A Taste of History Past

by Forrest Brant

  With a faraway look in his eyes he smiled, “Right, like that’s going to ever happen. But I guess we can dream. And I have to admit something like that to help with those chores that never seem to end would be really nice. Yet, I guess, if we were to compare how we do it now, verses how it used to be done, then our ancestors would probably be jealous of us.”

  She laughed as, in her mind, she could see the females of the past standing, staring at her with help, first from a male, that alone would be a shock, and then to be able to bath in hot water instead of the cold river if at all. Then to take care of those daily chores and needs as they now did. Yes, they’d stand there with the hands on their hips just shaking their heads in disbelief. “I see what you mean. I guess each generation has its conveniences that the previous one would love to have had. But that still doesn’t mean that I’ll avoid dreaming about such things.”

  “I can understand that, hey better get that water moving, I’ll help you haul it inside. I can see the water that’s on the stove is beginning to steam, and I’ll need to dump it into the ol’ wooden tub and get more heating. Shouldn’t be too long and we can jump in and soak off this grime.”

  * * *

  Sabohl sat in his office dealing with student papers, one of the things he both hated and loved. Hated because it was something that involved so much of his time and effort, and so many were really bad. But, every once in a while, like his past student Kal, there would be papers that showed promise, and some were brilliant. In this Kal’s case though, it was obvious that his direction would be the family business, and he felt that it was such a waste of talent. But one did what one must to survive. He shrugged as these thoughts ran through his mind. There came a soft knock on the door, and he looked up. He couldn’t remember any appointments that he had with any of the students, and unless this was one of the staff, who knew better than to bother him as he worked the papers, there shouldn’t have been anybody. “Enter”, he said gruffly, and waited until the door opened, “What are you doing here?” He asked rather sharply. “We were never to meet, especially here.”

  The person at the door, dressed as a student bowed slightly with a smile on his face, came inside and closed the door. “That is true, but I felt that this chance could be taken, especially if I appeared to be just another student of yours. With so many running around this place, who would look at another such one anyway?”

  Sabohl had to admit that he was probably right, but this irritated him to no end. There could be no known connection between himself and this individual or the others he was part of. “Okay, you’ve made your point, and again you’re probably quite right. Still there is too great of a chance that someone could recognize who you are and my association with you must remain unknown. Why take this chance? This is something that can hurt both of our reputations.”

  “Let’s just say I felt the risk was something that I could take, and as you can see, you have no choice, so accept that in what you are requiring of me and my own that there will be some risk to you. After all, it is unavoidable. Besides I will only be here briefly and be away. Then we can continue to communicate through notes and such at the designated drop points, and have no physical contact at all – protecting both of our reputations.”

  Sabohl leaned back in his chair put his arms behind his head, stretched, then leaned forward. “Okay, your point is well taken,” he said rather gruffly, “so what is so important that it was worth this encounter?”

  Smiling, although there was no humor in that smile the guest said, “I’m just reporting on that excursion that we agreed upon. I felt that it was important since you would not be at the exchange for a few days, and again I felt that you should be brought up to speed in person.” Here he paused, leaned forward placing his hands on the small desk and said, “First off, as requested we searched, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a shelter, and there really wasn’t anything in it worth stealing. The couple is just above poor. I think, from what I’ve learned that the shelter that they are living in belongs to the family and bakery. From what I’ve learned and what is common knowledge, this family business provides shelters for their workers, and that includes family. And since this one was family, one would assume that the shelter that was provided would have been a cut above the ones they hire to work for them. But it is not so. We found nothing at all as to what your request stated should be there. So while it’s not my place to say anything on this subject, I think you may be wrong.”

  “You came by to tell me this? This information could have waited until I picked up the letter. And you’re right, it is not your place to tell me what I can and cannot do or assume.”

  Still leaning forward, and now with a look of hardness in his eyes, the guest continued, “Do not push that attitude towards me. I’m not one of your students that you can intimidate, and it will never work with me, so stop before you get yourself into something that you have no way out of. Yes, this information could have been left, but that is not the main reason for this visit. If you remember the specific orders given, stated that once we left there could be no evidence that we or anybody was there. Unfortunately they have their evidence.”

  “What? What do you mean by that? Evidence – what evidence would that be? I was very specific on that account. I cannot have this one suspicious that someone is trying to find something.”

  “It couldn’t be helped, and it was unexpected. The one who was picking the lock to get inside cursed, and I asked, now what? He said that the lock was old and with his manipulation it just broke. So when they returned they would know that someone jimmied the lock. And like I said, it couldn’t be helped, and once it broke we couldn’t replace it since we had no idea of what their key looked like, and besides any work would have been obvious.”

  Anger began to rise in Sabohl, but with effort he gained control as he stated, “As if the broken lock wasn’t. You told me he was the best at this kind of thing, and now this?”

