“Wow…” he said. He looked at the reflector with new eyes. He clambered down the ladder. “Johnny, apparently there are other worlds. We just happened to connect to this one, called Arcadia. There’s a woman over there, Samantha that’s like distilled sexuality.” He wiped his face with his hand. The memory of her stuck with him. “Apparently, they’re going to send one of their people to the farm.”
Johnny’s eyes lit up, “Oh wow, that’s really great!” he enthused.
Matt looked at him, his skepticism showed on his face. “How so?”
Johnny smacked Matt’s arm. “It’s a chance to compare notes. We have no idea how other people do this,” he gestured at the reflector. “I’ve been staring at data from this thing for weeks now, and I have no idea how it actually works. There’s no discernable electrical signal that I’ve been able to detect.”
Matt laughed, “I guess we should head back to the farm. Of course, Samantha didn’t say when this emissary would show up.”
“No email from the other side? It’s always like stone tablets, tea leaves, dreams: all that bullshit.” Johnny chuckled.
Matt slapped his shoulder, “holy shit! You’re a genius.”
“what? You want to hook up email?”
Matt shook his head, “Well, no. You just gave me a simple strategy. In three letters: FBC.”
“Face Butt Cunt?” Johnny laughed uproariously.
Matt laughed too, but his inner eye remembered Samantha’s body. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “No, Familiarity Breeds Contempt.” He held up a hand, “Picture this: we do this on an industrial scale. People go across as regularly as they use the Internet. We can destroy its power by killing the mystery.”
Johnny stroked his chin. “We need to build at least one more of these and put it somewhere else. It might be particular to this location, or particular to you and Telia. If we know that, then it’s pretty easy to build as many as we want.”
Chapter Seventeen
Telia and Dana walked into the house with large shopping bags hanging from their arms. Dana set the bags down and sang “taa-daaaaa” and pointed at Telia. Her hair had been colored a shiny dark black, and it had been styled into voluminous relaxed ringlets. She wore a charcoal black leather jerkin that was trimmed in the blackest velvet. The top of the jerkin was open and she wore a thin, black cashmere turtleneck. She wore a silver chain around her neck. She wore charcoal pants and knee high leather boots.
Matt, Johnny, Robbie, and Amy just stared at her as if hypnotized. She exuded confidence and energy. “Hi Robbie!” she said. He snapped out of his amazement and got up to hug her. She held him close. “It’s so good to see you--you’ve been out there for such a long time!”
Matt said, “Wow! I like this look.” he kissed her.
“I’m glad you like it. I’m going to go change back into something more comfortable--this is for the parents’ meeting at Tweedy.”
Robbie laughed, “thanks for sharing with the peasants! And the dog, too.”
She tapped Robbie’s nose, “Oh you’re the royalty Robbie.” She scratched Perry behind the ears.
Matt said, “speaking of royalty, Samantha is sending an emissary from god knows where.”
Telia arched an eyebrow, “Really… You mean a real live person?”
He nodded, “I guess so--although who knows, maybe it will be a talking crow.”
She added, “Well, that should be interesting. Sort of like making a telephone call through an invisible operator.”
Chapter Eighteen
The next day passed at a leisurely pace. Robbie spent hours bringing them up to date about his time on the road, and Matt and Telia told their incredible stories of the other side. Matt and Telia felt confined to the farm during the day as they weren’t really sure when Samantha’s emissary would show up.
Matt stood up, “I guess we need to start getting ready to go to Tweedy.” he announced. Just then a raven landed on the window ledge and rapped with its beak.
Robbie guffawed, “Are you fucking kidding me?” He pointed, “Check his leg.”
Matt opened the window and the bird walked onto his hand and eyed him. A message was tied around his leg with a ribbon.
Dana snapped a picture with her phone. She texted David the picture. OMG!!! SEND.
Matt untied the message and handed it to Telia. The bird kept looking at him.
Dana smiled, “I think he wants a tip!” she ran into the kitchen and got some bread and tossed it out the window. The bird deftly hopped from Matt’s hand and winged to the ground.
Johnny laughed, “alright, have we seen it all, now? I mean, right?”
Telia read the note. “There Friday. -OWK”
Matt said, “I guess those are initials. I assume it means tomorrow.”
Telia shrugged, “Oh well, let’s get ready to go to Tweedy. Hey Dana, want to help me get dressed?”
“Sure.” she hopped up from her chair, and Telia put her arm around Dana’s shoulder. They walked up the stairs.
Chapter Nineteen
The parking lot at Tweedy Pines told the entire story of the socio-economic structure of the students that attended the academy and the staff that helped with the Parents’ Night festivities. A handful of weathered, older Japanese cars were tucked away in the remote corner of the lot. The rest of the cars were curvy Bentleys, boxy Range Rovers, and sports cars, like Porsches and a fleet of Maserati Quattroportes. A handful of vintage collectors cars dusted the lot.
