by Lewis Stanek
“Well, not exactly, but our fields do overlap from time to time. Did she tell you about my discovery?”
“Yep, the altar. Cold shivers ran up my spine when she talked about that. In fact I couldn't sleep sound all night, I kept having nightmares about that damn altar and the Dyers and the old days. I'd fall asleep, then the nightmare would wake me up, then when I could finally fall asleep again the same thing would happen all over again. It was like that all night long. I think it was just as bad for Ed, he slept through the night as far as I could tell, but he kept tossing and turning and mumbling something in his sleep. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but let me tell you, it didn't help my sleep at all last night.”
“I'm sorry you had such a rough night. You don't look any the worse for wear though.”
“Ah, the wonders of modern makeup. I'll bring your burger to you as soon as it is up.”
“I'd appreciate that.” Oswald glanced about the place, he was the only customer, must be before the lunch rush he thought. He took the camera from his pocket, looked at the back and lightly tapped the review button with his finger. This allowed him to look at all the photographs he had taken so far today. He was anxious to load them into his computer and seeing what he could do to enlarge and clarify the images. He wondered if there was anything he missed in person that he could pick up from the computer enhanced images. He took another sip of his coffee and glanced again around the room. He saw an old fashioned pay phone mounted on the wall between the rest rooms.
“Hey Freida, does that pay phone still work?” he yelled into the kitchen.
“If it didn't work, we wouldn't keep it around,” Came her reply. Oswald dug in his pocket for some change. He had maybe a buck and a half in loose change. He didn't think that would be enough for any length of a call to Leicester, but it might be enough tell let Doctor Dyer know about his discovery.
Oswald walked over to the pay telephone dropped a quarter in the slot. He got a dial tone and then dialed the Leicester's main number. An automated voice came on line and asked for more change. Oswald dumped his remaining coins into the phone. It rang on the other end.
“Leicester University, How can I direct your call?”
“ I'd like to speak with doctor Dyer please.”
“One moment while I ring that number.” Oswald listened as the phone in Dyer's office rang. On the third ring Dyer picked up.
“Aleister Dyer speaking.”
“Doctor Dyer, it's me Oswald Hubbard.”
“Oh yes, Oswald, how's it going at the cabin?”
“Great!”
“I'm glad to hear that. Does this mean you will be coming back to the university soon?”
“I'll be coming back to the university, but I don't know how soon it will be. You see, I've made a discover out here.”
“A discovery, What's out there to discover, it's all just farmland.”
“I found an altar, Aleister. A hand carved stone altar, sitting in the middle of a cleared circle surrounded by short standing stones. It looks like the natives took part in human sacrifice at some time in the past. I'll be sending a report in to the regents, they may want to organize an archaeological team to investigate further. What's more it all looks like there was Druidic influence in the area.” Oswald's excitement carried over the telephone with his voice.
“Are you sure of what you found?”
“As sure as I can be at this point.” The automated operator came on line and advised Oswald to put more coins in the coin slot. “Doctor Dyer, I'm out of change. I've got to go now, but I will send you a copy of the report as soon as it is finished. Goodbye for now,” Oswald hung up the phone and went back to his seat at the counter.
His steamed burger was waiting for him and his cup had been refilled with fresh coffee. He was almost too excited to eat, but the aroma of the burger was too much of a temptation. Oswald put the tomato, lettuce, and pickles that were placed on the side sort of as a garnish, on his burger, shook a little ketchup on top and little more on his French fires, and then took a big bite of the burger. The steamed burger was everything he remembered it to be.
“Freida, you and Ed could sell franchises for this place selling just this burger. It is so good, better than anything I can get in Leicester. I'd change the name of the place though. Sam & Ella's' might give the wrong impression to some folks.”
“Ed and I wouldn't know how to begin such a thing, and it just wouldn't be the same with another name. It was Sam & Ella's when we bought it and Sam & Ella's it will stay, but thanks all the same.” Freida poured a little more coffee into Oswald's cup to warm it up.
Aleister Dyer paced back and forth in his office. Something troubled him. Once he had made a decision on a plan of action he stopped pacing and went to his desk. Aliester pulled his personal directory from a drawer flipped through the pages searching for something. Finding what he wanted he reached for the telephone on his desk and dialed. The phone on the other end of the line rang.
“Hello” a feminine voice greeted Aleister Dyer over the phone.
“Clara?”
“Speaking.”
“Clara, is it true? Did Hubbard discover the altar?”
“According to him it is the discovery of a lifetime. He plans on writing reports and encouraging further research into the area.”
“I see, Keep me apprised of the situation over there. We can't let this get out of hand,” Aleister Dyer said firmly then hung up the phone. He stepped out of his inner office and spoke briefly with his secretary.
“Cancel everything on my schedule for the next two weeks, and see if you can get me a on a flight to Rockford Illinois. I'll need a rental car when I get there, something rugged. Can you arrange that for me?”
“I'll have the arrangements set as soon as possible.” She replied calmly while dialing her phone, attempting to follow his directions.
“Good, I'll be out of the office the rest of the day,” Aleister Dyer said taking his overcoat from the coat rack near the door on his way out of the office left the office.
