Ms. Z was in a trance, staring down at the mosaic intently, I half expected her eyes to start glowing and a prophecy to shoot out of her mouth. I could see the carcanet around the female figure’s neck and the cuff around the male figure’s wrist. The female held the Earth in the palm of her hand. She wore a green seashell bra and her hair was spread out in long blue swirls. The male held the Moon in the palm of his hand and the burst of bright white tiles that surrounded them both seemed to be emanating from his cuff. It was indeed a lovely design but it scared me to be that close to water and I wanted to leave. I began to walk towards the door.
“You know, Ms. Shedd, they say a new Guardian has been born with the Rune of the Sea?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” unsure of the exact meaning of a rune. I answered.
“Yes. If it is so, the first-born must find the second born and when that happens they will cleanse the waters and the land as well. They will protect all those loyal and destroy the enemies. Balance will again be restored.”
I felt like laughing. Was she playing a joke on me? She sounded ridiculous. After a few moments of awkward silence, I tried to move us along. “Okay. Well, Ms. Z, we have a lot of work to do in your classroom, right?”
“Oh yes.” She seemed to snap out of whatever deep thoughts had her captivated. “Let’s get going.”
We left the pool and walked through the empty hall to the biology classroom. She was back to normal as she explained our tasks for the afternoon. “I need to move my salt water tank across the hall and into Mr. Graham’s lab. They’ve been with me for eight years. He had better keep those fish alive until I return.” She had a bit of concern in her voice. Mr. Graham was a chemist, not a biologist. He usually wore a thick black apron and safety goggles. It was difficult to think Ms. Z’s fish would be at the top of his “to-do” list. I reasoned that her job must have been very far if it meant she couldn’t take her fish. Again, it upset me.
“Are you ready to help?” She asked.
“I guess,” I answered.
“There are jars filled with salt water from the tank. I want you to grab one fish at a time and place them into the jars. Then we can drain the water from the tank into buckets, carry it across the hall and fill it back up. These little ones haven’t been moved in 4 years, so we want to be very gentle. I don’t like to use a net to catch them. It’s so cruel. When I move them I use my hands, like this.” She cupped her hands together and lowered them through the surface of the water, not a ripple was made.
The fish swam around her hands, inspecting and tickling with their fins. She giggled. “Not all at once, let’s do this one at a time.”
All but one of the fish backed away, like they heard her command. A black, white and yellow fish with a pointy snout made its way to her hands and waited as if it was in an elevator. She lifted and not a single drop of water fell to the ground. She walked with ease as the fish floated comfortably.
“Let’s go Mr. Moore.” She whispered to him.
“How are you doing that?” I asked. Still no drops of water fell.
“It’s based on trust. He can sense that I mean him no harm.” She held the fish over a jar and with a splash he jumped out of her hands and directly into the water.
“Incredible!” I squealed. “Mr. Moore?”
“Oh now Ms. Shedd, don’t go feeding his ego. I don’t know if calling him ‘Incredible Mr. Moore’ is going to help his already pompous attitude towards the other fish. They are all quite incredible once you get to know them.” She was already loading another passenger into her hands. “Would you like to try?”
“No, I meant what you did was incredible. I mean, Mr. Moore was incredible too but the situation as a whole…well, I don’t think I can do that Ms. Z. I would feel awful if I dropped a fish.”
“Oh nonsense, I think you’ll be fine. Now, bring yourself over here.”
I could already feel my hands sweating. I cupped them together just like she instructed and lowered them into the tank. Ripples spread across the surface of the water and the fish scattered, hiding behind their little ceramic ship wreck and treasure chest.
“Now, give Ms. Shedd a chance. If you get up close, you will find that she is a very good friend.” Ms. Z spoke like the fish could hear her every word and, oddly enough, the fish responded.
The smallest of three clown fish wiggled its way into my hands. I didn’t know how but I understood that it was scared. First it bumped the side of my hand with its tail and then tickled the inside of my finger with its fin. It looked up at me and I glanced over to Ms. Z, she was smiling.
“I would like you to meet Penelope. She is one of the sweetest little clown fish I have ever had the pleasure of caring for.”
“Uh, it’s nice to meet you Penelope,” laughing nervously.
“She likes you. She’s ready to go when you are. Carefully lift her straight up—a little slower. Yes, just like that.” Ms. Z cheered me on with more excitement than I expected.
Penelope felt bizarre in my hands. I could sense a little of her anxiety, or maybe I was imagining it. My hands were cupped and my fingers tight. Very little water dropped and, surprisingly, Penelope knew exactly what to do. She jumped right into a salt water filled mason jar.
We moved the rest of the fish into the jars, one at a time. Then we emptied the water from the tank into several large buckets. Ms. Z talked to the fish like they were her best friends; she explained each one of their personalities in detail.
After we emptied most of the water into the buckets, she and I brought the tank across the hallway into Mr. Graham’s classroom. Together we carried the heavy buckets of salt water, pouring them into the tank. When it came time to return the fish, we put each jar into the water. I found it disappointing that we were not going to carry them by hand back to the tank. She explained that they needed to ease into the water slowly, at their own pace. So we put the jars in and waited. I watched as one at a time, starting with Mr. Moore, the fish swam out of their jars and into the open water of the tank. We sat, studying the fish for a while, giggling as they swam up to the sides of the tank to inspect the new classroom.
