horse rears up its legs and grunts at the two cousins on the front steps and Niki gets up to greet Warkilling, whispering to Nathan on the way up. “I gotta find a better hiding place.”

She smiles and pets his horse. “Meriweather, I didn’t expect to see you today.”

Meriweather? Nathan mouths to himself in disgust as he gets up and turns around to go back in the house.

Patrick with nothing better to do listens in from the study window overlooking the front lawn. Warkilling bounds off his steed and takes Nikola’s hands in his. “Nikola I need you madly.”

“That’s a beautiful horse, is that Persian?”

He strikes his heart and caresses her hair. “I can’t bear another day without you.”

“Now do you just feed him oats? Or do you buy some sort of special feed?”

Warkilling drops to his knee. “Will you marry me Nikola Allison?”

Nikola’s eyes bug out, and there’s an alarmed honk from the upstairs window. Niki glances up and quickly returns her gaze to Warkilling. “Is it getting chilly out here? I feel like it’s getting chilly.”

Warkilling takes off his hat and throws it to the ground. “Dammit Nikola, you’re avoiding the subject, you’re avoiding our love!”

“I’m sorry, I really gotta pee.” Nikola turns to run upstairs.

Warkilling leaves in a huff, but Patrick leaves earlier and misses Niki’s rebuff. He is down the stairs to tell his brother that Warkilling just proposed to their cousin.

The brothers run into each other going around a corner and in a heap Patrick breaks the bad news. Nathan’s eyes turn steely cold and he vows to end the romance even if it kills him. Patrick is inspired by his older brother’s devotion. “You’d die for Nikola? That’s so romantic, you must really be in love.” Patrick proudly beams at his older brother.

“Well, maybe not die, I’d take a knee injury or a sprained ankle or something.” Nathan rubs his elbow from the collision. Patrick sits up.

“How about a duel to the death?” Patrick pulls a pistol out of his pocket.

Nathan raises an eyebrow at Patrick. “Duel Warkilling for Nikola?” Nathan scoffs.

“A duel to the death it is then!”

Both Cavalier brothers snap their necks up to Lt. Meriweather Warkilling standing above them, holster at his side, hands on his hips. And that’s how Nathan Cavalier got pushed into a duel with a Confederate Lieutenant over his cousin Nikola.

Nathan’s sister, Corinthea, heard the news and jumps into his arms after finally finding him wandering the grounds out back. “Oh Nathan I always knew you were the romantic one in the family, but this!”

Nathan grunts as his sister shows no signs of getting down off him. “You see that’s the thing, I never really formally agreed to the duel. I don’t even know where it is.”

“Oh it’ll be in the Gormans’ field, right on the outskirts of Atlanta. Meriweather already had these invitations made up, see?” She fishes an envelope out of her pocket and hands it to Nathan. “Wow these are nicely done. Look, the letters are gilded. What am I saying, I can’t do this I’m not a killer. And I’m not a bodybuilder either, can I put you down?”

Corinthea lands on her feet and fixes her ponytail. “Meriweather isn’t a killer either, he doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Nathan doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Corinthea! What a thing to say about your own brother.” Evelyn Cavalier spills some wine as Corinthea exhales a cloud of smoke. “And I wish you wouldn’t smoke in front of your mother.” She puts out her cigarette in the ashtray resting on her stomach.

“Oh so I guess I should just get sloshed every day like my mom?”

“OK easy, let’s not get pissy.”

The girls were sitting on the upstairs outdoor balcony when Nikola came running up the front lawn waving at them. “Mrs Cavalier my friend Hilary Washington is coming today! She wants to interview the whole family for a story in The London Times.”

Evelyn hollers down at Nikola. “Just as long as she doesn’t mention my tobacco-addled daughter.”

Corinthea chimes in from behind a freshly-lit cigarette, “Or my lush of a mother.”

Nikola stares up at them vacantly then turns to head for the gate. “Ohhh boy...”

Nathan escorts Niki to the train station to pick up Hilary. On the ride home Hilary is instantly on Nathan with her notepad asking him questions about Cavalier slave labor. Nathan attempts to cleverly avoid her grilling.

