by Terri Bertha
“Oh my, it seems you must have gotten a cold and lost your voice. We can talk later,” said Amy, walking away, smiling.
That afternoon, Amy’s history teacher, Mr. Morgan began class by reprimanding Amy in front of the other students. “You put the picture upside down on the bulletin board. Didn’t you pay attention to what you were doing? I should fail you for this assignment.”
Amy remembered when she was working on the bulletin board, Karen’s talking and re-arranging photos distracted her. Now she was going to receive a lower grade for not doing her best work.
Her face reddened and she hung her head as he continued scolding her. She wondered why he became a teacher. There were instances when he came across rude, loud and obnoxious, and not anything like a teacher should be.
She remembered her necklace and immediately placed her finger on the charm. Silence filled the air as her teacher stopped talking and did not speak another word. Mr. Morgan grabbed his throat, and drank from the water bottle on his desk. He wrote a note on the board for the students to study for their next test.
Amy, hiding her smirk, lowered her head. She thought to herself, he must have gotten the same thing as Karen. Too bad.
She went home that night and thought she had solved the problem with her annoying friend and teacher, ecstatic over the fact the necklace seemed to be the solution. Madame Herlet had just the right charm to make those two be quiet. Amy thought she could get back to spending time on school work and wouldn’t have to listen to Karen’s gibberish.
The next few days at school were glorious, but Amy’s bubble burst when Lindsay said, “You know, Amy, Karen and Mr. Morgan’s voices never came back. I saw throat lozenges in Karen’s purse and Mr. Morgan had a bunch of cough and cold medicine in his desk drawer. Mrs. Henry said he left school early yesterday for an appointment to see a throat specialist.”
“Geez,” whispered Amy to her friend. “The doctor’s not going to find anything wrong. What if he suggests some kind of surgery? Even though I’m not fond of Mr. Morgan, I wouldn’t want him to go through something unnecessary. I’ll go back to Madame Herlet and see if she can give me something to fix this.”
That evening, Amy paid a return visit to Madame Herlet’s shop.
“Well, welcome back, my dear. How nice to see you so soon. What can I help you with this time?”
“That charm you gave me wasn’t quite what I had in mind. It stole people’s voices all together. Now they think they have something wrong with them and are seeing doctors. They can’t go the rest of their lives without talking.”
“Well, that’s what you asked for, my dear.”
“I didn’t want them not to talk forever. Can I trade this charm for something else that would give them their voices back?”
“Hmm…let me think. Yes. Give me back that one, and I’ll give you this ancient Greek charm, the ‘Goddess of Speech’. This should work better, and she handed Amy the charm. By the way, that will be fifteen dollars.”
Amy glared at the woman and reached deep in her front jean’s pocket. She pulled out a crumpled ten and five and threw them on the counter.
The next day, Saturday, was the annual open house and fundraiser for the school. Amy saw Karen carrying boxes to the cafeteria. “Are you feeling better?”
No sound came from Karen as she shook her head ‘no’.
Amy raised her finger to the necklace and touched the new ‘Goddess of Speech’ charm. Amy was relieved when she heard Karen’s voice start in a whisper and gradually grew louder. Amy wasn’t sure, but it sounded as though Karen was speaking in a different language. Greek, maybe?
Amy ran to Mr. Morgan’s classroom where he sat at his desk grading papers. He glanced up when he heard Amy’s shoes stop outside the doorway.
Panting, she asked, “Are you feeling better, Mr. Morgan?”
He shook his head ‘no’, as he placed his hand on his throat.
She thought the charm may work differently on her teacher, so she slowly raised her finger to the Goddess of Speech, and hoped for the best. She listened carefully as Mr. Morgan’s voice grew from a soft whisper. He, too, began to speak Greek.
Oh no. They got their voices back, but now they’re talking in a different language. I need to get back to the psychic’s shop before anyone notices.
