Free Twisting Topeka by Lissa Staley

snapped.
“You have ten seconds to get in your chair so I can get this soup
in front of you. You know I don’t like—.”
    “ Oh, I know.” Melanie said.
“You don’t like serving cold soup. And I don’t like eating it.” She
hustled back to the dining room only to find herself alone in the
room. She sat down just as Mrs. Lewis pushed through the door and
dropped her jaw.
    “ Where is he?” the maid
whispered.
    “ I don’t know,” Melanie
replied.
    Mrs. Lewis ladled soup into Melanie’s
bowl and then placed the large soup tureen next to the place set
for the guest. She went back into the kitchen, shaking her head.
Melanie retrieved her soup spoon and scooped up a bit of broth,
blowing across it gently.
    “ My apologies.” At the
sound of his voice, Melanie dropped the spoon and stood straight
up. The unknown gentleman was beside her, reaching for her hand.
Melanie offered it, and he kissed it gently. “I’m sorry to delay
dinner, but I had to adjust my eyeglasses.” He tweaked the black
frames on his face, but Melanie couldn’t remember seeing them on
him before. “I’m Dr. Fritzl,” he said in a heavy German
accent.
    “ A pleasure to meet you.
I’m Melanie Rains. Please sit down, and I’ll serve you some
soup.”
    Melanie followed him to his chair, but
before she could pick up the ladle Mrs. Lewis burst through the
door and gave her a “find your seat, child,” stare. Melanie
obliged, allowing the maid to do her job. As Melanie was about to
taste the soup she heard the rattle of tags on Beau’s collar. He
wasn’t allowed in the dining room, so Melanie assumed he was
stretching out on the cool marble floor just off dining
room.
    “ Do you work with my
father?” Melanie asked the gentleman.
    “ I will be for a short
time.” Dr. Fritzl took a spoonful of soup and smiled at her. “I
hope to observe his methods and understand his research while
taking in the management of the clinic, sanitarium and the peaceful
grounds.”
    “ Oh…Menninger’s is a
wonderful place,” Melanie confirmed. “Renowned.”
    “ Yes.” The doctor smiled at
her again, and she found herself sincerely smiling back.
    Melanie ate her soup, not minding that
it was cold. She heard the jingle of Beau’s tags again, and glanced
to the foyer, but he wasn’t to be seen. “I assume you’re a
psychiatrist, like my father.”
    “ I studied in Vienna,” he
said.
    “ Really? At the
University?” She put down her spoon for the last time. “Under
Freud?” Mrs. Lewis brought in the main course and side
dish.
    “ Oh yes. I attended many
lectures by Dr. Freud.”
    “ May he rest in peace,”
Melanie quickly added.
    Dr. Fritzl shifted his weight and took
a sip of wine. “Yes. Good man.”
    Melanie cut into her chicken. “I’m so
happy you’re dining with us—I mean, me—tonight. Rosemary chicken is
Mrs. Lewis’ specialty.”
    “ Divine,” he said after a
bite. “Simply divine.”
    Melanie sat down her silverware and
leaned back. “You remind me of someone,” she said. “But I can’t
place whom.”
    “ Perhaps I have a common
face.”
    “ Oh, no,” she
remarked. In fact his face was markedly
uncommon.... good looking enough to cause her to blush. She quickly
reached for her wine. “I think you look
like someone who I’ve seen recently.”
    He took another bite of chicken then
tapped his fork in the air. “I’ve got it. Perhaps you’ve seen my
picture in one of your father’s medical journals.”
    “ Never read
them.”
    He shrugged while cutting his
asparagus.
    “ But I do know a lot about
psychiatry and psychoanalysis,” she explained.
    “ Are you studying that at
the Kansas University?”
    She swirled her wine for a moment. “I
don’t remember telling you I went to school there.”
    “ Your father told me, but
he didn’t mention your field of study.”
    “ Anthropology.” She
finished her wine and wondered where Mrs. Lewis was with the wine
bottle. Melanie guessed the woman’s ear was