The Xidoran Prophecy

by Elaine Bassett

  Charles jumped up and said, “Where are they?”

  “In the back seat of Margaret’s car.”

  Carson and Charles followed Bev to Margaret’s car. Charles opened the car door and pulled the box out. Carson closed the car door behind him and followed Charles back to the office. Carson opened the office door for Charles. He brought them in and set them down.

  Airabelle asked, “Oh my goodness. Are those Catherine’s?”

  Charles said, “I guess we are going to find out.”

  Carson put on his glasses. He was amazed as he picked them up and skimmed through the pages. They were all in the same strange language. “I wish we knew what Catherine wrote in these journals.”

  Charles nodded and said, “We need to talk about how I should bring up the subject of translating these journals to Dimitrios.”

  “Shouldn’t you just explain the truth to him?”

  “Yes, but where do I start?”

  “From the beginning I’d imagine.”

  “Let’s go to the house and visit with Caroline and Margaret.” They left the office and went to find the ladies.

  When they found them Charles went over to Caroline and said, “Wow, you had more books than I thought.” Carson thanked her.

  Caroline said, “I was surprised at how many were in my closet. My mom was glad to get them out of there.”

  Margaret said, “I can’t believe she kept those old coloring books. I am surprised you’d want them Carson.”

  Carson turned to Margaret and said, “Al kept us laughing with his stories this morning about Catherine.”

  “She was an interesting lady that is for sure.”

  “She was also a chef wasn’t she? I believe Bev has told me stories about her.” Margaret nodded and said, “I gave Joyce all her recipes. That is another story in itself… She wrote stories with the recipes. Joyce loves to read them.”

  Caroline laughed and said, “They are funny, too.”

  Bev knew where Carson was trying to go with this so she asked, “Are they old family recipes?”

  Margaret said, “Some of them are, I guess. She was always cooking and making up recipes of her own. I have no idea how she did it. Her family was from Germany. I know her mom was a great cook also.” That was what Carson needed to know.

  Charles said to Caroline, “You should share those stories with me sometime. I bet they are funny.”

  Margaret said, “Al and I didn’t want the old books. Since the books were all blank, we were just going to throw them out. After Catherine died, Caroline was at the house one day with us while we were going through her things. Caroline was just sitting around on the steps playing with the cat. She didn’t have anything to do so Al told her about some books of paper she could draw on. When we gave them to Caroline, she put on some glasses and was coloring on the pages. She was very cute sitting there coloring. So we gave the books to her and I guess when she got home she stored them in her closet.”

  Caroline continued, “I’d forgotten about them after all these years. I don’t need them anymore so I am glad you can use them Mr. Jones.” Carson thanked her. Carson and Charles said they needed to finish up a project in the office. They walked out the front door and down the steps. Once they made it to the yard they raced back to the office.

  As soon as they walked in the door Airabelle said, “I heard the whole thing. What do you make of it all? Do you think you will find anything of importance in those journals?”

  Charles looked at Airabelle and said, “I sure hope so. As interesting as Catherine was, I am sure they will be a good read.”

  Charles went to get his glasses. He picked up one of the journals and opened it. It was interesting to look at even though he couldn’t read it. He flipped through the pages. Then he set it down, picked up a couple of them randomly and did the same. Carson sat and watched him for a minute. Charles picked up a journal on the bottom of the stack and opened it. It was the journal Caroline had been writing in. The page was torn at the bottom. Charles looked back at Carson and asked if he still had the bookmark Caroline had in the book.

  Carson said, “Not here, but I can go and get it.” Charles nodded and pointed to the place in the journal that it had been torn from.

  Carson left and went to the house. It didn’t take long until he was back. Charles took the journal to Carson’s desk and set it down. Carson sat in his chair. He turned to Charles. “I think we need to research how to put one of these back together. I don’t think you can just use tape.” He looked at it again and said, “I think we ought to ask Nana what she thinks about mending it.”

  Charles thought that was a good idea. He tried to envision the whole scene of Caroline tracing the letters while everyone else worked. They had no idea what a find they had. He shook his head. He was curious about what was written on those pages. Then, he had an idea. He asked Carson for the keys to the vault. Carson gave the keys to Charles and he went to open it. Carson followed him.

  Charles said, “Maybe this will work and maybe not, but it is worth a try.” He took his crystal from the safe and brought it back to the desk. He set it down on top of the writing in the journal. He was amazed at what he saw through the crystal. He looked at Carson.

  Carson bent down to take a closer look, “By George, I think you are on to something here!” The crystal not only translated the written word but enlarged it as well. Carson continued, “I think we should write the translation from the journals on paper, don’t you?” Charles agreed.

  Carson went into the garage and brought back several notebooks. “Why don’t we look through the journals and see if we can place them in some kind of order. Then if I read it will you write it down?” Charles said he would. He put the books back in the box and slid it over to the desk. Carson took the crystal and began to search for clues at the beginning of each book. While Carson was reading, Charles counted seventeen journals. Carson whistled and said, “No telling what we might find in these.”

