“I don’t know,” started her father thoughtfully.
“It is an odd name, and I thought she seemed excited,” Diane said as she looked across the table at her daughter.
“That’s what I thought, too. What do you think she meant when she asked, ‘Who sent you?’” Amanda mused.
“That was curious, wasn’t it?” agreed Diane.
“Do you think she’s trying to find a way to Tuala, too?” Amanda asked. “She never did answer my question about any type of passage between.”
“That’s an idea. I wonder if she’s from there or if she just wants to go there?” Chris asked.
Amanda started to feel even more anxious about their upcoming meeting. Initially, she had thought Shemalla might hold the key to returning. But now, she wondered if the woman was in the same situation as herself: trying to find a way back. Amanda sighed and sat back against the booth seat. She looked beseechingly at her parents and asked, “What if this is just another dead end?”
“Let’s not think that way until we have a reason to,” soothed Chris. He hated to see his daughter in such turmoil. He was grateful when he saw the waitress returning from the kitchen laden down with their plates of food. Chris was a firm believer in a full stomach bringing a better outlook on any of life’s situations.
Once the waitress had deposited their food on the table and left, Chris led the family in prayer. Then he picked up his hamburger with both hands and took a huge bite and moaned in delight when his taste buds bloomed with flavor. Good food definitely made life easier to handle.
Diane rolled her eyes at her husband’s reaction to food. She enjoyed eating, but Chris positively lived for it. She picked up her fork and dipped the tines into her dressing before stabbing a few pieces of lettuce. She took the bite and chewed, all the while thinking about their impending meeting.
Amanda picked up her fork. When she had ordered her salad, she had been hungry, but now she was too nervous to eat. She poked her fork at the lettuce, the avocados, the tomatoes, and then the eggs. Her mind was anywhere but on eating.
“Come on, Amanda. You need to eat your meal,” admonished her father. “We’re all anxious about seeing that woman tonight, but we don’t know what’ll happen. What if she could get you back there tonight, but you hadn’t eaten? We need to be prepared, even if it’s just by keeping our stomachs full.”
“Dad, that’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard,” Amanda responded as she rolled her eyes. Regardless, her thoughts were distracted enough to allow her brain to register that she really was hungry. She stabbed a decent mouthful and started eating.
“That’s more like it,” Chris said with a smile as he took a forkful of coleslaw and watched his daughter actually eat her meal instead of playing with it.
With the last forkful of salad gone, Amanda set her utensil down on her plate and sat back with a satisfied sigh. “Well, that was the most effort I ever put into eating a meal!”
“It’ll be worth it,” Chris declared as he pushed away his empty plate as well.
Diane continued to delicately eat her salad. Between bites, she faced Amanda and inquired, “What are you planning on asking her?”
“I was thinking of just finding out what she knows about Tuala and see where the conversation goes from there,” Amanda replied with a shrug of her shoulders. She wondered to herself how much of her own story she should discuss with the mysterious stranger.
“That sounds good to me,” agreed Chris.
“What should I tell her if she wants me to talk first?” Amanda asked suddenly.
“Put it back on her,” Diane replied. “After all, she’s the one who wants to meet with us.”
“Okay, well, what if she’s trying to find a way back to Tuala as I am? What then?”
“Ask her what she’s found out so far. Compare notes with her on how you both got there and came back,” Chris answered.
“Do you think I should tell her about my twins?”
“I wouldn’t, at first,” Diane said cautiously. “Just say you left something very important behind and that you need to go back and get it.”
“That sounds like I’m trying to bring back something that should be left in Tuala.”
Diane finished her salad and pushed the plate away just as the waitress returned to put their bill on the edge of the table.
“Can I bring you any dessert?” she inquired as she picked up the empty plates and stacked them on one arm.
The three at the table looked at each other and shook their heads. Chris spoke for the family as he said, “No, thank you. I think we’re all full.”
“Okay. You can pay at the table or up at the counter,” she replied as she took the dishes back to the kitchen.
“Can we go outside, please?” Amanda could feel her nerves started to act up again, and she had the urge to do anything other than sitting still.
“Sure. You two can go on out while I take care of the bill,” Chris said as he took his wallet out of his back pocket and selected a credit card with which to pay the tab.
“Great. Come on, Mom,” Amanda shimmied out of the booth and stood up to leave. She grabbed her mom’s elbow and almost towed her out of the restaurant in her rush to get moving.
They stepped outside and were soon joined by Chris. Without any agenda, they walked up one side of the street, crossed the road and sauntered down the other side. They entered a few of the antique shops to look around, but neither Diane nor Amanda was in the mood to buy anything, much to the relief of Chris who would end up carrying anything they purchased.
Chapter Six
FINALLY TIRED OF being out in the heat, they found a bench in a nearby park and sat on it in the sparse shade of the spindly tree next to it. “I know I’ve already asked you a million times, Dad, but what time is it?”
With an indulgent smile, Chris lifted his wrist, looked at his watch, and replied, “It’s four o’clock.”
