Airabelle nudged Carson with her wing and whispered, “He’s got that faraway look in his eyes again.”
Airasten perched on top of the clock and waited for the cuckoo to emerge. He had become annoyed by that bird and wanted to catch it on the hour. He was close last hour but the door nearly closed on his head and he barely escaped a thumping. No one, not even Airasten was sure what he’d do with the cuckoo if he actually caught it. It seemed to taunt him, nodding up and down on its platform.
Airabelle just shook her head knowing Charles was the only one it would actually talk to. Today was not going to be an exception.
As the clock chimed and the bird emerged from behind the door, it said to Charles, “Tis time to gather your things. No more time to think things through. The hour is upon us. Follow the boy as he passes by and you’ll figure out what to do. Take hold tightly after the thirteenth chime.”
Airasten protested, “Thirteen? You don’t know what you are talking about!” Airabelle said, “Ah poohackle. Charles, can you be serious? Don’t listen to a cuckoo. Cuckoo, cuckoo.”
Carson said, “I have given this some thought. There may be a way to solve the mystery of the missing journal page after all.” He retrieved the keys from the desk, walked over to the vault and opened it. He momentarily disappeared inside of it. When he came back he was holding the crystals. “Okay, this is how I think we can solve this mystery and see what this is all about… I think it might just work. We’ll go ahead with the solved riddle of the three coins. Then once we can collect the coins we will time travel back to the day I noticed the page in the journal missing and come back here to the house. We’ll hide behind the bushes at the far end of the garage and wait. That will allow us time to observe what happened that day. Then if we are lucky we can solve this mystery and not get caught by me seeing myself, or the rest of you for that matter. What do you say?”
Charles thought about it and said, “I’m in. Yes, let’s do it.”
Carson frowned. “We have to run it by Nana. She isn’t going to like it because of the risk involved. If we get caught the Authorities will get involved. It could become ugly from there.”
Airabelle said, “It could get real ugly very fast. Unethical conduct.”
Carson looked at her. “Airabelle my dear, you will have to sit this one out. The risks are too great.”
Airabelle didn’t argue she knew he was right. She looked at Airasten and said, “At least I will have my Airasten. I didn’t back then.” Airasten gave up his perch to be beside her.
Carson said, “If Bev agrees then it is a go. Just to be on the safe side I think we need to inform Dimitrios.” He pulled out pen and paper, and sent the note.
Charles entered the kitchen using the back door. Carson followed, hands filled with flowers from the garden.
Bev smiled and said, “Carson, they are lovely. I will get a vase for them.” She turned and reached for the vase on the top shelf. She put water in it and made a beautiful arrangement on the table. “Voila.”
Carson smiled and said, “We have a reason to celebrate. Charles and I solved the riddle of the three coins.”
Bev stopped what she was doing. “Oh, tell me about it.” She sat down at the table. Carson explained how they had missed the simple clue earlier but then caught it this morning.
Bev smiled, “So when do we go?”
“Soon. I want to talk to you about something.”
His tone caused her to look at Charles, and then back to Carson. “What is this Carson Jones? What have you been up to?”
Carson put his hand on hers. “Nothing much, let me explain and then we can discuss the details.”
“Carson Jones, the devil is always in the details. You and I both know that.” She had a worried look on her face. “What are you up to?”
“Now, we haven’t done anything yet. Just hear me out.”
Bev looked down at her hands. “All right then. You have my attention.” She raised one eyebrow briefly.
Carson began, “This afternoon the old cuckoo clock…”
Bev sighed. “We should consider getting rid…”
Carson held up his hand and tried to calm her. In a soothing voice he said, “Now please, hear me out.” She put one elbow on the table. The other hand was toying with her apron under the table.
He continued, “The cuckoo said, ‘Tis time to gather your things. No time to think things through. The hour is upon us. Follow the boy and you’ll know what to do.’ Charles was to do this after the thirteenth chime. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and I wanted to discuss with you what I think we could do to solve this mystery. It is a bit controversial but I think we could make it happen. I think we should go back, solve the riddle of the coins and then come back to the farm. We will sit and wait behind the bushes at the back of the garage to see what happened that day. We need to know. I don’t feel comfortable sending Charles through an unknown Passageway. What do you think Bev?”
Bev immediately said, “Carson Jones, you’ve lost your cotton picking mind! You know the law about being seen by yourself.” She was shaking her head. “No. That is just too dangerous. The ramifications of being unethical with our privileges are just too great! We could all lose everything.” It was quiet in the kitchen with the exception of the birds chirping outside.
She continued, “Not only that, but what happens next?”
Carson knew he had her, and said, “We wait and see who the culprit is. Then we will figure out what to do next. That will help us decide what our next step is going to be.”
Bev got up from the table. She went to the sink with her back turned to them and said, “I’ll think about it.”
CHAPTER 82
Sophie stood in the yard with a dandelion in her hand. She made a wish and blew the seeds.
Cynthia yelled, “Sophie, Nana is going to be mad! Those will go all over the yard.”
Sophie giggled, ran up the porch steps and threw open the door. She hollered, “Nana!”
