“I hope it is.”
“And what about the tower out by the bridge? Maybe it’s time for that to come down?”
“Yes,” Ben agreed.
“You realize we are really in over our heads,” Dr. Liz was saying when Jenna and Ben came into the conversation. “We have seen and touched the future. So, what do we do about that?”
Charlie, quick to put what had happened into sharper focus, wanted to reestablish a chronology, one the others might have forgotten. “Again, let me lay this out for you. Everything, except what was hauled away in 1947, was recovered and concealed by three people who had somehow entered an accidental breach in the fabric of space and time. Three people were able to reconstruct a church, which their craft had destroyed, and used this church and what was left of the adjacent parsonage as a cover so they could construct in existing caverns sufficient space in which to conceal who they were. As amazing and improbably as this sounds, these events did happen, and their secrets remained undisclosed, undiscovered—until now.”
“Then there never was a Pastor Arnold or a congregation,” Ben stated confidently.
“That’s right,” Charlie assured, “unless San Lando was a counterfeit preacher.”
“Preaching to a phantom congregation,” proclaimed Lacey. “I wonder what happened to him?”
“The rumor was that after the fire, the pastor took up residence in another church in Evansville,” Chase told them. “Except for a story in a 1901 issue of a local paper, I was unable to locate any other information on Pastor Thomas Arnold in the literature I researched.”
Shaking her head slowly, Lacey said, “Maybe from the start they realized the impossibility of being rescued and broadcasting their location was nothing more than desperation.”
“Knowing what we know, what do we do with this information?” asked Jenna.
“If they never meant for any of it to be found,” Ben began, “we seal it and walk away.”
“I think Ben’s right,” agreed Jenna.
“Or we destroy it all.” Matt spoke with enough seriousness to get and hold their attention.
“Good idea, honey,” Lacey said, before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Chase continued to construct what he considered a plausible narrative. “If the military had any additional interest, or thought they had left something important behind, they would have returned. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.” He paused to emphasize what he was about to say next. “If any of this got out, it would be disastrous. Even though I realize how much there is to learn, I can’t help but think it would be morally wrong to reveal what we’ve discovered. Please realize I’m speaking to you, not as a scientist, but as a man greatly concerned with our own future. And who’s to say that the government hasn’t already recovered this advanced technology from other crash sites?”
“Like Roswell,” suggested Lacey.
“Quite possibly,” Charlie nodded.
“What about the portals?” asked Liz.
“Yes, I know what you’ve told me and I’m afraid I can’t give you an honest answer,” admitted Chase. “Ben said he experienced a time-shift that was triggered at least once by the brooch.”
“It did happen. As crazy as it sounds, there’s no denying that I was transported back in time, to her sitting room.”
“There’s a very good chance that any portals have to be closed from the other side,” Charlie told them seriously. “The idea that they can be deliberately directed or managed is too implausible, that is unless you take into consideration that aliens from other planetary systems have visited earth during its prehistory by bending quantum mechanics and applications to create stable portals.”
“That’s pretty heady stuff,” Ben stated bluntly.
Charlie smiled at them. “It’s just something that’s out there. I only mention it to suggest that though these earth portals do exist, that any control or reliable governance, even manipulation of them is still theory. If the brooch worked, then it was conceived by someone from the other side, using knowledge decades, even a century or more beyond what we know today.”
They all looked at Ben, who was convinced they expected him to make the journey back in time. “I wouldn’t know what to do,” he protested. “And besides, it might not work again.”
Jenna looked at Ben before speaking. “You said Anna has asked you several times to return the brooch. Maybe it’s the brooch that would finally put an end to all this.”
Charlie nodded his agreement. “It is a sensible consideration, Ben.”
“Before we do or say something we might regret,” Liz started, “only we know what’s out there. No one else has seen what we’ve seen. I think it’s imperative that we promise to keep this to ourselves. I know temptations will be strong, but we must at all costs protect this knowledge. As Dr. Chase has suggested, if this information gets out, I know you can imagine the consequences. Life will never be the same for any of us.”
Everyone nodded.
“What about Adrian White?” asked Ben. “After all, he’s been as involved with this as any of us.”
Liz said, “Adrian is a man who can be trusted implicitly.”
“Does that mean we tell him?” questioned Ben.
“He has his own suspicions about Atwood House,” Liz acknowledged. “His research on the multiverse will keep him busy. So maybe we just leave it with the six of us, at least for now.”
