The Xidoran Prophecy

by Elaine Bassett

  “He went to the barn to talk to Walter, before his early rounds. They decided to have their meeting there instead of having it here. I’d expect him before too long.” She set the plate she prepared on the table and he sat down to eat. Bev went to the sink and started on the morning dishes. She looked out the window as she worked.

  When Charles finished he brought his plate over and washed it himself. Then, he helped dry the dishes and put them away. “Well, I am off to find some crickets.”

  “Sounds like fun. Good luck,” Bev said laughing. “I think we have extra brown bags in the pantry.”

  “All right then,” he said and headed for the pantry. He walked out the back door into the sunlight. He headed for the flower garden. He was hoping to make quick work of it. Instead, it took him a little longer than he thought it would. No crickets were anywhere to be found in the flower garden this morning. He headed for the path that led to the pond. He walked the path searching for crickets. In the distance he saw a vixen. She stopped, turned to look at him a second, before shying away and running off. He returned his focus to the task at hand. It took several minutes before he found enough crickets. Once he found enough, he headed back to the farmhouse. He walked around to the front of the garage. The doors were up and Charles could see Carson’s truck parked inside the garage. He went to the kitchen door and set the bag of crickets down. He walked inside and found Carson at the table with Bev. They were talking.

  “Good morning, Charles. Pull up a chair,” Carson said.

  Charles sat down at the table with them. “Good morning. How was your meeting with Walter?”

  “It went fine. We talked about sending more food to the food pantry and maybe offering work to some men in town who could use a job. That is what I was discussing with Nana just now.”

  Bev said, “I think that would be a good idea.” She was looking at Carson as she rested her elbow on the table.

  Carson had his morning paper and a glass of iced tea in front of him. “I am going to talk to Molly about the share she and Gretchen will get from the farm as well. If the crops don’t fail we will have plenty to go around,” he said.

  “Molly will be here with the girls shortly. She just called. Margaret is running late. She said she had an errand to run before coming over,” said Bev.

  “Okay, I need to talk to her when she gets here. Charles and I have a lot of work to do today. We will be in the office most of the day and part of the evening.” Carson picked up his paper, found the pages Bev liked to read and gave them to her. He offered Charles a different section.

  “No, thank you,” Charles said.

  Carson started to read. Charles grabbed an apple from the bowl in the center of the table and began to eat it. Sophie was the first one to come bouncing in the door, followed by Cynthia. They made their way back to the kitchen.

  “Where’s Mom?” Charles asked.

  “She’s coming,” Cynthia said. She sat down and grabbed a peach from the fruit bowl. Sophie grabbed her hand and took a big bite from her peach.

  “Hey!” Cynthia said.

  “Sophie, you can have your own if you want.” Bev said laughing.

  “She can have this one!” Cynthia said shoving it toward her.

  Sophie took it and started to eat it. “Mmm, good,” she said licking her lips. Cynthia smiled at her and ruffled her hair. Molly walked in.

  “Hi Mom and Dad,” she said giving them a hug and kiss on the cheek. She pulled out the kitchen stool and sat down.

  “I met with Walter today. We talked over some possibilities of dividing up the crops, eggs and honey between the farm, the food pantry and the market,” Carson said. “What did you decide?” Molly asked. They talked about his conversation with Walter. Then, he told her about hiring some farm hands from the community.

  “Well, Gretchen called this morning and I am going to meet her for lunch. Then we are going to work some more on the market building. The tents came in and a few other things came in as well. So, we are going to sort through it all.” They continued to visit until Molly had to go. She went around, gave everyone a kiss and a hug before leaving.

  Sophie sat on Paw Paw’s lap. “So, what are you girls going to do today?” he asked.

  “Quilt with Nana. We need to work on our squares,” Cynthia said.

  He tickled Sophie until she laughed. She turned to Bev and said, “I want my cape. Please Nana, can I have it?” Sophie asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” Bev answered. “Come on let’s go get it.” Bev took Sophia’s hand. Cynthia got up to go with them.