Previously, Telia felt out of place, and slightly intimidated by the other parents at Tweedy. Matt easily fit in with a clique of professorial types, while a subtle pecking order she hadn’t understood sorted her into a group of second wives. But tonight, she seemingly blazed with an internal fire that drew the attention of people in the room.
“Dad!” Tracy trotted across the hall to Matt. She did a double take on Telia. “Mom?! Wow. What’d you do to your hair?”
Telia grabbed Tracy and hugged her hard and kissed her all over her face. “I missed you, Tracy!”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you sent me here! I’m thinking about getting a tear tattoo and making some Pruno in my dorm room.”
Telia laughed at her joke. “Oh Honey, you were totally right!”
Tracy regarded her with suspicion. “”Um, about what?”
“It was foolish to send you here against your wishes. I was wrong.” She shrugged. “Please forgive me.”
“Well, yeah…” Tracy said. Telia hugged her again.
Telia gestured at the room. “There’s nothing here that you can’t get at home. Really, I hadn’t appreciated how special our family is.”
Tracy looked at her. “Mom, you look totally different. This outfit is bad ass!”
“Mom’s still got it, eh?” Telia smiled slyly.
“Yeah, people are looking at you.” Tracy said out of the side of her mouth.
“Good!” Telia pinched her cheek like she was a baby. “Hey, let’s go talk to Bethany’s mom.”
Heather Madher was holding court by the bar. She had a martini in one hand and had the other hand on her hip. She was wearing a classic black cocktail dress, and had a sixties style hairdo with a white headband. She looked a little like Dianna Rigg’s character Emma Peel from The Avengers. She was an actress that had been in a string of successful TV shows in the 90s, and then got married to Charles Harris Madher IV, who was the son of wealthy Cleveland shipping family.
Her face lit up as Telia and Tracy entered her circle. “Tee, I love that ‘do!”
“Yours too. Very mod.”
Heather made a shooting gesture at her, then blew her fingertip like smoke was coming out. “Exactly. I’m working on a character.”
“Where’s Charlie?” Telia asked.
Heather waved a hand dismissively. “He’s in Florida doing something with coral reefs. Playing scientist.”
A band started playing. Heather whispered into Telia’s ear, “Bethany’s gonna sing
next.”
Telia recognized the opening strains of La Vie en Rose. Bethany Madher took the small stage at one end of the hall. The lights fell and a spotlight shone on her. When she started singing, the entire room became attentive. Her voice seemed impossibly mature and each lyric was dripping with genuine emotion. When she belted out the refrain, goosebumps rose on Telia’s arm. Heather was rapt.
When the song finished the room exploded in applause. Bethany bowed deeply and kissed her hands and saluted the audience.
“Oh my god!” Telia said to Heather. “That was an incredible performance.” She dabbed a tear away from her eye.
Heather was sniffling. “She’s been working on it for weeks--that one song. She stayed with her voice coach in a Paris apartment for a month. How’s that for a French class? What an amazing experience!”
“Heather, I had a completely amazing experience of my own just a few days ago. I thought you might be into it.”
Heather’s interest was piqued. “You do seem completely different. I can barely keep my eyes off you, girl. I was gonna ask what you did.”
Telia smiled and stroked Heather’s arm. ‘If you’ve got a few minutes this weekend, I’ll show you.”
“I’m intrigued, I’ll admit. OK. Text me the deets later. I’m going to go mingle.”
Tracy asked, “What life changing experience? I’m so far out of the loop!”
“You are! Why don’t you come home for the weekend? Robbie’s home and he has a new puppy.”
“What about class tomorrow?” Tracy said.
“Meh, it can wait ‘til Monday” Telia said. “This is going to sound so lame, but I never really realized, deep down realized how important our family is.”
Tracy smiled deliriously. “A puppy! What’s its name?”
“The dog’s named Perry.” Telia looked around and sighed. “This place does have amazing opportunities, but so does home.”
Chapter Twenty
“I half expect this OWK to arrive in the form of a crow that transforms into a man.” Robbie said.
The entire gang was waiting in the library. Amy and Tracy were on the floor playing with Perry. The rest of them were sitting around the table. It was a somewhat overcast day, and they’d turned on every light in the room to compensate for the dimness. The bulbs in the room were a pleasant, warm color, and the sun lamp on the second floor wall was shining a cheery yellow.
“We could be waiting all day,” Matt said. “I guess there’s not room on a crow message to put a date or time.”
Dana said, “you have to admit, though, you can’t really beat a crow message for drama.”
Matt chuckled. “No doubt. Is it too early for drinks?”
Robbie said, “Well, no, but we might all be too drunk to listen to this guy. I’ll stick to coffee for now. I’ll go fire up a fresh pot.”
Amy said, “I’ll go make it, I watched you last time.” She got off the floor and went into the kitchen.
A taxi rolled down the driveway.
“That’s no crow.” Johnny said.
Matt and Telia went outside and waited for the man to get out of the car. He had thin white hair that whipped around in the autumn breeze. He wore a tweed three piece suit and put a hat on against the chill. He pulled a small suitcase from the back seat of the car.
