by Paul A. Rice
Jane looked at the heavy black objects. ‘Canoes’ was the first thing that came into her mind. The boots were enormous and exuded an obvious, handmade quality. ‘Wow!’ she said, ‘they’re quite something else, aren’t they, Jack?’ With a smile, she gave him the outstanding balance, made her farewells and started to lug the boots back to the car. She never made it all the way.
Maggie hailed her from across the street. ‘Hi Jane, do you fancy a coffee, my dear?’ When the old woman used that term, ‘my dear’, it always reminded Jane of George. In fact, come to think of it, Maggie just reminded her of George, period.
Jane nodded, saying: ‘Okay, hun, I’m on the way!’ She crossed the empty street and headed over to Maggie’s place. Entering the store, she found Maggie tidying one of the shelves at the far end of the shop. The old woman rose to her feet, walking nimbly around the scattered goods as they lay on the floor, and came over to greet her.
Taking Jane warmly by the hand, Maggie said, ‘Hi there! I saw you walking along with that big box and figured you may need some refreshment.’ She smiled, reached over and flipped the sign on the door over so that the ‘Closed – back in 5 minutes!’ side was on display to the outside world. Maggie turned back from the door and beckoned Jane through into the house.
Once through the store and into the cosy sitting room, Jane took her usual seat over by the window and waited for Maggie whilst she fussed with the kettle. With their drinks in hand the two women sat and swapped gossip for a while. Jane saw that Maggie had something on her mind, she looked agitated.
Eventually, she gave the older woman the opportunity to speak of her troubles. ‘So,’ Jane said. ‘Who’s your new guest, Maggie? I saw you and a very lovely young lady this morning, whilst I was in the café.’ She motioned in the direction of the coffee shop with her head.
Maggie smiled with relief, saying: ‘Oh, you saw us did you, well, you don’t miss much, do you, my dear?’
The old woman laughed when Jane replied: ‘Well, one would hardly miss that beautiful young lady, now would they, Maggie?’
Maggie then went on to explain that the girl Jane had seen was one of her granddaughters. ‘She has come to stay for a while as there has been a mite of trouble back home, so, oh well…you know how it goes? Family is family,’ she said, pursing her lips in frustration.
Jane didn’t press her on what sort of trouble, the old woman looked a little perturbed and so she decided to leave it. ‘It’s probably nothing anyway,’ she thought. Then, almost as an afterthought, said, ‘Perhaps you should bring her to the farm, Maggie – Red would love the company, I just know he would! Does your granddaughter have a boyfriend?’ The words simply popped out of her mouth before she was able stop them. Jane felt like kicking herself. ‘Mike would give me such a lot of stick!’ she thought.
Maggie shook her head, saying: ‘Well, no, she doesn’t, and that’s half the problem, you see? I’m afraid that she punched a boy who, ah…what shall we say? A boy who became a little bit too promiscuous, yes, that’s it!’
She was interrupted by a silken voice that spoke from behind the half-open kitchen door. ‘Just because I look nice, doesn’t mean I taste nice, does it, grandma? That boy tried to lick my face!’ The door swung fully open and in stepped Maggie’s granddaughter. She stood in the doorway and grinned at them.
Jane smiled up at her, instantly recognising that this was one of those special moments, a predetermined moment. One that George and the Council had been waiting on for so long. The girl’s eyes locked onto Jane’s and there was an understanding in them, a deep knowledge. It showed and Jane saw it.
She rose to her feet and placed the coffee cup on the sideboard to her left. The girl stayed where she was and watched as Jane made her way across the room. As Jane neared, the girl stepped forward and extended her hand. She did indeed stand at very nearly six feet tall, and as they touched, Jane felt the strangest of sensations go through her. It was a feeling of recognition – almost déjà vu – but not quite, it couldn’t be as Jane had never even seen the young woman before. But the feeling was there, and it was strong, almost overpowering.
‘It couldn’t be, could it? She reminds me of…’ As she was trying to get her thoughts back in to order, trying to remember who it was the girl reminded her of, Jane heard her speak again.
