“Besides getting ready for our outing to the lake, what are we doing tomorrow?” asked Amelia.
Without hesitation Blackie said, “I’m going to the library.”
“Well of course you are,” said Mark quickly, “who could resist all those lovely books?”
“For your information, Joules is in training most of tomorrow morning,” said Blackie, “and I have some research to do.”
“Research on what?” asked Wayne who didn’t consider that it might be personal.
“Maybe its private, guys,” suggested Amelia, “you don’t have to answer that Blackie.”
“It’s not personal; I just think it might be wise to know a little more about the Shumbrans and who they associate with.”
“Sounds riveting,” said Mark, “and while you are doing that I will be spending my time on something that’s actually enjoyable.”
“I wouldn’t mind knowing a little more about the Shumbrans myself,” said Nita, “we could run into them again you know.”
“By the way Nita, the move you used in the museum to club that Shumbran on the head was pretty wicked,” said Wayne.
“Wicked, as in excellent,” said Mark quickly to clarify Wayne’s slang.
Nita blushed and said, “Thanks Wayne, you didn’t do too bad yourself.”
They walked back to the hotel retelling bits and pieces of the fight at the museum and sharing their individual perceptions of what had happened. While some of the details appeared to be different depending on who described them, they all agreed on one thing – what Joules had done was the most astonishing thing any of them had ever seen.
When Mark got up the next morning he found a note near the coffee pot. He poured a cup of coffee, selected a fresh pastry from the assortment Blackie had ordered the previous evening, and sat down at a small table overlooking the balcony. Wayne, who wasn’t too far behind, poured a large mug of coffee and joined Mark. Neither one said a word; it was too early. Amelia was up next and greeted them with a pleasant, “Good Morning,” on the way to the kitchen.
“Morning,” said Mark. Wayne said nothing.
“You are SO not a morning person,” said Amelia to Wayne as she pulled another chair up to the table and took a sip of her coffee.
“He’s not unpleasant in the mornings,” said Mark, “just entirely unresponsive until the coffee kicks in. You should see him the morning after a late-night gig.” Wayne grunted and tried to appear more friendly.
Mark offered some support. “Appearances can be deceiving they say, although when questioned, no one ever knows who THEY are. A lot of things get ascribed to THEY; maybe they’re getting too much credit! In fact, maybe THEY are not the least bit reliable at all. Then again, maybe we should just give THEY the benefit of the doubt. What goes around comes around THEY say. I’m good with that.”
Wayne finally woke up enough to make a statement of sorts. “So, Nita went with Blackie to the library.”
“She did?” asked Mark.
“Didn’t you see the note near the coffee machine, Mark?”
“Yeah, I saw the note.”
“Well, did you read it?”
“I noticed Blackie signed the bottom of it and didn’t bother,” said Mark.
“Well, now you know what it said,” responded Wayne almost pleasantly.
“She must have been serious about studying the Shumbrans,” replied Mark.
“She looked serious last night,” Amelia said through a half yawn.
“So, what are we doing?” asked Mark.
“I need to do a bit of shopping,” said Amelia, “you are welcome to tag along.” Mark looked at Wayne for assistance but got none.
“Yeah, we’ll tag along,” said Wayne.
“Good,” said Amelia as she stood up, “I need more coffee.”
“Yeah, we’ll tag along,” whispered Mark to Wayne, “you useless toad.”
“It’s early,” said Wayne almost apologetically, “besides, how bad can it be?”
It turned out to be much better than either of the guys expected. Mark had a surprisingly good time, especially since Amelia didn’t spend all her time in the girly stuff section; in fact, she spent a lot of time in the sports and camping gear sections. Wayne seemed relieved that Mark was actually enjoying himself. “You just never know,” he thought. It turns out that Mark was having a similar thought about Wayne at almost the exact same time.
Amelia finished with one small bag of purchases and they were off to find Blackie, Nita and Joules at the library.
Blackie and Nita were sitting at table large enough for six or eight people. The top was strewn with books.
“Did you read all these?” asked Mark. The answer was ridiculously obvious to those who actually practiced the art of reading.
“Yes Mark, all 6,800 pages,” Blackie said sarcastically.
“We’ve scanned them looking for information,” added Nita, “and it’s been very interesting – Shumbrans are worse creatures than I thought.”
“Well, they certainly look the part,” offered Wayne.
“Looks can be deceiving,” replied Blackie.
“What?” fired Mark immediately.
“It’s true,” said Blackie, “maybe not with respect to Shumbrans, but not everything that looks bad is bad.”
“Don’t you hate it when he starts to philosophize?” said Wayne to Mark.
“Is that what that was, because I would have called it a crock of unmitigated absurdity,” said Mark.
“That’s because your opinions have been distorted based on your experience with the Shumbrans,” said Nita, “you may find there are exceptions.”