Amy found Lindsay putting up flyers in the hallway. “Cover for me,” she said. “I need to get back to Madame Herlet’s pronto.”
“What’s going on?”
“I can’t explain now. Give me all your money. It’s an emergency.”
“Okay, but I’m charging interest,” said Lindsay as she handed Amy the bills.
Taking off in a hurry, Amy arrived at the shop, necklace dangling from her fingers. “This charm isn’t working either. Now they’re speaking Greek. You have to give me something to get them back to speaking English.”
Madame Herlet tilted her head to Amy and spoke in a quiet tone. “I’m sorry, my dear. I never know what these things are going to do or how they will react. Sometimes they work differently on individuals. Try this one,” she said, pulling open a drawer and removing a new charm from a small box. She handed Amy the ornament of an open mouth and small hands on each side, fingers pointing upwards and palms facing outward.
“This should give them their voices back.”
Amy grabbed the charm, turned, and started to leave the store.
“Ahem,” she heard behind her. Madame Herlet stood before her with left hand placed firmly on her hip and right hand extended to Amy. With raised eyebrows she mumbled lowly, “That will be twenty dollars, please.”
“Twenty dollars? When I was in here the first time, you charged me ten, then it went to fifteen, and now it’s twenty? Do you think I’m made of money? I’m just a kid.”
The woman waved her hands through the air and Amy thought she was casting a spell on her. “Each charm has a different value, and I also need to be compensated for my time. Remember, nothing comes for free in life.”
Amy reached deep in her pocket and came up with twenty dollars in various denominations. She dashed back to school, hoping students, teachers and parents didn’t hear Mr. Morgan and Karen speaking Greek. She was surprised when she returned to Mr. Morgan’s classroom, where he and Karen were sitting at desks conversing in Greek as if nothing was wrong. Amy rubbed the new charm on her necklace with the open mouth and hands.
Now, instead of speaking Greek, they were screaming at each other in English.
I can’t believe it. I got their voices back, but now they’re yelling at each other.
Fearing others would hear them yelling, Amy slammed the door behind her and ran once more downtown.
“I don’t want any more charms. Give me something that will make them normal again.”
“Okay, okay. Take this herb and put it into their drinks, and that should solve the problem. But remember, this will reverse the charm spells and they will return as before.”
“I don’t care,” said Amy. “Just give me the stuff, and I hope I don’t need to come back here anymore.”
“That will be twenty dollars”, said Madame Herlet. “It’s usually twenty-five, but I’m cutting you a break, since you’re a kid. Remember, nothing comes for free. I’d go broke if all my customers didn’t want to pay like you.”
Amy paid the psychic from the money she borrowed from Lindsay and hurried back. She added the herb to the pink lemonade being served to everyone in the cafeteria and carried it back to Mr. Morgan and Karen. “Thank you,” they screamed.
Amy watched as they downed their drinks. When they set their cups down, Amy heard them talking to each other in a normal tone.
“I got my voice back,” said Mr. Morgan looking surprised.
“Me too,” said Karen.
Amy followed them down the hall to the cafeteria where the open house luncheon with pink lemonade was being served. She overheard Mr. Morgan complaining about the bulletin board to some of the teachers.
Amy sat down a
t an empty table exhausted. She had finally gotten everything back to the way it was.
Karen come over and sat down across from her. She repeated the story about not being able to find her other shoe. Then she said, “You know, Amy, I’ve been thinking. I always wanted to take a class and learn something new. Maybe I’ll take opera lessons and let my singing voice echo through the school auditorium, or learn a new language, like Greek, blah,blah,blah…”
Amy lowered her head, placing her hands over her ears and thought, Maybe next time, I’ll just say, shut up.
Chapter 11
The Trip to Hell
“Nah, nah. You don’t get to go to the cabin,” Lizzie teased her brother Chris.
“I don’t care. I’m spending the weekend with Nick, and we’re going to play video games, go to the movies, and do a bunch of neat stuff. Besides, dad promised he’d take me only sometime.”
