by LL Helland
“Once a woman dies or becomes ill, Godfrey no longer needs her. He stores them in these gigantic jars.”
Trisha stared at these women, horribly fascinated. They had no sparkle in their eyes. They seemed to be shells of the people they once must have been. She tried to speak to one of them, but the girl quickly turned away—but not before Trisha spotted the same gaudy brooch pinned to her clothing. It was hard to spot on the young woman’s tattered, dirty clothing, but Trisha could see that it was identical to the one she wore. One by one, Trisha looked at all the women; they all wore the same brooch.
Footsteps sounded near the cavern, and the women began to dig relentlessly. Mrs. Toddles motioned for Trisha and Advarika to hide behind a large jar before disappearing. A door swung open, and Godfrey walked in. Advarika, frightened by the sight of him, leaned against Trisha so hard that he nearly pushed her out of their hiding place. Trisha held her nightgown close to her body as Godfrey walked in their direction. She tried to breathe quietly, but began to hyperventilate as Godfrey approached.
He stopped in front of the glass jars and looked around, mumbling to himself. “Something is not right.”
Trisha’s brooch glowed, turning red-hot. Despite the tremendous heat, she brought her hand up to conceal the glowing piece of jewelry from Godfrey’s gaze. Trisha could see the other women’s brooches glowing red as well. Her brooch was burning her skin, but she was more afraid of Godfrey than the pain, so she would not let go of the piece of jewelry.
Godfrey yelled, “Continue with your work, ladies! You may be getting another worker very shortly.” He laughed and walked out, leaving the women imprisoned in the tomb.
Trisha, in excruciating pain, ripped her hand away from the brooch, which had now returned to its normal color. The palm of her hand had a burn mark in the exact same shape as the brooch. Advarika hunted around and then offered her a rock. It was round and smooth and cold to the touch. He put it in Trisha’s palm, over the burn. The coolness of the rock helped ease the pain somewhat.
Just then, a small black rat emerged from behind a glass jar. He spat in the dirt by Trisha’s feet, then mixed the spit and the dirt together with his paw. He took the black mixture and spread a thin coat over the burn on Trisha’s hand. Advarika and the other women watched, astonished. A rat had never helped anyone before.
Trisha felt instant relief from the mixture. When she was able to think again, she noticed Mrs. Toddles standing in the corner of the room. How long had she been there? Could the other women see her?
Trisha walked over to Mrs. Toddles and said, “Who are you? You say you are going to help me, but so far you have not done anything to save me or these women. Why did you decide to help? Why now? Isn’t it too late?”
Mrs. Toddles said very slowly, “I didn’t think I could help before, but when I saw you at Godfrey’s house, I knew I had seen you somewhere else. I remembered seeing you at your great-grandmother’s house; you were the girl in the coffin, and I knew I had to try.”
Trisha shuddered now at the thought of sleeping in a coffin. It had seemed so perfect and cozy at the time.
This was nothing like the sensual books she read on vampires. She looked at the women with their dirty clothes and their filthy fingernails. Hard labor was not in any of the books she read. This was not going to have the ending she had thought.
One of the women, still looking down at the ground, said quietly as she walked, “Coffin? We have no burials down here.” She pointed to the large glass jars. “There is our resting place. Some are not even deceased yet. We are put in there for convenience when we are no longer productive.”
Trisha sat down hard on a large rock and put her head down on her arms. “This is not what I had in mind when I wanted to marry Godfrey.”
Mrs. Toddles tried to seem motherly. “Yes, I know, Trisha. That’s why it would’ve been a good idea to know your suitor, and something about his family, before jumping into such a commitment.”
Trisha looked up at Mrs. Toddles, who at this moment looked like her great-grandmother. “I don’t know what to say. I just loved the idea of such a handsome man asking for my hand that I lost my better judgment. I’m sure Brittany would think me a fool for such a hasty decision.”
“I’m sure Brittany has her own troubles at this moment, my dear. She is in no position to judge you. Perhaps you could rest for an hour or two. You’ve had a very long and disturbing day.”
