The Leafing: the 2nd book in The Green Man series

by Sharon Brubaker

  Bill returned to the table with a foaming pitcher and three frosty mugs. He caught the last part of Sylvia’s statement.

  “Owen?” he said. “His sense of humor?” he asked surprised.

  “No,” Sylvia flushed, “another friend.”

  “Oh,” Bill said meaningfully.

  “No, not like that,” Sylvia told him, “an, an older friend. Sort of like a Dad to me.”

  Bill nodded.

  Dr. McInnis continued, “You like feeling the energy from the earth. I have a feeling you also see auras as well?” he queried.

  She nodded. Bill looked at her quizzically. He changed the subject.

  “Jim,” he said, “I know this isn’t your usual brew, but welcome to what the American college student suckles.”

  Bill poured the glasses and passed them round. “Cheers,” he said holding up his glass. Sylvia and Dr. McInnis did the same.

  “So, Sylvia,” Bill began, “how are you? I haven’t seen you in a long time?”

  “I’m fine,” Sylvia said, “and how are you? Have you been skiing a lot?”

  “As much as I can,” he said with a smile. “I’m looking forward to the upcoming long weekend. Owen and I are headed to the Poconos again.”

  “How long are you in the States?” Sylvia asked Dr. McInnis.

  “Sadly, I must leave tomorrow,” Dr. McInnis replied. “I must get back to my University. Bill caught me on the end of my visit to a dowsing conference.”

  “There are conferences on dowsing?” Sylvia asked surprised.

  “Absolutely,” Dr. McInnis replied. “I know there are a lot of skeptics out there, but dowsing is a real science. With dowsing, you are seeking and finding the vibration of an object. As I said in the lecture, we all have vibratory energy. Your mind is limitless and your subconscious can locate these vibrations, even though your ‘real’ mind sometimes can’t accept it.”

  “Sylvia, I dabble in dowsing,” Bill told her. “If you want to learn more or practice, let me know.”

  “I might do that,” Sylvia said.

  “And let me know your progress,” Dr. McInnis insisted. He turned to Bill. “This is lovely, William, but I am still on British time and I think it’s time I toddle off to bed,” he told him with a polite yawn.

  They walked Sylvia to her car.

  “Thank you,” Sylvia told them.

  “The pleasure was all mine,” Dr. McInnis told her.

  Bill nodded at her. “Be in touch,” he said.

  Sylvia expected the Green Man to appear in her car on the way home. When he didn’t, she was a little surprised. She wanted to look around the house for him, but Percy was whining in great need. She clipped on the leash and walked through her community’s open space, thinking about what Dr. McInnis said about feeling the earth’s energy. Is this what she felt when she touched trees?

  “Looking for me?” a baritone voice asked after a rustle of leaves caused Sylvia to lift her head and look around.

  Indeed, she saw the Green Man on the other side of Percy. Percy hadn’t made a sound as the Green Man approached. He stopped walking to sit quietly at the Green Man’s side.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact,” Sylvia told him. “I was looking for you.” She changed the subject. “Percy can see you?” she asked.

  “Of course,” the Green Man told her. He was patting Percy’s head and Percy was leaning against the leafy brocaded body of the Green Man. Leaning! The Green Man rubbed Percy’s ears and Percy gave out a low moan of pleasure.

  “How?” Sylvia asked.

  “As I told you before,” the Green Man said patiently, “those who want to see me will see me.”

  “But, Percy wants to see you?” she asked.

  “It’s all energy,” the Green Man told her. “Vibrational energy. All matter is vibrational energy,” he reiterated. “Most humans exist only on one plane of vibration,” he told her.

  Sylvia shook her head, “This is getting a little bit too Star Trek-ish for me,” she told him.

  “I wanted to see you,” she continued, “because I went to an interesting lecture this evening on dowsing. Dr. McInnis, the speaker, talked about dowsing and ley lines,” she told him.

  “All forms of vibrational energy,” the Green Man interrupted.

  “He said I could probably feel the earth’s energy,” Sylvia continued, “like when I walk on the ground. Is this energy the same energy I feel when I touch the trees?” she asked.

  “The same,” the Green Man answered.

