Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity)

by Anabell Martin

  He let go of her hand and knelt on the ground. As the turtle shuffled by, Eli held his hand out so that her shell brushed against it. “Ah, Caretta caretta. Bene ambula et redambula.” he whispered.

  She reached the ocean and was quickly engulfed by the dark, rolling water. The group dispersed soon after that. As they walked back to the car, Lindsey was aware of Maddie’s watchful eye. She wasn’t sure how she would explain the body language between her and Eli tonight because she wasn’t sure herself.

  She fell asleep in the Jeep on the ride home. She was awakened by Eli carrying her along the familiar path between the Robbins’ barn and Retreat house. The stars sparkled brightly in the inky black sky above.

  She tried to sit up, to get him to put her down, but he just whispered, “Shhhh. Go back to sleep. I’ll get you in safely.”

  She barely remembered him putting her on her bed or covering her up.

  The cell phone woke Lindsey the next morning. She looked at the caller ID with only one eye open. Ugh, she thought.

  “Good morning, Maddie,” she said gruffly, her voice heavy with sleep.

  “Get up. Michelle and I are going riding. We’re saddling up Rosita for you right now. Meet us at the barn in five.”

  Lindsey looked at her clock. “It’s eight in the morning, Maddie. Can we do it later.”

  “Oh, no, hot momma. It’ll probably be our last chance to ride together before Michelle leaves for school. So if you’re not here in five minutes, we’re coming to get you.” Maddie hung up.

  Lindsey laid the phone on the nightstand and rubbed her face. She threw back the covers and paddled her way to the bathroom. Once she’d peed and brushed her teeth, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt.

  The minute she was in the barn, Maddie handed her the reigns to Rosita. Lindsey was hesitant; the last time she’d ridden this thing, it went berserk. But she had bigger things to worry about right now – she knew what the girls wanted to talk to her about.

  “Don’t worry. We’re going to head down to the water’s edge today,” Michelle said, misreading the angst on her face.

  They mounted the horses, the leather of the saddles protesting under them, and rode in the opposite direction of Retreat House. The minute they were away from the barn, Maddie started.

  “So what is going on with you and padre?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Uh-huh. We saw you last night. Holding hands on the beach, leaning into each other, whispering. Are you corrupting the good father-to-be?”

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, I’d like to corrupt that!” Michelle interjected, slapping at the air with the ends of her reigns as if the leather straps were whip. Maddie shook her head in mock disgust.

  “We are just friends. Seriously. We’ve formed this alliance thanks to that, that thing in the house.

  “You told him about all that?”

  Lindsey recounted what had happened the morning before and what Eli had said about it, how he had sensed something there when he first walked into the house.

  “Wow. He ‘senses’ it. Is he psychic?”

  “I don’t think so. Rather, if he is ready to devote his entire being to God, wouldn’t he be attuned to the spiritual world more so than the average person?” Lindsey pondered.

  “Well, I definitely think that he’s as in to you are you are to him. Everyone on that beach last night could see it. Maybe God sent him here this summer to show him what life could be like without the collar, that he can still serve Him and have companionship, too.”

  “It’s not like that, Maddie. We just met.”

  “Maybe, you know, maybe it’s fate. Y’all could be soul mates.”

  Lindsey rolled her eyes and Michelle made several more inappropriate comments before the topic of conversation turned to Michelle’s big move to the Upstate and the party at the Robbins’ house the next evening. The girls had promised to help their mother prepare the backyard for the boil so they headed back to the barn.

  An hour later, Lindsey found herself on the familiar path home, the heather beneath her feet was soft and squishy. She had a piece of hay in her hand and broke little pieces off of it here and there as she walked. She thought about what Maddie had said – that Eli was interested in her, too. No, she told herself. He was just being protective. He was trying to prevent her from being hurt by something evil. Wasn’t that what men of God were supposed to do anyway?