  Airabelle and Airasten joined them at the desk.

  Airabelle asked, “I wonder if anyone has Catherine’s glasses or crystal?”

  Carson looked over at her and said, “That is a good question Airabelle. We know Caroline wore a pair, but we don’t know if they were Catherine’s.”

  Charles asked, “How would we find that out?”

  Airasten replied, “Ask Caroline.”

  Charles ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Then he said, “Do you think that would make her suspicious?”

  “It might. I guess that depends on how you do it,” Airabelle answered.

  “I wouldn’t even know how to go about asking.”

  Airasten jumped when the Passageway opened and mail landed on the floor with a thud. “What in the world was that?”

  Airabelle laughed and said, “It’s the mail being delivered.” She flew over to get it and brought it to Carson. There was more mail than usual because while they were gone to Paris, Carson had them hold it at the Hub. It was bound with a ribbon. Carson pulled the ribbon and sorted through the bundle. He found an announcement for an upcoming auction. Carson handed it to Charles.

  Charles looked at the announcement and said, “We already have coins from the last auction to solve the riddles for. Do you think we need more coins?”

  “No. We definitely have our hands full right now. I was pondering the missing page from our journal, and the announcement just gave me an idea.”

  “I was thinking about that journal earlier. What is your plan and what does it have to do with the auction?”

  “If we can figure out when the page disappeared, we could bid on a coin stamped with the same date. With the coin we can go back in time to solve the mystery.”

  Charles’ face lit up. He agreed it was a good plan. Charles said, “I like the idea, there is only one problem. How can we find out when the page disappeared? It could have been missing for decades.”

  “Well, it could have been missing that long, but I don’t really think that
is the case.” Carson took his glasses and the black key from the desk. He put on his glasses and turned the bookshelves around. He searched for the journal with the missing page. Once he found it he brought it back to his desk. He opened the journal and looked at the surrounding pages. Then he went to get the crystal manual from the shelf.

  “I think I remember something in the manual about forensic work using crystals.”

  “Do you remember where you saw that in the manual?”

  “I think so. I know it was just a page or two.” Charles went to stand beside him. They looked together through the pages. Carson found the pages dealing with forensic work and read them quietly. “Crystals have aided detectives in solving crimes”.

  “Bingo! Does it describe how to use the crystal?”

  Carson skimmed the pages. Then he looked up and said, “I can’t find it.”

  “Well, that’s a problem, isn’t it?”

  Charles turned to Airabelle and asked her, “What do you think about all of this?”

  She replied, “Well, if the manual says it can be done, I’m guessing it can. I’d say crystals can do a whole lot more than what the manual says. With that being said, the problem is to find out how to get the crystal to do what you want it to do, right?”

  Carson said, “Yes.”

  “If we can’t find the answers in the manual, then I guess we have several options. We can: 1) use Charles’ pass to go to the Hub Library and search for the answer; 2) ask Dimitrios; or 3) we could go to the gadget kiosk guy and see if he knows the answer.”

  Carson and Charles looked at each other. Carson said, “It looks like we are going to the library. I have always wanted to visit, but I couldn’t get in unless someone with a pass accompanied me.”

  “All right then, it’s settled. When do you want to go?”

  “Why don’t we go tomorrow?”

  “Maybe Nana will want to go with us.”

  “I’ll ask her tonight.”

  “I am going to continue looking through the manuals until lunch.”

  “While you are doing that, I think I will finish with the mail. Then, we can look through the Caperson journals. Together, we may be able to find clues to help us translate them in chronological order.”

  They continued to work, Airabelle went with Charles and Airasten went with Carson. Airabelle and Charles read together silently. Charles was glad she came with him because she had insight into the details in the manual. Every page in the manual had information that was useful. After a while Carson suggested they take a study break and have lunch.

  Charles was ready. “You don’t have to ask me twice.” So they tidied up the office and secured everything before leaving for lunch.

  CHAPTER 40

  The ladies were sitting at the picnic table. They were talking and enjoying the weather. They saw Carson and Charles walk toward them. Bev asked if there was interest in some strawberry lemonade. Margaret offered to pour a glass for everyone. Bev and Caroline decided to get the sandwiches from the kitchen. They agreed they would eat lunch alfresco. Carson and Charles walked over to the shaded table. Margaret joined them with the drinks. Every now and then a warm breeze would blow making it very pleasant for a picnic. Bev and Caroline packed the picnic basket in order to carry everything outside. Caroline set the table while Bev passed out the food.

  Caroline sat next to Charles. Margaret talked to Bev about a puzzle she had been working on from the newspaper. Carson joined in the conversation. “It was one of the hardest puzzles that I’ve worked. I was glad to leave it for Bev.”

  When everyone finished lunch, Charles and Caroline helped cleaned up. Bev and Margaret went inside to wash the dishes. Carson went back to the office.

  Charles and Caroline walked around to the front porch. They sat on the chairs and continued talking for a while. Margaret came to the porch and asked if she was going to come and work on the quilt with them.

