As I sat on the bench holding the animal, the donkey walked towards the middle of the cave and stood in front of a stall.
I opened the gate and Baruch entered. Soon he was munching on fresh feed. Suddenly the rabbit jumped out of my arms and buried herself in the donkey’s hay. Baruch leaned over and sniffed. Cherios hopped on his head, scurried up his neck, and plopped down on the donkey’s back. The rabbit stared at me bright-eyed wiggling her nose.
Who was I to argue with a donkey and a rabbit? They had already decided where they wanted to be. I didn’t need Judd to tell me.
I needed to check on Nathan. Was he still waiting in his room? Since Brutus had left unexpectedly, I wasn’t sure if I was to introduce Nathan to Shale.
I closed the cave door and headed back to the house.
Mari saw me through the window and smiled.
When I entered the house, she greeted me. “She’s a lovely girl, isn’t she?”
I nodded.
She motioned for me to come closer.
“You will be pleased to know that Nathan came down and met the young lady. You had Nathan so well prepared, you would have been proud of him. He acted very mature.”
That was a relief. “What’s happening now?”
“Shale went up to her room to rest a while. She seemed very tired and wanted a few moments to catch her breath.”
I nodded. “So everything seems to be going well?”
“Seems to be,” Mari said. “Are you taking care of that rabbit of hers?”
“The rabbit wanted to be with Baruch, so I left them together. I hope that’s acceptable.”
Mari pointed at the door to step back outside. She closed the door behind us. “Scylla requested that they have a private dinner tonight, just for the family.”
I didn’t see anything wrong with that. Nathan had met her and I could understand Scylla’s desire for privacy, though if Brutus had been here, he would have wanted everyone to eat together.
Mari whispered. “I wanted you to know. I’ll keep an eye on Nathan—let you know if I need you.”
“Thanks, Mari.” I glanced around the back portico, the cave, and the pasture in the distance. “Have you seen Judd?”
“I saw him leaving with his donkey a little bit ago.”
“Do you know where they were going?”
Mari shook her head. “I didn’t think much of it.”
I was probably making much ado about nothing. I turned to leave. Much-Afraid was lying in the portico snoozing. I said as an afterthought, “The dog hasn’t left this porch since Shale arrived.”
“Do you think she knows Shale from somewhere?” Mari asked.
I frowned. “How could she?”
“Well, I don’t know. The dog used to live here at the farm.”
I shrugged. “When Shale wakes up, we’ll find out more.” I laughed. “Maybe Judd ran away.”
CHAPTER 18 VENTRILOQUIST
I awoke early the next morning. Sleep eluded me most of the night and now I had a sleep-deprived hangover. I shook it off and climbed the outdoor steps to the flat roof, pausing on the second floor. Was Shale up yet?
I continued to the final rise to enjoy the start of a new day. I chuckled. I needed to be honest—I wanted to satisfy my own curiosity.
I could see the pasture, the cave entrance, and the road bordering the property. Then I saw Shale. What was she doing up so early?
The young girl was traipsing along the well-trodden path to the well. Had Scylla already assigned her chores? What a compassionate stepmother. I hoped Shale would meet her father before Scylla drove her away.
My eyes followed the trail. A figure caught my attention. Who would be at the well this early? That had to be Judd. His donkey was with him. I couldn’t mistake the brute for any other.
After disappearing most of yesterday, he had decided to show up at the well to meet Shale—the women’s favorite hangout. Did he know she would be coming? Did Scylla clue him in? My thoughts vexed me.
I shrugged. Could I read Judd’s mind? Sometimes it happened when I wasn’t trying. Urgency to follow Shale made me panic. I ran down the stairs and hurried up the trail. Suddenly Assassin bolted past me. Fear chilled me to the bones. Judd wouldn’t hurt Shale, would he?
I reached the top of the hill and saw Shale’s back. A scowl covered Judd’s face and an empty bucket lay on the ground. Water saturated the wet soil and dripped from Judd’s cloak.
Shale pointed her finger, saying in an accusing voice, “You’re a liar.”
Judd smirked. “You’ve come back.”
He glared at me. I crept up behind Shale.
Shale’s voice quivered. “What are you talking about?”
She backed into me as Judd approached. She turned, surprised but relieved. “Daniel.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Judd mumbled a few unintelligible words and took off after his donkey.
Shale’s eyes questioned me. “Where did you come from?”
“I don’t know you well enough to explain.”
Shale twitched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I watched Judd disappear in the distance. I glanced at the overturned bucket and avoided Shale’s question. “What did he do to you?”
She turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it, but thanks for coming.”
I filled the bucket and we headed back to the house in silence. When we arrived, I waited to see if she wanted to talk, but she didn’t.
I’d learn to read her mind. Some people were more extroverted than others. I sensed Shale was an introvert.
I set the heavy bucket down. “After you eat breakfast, come find me in the cave if you want to talk about it.”
Shale nodded. I left her standing in the portico hoping she would come. In my new reality, I had met a girl to whom I was very attracted.
