Rakitaki: A Jonas Quartermain Adventure

by Lee Alexander

  They took seats under the tent near the fire. It was surprisingly comfy, despite the near-constant wind ruffling them. They talked and drank for an hour before retreating inside for warmth, drinks, and socializing. Jonas walked with the others to the pool room where he received another lesson from Madsen. They ended up playing doubles with Elliott and Angie. Elliott was a fantastic shot, while Angie was on par with Jonas. The games constantly came down to battles between Elliott and Madsen with Jonas and Angie talking on the sidelines.

  The night wound down, the party ebbed until only the lights flashed. The music had been silenced by the DJ, still in his booth, exhausted and sleeping on the floor. His tip jar was overflowing with various types of tips. Most were cash, but there was the odd item. A few pills, a baggy of an unidentified white powder, and even a pair of worn underwear. When Jonas saw it, he shuddered. The underwear looked clean enough, but they clearly were not fresh from the laundry.

  In the corner, a single man was still awake, head bobbing to unheard music. He wore a large beanie to contain his long brown hair. He was muscular enough to present an imposing figure, which was lessened by his incoherent mumbling. He spoke to himself at length. Jonas skirted the strange man on his way out of the house. Elliott sleepily followed along, carrying a tired Angie in his arms. She talked to him constantly, whispering sweet comments as they walked.

  The sun began to rise as they walked down the street. The wind had stopped in the early hours, and the land was blanketed in white. He reveled in the silence enforced on the world by heavy snowfall. The only interruptions to the world of calm were the sound of their steps crunching through snow and breathing. Even Angie had gone silent. She walked alongside Elliott, looking at the beauty of the blanketed world.

  When they arrived at the campus, they wished each other a merry Christmas, then walked in separate directions. Elliott lived in a different dorm from Jonas. Angie walked with her boyfriend. The campus felt empty with everybody back home for the holiday. He took a shower before collapsing in bed.

  When he woke, his sister was knocking on his door. She dragged him out of his room. They stopped and picked up a surprised Elliott. Angie hid in his room until they had left. Jonas gave Elliott a knowing look, which earned him a punch to the shoulder. They drove back to the family ranch a few hours away. They ate dinner, chatting happily. It had been months since he had seen his family, and relished the chance to catch up with them. Each sibling asked about his classes, about his social life, and about his love life. He answered openly, taking pride in his high grades.

  Elliott was grilled just as hard. He had been ‘adopted’ by the family early on, as close to a brother and son as one could be without paperwork. When Jonas mentioned Angie, Elliott responded with a friendly but firm kick under the table. Jonas’ yelp of pain was drowned out by the catcalls and hooting from the older siblings. The questioning went on until Elliott demanded they stop. The friendly teasing continued until Jonas said they had to get back to the college for classes. The announcement was met with loud boos and thrown food. They rushed back to the campus that same night, and Jonas’ older brother, Hank, slept in his roommate’s unused bed.

  The next day, he attended class. Calhoun looked energized. He wore a cap and sunglasses, like he had a hangover, but otherwise was in high spirits. Most of the students appeared hungover. Jonas felt good. He was ready for the next phase of his life to begin. It was almost time for the trip. The week passed in both the slowest fashion as well as the blink of an eye. Before he knew it, he was packing his suitcase to travel halfway around the world, to work on his first true Archaeological dig.

  8

  December 31st, 1983

  Akron-Fulton International Airport was relatively quiet at the late hour. The company had booked tickets for the five students and their professor in coach. Calhoun had been arguing with the women behind the desk for an hour. He looked even grumpier than normal. Finally, one of the women called him via the speakers in the ceiling. They spoke briefly, and Calhoun walked away with something approaching a smile.

  Jonas sat nervously with the other students from his class. Simon flirted with the remarkably attractive blonde, Jodie, who did not return any attention. Instead, she spoke with the small and mousey Sidney. Dylan sat on the far side of Simon, reading a book. It looked creepy, with the words ‘Pet Sematary’ written across the top with strange lettering. Above that was the name ‘Stephen King’. It didn’t interest Jonas in the slightest, he didn’t like to read horror, preferring scary movies.