  Caroline looked at Charles. He said, “I can’t wait to see what you’ve been making. I’ll go help Paw Paw for now. I will come and see what you’ve done when we finish.”

  Charles walked back to the office. He picked up his glasses and continued where he left off reading in his manual. Airabelle joined him and asked how Caroline was. He answered, “She’s fine.”

  Carson and Airasten had put the journals in chronological order. Carson looked over at Charles and said, “I am ready to get started translating them.”

  “Good. I’m at a stopping point, so I will come and help.” He set the manual down and joined Carson at his desk.

  Carson said, “I think we should translate them correctly into another journal instead of a notebook.” Charles agreed. Carson went to get a new journal. He returned and took out the pen box. He handed it to Charles. Carson picked up the first journal, walked across the room and sat down on a chair.

  “It was interesting putting these journals in order. The Capersons seemed to have taken them right off the shelves just as they were arranged. That is the good news. The bad news is we have so few of them. How fortunate Caroline kept them.”

  He cleared his throat, opened the journal and picked up the clear crystal. He placed it on the journal. The translated word appeared under the crystal. Carson began to read and Charles began to write while sitting at the desk. Immediately as Carson read from the journal a tale of adventure emerged.

  Evidently this was Catherine’s journal. This journal told of her adventure in Venice, Italy. She wrote of romantic gondola rides in the evening with an unnamed gentleman. Her journal writing style was simplistic much like a diary with a few pictures to preserve memories. It seemed that at the beginning of her documentation, she was describing a vacation instead of Sojourning. Further into her quest though, her writing changed. She alluded to leaving her companion in the mornings to solve her riddles. She would return by lunch time to spend the rest of the day in his company. The journal was dramatic just like Al had described her-- a character. Apparently she had been seeing this gentleman for quite some time. She had been buying gold coins from his time period at the auctions in order to time travel and be with him. Catherine was becoming worried that her interference in time would cause problems in the future. She eventually had to make a choice. She ended the romance and returned home. She found other interests to occupy her time, one of which was cooking. Carson and Charles laughed at the stories she told.

  Carson said, “Her words give me an idea as to what kind of coin collection she had. I think she bid mostly on foreign gold coins, which would make sense since she was from Germany. It might be possible to research her auction records.”

  “How will we do that?”

  Carson explained, “We can petition for the auction records since she is deceased.” Charles pondered that and asked, “Would they release that information?”

  “Anything is possible.” Charles nodded.

  The Caperson journals were an interesting read. Charles had a pad of paper next to him to make notes on for future reference. Catherine wrote about her family history and her childhood in Germany. She explained her collection of coins and continued describing the family’s coins she inherited. In her journals Catherine reminisced about how her mother discovered she was capable of learning the secrets to be a Sojourner. She explained how her mother gradually taught her to be a Sojourner. She seemed to become perplexed from time to time as to whom she should leave her family’s Sojourner fortune to.

  Then she began to write again about her friends, wishing they were Sojourners like herself. She talked a lot about her best friend. Her name was Addie. Adalaide was spunky and full of life. Catherine created an image of her as someone that everyone loved to be around. Catherine enjoyed her time with Addie too. The two women grew up together and enjoyed many activities as friends. When Addie’s daughter Jodie was born, Catherine treated her as if she were her own daughter. The three of them were inseparable.

  Catherine’s travels as a Sojourner took her on adventures around the world. Catheri
ne talked about all the friends she made on her travels. When Carson closed the journal both he and Charles had mixed feelings about stopping. Although Charles wanted to hear more, he was ready to be finished. His hand was hurting from writing. Carson asked Charles if he was ready to clean up and go visit Caroline. Charles said he was ready to stop for the day. So they cleaned up and secured everything before going to the house.

  When Carson and Charles entered the house, they headed for the library and sat down. They began reading the newspaper. They traded sections of the paper as they finished.

  Bev was in the kitchen getting ready for dinner. She was talking softly to Margaret as they were setting the food out. Charles wondered why they were being so quiet.

  It wasn’t long until Caroline came to the library. She sat on the couch beside Charles and looked over what he was reading. “That looks interesting.”

  Carson looked over the top of his paper and said, “Do you read the newspaper?” She giggled and said, “No, not very often. My dad usually has it.”

  “Would you like to read a section of the paper?”

  She thought about it and said, “Yes, I would.”

  “Which section would you like to read?”

  She shrugged and said, “I don’t even know what sections are in the paper.”

  So Carson handed her the sports section. She laughed out loud.

  Charles looked over to see what section she was holding and said, “Hey Caroline, that is my section!”

  She snatched it away and said, “Wait your turn.” He sat back with a grin. She read the section aloud and they discussed the details about each article. When she finished reading, she handed it to him.

  Charles said, “Why would I want it now? You already told me everything in it.” She laughed and offered it back to Carson. He took it from her.

  Bev came in the library and said, “Dinner is ready.”

  They put the newspaper away and went to the dining room. After they ate Caroline and Charles went to the front porch and talked. Charles saw Carson head in the direction of the office. He wondered what Paw Paw was up to. He decided he would join him later. He figured it would probably be a long work night.