“Oh, do you think we should start heading back to the UFO Center?” Amanda could hardly contain her excitement. She had been afraid her father would tell her it was only noon. To hear that it was already getting so late, she started to get nervous over what she would soon discover.
Chris looked up and saw the UFO Center at the far end of the street from where they were sitting. He knew it would not take them any longer than ten minutes to walk slowly to their meeting spot. He shook his head and replied, “Not unless you want to stand around outside the UFO Center for the next fifty minutes.”
“I guess not,” Amanda’s gaze followed her father’s and realized he was right. “Today has gone by horribly slow! Why couldn’t that woman just take the rest of the day off?”
“She probably has bills to pay and couldn’t take time off,” Diane admonished with practicality.
Amanda rolled her eyes and hugged her casted arm over her chest. She blew air out of her mouth loudly and let her head fall backward until she was staring at the bright blue sky. She thought about meditating to try to bring peace and harmony to her mind, but her racing thoughts would not allow it. The silence was killing her, and she finally blurted, “Somebody, please talk!”
“What do you remember about your last day in Tuala?” Chris asked.
“Bryon took me to the mountain lookout just south of the City of Cresdon. That’s Cancun as you guys would know it,” she said as an aside.
“Are you sure it was a mountain?” Chris asked.
“Quite sure. It took us almost an hour to climb the steep trail to the lookout.” Then she thought to ask, “Why?”
“Well, if I remember my geography correctly, there aren’t any mountains along that entire coastline.” Chris continued to trace the map in his mind. He wondered how the topography could be so different when all of the land masses seemed to be the same but with different names.
“Well, I’m sure that’s where we were. I remember Barla showing me an atlas of Tuala where she had written in Earth names and she had said the land masses were all the same,
but the topography didn’t always match. Given that as far as the rest of Earth is concerned, Tuala doesn’t even exist so I guess anything is possible.”
“Okay, so what did you two do on the mountain?” Diane asked.
“We sat and ate lunch. I looked in on the girls through their crystals and saw they were happy with Alena and her children. Bryon and I talked about the twins. Mostly, we just enjoyed the view of the coastline until the clouds started to roll in and obscure it. Bryon announced it was time to get back to the telepod, and we started down the trail.”
“Then what happened?” Diane prompted.
“The clouds opened up, and the rain poured down. Everyone had talked about how late the rainy season was that year. I guess the time had come for it to begin. The small seasonal stream alongside the trail we were walking started to fill with muddy water. Bryon began to walk faster, and we slipped and slid down the trail.
“You both know I’m not terribly coordinated, and I was worried the entire time I’d fall over my feet and take Bryon down with me. As it turned out, Bryon was the one who fell. But that was after we heard this loud noise behind us and we saw a wall of mud coming straight toward us.”
“How terrifying,” gasped Diane as she reached out and touched Amanda’s casted arm in sympathy. “Then what happened?”
“We started to run, and Bryon fell. I helped him up and then I tripped and fell into the then raging water beside the trail. The water was running so fast I couldn’t keep my feet under me long enough to get over to the edge. It was all I could do just to keep my head from getting hit by the debris in the water.
“Then the wall of mud came around the bend and hit me full on. Luckily I had taken a deep breath before it struck or I probably would’ve drowned. I was pushed under and carried for at least a hundred feet in just a matter of seconds. I surfaced again just before the creek poured into the ocean.
“The last thing I remember was hearing a loud explosion right behind me. There was a bright flash of light and pain all over my body. I must have passed out then because I don’t remember anything else except seeing the man who rescued me in Cancun.”
“What do you think caused the explosion?” Chris asked.
“I have no idea. There was so much earth moving along behind me, it could’ve been anything.”
“Lots of earth moving, huh?” Chris repeated quietly to himself.
“What’re you thinking, Chris?”
“I can’t be sure without checking with a geologist but I think,” he paused to consider the possibilities, “maybe the weight of the moving earth caused a shifting in the ground below. There could’ve been a pocket of methane gas that released and exploded.”
“So?” Diane asked.
“So, maybe, that was the trigger for Amanda crossing back over to Earth,” he finished triumphantly. He looked back and forth from his daughter’s face to his wife’s. “Well, it’s possible,” he added with less certainty than before as both the women continued to stare at him with confused expressions.
“Hmph,” Diane finally replied noncommittally.
Amanda continued to consider her father’s theory. She vaguely remembered studying about the Bermuda Triangle in school. One of the theories for the ships disappearing was because of methane gas bubbles rising from the ocean floor and causing the ships to become less buoyant in the water and sinking.
The trouble with this theory was that the ships were never found. What if they didn’t sink but transferred over to Tuala? She thought to herself with excitement. “Maybe Dad is onto something,” she said out loud. “If this lady doesn’t have the answers we need then when we go home, we can do some research on that.”
“Speaking of that lady, let’s start heading over to the UFO Center,” Chris said as he looked at his watch.
“Really? It’s that time already?” Amanda asked with both amazement and excitement.
“If we walk slowly,” Chris answered.