“Mr. Cavalier is it true your father has had slaves killed for an infraction as slight as batting an eye at his daughter?”

“Jeez look at that out there. You know what that is? That’s a whooping crane.” Nathan sinks back smugly into his seat as Hilary folds up her notepad and turns to Niki.

That night Nathan is back upstairs with Patrick talking about Niki. “I guess I’m having second thoughts. The whole cousin thing bothers me.”

Patrick throws down a book he was reading in disgust. “Well this whole plantation is starting to bother me, brother.”

Nathan picks the book up and places it back on the shelf. “I know. I told you I’m working on that. Just sit tight for a few more days.”

Patrick pulls an envelope out of his back pocket and starts waving it around. “What about that duel, I just got my invitation.”

Nathan grabs it and opens it up. “How’d you get an invitation up here?”

Patrick plops back down in the plush love seat. “I really think we gotta find a better hiding place.”

The next morning Nathan finds his mother at the dining room table with a bottle of whiskey. “Whiskey? Must be a Wednesday.” Nathan smiles and sits down next to his buzzed mom.

She smirks and keeps drinking without taking a breath before slamming the bottle back on the table. “It’s Tuesday, I couldn’t wait. That Washington broad is driving me nuts with the interrogating.”

Nathan pulls the bottle aside. “Where’s dad?”

She pulls the bottle back and pours another cup. “Oh he’s being rolled around somewhere.”

Nathan takes a shot of his mom’s whiskey before going out to look for his father. Moments later Nathan is rolling his father through the canefields as Franklin barks orders at his slaves.

“Dad that Washington girl hasn’t asked you any questions yet has she?”

Franklin points at some slaves to their right. “Get those canestalks off the dirt, nigger!”

One of the younger laborers flips Franklin the birds as he passes but an elder slave raps him on the head and points him back to work.

“Stop saying that dad, it’s demeaning. Ya already lost your legs, you wanna lose your arms too?”

Franklin cranes his neck to look back at his son but can’t, and Nathan starts giggling.

“You gonna threaten an old man hotshot?”

Nathan composes himself and keeps pushing him down the hill. “It’s not me you should be worried about dad.”

Franklin glances to both sides suspiciously. “Yeah those niggers are plotting something.”

“No it’s not the nig- the black people you should be worried about either, it’s Hilary Washington. Bad press could sink this company. The London Times could sink this company.”

“Who the fuck cares about London?”

“Look I’m gonna be running this place someday and I don’t wanna have a mess on my hands once you finally pass the torch.”

“You can’t even run the brick oven, you dolt. What makes you think you can run a Rum business?”

Nathan stops and lets go of his dad’s wheelchair, watching him roll down the hill carrying on yelling at the slaves as he rolls away. The slaves stop working and watch him roll by laughing as he picks up speed heading straight for an old oak tree. Nathan spins around grinning and heads back home.

It is on a morning stroll through the canefields that Lt. Warkilling stumbles to his knee under the old oak tree and Nikola grabs his arm. “Oh dear, you fell.”

Warkilling stares up at Niki, a tear twinkling in the corner of his eye. “Yes Nikola my sweet, I’ve fallen for you. I am on humble knee to profess my everlasting love to you.”

“Oh dear.” Nikola clenches her eyes tight and pleads with the fates above for a distraction.

A sudden wave of laughter from the slaves up the hill sways Niki’s attention in the direction of Franklin Cavalier on his runaway wheelchair barreling towards Lt. Warkilling on humble knee. With a deafening crash they’re down in a heap, Franklin sprawled on top of Warkilling, his lifeless legs bent at awkward angles. “Warkilling what are you doing down here with my niece?”

The Lieutenant struggles under Mr. Cavalier’s mass. “Sir, I confess, I was asking for her hand without your permission.”

Franklin’s eyes glow red. “Like hell you were!”

And Franklin Cavalier’s upper body begins pummeling the poor officer.

“Oh Nikola! Get this half-man off me!”

Niki sneers at Warkilling groaning under her uncle. “Well surely you faced worse dangers during the Wars in Mexico.”

Warkilling tries to slide out from under the furious torso. “His legs feel like jelly, its gross!”