  “Okay. Charles and I have a lot of work to catch up on. You know where to find us.” Carson stood up and gave Bev a kiss on her cheek. He and Charles went out the back door. Charles picked up the brown bag of crickets. They walked just as fast as they could, trying to outpace each other to the office. As soon as they walked through the door Charles fed Esmond. Carson set Airabelle free. She flew around the room. Charles sat down in a chair.

  Carson walked to the desk, opened the drawer and pulled out his travel notes for the adventure. “This is what we call an Expedition Guide. Last night Airabelle and Esmond helped me with the finishing touches of the guide. All the research and maps are in here. I’d like you to take a look and read it over.”

  “I’d like to read it. May I read it now?” Charles asked.

  “Yes.” Carson handed it to Charles. As Charles took it Carson continued, “In the next Expedition Guide, I will give you a more active role in putting it together.”

  “I’d like that.” Charles held the guide in his hands. He opened the book and began to read. What he read didn’t make sense. He looked again. As a matter of fact it was all nonsense! He looked at Carson. “What is this? Why doesn’t it make sense?

  “Oh, I forgot.” Carson went to the desk drawer and pulled out Charles’ Sojourner glasses. He brought them to Charles. “I’m sorry. Here put on your glasses.” Charles put them on. His eyes got wide. “Wow! How do you do that?”

  Carson laughed. “Well, just like everything else, it just takes patience and practice.”

  The images that were just symbols before, were now words. The colors on the maps and pictures were so vivid. “We have to use the glasses with Sojourner literature in case something goes wrong on our journey. If the wrong people should steal the guide, they can’t decipher the work. Each family has their own--well, let’s just say it is like a self-adjusting prescription for their glasses to read Sojourner materials; that way someone else can’t steal your work and use it,” Carson explained.

  “Oh, I see. That’s clever.” Charles held the glasses out in front of him and took a closer look at them. They were unusual looking glasses. He thought: They look very old and unsuspecting. “Who would have thought these simple glasses would be able to do that?”

  “Exactly,” Carson said nodding his head and smiling.

  Charles put them back on and continued to read. “These are amazing facts that you researched.”

  Carson nodded. “It will take you a while to get through the guide, so I am going to work while you read.” Carson set Esmond free before he went to his desk and sat down to write.

  Charles was engrossed in what he was reading. Some of the pages were like a pop-up book only the layers of the image added more to it. The guide was like a door to another part of the bigger picture. The maps were detailed with clips of moving objects from the way people dressed, to the transportation they used. The guide gave detailed lists of the cost of living and prices for different items at that time period. The news of the day was shown, along with articles to read. It was amazing! Everything a person could possibly need to travel back in time was right in front of Charles. He eagerly read on until he finished. Airabelle landed on the cuckoo clock. Esmond was hopping around the office. Charles folded up the glasses. He set them on top of the notebook, placing both on the table. He went over to Carson and stood beside him.

  Carson completed writing his thought. He set his pe
n down and turned to Charles.

  “Are you finished?”

  “Yes.”

  Carson pushed back from the desk. He smiled and asked, “What do you think about the research?”

  “I think it is incredible. I can’t wait to get started Sojourning.”

  “It’s a lot of work, but I think you’ll find that it is fun!” He patted Charles on the shoulder.

  “Let’s check out the clothes library for possible clothes to wear on our journey,” Carson continued.

  “Sounds good to me,” Charles answered.

  They walked over to the closet door. Charles opened it and got down on his knees to flip the switch. The light came on and the whole closet wall quietly moved to the side, revealing the lit staircase. Carson slid the coats aside. Airabelle was the first one to enter the staircase, then Charles; Carson followed them. When they reached the clothes library, Charles started walking, looking at the dates on the closets as he went. He stopped at the correct date for their adventure. He looked at the pictures on the door and opened it. The smell of cedar was all around them. Carson stood beside him. They walked in. Carson grabbed a hat and put it on.