Bev forgot all about the conversation that had just taken place. She turned and smiled. “In the kitchen Darling.”
Sophie giggled all the way down the hall. She ran into Nana’s arms. Cynthia let the screen door slam shut behind her. She was in a surly mood. Sophie greeted everyone with a hug.
Cynthia walked down the hall. She waved to Charles. “I’m here.”
Charles laughed. “Yeah, so?”
Carson held his arms open. She walked around the table to him and just as she was about to hug him, Sophie jumped in the way. “Sophie!” Cynthia hollered exasperated. Sophie kept laughing and ran around the table. Cynthia hugged Paw Paw and then Nana.
Molly came in smiling, “Cynthia still spreading joy?” She kissed Carson and then went to talk to Bev. Molly made her rounds around the kitchen. She sat down and talked to Charles about his summer. Carson broke in the conversation and told her about what he had discussed with Walter. Charles was relieved because although helping on the farm was the reason he was staying the summer with Paw Paw and Nana, he really hadn’t been that engaged in the daily happenings. Sojourning had taken up all of his time. He looked like he had been working outside though. He was tan and lean.
Bev distracted Molly with a bottle of honey. “Have you tried this yet? Has it been selling?”
Molly turned around and said, “It has been flying off the shelves.”
“Charles helped me with it. We met Gretchen on the way back. She was so excited about it.”
“We should take the girls to the honey shack.” Sophie squealed with delight.
Charles said, “I can’t believe she wants to go there after being stung.”
Cynthia shrugged, while Sophie ran out of the room pretending to be a bee flying.
Molly got up from the table. “Maybe I should drive us to the shack.”
“Suit yourself.” Bev kissed Carson on the cheek and chased after Sophie.
Carson motioned for Charles to follow him out the back door. As they walked to the
office Carson said, “The way I see it, our plan will work. I think eventually Nana will agree. She’s just as curious as we are and ready to solve the mystery.”
Charles thought about what was said. Paw Paw is right. After Nana thinks about this, she’ll understand how important the answers will be.
They entered the office. Charles sat down and looked at the cuckoo clock. He studied the details of the clock.
Airabelle looked at Airasten and said, “I can’t believe they are going to go through with this cockamamie scheme.”
Airasten replied, “It’s going to be okay. They will figure something out.”
Airabelle watched them working and decided she didn’t want to miss out. She flew over to join them.
When they finished going over all of the plans and were satisfied everything was finalized, Carson leaned back in his chair and said, “Time is running out. I will talk to Nana and see if we can’t go tonight. I’d like to depart as soon as the girls leave.”
**********
Molly was ready to go as soon as they returned to the house. Sophie and Cynthia had been bickering the whole way to the hive and back. Cynthia begged Nana to let her stay the night. Molly said, “Not tonight. We need to plan something like that. You have plans for tomorrow, remember?”
“Awww, can’t you just come and pick me up before we have to leave for the program?”
“No. I really think tonight you need to come home with me. We will arrange for you to stay another night when you do not have events already scheduled.”
Cynthia wasn’t happy, but realized she was also tired so she gave in. Sophie buzzed around and gave hugs to everyone.
After they left Bev joined the men in the office and said, “Carson Jones, are you sure this plan of yours will work?”
He shook his head. “No.”
She put her hands on her hips and said, “Neither am I. At least you’re honest about it. I don’t see any other way either. I guess we should get going.”
Carson was glad she had come to that conclusion. They headed to the clothes library. When they came up the stairs, Bev and Carson looked over the plans one more time. Once they were ready, they waited silently.
Airabelle and Airasten were perched together in their birdcage. When the Passageway opened they said, “Good luck,” in unison.
The cuckoo clock chimed as the Passageway opened. Carson was the last one to enter the Passageway. He looked back and touched the rim of his hat as he went through. Airabelle said, “I hope he is right…”
On the other side they went over the detailed plan to solve the mystery of the missing journal page. Carson wanted to make sure everyone understood each step of the plan for safety reasons. When everyone agreed the plan was ready they merged into the Hub. Because they were in a hurry they rode their flying disks. They had to stop at the Passageway Authority Check Station in order to continue further into the Hub. The Authorities checked all their paperwork and allowed them access. They put away their disks and began walking.
They didn’t waste any time getting to their first destination. It was quite easy to solve this riddle. They walked right into the flower shop and told the woman behind the counter they had won the auction and the answer was Iris. Carson showed her the paperwork. She was very pleased and handed Carson the coin.
The second coin riddle wasn’t quite as easy as the first. The man they were searching for was off work for the day. It took some creative thinking but they finally tracked him down. The man was difficult to deal with. He mumbled and was hard to understand. He said as he walked away from them, “I know why you are here.” He turned and glared at Charles as he sat down on the porch. Charles told him the answer to the riddle: saddle. Charles handed him the auction paperwork. The man looked at the papers and said, “If you guess correctly by calling out heads or tails you can walk out of here with the coin. If you guess wrong I keep the coin and you bring me another coin.”
Carson looked at him like he was crazy. “That’s not the way this works. You don’t get to name the terms of the auction.” The man looked at Charles, took a coin out of his pocket and flipped it into the air.