Trisha put her head down onto her folded arms and quietly thought about things. She wished she was back home in Boston, in her quiet room off of the kitchen. She desperately needed some downtime, but she wasn’t going to get any here.
CHAPTER 23
Great-Grandfather entered the room through a space portal. “Did you hold everything together while I was gone?”
She answered him bitterly. “I wish you would stay here and stop popping in and out like that. Anyway, I believe so, but I can’t wait for these adventures to end. It hurts me to see our great-grandchildren suffer like this.”
“How else are they supposed to learn? Its life’s lessons in a controlled environment. What could be better?”
“Alastair, I would have agreed with you twenty, thirty years ago, but I’m not so sure now.”
“Let me take a look at how the children are all doing.”
Great-Grandmother moved over and let Alastair sit at the control panel. “Feast your eyes, my dear.”
Alastair said, “I see right away there seems to be a little glitch with Brittany’s life lesson.”
When Brittany finally woke up, she was back in her hospital bed at her great-grandmother’s house. Five human-sized rats came through the door, wearing lab coats, masks, and gloves. Brittany looked for the call button, but before she could find it, two of the rats came over to her bed. One put his paw on Brittany’s forehead; the other went to the other side of the bed and pushed the first rat’s paw off Brittany’s forehead. The two rats squabbled over putting their paws on Brittany’s head.
The one rat said, “She has a fever.”
The other one said, “No, she doesn’t.” They slapped each other.
Brittany finally found the call button and pushed it as many times as she could until she heard her great-grandmother coming down the hall.
“I’m coming, Brittany.” For the first time, Brittany felt she could relax; Granmama was coming.
Granmama came into the room, her clothing and hair just as messy as before. And, again this time, she was a five-foot-tall rat, just like the doctors. She had on the same green robe, one green slipper, and one fluffy pink one. Her hairpins were falling out, and she was trying to tie the robe around her, but was having trouble without an opposable thumb and with a long tail to contend with.
Granmama walked over on her hind legs and sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong now, Brittany?”
Brittany knew she must be hallucinating again and decided to go along with the illusion. Great-Grandmother felt Brittany’s head. “You are warm. Let me get you a cool rag for your head.” She turned to the five doctors and said, “I can take care of my great-granddaughter. You may leave.” Granmama went into the bathroom, brought back a cold, wet washcloth, and put it on Brittany’s forehead.
Brittany said, “You know how I like science, Great-Grandmother?”
“Yes, I know, Brittany. I believe the first words you said weren’t ‘mama’ and ‘dada,’ they were ‘carbon’ and ‘oxygen.’”
Brittany smiled and fiddled with her long black ponytail. “Well you know I always have to have a plausible explanation for everything.”
Great-Grandmother nodded.
Brittany tried to keep her voice from shaking. “Could you please explain to me why you are a rat? Since I don’t believe in mystical beings, you must be a dream, or I’m terribly sick. There has got to be a scientific reason for what I’m going through.”
Great-Grandmother said, “Brittany, you can believe it’s a dream. That will make it easier on you, but don
’t lose the reason for the dream. Acknowledge the fear and emotions you feel when dealing with a highly contagious germ.” Great-Grandmother kissed Brittany and got up to leave. “You seem tired, my dear. Try and get some sleep.”
“Great-Grandmother, will you please tell Chris and Great-Grandfather that I strongly believe in science, but I don’t believe in their sad attempts to scare me? They are overtaxing my mind. Everything has an explanation, but I’m just too tired right now to figure this out.”
The giant rat nodded at Brittany and then left the room, swishing its tail on the floor.
Brittany was starting to feel better, when she looked over at the mural on the wall. This time a small boy caught her eye—the boy she had found in the street! He was playing with his glowing rocks and top. Brittany got out of bed and approached the mural. She ran her hand along the wall until she touched the boy’s shoulder.
She heard a small voice coming from the other bed in the room. “What’s that?”