That afternoon had been so much fun and for the first time I realized how much I was going to miss school. School, along with Ms. Z, was the only constants in my life and I grew scared thinking about how uncertain my future was.
TWO
“Aunt Doreh, where are you?” A voice came from across the hall.
“I’m in here. You’re a little late.” Ms. Z shouted.
His voice grew louder and more excited before he appeared in the doorway. “You will never believe it, I did a dive on the Southern shore and guess who I—”, a young man walked into Mr. Graham’s room. His shoulders were back, his face held a look of enthusiasm. When he noticed me, all passion drained from his voice. “Uh—I’ll have to tell you about it later.”
I kept my eyes down and twiddled my fingers.
“Seraphin Shedd, I would like you to meet my nephew,” she paused for a moment like she had forgotten his name. “Joseph Merrick.”
“Nice to meet you,” glancing at him. To my horror, he met my eyes. I stared back, waiting for a greeting. His eyes, ice blue, quickly changed to navy. I blinked—questioning the color shift that occurred.
Finally, he looked at Ms. Z and did something quite unexpected—he left the room. Turning the corner into the hallway, he mumbled to himself, “Why would she do that?”
Ms. Z shrugged her shoulders and smiled an unconvincing smile. “He’s a little shy I guess. I’ll be right back. Can you stack the buckets while I’m gone and put the top on the tank? I think we’re about done here.” She walked out and the sound of their footsteps moved further down the hall.
I did what Ms. Z asked then decided it was time to leave. I wrote a short note explaining how much I appreciated her as a teacher and thanked her for the fun afternoon. The thought of not seeing her daily was becoming too much to bear. I knew I had to be careful to not dwell on those em
otions though or my mind would go into shut down mode.
Just as I was about to leave, she came back with Joseph and I did my best to dispel signs of weakness. For some reason, I did not want to show any fault in front of him.
He walked into the room with a sour look on his face. I ignored him and went to Ms. Z. “I should be leaving. I left a note for you on your desk.” I was trying my best to avoid Joseph. However he made that difficult by picking up the note I left for Ms. Z and reading it. “That is not for you.” Anger crept its way into my voice, which was surprising.
“Well, I know you must have lots of things to do this afternoon Ms. Shedd, but I would love to buy you lunch. Besides, you can think of it as a small payment for all your hard work today. I don’t know what I would have done without you. Joseph was supposed to help me but he was temporarily detained.” Ms. Z walked over to Joseph and took the note away from him. Not once did she take her attention off of me.
“Oh, that’s alright, you don’t have to repay me. I’m sure I’ll be around, maybe we can do lunch another day?” I was uncomfortable around Joseph; he gave off a weird vibe. I felt as if he hated me from the moment we met, which was only about 12 minutes prior.
“Actually, I won’t be around. My new job is taking me far from the coasts of Maine. Please let me take you to lunch.” She pleaded. My fear of Ms. Z no longer being close was confirmed and I felt my expression fall. Heat surged through my body and I tried desperately to blink back the tears associated.
My eyes met Joseph’s. “Don’t worry, I’m not going,” as if he could read my mind.
“I guess that will be fine then,” relieved. “Should we walk over to the diner?”
“Yes,” she smiled and found her purse. “Joseph, please finish taking those boxes out to my car.”
“Sure.” He sighed.
Ms. Z and I walked to the diner across the street from the high school. The food was never great and I always felt like they had way too many tables for such a little space. The service was always horrible too, but it was close and within walking distance. It was a frequent spot for students to hang out. Ethan and his group of friends were always at the diner; I hardly ever had a reason to eat there.
“Ms. Z, what’s wrong with Joseph? I mean—I don’t know him but—well, I get the feeling he hates me.”
“Joseph is a very sweet young man—”
I cut her off. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“You didn’t let me finish. He’s a very sweet young man but he lives a complicated life. It’s hard for him to meet people. I’m sure he’ll warm up to you, once he gets to know you.”
“Oh, I’m not planning on spending much time with him. I mean, I doubt we’ll even see each other again.”
Ms. Z shrugged, “You never know who will end up in your life.”
As we approached the diner a few families were leaving after celebrating with their recent graduates. Some former students stopped to talk to Ms. Z. I didn’t know them, of course. No one said a word to me. I watched as the mother of a girl put her arm around her daughter. The girl reached up and placed her hand on top of her mother’s hand. It was a simple gesture that represented so much. Out of everything missing in my life, sometimes the thing I missed the most is the one thing I never had.
Ms. Z continued talking outside while I went in to get a table. The diner was full of families and if it struck anyone odd that I was alone, no one showed it. There was only one empty booth so I sat in it. The waiter immediately came over to take my drink order but I told him to come back because someone else would be joining me.