Nikola walks back to the Manor chuckling, leaving the two men lying on the ground. This is the second marriage proposal from Warkilling Niki has turned down in a matter of days. She goes to Hilary’s room to get it all off her chest. “He was on his knee under the old oak tree.”

Hilary shakes her head. “No, I don’t like that song. You wanna head out on the town this weekend? Show me how you Southerners live it up.”

“Uncle Franklin took him out.”

Hilary is picking outfits for Atlanta. “Out where?”

Niki grabs Hilary and spins her around. “He’s hellbent on marrying me Hilary, what can I do?” Hilary frowns and slaps off Niki’s hands. “Well that’s an easy one Niki ‘cause you cant marry

your uncle.”

“Not Franklin you idiot, Meriweather.”

“Who?”

Niki jumps up and down yelling in Hilary’s ear. “Meriweather, Meriweather, Meriweather!” Warkilling dips his head in the doorway. “My ears are burning!”

Niki jumps out of her petticoat with fright. “Meriweather!”

Nikola walked Lt. Warkilling down the hallway of paintings that she and Nathan had been in when they first heard Patrick’s ghost call. Since that night nearly every Cavalier had had a run-in with the ghost call. Corinthea was making out with Tucker, the family’s driver, in an upstairs alcove and was spooked right off his lap. Tucker was not fooled. “What the devil is yo honky brother doin upstairs?”

Evelyn was drunk and paid it no great heed. “God this whiskey’s stronger than I thought.” Franklin was too busy screaming at the help to notice. “You keep the white fabrics and the

colored fabrics separate, why is that so difficult for you people to understand?”

In the art gallery that night Nikola says once and for all that she does not want to marry. Lt. Warkilling, not accustomed to rejection, stumbles over himself backing out of the room. “I can see you’re feeling ill today. I’ll come back another time. Terribly sorry to bother you Nikola.” He turns to leave when Patrick’s ghost call rings out and he shudders to the floor in shock. Niki rolls her eyes and walks away in the other direction, furthering the distance between her and the quaking officer.

That night Hilary Washington is snooping around upstairs, looking for anything that will incriminate the Cavalier family. She is poking around in a remote study on the top floor when she hears a sneeze emanating out of the darkest corner of the room. Moments later she’s face to face with a young man in full military uniform.

She smiles and sits down with notepad in lap. “So tell me Patrick, how does it feel to be a traitor to the Confederacy?”

Patrick sinks into his father’s recliner. “Ohhh boy…”

Downstairs Nikola is talking with Franklin about that afternoon’s events. “I know you don’t approve of Meriweather’s wooing me, neither do I, but to jump on him and pummel him so, I never imagined you’d fight for my honor like that Uncle Franklin. Thank you.”

Franklin waves off her gratitude. “I didn’t attack him you knucklehead. One of those niggers pushed me down the hill, they’re plotting something, I’ll tell you.”

“Well either way, thank you Uncle. I suppose I should tell you now, Hilary and I are heading into the city tomorrow morning; just thought we’d get away from the countryside for a day.”

“Yeah that’s nice. Do me a favor, take your cousins Nathan, Patrick and Corinthea with you.”

Niki stares at her uncle. “Sir, Patrick went off to war.”

Franklin ponders this for a moment. “That chowderhead went to war? He doesn’t even know how to get out of his pants!”

Back up in the study Patrick has gotten out of his pants after much difficulty and he begins to make sweet love to Ms. Hilary Washington.

Wednesday morning Patrick, no longer a virgin, awoke with a newfound sense of confidence and decided he would no longer hide in his father’s study like a coward. And with that Patrick snuck downstairs and out to the carriage the servants were loading up for Niki, Nathan, Corinthea, and Hilary’s ride so he could hide in the city like a coward. Patrick covered himself with blankets in the backseat and didn’t get out till everyone else was off and unpacked. He leapt out undetected and scurried down an alleyway and out of sight.

The three spend the night at Dr Barrington Belding’s, the Cavalier family doctor. Nathan is hoping the Doctor can help his family and the business. Dr Belding is an inept surgeon who sometimes left patients worse off than when he started. Belding was a balding man in his late fifties but still healthy and strapping because he has a good doctor. As for Belding’s own patients, they usually weren’t as lucky.

