The Golden Talisman
Page 31
“‘I remember Allyson’s mom, Mamie Carter, told Elsie and me that her daughter wasn’t acting like her normal self. This started about a week before she disappeared. She’d sit on her back porch and stare off toward the woods with a peculiar smile and faraway look on her face. In fact, now that I think of it, Mamie told us she heard Allyson talking quite a bit with an ‘imaginary friend’, if you will. I wish I could recall the name of that ‘friend’. I’d be willing to bet it was Genovene, though. Mamie went on to say she overheard her little girl arguing with the pretend person, saying things like ‘No, I can’t go there. I’d get in big trouble’, or ‘My mommy says there’s lots of things in the woods that’ll hurt you if you’re not careful’.
“‘Your mom was devastated when Allyson disappeared, and the timing couldn’t have been any worse as it happened just a week and a half before Julie’s eighth birthday. We had to postpone your mother’s birthday party on account of her being so upset over this. She would sit for hours out back on that old tire-swing, staring off toward the woods as if she was waiting for Allyson to return.
“‘I’ve wondered if Julie saw anything like the golden object I found as a little boy in Allyson’s possession, because one day while she grieved over the little girl’s disappearance, she said something very strange. She said ‘I told her not to listen to them!’ When I asked her about this, she clammed up in silence and never told me what she meant by her words. She had said it absently and to herself, thinking no one could overhear.
“‘Julie eventually healed from her loss and made new friends. She also became a lot more interested in school from that point on. Perhaps staying busy with her schoolwork kept her mind occupied enough to push the sadness away. I don’t know... What I do know is she grew up to be such a wonderful young woman. She excelled in high school and was offered a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, England, as you both know. She decided to stay closer to home, attending the University of Alabama on a full-ride scholarship instead. That’s where she met Frank, who was from Baltimore and attending school on a football scholarship.
“‘Now, I realize y’all have been told, and probably still remember, a lot of this stuff. Just let an old man tell his tale without interruption, okay?’ We nodded and he continued. ‘Your folks dated and fell in love while attending college, and shortly after graduation, they got engaged and moved to Atlanta, where Frank enjoyed a brief career in professional football playing for the Falcons as a reserve linebacker. They decided to get married the following spring, and did so in Tuscaloosa. Boy, what a fun time that was! I’m sure glad Elsie and I didn’t have any other kids or we wouldn’t have had nearly enough money to throw her that incredible wedding like we did!’
“Grandpa laughed again to himself, but then sighed deeply once more before going on. ‘Your parents soon got their masters degrees at Georgia Tech in Atlanta,’ he continued. ‘Frank’s was in journalism and Julie’s was in bioengineering. You were already a toddler by then, Jeremy, since you were born four months after your folks got married. We had no idea your mom was pregnant until she was in her sixth month. Elsie thought for sure you’d be a sickly child. Thank God she was wrong about that, because you’ve grown up to be a strong and healthy young man.’
“Jeremy smiled smugly again, nodding his head slightly to confirm this assessment of himself. Meanwhile, I sat nearly motionless as I listened to Grandpa. I’d been starving for information concerning my family’s history, and I was determined to store every bit of it in my memory.
“Grandpa paused and eyed us both seriously. ‘I know I’m still beating around the bush a little, but we’re about to get to the worst part,’ he told us. ‘The worst part for me, anyway. I’ll get through it best I can. It will be hard, but I’ll try to hold it together.’
“‘That’s all right,’ I said gently, and then glanced over at Jeremy. ‘We understand, Grandpa. You just tell us when you’re ready.’
“‘Thanks, boys. I mean it’. He took another few deep breaths. ‘They were doing all right on their own, your mom and dad. You were soon on the way, Jack, and despite that, Julie managed to land a very lucrative position with a genetics-testing firm in Atlanta. They even allowed her to stay on and work flexible hours after you were born. Frank had worked his way up in the sports department for a local television news station, and had been in that position for nearly four years. They paid for the bulk of his master’s work while your mom’s was paid in full by a fellowship she received while at Georgia Tech.
“‘Twelve years ago this summer, your folks decided to finally spend a couple of weeks with us down here in Carlsdale. Frank hadn’t been here since they were married, and your mom hadn’t been here since she finished her schooling in Atlanta. Neither of you kids had ever seen this place since all of our family get-togethers had been held in Atlanta at your parents’ home, so your Uncle Ned could be there, too. I guess they felt obligated to do everything with Frank’s brother because he didn’t like to travel anywhere—still doesn’t, as you know. Frank felt he owed him, I suppose, being he was the one who raised your dad after their parents died in a horrible car crash some years back.
“‘Anyway, we finally got to see all of you on our own turf. It was wonderful for the first week. Jack, I know you don’t remember anything, though Jeremy, you should remember some. It was definitely a time to enjoy and remember. But, then your mom and dad started acting strange during their second week here with us. I mean, they both grew real distant from Elsie and me, as well as from you two boys. Your mom and grandma started snapping at each other—something I’d not seen them do since Julie lost Allyson, nearly twenty years before this... I wish to God I’d paid closer attention!!’ Grandpa said louder than he intended. He lowered his face into his hands and lost control.
