Seymore's Interlude

by Franci Neale

  Chapter 31

  This and That

  Seymore gave Fred a gentle rub, turned to Geralty and said, “I think we are at a place where we could benefit from a small celebration of what we have accomplished so far, don’t you? You did such a nice job of the tribute to Sarah when she left. I think you are just the one to handle this new event. I particularly want to feature our Jesmond as the star of the occasion.”

  Geralty said he would love to plan a little party to mark this new milestone. “I’ll make a plan and we can go over it. Why don’t we keep it a secret from Jesmond and surprise her.” Seymore thought that a good strategy. They both stood, Geralty picked up Fred, and they made their way side by side to the cottage. Geralty headed for his room and Seymore went into the old office to find Jesmond. He wanted to privately tell her how grateful he was for her progress in communicating with The Watcher.

  He called Jesmond but there was no response and Mesa wasn’t in the turret room. Seymore looked out the big window toward the dome and saw them under the new pergola sitting in the swing deep in conversation. He wondered if he should go interrupt them and decided against it. He turned and went into the library. He sat down at the game table in front of the bay window and looked out over the big meadow and down to the Beach House. He began thinking through the next steps in his plan to complete ES360.

  Back in his room, which was such a source of pleasure for him, Geralty turned on the receiver to listen to the stream of information sent out from Mercury Place. Then he sat down at his desk and also looked out over the big meadow to the Beach House. His thoughts were about the celebration.

  He decided that part of the festivities would be a big thank you for Jesmond and an expression of how much everyone loved her and what a fine addition she was to Seymore Place. He thought that the creation of the treasure chest could be another part, and he thought that maybe they should have the get together in the atrium at the beautiful table with The Watcher. His plans were coming together nicely and he began writing them out.

  He wanted Mesa to make the treasure chest that would go into the cupboard at the end of hall. He’d ask Seymore to create the cupboard with a place for the chest. He also wanted someone to make a box or something to hold the hologram of Sarah for storage inside the chest. He’d ask everyone what they thought should be put in the box for safe keeping.

  The only thing he didn’t have was a small gift for Jesmond. He would ask everyone to make a small written tribute to her of thanks and affection. Was that enough? Some small token would be nice too. He’d give it more thought later. In the meantime he wanted to get things rolling and the first step was going over the plans with Seymore

  He decided that he needed a larger project too. The holograms transmission was complete and the Mercury band was totally functional. He’d put in a request for new directions from Seymore when the celebration plans were approved.

  As Geralty thought through the plans and arrangements for the occasion, Mesa and Jesmond had gone to initiate the new swing and do some thinking and planning of their own. Mesa’s personal pledge to take better care of Jesmond was part of the agenda. Mesa purposefully told Jesmond everything that she could think of about Seymore Place, how it was started and why, she gave her insights into Units of Energy, and the story of Geralty’s arrival was included. She was hopeful that the information would help Jesmond to feel more a part of the station and lend some support for her to expand and make the most of her extraordinary talents.

  Jesmond, for her part, mostly listened and asked very few questions. The information she most wanted was about The Rim. She knew that Seymore would have to be her resource for that information but she didn’t exactly know how to ask him. Everything Mesa was telling her filled in the history of Seymore Place. It gave her new perspectives on everyone, even Fred, but she needed to understand life at The Rim to grow the communication with The Watcher.

  When they agreed that Jesmond had enough of a history lesson, Mesa said, “Let’s you and I make a design suggestion for the treasure chest.” Jesmond happily agreed and they began by deciding about how big it should be, then they chose colors and decoration and designed the inside too. They discussed the cupboard for the end of the hall, a stand for the box to sit on and what kind of a clasp and lock it should have.

  They moved to the table in the center of the pergola and Mesa cast some large pieces of paper and drawing pencils. They set about putting their ideas on the paper and comparing their versions of the basic idea. They were having a good time and their drawings were clear and made it easy to envision the finished box. They didn’t have the talent for drawing that Geralty did, however, and decided to take their artistic efforts to him for refinement.

  Seymore finished thinking about the completion of the station for the moment and went across to the old office to look out the window again. Mesa and Jesmond were now sitting at the table. Then he noticed that there was a returning messenger, a little Seymore, standing on the window sill. He picked it up and headed out of the cottage and up to the pergola to have Mesa release the message. It was most certainly from his brother and probably had the information he needed to make the next step in his plans; at least he hoped so.

  He made his way out to the Weedy Field. Mesa and Jesmond were still making drawings and he asked what they were. Jesmond immediately replied, “They are designs for our treasure chest that we talked about. I think we have some very nice ideas for the chest and the cupboard. I want to call it the Memory Trove. Mesa’s not sure about that name. What do you think?” Seymore said he didn’t know for sure right now. He turned to Mesa and said, “There is a message back from Valentino. Could we go down to the picnic table to listen to the reply?”

  Mesa stood up and told Jesmond she would be back shortly and to go ahead and finish up a few of the designs. Then she joined Seymore who was already half way to the picnic table. She caught up just as he sat down and set the little version of his image on the table. Mesa reached over and released the message. Valentino said:

  My dear brother,