Morningstar: Chapter 26: Unhinged and Surprised

 

Chapter 26: Unhinged and Surprised

 

          After recounting my dream, Amanda, Beth, and D’Lisa all told about bizarre and sometimes scary dreams they’d had and remembered. Some were dreams they’d had over and over again.  Some sounded pretty frightening.

          The strong smell of coffee was exuding through the house as I opened my bedroom door.  Immediately I knew my dad was the brewer. The four of us wandered into the kitchen and decided on cold cereal for breakfast.  We spent most of the morning taking showers, getting dressed, and just talking.

          At about 11: A.M., Beth mentioned; “I’ve got to be home by noon to help with some cleaning. Can I use your phone to make sure I have a ride?”

          “Sure.”

          Beth picked up the phone in my room and after just a couple minutes returned to the den. “Jason has to go help grandpa with something then he’ll be here in about an hour to pick me up.”

          “Can he take D’Lisa, then me home too?” interjected Amanda with just a tinge of elation, while emphasizing the order Jason was to take them home.

          A little smile of understanding spread across Beth’s face as she answered, “sure… I’m sure he’ll be glad too.”

          Amanda had planned to stay longer, but I was fine with her quick change of priorities.  The four of us spent the next hour doing some of our homework.  It was easier and faster to do it in a group if we could all stay focused, and as a group, an hour was about all we could have managed that morning anyway.  After my friends left, I decided to review my notes and do a little more research.

          It was obvious to me that the stones on the outside of the house were important as was the Morningstar somehow, though I didn’t understand how or why. I wondered how they could possibly be connected.  Snakes, birds, and dragons, must also be important; however, the thing that caught my interest the most was the brief section of the journal titled Wormholes.

          I decided to look up Einstein-Rosen and found Einstein-Rosen Bridges. The theory was based on Einstein’s theory of relativity, not that I understood; but I did get the basic idea that space and time curved around any mass, like a planet or star, and with those curves it might be possible for points in time and even space to be pulled back close to other points in space and time and with the right pull of energy, they might connect, creating a bridge of some sort.  Was it possible the Lings had traveled to another world or even another time on this world?  Even the thought was overwhelming to me. It was absolutely mind boggling… and CRAZY!  I thought such things were only science fiction; but obviously people a whole lot smarter than I, thought it was possible.  I had no idea who this Rosen guy was, but I sure knew who Einstein was and if he thought it possible... This was just too incredible to imagine; but that’s what I did, the rest of the day anyway, I imagined the possibilities and wondered where in the universe or time the Lings might be.  As I was thinking about all this, I suddenly remembered the pictures of the Lings… and me.  I got out the pictures, Charlie sent of an older, and much better looking, me.  Is this how Charlie did it? Through some sort of time bridge?

          I went to bed that night, excited about the possibilities.  Was there a way, like in H.G. Well’s, The Time Machine (I had to read that in school last year) to choose a point in time and go there.  I immediately thought of my grandmother and longed to spend time with her again; but wondered if it could possibly be the same.  How would she react? I fell asleep that night dreaming about my grandmother. It was the best dream I’d ever had.

          The next morning, I woke up to the loud sound of wind. Looking out my window I didn’t see the trees or bushes moving.  The sound was coming from the den.  Instinctively, I really don’t know why, maybe because I was just thinking about Charlie; but I grabbed my can of pepper spray and carefully crept into the den.

          On the right side, the east side of the den there was a huge hole in the wall.  Large enough to easily walk through.  I stumbled backwards and ended up falling into a sitting position on an end table next to one of the sofas.  Through the hole I could easily see that it was almost dawn.  There were no houses, no farms, no Logan.  I could hear the sound of the wind but couldn’t feel it.  Two painted men were just walking into view, talking quietly; but in urgent tones, not far from where the wall should have been. One of them noticed me, obviously startled, and in an instant had a bow with an arrow pointed in my direction.  In the same instant or a fraction later he pulled the bow back and unleashed the arrow directly at me.  I didn’t make a sound but think my heart must have stopped beating for a moment at least.  The arrow came to within about two feet of me, then kind of shattered and fell to the ground like it hit a stone wall that wasn’t there.

          Then it was gone. The hole, the sound, the arrow, all of it gone.  I just fell over onto the couch. Don’t know if I passed out or fell asleep; but the next thing I knew, T.J. had turned the T.V. on and it was almost 10: A.M.  I wondered, was this another crazy dream???