“Grandpa began to sob and fought hard to hold the tears back, shaking and gritting his teeth in doing so. He raised his head and looked at us with teary eyes that plead silently for understanding. Jeremy and I reached across the table, each one grabbing onto and clasping his hands. This surprised him, I think, especially coming from my brother, and he seemed to draw strength from it. ‘Your mom and grandma kept on fighting,’ he said, once he regained most of his composure. ‘Even your dad grew hostile toward us. Frank was always quiet, but warm and friendly when you got to know him. Now, that warmth was completely gone, and he regarded us with suspicion no matter what we said or did.
“‘On each of the last four days of their stay, they left you boys with us and went on picnics in the woods. This was very peculiar, and they would be gone for hours at a time. They seemed quite content with this ritual. In fact, on the day before they disappeared for good, your mom and dad were gone for nearly seven hours! Their bizarre behavior really had us deeply worried, and, to be honest, pretty ticked off, too.
“‘I should’ve recognized the signs, but you know, I never thought even once about the golden object, the ‘‘Season’’, or any of the old stories and all of that—not once! Not one fricking time, y’all!! I wish to God I knew why I hadn’t!!!’ He sat up straight, closing his eyes and drawing in several more deep breaths. ‘The night before that fateful day, Julie and Elsie had a major blowup,’ he said. ‘I never found out what it was all about. I only remember your mom shouting ‘It’s my life, Mother, and I’ll live it exactly as I damn well please!’ Of course, I got mad and hollered at her, and then your dad joined in and it got uglier from there.
“‘Everyone went to bed upset that night, and your grandma and I tossed around and didn’t sleep at all. The next morning, your folks were going out the back gate with their fully packed picnic basket again, and this time they had you boys with them. A horrible feeling came over me, so I grabbed Elsie and we stopped Julie and Frank just before they were able to get through the gate with either of you. They allowed you to stay with us, and both were actually quite pleasant for a change. After they left, I was thinking about Julie’s strange smile she gave me right before going through the gate. It was faint and
her eyes were absent of their usual glow. It wasn’t until then I remembered seeing the look on someone else’s face years ago... Alyson. By that time, though, they were already deep in the woods. I should’ve tried to cut them off along the road we took earlier today, but like everything else, that option never occurred to me.
“‘Since I needed to pick up a few things from town, I decided to take you, Jeremy, along with me, and I told Elsie we’d be back in an hour or so. It was a beautiful sunny day when I left the house, without a cloud in the sky, and it took me roughly an hour and a half to get everything I needed. On the way home, I noticed a bad storm was blowing in from the west. So, I stepped on the gas in order to get us back to this old place before it hit. Once we got here I ran inside, thinking that Elsie and you, Jack, would be safe and protected from the weather. I soon discovered neither of you were in the house. I panicked and told Jeremy to stay put in the kitchen until I returned.
“‘It’d just started raining hard when I ran out onto the back porch. I didn’t see anything or anyone right away, so I ran down the porch steps and on over to the oak tree. The first thing I noticed from there was the sphere sitting in front of the back gate. I was so taken by surprise at the strangeness and enormity of the thing sitting in our backyard, I could only stop and stare stupidly at it. I finally noticed Elsie holding you, Jack, on her knees near the thing. Several bright flashes of lightning struck the ground between the oak and the sphere. I said a prayer under my breath, and ran over to where you and your grandma were huddled together.
“‘I tried to get her to come out of the rain, but she wouldn’t budge at all. She wouldn’t tell me what’d happened, either. She just kept muttering about the ‘angels and the sphere’, and some other mostly incoherent stuff like ‘they’re gone’ and ‘protect the baby. Keep Jack safe’. She said this last phrase over and over.
“‘I ran back inside the house and got a thick blanket. Struggling against the rain and a pretty fierce wind, I wrapped Elsie up in the blanket and took you, Jack, into my arms. I then hurriedly brought you both inside the house to safety.’
“Grandpa grew silent again and looked over toward the living room, where the light from the full moon poured in through the front windows. He shook his head slowly and turned back to our expectant faces. He smiled tenderly once more, but the deep sadness in his eyes spoke volumes as to the depth of his sorrow. ‘Elsie never recovered,’ he said softly, his voice straining just above a whisper. ‘She might’ve been able to, but they wouldn’t let her. They just wouldn’t do it!!!’
“He dug his finger tips into the dining room table, nearly pushing the embroidered lace of the table cloth into the thick mahogany of the table itself. He grimaced painfully while fighting the torrent of emotions threatening to overtake him. Once the tempest subsided, he realized we were staring helplessly at him, unable to disguise our worry. Until then, he’d been the role model of peace and self-control for as long as either of us could remember.
“After an awkward moment in silence, Jeremy was the only one willing to push him further into his pain. ‘What do you mean by ‘they wouldn’t let her’?’ he asked, trying to broach the subject as gently as his blunt nature would allow. ‘Who are they?’
