The Cries of the Butterfly - A LOVE STORY Read Free Page B

snapped.
    Knott now gently shut the door. He waited for the men to emerge. There would be two of them, he’d been told. The older one would be Eric Butcher, the patriarch of the family, the Supreme Boss, a man in his early sixties. The younger one would be Sage Butcher, in his mid-thirties, Eric and Paula’s eldest son, Frennie’s husband and Philippa’s father. Stan Knott smiled to himself—this man he knew all too well.
    This would be one half of the family. The other half was already in San Francisco, and to distract his mind from the rising-again tempest within him, Knott did a mental check. There was Eric Butcher’s younger brother, Grant, fifty-nine, and who doesn’t know him! He was the much loved and respected Head-of-State of the island nation. President Butcher’s wife, Estelle, was the same age as him. They had two children, the oldest, a son, Art, in his early thirties. Art’s wife would be...and here Knott racked his brain for a second before he got the name. Yeah, Rochelle! Ha! And after seven years of marriage, the couple had no children, and there was endless hushed chitchat in town. It’s the woman! the word had circulated. She’s the infertile one! Poor Art Butcher. President Grant’s younger progeny, a daughter, and her name Knott remembered quickly. Olivia. She had studied medicine, married a surgeon from San Francisco, and it was to her house the entire Butcher clan was headed. Joseph Scoff had said it was to do with some house-warming. Olivia being the only female progeny of the Butcher brothers was much loved.
    But not the most loved. That tag was easily saved for the family’s most famous member, Wolf Butcher. Eric and Paula’s youngest, the twenty-eight year old was Hollywood’s hottest moviestar, and it had made him New Halcyon’s favorite son.
    Wow, what a blithering family! Knott thought. The President of the nation—the most important and powerful man in the country; Hollywood’s biggest superstar—one of the most powerful man in showbiz; and the world’s top Capitalist—the most potent and influential moneybag anywhere. All three in one family! Which other family in the whole wide world is more powerful, more privileged, more fortunate? He couldn’t think of any. Not even close! They are so blithering blessed, it is obscene!
    A sudden movement at the porch snapped him out of his reflections. It was Eric Butcher. He was a big strapping man, around six feet four (that made him an inch taller than his famous son, Knott thought) and two-hundred-fifty at least ( that makes him at least seventy pounds heavier). He headed Butcher Organization, the largest business house in the world. Knott felt himself shrink at the sight of Eric Butcher. The patriarch had a face of granite and eyes that could kill with a glance. Knott gulped rapidly as the big man descended the porch steps and he fervently prayed Eric Butcher wouldn’t sit in the front beside him. That would be just too much.
    Almost shaking, Knott bowed awkwardly. He tried to wish the big businessman, but found his tongue jammed against his palate. Eric Butcher indicated the back seat and Knott hastily opened the door, feeling great relief sweep through him. He began to respire again.
    And then followed Sage Butcher, and Stan Knott’s heart gladdened. Here was his Angel—the man Knott had gone to on hands and knees petitioning for work. The man who had given him, a complete stranger and a complete nonentity, a new lease on life.
    Sage Butcher was an inch or so over six feet and lean at around one-hundred-seventy, but his most attractive feature was his face. Yes, very good-looking (it ran in the family), but there was a quality to it that elevated it to something much more. Here is the face of a saint. He, Stanley Knott, would be indebted to him as long as he lived.
    Knott’s bow was much more pronounced this time and wholly authentic. “Good morning, sir,” he gushed as Sage Butcher approached the front passenger