Hello All:
"This is a very, special week at The Literary World of Tom Raimbault; for this is Halloween week! And like we do every year, new stories written just for the holiday are featured throughout the week. This year we roll out some brand-new Mapleview material in the form of a mini novella titled The Friendly Fort. Be sure to visit each day for a new chapter. The Friendly Fort will be featured from Sunday through Saturday."
***
***
Surely you do something similar. If you love Halloween as
much as I do, then you probably decorate your home with gravestones out in the
front yard along with gruesome statues and hand-carved Jack-o-lanterns. The
inside of your home probably has morbid pictures hung on the walls and plenty
of skulls seated on tables with candles. Yes, Halloween is one of the greatest
holidays of the year!
But you might occasionally receive backlash from people
who aren't too fond of Halloween. These people attack our beautiful holiday
that presents a certain
eeriness in the air that we can harness and use during this time of year.
But what to do with those who attack our wonderful
holiday? They tell you that it's evil. They tell you that it's the Devil's
holiday or a witch's holiday. I guess only if you let it be as such. Really, it's only a fun holiday to celebrate in autumn.
***
Today's featured writing in chapter two of The Friendly
Fort--a Mapleview mini novella. Enjoy!
Two mornings later, a Thursday,
Spencer sat at the kitchen table and ate a bowl of cereal while looking out the
window. It was a cloudy morning with occasional light drizzle. He had nowhere
to go for the day, no conferences, and no reports to write on recent updates of
land acquisition. One thing was for certain: there was plenty of downtime for
Spencer. In moments like this, he
wondered why it was necessary to stay in Mapleview. He could have easily flown
into town by commercial jet as needed to handle business.
Still, Spencer had to admit that
the peace and quiet of the surrounding Mapleview wilderness was a nice change
in comparison to the noisy hustle and bustle back at home. And if Spencer
didn't know any better, the town and wilderness of Mapleview was beginning to
grow on him.
Just then, there was a soft
knock at the front door. At first, Spencer intended to ignore it; assuming that
the knock was only a door-to-door salesperson, or some kid selling candy on behalf
school activities. But then he remembered that he lived off a highway, not on a
neighborhood street. For this matter, it might have been someone important.
Spencer quickly stood up and
walked over to the door to answer it. But upon opening; it was no one
important, just one of the strange Amish-appearing neighbors who lived next
door; a woman who might have been in her late forties with shabby hair grossly
parted down the middle and then pulled back into a pony tail. There was no
makeup on her face, of course. As for her outdated, floor-length dress; it was dull
black in color—almost dirty—with some sort of smock or apron on the lower
portion.
Spencer almost appeared annoyed
to see her.
"I'm sorry..." she
apologized. "But have you been to the cemetery?" Her teeth were
discolored, crooked and somewhat jagged.
"Excuse me?" asked
Spencer.
"The old cemetery out in
the forest." she explained. "The flat headstones have all been sunken
into the ground, and are almost unnoticeable. And there is no writing on them.
We've counted thirteen headstones, but wonder if there are more. I was just
wondering if you knew who they belonged to."
Spencer shrugged his shoulders, "Your
guess is as good as mine." he answered. "To be honest, I've never
even bothered to walk back into the forest."
For a second, the conversation
looked to have been over. But out of curiosity of his strange Amish-appearing
neighbors, Spencer next asked, "So how do you like it, next door?"
"Oh, it's nice." the
woman answered. "We should have you come over for a visit some time. I've
got my garden on the other side of the house. The sunlight is there most of the
day."
"A garden already?"
asked Spencer with a note of surprise. It was the middle of summer, and his new
neighbors only recently moved in.
"Well it's already
July." the woman pointed out.
All Spencer could do was speculate
that maybe they transplanted their garden from wherever they moved—as weird and
unlikely as that might be. Feeling it was best to maintain friendliness,
Spencer held out his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Spencer."
The woman daintily held her hand
out with palm facing the ground and allowed Spencer to momentarily hold her
fingers while shaking. It was very lady-like, not something a business woman
would do. She even did a slight curtsy—so old fashioned. "I'm Lydia."
"Well it's nice to meet you
Lydia." followed Spencer. And then he confessed, "Yeah, I was
expecting to hear you speak Pennsylvania Dutch or have some unique
accent."