It took them fifteen minutes to stroll to the UFO Center, and they stood under the huge concrete canopy to wait. Amanda paced across the length of the area while the remaining five minutes passed. She became excited every time the doors opened, only to be disappointed when it was just another visitor leaving the exhibit. Finally, the last flurry of visitors exited all at once, and an employee came and locked the door for the evening. Amanda glanced at her parents with a confused expression as she returned to where they were standing. “Where is she?” she asked anxiously.
“I’m sure they have some closing procedures to follow once all of the visitors leave. She’ll be here in a couple of minutes, I’m sure,” Chris answered reasonably.
Amanda continued her pacing. She had just finished her third circuit of the area when a woman’s voice spoke up, “Sorry I’m a little late.”
Amanda twirled around and saw Shemalla standing next to her parents. She rushed over to their side anxious to see what would happen next.
“Staff has to leave out the employee entrance at the back. I hope you haven’t had to wait too long,” she explained as she gestured behind her.
“Oh, just a couple of minutes,” Chris answered easily.
“Where do you guys want to talk?” Shemalla asked. “I don’t think here would be a good idea,” she said as she motioned toward the UFO Center.
“We’re not from around here. Do you have any suggestions?” Chris asked.
“We could go back to my house. I don’t live too far away. We could walk, if you like,” she suggested.
“Sure, that’d be just fine,” Diane said as she stepped closer. Even though they knew nothing about this woman, Diane had a good feeling about her. She instinctively knew she could be trusted.
“It’s this way.” She started to walk toward the parking lot and away from the UFO Center. The group walked in relative silence as they all wondered what would come of this meeting. Shemalla led them down the main street for a couple of blocks and then turned right. They swiftly left the downtown area and entered a small neighborhood of older homes. They crossed the street and went to the fourth house on the block which turned out to be hers. “It’s not big, but I live alone and don’t need much,” she said as they walked up the gravel path through the cactus garden to the covered porch.
Shemalla unlocked the front door and walked inside. A blast of cold air hit them as they walked single file through the front door. “Make yourselves at home,” she said as she indicated the living room to their left. “I’ll just go get us some glasses of water to drink, and then we can talk, okay?” She set her purse down on the table in the hall and kept walking to the kitchen.
With no other options, Amanda led the way into the living room and picked the wooden rocking chair to sit in. She watched as her parents sat next to each other on the old, red sofa. Looking around the room, Amanda noticed drawings of various people with odd little trinkets placed in front of them. Every corner of the small room had plants stuffed in them, some large, some small. Next to the doorway was a large potted jade plant. Amanda had never seen one quite so large except out in nature, and she wondered at its age.
Shemalla swept into the room carrying a tray with four glasses of water. She set the tray down on the coffee table in front of Chris and Diane and served each of them. She turned and handed Amanda a glass while she picked up the last one for herself. She turned back and walked over to the chair opposite of Amanda beside the sofa. Her hand shook as she took a sip from the glass. When she finished her drink, she cradled the glass between her hands resting in her lap. “Since it was my idea that we talk, I’ll go first,” she announced.
“My name is Shemalla Paramasivam, and I was born in Pantano on Tuala,” she began and then paused before continuing, “Can you please tell me who you are?” She looked pointedly at Amanda.
“My name’s Amanda Covington,” Amanda began, gesturing at her parents she continued, “These are my parents, Chris Covington and Diane Covington. We were all born on Earth, and we currently live in Florida.�
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Shemalla nodded even though she was now extremely curious about how they could know about Tuala. She decided to continue telling her story with the hope it would inspire Amanda to continue her own. “In Tuala, I became an apprentice to Elder Vargen. He has always been very interested in things having to do with Earth, and he is one of the co-founders of the Old Soul Engineering Facility. He passed his interest along to his son. One summer his son was showing off to his friends and performing his right of passage by creating a verifiable stunt on Earth. Well, his stunt was definitely verifiable since it went wrong and his telepod crashed just outside of Roswell.”
Shemalla paused to see if her guests were following what she was talking about. She smiled as one by one each person in the room put together the events to realize this was the 1947 flying saucer crash highlighted in the UFO Museum. “I can see by your expressions you are starting to understand what has happened to bring me here.”
“You haven’t been here since 1947,” Amanda protested. “You’re not nearly old enough for that!”
“You’re right, Amanda, I haven’t been here that long. I’ve been here on Earth for the past fifteen years working at the museum. You see, Elder Vargen was ashamed that his son had created such a mess on Earth, he took it upon himself to clean it up.”
“So are you saying, you know exactly what happened on that night in July of 1947?” Chris asked with excitement.
“Yes, I do.”
“Are you allowed to tell us?” Chris pushed. He had grown up fascinated with this whole scandal and was as anxious as a little kid to know the real truth behind the cover-up.
“We’ll see,” Shemalla replied cautiously. She continued her story by saying, “Anyway, since Elder Vargen’s son was responsible, the Elder was extremely embarrassed by the whole incident. He attempted to keep the entire episode quiet by filing a brief report with the Council of Elders with the promise to keep one of his employees on the case until all traces of it vanished from Earth’s memory.”
Ascension Discovery Page 33