“Alright you’re good to go, we had to take your leg though.”

“I came in here with a toothache.”

“And you’re leavin’ with one leg. That’ll be fifty Confederate dollars.”

Dr Belding brings Hilary and Corinthea inside to tour his estate while Nathan and Niki lounge on his back patio sipping mint juleps.

“So Warkilling proposed to me yesterday.” Niki subtly drops the information as if she’s telling him what she had for breakfast.

Nathan chokes on his julep. “Gee that’s—“

Niki quickly interjects. “I didn’t have time to say ‘no’ before your dad hit him.”

Nathan nearly leaps out of his seat with excitement. “My dad hit Warkilling? What, was Warkilling fighting him on his knees?”

Niki sets down her glass. “No he slammed into him rolling down the hill.”

Nathan subtly pumps his arm in celebration. “So you’re not interested in Warkilling at all?”

Niki scoffs. “I never was, I’m having too much fun with my family.”

Nathan smiles and settles back in his chair.

Thursday morning one of Dr Belding’s servants escorts in Mr. William Graham, who had followed Corinthea all the way into the city. Nathan and Corinthea reluctantly leave the room as William sits down with his ex, Nikola, longingly staring at Corinthea as she leaves. Hilary is left to fritter away the day in the city and while windowshopping she stops in a candleshop and recognizes the young clerk to be Patrick Cavalier. She didn’t care for him, he was a bit clingy, but she knew she could pump him for information that would push her Cavalier exposé up to the front page. She made a date to meet Patrick at the shop the following night.

After smuggling himself into Atlanta, Patrick had wasted no time in finding a job at Willoughby’s Candles. It was run by little old man Walter Willoughby who was hard of hearing and didn’t speak very loudly, making for very little if any communication.

“Patrick sweep the floor.”

“Greasy pores? No I wash my face thoroughly every day sir.”

“Patrick, pick up that candlewax.”

“Did you just call me a horse’s ass?”

Nathan was walking down the shop’s street later that afternoon when he ran into Patrick heading the other way. Nathan kept on walking without a response and then froze in his tracks. He turned around and his younger brother pulled him into an empty alleyway. “I’m sorry Nathan I should have told you but I was desperate, I was going nuts in that house.”

“Well those ghost calls probably didn’t help. Seriously Patrick, you’ve been living there for twenty-eight years and you don’t complain until now?”

Patrick sticks a finger in his brother’s face. “But now I’m out here in the real world and my eyes are open Nathan. Wide open. I met a girl and we’re having dinner tomorrow night.”

Nathan’s eyebrows jump. “Oh yeah? Where?”

Patrick is giddy. “In the candleshop. I work now. I’m a clerkboy!”

Nathan smiles as Patrick turns to leave. “Well, be sure not to tell her that.”

With Dr Belding in tow the foursome make their way back to the Cavalier estate where Franklin is lying upstairs in the opulent master bedroom. The family surrounds his bed and Nathan goes outside to watch the sunset. He rocks quietly in his seat, smiling at the falling sun as reporters yell from the front gate. Local and national media are lined up outside the gate, waiting for a statement on the health of the Cavalier patriarch. The journalists are getting antsy and Nathan can hear their pleas for news and more.

“Is Franklin Cavalier gonna make it?”

“Is Franklin Cavalier dead?”

“Can I come inside and pee?”

Nathan chuckles to himself as he hears his family’s cries and he moves to the backyard. Corinthea comes out, tears streaming down her cheeks, and smiles at her older brother, jumping into his arms. “Congratulations Natey, you’re the boss now.”

Nathan escorts his sister back inside and they sit down in the parlor with Evelyn, Corinthea, Nikola, Hilary, Meriweather, and Dr. Belding mopping sweat from his brow.

The good doctor collapses on a soft chair in the corner, Nathan walks over and kneels down next to him. Belding is shaking his head, a bewildered look on his face.

“Did everything work out? Where’s my father?”

