by JJ Liniger
“You want me to cut the cheese, huh?” I laughed, it feeling good to have a break from the seriousness. I left the binder to find the cheese, cutting board and knife.
She shoved my shoulder. “You’re such a dork.” She grabbed five small plates and gave each one an equal portion of crackers, ham, and cheese. As she set the plates on the table, her little rugrats squirmed to their seats and ate quickly.
“Mind if I make coffee?” I asked. The tea was fine, but I needed something stronger for me to stay focused and figure out what had really happened to Becton.
“Sure, it’s in the cabinet next to the maker,” Tiffany replied.
The phone rang.
“I’ll get it!” squealed Hannah, stuffing a cracker in her mouth.
“No, it’s okay. I will.” Tiffany grabbed the phone from the wall and answered.
I prepared the coffee maker and then joined the kids at the table. “What are your names?”
“I’m Drew and I’m two.” His little mouth stretched into a huge grin and his blond hair and brown eyes reminded me of his mother while his brother was a mini-version of Alex with the same bright orange hair and green eyes.
“He likes that his name and age rhyme,” the other boy explained. “I’m Eric.”
“What’s yours?” Drew asked.
“Trevor.”
Hannah’s head snapped to me. Her young eyes scanned me. Obviously, people were aware of my past who shouldn’t have been. How interesting that she knew the fable well, but apparently hadn’t known my name.
“Like the guy in the story?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah. Same name.” I had to force the snack down my throat. I wasn’t ready to associate him with me.
The air filled with the aroma of coffee as the pot sputtered and finished percolating the tasty brew. My mouth felt dry and strong caffeine would be a welcome shock to my system. I rinsed my tea mug and used it for coffee, drinking it hot and black.
Tiffany hung up the phone. She shooed the boys from the table and to their bedrooms for naps. Hannah meandered to her room to read. After downing the first mug, I refilled it and sat at the table. Looking at the articles, I noticed “The King” wrote most of the passages.
“Did you write these?” I asked when she returned to the table with a mug of coffee in hand.
“Yes. I started right after high school and I thought I’d be respected if they didn’t think a kid wrote the paper. So I choose a pen name. I continued to use it after marrying Alex.”
“From what I’ve read, it sounds like damming up that portion of the ravine would’ve helped,” I said.
“Sort of. A dam was made, and we thought things were better, but it kept breaking and each time it took thousands of dollars to repair. The people became anxious. Your dad promised it would be the last time, but a heavy storm the following year finally did it in.”
Her voice trembled and her lips quivered as she hugged herself. Something more than the fall of Becton affected her.
“What is it?” I asked, placing my hand on hers.
CHAPTER 15
CURSED
“My mother finally had enough,” Tiffany said, removing her hand from mine. “She was always a worrier, but it had been too much for her. She waited until my wedding to Alex, and while I was on my honeymoon she left. Supposedly, my dad had the option to leave with her, but he chose to stay. He didn’t want to abandon his students, and he believed in your father. If anyone could fix it, it would be Matthew Porter.”
I nodded in agreement. “Dad tried. I read his journal. He didn’t know what it was. How did you learn it was me and not a meteorite? ‘Cause this whole thing sounds crazy.”
“It took a long time to figure out. After the initial stomach bug the community got better. Then four, maybe five, years later we noticed Reverend Brown was sick. It affected his mind. He detached emotionally, like he stopped caring about anyone. We thought it might be a type of Alzheimer's disease, but then we noticed similar evidence throughout his congregation. Not only the old, but the young as well. Seeing their symptoms was like shining a light on the whole community. Suddenly, we saw it throughout the elementary school and everywhere.”
“Including your dad?” I asked.
Her family had attended church, and he had coached basketball in elementary through high school.
“A few years later, yes.”
Tears escaped out of the corners of her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.”
“He died a month ago.”
“Dang.” I hugged her. “From the disease?”
She sighed and leaned into me. “Kinda. Just complications. Once the mind becomes lethargic, then so do the organs. They stop functioning.” She wiped the tears from her eyes.
I still didn’t understand exactly how I was involved, but my heart sank thinking about how I’d been responsible for the death of so many loved ones. If her father had died, most likely so had the pastor, his congregation, and the child he raised. My son. He was gone before I had the chance to know anything about him.
“I should’ve been told about this years ago.”
“We assumed you knew and were a coward.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Is that why they’re angry at me?” I asked.
“Yes-”
“You know, I’m not!”
“Okay, I get it now, but no one else knows that. And if they did, you’re also the easiest target.”
“How so?”
“By this point, panic ran rampant throughout the community. Your father created a task force to take those who were sick and encouraged us to monitor each other and report if needed,” Tiffany said.
“Did my father attempt suicide to keep from being Taken?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, it was common. People didn’t want to go there and slowly rot away. My dad’s soul left his body recently, but his mind was gone for years. It’s awful.” Tiffany frowned and shook her head. “Mayor Porter saw hundreds of other people experience the same thing. To avoid it, he stayed in his office late one night, sat at his desk with his journal propped in front of him and pulled the trigger. By some miracle, he survived and your mother insisted that he be treated in his office rather than at the hospital.”
