Metamorphosis

by Sesh Heri

  The blank-faced man kept looking at the old man. Somewhere far away the sound of an automobile engine drifted up the mountain. Neither the blank-faced man nor the old man changed the position of their eyes as they stared at each other, but both knew that the other had heard the automobile engine. Finally the old man said:

  “I don’t like that. Nobody has any business up here today. I hope that’s not any of those federal agents who were in town these last few weeks.”

  The blank-faced man’s eyes moved very slightly.

  “Yes, I know I didn’t tell you, but I saw no reason to bother you with that particular information. Federal agents have been in and out of town down there ever since your plane crashed. I know they’re looking for you, but I’m not going to tell them you’re up here. I’d be giving you a death sentence. They’d take you away to a doctor in the city with a state medical license, and in about forty-eight hours you would be dead, if you were lucky. If you had a doctor with a little knowledge he might make it possible for you to live a few more years as a totally paralyzed cripple. Is that what you want?”

  The blank-faced man’s eyes moved back to their original position.

  “I didn’t think so,” the old man said. “You don’t know whether I can cure you or kill you, but you know the city doctors surely can’t cure you. By the standards of present-day conventional medicine your case is hopeless. But I’m holding out a little hope to you— just a thread. Do you want me to keep holding out that thread to you, or do you want your friends who are now coming up the mountain to take you away? What do you want? Do you want me to tell those federal agents you’re in here?”

  The blank-faced man’s eyes held steady on the old man for a long time, and then finally, very slowly, the blank-faced man closed his eyes, opened them, and then closed them again. When the blank-faced man opened his eyes the second time, he saw that the old man was smiling.

  “Good choice,” the blank-faced man said. “Now, we got to get things ready, because I hear that car coming up the mountain and we both know that’s your friends the federal agents coming up here to look for you. Nobody else would likely be up here today.”

  The old man had set aside the Houdini journal and had gone to the wall of the cabin. He pushed on a board in the wall and a large portion of the cabin wall slid aside, revealing another room barely big enough to contain the bed upon which the blank-faced man was laying.

  “You’re getting to see my hide-out,” the old man said. “I call it my recess room. There’s a little door in that back wall which leads to a tunnel going directly into the mountain. This cabin is built right up against the vertical wall of this mountain’s stone outcropping. There’s a recess in that outcropping, and it can’t be seen from outside. The cabin covers it. This little room is built right in that recess. That’s why I call it my recess room. When I need a recess from everything, I go in there and shut up. Right now, you need a recess. So now it’s your recess room.”

  The legs of the bed upon which the blank-faced man was laying were mounted upon rolling casters. The old-man was now pushing the bed, rolling it across the room and into the little ‘recess room.’ He got the blank-faced man on the bed inside the hidden compartment, tossed the Houdini journal on top of the bed next to the blank-faced man, and then went back over to where he pushed on the wall before, and there he pushed on another board. The wall of the cabin slid closed again, completely sealing off the ‘recess room’ and any clue to its existence.

  The old man then dragged his own army cot across the room to fill the space of the absent bed, and he moved a table across the floor and positioned it so as to take up even more space.

  The old man then looked about the room. He went to a chest of drawers and pulled out some neatly folded clothing, wadded it up, and threw it on the floor in a heap. He then went over to a bookcase, took out some books and magazines and spread them out upon the table in an esthetic arrangement. The magazines he arranged so that they formed a curve, like the fan of a deck of cards. He looked at his literature display critically, and then slightly moved the position of one of the books. All the while he was doing this the sound of the automobile engine grew louder, although it was still very, very faint. Then the engine stopped.

  The old man looked up and listened intently. He next heard two separate sounds, two car doors slamming in succession. He went over to the wall of the cabin, and looked out through a tiny peep-hole in which was embedded a telescopic lens of considerable power.

