CHAPTER TEN - RICHMOND
Edna’s pickup truck slowed down and stopped at the toll booth. Begrudgingly, Edna paid the bridge toll and whispered something quite uncomplimentary to the steeled and disinterested collector. The city of Richmond was in sight and both Edna and Aggie where in high spirits and looking forward to visiting Claire and Jade.
Earlier that day Dan and Edna had a long telephone conversation and Dan would remain in Miami a bit longer to oversee the sale of Robert’s house. Edna did not tell him of her concerns about Aggie, but did suggest to him that Aggie needed to get away from the bad experiences of late. Dan reported there was a fair bit of red tape and delay, involving the release of Robert’s body for his funeral. It seems that a few different departments and agencies had an interest and the county coroner had no intention of releasing the body until all the bureaucracy was sated. Edna advised him not to make a fuss just yet, as she wanted to get Aggie to Vermont before the news hounds caught a whiff of whatever was going on. Dan was overjoyed to hear that Aggie’s cancer had completely disappeared and she was now able and healthy. She was a joy and they had spent many hours shopping for new clothes – more importantly, they got on extremely well. They spent many hours in the truck, just chatting along like excited little girls going on an adventure. Dan said that Claire was expecting them and had been baking her scones and pasties for the occasion.
Dan and Claire lived in a lowset house about a mile away from Richmond airport – and young Jade spent many an hour on the front porch watching the aeroplanes take off and land. Sometimes he would wonder to an area next to the main terminal which housed some museum aircraft. On the front apron of the building was a full scale Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and he would pretend that it was his plane. He wanted to be a pilot or an astronaut, just like his uncle Robert, or if he could not be that, he would like to be a guinea pig farmer. Much to the consternation of his father, Jade had absolutely no interest in music. To him, it was just noise with a thump thump, or someone screaming or sounding like they were sick. He liked the sounds of jet engines, sirens, V8s and the soft subtle squeaks of his guinea pigs.
He quickly put one of his pets back into its enclosure when he saw Edna’s pickup turn into his driveway and ran to meet them, hollering to his mother that Aunt Edna and Aggie were here. Hugs and kisses later, they sat down to a delightful afternoon of tea, soda and scones with cream and strawberries. Claire offered sympathies to Edna and Aggie about the loss of Robert – Jade at twelve years of age – could not fully comprehend that Aggie now had no father or mother. He was embarrassed and found it difficult to enter into the conversation, especially so in hearing the way Aggie spoke just like a grown-up.
After a while, Edna said “Aggie, why don’t you go with Jade and look at his guinea pigs, apparently he still has a lot of them – I’ll go and unload our stuff from the truck.”
“Yes that would be nice, Jade, do you mind showing me your collection?” Jade had never heard younger kids speaking like an adult, but he had to show her every respect possible and said “Sure, but you might get some mud and shit on you, maam.”
“Hey! I’m Aggie your cousin, remember? You used to call me daggy Aggie – what’s this maam business?” Claire’s and Edna’s eyes turned upward as the kids raced to the back door giggling, just like normal kids should.
Aggie was cuddling a fat, white and tan guinea pig and Jade was counting a family of new arrivals. “Six more today; I think I’ll sell these later, after they leave their mother. Aggie I feel bad about you not having your Dad anymore. Maybe I can marry and look after you so you won’t be alone anymore. I can sell a lot of pigs, so we can have money to buy things you want.”
“Jade, I think your mother and father won’t allow that, anyway we have to finish school first. I’m fine and I have Aunt Edna to take care of me now, and if that doesn’t work out, I’m sure your mom and dad will look after me.”
“Aggie, how come you talk funny? You sound like a grown-up.”
“I’m sorry Jade; you know I was very sick didn’t you?” Jade nodded, “well I spent a long time in hospital and I wasn’t able to talk for a long time, I couldn’t move sometimes and other times I couldn’t wake up. I was always in pain and I thought I was going to die. I don’t think I was growing up while I was in hospital. Then a few days ago something strange happened and I woke up with no pain or anything and I felt really good. I think when I woke up, all the growing up caught up with me. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to be a snob – I’m still daggy Aggie and you’re still stinky Jade.” With a laugh, Aggie threw a muddy lettuce leaf on Jade’s head.