Trying to make Chris feel even more jealous, his brother, Mark, said, “Dad, do you think we’ll be able to get in a little fishing at Brian Barry Lake?”
“I want to go canoeing,” said Lizzie. “Maybe we’ll see a bunch of crocodiles.”
“There aren’t any crocodiles where we’re going, poodle head,” said Mark.
“Stop calling me poodle head!”
“Knock it off you two,” said Rick, their dad. “We’ll have plenty of time to do all sorts of relaxing stuff. Maybe even take a few hikes. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see some wildlife along the way.”
“I hope we don’t come across any bears,” said Lizzie. “I can’t remember if you are supposed to run downhill or uphill if you’re being chased by a bear.”
“Let’s get there first,” said Renee, their mom. “We can worry about bears and wild animals once we get settled into our cabin.”
Early Friday morning, Rick and Renee loaded the car with clothes, a cooler of food, and other items needed for the weekend. Everyone was looking forward to a few days filled with fun and relaxation.
One of the requirements the girls had for staying in a cabin was it had to have heating and an indoor bathroom, or they refused to go. This was the first trip they were making to the mountain resort and hoped it would become their new home away from home.
“I can’t believe we got out of school today,” said Mark.
“Well, remember, kids. You need to make up any work missed in school,” said their Mom.
Mark and Lizzie rolled their eyes at each other in the back seat of the SUV and shook their heads.
“How much further?” asked Mark.
“We didn’t even get started, and you’re asking how much further?” said Rick.
“Well, according to the GPS, we should be there in a couple of hours,” said Renee.”
The journey started and the kids watched as the mountains grew bigger and the trees became denser. City streets disappeared and were replaced with farmhouses and large areas of open land.
Without warning, the sky darkened, and a thunderstorm came out of nowhere. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Torrential rain poured down, making visibility through the windshield difficult.
“I didn’t know we were supposed to get rain today,” said Renee.
“Me neither,” said Rick, leaning forward over the steering wheel, straining to see through the windshield. Rain, fog and darkness encompassed the car.
Radio reception was lost and the GPS voice announced, “Unexpected delays on your trip. Delay time is now four hours. Re-routing to a quicker route. Take the next right towards the village of ‘Sloth’”.
“Four hours?” said Rick. “I don’t want to be delayed that long. I’m going to take the new route. Must be because of the bad weather.”
As the car turned towards ‘Sloth’, the thunderstorm eventually subsided. Through heavy dark fog, they could see they were approaching an old wooden bridge. Standing in the middle of the road, stood a short round man dressed in brown boots, baggy pants and a hooded cloak. He was waving his arms back and forth in a frantic motion for them to stop. Getting closer, they noticed his pudgy face and a red nose the size of a ping pong ball.
Thinking the man needed help, their dad stopped the car and lowered the driver’s side window. The man hobbled towards the car, yelling in a loud booming voice, “You are about to go over ‘The Sticks River’. You must pay a toll to pass. I am the ‘Fairy Man’ and am the collector if you desire to pass.”
The chubby and strangely dressed man spoke in an accent like he was performing in a play.
“Quickly!” he demanded. “Give me the coins you have now in order to pass, or I will have to turn thee away!”
“How much is it?”
“It’s four hogs and a schilling.”
“What?” Wanting to get moving, Rick reached into the console, pulled out a handful of change, and placed it in the man’s dirty, stubby hand. “Thanks.”
“BEGONE NOW!” said the man, throwing the money in his pocket without looking at the coins. “Do not dwell in this place too long, or you will be condemned forever to perform a menial task.”
Rick stared at the man and quickly drove onto the bridge.
“Geez, that was weird,” said Renee. “He seemed to be a strange sort of fellow, and pretty dramatic for a toll booth collector. I guess the town doesn’t like people hanging around too long.”
“I wondered what he meant by we would be condemned to perform a menial task forever? I already work in an office for a lame manager.”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” said Renee. “Let’s get through this town and to the cabin.”