  He looked around the packed environment. People looked tired, some using strange u-shaped pillows already around their necks. He even saw a few kids in pajamas sleepily cuddled next to their parents. The airport was a new experience to him, as was flight in general. He shifted nervously in his seat, trying to get comfortable. Finally, an announcement went over the PA system, welcoming first class to board. Calhoun took his battered briefcase in hand and walked to the gate.

  Jonas watched the ritual in fascination. Each passenger presented their ticket. It was taken by the woman at the gate, who then wrote something on the paper before handing it back. Then they disappeared down the long tunnel leading to the plane. First class appeared to be primarily older white men dressed for business.

  A few minutes after the eight first class passengers had boarded general boarding was called. Suddenly people were moving and elbowing for position, if politely. The woman at the stand greeted each person by the name from their ticket.

  The students were in the first third of the line. Jodie and Sidney were side-by-side, with Simon immediately behind them. Dylan was still reading his book, standing just to the side of the much larger football player. Jonas approached the group, suitcase in hand.

  “Get behind me, nerd,” Simon growled. He looked and sounded tired. Wordlessly, Jonas complied. Dylan nodded, but otherwise ignored him. He caught some ugly looks. Nobody spoke up. They were clearly together. Anxiety grew as he closed the distance to the gate. It seemed to loom larger and larger.

  Finally, he was greeted. He handed over his ticket. She checked it, scribbled something on it, handed it back, and wished him well. Then he was following the hulking form of Simon and the much shorter Dylan down the boarding tunnel. When he crossed the gap between it and the plane, he couldn’t help but look down. He was not good with heights. He squeezed his eyes shut and took the step.

  Inside the plane, the air was dry and borderline stale. He could smell smoke from the first-class section. As he rounded the corner, the clouds hung heavy. He could see the modern print on plush chairs. They looked like recliners. After the first few rows, a curtain was pulled aside. Beyond, a sea of humanity churned and pushed. Luggage was shoved around, some placed under seats and others in the overhead compartments. He walked past the other students who ignored him. He kept going until he found an open spot. He placed his small carry-on bag, a duffel, in the overhead bin near him, then sat down.

  Jonas noted that the seat was nothing like first class. It had hard plastic arms, and a firm blue seat. Smoke was heavy in the air. It irritated his nose. He looked around him. His part of the row only had two seats. Across the aisle was a set of three seats, then two more on the far side of another aisle. A brunette woman sat next to him in the window seat, reading a book. Her hair hid her face.

  He idly flipped through the bundle of magazines in front of him. A large, bold word caught his attention: ‘SAFETY’. He took the pamphlet out and thoroughly read it over. After that, he started perusing the magazines. They were all travel magazines, nothing he had ever read or even heard of before. Some of them were in another language with a lot of very long and complex words.

  People stopped flowing by, then the flight attendants closed the overhead bins. He heard an announcement about the door being closed. The plane lurched and he gripped the arms of his chair. He heard a mechanical whine build somewhere nearby. It started to bump and rumble along the tarmac. He felt ridiculous as he was surprised by
each movement, though nobody else noticed them. He closed his eyes tight and tried to nap through the takeoff. He was not able to.

  Fifteen minutes into the flight, a chipper flight attendant used the handset to speak to make an announcement. "Happy New year from us at Lufthansa!"

  Jonas tried to relax. He kept his eyes away from the windows and felt like his knees were buried in the seat in front of him. As he fidgeted, the stewardess's message was repeated in a language he did not know.

  "Would you relax?" asked his neighbor. He turned with an embarrassed smile to look at her and immediately looked away. The view out the window gave him vertigo, causing his stomach to rise. He tried to look at her through the corner of his eye, hoping it would keep the window out of his view. It did not. His stomach flipped and he turned away, shaking his head.