“Aggie this is Butch, he’s from the very first of my herd. He’s very old and can’t walk anymore. His back legs are kaput and Dad keeps telling me to put him down, but I can’t, so every day I carry him to his feed and water and give him a little rub down. Don’t know why, but he hates me handling him, even though it’s for his own good. Stupid pig, but I like him and every morning I came down expecting him to be dead – just listen to him whine – come on Butch, roll over for Jade’s daily massage.”
“He’s beautiful Jade; can I rub his tummy too?”
“Go ahead Aggie, I want to fill the water dish anyway – mind his tail, he can give you whiplash with it.” Aggie rubbed her fingers on the protesting creature, which immediately calmed down and submitted to her touch. “OK Butch, let’s get your body back to your home” said Jade picking him up and nosediving him into his hutch, like a toy jet fighter flying into its hangar.
“So have you made a lot of money from your guinea pig ranch, Jade?”
“Well last market I made $175.”
“Wow, so much?”
“Well I would have made a lot more if the door to the cage didn’t shake loose while mom was taking me to the market. I lost 15 pigs. They must’ve jumped from the trailer on the way there. On the radio, there was a story about a lady who was upset because she had seen the biggest rats in her life running along the footpath outside her house – and these rats had no tails.” They both cackled as they walked back to the house.
Butch was watching them walk back – he had trotted, without difficulty, from his bed to the outer gauze netting, some five yards away.
Edna had assured Claire that she was more than happy to raise Aggie as Robert had wished. She explained the strange and powerful urge to drop everything and drive down to Florida to see Robert and Aggie and how she had received the telephone call from Aggie an hour after Robert had died – it was almost as if she knew that Edna was nearby. “I know you have special gifts Edna, and your relationship with nature and the earth. Dan said that of all the kids, you were the one who kept, dare I say, some spiritual connection with the family past. He never really wanted to talk about his background. I suppose there are forces out there that we have no idea about, there has to be something to it, don’t you think?”
“I suppose you’re right Claire, maybe one day it will all make sense. Did you notice anything different about our Aggie?”
“Well it’s been a while since I last spoke with Aggie, but I’m a bit surprised at the way she speaks and carries a conversation – seems like a different child, but the same, sort of more mature – am I right?”
“Exactly Claire, I found it a bit off-putting at first. Also I’ve noticed that for a ten year old, she’s extremely advanced in mathematics. We had a little contest on the way here and I challenged her on different things like mental arithmetic, calculating and converting mileages. She even worked out how many power poles are between Jacksonville and Savannah by gauging the distance and studying the mileage counter in the truck – couldn’t tell you if she had the right number, but wouldn’t be surprised if she was dead accurate – she was at everything else. Claire, do you think I need to get someone to see what’s going on with her?”
“I don’t think you have any worries just yet Edna, don’t forget she’s gone through a lot of trauma in the last few days –so ther
e should be some reaction to all that. I must admit that she appears to handle Robert’s passing quite well – how was she when you collected her from the hospital?”
“I didn’t make a very good entrance when I walked into her ward room. The first thing I saw was a priest – I thought he was giving her the last rites - and I lost it. I threw him out and it must have seemed to Aggie that I was a loud-mouthed bully. Surprisingly she was fine, and happy to see me – and I could tell that she wanted to get out of that place so quick. I tried to talk with her about Robert, but she kept telling me that everything was OK and not to worry. Like you said Claire, she’s the same Aggie but different – a more mentally mature Aggie. Maybe that’s a blessing anyway.” Edna would never think of telling Claire about Aggie’s revelations of an alien in her head – Aggie did not deserve any unnecessary concern or heartache from other quarters. It was a problem that Edna would bear on her own shoulders.