  “He also mentioned a pattern,” she said, “but, told me it was another lecture entirely. “

  The Green Man nodded again, “Wise man, this Dr. McInnis,” he said.

  “Could he see you?” she asked.

  The Green Man chuckled. “I don’t know. I suspect it would be easier for him to do so.”

  The snow had melted in some areas and old grass was poking through. Sylvia squelched in her shoes.

  “Stop for a moment,” the Green Man asked her. “Just stand. Don’t talk. Just feel.”

  Sylvia stood on that patch of ground. She could feel the cold seeping into her feet and she shivered. But, she listened to the Green Man. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She didn’t think of anything but focused on her feet. There it was! A pulsing. It tingled through her feet and up through her body. It was pleasurable. It gave her joy.

  “I feel it,” she said quietly.

  “Good,” the Green Man said. After a ticklish kiss to her cheek, he disappeared.

  “Wait,” Sylvia cried. “I wanted to ask more about the pattern thing,” she grumbled to Percy.

  “Sylvia?” a voice came through the darkness.

  “Who’s there?” she asked, a bit spooked. She had forgotten her flashlight and the disembodied voice took her by surprise.

  “It’s Tony,” the bodiless voice answered.

  “Oh!” she said with relief.

  A bobbing light came through the darkness. Percy gave a whine.

  “Hi!” she said as he came up to her and gave her a kiss on the opposite side from where the Green Man had kissed her. “I’ve been thinking about you.”

  “That’s good,” Tony said.

  “How are you doing?” she asked.

  Tony shrugged. “As good as I can be at the moment.”

  “Detective Collins told me you had gone to make funeral arrangements. I’m so sorry,” Sylvia said sympathetically. “These last few days must have been horrible.”

  “They definitely weren’t easy,” Tony admitted. “Joyce’s family is a challenge anyway,” he said. “I think we’re all in shock,” he finished.

  “No doubt,” she said. She yawned. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s been a long day. I just got home.”

  “From where?” Tony asked, curious.

  “The University,” she answered. “I was at a lecture with Carol’s Mom. Interesting, but heavy stuff.” She yawned again.

  “Sorry,” she apologized.

  “No problem,” Tony answered. He steered her toward home and helped her inside. “I would like to, but I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to tuck you into bed.”

  Sylvia felt a trill of unwanted desire zip through her body. She couldn’t help it. She gave him a sideways glance, but she could not see his expression as his face was in shadow.

  “I suppose not,” she said, yawning again. She looked up at him, “Good night,” she said and reluctantly closed the door behind him.

  Chapter 25

  Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.

  Helen Keller

  As the week wore on, the sky seemed to get heavier and heavier. Even the blue sky seemed to hang lower and dampness filled the air. The meteorologists could not make up their minds with the future storm tracker software. Snowfall predictions ranged from two to four inches up to twenty four inches of snow. Sylvia stocked up on dog food for Percy and was loathing to go to the grocery store. People were panicking and clear
ing shelves of bread, milk and cereal. Sylvia picked up cheese, crackers and ice cream. On a more practical note she picked up eggs and a quart of milk and some lovely French rolls. Carol had nattered at her about picking up gallons of water, but Gran had always kept a store of water in the pantry.

  Carol and her mother cancelled their trip to New York. Sylvia’s Mom cancelled the weekend too. On Friday, Mr. Carter called to say he would be staying at home and to call him if they needed him. Carol and Sylvia worked at their desks and went to the cafeteria early for lunch. The gray skies were releasing a few flakes. They were small and became steady as Sylvia and Carol ate. By the end of lunch, the grass and trees were beginning to be covered in snow.

  “Are we headed home early?” Carol asked Sylvia.

  “We know Mr. Carter wouldn’t mind,” Sylvia said. “Let’s see if they put out something via email.”

  Sure enough when Carol and Sylvia had returned to the office a blanket email had been sent out to employees with liberal leave due to the storm.

  “Wahoo!” Carol crowed, “I’m off to put on my sweats and my slippers and settle in for the storm.”

  She powered down her computer and put her head into Sylvia’s office. Sylvia was pounding away at the keyboard.

  “Don’t stay too long,” Carol advised her. “It’s really starting to come down. Be careful going home.”

