The Rejoining

by Jojo Brown

  Before reading the message, I looked to Chris. His simple smile filled me with the encouragement, I so dearly needed.

  This is what the message read:

  Blessed child of our soul;

  The time has come for man to know.

  The day is here for life to show.

  Wait for us there at thirteen with three.

  The time has come for all to see.

  The vault of knowledge within a circle been squared.

  Wait for us there, with all who are prepared.

  “Okay … I am open to suggestions. Does anyone have any idea what this is supposed to mean?”

  Adam and Chris were each looking over my shoulders. Aunt Rachel had grabbed a piece of paper and was busily copying the message down. She said that it was in case the letter disappeared again, as the moisture evaporated. Which is in fact, precisely what happened. Dad was pacing up and down, the other end of the room.

  The mounting tension in the room was nearly unbearable; it was almost as if there was an electric charge flowing between all of us. Suddenly, Dad stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me. “Pull it apart! Dissect it! Figure out what each line means and then put it back together. We have to get to the bottom of this, and it seems we only have today to do that!”

  His face was ashen, he was trembling, and I was afraid that this was all too much for him. I found myself at his side, gently turning him to face me. I took his face in my hands and examined the intricate map of lines there. Wondering once again, when he had gotten so old, I pressed my lips to his cheek.

  “Thank you, Daddy,” I whispered. “Thank you for saying we and thank you for being so strong.”

  Turning back to the rest of them and taking a deep, somewhat shaky breath. “Let’s get this over with. We all have a lot of life left to live, and I think it is going to be a lot better from here on out!”

  Thirty-one

  The five of us sat huddled around the coffee table as the sun began its assent into the early morning sky. We read the message out loud so many times, all of us had it memorized … etched permanently into our brains.

  It did not take us long to agree that ‘thirteen with three’ had to mean 3:13 o’clock. After all, the word time appeared twice in the rather short message. We already knew that today was the day for something big, now we had an actual time. All we had left to figure out was the place that it, whatever it was, was going to happen.

  “A vault of knowledge. That could be damn near anything. And… what the hell is a circle that’s been squared?”

  Chris was getting extremely frustrated. He threw the volume of the encyclopedia, which he had been searching through, to the floor. Running his hands through his hair agitatedly, he stomped into the kitchen.

  I had never seen him like that before and it frightened me a little. He was the one that always seemed to have everything in control. If he was losing it, maybe this whole thing was too big for any of us to handle.

  Folding my hands in my lap, I lowered my head and closed my eyes. Please, please. I have to figure this out. There has to be an answer to this riddle out there. Please let us find it, before it’s too late.

  Chris was suddenly back in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the frame, chuckling. Holding one of Aunt Rachel’s new glasses with the tips of his fingers, he stood there swirling the water around and softly chuckling. I thought he had lost his mind. I was scared for him and for the rest of us.

  Dad must have felt the same way; he was at my side almost instantly. “Chris? What has gotten into you, son? Rachel, you don’t have any vodka hidden away in there, do you?”

  Pushing away from the doorframe, Chris’ expression turned serious again. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare anyone. I am not drunk or insane. At least I don’t think I am. I thought of something, it just sort of came to me in the kitchen. We have all been looking too hard, trying to find the answer, out there in the world. It has been right in front of our noses, all along!”

  “What the hell, are you talking about? How have we been ‘trying too hard’?” Now it was Adam who seemed to be losing control. “What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. Maybe you don’t get just how important this whole thing is because you are not family!”

  “Adam, he IS family!” I jumped to Chris’ defense. “What exactly do you think it is, that makes a certain group of people a family? Do you really think it’s just random strands of DNA? If that were true, then adopted children would never truly be a part of the family that loves and nurtures them.

  “Love is what makes a family, Adam. Love, commitment, and true concern for the other members of the group. If Chris hasn’t proved that he is a member of this family, in these past few days, then I have no idea what it would take to prove it to you.

  “Just believe me when I say that this dear, sweet man is definitely an important part of my family. I know that I can lay all of my hopes and dreams at his feet and they will never be trampled. He loves me, Adam. Perhaps more than anyone ever has.

  “He trusts me, he believes in me. He has never let me down, turned his back on me, or run away from me. More importantly, I trust him, implicitly. If he says that he has figured something out, then I know that he has. I know that, as clearly as I know that as long as my heart beats and I draw breath … I am alive.”

  I was trembling. I didn’t know whether it was from emotion, exhaustion, fear or the freedom I felt, from actually having been able to finally put my feelings into words. All I know for sure is that when Chris gathered me into his arms, I knew that I was home.

  He held me until the trembling passed. No one spoke. I am not even sure if any of them even breathed. It was as though time had come to a stand still, waiting for me to be ready for the next heartbeat.

  As soon as I got myself back under control, I looked into Chris’ loving eyes and whispered, “I just want all of this to be done, so you and I can have the rest of our lives.”