I strolled out to the pasture. When I tried to open the gate, however, I couldn’t lift the handle. It was jammed. I jiggled it several times and finally the latch gave way. The door squeaked as I pushed it open, as if it hadn’t been opened in years. I didn’t remember an issue with the gate.
When I looked ahead, the field was bathed in morning sunlight. A dozen or more sheep grazed on the hill.
Behind them, at the top of the crest, I saw a dark figure. I walked in that direction to get a better look. When I approached, I saw the old woman. She was dressed in the same attire, walking on the ridge in bare feet, chanting unintelligible words and throwing flowers over the hill.
She stopped her strange activity when she saw me. She pulled out a flower from the bouquet and thrust it at me. “The corpse flower,” she said.
I took the miniature flower without thinking and breathed in the scent. The flower smelled like rotting flesh. My eyes burned. I threw the flower on the ground.
“You are still looking,” she said.
“The flower smells like a decomposing body.”
She didn’t say anything but continued walking. I trailed behind her. I wanted to remove my contacts and rub my eyes, but I’d have to wait. I couldn’t risk losing them in the field. I blinked several times but the burning continued.
She tried to hand me another flower, but I shook my head.
The woman smiled. Some people shouldn’t smile.
“You found me again,” she said
“Why are you following me?” I asked.
“This is where I live,” the old woman said, “in the spiritual realm.” She flicked another flower on the ground. “Do you know where you are?”
I did not trust this old woman. “No, I don’t,” I replied. “Tell me.”
“You are in a different reality.”
Like that meant something to me. “What different reality?”
“It’s a spiritual reality,” she said. “I’m a ventriloquist.”
What did that make me?
She continued. “My boss rules over all the kingdoms of the earth.” The old woman threw another flower on the ground
and continued to chant in a singsong voice.
“Why don’t you speak in a language I know?”
“I am. You can hear me.”
This woman was crazy. Who was her boss? “I believe in the God of Abraham. He rules over all the earth.”
When she heard me, fire filled the old woman’s eyes.
She scoffed. “So you believe in God, do you?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t act like it,” she chided me. She did a twirling dance holding the flowers. Then she stopped and faced me.
“What has your belief in God gotten you? A missing father, a dead mentor, a dead sister—”
I interrupted her. “What do you mean, a dead sister? And how do you know about my father and mentor? Is Martha injured?”
The old woman said, “Watch.” She threw another flower over the ledge. The plant magically rooted and shot up from the ground. The leaves opened and a helix appeared. Mother and Martha were asleep. Only a few minutes had passed while I had spent five months in first century Palestine.
“Your mother and sister are sleeping,” she said.
I was relieved, but her comment bothered me. I didn’t know what she meant.
“You want to get back home?”
Now I wasn’t sure. A young woman had entered my world. I hesitated. “Who are you?”
“I have magic.” She threw the last flower over the hill. “But I can’t violate your free will.”
“Why do you talk so cryptically?”
“I’m very patient,” the old woman said, “for those I want.” She laughed. Her decaying teeth seemed worse than before.
“If you have so much power, you should do something about your appearance.”
“If I were beautiful, you would want something different.” She quit smiling. “I know you better than you know yourself.”
She turned her back to me, chanting again as she walked away.
I followed her. “Tell me who you are,”
She stopped and faced me. “I told you, I’m a ventriloquist. Life is about choices, and I’m giving you a very desirable choice.”
I grew impatient. “Tell me who you really are.”
“Your benefactor.” She kept walking.
I gave up. My eyes were killing me. Maybe she was the witch of Endor. I didn’t want her as my benefactor. I vowed to stay away from her and not talk to her again.
CHAPTER 19 CONVERSATIONS
I hurried back to the cave. I’d spent too much time talking to the strange woman and needed to wash my eyes.
When I opened the door, Shale was waiting for me with Cherios in her arms. Much-Afraid stood wagging her tail beside the last stall. I picked up a cloth and wiped off my hands. I wanted to wash my eyes, but I was worried about the contacts. I didn’t want to do it in front of Shale.
Her stoic mannerisms from earlier gave way to a warmth I didn’t know she had. She walked over to the bench, sat at the table, and smiled.
I joined her on the other side. “So how was breakfast?”
“Fine,” Shale said. The smile left her face as fleetingly as it had appeared. “I’m not happy Judd put Baruch in the small stall in the back. That’s not Baruch’s old stall. Can’t you put him up here where he belongs?”
For all the things she could be upset about, I couldn’t believe she was making a fuss over the donkey’s stall.
“Does it matter? They are all about the same.” I could think of reasons to argue with Judd but worrying about the stall seemed irrelevant.
Shale wanted no part of my ambivalence. “Aren’t you in charge here?”
“Well, I suppose, but Judd knows how to provide for the animals. He’s been doing it a lot longer than I have. That was the stall the animal chose anyway.”
Shale was rigid. “Why are you siding with him? Why can’t we move him to this stall?” She pointed to the one near us.
“It’s not as if he’s being abused.”