  “I’ll be leaving in a few minutes,” Sylvia assured her. “I just want to finish this one thing.”

  In the next hour Sylvia finished her work, locked the door and went outside to her car. The snow was coming down heavily with biting little bits of ice mixed in with the small flakes of snow. It stung Sylvia’s eyes and she put her head down and hurried in the direction of her car. Abruptly she bumped into something tall.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said and she looked up.

  It was Owen.

  “Syl?” he asked.

  “Hi,” she said, squinting as the snowflakes hit her eyelashes when she looked up at him. “It’s really coming down, isn’t it? Are you and Bill still going skiing?”

  “I don’t think so,” Owen said with a chuckle. “With this weather, I think we could get there, but not make it back.”

  “You’re right,” Sylvia agreed.

  They both stood there in the pouring snow and sleet, not knowing what to say.

  “You’re getting cold,” Owen commented as Sylvia shivered, “You had better get on home.”

  Sylvia nodded and Owen took her elbow and guided her to her car, took her keys and helped her in the door.

  “Thanks,” Sylvia told him. “Be safe going home.”

  “You too,” he said before he turned to go to his own car.

  Sylvia was grateful for the four wheel drive in her car as she traversed the snowy and icy highways. The road crews had been out, but the snow and sleet were falling fast. They couldn’t keep up. The small snowflakes were piling up fast. She was never so happy to pull into her neighborhood. She slid into her driveway and carefully put the car in the garage grabbing the snow shovel on the way out.

  Percy was hesitant to go out in the snowstorm, and Sylvia had to coax him outside. She looked out at the bay. The clouds hung low like a pregnant woman’s belly. The wind was picking up as dark, angry gray streaks of wind driven water raced across the bay. The driving snow piled up on Percy’s fur. Sylvia took him inside after a few minutes and toweled him dry. She changed into sweatpants and a sweatshirt and put her boots to dry by the register. Next, she built a fire in the fireplace in the study and turned on the weather channel before padding out to the kitchen in heavy socks to make dinner. It was definitely a soup night. With hot soup, wine and crackers on a small tray Sylvia made her way back to the study to settle in with Percy at her feet and the weather channel’s continuing coverage of the storm. Predictions and snow totals were increasing. The sleet had stopped and it just continued snowing. As much as Sylvia loved snow, she was finding this storm a bit creepy. And, she was tired. She couldn’t remember when she had felt so tired and found herself dozing off in the chair. She woke up a couple of hours later. Percy was sleeping curled up at her feet and the fire had burned low. A commercial was proclaiming the cleaning miracle of a particular detergent. Sylvia yawned. The wind was picking up. She wanted to get Percy outside before it got too windy

  “Percy,” she crooned in a singsong voice. “Percy, wake up.”

  Sylvia patted the poufy head of the big, white dog. Percy yawned deeply as well.

  “Don’t do that!” Sylvia said, yawning once again. “Let’s get you out and then definitely go to bed.”

  Percy heard the word ‘out’ and jumped up and went to where Sylvia kept the leash, hanging by the kitchen door. Sylvia put on her coat, hat and mittens and turned on the porch light.

  “Oh, my God, Percy,” she said when she saw the white world outside her door. There were about four to five inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing heavily. They carefully trod down the steps and waded into the snow. The wind from the water was bitter and blowing hard.

  “Tonight I want you to hurry up, Percy,” Sylvia instructed.

  Percy snuffled in the snow and jumped and barked, but complied fairly quickly. He did not like the wet snow falling on him. Tonight Sylvia kept him in the yard and noticed her footprints were quickly covered by falling snow in only a few minutes. She and Percy hurried inside. Sylvia dried him off with a beach towel and let her coat to hang over the kitchen chair to dry.

  “That wasn’t fun, was it Percy?” she asked the dog. “Let’s go to bed!”

  Sylvia locked the door, banked the fire and turned out the lights. She called Percy to come up to bed with her and he obediently trotted upstairs behind her. She called him up on the bed to lie beside her while she snuggled under the blankets. Percy lay down and snuggled against her. Sylvia tried to read but, gave up after a few pages and turned off the light.