“I still don’t get it. How did this become my kid’s fault?”
“Because The Boy has never been sick.”
“What?!” I exclaimed.
“Hush, the boys are trying to nap.” Tiffany looked down the hall and paused a moment to listen, then continued. “It surrounds HIM from all angles. Each person HE has spent time with ended up being sick. Except for HIM. We tested HIM repeatedly and the results never came out positive. Something wasn’t right. Finally, Alex had HIS blood compared to the original chemical found in the ravine and it was a perfect match. HE is the poison.”
I rubbed my head, feeling the ache return. “My God… I’m going to need something stronger than caffeine.”
“Sorry, it’s all I have. More coffee?” Tiffany offered.
“It’ll work.”
She grabbed my mug and walked to the kitchen, smiling more than normal and leaned against the counter. The only evidence of our crazy conversation was her hand rubbing the back of her neck.
“Mommy!” shouted one of the kids.
“Drew, go to sleep!” she yelled.
“Do you need to go?” I gestured to the hallway, feeling bad for possibly awakening him.
“No, he’s fighting his nap. It’s normal.”
White and gray clouds gather in the sky growing into a dark raincloud. How could my son come up negative to the infection, but be the carrier of the contamination?
“Tiff, how does a person become a spreadable poison?”
“It’s in the other binder inside the backpack. Alex can explain it better than I can. It’s a little over my head.”
“I don’t believe that. You’re too smart.”
“Not really. It’s having the right study partner
that makes it easier to remember. And…” She blushed. “And, the studying I did prior to our sessions to appear like I already knew it.”
“You cheater.” I chuckled.
“A girl has to do what she has to do.” She winked with a smile. “Alex should be here any minute. That was him on the phone earlier.”
I nodded and reached inside the backpack for the other binder. Should I tell her I’ve already looked through it? She wouldn’t like the fact I’d been looking through her house. I had a better understanding of why it had been labeled “Becton Poison” but didn’t understand what this had to do with other historical tragedies. Unless, they believed this had happened before.
I decided to be honest. “I’ve read this binder already.”
“How?”
“I snooped around the other time I was here. There’s also stuff about the Roman Empire and Christopher Columbus.”
She shook her head. “I should be pissed, but I’m kind of impressed.” She smirked.
“Miracles do happen.” I grinned.
Tiffany sat coffee in front of me and then collapsed in the next chair.
At the same time, Alex walked through the front door, placing his keys and wallet in a basket in the entryway.
“Smells good in here.” He smiled and then scowled at the binders. “That’s crappy bondin’ ya’ll are doin’,” he said.
“It’s what we do best.” I laughed. “Seriously though, I need answers.”
“I understand. It wasn’t easy to discover, and that makes it only harder to accept.” Alex sat on the other side of the table and gave his wife a reassuring smile.
“You don’t believe it?” I asked.
“I do now, but I didn’t at first,” Alex answered. “Tiffany and Carole jumped on board before I did.”
That was what I struggled with as I shifted in my seat.
I don’t believe it.
“It’s all we had that made sense. If you heard Vincent tell it first hand, you’d come to the same conclusion.” Tiffany gave her husband a long hug, resting her head on his shoulder and kept her arm around him until a yell down the hall indicated somebody needed their mother.
“I’ll be back.” She kissed Alex’s cheek and then disappeared to help her child.
“Who’s Vincent?” I asked.
“Rev. Brown’s half brother.”
“What do these catastrophes have to do with Becton?”
“Nothing,” Alex replied.
Heat rose through my body and I instantly wanted to punch him. This wasn’t the time to play with semantics. I had been treated like crap and my life was threatened twice. For him to shrug like it was no big deal pissed me off.
“Fine, then I’ll ask my mother. I’m done with these damn secrets! I’m taking this with me.” Scooping up the binder, I turned to the door.
“Slow down, Trev.”
My glare met his. “Talk fast,” I demanded.
“We looked at all of these disasters to find the cause of the disease. Investigatin’ the origin and where it began.”
“And you figured it out?”
“Yes.”
Still standing, I set the binder back on the table.
Alex continued. “Take Rome for example. It takes more than dirty water to bring down half of the strongest empire in the known world.”
Alex flipped through the book of articles. I looked at the papers and sat in the chair next to him.
He sipped his wife’s drink. “Tiffany researched each historical tragedy and printed these papers. We couldn’t find a connection until Reverend Brown died. He wanted us to notify his adopted brother, Vincent Baziak, who lived in Poland. Vincent flew to Becton for the service.”
“That’s a long trip,” I said, trying to let his words sink into my mind. I had enough caffeine to be firing on all cylinders, but still had a hard time understanding how it all synced up
Alex nodded and walked to the pantry and returned with a box of cookies. He placed three wafers on a napkin next to Tiffany’s mug.
“You’re right. A person doesn’t make a trip like that unless it’s important. For us, it became the break we needed. He looked at the information we found and pieced it together.”