  Gently brushing a stray hair from my forehead, he lowered his lips to my ear. “I plan to use the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you. I have spent enough time trying to live the life the rest of the world seems to think I should. I want to live the life I want. What I want, is to wake up beside you every morning, for the rest of my life. I love you, Ella.”

  “Dr. McLean,” Dad spoke up. “Are you trying to ask my daughter something here? Or, are we all imagining things?”

  “Mr. Marshall, I had planned to wait, until all of this was over, but… it appears that I am not the patient man that I thought I was. I love your daughter, with all my heart. I am willing to fight at her side or in her defense, to get her safely through whatever it is we are about to face. I vow my life to her, I vow to always protect and support her.

  “So, if she will have me… I would be honored if she would consent to becoming my wife, my partner, my reason to wake up in the morning.”

  I could not take my eyes off his face. He had said the last part, looking deeply into my eyes, melting my heart and taking my breath away. I could not believe he really truly wanted me, as much as I wanted him. Perhaps dreams could come true… if you were willing to wait for them.

  “Is this really the right time for this?” Adam piped up.

  “There has never been a time so right,” Aunt Rachel breathed, in answer.

  “Ella,” my father coaxed. “Chris is waiting for an answer.”

  I could not seem to find my voice, so I simply nodded my head as my cheeks burned and my eyes swam.

  Chris swept me up in his arms and spun me around, before kissing my moist lips. The idea that I was kissing the man who would be my husband, sent shockwaves of emotion through me. I knew, right at that moment, that when we were in our eighties or nineties we would still light a fire in each other.

  Before I was ready to let him go, Aunt Rachel was pulling me from Chris’ embrace. She held me, kissing my cheek, as Dad shook Chris’ hand and patted him on the back. Even Adam was hugging us, congratulating us
. I am positive that it was the happiest moment I had experienced thus far, in my life.

  “I really do hate to be a party-pooper, but…” Aunt Rachel gently brought us all back to the problem at hand. “Chris, you said that you had figured something out.”

  “Yes Rachel, you’re right. We need to get this situation out of the way, and then we have a lot of celebrating to do!” Chris placed one more quick kiss on my smiling lips before taking his place again, around the table.

  “I do believe that I have figured out the rest of the message.”

  Thirty-two

  "We have been scouring through the encyclopedias and atlases, trying to find some sort of natural anomaly. Something, somewhere that could explain that ‘circle been squared’ part of the message. We have been trying to figure out what a ‘vault of knowledge’ is at the same time.”

  “Damn it, Chris,” Adam was showing his impatience, again. “We are all right here, in the same room, buddy. Doing exactly the same thing as you. Do you really think you are telling any of us something that we don’t already know?”

  “That is what I am trying to say, Adam. We have been coming at this the wrong way. We are all looking too far afield. We are all stuck with the thought that this is some sort of huge mystery.”

  Chris carefully lifted the big book, along with the other assorted papers from the table and placed them on the floor. He replaced them with the glass that he had been drinking from.

  “Tell me what you see,” he said, to no one in particular.

  “I see one of my new glasses.”

  “A glass of water.”

  “Your drink.”

  They all answered at once. I did not say anything; I just stared at the glass, sitting there in the middle of the table. It was a very stylish glass, although I really didn’t like using those. I preferred the old ones. The new ones felt wrong in my hand; I liked the smoothness of the old ones.

  I felt very much like that glass right then. It was strong enough to hold its contents, unable to be crushed with the bare hand and yet at the same time, so very fragile.

  Chris snatched the glass of water up and swallowed the last of the water. Placing a slip of paper in the center of the table, he placed the glass on it, this time upside down. Lifting the glass from the page, revealing the wet ring left there, Chris repeated, “Tell me what you see now!”

  “A wet ring that is going to seep through onto my table,” Aunt Rachel stated.

  “A circle,” my dad offered.

  “No, it’s not a circle!” Adam exclaimed. “Look closer, it’s an octagon.”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when Chris clapped his hands. “Exactly! A circle that has been squared! Right there in front of our noses, I can’t believe we didn’t see it before this.”

  Now Adam was getting excited as well. “The writing in that book looks like ancient hieroglyphics, like the ones in the pyramids. Maybe there is an octagon shaped room inside one of those pyramids.”

  I had moved to stand at the window. My eyes were drawn to the view, as if they were working independently of my brain. I heard the rest of them babbling on about pyramids and new discoveries, pages of reference books making soft swishing sounds, as they searched for the elusive octagon.

  As I stood there, supporting myself against the windowsill, a little dog in the yard across the street looked directly at me and let loose with a barrage of high-pitched yelps. Squinting my eyes slightly, I watched as the pup disappeared. He just kind of dissolved, leaving a white spot in his place.

  That spot grew, until it had taken in the whole yard, followed closely by the house. It became a tunnel, moving away from me, but carrying my vision with it. Lengthening, stretching across town, the tunnel dissolved everything that it met.

  Houses, stores, yards, fields, and trees all disappeared in its path as it gained momentum. With amazing speed and clarity, it carried me to the other side of town, to stop with breath-taking abruptness at the foundation of the largest building.