“In any event we have some interesting things to talk about,” said Blackie, “we know a little bit more about their allegiances, their enemies, and how they operate. What happened at the museum wasn’t typical of the Shumbrans. They normally don’t participate in direct confrontation; they shy away from being directly involved in an incident and they almost always use stooges to do their dirty work.”
Joules joined the group at her break and let Blackie know she had an hour before the next training session started.
“Anyone want lunch? I saw a sandwich shop two blocks over, I think the name of the place was Kid Brothers,” said Mark.
“They have nice sandwiches, let’s go there, said Joules, “and they have delicious soups, we could get some in a vac-pak for our trip tomorrow.”
Blackie didn’t dare look in Mark’s direction as Mark had immediately begun talking to Wayne in a high falsetto voice with a bad French accent, “those are for soup and we’re not taking soup; what do you have for brains monsieur, bilge water?”
Wayne was so amused he returned fire with a few of his own French lines. Mark and Wayne worked on their French repertoire all the way to Kid Brothers.
“Complete juveniles,” thought Blackie, but now and then he joined in the laughs.
They ordered sandwiches and crowded around the only empty table, a small one with a red and white vinyl checkered cloth. “This sandwich is excellent,” said Wayne.
“So, what’s all this nonsense about bad not always being bad?” said Mark to Blackie just as he was biting into his meat and cheese. Blackie held up his hand to indicate an answer was forthcoming as soon as he could swallow and wipe his mouth.
“That’s not exactly what I said; what I said was, looks can be deceiving,” he replied.
“Such as…? replied Mark.
“Such as the old guy in the hardware store that looks like he lives on the street, but he is a multimillionaire,” said Blackie, who continued, “but the quintessential paradox is the Desredeedese Shades.”
“The what?” asked Amelia, who verbalized what everyone with sandwich in their mouths was thinking but couldn’t say without grossing everyone out; except Mark, who didn’t hear Blackie correctly and was thinking,
“What is a quintessential pair-of-ducks?”
“The Desredeedese Shades,” repeated Blackie, “are beings
that are judged by their looks but not so much by their reputation.”
“I’ve never heard of them,” said Mark.
“I’m shocked,” replied Blackie dryly, “I didn’t know about them either until I studied the Shumbrans.”
“What do they have to do with ducks?”
“Ducks?”
“Don’t tell me they’re like Shumbrans,” said Wayne.
“I won’t, because they’re not,” replied Blackie, “and they have nothing to do with ducks Mark, they are a P-A-R-A-D-O-X.”
“Okay, okay I got it; keep your panties on,” said Mark, “what are they like?”
“Not a lot is known about the Desredeedese Shades,” started Blackie. “They inhabit planet Sombor in the Ashenian System. The few visitors who have been there describe it as a dark world with leaden skies. The entire planet is often shrouded in thick gray mists and it looks uninhabited because the Shades live deep beneath the surface in nests they make by hollowing out pockets of soft rock.”
“What do they look like?” asked Amelia who got goose bumps on her arms when Blackie described how where lived.
“The Shades look like their planet, they are dark and amorphous, not having a fixed shape but transmogrify constantly for reasons unknown. Try to picture long pieces of very fine, loosely associated black or dark gray fabric that have been hung from a line outside and are blowing in the night breeze; their shapes change even when they’re not moving. Shades don’t have eyes but they sense things around them; and when they need hands they simply form them. They rarely form feet because they don’t walk; they hover in the air or glide on any hint of a breeze. When they want to they can move so quickly that your eyes only register a fleeting shadow passing by; the optical signals sent to our brains don’t contain enough information to register a proper image.”
“They sound creepy,” offered Amelia.
“They do, don’t they?” said Blackie, “but get this, they commonly make pilgrimages to other planets - most often ones with dry climates and ample sunshine. They love being near water like streams and lakes. They have never been known to cause problems in places they visit.”
“That makes them sound a little better,” offered Amelia.
“Well let me tell you something that will really surprise you,” said Blackie. “Shades despise the Shumbrans.”
It took a moment for everyone to process Blackie’s statement. “But they sound so much alike,” said Wayne.
“That’s the point, isn’t it?” replied Blackie, “looks are deceiving; they look similar in a way, but they are nothing alike. Desredeedese Shades are not vicious; they are not meddling contemptable beings; most descriptions of encounters with them describe them as helpful or concerned.”
“I’d have to see it to believe it,” said Wayne.
“Me too,” added Mark.
“Where did they come from?” asked Nita.
“The same place we came from,” replied Blackie who didn’t exactly understand her intent.
“I mean are there any stories about them, about their origins?”
“There are legends,” said Blackie.
“Let’s hear it,” said Mark.