“Yuck! Look at that green water,” yelled the kids.
“Eeewee,” said Renee. “I’ve never seen anything so gross. It looks like pea soup.” Nearing the end of the bridge, a man was standing in a pool of water near the river bank. Towering above him was a huge a tree, loaded with fruit. The man repeatedly reached to grab the luscious harvest, and each time he neared, the branches raised up avoiding his grasp. Next, he bent down with cupped hands to fill them with water, but each time, the water receded back to the river.
“That’s really weird,” said Renee. “Why doesn’t he just get a bottle of water and an apple at the market? At that rate, he’s going to be spending the rest of his life trying to eat and drink.”
Rick shrugged. “Kind of goofy. This town is definitely strange.”
Getting across the bridge, they spotted a huge hill in the distance. “We must be getting close to the mountain and Brian Barry Lake.”
Yelling from the back seat, Lizzie said, “Look at that man trying to push that big rock up the hill!”
Sure enough, a man continually pushed a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down. As they drove by, he repeated the same action over and over.
“That’s crazy,” said Renee. “You would think in this age of bulldozers and machinery, there would be an easier way to get that rock up the hill.”
“What time is it?” asked Mark, fidgeting in the backseat. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Try to hold it, honey. Not sure where we’re going to find a bathroom. My watch says 11:34.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” said Rick. “You must have a dead battery.”
“Well, the GPS shows 11:34 too. It must have lost its signal.”
“This area has the strangest names for roads and things,” said her husband. “Back there was an arrow pointing to ‘The Cave of Greed’”.
“Yeah,” said Mark, “and I saw a road sign that said, ‘The Road to Gluttony’”.
“Come to think of it, this reminds me of some of those mythology classes I took in college,” said Renee. “I wonder if this town is something like a theme park?”
“Well, you got me beat there,” said Rick. “I never took Greek mythology. What do you mean?”
“Well, they always talked about ‘the seven deadly sins’. Like greed, sloth, gluttony, jealously, and so on. The town names and road signs all refer to one of the seven deadly sins. It just daw
ned on me, the man pushing the huge boulder, the guy trying to pick the fruit and getting a drink of water. Those are mythological figures found in the Greek underworld.”
“The Greek Underworld. What’s that?”
“It’s like a Greek Hell,” said Renee. “It’s ancient Greek’s view of what Hell would be like. Maybe this town thought it was a neat idea to adopt some of the names.”
Before her husband could say anything, Mark yelled from the back seat, “Hey! Look over there! There’s four guys on horses running through the field!”
Galloping closer to the car were white, red, black and pale colored horses with riders dressed in flowing colored robes. A couple of the riders looked like they were carrying weapons of some sort.
“The town must be having a renaissance fair,” said their mom. “That would explain all the strange things we saw so far.”
Now they were riding alongside the car.
“This is fun,” yelled Mark. “It’s almost like we’re in a movie or something.”
Thrilled they might be part of a movie, the kids smiled and waved, but soon panic set in. Aiming his bow, the man on the white horse shot an arrow, which hit and bounced off the car’s window.
“Keep your windows up!” yelled their dad.
“Yikes!” screamed Lizzie. “We got shot with an arrow!”
The man on the red horse raised his sword high above his head. Speeding up until he was next to the car, he slammed the sword down on the roof.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Stop! I’m going to sue you! You’re going to pay for any damage to my car!”
“Speed up!” screamed Renee. “Let’s get out of here! I don’t think this is a fair.”
The GPS began chirping. “Re-routing, re-routing, take the next exit to CR666N.”
“CR666N must be how we get out of here,” said Rick. “Okay, cabin, here we come.”
Pushing down hard on the accelerator, the horsemen fell behind. “Did we lose them?”
Renee and the kids turned around, and saw the horsemen fade in the distance.
“Yeah,” said Renee. “They’re quite a bit back now.”