  “They’re coming up the path,” the old man said. “Yeah, they’re the federal agents who’ve been in town. Same exact guys. You probably know these fellows. Ha, ha! They’re trying to dress like hunters. They were dressed like insurance salesmen in town. They were talking to a lot of people. Didn’t talk to me. Obviously talked to a lot of other people about me. That’s fine. No one down there knows anything about me, although a few of them think they do. They think exactly what I want them to think— that I’m a nut. And I’m not going to disappoint your friends who are coming up the path here. They certainly are making it up here quick! Why, they must have legs of steel. But they’re not runners. Or at least not for distance. They’d get winded. One fellow is very powerful in his arms and chest. The other one is lean. I wouldn’t be afraid of the big-chested guy. He’s slow. But his buddy, the lean one, I wouldn’t want to have to tangle with him. They’re coming up fast. Looking at the smoke coming from the chimney here. Looking at the pyramid. Ha, ha, ha. They’re thinking it all out. Getting all the facts. Ha, ha, ha. It’s so beautiful. How I’m loving this! I haven’t had such a time in a long time! Oh, they got up the path! They’re stopping, looking around. One fellow says to the other, ‘No one in sight, but I’d bet he’s right inside that cabin.’ Ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s right, Mr. Bright. I’m right in here looking right at you and reading every word forming on your lips! I wished that other guy would turn around so I could see what he’s saying. Don’t have time to turn on the microphones. Oh, well, it doesn’t matter. Whatever he’s saying can’t be too important. Oh, he’s turning around. Good boy. What’s that you’re saying? ‘Come on,’ he says to the other. ‘Let’s get this over with, I’m getting hungry.’ And the other one: ‘So you still don’t think he’s here?’ And the other one back at him, ‘If he’s here, he’s long dead.’ Oh, you’re friends don’t have much faith in your ability to survive. They’re coming now, on up here. Better get ready for them. Get situated.”

  The old man sat down at the table.

  Outside, the two men dressed in the caps and coats of hunters and carrying hunting rifles approached the cabin door, stopped in front of it, and knocked.

  “Come on in,” the old man called from inside, “whoever you are. Door’s open to all who seek the truth.”

  The larger man opened the door slightly, and then pushed it all the way opened, revealing the old man seated at the table.

  “Come on in fellows,” the old man said. “I was a-studyin’ my lessons. Maybe you can help me on them.”

  “Hello,” the larger man said. “How are you doing, old timer?”

  “I’m a doing as well as I have any right to expect for a man my age, young fellow,” the old man said. “And how are you and your friend doing? You out hunting?”

  “Yes,” the larger man said, “that’s right.”

  “What you hunting way up here?” the old man asked.

  “Deer,” the lean man said, looking the cabin over from top to bottom, left to right as he stepped inside.

  “Now that’s mighty peculiar,” the old man said, slowly shaking his head. He picked up one of the books and started leafing through it.

  “What’s peculiar?” the larger man asked.

  “About them deer,” the old man said.

  “What about them?” the lean man asked.

  “There ain’t any,” the old man said. “Never been. Not around these parts. I ain’t never see any. I saw a bear once about seven year ago, but I scared him off. Banged on a pot. Gu
ess he never heerd a pot bang before. There ain’t no deer nor bear around here now. Only birds. Birds love this abode. Do you know why, young man?”

  The larger man shook his head.

  “Because this is a sanctuary to the Lord God which I built with mine own two hands. I had a vision in St. Louis. It was on the third of March 1919. A voice said to me: ‘Go unto the mountains, and build a sanctuary to the Lord God with thine own two hands. Build of undressed stone a pyramid as a testament to the Lord God, like unto the pillar at the border and the midst of the land of Egypt.’ Have you fellows ever studied up on the Great Pyramid? I’ve studied up on it for years, and I’m still a-learnin’. I have lots of books here and literature from all the religions of the world since time began with the original of Adam. Did you know Adam invented religion? Well, he most certainly did! He invented religion because he was cut off from the Lord by sin, and he had to find a way to get back to the Lord, and religion was his way. Do either one of you fellows have religion?”

  “Um, no,” the larger man said. “We’re just hunters.”

  “Oh, I can see that,” the old man said. “And you’ve come to the right place, like the man said, if you’re hunting for the truth. The truth is really all there is. Ain’t nothing else. A lie ain’t nothing. Well, maybe it’s something like air, I’ll give you that. But a lie just don’t have no substance. Now the truth is everywhere and that’s why all these religions of the world represented in these books and magazines on the table here all have truth in them. I’ve studied them all for years, and they are all really good, and have a lot of truth. Now, this is the Book of Mormons, that’s for people who belong to the Mormon religion and it is a good religion and has truth. We can know that is so because the Mormons built a big temple in Salt Lake City and it ain’t air. So we can see that that proves the Mormons to be true and good. And then here’s a Watchtower magazine printed and distributed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. That’s the Jehovites. They have truth. Some of their people have been up this very mountain preachin’ the word and have supped with me at my table. That’s how I got a-holt of their literature here. And then here’s a Hindu book. Bhagatavita— or something like that. It has truth. And here’s the Koran. There’s a mountain of truth there.”