Brittany spun around and pulled back the curtain. There, behind the curtain, the little boy sat on a hospital bed, the same boy she had befriended at the hospital in England. Brittany ran over and hugged him, tears coming down her cheeks.
“Are you hungry?”
The little boy nodded. Brittany pressed his call button, and Granmama immediately came into the room. She was still in the form of a five-foot-tall rat, but Brittany needed to get some soup for her little friend.
Besides, the little boy clapped his hands and pointed to the rat. He was quite entertained by the large rodent wearing a robe and shuffling along in mismatched slippers.
“Granmama, may we have some soup, and maybe some cheese and crackers?”
“We have plenty of cheese, and I will check on the crackers and soup.”
Granmama was back in a few seconds, Brittany had no idea how she had gotten the food together so fast, but she was grateful. She took the food from her great-grandmother and put it on the boy’s bedside table.
When she turned to thank her great-grandmother, she was gone.
As the little boy ate, Brittany followed the mural around the room. She did not want to look at the dark and depressing part of the mural, but she could not tear her eyes away. One scene at the end of the mural terrified her. Amid stacks of coffins, she saw several small coffins the size of a child. She knew she had to get back to the English hospital and help in any way she could.
She looked over at the little boy. He had finished eating, and she could hear the rat doctors coming down the hall. Brittany said to the little boy, “I think if you are full, it is time to go back to England.”
The little boy jumped into Brittany’s lap and spun his top. The top hit the stones, and the room started spinning so hard that she almost lost her hold on the boy, but when they finally came to a stop, she still had him nestled in her arms.
Brittany whispered to the little boy, “You are lucky that you have me and not my dancing fool of a sister. She hates amusement park rides. I think she would have thrown up on you.”
Brittany stood up, putting the boy down on the ground with his top. Four strange creatures ran up the hill toward her. They stood about two feet tall, were covered with green fur, and had extremely large ears and close-set eyes.
She heard one of the critters say, “Quill, wait up.” Brittany had never seen anything like these animals. She decided not to take a chance on how friendly they might be.
She quickly picked up the thin little boy, and this time she gave his top a spin, saying, “This is not where we want to be.”
This time, when they stopped spinning, they were in a dirt corridor. Worms, roaches, and rats scurried all over. Brittany did not know if they could get to the hospital from here, but at least they were not in any immediate danger. The pair walked until the hallway came to a dead end. There, beside a large boulder, they saw a silver tray embedded in the wall. The metal displayed an image of an old woman in a wheelchair. She looked like Trisha, but had to be well into her nineties. The old woman was petite, pale, tapping her foot, probably to some music, and wiggling and fidgeting with her hands.
Brittany did not know what to make of the image, but she did know the corridor would not take them back to the English hospital.
She put the top and colored stones on the ground again. “You spin again.”
The little boy picked up the top and twirled it. The colored stones started glowing, and again the two of them were transported to another place.
Alastair said, “I believe the glitch has been corrected and Brittany is back in England.” He looked at Great-Grandmother. “See, nothing we can’t handle. Let me show you what to watch out for. Don’t worry, you will soon get the hang of it. I know I was alive when Patrick was here as a boy, but don’t be afraid. I’ll guide you through their adventures.”
Great-Grandmother’s confidence level was not where it should be, but she would learn as quickly as she could for the safety of her great-grandchildren. This trip was for valuable lessons, but she was hoping the next visit could be for fun, depending on what she saw in their future.
CHAPTER 24
Great-Grandmother had a good look at Jon. He would be a handsome young man with a lot of money. Jon’s life lesson would take place in his early twenties, right after he graduated from MIT’s business school. She said very quietly, “Jon, I hope you realize how important family and friends are, but you may not see the lesson in front of you.”