Oswald consumed his burger with relish, thoroughly enjoying every juicy bite. He dipped his last French fry in the little puddle of ketchup he had poured onto the side of his plate, mopping up the last of it before popping it into his mouth.
“If Clara comes in, tell her I said hi,” Oswald said as he left a tip on the counter and then paid Freida for his meal. He Left the restaurant. Oswald crossed the street to where he had parked his car, climbed into his Volvo wagon and drove back to the cabin. Once there he went straight to the root cellar, climbed down the ladder into the dank hole in the floor and started the generator. He climbed back up the ladder, let the trapdoor drop with a bang, then looked for and found an outlet near the desk for the power adapter for his new laptop.
Before starting on his report he stoked the fire in the fire place adding a couple pieces split wood, and using the poker to stir the ashes into flame. Satisfied with the fire, Oswald turned to the work at hand. He opened the laptop and focused his attention on organizing his notes into an outline for the final report he would send to the regents at Leicester University. Oswald hadn't felt this much excitement regarding his studies since his years at graduate school. He wrote for an hour or two, then gave in to temptation. He told himself he was going to work on clearing the path to the altar, but why then did he drop the Druid's book into his coat pocket?
Oswald felt safe leaving the cabin with the laptop running and open, after all out in the woods who would come out here to burgle the cabin. The natives are all too afraid of the place. He had better things to occupy his mind than to worry about the theft of arcane intellectual property. Oswald sped down the now familiar path, breaking off a obstructing branch here and there making the path slightly more passable, but his true objective was simply getting to the clearing. As soon as the path widened Oswald gave up clearing away any obstacles from the trail. He took the Druid's book from his pocket and read as he walked the remaining distance to the
altar. Reading the ancient words aloud under his breath as he walked Oswald didn't notice the birds gathering overhead until he was fully in the center of the clearing almost at the altar.
He looked up and there was a flock of sparrows swooping madly one way and then the next directly above the altar. Oswald watched in expectation, hoping to witness again the strange behavior of the sparrows, but this time with his wits about him so he could later record in detail the facts of the event.
Without making a sound the sparrows flew, to the north, then the south, then the east, and west, covering the cardinal points of the compass. This is something Oswald didn't notice when he first saw them vanish from the sky. The sparrows swooped down toward the altar changing direction less than a foot from striking the stone.
Oswald realizing there is no time like the present, and determined not to lose this opportunity, he opened the Druid's book and read aloud in words not meant for human tongues the ancient incantation of the Druids. The runes swam before his eyes, it felt as if it was no longer him reading the incantation, but some other entity from ages past. No longer needing the book, spontaneously reciting the ancient incantation, Oswald raised his eyes to the liquid sky to see the heavens swirling about above him forming a vortex, a portal into another realm, another world. Although it was no later than noon, the sky above him darkened to deep purple. The last thing Oswald saw before his vision went black was the gathering of sparrows vanish through the portal into the unknown.
Hours later Oswald awoke laying crumpled at the foot of the altar, cold and stiff, his head aching, pounding with pain deep within his skull, he pulled himself first to a kneeling then a standing position. He steadied himself by leaning onto the altar table. Not sure if what he witnessed was real, or simply a vision accompanying a stroke. The pain inside his head argued eloquently for it all being part and parcel of a stroke. He held the sides of his head praying the pain would subside.
“Ozzie, Ozzie! Are you all right?” Clara cried from the path outside the clearing. To Oswald the sharpness of Clara's cry brought fresh spikes of pain behind his eyes. He clenched his eyes tightly shut desperately trying to block out the pain. He couldn't bring himself to open his mouth to speak to her not yet.
“Oswald!” She cried again as she ran to his side. Oswald looked flushed. Clara touched his brow, it was cold and clammy.
“Oh Ozzie, let me help you back to the cabin,” Clara spoke softly, as she put her arm around his waist and began leading him away from the altar and toward the path. He leaned heavily on her shoulder following her blindly. Oddly the further they traveled from the altar the less Oswald's pain.
“Oh Clara, I don't know what I would have done if you didn't show up when you did,” Oswald regaining enough of his composure to speak.
“Don't waste your strength talking, let's get back to the cabin first.”
“I'm feeling better almost with every step, your presence has a healing quality, I'd swear it does,” Oswald continued to lean on Clara's shoulder as they walked through the woods toward the cabin, however he was feeling stronger with every step away from the altar he took.
“Shh, don't talk. We're almost there Ozzie.” Clara was concerned that she wouldn't be able to carry Oswald if he should lose what strength he had and collapse to the ground before they made it back to the cabin, but as they struggled through the woods she could feel Oswald place less and less weight on her shoulders until finally he was walking on his own.
“I don't know what it was, Clara, but if you hadn't come when you did, I don't know what would have happened to me out there. I tried a little experiment. I read from the Druid's book at the altar.” Oswald felt for the book in his coat pocket to be sure he still had it in his possession.
“The birds were there, a flock of sparrows, and they responded to the incantation, I swear they did, then the sky swirled and opened up into a beautiful purple vortex and then sparrows disappeared without a sound.” Oswald continued. He no longer felt the need for Clara's support, but allowed her to continue to hold his arm. Oswald walked the remaining distance on his own.