  She watched a fat bumblebee buzz between the colorful clusters that had burst forth on the various bushes and shrubs that were encroaching the path thanks to the summer sun and daily rain showers. Birds chirped in the mossy canopy above.

  Before long, Lindsey was mounting the steps to the front porch slowly, still lost in thought. She screamed when a set of hands grabbed her from behind and jerked her off the steps.

  Eli held her against his chest for a second, his face buried in her hair, before placing her gently on the ground. He grabbed a stick and walked up the steps slowly. He swiftly placed the stick on the porch with one hand and then reached down with the other. When he stood back up, he was holding the head of a large snake. Its body – a mixture of dark and light shades of brown – coiled tightly around his arm. It’s red, forked tongue flicked menacingly.

  Once the snake was away from Lindsey and Retreat House, Eli grabbed it by its tail with his free and jerked until its head snapped from its body. “Damned animal of demons,” he muttered and made his way quickly toward the woods on the other side of the house.

  “Was … was it … poisonous?” Lindsey stammered when he returned.

  “Aye. It was a Copperhead. I don’t know why it was up there. You were getting ready to step right on it.”

  “But, you were behind me… how did you see it?”

  “I just walked out on the porch. I saw it when you were about halfway up the steps. If had I yelled at you, you might have been startled and fallen or stepped on it anyway. I didn’t want to risk you getting injured, so I jumped the banister and grabbed you from behind. I was rather noisy. You didn’t hear me?”

  “No… was it because of … the thing in the house?”

  “I suspect as much. It seems to either have it out for you or it’s trying to antagonize me, see how far it can push before I leave. Perhaps both.”

  Aimee poked her head out of the door and greeted them, interrupting the conversation.

  “Hey, Barbara from next door just called asked if they could borrow some Hibiclens and Neosporin. Wind Dancer has a cut that Maddie is cleaning. Do you mind taking this back over to the barn?”

  “No, Mom. I’ll take it.” She left Eli standing at the foot of the steps and her mother on the porch.

  Maddie had Wind Dancer chained to the cross ties and was bathing her when Lindsey walked into the barn. She gave her friend the cleaner and ointment. She then walked over to the stall where the little colt – still unnamed – stood, watching her curiously. She took a slice of apple out of Maddie’s metal feeding pail, and gave it to the baby horse.

  “What happened to Wind Dancer? She was fine when I left a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh, nothing. I think she walked through some thorn bushes while we were riding. Her front leg has a couple of bleeding scratches on it. I saw them right after you left. She’ll be OK, we just wanted to make sure they didn’t get infected.”

  Lindsey nodded her head without saying anything, she was still too shook up about the latest event at Retreat House, her heart still slammed into her sternum violently. Maddie noticed Lindsey’s ashen appearance and her shaking hands.

  “Enough about the horse. How are you?”

  Lindsey replayed the events for her friend – the snake and Eli’s quick reflexes – all the while being careful not to look up lest her eyes give away her fear or the adrenaline rush that Eli gave her.

  “Isn’t it weird how Eli always seems to save the day? It’s like he’s a superhero or something. By day,
a mild mannered seminarian, but by night he’s the collared crusader!” Maddie rinsed soap from the horse’s body with the sprayer.

  “Ha, ha. Very funny. I’m glad that he’s able to sense this thing, too, and is there when I need him to be. Like I said earlier, it’s like his spiritual calling makes him more attuned to the supernatural. This thing is driving me crazy, though! I’m thinking about calling an ordained priest or something. I can’t take the crap in that house anymore. I need someone to come in and get rid of it. My mom doesn’t believe me. And I think Eli is at a loss, too. If he knew how to banish it, wouldn’t he have done it already?”

  Maddie put the hose pipe down and grabbed a thick brush. “No, I don’t think he’s more sensitive to the spirit, I just think he’s more attuned to you. I’ve seen the way he watches you, Lindsey.”

  Lindsey rolled her eyes at Maddie, making it clear she disagreed.

  “Lindsey, seriously though, have you thought about having a psychic reading done in the house, first? You know, have someone come in and see exactly what’s in there and why it’s being so vile?”