So, Blackie recounted one of the stories he had read, the legend of The Great Hall of Halls. “... So, when the phials in The Place of All Consuming Fire were destroyed the spirits of malicious beings were released. They drifted from their broken prisons and began to mix together. Most of them became what was described as a dark amalgamation that was bound and cast down to the surface of a dark planet nearby. But some of the dark spirits escaped from The Place of All Consuming Fire, before the others were bound, intending to return to their former homes. While they were trying to escape, they made their way to The Hall of Returning, but unfettered spirits sensing their intention to breakout, rushed from The Hall of Virtues and overpowered them, mixing with them and binding them so they couldn’t leave. The unfettered spirits paid a dear price for their selfless act, they were no longer pure spirit, no longer bright and dazzling; they had become darker, dark as the evening sky on an overcast night.
“Strength derived from the pure virtue of those unfettered spirits gave them the advantage to overpower the others, but in so doing they became tainted and no longer suitable for a host. Legend says they were allowed to leave The Great Hall of Halls and make their way to the planet Sombor. Although the light and dark spirits could no longer be completely separated, with help from the Keepers of The Hall of Halls the amalgamated spirits were successfully partitioned into distinct beings; each one with spirit from the Hall of Virtues and a small amount of dark spirit from The Place of All Consuming Fire. The Keepers were careful to make sure what was once pure spirit was dominant in each of the new beings and that it was sufficient to repress the darkness they had subdued. What was borne out of the unfettered spirits’ concern for others and their great personal sacrifice was the dark shapeless beings that became known as the Desredeedese Shades.”
Everyone was oddly quiet for a moment. “Man, what a great story,” said Mark, “you think it’s true?”
“No one knows Mark, that’s why they call them legends,” replied Wayne.
“I’m tired, I’m going to bed,” said Blackie and the entire group traipsed off to their hotel room.
Early the next morning they left the hotel headed toward the mountain lake. The sun was out and the sky was cloudless and perfectly blue. After driving for about 45 minutes Wayne asked, “Where is the park exactly?”
“About there,” said Joules pointing to a spot just below the top of the mountain. As they started to climb the tight lanes and switchbacks, Wayne noticed a car behind them. Each time there was a passing lane Wayne pulled into the slow traffic lane but the car wouldn’t go around. After 30 minutes of climbing they arrived at the entrance park. The car that had doggedly followed them went straight and continued up the mountain pass. Wayne pulled the Nomad into a parking lot built on a high ridge overlooking the lake.
“Man, that is awesome,” exclaimed Mark looking out at the water and mountains.
“Joules, what a great idea, the lake is beautiful,” added Nita. Everyone grabbed a bag and made their way to a table in the picnic area. Joules, Nita and Amelia dashed to the lady’s room to don their swim suits; the guys had all worn theirs under their jeans.
“This is spectacular really,” said Mark as they found a perfect spot on the beach not far from the picnic area.
Joules who was sure everyone would love the lake beamed. Everyone swam and then played two-a-side volleyball. After another swim everyone was hungry and they laid out food for the meal on a shaded table in the picnic area. There was bread, meats, cheeses, soup, those little round crackers Mark liked (the ones that tasted suspiciously like Italian seasonings), and there was fruit salad, tossed salad, egg salad and two kinds of dessert. As you might expect, after the meal, everyone lathered up with what Joules called Radiation Blocker and laid in the bright sunshine admiring the lake and mountains.
“Did you see that?” asked Mark.
“What?” said Wayne, looking in the direction Mark was looking,
“What is that?”
By the time Nita looked down the beach whatever Mark had seen was gone.
Mark and Wayne busted out their guitars around 13:00 IPT and started playing songs from the set list they had used at what they now affectionately called The Getaway Bar and Grill Concert. To Mark’s delight people started to gather near their picnic table, and when they finished at 14:30 IPT there were several hundred people sitting at tables or on blankets they had spread on the ground. The thirty-minute jam session had turned into a one-and-a-half-hour concert. Onlookers near their table broke into spontaneous applause and almost everyone joined in.
“Man that was awesome,” said Mark.
“Yeah that was really cool,” said Wayne.
“They didn’t even seem to mind Blackie’s singing,” said
Mark who didn’t see the grotesque face Blackie pulled
behind his back. They filled glasses with cold water for the trip home and loaded the Nomad in a matter of minutes. “Look, right there,” Mark said pointing to a place near the lakes’ edge, “what is that?”
“What is that Blackie?” said Amelia.
Blackie was deep in conversation with a man who had joined the crowd around their table to hear them play.
“Thanks,” said Blackie,” we’ll be in touch.”
“Blackie did you see that?” said Amelia.
“See what?” responded Blackie.
“Never mind,” said Mark, “what did that guy want?”
“He owns a little club in town and said he wants to book us,” said Blackie.
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