Warkilling’s within earshot and is unaware of the plan; he believes Franklin Cavalier is dead. He walks over and puts a hand on the new President’s shoulder. “Oh poor Nathan. Poor, poor Nathan. Poor, poor, poor—“

Nathan jumps to his feet and swings wildly for Warkilling’s face, landing a clean blow that cracks his nose. Warkilling falls back on his ass and gets up livid, dusting himself off. “I say good man, another punch and I may have to challenge you to a duel!”

Nathan shakes his wrist, flexing his fingers. “You already challenged me to a duel you idiot, I’ve got the damn invitation in my pocket.” Nathan fumbles around with his jacket and pants. “Must be in my other coat.”

“Well then, we shall duel tomorrow evening.” Warkilling saunters off bumping into a couch on the way out and Nathan turns back to Barrington.

“Where’s my father hiding?”

“He’s already on a carriage heading into the city.”

Nathan throws up his arms in disgust. “Oh that’s good yeah, you let the most recognizable wheelchair-bound Southerner into Atlanta. Fantastic.”

Nathan hollers at Lezabel, the family’s head servant, to get a carriage ready to go back into the city. Belding runs up and grabs Nathan by the arm. “You mind if I get a ride with you into town?”

Evelyn goes out to the gate to speak to the media on Franklin’s “passing.” Nathan and Barrington Belding are riding into Atlanta, Nathan hollering at his family’s former doctor the whole time. “What kind of doctor are you? Letting my father get away like that, he’s in a wheelchair for god’s sake, you couldn’t catch him?”

“I felt it was best for all of us, the government may search the house. And I told you I’m not a doctor anymore, I quit the practice this morning after you gave me this final job last night. I’ve got a new job now!”

Nathan leans back in his seat and stares out the window. Belding’s voice is cracking with excitement. “I’m a vaudevillian!”

Nathan shakes his head. “Perfect.”

Belding keeps going. “My first show’s tomorrow night, all the Cavaliers will be there, you simply must come!”

Nathan picks at his teeth and glances back at Barrington. “Sorry doc, I’ve got a duel to attend that night.”

Belding taps at his chin. “Oh dear that’s right. Warkilling. I’m afraid our attendance may dwindle in competition with such a fight. It was the feature story in the morning paper today.”

Barrington hands him a copy and Nathan pores over it till they arrive back at the Belding estate. Nathan rushes in, Barrington following, yelling behind him. Nathan begins to move from room to room until Belding catches up to him panting.

“Where is he Barrington?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you, he’s not here.”

Nathan throws up his arms and walks back outside, grabbing Belding by the collar. “We just faked my father’s death so Cavalier Rum doesn’t go bankrupt. Now you’re telling me you’ve lost our dead President?!”

Belding shrugs off Nathan’s grip and straightens his coat. “Just go downtown and relax. Go see your brother. Franklin will turn up, don’t worry about it.”

Nathan stops in his tracks. “Wait you know about Patrick?”

Barrington nods. “It’s not a good hiding place.”

Nathan turns to leave. “Gotta find a better hiding place.”

Nathan arrives at the candleshop as Patrick is sweeping the front stoop. “Patrick! Have you seen dad?”

Patrick doesn’t even look up. “Yeah he’s upstairs.”

Nathan turns to leave. “Well if you see him, hide him up in the—what?”

Patrick opens the door and motions his brother inside. “C’mon he’s eating right now.”

The shop is wall-to-wall candles on tables and crates and shelves. The brothers cut a path through the displays and up a skinny staircase to the attic where Franklin is eating chicken and talking (trying to talk) with Willoughby the shopowner. “This is good chicken.”

Franklin looks up. “What?”

“Dad!”

Franklin wheels himself around to see Nathan coming toward him. “Oh dammit, you found me. What do you want? I gave you the business, you want my wheelchair too?”

Nathan crouches down in front of his father. “Yeah I want the chair you’ve had your ass on for the past decade. I came to see you, I thought we discussed that you’d stay on the estate. Nobody can find you there. Please, come home dad. You can’t survive in an attic.”

Franklin wheels himself around to look out the lone window in the cramped attic. “I can survive just fine, anytime I want something I just moan like a ghoul and Patrick’s got it covered.”

Nathan turns back around to Patrick who gives him a wink. Franklin continues. “I’m never going back home Nathan. You take away my business, you take away my slaves, I’ve got nothing left.”