“You look like you're feeling better now. What do you think happened to you?”
“Haven't you been listening, A portal opened between our universe and another allowing the sparrows to enter in. I don't know why I fell ill exactly, but I suspect it has something to do with that. I don't think we as humans are meant to access such things. It is draining just witnessing it.”
“Ozzie, I think maybe you have been spending too much time on this. I think perhaps you should consider giving it up, and go home before it is too late.”
“What? Clara this has been my life's work. I was about to give it all up thinking mysticism was all so much ancient hogwash, Just bullshit, piled upon bullshit, upon ever more bullshit, but then I came here and witnessed the sparrows, followed them to the altar, and today witnessed the forming of a vortex. It is real, Clara it is real.”
“To you maybe it is real, I didn't see anything unusual out there today, except you laying on the ground holding your head. Sure you found an old altar, but we in town already knew the Dyers were into do some pretty creepy stuff. Honestly, none of the folks in town would doubt them being capable of human sacrifice, if given the opportunity. I think you have been working too hard. I don't think you have been taking care of yourself, and as far as I can tell, what you say you saw today could all be a hallucination brought on by overwork. I read somewhere they have a word for it in Japan. I don't know what the word is, but that doesn't change the fact that you've been working too hard for a man your age.”
They were at the steps to what Oswald called the cabin's front porch. He walked to the door unaided, and held it open for Clara to enter.
“The word you're looking for is Karoshi, it means death from overwork. I'm not about to keel over and die, but maybe you have a point. I'm in what they laughingly call my golden years, and am not as healthy a man as I once was, but that doesn't change the fact that I saw exactly what I say I saw today.”
“That may be, but where would you be if I didn't come along when I did? You know you would be laying there on the ground right where I found you. You need someone looking after you.” There was a pause in their conversation while Clara let Oswald considered what she had said.
“You say I need some one to look after me. I admit it would be nice to have someone else take care of the fire, and the generator, and the cooking, and the wood and all that. I was never much of an outdoors man. Do you want the job? You can look after me and I can continue to do my research. How is that?”
“How much does it pay?” Clara asked.
“I don't know, let's see how it goes. I promise, I'll be fair. How's that?”
“What about sleeping arrangements, I don't want my parents getting on my back any more than they already are.”
“Clara, you can have the bedroom, I'll sleep on the couch. I don't think I have slept in that bed once since I came here anyway.”
“All right then, you've got yourself a nurse.”
“Not a nurse, Clara, an assistant.”
Chapter Nine
Aleister Dyer's secretary was able to buy a coach ticket for Rockford leaving that night from Boston International Airport. Aleister hated flying, was terrified of it actually, and the events of September eleventh 2001 did nothing to help him get over his fear, but he had to hurry to make the flight if he wanted to get to Dixon in time. He threw the bare essentials into his travel bag along with one item he hoped he wouldn't need, a family heirloom, a knife of ancient origin wrapped in purple silk. This won't make in as carry on luggage, he reminded himself.
Aleister called a cab and arrived at the airport with just enough time to make it through the security checks and board the plane before the flight's departure. He was not in the mood to travel, this definitely was not a pleasure trip. No meal during the flight, no movie, nothing but a bag of stale peanuts and a flat coke handed to him by a overly friendly gay flight attendant
. Oswald was not earning any bonus points in Aleister Dyer's book today, that was certain, not when his actions in Dixon, forced this trip upon Aleister. He forced down the stale peanuts wishing he had something more substantial for lunch today than a yogurt from one of the vending machines in the campus food court. Maybe he could pick up something to eat in Rockford before driving on to Dixon.
He washed down the goobers with his flat coke, and decided he would have to call the girl as soon as the plane landed. In the mean time he would try to get a little sleep. He reclined the seat as far as it would go, without irritating the passenger sitting behind him so much that he would make a nuisance of himself, and closed his eyes.
Aleister was markedly uncomfortable, he didn't sleep, but at least with his eyes closed no one bothered him with unwanted conversation. He remembered the last time he went to the cabin and wondered why he ever thought it would be a good idea to let Oswald use it for a time. He should have known better. What was he going to do now? He hoped he could talk Oswald into forgetting it all, just leave it in the past, but if not there was still one solution. He would have to call the girl and see about organizing a town meeting before taking any drastic action, but he will talk to Oswald first. Maybe he will be reasonable and just let it be.
The flight was long and miserable. Aleister would have appreciated an hour or two of sleep, but that was not to be. The pilot announced that they were approaching Rockford international Airport. Aleister opened his eyes raised his seat back to the upright position, clenched the arm rests and waited for the plane to land. When the plane came to a stop and the passengers were allowed to disembark, Aleister was more eager to leave the plane than he was to see Oswald. First things first, he thought as he grabbed his travel bag from the overhead storage compartment. Pick up my luggage, get the rental car, and call the girl. Aleister rehearsed his to do list in his mind, while climbing down the stairs from the plane to the tarmac. The cold fresh air had a certain bite to it.