  Charles looked at him and said, “Very distinguished.”

  “Thank you, very much.” Then Carson started looking through the clothes with Charles. Vivion had so many outfits to choose from. They were all the very best that time period had to offer. All sizes were available. The shoes were in tidy rows, along the walls of the closet. Carson picked up shoes his size.

  “This is one heck of a closet, Paw Paw,” Charles said picking up shoes. Each shoe had a carved wooden foot (labeled with its size) inside of it to keep the shoe formed to the correct shape.

  Carson pulled the wooden forms out of the shoes he intended to wear and placed them in his everyday shoes. He pulled on the shoes he chose for the journey. Charles set the shoe forms on the floor. Airabelle sat perched on the top of the closet door. Esmond finally made it to their room. Carson looked through the clothes until he found an outfit he liked and pulled it out. He hung it on the telescoping rod. Then he joined Charles. He had more clothes to choose from than Carson. “Well, this would be my choice,” Carson said.

  “I can see why.” Of the two choices, the clothes Carson picked for Charles was best suited to go with his own choice of clothes.

  “Bring your shoes and choice of clothes.” Carson said. “Go on in the fitting room and try everything on. Be sure to put the shoes on while wearing the clothes to make sure the pants don’t need to be altered.”

  Charles looked at him. “Who does the alterations if they need to be altered?” “Nana will alter the clothes if they don’t fit.”

  “Okay.”

  “Nana enjoys Sojourning just as much as I do. She used to work in the Hub Government Section. We enjoyed Sojourning together before your mom was born. Once we had Molly, Nana decided she would rather concentrate on raising her.”

  “Oh, that’s interesting.”

  “She has a couple of journals on the shelf. She never really had time to enjoy it like I did though. Once Molly was born she decided to start other family traditions so your mom, and now your sisters have something special just for them.”

  Charles nodded, took the clothes from the rod and went into the dressing room. He began to get dressed. All of a sudden Charles heard a beautiful waltz being played. Was Paw Paw playing the piano? Charles hurried to get ready, and then exited the fitting room. Where was Paw Paw and where was the music coming from? He went into the second room, then the third room and found Carson sitting at a shiny black grand piano, playing. “Paw Paw!” Charles walked over and sat on the bench next to him. “It has been a long time since I have heard you play. I forgot that you are such a good pianist. Why don’t you play anymore?”

  “I can’t because my fingers are so stiff. Watch over in the corner as I play.” From nowhere a young man and a woman in a hologram were waltzing to the music.

  “Who are they and where did they come from?” Charles asked. Charles watched them dance around the room. “That is some piano…” Charles commented under his breath.

  When Carson finished playing the piano, the two dancers stopped dancing. The young man bowed and the lady curtsied back to her partner. Carson rubbed his aching hands together. “I am getting old. If this were actually a ballroom, the two of them would be life-size dancing. They dance to fit the space they have to dance in. I only know of a handful of these pianos in private collections, and they are all overseas in Europe.

  “I wasn’t much older than you Charles, when I was introduced to this piano and I learned how to play. I knew Al was taking lessons so I just started taking lessons right after he took his. I learned from his instructor.”

  “So, Al knows you play the piano?”

  “I used to play all the time. Molly used to dance to the music when she was a young girl. Your mom can play the piano if she wants to, she’s had lessons.”

  They sat there for a minute. Carson looked at Charles. “The clothes you have on fit you. You’ll look appropriate for the time period.”

  Charles smiled. He stood up and walked back through the rooms to the fitting room. He put the shoes on to make sure the pants were the right length. They were, so he took them off. He took the clothes off and returned them to the hanger. He changed back to his own clothes and put his shoes back on. Then he took the Sojourners’ clothes and returned them to the closet in their original place. He placed the carved shoe forms back into the shoes and replaced them on the shelf.