  “You are all still looking too far,” I heard myself whisper.

  “What was that, Ella?” one of them asked.

  I blinked, and the tunnel collapsed upon itself, restoring everything, including the pup, to its rightful place. I half turned back to the room. “You are all still looking too far.”

  Aunt Rachel joined me at the window, softly placing her hand over mine, still on the windowsill. “Do you know where we should be looking, Ella?”

  With one more slow glance out the window, I resolved myself to what I knew now was about to happen. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and looked into my loving aunt’s concerned face. “Yes, I know.”

  I turned again to stare out at the puppy, playing in the snow across the road, enjoying his innocent excitement at the taste and feel of something so simple. I watched him as I spoke.

  “We have all been searching for some sort of mysterious, locked vault. We have been looking for something that contains ancient secrets from thousands of years ago, an undiscovered archaeological wonder. We all wanted it to be something huge like that, but it is not what the message meant.

  “They knew that I would not be able to scour the earth, in search of this place. They knew that they had to make the place easily accessible, someplace that I could get to, by the allotted time.”

  Smiling again at the puppy’s antics, I turned and walked to the bookcase. As I ran my fingers across the spines of the books upon its shelves, I felt an energy coming from them. It was as if each of the authors of the volumes were there to help me.

  “These… are the knowledge. I don’t mean just these particular books, I mean all books. Every book ever written holds some sort of knowledge, whether it is a child’s first reader or a massive medical encyclopedia. Books are knowledge! You can learn everything you could ever need to know, from a book.

  “With that in mind, it follows that a vault of knowledge would be a library. A place where numerous books of every type are held for safekeeping. Therefore, what we are looking for is a library, built in the shape of an octagon.

  “I still remember the uproar, when the plans were approved. It was stipulated by the town council, that one room was not to be touched or changed in any way. You were not here for it, Chris, but the rest of you should remember.

  “The town needed a new building for the high school. The land on which it stands on now was donated by the descendents of one of the original settlers. Once there was a magnificent home there, with wonderful octagonal-shaped rooms at each corner. Over the years, most of the structure deteriorated, all except the one corner room.

  “Everyone in town has a story to tell about that room. Some say that it was haunted, some say it was magic. It was always an attraction to the young lovers. Many couples shared a kiss there… or more. Too many couples to count pledged their love to each other within its shadows.

  “Most of the runaways from town were eventually found, safely sheltered within its walls. That was always a special room, so when the new high school went up, it was incorporated into the building. It had been built as a library when it was a part of the house and now… it is the high school library.

  “It is the ‘vault of knowledge within the circle been squared’ and I have to be there at thirteen minutes past three, this afternoon.”

  Thirty-three

  We had been living on soup and sandwiches for days. I was desperate for a slice of pizza and I desperately needed to get out of that house for a while. Dad, Adam and Rachel were not very impressed when I told them that Chris and I were heading out to grab a bite to eat.

  They all wanted me to stay there and go over everything again. I knew that they were scared and wanted me to spend as much time as possible with them, preparing for that afternoon. I knew that Dad was feeling very guilty for not allowing me to just be the person I could have been.

  Aunt Rachel wanted me to try to read the book again, even though the symbols it held meant nothing to me. Adam was acting jealous of Chris.
I am sure that he felt that it should be him that was taking me out for pizza.

  Too bad!

  I wanted and needed to be alone with Chris, even if it was just for a few minutes.

  * * * *

  Sitting beside each other in a back booth of the pizza parlor, I felt protected, hidden away from the rest of the world. As I waited for my slice of pizza to be cool enough to eat, I ran my hand along the length of Chris’ thigh. As my fingers stroked across the denim, stretched tautly over his hard muscled leg, I longed to be touching his skin instead.

  With his arm draped across the back of the bench-seat, Chris’ fingertips traced small circles on my shoulder. It was such a simple, unconscious act; one that happened everyday, all over the world, but it awoke an army of butterflies in my stomach.

  I wanted to shout from the rooftops that Chris and I loved each other and were about to be married! I wanted to walk in the rain with him, sharing the same umbrella, but not really noticing the puddles. I wanted to lie beside him on the sweet smelling grass and gaze up at the summer sky, filled with stars. I wanted to wake with the sunrise, to find him watching me.

  I wanted a lifetime of memories, a lifetime of his kisses, his love, and his touches. I wanted it all and I was determined that we would have it all. If we could just get through the rest of that day.

  “Your pizza is getting cold, darlin’.” Chris broke into my reverie.

  Picking it up, I asked, “What time is it?”

  “It’s almost two. Don’t worry, you still have time to enjoy your pizza.”

  Swallowing the wonderfully greasy mixture of cheese, pepperoni, and tomato sauce, I wiped my mouth with the paper napkin and turned to him. “I would rather be enjoying something else.”

  “If you are trying to say what I think you are… me too. Unfortunately my sweet, we have some unfinished business to take care of first.”