Rat and Jon arrived at the company plane at the same time. Several other company employees were also going to England, but they were not as important as Jon and Mr. Rat. The flight attendant made sure that Mr. Jon Hellandback and Mr. Rat were comfortable in first class, then started boarding the rest of the passengers. Jon watched as they passed his seat.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing boarded first, then a skunk—the flight attendant seated him in the back of the plane, by the lavatory. After them came a stone-faced liar, who looked different than Mrs. Devious, the two-faced liar. A two-faced liar will lie about their lies. A stone-faced liar will admit to them without showing any emotion. Sometimes, Mrs. Devious would even cry and become dramatic to prove she was not lying, when everyone knew she was.
Finally, the pilot boarded and approached Mr. Rat and Jon. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Captain Bull—Pit Bull, that is. I will be your pilot on our long trip to England.”
Jon reached out and shook his hand. “My name is Jon Hellandback, and this is Mr. Rat.”
The captain replied, “I know who you are. You need to remember just one thing about me.”
Mr. Rat said, “And what would that be?”
Captain Pit Bull curled his lips in a snarl, showing every tooth he had. “My bite is worse than my bark.”
Then he turned and headed toward the cockpit. Jon whispered to Rat, “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”
Rat replied, “Actually, no. I’ve heard that he once flew a group of clowns to California. Captain Bull had warned them not to try any funny stuff on his plane, but one of the clowns decided to ignore the warning and buzzed him with a toy buzzer when they shook hands. The captain chomped down on the clown’s arm, taking a large chunk out of it. It took all the rest of the clowns to pull him off.”
The flight attendant caught Jon’s eye and said, “We are just waiting for one more passenger, and then we can take off. He’s running a tad bit late.”
When the last passenger arrived, it was clear he was running late on purpose; he did not want to see the pilot. Mr. Clown himself walked up to Jon and Mr. Rat and put out his hand.
Mr. Rat said, “Move along, Clown. We don’t need any tricks today.”
Jon saw that he did not have a buzzer on his palm and reached out to shake Mr. Clown’s hand. As Mr. Clown reached forward, his sleeve drew back, and Jon saw a jagged old scar. As the two shook hands, water squirted out from the flower on the clown’s lapel. Jon just wiped off his face and did not say anything.
Mr. Clown burst ou
t in a high-pitched laugh, grabbing his stomach as he ambled back to his seat.
Mr. Rat looked at Jon, incredulous. “Jon, why didn’t you say something, punch him, or wrestle him to the ground? I have seen you in many fights, and you are a tough guy. I don’t think you have ever started a fight, but you certainly finish them—as a triumphant winner.”
“I believe Mr. Clown has already had his share of fights, even one with Captain Pit Bull.”
A horrible odor filled the small cabin.
Jon signaled the flight attendant. “Has the lavatory malfunctioned, or has Mr. Skunk done something?” Mr. Rat and the flight attendant both turned to look at Mr. Skunk, who sat reading a newspaper.
The flight attendant said, “I will go check. Please stay seated; we are about to take off.”
She returned in just a few short minutes. It seems the odor is not coming from the back of the plane, but from this area.” She indicated the row Jon and Mr. Rat sat in. Rat picked up his briefcase, and the odor almost knocked the stewardess over.
Jon covered his nose. “What do you have in that case, dead body parts?”
Mr. Rat slowly opened his case. Instead of papers, ledgers, or documents, he had a variety of cheeses neatly arrange in his case. He had cheeses from Spain, France, and Italy, “from all over the world” cheese like Roquefort, Munster, Cabrales blue cheese, and Limburger.
Mr. Rat picked up one of the cheeses. “This is my favorite. It comes from France—Vieux Boulogne.” He inhaled the pungent odor. The flight attendant quickly slammed the briefcase closed, but not before the overpowering odor reached everyone on the plane. She took the case to the back of the plane, where Mr. Skunk gave her a thumbs-up. She put the briefcase into ten garbage bags, and still the odor was noticeable. The pilot’s call light came on, and the flight attendant went to find out what he wanted.
As she passed Mr. Rat, she said, “You can collect your briefcase at the end of the flight, when everyone else has left the plane.”