Nathan stares at his father. “You’ve still got the most expensive mansion in the state, a loving, uh, a family and a boatload of cash.” Nathan pulls out a wad of Confederate bills and throws it in his father’s useless lap. “Although I suggest we start trading this in for gold.”

Franklin thumbs through the wad. “Yeah I don’t know how much longer they’re gonna be taking these.”

Patrick is preparing a small bed in the corner for his father, and lays him down on it. The moon rises high into the sky outside and Nathan drops some blankets next to his dad’s bed. Franklin rolls over. “What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna spend the night with my dad.” Nathan looks over with a grin and Franklin rolls his eyes. “Actually I’ve gotta be somewhere tomorrow night.”

Franklin’s eyes light up. “Oh yeah you’re goin’ to watch Belding’s vaudeville show? It’s gonna be a real barnburner, I might bust a gut!”

Nathan lies down and rolls over, his back facing his father. “Yeah I probably would too. No actually I’ve got that duel with Warkilling. And I’d like to think that if my father were willing to risk incarceration by going outside tomorrow night that he would come support his first son’s pistol duel rather than the family doctor’s dog and pony show.”

Franklin rolls onto his back. “No there’s no ponies. I think there’s a monkey though.”

“Goodnight dad.”

Nathan wakes up to Mr. Willoughby holding a plate of eggs, staring down at him. “Here are some eggs.”

Nathan covers his bare legs with the blanket. “Oh thank you, I do a lot of squat thrusts. Hey! Are those eggs?” Nathan starts to chow down and looks around the attic. “Excuse me Mr Willoughby, where is my father?”

“Your brother took him for a walk.”

Nathan stands up and pulls on his slacks. “OK you’ve gotta start speaking up because I don’t even want to tell you what I thought you just said.”

Nathan makes his way out into the hot Georgian sun, squinting down the street for any sign of a wheelchair, or a racial epithet being thrown into the wind. He sees no wheels and hears no curses, but he spots his sister Corinthea walking arm-in-arm with Niki’s ex, William Graham. Nathan smiles at the joyful couple. “What are you doin here sis?”

“William escorted me into town, we’re going to Dr. Belding’s show tomorrow night.”

Nathan stares off into the distance then back to his sister. “First of all he’s not a doctor anymore, he’s a fool; second of all, don’t you wanna support your brother as he faces certain doom?”

Corinthea takes her arm off of William. “God, it’s always gotta be about you, doesn’t it Nathan? You’ve gotta be in charge of the company, you’ve gotta fake dad’s death and be the man of the house, you’ve gotta have everybody watch you duel.” She stands there glowering at Nathan then her face explodes into a rosy smile. “Anyway, good luck Natey!” And with a peck on the cheek she’s off.

Nathan makes his way out to Gorman’s Field to scout out the dueling site. He hears a shout behind him and Niki comes running up embracing him tightly. “Oh Nathan don’t do this. I don’t care about Warkilling, please.”

Nathan pulls her off him. “It’s not about you Niki. He challenged me and he told the whole city about it. Who will wanna buy Cavalier Rum if the President’s too scared to duel a sorry-ass Southern Lieutenant?”

Niki pulls on his shirt sleeves. “You could die!”

Nathan puts his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. “I appreciate the confidence, but I’ll be just fine. Trust me Nikola. I’m not gonna be made a fool of in front of all of Atlanta.”

Nikola looks down and kicks at the loose soil, hands behind her back. “I don’t think anybody’s showing up. I talked to everyone at the house and they’re all going to watch—“

“Belding’s Incredible Comedy Hour, I know I know. Well at least my cousin will be there right? And maybe you can bring along your friend Hilary there, give her something to tell the blokes about back in Britton?”

Niki turns away. “Actually I already promised Barrington I’d attend his show, and Hilary has a date tonight.”

Nathan starts walking the other way. “Just great. What kinda family is this if they don’t even wanna watch me die?”

With the hour finally upon them the two men are preparing themselves on opposite ends of the field. Nathan is cleaning his pistol and glancing around at the empty field. He can hear commotion coming from the town square, Belding’s show must be in full swing now. He cocks his pistol and makes his way to the center of the field where Lt. Warkilling is waiting, tapping his toe, hands on his hips.