Claire, who had worked with special children for many years, initially saw the possibility that Aggie might have a mild form of Autism, yet Aggie did not show any of the more common tell-tale signs. She had no problem coping with challenges, no apparent disability or trouble in the area of social communication – in fact, the opposite was true. “I think you two are well suited to each other and I’m sure you’ll get on well Edna, and I can only wish you all the best and happiness for both of you – you know that Dan and I would have been quite happy to take Aggie in with us?”
“Yes I know, but Robert’s wishes were for me to care for her. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea, but I’ll also respect Aggie’s wishes, and should she not want to stay with me, it’s good to know that she has other family to go to. Anyway we won’t be leaving the country and Putney, Vermont is only a couple of hours from here – and we want to see you come up for more regular visits, promise?”
“Well we won’t be seeing you in wintertime. I remember last time we were up there, snowed in for two weeks and living off your canned food. I can still see us opening the tins, yes the ones without the labels, and seeing what lucky dips we were going to have for dinner. Remember those cans hand-marked peaches and custard, which turned out to be braised lamb and vegetables? Ugh, I’ve never looked at custard again. Still haven’t told Dan or Jade that they were eating baby food much of the time.” Edna gently put down her tea cup then roared with laughter.
Jade and Aggie were leaning on the railing of the front balcony. They were watching the planes take-off and land at the airport. “I want to be an astronaut like your father was. I want to fly into outer space and float around the world and even go to Mars or Pluto for a look – that would be fun. Would you like to go into space or walk on the Moon or something like that Aggie?” Aggie was in deep thought – this was quite a question.
“I guess I would like to be involved with space travel, but more on the scientific side of things, perhaps a researcher, yes a researcher.”
“A researcher? What will you be searching for?”
Aggie suppressed a smile and said “I think I would be looking for stuff that would make the world better, maybe fix sick people or make sure that they always had something to eat. Maybe there is something out there in space or even something invisible around us, that needs my help.”
“OK, you do that and I will fly you there in my rocket.” They both turned to see what all the laughter was about inside. Jade whispered, “I bet they’re talking about the tins of baby food we had to eat when we were trapped in Aunt Edna’s house. The snow was so deep that we couldn’t even get to her front gate. She tells everybody about those cans, over and over, and thinks that Dad doesn’t know about it – he told me not to say anything and just let Mom carry on thinking that she has a secret.” It was now Jade’s and Aggie’s turn to laugh loudly.
The rest of the day was relaxing. Dan phoned later that night to report that he had gone as far as he could to recover Robert’s body from the coroner. Everything was still on hold and he had placed directions with the undertakers to retrieve the body from the county administration, whenever they approved its release.
The early morning calmness in suburban Richmond was broken by the roar of an incoming airline. The sun was coming up and Jade came running in. Edna, Claire and Aggie were up quite early and sitting at the table enjoying those wonderful small flapjacks with maple syrup that Claire enjoyed making – it was Dan’s favourite breakfast and he didn’t mind a fried egg or two on top of them as well.
Jade rushed inside, he was beside himself with excitement – “take a look at Butch, he’s been running around on his legs, there’s nothing wrong with him now. I went down to see if he was still alive this morning and here he was just a running round like a new piggy – I can’t believe it.” He danced a little jig around Butch who indeed scampered around without difficulty, trying to avoid Jade’s rubber boots which were depositing a little more mud than Claire cared for.
“OK, both of you – out!” said Claire with a wave of her arm, not knowing whether or not to be angry or happy with Jade. Jade scooped Butch up and ran back to his “ranch” and placed Butch back into his hutch. Butch immediately tunnelled through the new pile of straw which Jade had put there and hid.
Edna stifled a little burp with her hand -“well on that note, we had better get ready to hit the road again Claire, only a few miles to go now, might make an overnight stop in Frederick tonight.”
“Sorry you missed Dan but we’ll see each other again, at the funeral – whenever that is – Aggie, you look a bit down this morning, is everything OK sweetheart?”
“Yes I’m fine Aunt Claire, just a little tired, things have been going around in my head and I had a few dreams last night – not really nightmares – but I kept waking up. Anyway, isn’t it great to see Jade so happy? - he was really preparing himself to have to bury Butch this morning – I reckon Butch will live for a long time yet.” Edna looked at Aggie - she seemed to have a knowing smile on her face.
