Finding Midnight
Page 3
Summer looked at him with puzzlement. Sure, she knew it was an herb garden, and that some herbs were considered medicinal, but ‘medicinal herbal garden’? What did that mean?
“I’ve always been into gardening. I find it relaxing and gratifying, although I don’t have the green thumb my mother had, I do okay. In college I did a paper on the subject of Macbeth’s three witches and their strange brew, so I learned a lot about the odd old names for plants.”
“How fascinating.”
Dr. Stuart began to quote Shakespeare.
Fillet of fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth broil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark;
Live of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingredients of our caldron
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
“What’s all that got to do with the garden?” Summer asked.
“Everything.” He pointed to a plant. “That purple daisy looking flower—Hedgehog or hedge-pig in this poem or to you and me, Echinacea.”
“Hedge-pig?”
He nodded and then pointed to a nearby shrub. “And that would be ‘Bat Wings or Wool of Bat’ in this poem.”
“Holly?”
“Yes, holly leaves could be described as looking like a bat’s wings, don’t you agree?”
“Oh? Yes, I see!”
“This here,” he said as he broke off a stem, raising it to his nose for a smell. “Blind-worm’s sting.” He was introduced to the beer brewers of the world, wormwood was used to flavor beer. Its primary ingredient is absinthe used as a tonic for stomach and intestinal problems.”
He took another step and pointed. “This here is ‘Witches’ Mummy’ in the poem otherwise known as Mugwort. It’s used for all kinds of things from kidney stones to menstrual cramps. And over there in the lawn, the little white daisies?”
“Yeah?” she said as she spied a few tiny flowers.
“Eye of Newt.”
“No way.”
“Seriously. In fact, the Romans were the first known people to use the lawn daisy. They’d have slaves pick bags of them and carry them into battle because when crushed, the juices are a powerful astringent. They’d soak the bandages in the juice and apply them to wounds,” Dr. Stuart explained.
“That’s amazing, but why the crazy names? Eye of Newt?”
“It’s said that the lawn daisy was called the ‘eye of day,’ because, well, it looks like an eye in the middle, but in ancient times when a person made their livelihood from their own special recipes and concoctions, they would write the recipes in code so if they were to get into the hands of some passerby, they wouldn’t have a clue what the ingredients were. Of course, another practitioner might be able to figure out the code since they too probably used a similar name.
“Of course, I always thought if the practitioners hadn’t used such gruesome names, maybe the witch trials would not have been as bad. Having cookbooks with such nefarious ingredient names certainly didn’t help their cause, I’m sure.”
“No doubt,” Summer said.
“I have some books I could loan you to help identify some of the more obscure plants and I would certainly enjoy helping you with any you can’t figure out,” Dr. Stuart offered.
“Thanks. I’ll definitely take you up on that. I love plants, but I never really looked into herbs that much. I mostly planted flowers for the nuns by the rectory, so any help I can get on herbs would be great.”
“No problem,” Dr. Stuart said.
Chapter 4
Summer felt another pair of eyes upon her and turned to the big house’s window to see Ms. Midnight scowling at them. Summer waved without thinking, catching the doctor’s attention. He, too, waved and said, “Hello, Myrtle!” to which she immediately closed the curtains and retreated.
“You know old Lady Midnight?”
“I do. My oldest brother Mark was the same age as Myrtle. Is that what you kids call her, old Lady Midnight? I suppose she and I are getting up there in age.”
“It isn’t a very nice name. I usually reprimand Tori for using it, and here I just said it.”
“I imagine when you don’t know much about someone, it’s hard not to let your imagination get away and conjure all kinds of strange thoughts about someone who is not social or very welcoming.”
“She’s never even spoken to me; she’s only left me a note. She stares at me every evening when I’m working in the garden. It made me feel very self-conscious at first but I’ve gotten used to it. I wave hello and goodbye every night. It’s weird, but it’s kind of nice knowing she’s always there watching. Like a crabby guardian angel.”
Dr. Stuart laughed heartily as they headed to the cottage to say their goodbyes.
“I’d like to learn more about Ms. Midnight and her family. It sounds as if they were an influential family at one time.”
“They were and in some areas, they, I mean, she, still is. I’ll tell you about it sometime. Maybe Tori could come and learn a little more about Ms. Midnight too,” Dr. Stuart suggested.
“Sounds like fun.”
“Well, this old man is calling it a day. I’m pooped.”
“Thanks, Dr. Stuart, for all you’ve done. It really was fun. I still can’t believe you got so many people to help. It really went fast with all the extra hands,” Summer said.
“It did and you’re very welcome. I guess I’ll be seeing you in the morning.”
“Definitely and thanks again.”