Shale scrunched her nose. “I don’t like that Baruch is in the back, but if that’s the way you feel, fine.” She crossed her arms defiantly.
What a fiery young woman. She must have gotten that from her mother. Shale’s father never got upset about anything.
I tried to calm her. “We can move him.”
My eyes burned so much I had to rub them. I really needed to take out the contacts.
Shale studied my face. “Is something in your eye?”
“No, it’s not that.” Why had I taken that flower from the ventriloquist?
I leaned over and one of my contacts fell on the table. I scooped it up hoping Shale hadn’t seen it. Not that she would know what it was, but she was too observant.
“What was that?” Shale asked.
“Nothing.”
“Is that a contact lens?”
“What?”
“The thing in your hand,” she said impatiently.
“No,” I lied.
A look of disbelief crossed her face. She leaned forward. Her face looked blurry and I didn’t like being interrogated.
“Where do you come from?” she demanded.
Too many questions crossed my mind. Could Shale be from the future? Maybe she didn’t belong here either. I was afraid to say anything that might scare her. I didn’t need a fourteen-year-old girl fainting. What would I think in 2015 if a man told me he was from my future? If she were from first century Palestine, she would probably be terrified of me.
“How perceptive you are,” I replied.
Shale rolled her eyes.
“How do you know what this is?”
The young girl stood and spread out her palms. “Come on, you’re the one with the contact lens, not me.”
I tried again. “Tell me about your family.”
Shale exploded. “Are you kidding?” She plopped down in the chair, shaking her head. “Men,” I heard her say under her breath.
I leaned on the table and rubbed my eyes, but that only made them burn more. Then I stood and paced. If she got this upset about little things, what would she think if I told her the truth?
I tried to make sense of it. How would she know about contact lenses if she were from around here? She might know if she were from somewhere else. I stared at her. When were contact lenses invented?
“I need to be able to trust you,” I said.
She lowered her voice. “You can trust me.”
Shale’s eyes focused on Judd’s donkey. “Wait a minute. Can you put Assassin to pasture?”
“Assassin?” I wasn’t sure anyone knew his name except me. It’s not as if you share a name like that.
“How do you know his name?”
“He told me,” replied Shale.
“Judd told you?”
“No, the donkey told me.”
“The donkey told you?”
Shale grimaced. “Well, sort of.”
I had gone from speaking to someone who seemed like a witch to someone who claimed to be able to talk to animals. Maybe I was the crazy one.
“I’ll put him outside. Wait here.”
I returned a few minutes later, leaving the door ajar. After my unfortunate encounter with Scylla, I didn’t want to be alone with Shale. She seemed a little strange.
“Don’t you want to close the door? Someone might hear us.”
I shrugged. “No one else is around.” In reality, I knew Judd was nearby, but I didn’t want him making up stories about us. Next thing you know, he’d be accusing me of worse things.
Shale was unhappy with the door open, but stopped complaining. I sat at the table and focused on the young girl’s face. I especially like her deep-set round eyes. Even if she were a little weird, I liked her.
“So you can talk to animals?”
She hesitated. “Yes, I can talk to animals and they can talk to me.”
I scratched the back of my neck and leaned forward in my chair. Did I believe her? Whether she could or not, she believed she could.
“Have you always been able to talk to ani
mals?”
Shale shook her head. “Someone called my name. That was the first time.”
Much-Afraid padded over and sat beside Shale. She scratched the dog’s ear. “The first voice I heard was hers—before I was transported to the garden.”
I glanced at Much-Afraid. “What garden?”
“The king’s garden.”
I sighed. Was Shale dreaming up stories? What about me? I’d had some strange encounters, too. I couldn’t talk to animals, I hadn’t been to a garden, but I could read minds—a little, and I had a ventriloquist following me around who gave me the willies, and somehow I had been transported back in time two thousand years.
Maybe we were both crazy. I rubbed my chin. “Why don’t you tell me where you come from?”
She laughed. “You really want to know?”
I nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
She sighed. “Okay. Here goes.”
CHAPTER 20 WORLD OF SHALE
Shale hugged the rabbit in her lap, closed her eyes, and seemed to concentrate. I lingered on her face and studied her features.
“I don’t live here,” she began. She reopened her eyes. “Have you ever heard of the United States?”
I chuckled. “Are you an American?”
Shale nodded.
A teen from the United States. How was it possible that we could find each other in the past, when we both came from the future? I stared at her without realizing it.
She waved her hand in front of me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “This is just too weird. How could we be here?”
“I know,” Shale agreed. “But it’s sure nice to meet someone here from 2013.”
“I’m from 2015.”
“Really?”
I had so many questions, I didn’t know which to ask first. She couldn’t know Aramaic or Hebrew. “Can you understand me?”
Shale giggled. “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
I followed the edges of the cave to the back. “Shale,” I said slowly, “I’m speaking to you in Aramaic and I’m hearing you in Aramaic.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re speaking to me in English and I’m speaking to you in English. Everyone around here speaks in English,” she insisted.
Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy Page 8
