Chapter 23
The chorus of birds in the trees above awoke me. Then it was the warm sensation of the sunlight rays masking the chilled tip of my nose. I sat up and took it all in. The image of Katravin laid beside me was what brought relief though. It was Katravin whom I wanted to see more than any when I imagined coming back to Earth.
“It was real then,” I said.
I took her hand which I gently shook.
“Katravin, Katravin.”
There was movement under her eyelids and then Katravin’s eyes opened. She took in a deep breath of air and then raised forward so that she could sit up.
While scanning the area; Katravin asked, “What is this place…is it…is this Earth?”
“I believe so---although, I’m not certain and I don’t know exactly where we are. Yes…it has to be Earth. That’s what Chanah had promised.”
I stood up and then helped Katravin to her feet. All was still but in the distance, I could hear a train and traffic noises. We were in the park---in the city park. When I realized this, another noise grabbed my attention near the pond.
“Honk, Honk, Honk, Honk, Honk.”
There were four geese wadding by the edge of the pond and then my eyes shifted past them to the two runners on the opposite side of the pond. One of them; the male runner, stopped and took a seat on the park bench while the female continued jogging in place. The man checked his music device attached to a band around his arm and then they continued their running on the asphalt path that circled the pond.
“I recognize where we are,” I said in a low voice.
“What is it,” Katravin asked.
“This is the city park near my apartment.”
“It’s a park …a park,” Katravin said as if sorting through the newly learned language for understanding of this word.
“We’re within walking distance,” I added.
We took the blacktop path that led to the parking lot and then to a sidewalk which ran past Westin Avenue. I thought of the package again. The Main Street intersection would be a few blocks away. At first, the idea of getting back to my apartment seemed reasonable; the package and Miles last words pulled at me though---‘get there first,’ he said.
“We’ll have to make a stop first. Your brother wanted me to pick something up,” I said.
“What is it,” Katravin asked?
“He just said it was a package and not to open it until you and I are back at the apartment.”
Katravin looked around and then shook her head.
“Miles is so; he’s just so…”
“Mysterious. He can be vague and perhaps a tad peculiar. ” Those are words that come to my mind,” I said.
Katravin was still shaking her head but not at me. Rather, she was thinking of her brother. It was as if she had seen this a hundred times before.
“The bar he described should be this way,” pointing down the quiet Westin Avenue.
By ten or ten-thirty this street would be busier but not by much. There would be the store keepers and the locals that shopped at this hour and perhaps the occasional police officer that drove his squad car by while patrolling his usual route. I concluded by the inactivity that we had arrived much earlier than that. It felt like an early morning as the air smelled crisp. The bar wouldn’t be open to the normal customers for hours or maybe it would---depending on the drunkards appetites for whiskey that day. I wasn’t sure of anything at this point.
“Did Miles mention anything about another alien…or rather; some other life form from your system possibly being here already when we arrive?”
“No, he didn’t. Is that what he said to you,” Katravin asked?
“Not in so many words but it seems we are not the only ones after this package. That’s why I think we need to get to the package now.”
“Who else would know about it?”
I shook my head. Then Stacy came to mind. Could she be back?
“We’ve got to get there before she does,” I said.
“Before who does,” Katravin asked?
“Stacy,” I said.
“She’s back?”
“I don’t know for sure but my guess is that she could be the person Miles referred to,” I said now quickening the pace.
We reached the corner where Main and Westin intersect. It was strange that I hadn’t noticed the building Miles described before but there it was. I must have walked past it at least fifty times before today. It was easy to see how it went unnoticed. The bottom half was a cross-blend of charcoal grays and rose colored bricks. The only thing about the bottom half that looked older was a weather-beaten oak door with fifteen dirty green tinted glass panes. The top half was red metal siding. There was a window; high-above the old door, and white plantation shutters which had been closed from the inside. That was it. No sign advertising cold beer inside or any business name on the outside.
I pressed on the chilled lever attached to the door and walked in. Katravin followed. A split entry way with five stairs going up and five going down appeared. The natural light that shone through the glass followed most of the stairs going down; however, blackness was at the end of those stairs. My eyes did catch a glimpse of a light on upstairs. We walked up.
CREEEK, CREEEK, CREEEK, CREEEK, CREEEK
There was a room full of round tables and chairs with a stage at one end of the room. On the opposite end; the end furthest from the stairs, a long bar; as well as lined-up bar stools. An impressive mirror that hung on the wall behind the bar had liquor and beer decals lined all around the outside edge of the reflective surface. The dark cherry liquor cabinet was stocked full with spirits and stacked highball glasses. Then the lingered smell of patron’s revelry that carried on into the morning hours tinged the senses.
