by Jim Payton
Chapter 28
When Janet regained consciousness, she found herself lying on the bed of leaves under the tree. The first thing she noticed, apart from that, was that she wore her old clothes. Looking out from under the branches, all she could see was barren land. In the distance, she could see what looked like farm buildings. There was no smell of volcanic ash. She looked off in the direction of the volcano. There was no plume of smoke in the air. Actually, the sky was perfectly clear, and a brilliant blue, with not a sign of a cloud. The warm sun penetrated her bones.
Janet sat down on a small hillock a short distance away from the tree, and took stock of the situation in which she found herself. She was not in the valley that she had been. Far from it, this was no peaceful paradise. She could recall all that had happened to get her to this place though. She knew of the bet with Palmer. She knew of Eti and their journey to find the Garden of Eden. She knew that when she had been unable to find Eti, she had ended up right there under that tree. She could recall the huge volcanic eruption and Eti's escape from Jasmine and her kidnapping gang. She also knew that she had spent about eighteen months elsewhere: five hundred and fifty days to be more or less precise. She put that thought to one side. Janet realised she had experienced something unique, powerful and life altering. She also believed that she was not in a stable enough condition to evaluate it at this stage.
"Okay, God," Janet said aloud, "Where to from here?"
Her gaze again caught the horizon, and she immediately recognised the skyline markers that had pointed towards where she had been seeking the Garden of Eden. She looked in totally the opposite direction and took note of the markers that she believed would lead to the Old Monastery. Before leaving where she was, Janet carved her initials in the tree under which she had sheltered. She built up a pile of stones on the hillock to mark the spot where she was. She also sought out other markers in her mind so that she would be able to find her way back at a later date.
Janet took a last look about her, and said, "Okay Lord, let's go." With that, she headed off in the direction of the Monastery.
It took her two days to reach it. She marvelled at how the countryside had recovered in the eighteen months since the eruption. There was little evidence of it actually: no ash, no dead pasture, and no dead animals. On the contrary, the countryside was alive with animals, plants, humans and movement. Trucks and cars whizzed along the roads and people cheerfully waved out. Janet found the ruined building where she had sheltered from the eruption in the hand made lean-to. It was no longer as she remembered it. Repairs had replaced the roof and fitted new doors.
It had to be late spring, or early summer, Janet reckoned, as she walked towards the Monastery. The sunshine, the growth, the noise, all indicated growth and life.
The outline of the Monastery was the same, but its unkemptness had changed. Freshly mowed lawns had replaced the overgrown weeds and gardens. The mouldy moss covered brickwork had been water blasted and shone brightly. The building that had held her, Eti and Jasmine captive, likewise shone brightly and outside it were several wooden seats. There were three tourist buses in an area that was now a parking zone. Young voices shouted joyfully, and laughter came from somewhere over to her left. She went to where the cemetery was: where her private quest had begun. The once moss covered headstones were now clean and flowers adorned those headstones upon which Janet had fixed her hopes of locating Eden. She stood in front of the first one in silence. She brushed her hands lightly over the engraved pictures and letters.
"Oh, Eti," she said softly. "Where are you now? Are you still alive as I am, or did you die after escaping?"
She turned away from the cemetery and made her way into the area where she, Eti and Jasmine had camped. The change was marked. Offices now existed where the main hall and dining room had been. There was even a reception area. Groups of people, whom Janet assumed were from the tourist buses, were being shown around by young uniformed men and women. The tiles Janet had spent so much time gazing at were lit up with strong spotlights, and the tourists were having the depicted scenes explained to them. Amazed, Janet opened a door to find what was obviously a classroom. It was occupied by about thirty students with a male teacher standing in front of them. All thirty students turned and looked at Janet.
"I'm sorry," she said. "My mistake."
Janet started to pull the door closed but glanced at the teacher as she did so.
"Sorry," she said again but to the teacher this time. She continued to close the door and turned away before her mind clicked. She jerked the door back open. Thirty student faces and one teachers face again turned towards her. Her gaze fastened upon the teacher.
"Eti," she asked? "Oh my God it is you. Eti, its you!"
The door swung back as far as it could go and ricocheted off the wall.
Janet ran to the teacher and enveloped him in her arms. She hugged and kissed him and cried and thanked God. The students sat in shock, many with their mouths wide open. The teacher had not moved. His face was as white as a ghost. He managed to push Janet slightly away from him and hold her at arms length. He was shaking like a leaf.
"You're dead," he gasped. "You died five years ago. You can't be real."
"She looks pretty real to me Mr. Solomon," observed one of the students somewhat wryly.
"My God Janet," said Eti pulling her to him with tears pouring down his cheeks. "Where in God's name have you been? We thought you were dead. It's been five years since you left us and set off for Eden. We searched and searched but couldn't find you. Thank you Lord, thank you."