  “I don’t know any psychics.”

  “My aunt on my dad’s side is psychic. Let me make a couple of calls first, to see if she can do it. Just don’t mention it in front of my parents at the boil tomorrow night, OK? Aunt Sadie isn’t one of their favorite people, if you catch my drift.”

  The little colt nudged Lindsey’s hand with is soft, velveteen nose. He looked at her then back to the pail.

  Lindsey handed him another apple slice while thinking about Maddie’s idea. She didn’t care how it happened at this point, as long as the damned thing left the house. From the mischief that started it all right down to the snake on the porch just a little while ago, Lindsey had had it. Because, quite frankly, she was afraid the thing would find a way to harm her if something didn’t happen soon.

  Thirteen

  “Lindsey,” Aimee started over breakfast. “I’m going up to Columbia next week. I’ve got to do a weekend continuing education course so that I can renew my license. Clara, one of the nurses at work, and I are taking a two-day doula workshop that’s being offered while we’re up there, too. And, well, that’s where my birth grandparents are. I’d like to look them up. I normally wouldn’t take off like this, but it’s an opportunity for me to kill three birds with one stone. I can get all the C.E. hours I need to renew my license as well as learn some alternative techniques to help me out at work. Plus I get to look into my past.”

  “Your who?” Lindsey said, looking up from her scrambled eggs.

  “My birth grandparents. I know that you know, Lindsey. I saw the envelope from the lawyer’s office inside the bag you took to the water park. And I’m OK with you knowing, relieved actually. You deserve the truth. And so do I. So please, understand that I’m going to be researching my natural family and that it’s not a jab at Mom or Dad.”

  Lindsey nodded her head slowly. She wanted to make a comment about how Gramma and Grandpa had been her ‘natural’ family but she held her tongue. Instead she said, “Alright mom. What’s that other thing you’re doing? Becoming a doula? What’s that?”

  “Oh, there’s this growing fad of women having babies without any pain medication and they hire these women called ‘doulas.’ A doula is just supposed to be there to lend support to a laboring mom – give her back rubs, feed her ice chips, help her move around – that kind of stuff. But hospitals around the country are having problems with these women overstepping boundaries and giving out incorrect medical advice or even adjusting medications being given through the I.V. drip line. Some hospitals are even banning them because of their interference. A lot of nurses are getting doula certified so they can safely offer these services to women who don’t want pain medication.”

  “I’m sorry, but if I ever have kids I want my epidural on tap when I arrive at the hospital.”

  “I know how you feel, honey. But some women want the experience of a non-medicated birth. To each their own.”

  “Wait, wouldn’t a doula be a nurse anyway if she’s going to be aiding in childbirth?”

  “No. Anyone can be a doula. You don’t even have to have a high school diploma to go through a doula course. They’re not required to be licensed through the state, which is crazy because even a hair dresser needs a license to practice. Very, very few of them even have any kind of medical education. It can be very dangerous for someone who hasn’t stepped foot inside a collegiate classroom to dole out medical advice. They’re not all like that, of course, but it’s been bad enough that hospitals are laying down guidelines for their birth attendances. A lot of nurses are taking on this role so that they can help a woman have the birth she wants as long as it’s safely possible. It could be an interesting workshop. I can’t wait to hear what they’ll say about us big, bad labor and delivery nurses during this thing. Based on some of the posts on a few of the doula message boards I’ve been lurking on, we’re seen as agents of the devil.” She used her two index fingers to mimic devil horns on her forehead.

  “That’s really not funny,” Lindsey shook her head. In light of the current situation, she didn’t think that making jokes about the devil or things that were evil was in anyway funny. “But why bother, really? If they don’t like you, why do you want to be one of them?”

  “Because I want to be able to help each patient accordingly. Some women want to experience childbirth without pain medication. I want to learn techniques to help them with that goal. And who knows? Maybe I’ll change a few minds about medicated births, as well. Either way, I’ll be gone a week. Will you be OK?”