Did Aggie have something to do with Butch’s remarkable recovery? Edna did not miss the subtle parallel, and she felt a slight chill running down her spine. With great difficulty, she managed to suppress any more questions.
A few hours later, Edna’s pick-up left the driveway and Claire and Jade waved them goodbye. Edna was particularly happy to have made the stopover and promised herself that she would see the family more often now. These are the times when families support each other and it’s such a shame that sometimes it takes a death, for this to happen.
“To answer your question Aunt Edna, I think so, I’m not sure. Dwarg must have seen that I was sad about Butch. I felt something strange when I held Butch and my fingers tingled – that’s as much as I know.” Edna in fact, had not asked any questions, but she nodded anyway.
“Aggie, what do you think was happening last night, you said things were happening in your head, do you think you may be getting sick again, did you have a headache or any pain?”
“No, nothing like that at all – I think for some reason Dwarg was upset or restless – he couldn’t explain it to me but promised it would not happen again.”
“Aggie, please promise me that you let me take you to see the doctor or someone, if anything and I mean anything, upsets or hurts you –I need to know for my own peace of mind – promise?”
“I promise.”
Edna was thinking about home where she could touch her “lucky” stones, shells, bones and signs – she didn’t actually believe in their healing powers, but they sure as hell would settle her nerves right now. At that precise moment, Aggie turned to her with a smile and said, “Anyway aren’t we the female healers of our tribe – if we do get sick, shouldn’t we be healing ourselves with our powerful medicines anyway?” Why would Aggie say that? Was Aggie reading my thoughts?
The next hundred miles on the road to Frederick went by quietly. Edna was deep in thought, trying to think of a way of getting some treatment for Aggie – but whatever probable sol
ution she thought of, it would come to nothing, if not, be more harmful.
She never had much faith in psychiatrists and their ways and at that tender age, a certain stigma would always certainly follow. Play it by ear Edna, she told herself, and at once wondered if Aggie was reading her thoughts. She turned to Aggie and smiled, but Aggie seemed be become a little tense.
“What’s wrong honey? Did Dwarg tell you anything more about last night?”
“Aunt Edna, that picture on the wall across from the bed I was in, at Aunt Claire’s place – do you know anything about it?”
“Can’t recall which one you mean – oh the painting of Van Gogh’s Starry Night?”
Aggie went on, “It shows a small village and the sky has all those swirls of colours and lights.”
“Yes honey, it’s a print of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh – it’s a very famous painting – why do you ask?”
“Well, it gave Dwarg quite a turn when I looked at it – I don’t know why, nor does he, I think. That’s why I couldn’t sleep too well last night – he was really restless.” Edna was seldom lost for words, but was, for the next fifty miles.
“Edna, sorry, Aunt Edna, is there any chance of meeting that person who did that painting?”
“Goodness, no, Aggie – he died well over a hundred years ago, somewhere in Europe, Holland I think, because he was a Dutch artist.”
“Do you know anything about him or his life? – was he famous or powerful and do you know how he died?”
“Whoa there missy, don’t know too much, but I remember the story of him cutting off his ear to give to his girlfriend and I think he died quite insane. His paintings are very famous and the most expensive – that’s why people can only get copies or prints if they want one. His original paintings are hung in museums and art galleries around the world.”
Aggie was beginning to get a little excited, “he has painted more? Do you know what other pictures he painted?”
“Not off-hand Aggie, there’s a painting of a pot of sunflowers, a chair...but tell you what, seeing you are so interested, when we get to Frederick, we’ll hop into a bookstore and see what we can find out about Vincent. I’m sure they’ll have a book of his life and his works – how about that babe?”
“That’ll be great Aunt.” Edna, still utterly confused by the conversation they just had, felt a lot better although she didn’t know why. At the very least, she thought, Aggie’s invisible friend has a little interest in art and culture.
Dwarg in the Seventh Dimension : The Aggie Kellor Experience Page 10