          I then pondered the mostly frightening dream with the animals, snakes, dragon, Charlie, Bobbie, my friends… and Tye.  I wondered if it might have been some sort of precognition or premonition of things to come.  I had mixed, ambiguous, feelings of foreboding, apprehension, excitement, and yet somehow, peace in reflecting on the dream as I thought and remembered.  Were the Lings somewhere else in time???  I shook my head NO and thought that just impossible.  It wasn’t logical.  There had to be another explanation for everything…

~~~

          Just a few minutes later I heard a knock at the door, my dad answering, and I could hear him talking to someone.  Moments later my dad walked into the living room with a puzzled look on his face.  “Mrs. Pearson is here with Molly and Jack and wants to talk with you.  Since T.J. is in here, why you don’t take them into the kitchen to visit?”

          I’m sure I had a look of annoyance on my face as my dad then added, “she’s a lonely, elderly, neighbor lady, be patient and kind and I’ll rescue you in a few minutes.”  “OK dad,” I managed a slight smile and followed him towards the door.  Mrs. Pearson had an unusual and somewhat solemn look on her face.  “Oh Anna, I’m so glad to see you.  I’ve been wanting to talk and have something I want you to give your friend D’Lisa.  Can we talk alone someplace?”  A little surprised still… from her look and the sound of urgency in her voice, I said, “sure, let’s go into the kitchen.”  I then led Mrs. Pearson into the kitchen, though she had been there many times previously visiting with my parents and T.J.  Molly and Jack following right behind.  “Please, have a seat,” I motioned to one of the kitchen chairs and pulled it out slightly from the table.  I tried not to grimace too bad as I realized that Molly, Jack, or both, were having an especially bad gas day.  “Do you want something to drink,” I asked as I was thinking if it was too cold outside to open a window.  “It’s a little stuffy in here, I’m going to open the window just a crack,” I continued as I walked to the window and opened it just an inch.  “Oh, no, my dear, nothing for me, but could you please get a bowl of water for Molly and Jack?”  Being close to the cupboards I pulled out one of our older bowls, put some water in it and put it down on the floor next to Mrs. Pearson.  She then continued immediately…  “I thought a lot about what your friend D’Lisa said as you were leaving… and she was right.  Sometimes I can be so… stupid.  When I was a little girl, other children used to call me stupid.” She said that with so much sadness, I could almost feel it, as she lowered her head and continued…  “I know I can sometimes be critical too.  I know, not many people have patience with me.  Both your mom and dad have been so wonderful, T.J is such a good and kind boy.” She lifted her head with a slight smile.  “I don’t have many friends, not even my own family.  After you all left, I wrote a note and took it to my sister’s house.  I knew she wouldn’t open the door for me, but I wrote how sorry I was for the way I had treated her when we were younger… AND… until she stopped talking to me.  I put it in an envelope in her mailbox and,” then with a little more excitement, “the next morning she called me!  We had such a good talk.  I apologized over and over again, she told me she forgave me and told me to stop apologizing… we’re getting together for lunch next week!  I asked her if she wanted to come over and she said she would take me out.  We’re going to The Bluebird, I love that place, but they won’t let Molly and Jack in.  I hate to go anywhere very long without them… but it will be so good to see Esther… Did you know, that’s the name of Molly and Jack’s mother?  I named her after my sister Esther.  I think I just missed her so much, but didn’t know what to do about it… until your friend said what she said to me.  OH, I almost forgot…” Mrs. Pearson then pulled an envelope out of her pocket. “Please, do give this to your friend… what was her name? Delsa???”  “D’Lisa,” I responded with a little smile.  “Oh, oh, yes, Delsa?” repeated Mrs. Pearson as she handed me the envelope. 

          “You know, I used to visit Cara Ling here with Esther a lot when the Lings lived here.”  Just then my dad walked in the kitchen and said, “Anna, can we get your help with something upstairs?” I knew he said ‘upstairs because Mrs. Pearson would not be able to follow us and he wanted to give me an opportunity to break off the meeting.  He had a surprised look as I responded, “could it wait a few minutes dad… until we finish here?”  “Well… sure… take your time, we’ll get to it when you’re done.”