On stage, Barrington Belding, in full blackface, is tapping his toe, hands on his hips, chimpanzee at his side, about to break out with a rousing rendition of “Georgia Sweet Georgia.” The Cavalier Family is in the front row, clapping along to the rhythm.

Patrick is lighting every candle in the shop, preparing for a romantic candlelit dinner with his love, Hilary Washington. Hilary is taking some preliminary notes before what she feels will be an enlightening evening, and the biggest break of her young journalistic career. Franklin, in the attic, has just run out of bread pudding. He lets out a hearty “ghoul” call, unaware his son has a hot date on the way. Patrick jumps, fearing a real ghost has entered his place of employment, and knocks over a table of candles behind him. The resulting domino effect engulfs the first floor in flames and Patrick begins to shriek. He sprints upstairs and knocks Franklin off his wheelchair, picking it up and throwing it out the upstairs window. He then scoops up his obscenity-hollering father and rushes him downstairs, through the blaze and out the front door before collapsing in the dirt across the street. The two Cavalier men look back at the candleshop now being swallowed up by fire and the inferno rages into the neighboring shops until the entire city block is one big hellfire.

Patrick loads his father up and pushes him to the town square where the entire city is enjoying Belding and his vaudeville troupe. The fire has now overtaken half the town and is spreading quickly. Once Patrick and Franklin arrive there, the town square is abuzz with commotion. People are knocking each other over trying to make their way out of the city with whatever they can grab.

Nathan and Meriweather are about to turn their back and begin the duel when they notice the entire city running towards their field. Pretty soon they are surrounded by Atlantans watching their city go up in smoke. The Cavalier family, joined by Patrick and Franklin, pushes their way to the front of the crowd to support their son. With a grin Nathan turns back to Warkilling, “Alright Warkilling, you’ve got your audience, let’s do this thing.”

Warkilling is stunned by Nathan’s sudden burst of confidence, “Very well, let’s have at it then. Ten paces, turn and fire.” They turn back-to-back and begin to count out their paces, Nathan glancing over at Niki cheering him on. Her auburn mane glowing in the moonlight, her heavenly voice ringing out over the din of the crowd, her sparkling eyes…sparkling, her—

Minutes later Nathan is awoken by Niki rubbing his throbbing forehead. He smiles up at her. “Did I win?”

She laughs. “He shot you in the butt.”

Nathan starts to move, trying to reach his wound. “Ow.”

“Not to worry, not to worry my boy. You’re lucky there was a doctor on hand.”

Dr. Barrington Belding kneels down next to Nathan, trying to wipe the blackface makeup off. His chimpanzee sidekick is shrieking and slapping Nathan’s knees, clamoring for attention.

“I’m quitting show business, seeing as how Atlanta burned to the ground and all.” The doctor turns to his monkey and pats it on the back, staring longingly into his comedic partner’s eyes. “Yup, I think old Cornwallace and I are gonna ride the rails for a while.”

Nathan gets up and dusts off, squinting at Belding out of the corner of his eye. “That should be fun.”

He pulls his family together and begins to apologize for all that’s happened in the past week. “I promise, it can only get better from here on out.”

Just then a cavalcade of police officers roll up and proceed to cuff Nathan, Franklin, Patrick, and Meriweather.

An officer steps forward and begins to read off a prepared list of offenses, “Mr. Franklin Cavalier, you’re under arrest for the attempted faking of your death. Mr. Patrick Cavalier, for fleeing an army in wartime. Mr. Nathan Cavalier, for aiding and abetting Mr.’s Franklin and Patrick Cavalier in their crimes. And Mr. Meriweather Warkilling, for dueling without a license.”

Lt. Warkilling pulls out a piece of paper. “No sir, I’ve got my license right here.”

The officer looks it over. “OK you’re free to go. The rest of you are coming with me.”

Nathan looks up at the smoke and flames rising above what was once the great Atlanta. “Didn’t your station burn to the ground?”

The officer stops in his tracks and looks back at the city. “Oh crap.”