  “That’s all fine—“ the larger man started to say.

  “You’re in a hurry,” the old man said, standing up.

  “Well,” the larger man said.

  “I understand,” the old man said. “whole world’s in a hurry nowadays.”

  “What’s that out there?” the lean man asked.

  “That?” the old man asked. “Why, that’s my altar unto the Lord. Want to see it?”

  “Sure,” the larger man said.

  The old man led the two other men out of the cabin, and they all walked up the path to the pyramid. The old man opened its steel door, and then turned back around.

  “Take a look inside,” the old man said. “It’s the sanctuary.”

  The lean man stepped forward and looked inside. His eyes fell upon an empty room with walls of stone. He came back out.

  “Nothing,” the lean man said to the larger man.

  “Nothing now,” the old man said. “But I’m still a-praying. Something will come one day.”

  “What?” the larger man asked.

  “The revealed mystery of the Lord!” the old man said.

  “Oh,” the lean man said, and he shot a glance at his partner.

  “Well, old timer,” the lean man said, “we’ve got to go.”

  “In a hurry,” the old man said.

  “In a hurry,” the big man said, starting to walk off.

  “Well,” the old man said, following along after the other two men. “That’s a shame. That is truly a shame. I wished you fellows could stay and sup with me. It would surely edify my spirit to partake of your fellowship.”

  “Perhaps some other time,” the larger man said. “Thanks for showing us your altar.”

  “Surely,” the old man said. “Now you fellows come back soon. I know you can’t be in a hurry all the time. You know we should all take one day of rest in the week, as it says in the Old Testament.”

  “Thanks for the advice,” the larger man said, turning around and calling back. He then turned to the lean man and they both started back down the trail which far below led to their parked car.

  “You’re welcome,” the old man said. “And may the Lord protect you on your way!”

  The two men’s heads disappeared from sight behind the growth of the forest from where the old man was standing. The old man stood his ground for a moment, and then he rushed back into the cabin, and stood by his peep-hole again.

  “Down they go,” the old man said. “They’re on their way, none the wiser. May the Lord truly speed their journey and may they never come back here again! Ha, ha, ha, ha! I’m going to turn on the microphones and the viewing screen, ha, ha, have some fun! Oh! Maybe you can see them, too!”

  The old man went back over to the wall, pressed on the board, and the wall slid back, revealing the blank-faced man lying inside the ‘recess room’ on the bed. The old man went over, grabbed hold of the bed, and rolled it out. The bed pushed the cot and the table against the wall. The old man then went to the chest of drawers, pulled the lower drawer open and flipped a switch mounted on the inside wall of the drawer. The voices of the two men walking down the mountain suddenly blared from a speaker somewhere in the cabin. The old man flipped another switch on the inside wall of the drawer, and a screen automatically whirred out from a slot in the cabin wall. The screen flashed on and lit up and revealed a scene of a forest and a trail cutting through it. Suddenly, the two men walking down the trail came into view. The larger man was saying to the lean man:

  “We have to check everything out, even the nuts.”

  “I told you we were wasting our time here,” the lean man said.

  “He could’ve been a real alchemist,” the larger man said.

  “We have a complete list of every alchemist in the continental United States,” the lean man said. “This guy’s not on it.”

  “Maybe he should be,” the larger man said.

  “All right,” the lean man said. “Put him on it. We’ll send a watch team out here every two months.”

  “Two months?” the larger man said. “Every week.”

  “What did you see up there that I didn’t?” the lean man asked.

  “A possibility,” the larger man said.

  “With a possibility, I’m only going to authorize a watch team every two months.”

  “A lot can happen in two months,” the larger man said.

  “I don’t think so,” the lean man said. “The old man is a nut, just a nut. That’s all I saw up there.”

  “Maybe that’s all he wants us to see,” the larger man said.

  “Maybe,” the lean man said. “But maybe qualifies for two months.”

  “All right,” the larger man said. “Can I be on the watch team?”

  “Oh, boy,” the lean man said. “You’re really chewing this like a dog chews an old bone. All right, you can be on the watch team. Now here’s the car. Let’s drop this subject, I’m sick of it, and I’m hungry.”

  “Let’s go back to that little café in town,” the larger man said.

  “The one with the blonde?” the lean man said.

  “You’ve got my number,” the larger man said.

  “I’ve always got your number,” the lean man said.

  The two men got into their car, the larger man behind the driver’s wheel. They closed their doors. The larger man started the car engine, and then pulled away from the little clearing where he had parked the car.