  “Mom, I’m 18 years old. I’ll be fine. Besides, Eli is here and the Robbins’ are five minutes away. Plus, I’m glad that you’re researching your family.”

  “That’s why I spend so much time with Darby. She knew Angela and is helping me work through some of my issues. I just haven’t wanted to burden you with any of it, at least not yet. We’ll talk once I wrap my own head around it. Anyway, I think this will be a productive trip, so I’m excited. But I will still worry. Columbia’s only an hour or so away, so I’ll be able to come right back if I need to.”

  “Make your plans, Mom. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got stuff to do anyway. I’ve got work and I need to get my schedule and books for school. Then I’ve got to shop for school supplies. I’ll be fine, Mom, really.”

  Aimee had been off the last couple of days and needed to go to bed so she could get up for her next set of rotations later that evening. After breakfast she took an Ambien and went upstairs. Lindsey showered and got ready for work. Eli was on his hands and knees, planting flowers by front of the porch when she left for the Artisans Center.

  After work, Lindsey went to Wal-Mart – the only major store within an hour’s drive – to get some bath supplies and to start stocking up on paper and pens for school. Aimee was getting ready to leave when she finally arrived home. They had been living like this for years now, only seeing each other in small intervals during Aimee’s “on” days. “Like two ships passing in the night” was how her mom described it.

  Lindsey sat with her laptop resting on the arm of the sofa while eggplant parmesan baked in the oven. She heard Eli enter the room, his footsteps light on the wood floor.

  “Would you like some company?” he asked.

  Lindsey flushed and looked up. Eli stood near the kitchen counter, glossy violin in his hand.

  “Yeah, sure. Do you play?”

  “Yes. I was going to clean the old girl up. The weather here is a little more humid than I’m used to. Changes in temperature can mess with instruments like this. After I clean it, I can play you something if you like.”

  “So you’re not from around here?” Lindsey had assumed that Eli was from the area since his Aunt Darby had been here her entire life.

  He was visibly uncomfortable. “My family, well, they’re from up North.” It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it and Lindsey didn’t want to ruin the mood wi
th asking him to discuss what seemed to be bad memories. Maybe a family dispute had been what sent him here to begin with. Were they angry that he’d chosen the priesthood?

  He sat a small box on the coffee table and took a bottle of varnish cleaner, a cake of rosin, and a cotton cloth out of it. After he checked the bridge of the violin he rubbed the bow over each of the strings, taking his time to carefully tune the darkly varnished maple beauty. When he finished the tune up, he began to polish the wood using small, quick circles.

  “Do you play any instruments?”

  “No. I always wanted to learn to play the flute, be in the marching band, you know. But I never got the chance. Mom plays the piano, though.”

  He took the long, horse hair bow in his hands next and removed old rosin from the strands. Once it was clean and the strings tightened, he took the cake of rosin, held it in a cloth, and rubbed it up and down the bow several times. When he was done, he put his supplies back into the box.

  “Would you really like me to play something for you? You can say no, I won’t be offended.”

  “I would absolutely love to hear you play.”

  When she didn’t make a specific request, he smiled, put the instrument under his chin, and began pull the bow over the strings ever so gently. Back and forth he moved the bow, changing his angle a little with each stroke. The violin burst into song that nearly made Lindsey cry. Eli’s eyes were closed as if willing the music to pour from his soul and out through the violin. The song was familiar, but she didn’t know the name. Eli stood up as the music reached its crescendo, the violin’s angelic voice singing to her alone. He swayed gently as he played.

  “Pachelbel’s Canon in D,” he answered her unasked question. “This next one is my favorite.”

  He began to play a deeper, slower melody that she had not heard before. When she didn’t seem as enthralled, he stopped. “OK, so you don’t like ‘Ave Maria.’ But I have to admit that it is better with someone singing along, and since I’m certainly not a singer… Let’s see, how about this one?”