There was more nodding among them, which meant each agreed with what Liz had said. If a time came when they were forced to tell White about their conclusions, the topic would be revisited. And that was the decision made among the six who had glimpsed the future.
Although Chase stayed silent in the conversation regarding Dr. White, he accepted what had been said and went on with what he was thinking. “There will be no fame, no glory, nothing that would benefit any of us financially. If we disclose what we know, the military will immediately clamp a lid on this place, and the truth will be twisted into another disinformation narrative. It’s imperative that we remain silent.”
“You mentioned shutting down the portals from the other side,” Jenna reminded Chase.
“Yes,” Charlie began,” but that would require getting to the other side. Even if the brooch has the power to do that, these portals could be unstable and decay sooner than we realize. As I’ve said, there’s been some study regarding time portals, but nothing definitive that I’m aware of, so stabilizing them might not be possible. This has been referred to as the zipper effect for many years. Time was an entity that could be controlled to a point, much like a zipper opening and closing. We do know density shifts have been reported by those who have experienced what’s known as magnetic fogs. Why these magnetic fogs occur is still not clear. I do believe there’s a good chance that portals move frequently, and those that don’t are somehow controlled, but, again, not from this side. This might have happened to Ben when he tried a second time. The portal collapsed.”
“Then we must return the brooch to Anna?” Jenna suggested once again. “What if she is giving us that chance?”
“What chance is that, Jenna?” asked Lacey.
“If the portal can’t be controlled from this side, she must surely know that,” continued Jenna. “I think that’s what she’s been trying to tell Ben.”
“Why don’t we talk about that later,” Ben said. “I’d like to get that tower down and buried.”
“We can do that very quickly,” Matt assured them.
Ben looked at them and said, “I sure don’t see any reason to leave it there any longer. It causes way too much attention, and not only that, it’s lousy yard art.”
The sun, low in the sky, barely broke the horizon. They had spent the afternoon talking. As evening began to descend, they stood near the bridge, ready to dismantle the tower. It took less than an hour to strike it, load it into Ma
tt’s pickup, and bury it, along with the several other pieces they had recovered, beneath one of the limestone slabs.
“We’ve all got some serious thinking to do,” Jenna told them, with a note of authority to which she was not accustomed. “I’d like to take a shower, get cleaned up and maybe we could meet somewhere for dinner.”
“How about the Knob Hill Tavern?” Lacey recommended.
The others were agreeable and arranged to meet at Knob Hill Tavern around seven o’clock. There would be no talk of anything but good food and friendship. Anything else was considered too risky. Even though both Charlie and Ben showed little enthusiasm, they did accept Lacey’s suggestion graciously. Apparent to the others, before they left Atwood House, was the distant look in Manning’s eyes. Jenna saw it and didn’t like it. She told them she’d stay behind and come later with Ben.
When they were alone together, she asked, “What is it, Ben?”
“Jenna please understand that I have to see her again, if for no other reason than to say good-bye.”
“It’s that easy?” Jenna admonished. I mean that’s how it’s done? It’s too bad you can’t call her on your cell phone and tell her. Or, if by some outside chance you got her mailing address, do it that way, and be sure to include a picture of yourself. That will surely ease her pain.”
“You’re embarrassing me.”
“That woman would cut out her heart for you, Ben Manning. That’s how much she loves you, and you want to say good-bye as casually as you would brush off a bad day?”
“What else can I do?”
“Your heart has to tell you that. I can’t. Let’s get you cleaned up. You can’t see her like this.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Maybe you could say, Jenna I’m sorry it wasn’t you. No that sounds much too, ah . . . pitiful.”
“What?”
“You heard me, and I don’t have the courage to say it a second time.”
“I never realized you felt that way.”
“With someone else that much in your eyes, it’s not possible to see what’s in front of you.”
He took her in his arms and kissed her.
“Really, Ben?”
“I’ve been such a fool.”
“No, you fell in love with a beautiful and evocative woman. With the exception that she lives in one century and you live in another, there’s nothing foolish about what you feel for her.”
“You’re a special person, Jenna.”
“I think somewhere along the way, I’ve heard that.”
Her smile was genuine, but in her blue eyes was melancholy Ben had not seen before. “What is it?”
“Everyone at some time or other goes to sleep at night, wishing, hoping, even praying for the kind of experience you’ve had. Dream lovers inhabit the world of sleep, but you’re one of the lucky ones, Ben. You truly are one of the lucky ones.” She had tears in her eyes.