  She didn’t know what time it was, but woke up feeling quite chilly. The wind was howling and snow was hitting the windows. Percy was tight against her and Sylvia shivered. She tried to turn on the light, but nothing happened. No electricity. The heat was off. Sylvia realized she did not have a flashlight near her bed. She squinted at the light from her cell phone. It was two fifteen in the morning. She got up using her cell phone as a flashlight and went to put on warm socks and look for blankets in the guest room. When she returned she tucked the extra blankets around Percy and herself and prayed the electricity would be on by morning. Snuggling under the blankets, she felt like an animal going into hibernations before going to sleep again.

  Sylvia awoke to the pale, grey light of the morning. All was silent. The electric was still off and the house was getting colder. Percy was sleeping deeply. She pulled herself out of bed and shivered. No electric. No coffee. She looked around the refrigerator and shivered more, but was grateful for a caffeinated soda. She pulled on her boots, older coat and gloves and went out to get wood for the fireplace. Sylvia was stunned when she opened the door. About three feet of snow had fallen. She waded to the woodpile stacked by the garage. Percy began barking when she stomped snow from her boots at the kitchen door, arms laden with wood.

  “Just a second, Percy,” Sylvia told him.

  Carefully she opened the door and hauled the wood to the study. Then she let Percy out in the snow. She laughed when he looked puzzled at the thick layer of snow before him. Before long he was pouncing into it and barking with joy. Sylvia took that time to clear the steps and slowly began the digging out of the driveway. She waved to some other neighbors down the street and the steady scrape, scrape, scraping of shovels filled the morning air. She had finished about half the driveway when she was too cold and wet to continue.

  “C’mon, Percy,” she called to him. “Let’s go inside and get a fire going.”

  Shivering she changed into fresh sweatpants, warm socks and sweatshirt before making a fire. Sylvia was grateful that she and Owen had purchased a couple of boxes of four hou
r instant lighting logs in December. She was able to get a roaring fire going in a matter of minutes. She spread out her wet clothes over a chair near the fire. Percy lay in front of it, getting warm after she toweled off all of the snow and ice crystals that had formed in his fur. Sylvia went to get his kibble and search for something to eat herself.

  Her phone rang as she rummaged through the pantry. It was her mother checking in on her. They had electricity in the Philadelphia area and were in the process of clearing the roads in her mother’s neighborhood.

  “There’s been no sign of a snow plow,” Sylvia told her mother. “I think Bayside is a bit too out of the way for the town to care a lot.”

  “Someone should call the county,” her mother stated. “That neighborhood has too many elderly people to take a chance. What if you needed an ambulance?”

  “Good point,” Sylvia agreed. “But, I need to get off to conserve phone power, Mom. I don’t know when the electric will be on.”

  Her mother promised to call the electric company and text her with the news. Next Marian called to see if she was all right. She informed Sylvia that she and Jon had arrived just before the storm. She said the generator Jon had installed was working well and that Owen was making fires in the fire places. She asked how Sylvia was making out.

  “It’s like camping,” she told Marian. “Percy and I are camped out in the study with a nice fire. I’m a little cold, wish I had something hot to drink, but we’re all right.”

  She told Marian she wanted to save her phone power. Thanked her and rang off. Sylvia returned to the kitchen to rummage through the pantry for something to eat. Finally she decided on a granola bar and a yogurt from the refrigerator. Her mother texted that there was not a timeline for the electric and that they were ‘working on it.’ Sylvia laughed ruefully.

  “Okay,” she told herself. “Camping.”

  She went upstairs to get plenty of blankets and pillows for herself and Percy. She also closed off all the doors in the upstairs against the cold. When she came back downstairs her lack of caffeine headache was getting the best of her. Sylvia made a thick pallet of blankets and a comfortable nest of pillows after she moved furniture to accommodate her camping area near the fireplace. Percy was excited. He didn’t bark, but it was obvious he could barely wait for Sylvia to finish. When she did, he circled three times and settled onto their cozy nest of blankets and pillows. Sylvia laughed and lay down in front of the fire and snuggled with Percy. She watched the dancing flames. The heat felt lovely and she felt drowsy. She thought she heard a snow plow, but didn’t get up to investigate.