"Hey," laughed Janet. "Go easy on the time. A bit over a year, not five years. Do I look that rough?"
"You're Janet Winter," one of the students called out.
Janet turned her head and nodded.
"It's five years since you went missing. It was when Sulphan erupted. That was five years ago. You were in all the papers and on the TV. They searched for you big time. Gee, wait 'til this gets out. Where have you been?"
With his arms still round Janet, Eti spoke to the class.
"Okay troops," he said. "Enough for now. Let's call it a day You're dismissed while this gets sorted out. Away you go. I'll fill you in tomorrow."
Chattering among themselves, the class left the room leaving Eti and Janet alone.
"Five years," asked Janet?
Eti nodded. He took her by the hand.
"Thank God you're okay. Well, better than okay. You don't look a day older than when you left."
"As far as I'm concerned I'm not, well a year older, but that's all," replied Janet. "The main thing is that you are okay. The last I saw of you was when that criminal was going to kill you."
"How did you know that," asked an amazed Eti.
"I was there. Didn't you hear me scream?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think so. Look, let's go to my office and we'll sort all this out. My God this is so wonderful."
"Your office," said Janet. "I am impressed."
"You better believe it. I just can't take this in; that you are here and alive. Obviously we didn't find your body and boy did we search. After six months though we had nowhere left to look. It was the same with Jasmine and her bunch. We never found them either."
Seated in Eti's office with a hot chocolate drink and an open packet of biscuits, Janet knew she was back where she had come from.
Eti, between expressions of how great it was she was safe, and sound, explained what had happened since she left on her own to go and find Eden. He explained that he and Jasmine expected her to return quite quickly, but when she did not, they became alarmed. Up until then, he and Jasmine had continued as normal. Then, two truckloads of thugs arrived. It was at that stage, explained Eti, he discovered that he had been played by Jasmine. She admitted that she was in cahoots with the thugs and that her injuries had been inflicted only to fool Janet and him. After the thugs arrived, they and Jasmine had checked out what Janet had deduced, and in which direction she had probably headed.
Jasmine and her group intended to hold Eti for ransom, but before doing that, Jasmine wanted to check if Eden did exist, as if it did, there was huge money to be made. The thugs had Eti's computer and notes etc with them, but once Jasmine had checked them they were destroyed.
The eruption had changed all that. Tempers had flared out of control, and the scenario witnessed by Janet had ensued. Eti admitted it was possible that he had heard Janet's scream, but that it had not registered with him, or he thought it had come from someone else. He told Janet that when he got back to civilization he had alerted the authorities, but there had been no positive result. Due to Jasmine's high profile and the publicity surrounding his disappearance the search for her had been a major news item.
He explained how even Palmer and his cronies had assisted in the searches, but after six months everyone had given up hope. Bearing in mind that the monastery had been occupied prior to their capture, Eti thought that Palmer and the Galapagos Inc. people might have been involved and been the ones who had taken some of the missing books from the library. Enquiries by Private Investigators had failed, however, to find any links. Their enquiries regarding the pilot and passenger in the crashed helicopter likewise yielded nothing. Memorial services had been held in New Zealand for Janet and then she became yesterday's news. He told how he had raised funding to document her finds and to continue research into them. As part of that, the Monastery had been tidied up and opened to the public. In the search for Janet, Eti explained, they had thoroughly combed the area she had indicated as being the possible site for the Garden of Eden, but nothing had been found.
At the end of his explanation, Eti sat back and said to Janet:
"So, Mrs., your turn."
Janet smiled.
"Don't you Mrs. me Eti Solomon.
"I've created a lot of commotion haven't I? What are people going to think of me turning up all this time later? Five years later, with a story relating to eighteen months of it."
"What happened in those eighteen months Janet?"
Step by step, Janet related her story; how she had woken up in a valley with no recall of how she had reached it and no recall of her life before it. As best she could, Janet explained how she had been aware of an existence before the valley but had been unable to recall details of it. She described, in detail, the animals, plants, climate and the conversations with a being she could only explain as God.
When she finished, it was dark outside. She was hungry and exhausted.
"I was in the Garden of Eden Eti," she whispered. "I was there. I don't know how I got there, but I was there. I truly was.
"Nobody is going to believe me though are they?"
Eti reached out and cuddled her.
"I believe you," he said.
Eti took Janet to his flat; well, two or three rooms within the Monastery, and made them some toast and jam, with sweet tea. Janet sat down on a couch to eat it off a tray balanced on her knees. Part way through the meal, Eti looked up to find Janet asleep with the tray still balanced on her knees. He removed the tray, laid her down and covered her with a blanket.
Returning to his office, Eti picked up the telephone and dialed a New Zealand number. When it was answered, he said, "Jason, it's Eti. You're not going to believe who just walked back into our lives."