About 10 minutes passed before I started to get a little annoyed at how long Ms. Z was taking. After 15 minutes the waiter came back and asked if I knew what time my guest would be arriving. I told him she was standing outside talking. We both looked up when we heard the ding of the diner door but instead of Ms. Z walking in it was a tall thin middle-aged woman with white hair in a braid that hung down past her waist. She was wearing a long black leather jacket and tall black boots. She was as overdressed as she could possibly be considering the temperature that day. We watched as the woman walked around all the tables in the diner and then left. The waiter asked if that was my guest. I shook my head.
I reasoned that Ms. Z might have been stuck in one of those situations where the person wouldn’t stop talking and there was no way to end the conversation politely. I thought about several different ways to get her into the diner. Deciding that if I went outside and politely told her that I had already gotten us a table it might help her out of whatever talk-a-holic had trapped her. So, after 20 minutes of waiting, I went to rescue her. To my surprise, there was no one. I walked around; circling the perimeter of the diner, but Ms. Z was nowhere to be found. I came back inside, thinking that perhaps somehow we had missed each other. I checked both the men’s and the women’s restrooms along with the kitchen and still could not find her.
The white noise of the diner started to sound like the ocean and as I stood in the middle of the room I found myself fighting a blackout. Stay here, I told myself. I rushed out the door. I was still struggling to keep my mind in the present tense when my car pulled up; the roar of the engine shook me. In the driver’s seat was Joseph, Ms. Z’s nephew. He reached across the car and opened the passenger door.
“Get in.” He demanded.
“What is going on?” I stood next to my car, not sure whether to obey or not.
“Just get in.” He looked nervous as he glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Listen, I’m trying to help here. You need to get in the car. I don’t know if they saw you with my aunt or not.” He was yelling and people were coming out of the diner behind me. I got in the car, against my better judgment, because I didn’t want to cause a scene.
For some time, we were both silent, I was afraid to ask what happened to Ms. Z. I can’t explain how I knew; maybe it was because I expect things to go wrong. Something on his face told me that there was a problem. He glanced at me a few times, expecting me to say something but I couldn’t come up with any words.
Finally he spoke. “You can’t go back to the school, so where should I take you?”
“I don’t know you and I’m not exactly fond of you…” I paused, thinking of whether or not I should finish the sentence, “driving my car.”
“This is your car? Lucky guess, huh?”
“Yes it’s my car!” I raised my voice.
“Good, so I’m in no danger of being called a thief…” he paused, “…again.”
I was angry and confused; finally, all I wanted to do was get to my house. “Take me to wherever Ms. Z went, so I can drop you off and go home.”
“I can‘t take you to my aunt. She’s gone.”
“She’s gone? Oh, that makes perfect sense. The woman asks me out to lunch and then leaves. She must have had better plans.” I said sarcastically.
“No. She’s just gone.” He sounded troubled. “This doesn’t concern you. Where do you want me to take you?”
“Doesn’t concern me? You have got to be kidding. One minute I was waiting to have lunch with my teacher, now, all of the sudden she is gone with no explanation. Then you pull up, in my car and tell me that you’re going to drop me off somewhere.” My voice grew louder. “How about you drop me off somewhere between 20 to 30 minutes ago so I can figure out what happened? Oh and you can leave my car and walk back to the present. Does that sound like a plan?”
“Trust me; you don’t want to be a part of this so just tell me where I can bring you. I don’t need your car. I could have just left you at the diner but I thought my aunt would want me to make sure you were okay. I’m trying to be nice here.”
There was a long awkward silence. Joseph pulled over in an empty parking lot, reached under the dashboard and turned the car off. “Can I have your keys?”
I realized that I had been holding my keys the entire time. “Did you hotwire my car?” It occurred to me that I was alone with a complete strange
r who knew how to hotwire a car and it scared me a little. I trusted Ms. Z and I didn’t think she would intentionally put me in harms way, but there was something about Joseph that was unsettling.
“I needed to come and get you. Besides, I didn’t know it was your car so, don’t take it personally. It won’t damage anything. I do this all the time.” He said.
“That’s what worries me. Can I just drop you off somewhere instead? Honestly, I’m fine. I just want to get home.” I said nervously.
“I’ll take you home,” he demanded.
“NO,” I refused.
“Really, I should. My aunt would want me to.” He insisted.
Trying to convince him, “You understand that I just met you, right?”
“Yes. You understand that the woman you were about to have lunch with is my aunt and she just disappeared in a matter of minutes, right? You understand that perhaps there is more going on here than you could possibly comprehend, right? You understand that I am trying to get you home safe, right?” His blue eyes pierced me and my body felt numb.
I did understand. I handed him my keys. “My house is at 504 Briarwood Court.”
“Thank you.” He said and started the car.
Joseph knew his way around Bar Harbor. No words were spoken for the remaining 10-minute drive. He kept his eyes on the road while I stared out the window as we passed the familiar neighborhoods. Spring had been generous with rain; the grass was lush and green. When we turned down Briarwood Court my heart skipped. I was terrified but excited. The street was lined with dogwood trees in full bloom; white petals filled the branches that swayed in the summer breeze.
When, at last, he found me. Page 2