Matt and Telia greeted him. Matt said, “Hello, I’m Matt Wells and this is Telia. This is our family’s farm. Can I help you with anything?”
The man paid the driver with a wad of cash he had in his breast pocket. Then he patted his pockets. “Passport, keys, wallet. Good.” he smiled. He had kind, light blue eyes, and expressive bushy white eyebrows. He looked in the taxi to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything then closed the door and the driver left. “Hello, I’m Owen Wells Kearnby. I think we’re distant cousins on my mother’s side anyway.” he had an English accent, and spoke from his chest and throat.
“Where did you travel from?” Telia asked.
“I live in Wales.” He looked around. “I flew out of Heathrow. Spent the night at the airport hotel. Dreadful!”
They walked inside and he introduced himself to everyone, including Perry. Matt showed him to a room so he could take a nap before they chatted. They put out a spread of meat and cheese and bread and cracked open some beer.
Owen found his way into the library. “Oh my! This is an amazing room. My family has a similar collection, but the books fit inside an old cedar chest.”
Telia asked, “Owen, how did you find us?”
He smiled, “we have a mutual friend, of course. Samantha told me to come here a few days ago. It is always so intriguing to meet others who share this experience.”
Matt said, “Owen, we’re all wondering how you cross over?”
Owen smiled. “When I was seventeen, I had a crush on the most beautiful girl in my town and I pined after her. My mother told me I could have her if I asked for the help of Samantha.”
Telia raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? How did that work.”
Owen continued, “Mum gave me a fairly ordinary piece of polished copper. I looked into it and reached out with my mind and thought about my girl. Her name was Jean.” He sighed at her memory. “So I did, and to my complete amazement, I saw Samantha looking back. At first it was just a dim glimpse, like a face in a cloud. But with practice, it became clearer and clearer.”
Telia and Matt looked at each other with recognition.
Owen said, “Samantha helped me court Jean. But really, the point of the exercise, of course, was for me to make contact. My family’s been doing it for generations.”
Matt said, “Really. Does it go all the way back to John Dee?”
Owen nodded, “Yes, yes, yes. Our involvement--your family and mine--does anyway,” he gestured around to the room, “They were members of that circle.”
Robbie said, “Our great-great etcetera grandfather came to America to escape the fallout.”
“I guess Wales was far enough for us!” Owen laughed.
Robbie scratched his beard, “I wonder how they were related at the time?”
Owen closed his eyes, “Let me ask.” He opened them again, “She says my ancestor was your ancestor’s younger brother. Samantha lost contact with your branch of the family until you two reached across.” he gestured at Matt and Telia.
Telia was startled, “So you just close your eyes and talk to her?”
Owen smacked his hands on his thighs, “Oh I wish it were that simple. I explored the other worlds for years using that copper plate, but over time, I found I could cross over just by closing my eyes. Unfortunately, I also found Samantha can also talk to me at any time, which, as you might imagine can be fairly inconvenient.” He sighed.
Matt said, “Samantha called you an emissary. I took that to mean there are others, an organization?”
He rolled his eyes. “Emissary? She’s always so grandiose.” He stood up and paced the room. “I’ll attempt to put your experience in context. Have you ever watched squirrels, I mean really watched them?”
There were blank looks all around the room. Tracy had barely been paying attention, but finally spoke up, “Yes!”
Owen smiled, “Me too. Imagine the squirrels in your neighborhood are all members of different families. Imagine each family has a human trainer. Only a handful of the families can even take the advice offered by the human, and then fewer really are aligned with the advice given. For example, one human teaches organization, how to keep track of nuts and plan for winter. Another one teaches how important knowledge is, another teaches how to dance and sing, another one, how to fight, and so on. Individually, the training is not supremely useful. The organized squirrel family gets robbed by the violent one, or barring that, their life is exceedingly dull and gray without songs, just lists and lists.”
Robbie nodded, “I think I see where you’re going with this, we have some of the history here, well, the human history anyway.” He pointed to one of the rows of shelves.
“Oh
good.” Owen said, “I can give a more succinct explanation. Samantha and Louis are very, very old. They’re actually one being, at least I think so. Together, they’re basically knowledge. Our family is obviously aligned with them.”
They all nodded. Robbie said, “that makes sense… So what really happened in England?”
Owen continued, “Well, the story goes back further. As I was hinting, the shortcomings of one type can be mitigated through alliances. However, the alliances are necessarily very fragile. Imagine the knowledge seekers combining with the fighters.” He bumped his fists together. “Oil and water. They both can only see each other as a means to an end. That’s the broad brushstrokes view...” He held up a finger to indicate he was in the middle of a new thought and took a sip of beer.
His eyes hardened as if he were staring off into some impossibly remote distance. He spat the words, “The more detailed picture is a list making bureaucrat tapped into a deep primal power and started to feed the gods and mankind to this thing.” He sneered. “The alliance that sparked the Renaissance blew apart. Samantha had been central to the defeat of the Roman coalition, but was ousted.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival Page 28