  "First time flying?" She asked with a small smirk.

  Jonas grunted in response, not trusting what would happen should he open his mouth.

  She moved, and something responded with a plastic-on-plastic sliding sound.

  Faint laughter colored her voice as she said "should be better now."

  He looked over, and the cover had been drawn. He nodded, then shakily thanked her.

  She looked at him, though he still had his eyes pressed shut. He was trying to find relaxation. She considered for a moment before speaking. "You know what helps me when I'm nervous? Telling a story."

  He nodded, and looked at her. She had a cute button of a nose, lips that seemed to always be smiling, and startlingly green eyes. She was short, even in the seat. "What kind? Wait a minute, I think I recognize you.”

  She looked puzzled. Then a light flicked on in her eyes. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Do you go to University of Akron?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said with a laugh. “I do, I’m in the Archaeology program. You?”

  “I’m in the Computer Science program. We study—”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said with a snort. She was caught short.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Oh, no, not you! My best friend is in the Computer Science program. Maybe you know him, Elliott Burke?”

  “Yeah! Oh, and his girlfriend Angie. She’s so sweet, I love her to death.” The young woman closed her book and turned more toward him.

  “She really is. And she seems to be totally head-over-heels for Elliott.”

  “I introduced them, you know.”

  “No way, how did that happen?” He asked incredulously.

  “Well, I’ve known her for the last two years through some other classes we take together. I brought her to one of Madsen’s parties.”

  “That’s it,” he said as he snapped his fingers. “That’s where I know you from. You bumped into me on the stairs a few weeks back.”

  She crossed her arms. “I bumped into you?”

  He thought carefully before his next words. He shook his head. “No, what I mean was—”

  She laughed, and her face was transformed. Where she had been pretty before, she now became a true beauty. “I couldn’t,” she said in a laughing gasp. “I couldn’t do it. Relax, dude. It was a party; everybody bumps into everybody else. By the way, my name is Lily. Lily Clark.”

  She extended her hand and he took it in his own to shake. Her hand was much smaller than his. “Jonas Quartermain. You asked about a story?” They dropped the shake as she thought.

  “Mmm,” she said, her lips pursed. “Why don't you tell me about your weirdest encounter with someone at school?"

  He nodded, then thought for a long moment.

  “Okay, I think I have one for you. But it’s not at school, per se. It was a party. At Madsen’s place, actually.”

  “Oh, cool, I might have been there then,” she said with a smile.

  He felt a growing attraction to her. She had the kind of smile that could start a war.

  “It was October of last year,” he began.

  “It’s barely the new year,” she replied.

  “Still makes it last year,” he said back.

  She smiled. “Okay, get on with it.”

  “Elliott and I were in my dorm room. I was trying to study; he was trying to bother me into going to a party with him. He was waiting impatiently, tapping his foot and staring at me. He told me ’We can go to a party, Johnny. It won’t kill you to have some fun.’"

  She gave him a funny look. He put his hands up and started to explain. “I told him so many times. ‘Elliott, I’m going by Jonas. It’s a good Archaeologist’s name. Johnny is so… 1950’s.’ He just stared at me then shook his head. ‘I’ve known you as Johnny for practically our entire lives. I'm not calling you Jonas,’ he said back to me with crossed arms. ‘Besides, school doesn't start for another week.’ He told me.”

  “And you didn’t want to go to the party?” Lily asked.

  “I mean, yeah, I did. I always do. I love a good party. But I’m trying to get my degree done. I want to be an Archaeologist, and I can’t do that if I get kicked out of the program.”

  She nodded. “So, this party?”

  “Yeah, I’m getting to it,” he said with a laugh. “I told him ‘I can’t believe you want to go to a party.’ He told me ‘So, what if I do? You've been driving me insane all summer talking about Archeology. It’s not like I bore you with computer languages! Let's go party. It's the last weekend of freedom for a long-ass time.’ I sighed, knowing he wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed to go. ‘Fine. Let me get changed,’ I told him.”