“You’re welcome, Summer—it was my pleasure. Have a nice night,” he said as he got into his car.
*****
Summer sat in bed jotting down the details Dr. Stuart revealed about witchy sounding names for plants and some of the interesting facts he relayed during their talk in the garden. When she grew tired, she set the binder on the night table and turned off the light.
It had been a busy day and sleep came quickly, but a few hours into her blissful slumber, she awoke. She assumed it was one of those dreams that happen occasionally when you are quite sure you heard someone call your name or you jerk awake when you are falling in a dream. She shrugged it off and tried to fall back to sleep when she felt a presence nearby. Immediately she thought of the first night she’d stayed in the cottage and a shadow walked past the window. This, however, was much more intense. The air around her felt thick as stifling panic set in.
She quietly got out of bed, making only a hint of a squeak from the release of tension in the box spring. She grabbed the baseball bat behind the nightstand. She’d found the bat in amongst the tall weeds of the garden earlier that week. She thought it would provide her with some protection—if needed.
On tiptoes, she made her way to the sheer curtains that covered the French doors of her bedroom to get a peek outside. A floor board directly behind her creaked. She sucked in a sharp breath as a large, cold, strong hand covered her mouth and pulled her into the dark corner away from the window. She struggled, tried to scream, but the steel-like body behind her was not letting her move an inch. The arm around her waist was rock hard, holding her still.
A deep whispering ma
le voice shushed her as he raised the hand from her waist and, pointed to a shadow moving across the French doors and the floor within her bedroom then replaced the steel vice of a grip back at her waist. She blinked her eyes in disbelief. It appeared to be folding a large pair of wings into its large body as its horned head bobbed, presumably looking and listening. When the head was out of view, a trailing tail slunk by, looking as if it had eyes of its own, moving around and observing the surroundings.
When the shadow was gone from the window, the man holding her lessened his death grip on her mouth allowing her to take a much needed deep breath. He kept her there for a long moment holding her firmly against his body. She guessed he was waiting for the danger to be well away before he would let her go.
*****
It seemed as though he held her for hours when he finally released his iron grip on her.
“What was that? And who are you?” Summer lifted the bat she almost forgot she held.
He raised his index finger to his lips, suggesting she whisper, then sat on the bed and offered her a seat next to him.
She whispered, “Was that a dragon? Who are you? How did you get in here? What’s going on?”
Cool and collected, he tackled her questions in short, decisive answers in the order she asked them.
“Yes, that was a dragon. I’ve been known by many names, but for these purposes, call me Daniel. It’s complicated and I’m not presently sure.”
“What?” she asked.
“Yes, that was a dragon. You can call me Daniel—”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Then why did you ask?” One heavy brow lifted.
“Well, it’s not every day you see a dragon or have an intruder save you from another intruder—you were saving me, weren’t you? Or is the dragon the good guy and you’re the bad guy?”
“In this particular case, I believe I am the good guy. You do ask a lot of questions,” he said.
“Do I? I’m sorry, but you’re not really explaining any of this very well.”
“I’m not? I’ve answered your questions.”
“No, you haven’t—you didn’t tell me how you got in here.”
“I did. I said it’s complicated.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“To the best of my recollection, it is an answer.”
“Okay…it’s not a very informative answer.”
“Oh. Well, then I ‘appeared,’ that’s how I got in here,” he said, brushing a curl of hair away from his left eye.
“You appeared,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I wished to be here so I am.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It is, isn’t it,” he said with a smile.
“What are you that you can ‘appear’ at will? A genie? And why are you known by many names?” she asked, flustered.
“No. Genies are not real,” he answered matter-of-factly. “I’m a ‘Watcher’ and I am known by many names because I have been here for a very long time.” A kind of sadness seemed to come over him as if the very words were painful.
Summer lowered the bat. “How long?”
“Since the beginning.”
“The beginning…of what?”
“The beginning of this,” he said as he held out his arms. “Everything, life as you know it.”
“Is that a bad thing? You seem sad about it.”
“Yes, I am sad. I’ve sinned against my father and I will pay for that for all eternity.” His deep-set almond eyes welled with emotion.
“All of eternity? Who is your father?”
“God, of course, as he is yours too,” Daniel replied.
“God? Then you are a—”
“Fallen angel.”
“But I thought fallen angels were bad—that they were all colleagues of Satan,” she explained.
“Not all of my brothers went into the bowels of Hell. There are some of us who refused to follow Lucifer to his present destiny. Some of us continue to ‘watch,’ as was our initial task given to us by the father.
“My brothers weren’t all bad, even Lucifer. I believe there was no other angel that loved Father more than Lucifer, but Father’s fascination with your kind and the intense love and forgiveness he showered upon you, made many of my brothers jealous of Father’s affections.