“Grandpa regarded him evenly for a moment before answering him, perhaps deciding if his query was noble or not. ‘They are the ones who slowly drove your grandma down into the ground, twisting the disappearance of our most prized possession in the world, your mom, like a dagger through her broken heart and soul,’ he told us. ‘It wasn’t enough that we’d never see Julie, or Frank for that matter, ever again. Almost immediately, other problems began to complicate what was already a nightmare—problems far bigger than we could’ve ever imagined at the time.
“‘Anyway, that very day, I called Carl and some other close friends of mine to form a search party and head out into the woods. Of course, we waited first to see if your folks came back. But when they still hadn’t returned to the house that evening, my buddies and I set out after them. We searched everywhere, including the old fort and hot spring. By then some of us got to thinking about the local legends concerning the ‘‘Season’’ and all. We even extended our search to the burial mounds and beyond, up to a mile in every direction. We didn’t find a single trace of them, and that was with help from a small team of bloodhounds, too. We finally had to turn back and go home, where Carl and I contacted the state authorities. That’s when our problems compounded and worsened.
“‘Carl and the others were quite amazed by the sphere in the backyard, so were the state authorities when they finally came down to Carlsdale from Birmingham to investigate your folks’ disappearance. They weren’t able to keep the news of all that’d happened, especially the appearance of the sphere in the backyard, from spreading like wildfire throughout the local region. People drove up and down Lelan’s Road trying to catch a glimpse of the goddamned thing! The most impertinent ones tried to sneak around to the backyard, or simply drove behind our place on the utility road. Some of them got to see the sphere, but I sure as hell ran them off once I caught them snooping around back there, using the very shotgun I’m holding now.’ He lightly stroked the weapon’s barrel while he stared off into space.
“‘People came from all over,’ he sighed. ‘They came from as far east as Uniontown, on the other side of Demopolis, and from Lilita and Bellamy on the west side. They even came from as far north as Clinton and as far south as Myrtlewood. Elsie was a mess over this, I mean near a breakdown over it all! What she truly needed was peace to help her deal with the loss of Julie and Frank, because she knew they were dead and we’d never find their bodies. She’d tell me this all the time, largely on account of my stubborn resistance to the idea. Even so, I was gentle with her. What she got from everybody else, though, was a steady dose of insensitivity and downright rudeness.
“‘The older folks were the worst. They continually chided us on account of the ‘Season’s legend. They said we should’ve known better, because some of them saw the drastic change in Frank’s behavior that last week when he stopped by Max Reynolds’ grocery store on several occasions. They couldn’t get over how the nice young man from Atlanta had turned into such an obnoxious asshole, seemingly overnight. Even the younger, more reliable townsfolk stated Frank had got to the point where he was just damn right rude to everyone, most noticeably on the day before he and Julie disappeared for good, when he’d stopped by for the last time to pick up some picnic supplies.
“‘But, the real trouble for us started once a few FBI agents from Atlanta showed up one day. They seemed cordial enough at first, but once they’d completed their own search of the area, their attitude changed. They asked a bunch of probing questions—personal ones about how good our relationship with Julie and Frank was. It didn’t help none that Missie Palmer next door was sitting on her porch listening to Elsie and Julie damn near duke it out the night before your folks went on that last picnic outing.
“‘It was like everybody else around here started changing toward us, too, except for Carl and a couple of other buddies of mine who’ve since passed away. Suspicion was cast entirely on us, like we made Julie and Frank somehow disappear. I’m not saying they thought we ran them off, either! Most everyone thought we’d killed them ourselves and buried their bodies in some unknown location, which the federal authorities were now here to find.
“‘The strangest thing about all of this is that while they were turning their investigation’s focus upon us, they were also becoming a hell of a lot more interested in the sphere out in the backyard. It seemed to me they were creating a diversion to get the growing national media and local interest entirely on us and our missing daughter and son-in-law. We found it quite disturbing when all the scientist-types showed up around here. Elsie, myself, and neither of you youngsters were allowed anywhere near the damned thing while they examined it. I mean, y’all wouldn’t believe the amount of strange looking equipment these people brought into the backyard.
“Grandpa stood up and walked over to the dining room windows again. This time, he peered more cautiously through them into the backyard. The light from the moon above shone brightly, illuminating the entire landscape before his eyes. He smiled sadly, perhaps envisioning the way the yard once looked.
“‘Grandpa,’ I said, ‘if you don’t want to tell us any more, you really don—.’
“‘I need to finish this!’ he interrupted me, whirling around to face us. ‘I’ve got to finish this tonight! I can feel it!!’ he shouted. ‘Now is the only time I’ll be able to talk about it all the way through!’ He began to pace back and forth in front of the windows, his head bowed sullenly as he gathered his thoughts and resolve. When he was ready to address us again, he moved back to the table. ‘Do either of you remember staying with your Uncle Monty and Aunt Martha?’ he asked.
“‘You mean when we visited them last summer?’ I asked.
“‘No, son. I mean when you were just a toddler,’ he said. ‘I’d say you were just over a year old back then and Jeremy was soon to be five.’
“‘I remember, Grandpa,’ said Jeremy. ‘I celebrated my fifth birthday with them. We stayed awhile with them after that, didn’t we?’