Ben held her tighter in his arms and realized that Jenna Newland would always be there if he needed her. In those moments before they left to join the others, he wiped away her tears, and saw Anna Atwood in her eyes. Later that night, when they returned to Atwood House, a consensual decision had been made. They wouldn’t attempt to create the portal that Ben had revealed. For the time being, they would leave things as they were. With the future that had arrived in 1901 Newburgh, Indiana concealed beneath the church and parsonage foundations, Ben, Jenna, and the others realized life went on, not in 1901, but now, in this century, where each had several years ahead of them.
Chapter 55
June arrived breezy and damp. All along the streets and avenues of Newburgh, Indiana trees were in full bloom. The sweet scents of fruit trees were thick in the air. A new restaurant had recently opened on the banks of the Ohio River, not far from Atwood House. With the heavy rains of the previous week, the river at Newburgh Lock and Dam House was cresting near 30 feet, which was still a few feet below flood stage. But with a sunny warmer forecast for the coming weeks, no one even talked about the possibility of the Ohio River rising above 33 feet.
Matt and Lacey had a simple wedding on the lawn at Atwood House and moved into the three-bedroom bungalow on Second Street. Matt had the necessary skills to repair just about anything, and with Jenna and Ben helping, the house was quickly transformed into a home. Lacey’s excitement was infectious. Everyone saw it, and they were astonished at how it affected the rest of them.
The brooch was not sold to Bob Bergman for $30,000. Instead, Ben left it on the table where Anna was sure to find it.
Recently determined was the disposition of Atwood House. After conversations, especially with Jenna, it was mutually decided that Ben would not sell it. The thought that new owners might find on the property what Ben and the others worked so hard to conceal had heavily influenced his decision.
Even Liz and Charlie were spending considerable time together. Liz had published her second book on paranormal realities, which detailed specific accounts of a fictitious house in Bloomington, Indiana, and the book was selling much better than anticipated. Walking Einstein had some recent success with his research on parallel universes, which was receiving favorable reviews in scientific journals. Smith had called to congratulate him and asked if Charlie would provide some additional information on what Smith was now referring to as the effects of anomalous weather on electromagnetic vortices. Charlie reluctantly agreed.
To keep a secret among six people was no small task. New beginnings were coming for each, leaving them to consider the future with hope and excitement. Maybe that was enough to ensure that what they knew would remain undisclosed.
One late evening when Ben returned to Atwood House without Jenna, who was there virtually every spare hour she had, the sweet aroma of flowers was very strong. He went directly into the library to find a large arrangement of yellow roses in a stunning hand-painted porcelain vase, decorated with purple blossoms and white buds. The brooch was gone. His hand shook and his heart beat rapidly as he reached down for the note that was folded in half and tipped against the vase. With his eyes teary and every muscle tense, each breath pushing hard against his chest, he opened the note and read the few lines written in Anna’s hand.
My Dearest, Ben,
The ivy is blooming, and the songbirds are back, and yet I sit alone with memories of you, holding onto them each day. I long to see again your face each night in the emptiness of this house, where we live alone together. In the shade of the evening, you will find the crimson water lilies blooming in the stream near the bridge. They are for you. I am forever in your shadow, dear Ben . . . always remembering that the heart has no boundaries.
Always Yours,
Anna
He read the note twice more before slipping it into his coat pocket. If ever a person longed for a miracle under a sky on fire with starlight, it was Ben Manning. Though he was excited about his upcoming July marriage to Jenna Newland, never in his entire life had he felt this alone.
Under this sky of shimmering stars, he inhaled the crisp night air deeply, hoping it would clear his head. A gigantic and spectacular rose-colored moon had taken hold of the eastern sky. Rising just above the trees, its bewildered face with one unblinking eye, stared down on a world of small people, who were as ephemeral as those rare and delicate flowers that bloom only in moonlight.
After walking down to the bridge, he found them, several large magenta flowers, floating on the water in this stunning strawberry moonlight. In the blackness between stars, a pulsating redeeming light, brighter than moonlight, a chaste, jubilant, and exonerating light, fell across the warm enchanting landscape. All around him shadows came to life. The sweet scent of jasmine filled the air as one haunting unforgettable shadow paused near him on the lawn, where it remained for several seconds—before vanishing into this remarkably uncommon and extraordinary night.
Terry Trafton, Spider Lines
Spider Lines Page 34