“In an attempt to get Father’s attention, Lucifer planned a coup. Father accused Lucifer and some of us of not loving humans like he did, so what better way to show love to the humans but in the very way they showed love to one another? Lucifer talked many of us into lying with human women. This was how humans showed their love for one another.
“But that is not how Father saw it. It went against Father’s wishes. Lucifer knew this but after all, Father had shown so much mercy to humankind, he would surely forgive his angels and see that we too loved mankind. We knew we would be punished, but Lucifer’s hope was that with our punishment, we would also be opening the door of communication and could relay to Father just how much we longed for his love and approval.
“But things went terribly wrong and Father did NOT forgive us and the lines of communication were not opened—in fact, they were terminated for all of time.
“Father’s fierce wrath broke Lucifer’s heart in two and anger consumed him and many of my brothers. That anger was not just towards Father, but the object of Father’s affections—mankind. In the beginning, Lucifer and his followers pursued those of us who were not consumed with anger, but only wished to redeem ourselves. After a time when his pursuits were fruitless, Lucifer stopped asking. I don’t condone my brother’s ways or his deeds. In many ways he has transformed into something unrecognizable to me, but underneath it all he is still my brother and will always be.
“So a few of us still ‘watch’ as we’ve always done. Some have been watching so long they’ve become like stone, many littering churches all over the world to be nearer to Father. Others like myself stay a bit more mobile. Does that explain things a bit better?” Daniel asked.
*****
“Yes. Thank you, but why me? Why are you watching me out of all the humans on Earth?” Summer inquired.
“As a favor, to a very old friend,” Daniel said, his peach-fuzz mustache quivering slightly into an almost detectible smile, which made Summer imagine Daniel was remembering that old friend fondly.
“But why would your friend want you to watch me? What connection am I to him?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“But don’t angels just…know stuff?”
“Yes, but only if we wish to. When it comes to friends, it’s better not to invade too much on their thoughts.”
“So you started watching me because a friend asked you to—no questions, no explanations, nothing.”
“Yes.”
“And just how long have you been watching me?” Summer asked.
“All your life,” he said, shifting his weight on the bed, making it squeak.
“All my life?” She tried to wrap her head around the notion, then with a sudden realization she said, “Then you know who my parents are?”
“Yes.”
“And…?”
“And, what?” he asked.
“Are you going to tell me who they are? Why they gave me up? Where they are now?”
“No.”
“No, just like that. No. Why?”
“It’s not my place. These things will be revealed to you in time,” he said.
Summer pinched the bridge of her noise as a range of emotions rose to the surface—frustration, confusion, and anger. A headache tickled at the back of her head as she sorted through the barrage, when a memory popped into her head. “Then you were there when I fell out of the tree when I was twelve?”
“Yes.”
“I broke my arm in two places. Why didn’t you save me?”
“It wasn’t life threatening,” Daniel said calmly.
“It w
asn’t life threatening? So you just watched and let me go through all that pain?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t get it…that doesn’t seem very angelic to me.”
“I can’t interfere with your destiny. You learn from your mistakes. Sometimes these lessons are harsher than others, but you may need that knowledge somewhere down the road.”
“And what could a child possibly learn from breaking her arm that would help her in the future?”
“Pain is a powerful thing. Artists, musicians, and writers often use these past experiences to find true emotion in their art.”
“But I’m a vet, not an artist,” she corrected angrily.
“And you are more compassionate towards an animal’s injuries because you know what it feels like to experience the pain of a broken bone,” Daniel explained.
This profoundly touched her and made her think about how she did use her past experiences in almost every aspect of her life.
“But what about the dragon? Why did you protect me from the dragon? Wasn’t that supposed to be a life experience?”
“Your destiny does not have one set path. There are many, many choices that are made in one day that can change the whole direction your life takes. It is your destiny to meet this dragon, but it was not today. Not yet.”
“So the dragon will kill me, sometime in the future?”
“I can’t say.”
“You can’t or you won’t?”
“It’s impossible to say at this point. There are many paths that will draw you two to meet, but what becomes of that meeting, only you and the dragon can determine.”
“So if we do meet—this dragon and I—and it is my destiny to die, then you will be there to watch the whole thing without lifting a hand to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“That seems very unemotional,” Summer noted.
“It’s true. Angels don’t have emotions like humans. We never would’ve been able to do what Father asked of us if we had such a debilitating trait. We’ve seen entire nations wiped out, wars, disease, starvation, catastrophes no human could ever imagine. These were all things humankind had to experience to move forward, learn, adapt and evolve into the race you are now.