‘Hi, Jane,’ she said. ‘It’s so good to meet you! Oh, by the way, I’m Tori.’
Jane was sure she’d heard the phrase somewhere else. The firm cool grip of Tori’s hand stayed where it was as she looked right into Jane. Those brown eyes looked straight into her. The two women stood, linked, and stared at each other. Tori said, softly: ‘So, you’re Jane, are you? You are just as I…as I had imagined.’ She released Jane’s hand and turned to Maggie.
The old woman said, ‘Oh, I told Tori that we had some new people in town, you know me – the old gossip that I am?’ She looked up meekly at them.
Jane may have smiled, but she never swallowed the ‘feeble old woman’ ploy. Maggie was one smart old bird and Jane felt the sensation of predetermined events wash over her again. Feeling slightly overcome, she headed for the safety of her previous position and flopped back into the chair by the window. Maggie made them all another drink and the three women talked for a while. Tori made polite small-talk and sat with those long legs crossed at the knees, her dangling left foot swinging. She never took her eyes off their guest. It left Jane with the distinct impression she was being cross-examined by a specialist.
After an hour – it may have been longer, but she seemed to have lost track of the time – Jane decided she had best be getting back. ‘The boys will be sending out a search party for me at this rate!’ she said, lightly, and rose to her feet.
Tori stood and took the empty cup from her. Placing it on the side, she turned back to Jane, and then unexpectedly embraced her. It was then that Jane decided Tori was far from being ‘just a girl’. She had a subtle strength within her, and she smelt of flowers.
‘Wild flowers,’ Jane thought, as Tori’s thick black hair brushed against her face. ‘It’s definitely wild flowers, she smells of nature, too, and of clear blue sky, and…no, not the sky – it’s clear and it’s blue but, it…it’s the ocean. She smells of the ocean!’ The thoughts raced through her mind as they touched again and Tori’s scent filled her head.
That fresh, natural aroma washed over her and Jane felt herself falling into it. Falling into the wild, blue depths of the ocean, falling… As she began to feel there would be no stopping herself, that she would fall forever, Tori released the embrace and left her standing there, almost swaying. The feeling of familiarity, of having been here before, was quite extraordinary and Jane had to blink, twice, before her tumbling thoughts came back into some semblance of order.
She swallowed hard and then, with her voice trembling, said, ‘Well, it’s been a pleasure, folks, but I really must be going, please promise you’ll come and see us on the farm, you won’t recognise the place, Maggie. Tori, you must come too – both of you. Please, anytime you want!’
They smiled and agreed. Following her, the two women headed for the sitting room door and then back out into the shop. Jane was about to step out onto the pavement when Maggie’s voice stopped her.
‘Don’t forget young Dwayne’s boots, my dear!’ she said, softly.
Jane turned and took the offered bag from her outstretched hand, saying: ‘Thanks, Maggie – I don’t know where my thoughts were!’
Stepping out onto the street, she heard the sound of two things: the doorbell and Tori’s voice, they both tinkled in her ear. It wasn’t until she was halfway home that Jane realised something: she had never told Maggie what was in the bag, yet the woman had known it was boots, boots for Red.
She drove the rest of the way home in silence, and deep thought.
25
Boots and Dreams
As she pulled onto the driveway, Jane was just in time to see the men ambling through the rickety old gate from the fields be
hind the farmhouse. She waved at them, reversed the truck and parked it in the barn next to the RV. Gathering the few bags of shopping, and the boots, she slammed the door closed with her foot and headed over to meet them.
Upon seeing her, Red broke into a grin and ran across. ‘Hi there, Jane – where’ve you been all day?’ he asked, excitedly. ‘We’ve been having the time o’ our lives, ma’am. We got fish, too, lots of ‘em! Whatchoo got there, want me to give you a hand? Here, lemme carry them. I got lots o’ room under my arms!’
Surrendering to his torrent of good intentions, Jane passed him the bag containing the boots. Red tucked it under his arm and then made his way indoors, still chatting away as he walked. She unpacked the few things she had purchased whilst Red stood over by the sink and cleaned the fish he had caught.