  With no apology in his voice the guest said, “He is, and that’s as much as I will say. Now that we are up to date I’ll say good day to you.” At which point not even waiting a dismissal he turned and left, closing the door behind him, disappearing among the many students walking up and down the halls. Sabohl sat at his desk looking at nothing still attempting to get his anger under control, taking a few deep breaths he thought. This operation was supposed to leave no evidence that anybody had broken in. But that’s not what happened, and now they know. But what do they know? After all it could appear that when the thieves broke the lock that they just panicked and left. Sighing deeply and giving himself a shake he finally got himself back into control. I’ve still a couple of classes to teach. He got up went around the desk, opened the door, and headed down the hallway to his classroom.

  * * *

  “Jaie, Temporary Leader of the Historical Learned:

  “Good day sir, it has been wise that I’ve been planted here at the higher learning center. As I have been instructed I have been monitoring the learned of interest. He had a visitor today, and while dressed as one of the students, one could see immediately that he was not. While I was not in position to overhear what was discussed, what I did hear suggested that whatever had been planned did not produce the expected results, and that there had been evidence left behind to give them away. As to what this endeavor could have been, I, unfortunately, have no hint. But suspect that it probably relates to the subject that had been broached in the correspondence to your people. I took the liberty of having this visitor followed, albeit discreetly. After all it would do us harm if either the subject we are watching, and the ones who made contact with him become aware of our interest. As new information becomes available it will be passed on. I know that this is beyond the normal reporting times, but felt that it was something that needed to be brought to the learned of the board immediately. May our endeavors be successful.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  CAUSE AND EFFECT

  It had been 3 9-days si
nce they had returned and discovered the break-in. Yet with a careful search and discussion between the two of them, they found nothing amiss or missing. So whoever the thief or thieves had been they obviously were looking for something specific. They had reported the incident to both family and the local law, but with nothing to report other than the broken lock, there wasn’t anything anybody could do, other than increase their individual alertness. But neither of them, Kal or Jura, could watch the shelter all of the time, so it was vulnerable to additional break-ins. Plus its location didn’t help at all – since it was partially hidden making it easy for the incident to be repeated. After discussing things for a while, Kal realized that the only thing that wasn’t in their home at the time was that family history. So as to keep it safe, they decided that it should remain with the uncle who had passed it on to him in the first place. At least there in that shelter someone was always present, making it almost impossible to repeat what had happened at their shelter. Besides, with the work that he had to do, he was quite busy. It was close to celebration time once again, and all of them were working especially hard to get the extra product out that would sell well. And when he would go home at night, and it was night, since they used all the daylight hours to work, he would be exhausted, and found that sleep was almost more important than anything else. As he sat at the table with his mate at the end of another difficult day he said as he breathed out deeply, “Jura, I smell of bread and sweetbreads, and am covered in flour. Need a quick bath, a quick meal, and much sleep. But I have to admit that this break-in still weighs heavily on me.”

  “Well, you’re not the only one. It’s something that’s never happened to me before, and I suspect not you either. Here for the longest time you feel safe, and then this happens, shattering all those illusions that one has about being safe in one’s shelter. I mean when we are on the trails or roads we could expect that there would be a slight chance of being attacked, but usually it’s something that doesn’t happen very often. Like you, this has bothered me a great deal. I’m just thankful that we weren’t here.” Jura shuddered at that thought and briefly closed her eyes.

  “Yeah, I have to agree, but it also makes me wonder. While we didn’t try and keep it a secret that we would be away for those few days, it seems that someone had been listening closely. And I hate to admit it, but maybe I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was when I asked those questions of that learned.”

  She looked at him questioningly, “Are you accusing your old mentor of arranging this?”

  Shaking his head he said, “No, not really. But you have to admit that this is a possibility. When you look at the way this was done, I mean that if there hadn’t been that broken lock we probably wouldn’t have looked that closely when we came back, and they would have gotten away with this. And the reason my mind keeps going back to him is this; he’s considered top in his field, and with what we’ve learned from that family historical record would refute much of his ideas. So if that document should disappear, what proof would we ever have to present? We’d have nothing, nothing at all. So he could look at us, smile a sad smile, and ask us to show the world the proof, knowing that we couldn’t do it. Thusly leaving he and his theories as the dominant ones.”

  Looking down at the table and thinking Jura said, “I see what you mean. And those questions you’ve been asking might have tipped him off. So, to protect himself and his position, he’d want to know what you really had, and if it was a threat to him or his theories, and if so, eliminate it. When you begin to think about it that way I can see why you’d come to those conclusions. But is it accurate?”

  Shaking his head once again he answered, “I don’t know, I really don’t. And it is a worrisome thing. Because I’ve always trusted him, and his knowledge, plus he always seemed to be willing to take the time to listen and answer the questions I had. Of course putting it in this new light I can see it would be a great way to stay ahead of anybody who might be able to usurp him or his position – to appear to be friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to be there for his students. Again I might just be blowing smoke into the air, but if I was a thief breaking into a shelter, because of the risk, I’d steal whatever I felt was valuable and not traceable back to me, and that’s not what happened here.”