  Carson came around the corner. Airabelle was flying with something on her back. Charles squinted to get a better look. It was a frog, on Airabelle’s back? Charles laughed. “Esmond is really on Airabelle’s back?” Esmond croaked once he leapt from her back onto the floor. “Funny, it was kind of like the dream I had the other night about Airabelle and Esmond flying in the moonlight,” he said laughing.

  Carson touched his shoulder. “What did you say Charles?”

  “Oh, I had a dream last night about Airabelle and Esmond playing in the moonlight. It was a silly dream.”

  Carson turned to Airabelle; she was already watching him. They stood looking at each other for a second until Carson turned and walked over to put his clothes back in the closet, along with the shoes. “Charles, we need to have an important discussion. Let’s go back upstairs. I have something I want to share with you.”

  Airabelle landed and Esmond jumped on her back. She and Esmond flew ahead of Carson and Charles back to the office. Neither said a word as they walked back up the stairs to the office. Charles got on his knees and flipped the switch to close the closet’s secret passage to the clothes library. When he straightened up Charles slid the coats back in place. Carson was at his desk. Airabelle was looking like a statue perched on the lectern. The only part of her body that was moving was her eyes as she looked at Carson.

  Carson took the keys from his desk and walked to the vault. He opened the door and disappeared inside. Charles walked over to see what he was doing. Carson was bent over a large drawer. He pulled out the bundle of letters Dimitrios had delivered the other day through the Passageway. As he was taking the bundle out of the drawer, Carson glanced at Charles. “I see you recognize the mail from yesterday. I read the letters with Nana this morning and we had a lengthy discussion about them.” He shut the drawer and straightened up.

  Charles followed Carson out of the vault. They sat down on the chairs. Carson held up the letters. “The other day I received the first letter that was hand-delivered by the Prime Minister’s assistant Dimitrios. It stated everyone who received a letter like this one, must sign and return a legal document stating they would not reveal the contents of the correspondence from the Sojourners’ Council to anyone. The second letter we received stated that the Sojourners’ Council formally decided to pick certain family Sojourner bloodlines from which to choose a successor for the current Prime Minister, should he decide to retire. The Sojourners’ Council completed
their process and chose their qualified candidates based on certain criteria. Our family line was one of those chosen to be under consideration for the apprentice candidacy. I believe the reason they considered you for this candidacy is because in the past we have had a Prime Minister in our bloodline.

  “Along with the second letter we received a separate letter from the Prime Minister himself, stating he would personally take the matter of you not currently Sojourning into consideration. If you were to be elected by the Sojourners’ Council, he and his assistant would be solely responsible for your training.

  “As of this morning we received an acceptance letter from the Sojourners’ Council stating you have been approved and meet all the requirements to be considered for the position as the Prime Minister’s apprentice. Charles, if you can prove that you are a suitable candidate you may very likely be selected to be the next prime minister by the Sojourners’ Council. It is a great honor to be chosen, but also a huge responsibility.

  “Nana and I want you to know that you not obligated to participate in the candidacy. It would be a tremendous amount of pressure for a young man your age. However, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we believed that we should discuss this matter with you.”

  Carson handed the letters and responses to Charles along with his glasses. Charles read each of the letters very carefully. He refolded the letters after he read them and replaced them in their envelopes. Charles was overwhelmed as he sat in his chair. He momentarily closed his eyes. “It seems as if the Prime Minister himself might know something we don’t.” Charles stated.

  “Yes. It’s possible that he does. It is an intriguing position that the Prime Minister holds.” Carson stood up from his chair and went to his desk to get the key to turn around the journal bookshelves. He walked along and searched for the journal of Haward Thomasen. Once he found it, he brought the journal over to Charles and explained to him, “This journal belonged to the prime minister that was in our bloodline. It may answer some of the questions you may have in regard to making your decision.” Charles took the journal.