  He shifted in his seat to be a little more comfortable. “Elliott seemed to take offense at the suggestion that I change. ‘Why? Flannel is in, man,’ Elliot told me.”

  “And you were wearing flannel too?”

  Jonas nodded. “Yeah, a flannel button up and jeans. I told him ’If we go outside, I'm going to die of heat stroke.’ It was an unusually warm day for October.”

  “He told me ‘Then stay inside and drink’ over his shoulder. I shrugged, then did a pocket pat and followed him out of my room.”

  "What’s a pocket pat?” Lily asked.

  He smiled. “Never heard that one?”

  She shook her head.

  “It’s exactly what it sounds like. I checked my pockets for my keys and wallet.”

  “Gotcha. What happened next?”

  “I followed him out to the cab. ‘We going to Madsen’s place?’ He nodded and we took off. While in the car I asked him why he wanted to party. It apparently struck a nerve with him. ‘I go to parties,’ he told me. I thought something was up though. So, I said ‘Yeah, like Bernard’s tenth birthday. That's the last one I remember seeing you at. And he was kind of a loser.’ He was too. He picked his nose in class and ate it.”

  “Gross,” Lily said with a laugh.

  “Yeah. Obviously, Madsen threw a lot of parties at his house. Speaking of, I never did ask. Do you know why he goes by Madsen?”

  “Oh, yeah, but you can’t tell him I told you. His first name is Tracey.”

  “Makes sense. Anyway, I think it was a few weeks after we bumped into each other on the staircase. We caught a taxi over, and when we arrived it was chaos. The sun had already set and the house was lit up like a Christmas tree.”

  “I’ve seen it before, you know,” she said with a smirk.

  “I’m setting the scene. Are you telling the story?” he asked her. She looked taken aback, then saw the smile at the edges. She burst out laughing, which made him lose his composure in return. He wiped his eye free of a lone tear. “Okay, I know. But let me tell it my way.”

  “That’s fair. I’ll try to stop interrupting.”

  Just then, a flight attendant asked them for their drink orders. They took mixed drinks, intent on enjoying the flight. He had already relaxed to a significant degree while talking with Lily. It was remarkable. However, a single glance at a nearby window had him sweating in fear again. He sucked down the drink and ordered another before the attendant had left.

  “Still
nervous? Keep going with the story, I want to know what happens. You haven’t even got to the weird encounter yet.”

  He nodded, straw to his lips. He took a sip, set the plastic cup down, and continued the story.

  “I could hear the music before we even left the cab. The front yard had a sand pit and people were drunkenly throwing horseshoes. I have no idea how nobody ended up hurt. There were crazy strobe lights on the porch, in the yard, and in the windows. Just all over the place. Red solo cups absolutely everywhere. One dude puking in the bushes off to the side, his friends making fun of him. You know, the usual scene.”

  “Oh, I’m familiar.”

  “So, I walked in with the beer, greeting people like normal. At that point, we had been partying with Madsen regularly so we knew the usual suspects. Walked through the house, which was completely packed. Had to shove some people. Finally got into the kitchen and stepped up to the bar. ‘What’ll ya have, babe?’ asked one of the blondes. Asked for my go-to drink, an AMF.”

  “AMF?” she asked.

  “Adios, Motherfucker. Like a long island iced tea, but much tastier. Just as dangerous, though. Anyway, you know how those girls are. Chewing gum, hardly giving you the time unless they like you. Thankfully, they liked me. I was served quickly and we went into the back yard. After the heat of the house full of partying people, not to mention the dance pit in the living room, the air outside was pure bliss.”

  “Tell me about it,” Lily said. “I can feel the sweat now.” She fanned her face for emphasis.

  “I could smell the weed as soon as we walked into the yard. Elliott, Angie and I all walked to the main circle. There were a few seats left and we took them. A bong was being passed around. I might have taken a hit or two, but it was skunk weed.”