The King and his Knight

“Sir Gregory!”

Greg smiles as he gets out of his car to see an old homeless man sitting beside the door of the convenience store. The man rises to his feet with a broad smile and Greg gives the man a bow at the waist.

“Hello, Your Majesty.”

The man motions for Greg to stand up and shakes out his stained trench coat. Greg stands back up and moves closer to the door.

“How goes the search for a new castle, Sir?”

Greg ruffles his long, brown hair and yawns. “It’s an exhausting one, my king.”

The man smirks. “Searching for a new land to call your own is very seldomly easy.”

“Very true, King Jacob.”

“From the tales you’ve woven, I’m not sure why you would want to leave the castle you currently reside in. It has access to such wonderful pleasantries, like the cottage of wenches next to your castle.”

“Believe me, my liege, it is more of a nightmare than a pleasantry when their carols keep me up at this early hour.”

Jacob throws his head back and gives Greg a hearty laugh. “I suppose so. That being said, I wonder if I can…”

Greg puts up his hand. “Say no more, my King. Would you like the same as last time?”

Jacob shakes his head. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

Greg scoffs. “Nonsense, my King. Tis merely a tribute, a token of gratitude for your most generous rule and your most gracious ear.” Jacob moves towards the door and grabs the handle. Greg smiles and nods as Jacob motions for him to step inside. Greg goes in, grabs two hot dogs, two bags of chips and two drinks from the cooler. The clerk smirks as Greg puts the food down on the counter.

The clerk starts scanning the items and Greg reaches in his pocket for his wallet. “Strip club keeping you up again, Hemingway?”

Greg smirks and nods. “More like the drunk idiots that come out of it, Claire.”

Claire shakes her head before glancing out at Jacob settling back down on his dirty blanket near the door. “Why do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Why do you keep indulging him?”

Greg looks over his shoulder at Jacob as he pulls out a small black book and a pencil. He turns back to Claire with a smile. “Well, it’s not hurting either one of us. Besides, it’s kind of cool talking to a living version of Don Quixote.”

Claire nudges her glasses back up on her face. “What do you two talk about?”

Greg wags his finger and Claire crosses her arms. “I can’t betray the trust of my King, now can I?”

Claire laughs and hits a button on the register. “Whatever, punk. $7.85.”

Greg scrunches his face. “That’s Sir Punk to you.”

Claire mockingly bows. “Oh! Forgive me! I didn’t know you were so esteemed!”

Greg pulls out his credit card and inserts it into the machine. “Yeah. He knighted me a couple of months ago, because of everything I’d done for him and the kingdom.”

Claire shakes her head and hands Greg his receipt. Greg stuffs the receipt in his pocket, grabs the items and backs up to the door. He nods to her and slightly bows as he backs out of the door. “My Lady.”

Claire does a small curtsy and Greg smiles. He turns and walks out to Jacob, leaning back against a display of water. Greg’s smile fades and he stops when he notices Jacob’s eyes fluttering and the hand that is holding his pencil twitching. Greg drops the food and crashes back through the store’s door.

“Claire! Call 911!”

Claire grabs the phone and Greg rushes to Jacob’s side. Greg trembles with fear as Jacob’s eyes stop moving and the pencil falls out of his hand. Greg grabs Jacob’s hand and clutches it tight before noticing the book. “Come on, come on!” Jacob barely opens his eyes and tries to whisper something to Greg. Greg leans his head down to Jacob’s mouth and Jacob whispers something to him as he hands him a small black book.

Three hours later, Greg clutches the book in his hands as he anxiously rocks in a waiting room chair. A doctor walks through the double doors and sits in front of Greg. “Are you Gregory Wright?”

“Yes I am.”

“You came in with the homeless man, right?”

“Jacob, yes. How’s he doing?”

Before the doctor could answer, a man and a woman frantically burst into the waiting room. The woman talks to the nurse at the desk while the man runs into the area with the chairs. “I’m looking for Gregory Rhodes! Has anyone seen a Gregory Rhodes?!”

Greg stands up. “Are you Prince Richard?”

Richard quickly moves over to Greg and hugs him, much to Greg’s surprise. The doctor moves over to them both. “Excuse me, who are you?”

Richard turns to the doctor. “Are you the man treating my father?”

“Is your father’s name Jacob?”

“Yes. How is he?”

The doctor crosses his arms. “He’s doing better. He went into shock as a result of malnutrition and dehydration. But we’ve given him fluids and he’s coming around.”

Richard vigorously shakes the doctor’s hand as the woman comes over. “That’s great news! Thank you so much! Can we see him?”

“He’ll need a bit of rest first. He’s been through a lot and he’s not awake yet.”

The woman reaches out and shakes the doctor’s hand. “Thank you, sir. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The doctor walks back towards the double doors and the woman turns her attention to Greg.

“Are you the man who called my husband?”

Greg shakes his head. “Yes, ma’am. I am. Greg Rhodes.”

The woman reaches out and shakes Greg’s hand. “I’m Natalia, Richard’s wife. Thank you again for all you’ve done.”

Greg smiles. “No problem, ma’am. Glad I could help.” Greg rubs his hand through his hair. “Do you mind if I ask you guys some questions?”

Richard sighs and nods. “Not at all. I’m sure you have a lot of them. I have some for you too.” Greg, Richard and Natalia move towards the chairs and sit down. Richard adjusts the tails of his tuxedo and Natalia moves the frills of her dress to get more comfortable as Greg rubs his jeans and leans forward in his chair.

“How long have you known my father, Greg?”

Greg scratches his head. “About four months now.”

Richard nods his head. “So he’s been here the whole time.”

“You didn’t know where he was?”

“No. We’ve been looking for him ever since he left. My father has schizophrenia as well as Alzheimer’s. Sometimes, when he gets off his medication, he wanders away from the estate. Usually, he’ll still be in town somewhere close. But I have no idea how he managed to get over to the next state.”

Greg nods his head. “So that explains it.”

Natalia sighs heavily. “You mean him believing he’s a King?”

Greg smiles. “Yeah. He actually knighted me a couple of months ago.”

Richard and Natalia look to each other, then smile at Greg. “Greg,” Richard asks, “during the time you’ve known my father, have you ever seen him with a small black book before?”

Greg pulls the book out of his pocket. “Yeah. He gave it to me before the ambulance brought him here. Your number is on the first page.”

Natalia moves forward in her seat. “Did he ever mention anything about owing you a debt?”

Greg chuckles. “Yeah. He says it every time I run into the store and get him something. Why?”

Richard reaches out. “May I have it?”

Greg nods. “Sure.”

Greg gives Richard the book and Richard starts looking through the pages. Richard stops about three pages in and starts counting something. “What are you doing?”

Natalia leans towards Greg. “He’s seeing how much my father-in-law believes he owes you.”

Greg’s face scrunches in confusion. “Wait. He kept track of that?”

Richard closes the book, smiles and leans back in his chair. “My father keeps this book on him at all times. Any time someone is kind to him or any time he has a meaningful conversation with someone, he marks it down in this book. But if he knights someone, it’s because he believes that person is truly extraordinary and deserves their kindness to be repaid in kind.”

Richard grabs his phone and swipes across the screen. Greg smiles. “Really? How?”

Richard gets up to talk on his phone and Natalia smiles. “You’ll see.”

Richard walks back over to Greg and hands him the phone. “My father insists on paying his knights for every time they’ve helped him. To the tune of 1 million dollars a mark. So the representative on the other line would like to know how you would like to receive your 50 million.”

Greg’s jaw drops. “50 million what?!”