Beyond the bartenders work space was a stainless steel restaurant door. A brilliant artificial seeped underneath the slit of where the door and floor met; as well as the diamond shaped window on its top half. So luminous was the light; that making out anything inside the room strained the eyes. Katravin tugged at my arm.
“The light William; it’s…well it’s strangely familiar to me---be careful,” Katravin whispered.
I then turned to look at her. Katravin’s pupil’s appeared dilated to the tips of each eyelid. The white was nearly gone and eventually gave way to a solid black in her eyes.
“What is it,” I asked?
“A VECILOI,” Katravin said.
“From the LOMMETRUS---why would…”
Then the light went out. Darkness filled the room.
“Are we in danger,” I asked in a hushed tone?
“I am not certain,” Katravin replied.
It was quiet. I couldn’t move out of my fear. My hands were shaking slightly. I took a few deep breaths and when I finally calmed myself; it was then that I sensed something---something that was similar to Chanah’s presence weeks ago in my office building. It was also in that moment the words Miles had spoke for getting this package stirred to memory.
“STONIESOURS; STONIESOURS---I would like the STONIESOURS,” I said.
With the exception of a wall clock’s second hand piercing the silence in the room, all was still. Had I said it right? Was this the message; the complete message for receiving the package? I almost repeated it again but then the lights to the bar room came on. The low playing of a Motown classic pulsated from a juke box in the corner. I turned and looked at Katravin. Her eyes were normal now. My eyes shifted back to the restaurant door where a man’s face now appeared through the window.
“Yeahhh…Geez,” I gasped! I stumbled back a few steps. The man pushed through the door and then stood at the edge of the bar.
He was tall, thin and the lines in his tanned face appeared accentuated next to the disheveled white hair on his head and face. He didn’t speak; at least not initially, as his eyes revealed a mind at work. The man was examining Katravin and me. He possibly wasn’t expecting two people.
“My name is Willia
m and this is Katravin. Miles sent us to pick up a package. STONIESOURS was the drink that I was supposed to order,” I said.
“Ye be not’r drink lad,” the man said.
“I’m sorry…I.”
“Come to ther bik,” the man interrupted.
With that, the mysterious man disappeared into the room behind the bar. I looked at Katravin and she nodded. Her face still revealed the uncertainty that I too was feeling but we had been told by Miles to pick this up. My curiosity burned strong now and I was more determined than fearful. I pushed through the metal restaurant door and saw the man standing near a stainless steel ice bin. It was filled with ice cubes to the edge where the sliding door opened.
“Might ya say’er name agin fer me lad.”
“William…Baxter. William Baxter. And this is…”
“I know huh she be.”
“How do know me,” asked Katravin?
The tall, thin man didn’t respond but instead stuck his arm into the ice bin and through the ice; sleeves even, until his armpit rested over the ice bin’s edge. Cubes of ice that were at or near the top had spilled onto the floor and they clinked and clanked when hitting the concrete. It took a few moves of the man’s arm but his reach found something. He grinned at Katravin and me when he found it. His arm slowly pulled out. He had to jerk it a few times but the package finally revealed in the man’s hand was a metal box---a box made of the metal native to the LOMMETRUS. It was reflective and shiny underneath the artificial light. I stepped forward to examine in closer proximity but the man held it behind him.
“Ferst ye giv thy word. Yer are huh ya say; giv thy word.”
“I was only given one word; STONIESOURS,” I said.
“Ander sa Miles sent ya?”
“That’s right. Miles sent me.”
He looked skeptical still but he had taken the time to show us the metal box already. Why doesn’t he just hand it to me? I was beginning to feel the agitation of weeks where nothing came easy. I almost blurted something out that would have been laced with a few curses but he extended his arm with the metal box. I grabbed it with my eyes still fixed on the peculiar man. My fingertips nearly froze on contact.
“Ssss Haaa…wow that’s cold,” I said.
“I can hold it William,” Katravin offered.
I gladly handed it over to her and immediately rubbed my hands together; blowing hot air on them as I rubbed. Katravin and the man were both unaffected.
“So yer ar huh ye say then. Goot fer dhat.”
The LOMMETRUS Chronicles: Book One: The Abduction of William Baxter Page 24