          “You visited Mrs. Ling a lot when they lived here???”  “Oh, yes, quite often, especially right before the disappeared.  I visited with all the family.  They were wonderful people.  I loved the children too.  They were so kind to me… I forget the children’s names, but…  towards the end, I could tell Cara was really sick, she didn’t have the energy she used to have, and her skin tone had changed.  She got so she would talk so slow, and sometimes just didn’t have the energy to talk.  Sometimes she would just smile and tell me to continue.  No one in the world, no one in my life ever did that with me.  Her husband, his name was Alan, would ask me!  I could hardly believe he would ask me, but he would sometimes ask me to come and sit with her while he was at work and the children were gone to a friend’s house.  She had another friend who would sometimes stay with her, but she had her own little children and couldn’t do it all the time.  I don’t know if she was just putting up with me to be nice… but I think she liked my visits.  She would have me over and sometimes would even visit me before she got so ill… maybe she really did like me, I hope so.

          Mostly it was me talking, but sometimes she would talk.  She was a very spiritual woman.  She didn’t belong to any church but sometimes when she felt well enough, she would go to church with one of her friends, the one who would sit with her sometimes, and this friend would sometimes take the children… I think the children would go to church with them even when Cara was not able.  Oh... she had a lot of faith and a lot of love, but she had some strange ideas…  OH, I don’t mean that in a bad way!

          One time she told me about a goddess named Asherah.  That’s a strange word for me and the only reason I know it is because she repeated it so many times and wrote it down.  Cara told me the Israelites, a very very long time ago, believed in a mother and father in heaven and this Asherah was the mother.  Then something happened and they decided she was a false god and they got rid of her… that happens to a lot of mothers you know… they get old and the kids forget or just don’t want to visit them...  Cara would tell me all kinds of things I didn’t understand.” Sometimes it was tough following Mrs. Pearson, and this was one of those times.

          “Oh, I bet you’re wondering how I got Molly and Jack.” I wasn’t really, but it seemed like she hardly took a breath while moving from one subject to another.  “There was another neighbor, they’ve moved, but they had a male pug named Frank.  He asked me if Esther was fixed and I said, ‘no, why?’ and he asked if Frank and Esther could have babies.  I talked to Esther about it, and she was Ok with the idea, she saw Frank in the neighborhood and said she liked him, so they did.  The neighbors, I forget their names, they hardly ever talked to me, not like the Lings, but took one of the puppies, I gave one puppy to Cara, and I have Molly and Jack.  Two of the puppies died, they’re buried in your back yard.” Mrs. Pearson said again lowering her head while slowing her speech.  “Cara and I had a lovely funeral; Alan dug the grave…  Then just two months later, Esther was hit and killed by a speeding car… you know, it looked a lot like that car that was in front of my house that you asked about.” By this time, she had both a sad and somewhat surprised, inquisitive look with her head turned to up and to the side.  “No, it can’t be the same car, but this is the first time I even thought of it.  Anyway, we had another funeral in your back yard.  I used to visit the grave site, you can’t see where it was anymore, even after Cara and her family disappeared. 

          I would come over and bring flowers, the police told me to stop, it was really hard, but I did.  A couple times when I walked by, I heard strange noises and saw lights, one time I saw someone leaving the house and driving off… you know… I think… thinking about it more… it might have been the same car that ran over Esther.  I didn’t make any connection before talking about you just now… but it really might have been.  It scared me so much, I stopped walking by there for over a year.

          I went right over the Mr. Kendall’s house and told him.  He said he would call the police and I guess he did because I saw a police car and two officers looking around soon after.  You know, I don’t know what’s up with Mr. Kendall.  He lets me visit and tell him things, but never wants to visit very long.  He’s about my age, and I’m sure he’s just as lonely as me.  He’s never been married.  He’s really kind of fat an ugly you know…  Oh, there I go again.  I’m so sorry.”

          About then Molly and Jack started whining.  “Oh, I’ve been here too long.  I’m sure they have to go potty… you know, I’ve talked with Molly and Jack about that Asherah.  They think she’s real, but I, I just don’t know.” Mrs. Pearson was getting up to leave as the whining was getting louder… and the smell even worse.  I walked her to the door as she said, “please give the card to your friend… oh, I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten her name again… oh yeah, Daphne.  Thank you for talking.”  “Thank you for visiting I answered as I opened the door and she, Molly and Jack, now hurried out.