  “Yeah, that makes perfect sense, so I guess I’m happy that we decided not to leave that family history here or it would have been gone, and we’d have no way of proving it ever existed. Hey it’s getting late, go take your bath, and I’ll have a bite for us when you get out, then we can head off to the sleeping room, tomorrow comes much too quick as it is.” What they had been discussing made a lot of sense, but there was no hard proof. She turned and headed in to fix a quick meal. She heard him sigh, get up and leave to take that bath.

  * * *

  It was another 9-day since the celebration, and he had to admit that all the work had been worth it. With other family members and workers they had staffed their booth, and by the time the three day celebration was over they had sold everything, plus some as they had rushed to add to their supplies. That didn’t mean that he and Jura didn’t end up with some time of their own to enjoy the crowds, the music, and the festivities, to go to the dances, to enjoy the reenactments that were always performed. But now all of that was behind them and everything was returning to normal. His father was out on another supply run since the increase in uses for the celebration had depleted much of their on-hand stock. It was just after the midday break when his mother called him into her office and suggested that he sit down, which he did.

  Once he was seated she leaned forward placing her arms on the desk in front of her. As usual the desk had its piles of work, but even though to the untrained eye it appeared to be a complete mess, he knew that this was far from the truth. She could find anything at any time she needed it. “Kal, as you know your father and I have been looking to expand what we are doing. He recently came up with a very good suggestion and we’ve been pursuing it. And from the responsibility that you’ve shown, and the efforts that you’ve been willing to put forth, we felt that you should have the chance to help make this work.” At this point she paused looking at him to see how he was reacting. What she saw was a questioning, and while it was subtle, a mother could always see what was happening with her children.

  Now what? “What is it that the two of you have been discussing? I know that like the rest here that I work for the business, and family has no privileges. And we must earn our positions, and it is something that makes sense. Other than that and the fact that I’ve been required to learn the business from all aspects how does this discussion apply to me?” Then he had a thought but at first dismissed it, yet it persisted as he remembered when the business had been turned over to his parents a very long time ago. Was it time for that to happen for him?

  She could see the thoughts, questions, and conclusions flit across his face as he remained open. Of course, in her mind, she doubted that others could read him like she could, well maybe Jura, but other that she, no one else. She smiled, “What we’ve been looking at is this; expanding this business.”

  “But we’ve already used up all the land and space available to this bakery. How’d it be something that could be done? Did you and father purchase the lands next to the bakery?”

  “No, and I can see how that would make sense. No that would require too much of an investment, and the cost of building and converting is still beyond our money.”

  “So if that isn’t something you can do, have the two of you decided to buy a mercantile instead, expanding beyond the bakery?”

  Again she smiled, “That, by the way, is probably a pretty good suggestion – something that the two of us hadn’t thought about, but no. Still it’s surely something to think about in the future. No, what we’ve come up with is something that allows us to expand but at the same time to keep the investments within our means. Plus we’ve both seen how passionate both you and Jura are on following up on our family’s history. Especially since
that record dropped in your hands. In fact we, your father and I, suggested that he pass it on to you. We could see that history was something that held a serious interest with you. So who better? Now we felt that there needed to be a way that would allow you to pursue that, and at the same time help the family and the business that we operate, and to allow us to continue to grow, and what we’ve come up with allows all of that to happen.”

  How could all of what she had just related to him happen? He was definitely puzzled. “Okay, I may be a little dense here, but I can’t see how all of that can be fulfilled.”

  “Simple really. In many ways I’m really surprised that nobody has done this. But from what we know, nobody has. And once I present it to you, you’ll see it also. Instead of buying the land around here, doing all the required work and cost of adding what would be necessary, why not buy another bakery in a different village or township, and expand into a new place. Still using all the techniques and innovations that we’ve come up with and kept secret, and that’s just what we did. We want you to go and be in charge of this new bakery that we purchased over close to where your mate is from. That will get her closer to her own family, and with the supply runs and such you’ll still be in contact with us. And once it’s up and operational, and all the workers have been trained, and you’ve found someone who could be a foreman, then this will allow you the freedom to search the family history and try and locate the places spoken in the writings. So how does that sound?”

  At first he was stunned, and for the longest time silent. “Let me get this straight, you’re saying that instead of just expanding here that you two went out and bought another bakery, and you want me to run it? Not that I don’t appreciate it, but do I really qualify? There has to be at least one or two who have worked with you for turns that are better than I am.”

  “That could be, but we’ve been working hard on grooming you for taking over the business sometime in the future. But at the same time with what we’ve been doing the business has been growing and we needed some way of taking advantage of it. And yes there are a couple that have been with us for a very long time. In fact for a short period of time you’ll have one of them with you to help get the new bakery operating to our quality. And believe me you will not be left on your own. Both of us will visit periodically to see how it’s going. We know that for the first few cycles of seasons that we probably will be lucky to break even at the new operation, but that is expected. I suggest you talk with Jura and be ready in the very near future to make the move. At first you will be living in the back of the bakery, but eventually as the operation begins to show a profit we will purchase dwellings for the ones who work for us. Now get back to work, discuss this with your mate, and then be prepared to make this move. It has many benefits for all of us.” With that she waved him out of the office and back to work.