Charles called out, “Tails.” Charles caught it and placed it on the top of his hand. “Tails.” The man grumbled and went to get the coin.
Once he handed it to Charles, Carson said, “Atta boy! Let’s get out of here.”
The last coin was to be retrieved by paying for a newspaper from the paperboy at the corner. Once Carson gave the young man the correct amount and told him the answer to the riddle: Zeus. The paperboy gave him the newspaper and the coin. Carson gave him a generous tip. The young man looked down and said, “Thanks Mister. This will help my sick Mama.”
Carson stopped, went over and placed his hand on the youth’s shoulder. They had a quiet discussion. Carson reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He gave the young man more money to help his family. He looked down and then looked up at Carson. The young man tried to hand the money back, but Carson wrapped his hand around it. A tear ran down the youth’s face as he sat on his stack of papers bent over giving thanks for the gift.
Carson walked over to Bev and Charles. They hurried through the Hub and made their way to the Time Warp Tunnel. Once they reached the tunnel, Carson stopped at the booth with the Sojourner Officials to have their paperwork inspected. When their papers were approved Carson, Bev and Charles entered the tunnel. It was very busy in the tunnel and people began pushing, trying to get through the crowd. It took a while to reach their destination because the multitude of Sojourners would begin going and then stop suddenly.
Once they arrived at their stopping point Carson stepped over to the side. He panicked when Bev couldn’t move out of the surge of people. Her hand slipped through his as she and Charles were swept away with the crowd. Bev grabbed Charles around the waist and willfully pulled him to the side. They were just in time because yards away the Passageway Authorities closed the area down to gain control of the crowd. Bev found a small path back to Carson. He hugged her and Charles. Carson wasn’t sure if they should continue with their plan. He asked if they wanted to go back.
Bev and Charles looked at each other. Bev said, “We’ve come this far. Let’s see this through and get some answers.” Charles nodded in agreement.
Carson wouldn’t have admitted it but he was afraid of getting his whole family in serious trouble. They took a deep breath and held hands as they stepped over. Carson quickly led them to the back of the garage. He looked at Bev. If she was mad at him for this cockamamie scheme she didn’t show it. They stood behind the garage and waited. They encountered a slight glitch in the plan. The shrubs were newly planted. He gave Bev a sheepish smile. “I forgot I had just planted them.”
Bev smiled at him. “We will have to improvise.”
There was only enough room for one person to be hidden behind the shrubs to watch. They would have to take turns. Carson took first watch. He crouched down and had to move several times in order to avoid his legs cramping. It seemed like a bad idea considering they could be there for hours. He smiled as he looked over at Bev and Charles. He was so happy thinking about all of the wonderful memories they had had since that point in time. He didn’t want to get distracted and miss the perpetrator, so he pushed the thoughts aside.
After an hour he moved away from his spot and Bev took his place. Carson stretched his legs. While Bev took her watch, she saw Carson from the past leave the office. She motioned for the present Carson to stand beside her. They knew that there wasn’t a very long stretch of time from when he left the office before he had a visitor. They whispered to each other. Carson traded places with her. Charles’ heart was pounding. Carson was anxious to see what would happen next. Bev and Charles kept trying to see, but Carson pushed them back. Then as they were watching, Carson from the past went into the back door of the farmhouse. A shadowy figure came around the front of the garage. The arbor shaded him where the honeysuckle vines hung down. As soon as the figure emerg
ed into the sunlight, that same instant Carson gasped.
It was none other than Todd, his former student who went missing all those years ago. He quickly scooted back and thrust Bev behind the bush so she could catch a glimpse of Todd before he entered the office. She was shocked. Her hand flew up to her mouth to keep from making a sound. No one thought of him as being the one. She scooted back after Todd entered the office. She was speechless.
Carson was astonished. “Makes perfect sense… What should we do?”
Bev said, “Let’s get out of here immediately.” They all agreed and stepped back through to the tunnel. The tunnel was less congested and they were able to reach the Sojourner Officials to have their travel documents stamped.
Once their paperwork was approved they entered the Hub. Carson began running. Charles had never seen him move so quickly. They scrambled to catch up with him. He was talking so quickly Bev could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying. “He’s a Sojourner… now I understand. So many things make sense now. I just didn’t see it. It all makes sense. We must hurry. We must hurry…”
They raced back to the Passageway. After they went through the Passageway to the office, Carson began pacing back and forth. He started going over the events from the past in order to make sense of Todd’s part in the mystery. He turned to Charles and said, “I must go through the cuckoo’s Passageway in your place. I have to bring Todd back. This is my responsibility…”
Bev shook her head, “No way Carson. This is not your fault. Honey, you are not responsible. Todd came into your office and began a chain of events.”
He looked at her and asked, “How could I not have known?”
Charles was looking at them back and forth. “Who was that? What just happened back there?” Bev explained the history of the situation.
Charles sat down in the chair. He said to Carson, “I must go as soon as possible. This isn’t your fault Paw Paw. I am not scared at all, and I don’t mind going. I feel like I need to leave right away. The sooner the better.”
The Xidoran Prophecy Page 62