‘Can we have these fer supper tonight, ma’am, they are just the best when they’re fresh?’ he asked, holding up the large, white-fleshed fish.
Jane smiled and agreed. ‘Yeah, sure we can, honey!’ she said. ‘Do you like them fried?’ Red said that he did. And then went to get cleaned up in his shower.
Mike and Ken entered the kitchen and asked how Jane’s day had been. As she laid out the mugs for a drink, Jane told them all about it and the strange meeting she’d had with Maggie’s guest. When she had finished, Mike looked at her and then back to Ken again, there was a strange expression on his face.
Ken shrugged, saying: ‘I guess it’s another one of George’s plans, huh?’
Jane agreed. ‘You know what? Although I think you’re right, I also think that this whole new way in which we’re approaching the problem, well…I think that it’s new for George’s lot as well. I keep feeling as though pieces are falling into place,’ she said, with a shrug.
‘Learning as they go, is that what you mean?’ Mike said, nodding in understanding. ‘Yeah, that would fit, wouldn’t it?’ he murmured.
Jane said that it was exactly what she had meant. ‘It’s almost as though the moment when I was shot became a catalyst or something. I mean, look at that thing they gave us, the medal or whatever it is, why did they do that? When George mentioned me seeing my Dad, well…you should have seen his face! That looked as though it totally freaked them out, and he also said that everything has changed for them, although I’m not really sure what he meant by that…’ She looked at Ken who was standing and staring at her.
He said, ‘Yes, that’s almost exactly what I was thinking this morning. This whole situation is beyond weird, it’s like they’ve paused the whole parallel, the one we’re in, and now they are waiting to see what happens next with Red.’ He took a seat, saying: ‘That medal thing is something else, though – I know it says ‘For Sacrifice’ on it, but whose sacrifice, does it mean the ones people have already made, or…?’ He left the final words unsaid.
Mike changed the subject. ‘And what’s with old Maggie and this girl, Tori, didn’t you say her name was?’ he asked. ‘Why did you get that feeling about her? And what the hell is with Maggie, making you feel like she’s George’s sister? This is getting deep, really deep!’ He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face, stopping at the temples to rub them softly. ‘Whew!’ Mike blew out a long, exasperated breath and then sat down next to Ken in the old rocking chair. He leaned back and closed his eyes again. His actions brought silence with them and they sat and contemplated things for a while. The only sound was a gentle creaking from Mike’s seat.
In typical fashion, it was Ken who dragged them away from the abyss. ‘Right, this is getting us nowhere,’ he said, with a grin. ‘I vote that we have some food and a couple of cold ones…or three…and not necessarily in that order, either!’ He stood and made his way to the fridge, asking: ‘Beers all round, yeah, people?’ His motivation helped them and they all agreed.
In no time at all they were back out on the porch, swigging cold beer and laughing at Red as he danced around the courtyard with his new boots on. ‘Yeehaaaw – I’m a real farmer now,’ he howled. ‘Look at my fancy new boots, they is gonna last me fer years and years!’ He was so pleased, almost overcome, with the gift, that when Jane had presented the boots to him the young man had fallen to his knees in front of her.
Seeing him kneeling there with tears running down his face had almost made Jane cry herself. ‘Oh, Red, honey, it’s only a pair of boots, sweetheart, don’t cry. A man like you needs a good pair of boots on his feet,’ she had said, gently.
Red had leaned forward and hugged Jane as she sat on the chair. Even when he was kneeling, the young giant was still taller than her sitting height. Strangely, and unbeknownst to the others, as he placed the boots over his bare feet, Red felt the man inside of him break free from the child he had been for nearly sixteen years. He cast off the shackles of all that he was, and their weight dragged the Demon of his future with them.
As the chains slunk into his past, rattled their revolting way downwards, Red became the man he was supposed to be. Right in front of his friends, Red became a man, and they never even saw it. Not yet they didn’t. He stood and smiled down at their happy, caring faces and ran onto the courtyard to begin his antics.
However, in amongst his joy and new found manhood, Red never realised a certain fact, a well-known fact, one that states: ‘Demons know of more ways than one in which to skin a cat!’ It wouldn’t have been possible for him to know, he’d only just become a man and he never saw it coming.