“How did he do that?” I asked.
“Because he is a cardinal in pectore.”
“A what?”
Alex laughed. “A secret Catholic cardinal.”
Grabbing two cookies, I ate them and shrugged. What the heck did that mean?
“He is secretly appointed by the Pope to attend the meetin’s of the College of Cardinals within the Vatican. He specialized in science, explicitly in sexually transmitted and other contagious diseases. Every two years, he meets with the other cardinals at the Vatican to share their research. Vincent believed that many diseases have a common origin.”
“How’d that help?”
“He connected our dots. Vincent told us a story about Aelia Pulcheria who lived in Rome during the 5th century. Wild claims from Archbishop Nestorius of her havin’ multiple lovers were believed to be false and used to discredit her. Aleia wished to be called the “bride of Christ” due to her vow of virginity, which came into question when she suddenly married Marcian.
“Letters also gave evidence for a premarital affair between them and a child which Aelia hid to keep her status within the church. According to Vincent, the documents were lost when Napoleon moved the archives to Rome in the early 1800s and were found again years later.”
“Seriously? Why would you believe an old story?” I asked. “While it’s entertaining, I don’t see what this has to do with Becton.”
“Bear with me. It’s hard to summarize years of research in a way that makes sense. The thing is, Rome wasn’t the only time a mysterious birth became associated with a poison which wiped out a massive amount of people. The same thing happened when Christopher Columbus came to America. He wasn’t the man I thought he was from school. He enslaved and treated the Indians terribly. Look at this letter.” Alex turned the binder to me, pointing at a seven page document.
If Alex knew I had looked at it before, he might stop explaining. I needed to understand. In the letter, Columbus claimed the people were unruly, and he did what was necessary to control them. A profitable alternative he suggested was to sell nine-year-old children for sexual favors. I pretended to read it again, frowning at Columbus’ disgusting proposition.
Alex continued. “Columbus died fourteen years after his first voyage. It’s still debated exactly what illness killed him. His remains were moved multiple times, therefore tissue samples were taken for verification of his true burial site. DNA analysis wasn’t the only test performed. They also checked for cause of death. Vincent found the same chemicals in Columbus that was in Roman tissues during the fall of the western empire.”
“What exactly is it?” I asked.
“It doesn’t have a name. Only the numbers, 7-15-4.”
“That’s weird. But, then again so is the rest of this bizarre story.”
“Come on, Trev.” Alex scowled. “Vincent guessed they didn’t want to say what it is, but they have soil and tissue samples collected throughout many global tragedies. All have the same basic chemical compound.”
“This is crazy! How does the poison originate in various places?” I asked.
“God does it,” Alex answered.
“What?”
Alex laughed. “It surprised me, too. I’m far from a Biblical scholar, but it’s throughout the Old Testament. Startin’ with Adam. For his sin, God cursed the ground. In Leviticus, God warns the ground will become defiled if they sin. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel say that the people have defiled the land with their actions and God poured out his wrath on them.”
“Are you saying I pissed God off?”
“Seems like it. He uses nature to punish people. Whether ya meant to or not, you and Monica denied your child.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t know about him. Monica rejected us!”
; “Apparently the man upstairs doesn’t take that into consideration. Accordin’ to Monica, when she left HIM on the steps of the church, she thought HE was dead. Throughout history, the greatest evil is a mother’s hatred for her child. Aelia’s rejection brought down the Western Roman empire and Columbus decimated the Hispaniola population. The complete abandonment from these parents cursed the ground. It’s the true origin of smallpox, scarlet fever, and hundreds of other diseases.”
Unconvinced, I shook my head. Feeling Alex watch me, it magnified my uncertainty. Tiffany and Alex believed it and I wanted to trust them. But I didn’t.
“Do ya want to help us?” Alex asked.
“Yes.”
“We think gettin’ to Monica will stop it.”
“She’s here?”
“Yes.”
“Then take me to her.” I rose from the table, this time leaving the book behind.
He stood with me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “It’s not that simple.”
“People think I’m already down there. Sneak me back in and then I can talk to her.”
“She isn’t Down Under.”
“Then where is she?”
“I’ll show ya. Come with me.”
We hurried to his truck. Heavy dark clouds churned in the sky. Becton didn’t get a lot of rain, but when it did, it poured hard and fast. I hoped it would delay long enough for us to return.
I opened the passenger door and leapt inside.
“No!” Tiffany yelled. The front door slammed behind her as she ran to Alex’s truck. She clutched her husband’s arm, shaking her head. “You can’t go.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“No!” She insisted.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You can’t go!” Her breathing increased.
“Why?” I asked.
Tiffany looked me dead in the eyes. “Because, she’ll kill you!”
CHAPTER 16
CRAY, CRAY
Being overly dramatic wasn’t usually one of Tiffany’s attributes, but I hoped this was an exception. The tension started in my neck and shoulders and swept down my body as Alex drove out of town. Why did I expect Monica to be somewhere within city limits? Based on what Hannah and Tiffany had told me about her, it seemed stupid.