George did, though. He had been a man for a while, a long, long while, and he knew a lot of facts. He saw this particular one coming quite clearly, he saw it driving through the night, heard the grinding gears and straining engine. George saw and heard it all, but there wasn’t a blasted thing he would be able to do about it. Events were in full flow and the wheel was turning. They had laid their bets and now the croupier called the shots. No going back, ever, not for anyone. Not in this parallel.
In truth, George had only recently begun to wonder if perhaps there really was a God after all. The experience with Jane and her father had made them all think, and think hard. They were unsure as to the exact cause of the strange event, because Jane’s reaction to the dream, and her almost impossible return from the Darkness, had baffled them. Yes, George was currently plumb out of ideas. As he sat in the dark of his worried loneliness, the old man talked to whomever, or whatever, ‘God’ may have been. He prayed long and he prayed hard. In the soft blue glow of his workstation, George prayed out loud.
‘Please, God!’
Perhaps George managed to get a direct line to him – God – or maybe luck simply dropped into his lap. The heavenly switch-board, so usually jammed with incoming calls, lighting up with George’s personal number.
‘Brrr-Brrr… Brrr-Brrr…’
Click.
‘Hello there, George. This is God speaking. How may I help you?’
Perhaps that’s exactly what did happen. Then again, perhaps there’s never been any such thing as God, at least not in the way that Man perceives there to be, and all George happened to be doing was consoling himself with his own inner strength, just fighting the Demon with some positive thoughts – perhaps that’s all it was.
***
Either way, it was later that night, after having had a quiet meal with her grandmother, when a certain young lady began dreaming again. She had gone to bed early for a change, falling asleep almost instantly. Tori hadn’t dreamed for quite a while. It was the usual dream and she felt comfortable with it, all was as normal, just the same little dream where she walked through the familiar long grasses as they grew upon the luscious plains of her dream-world’s horizon. However, this time she saw that there was a lake, and also an apple tree. Beneath the tree there were two men, both were tall, she couldn’t quite see who was the taller as one of the men was lying down and seemed to be very still, Tori was still able to determine that he was tall. She knew he was…she knew him.
The girl had been in this place many times before and she had never seen anyone else here, the men’s p
resence was a surprise to her. This had always been her secret place, a place where she wandered alone through the long grasses, merely walking and looking with no other sound or sensations. She’d never been sure as to why exactly she was here, or even what she was looking for. Tori knew every inch of this place and had never seen that tree before, or the lake, and she’d certainly never seen the men.
She had always been alone in this place, coldly alone.
But, tonight was different, tonight she saw the men as clear as day, and most strangely of all, she felt them. A strange sensation filled her mind; it was as though they were pulling her. She felt drawn to them. As she turned to face them, the girl heard the sound of the man, the one who was standing, he was crying out in anguish. It was a sound of terrible mourning, or perhaps pain, and came from deep within him. As Tori heard his cry erupting into the violet sky that swirled above them, the girl knew that she had to go to him, she must go.
She looked up and then started to run towards him. As she did so, the tree began to shed its fruit; dozens of red apples began to fall like hailstones. They rained down, hitting the ground and then bursting into splashes of light. Like Roman candles, the little fountains of sorrowful green light erupted. The standing man turned towards her and she saw him more clearly, he was carrying a shovel.
Tori stopped as she saw him dig it into the ground and then stand upright, leaving it impaled beneath the tree, the handle of the tool looked like a makeshift burial cross, casting its shadow onto the second man as he lay silently beneath. She shivered at the sight.
Then she felt the standing man pull on her mind, without being able to stop herself, Tori began to move towards him once more. She knew him, she felt sure that she did. He was the one who they had all waited for, the unknown one, the one who all the different worlds had been fighting to change. He was the one whom she had dreamed of, imagined, and yet never seen. Tori’s great grandfather had told her that this was to be her time, the time to make a change, the time for sacrifice, the time for giving. She knew all of those things and the undecipherable knowledge filled her soul with fear.