"I beg your pardon. What do
you mean?" asked Lydia.
"Pennsylvania
Dutch..." said Spencer a second time. "You know, like the language
that Amish people speak. Aren't you Amish?"
Smiling only a several seconds
ago, Lydia now returned a queer and somewhat disturbed look. "No, we are
not Amish. What makes you think that?"
"Well you people sure do
dress differently."
Lydia apparently felt that it
wasn't a very polite thing for Spencer to say. At a loss of words, she turned
and walked away.
Spencer sighed and closed the
door. "Nice move..." he said to himself. "I suppose I came off
as being a real jerk."
Spencer sat down at the kitchen
table and finished his bowl of cereal. "Gosh, I'm in need of a cup of
coffee." he declared. "I need it more and more now that I'm living
out here."
And he was talking to himself
more and more since setting up residence in Mapleview as well.
A few minutes later, Spencer
backed out of the driveway. He carefully checked the highway for any oncoming
cars before continuing onto the road. Not more than halfway past the neighbors'
house, he quickly jammed on the brakes and pulled over to the shoulder of the
highway. Much to Spencer's confusion, the "For Sale" sign was in the
front lawn!
"What the...? They just
moved in!" Spencer could see that there was even a lock box on the front door.
"I've got to think of
something... got to think of something..." Spencer desperately sought of a
reason to go to the neighbors’ front door with information, and then casually
mention the "For Sale" sign in hopes for an explanation. "Ah,
the cemetery!" Spencer finally exclaimed while dashing out of the car.
"I will tell Lydia that I'll stop at the library and do some research into
the cemetery." But as Spencer stood on the front porch and rang the
doorbell, there appeared to be no one home. Was everyone who lived in the
house, out? Maybe Lydia was left home alone and she was now working, outside,
in her garden.
Spencer walked across the front
lawn and to the side of the house where Lydia described the garden to be. But
it was only overgrown bushes mixed with weeds along with patches of landscaping
stone. There was no garden.
Maybe Spencer didn't understand
Lydia, correctly. Maybe the garden was more towards the back. He continued
walking along the side of the house until reaching the backyard. He really expected
to see Lydia; if not, at least the sign of a garden. But outside of overgrown
landscaping and weeds, there was no garden.
Spencer continued walking the
perimeter of the house. He made a complete circle and, again, saw no sign of a
garden anywhere on the property. And the longer he investigated, the more he
felt that the house had been vacant for a couple of years. Had Spencer not seen
the new neighbors with his own two eyes, he would have believed that people
hadn't recently moved in.
***
In contrast to the drizzly
Thursday with ample downtime, Friday was a day in which Spencer met with
representatives of the real estate company to go over the various appraisals
for the properties he was interested in. Saturday and part of Sunday was spent
driving throughout the Mapleview region to visit the properties of interest and
photograph them.
So occupied with his work,
Spencer mostly forgot about Thursday's encounter with his next door neighbor,
Lydia. And beyond taking notice of the sudden appearance of the real estate
sign in their front lawn—and how odd it was—Spencer would pay no further mind
to it.
"But what about the missing
garden?"—you might ask?
Again, Spencer was too busy to
occupy himself with petty mysteries. He might have written it off as the neighbors
being strange. Maybe Lydia was not right in the head and only believed that she
had a garden.
On Sunday night, after his long
and busy weekend of work, Spencer slept soundly in bed. Actually it was going
on Monday morning, dawn only an hour and a half away The Moon was in its first
quarter phase. It had been nearly a week since sleepwalking and partly dreaming
of the strange neighbors having a bonfire in their backyard.
It was during this time when
Spencer had another disturbing dream. In the dream, he stood before the
bathroom mirror with the intention of shaving for the day. That's when the face
of Lydia appeared in the mirror. Plain face without make-up, and her grossly
parted hair that was pulled back into a pony tail; she forced a smile in a means
to cover some sort of sadness.
"Oh, I forgot to give you
this on Mother's Day." said Spencer while reaching over to the countertop
for a pink carnation flower. He actually handed the flower to Lydia through the
glass of the mirror.
Lydia gladly accepted the flower
which brightened her smile to the point of no longer being sad.
"Happy Mother's Day."
Spencer wished.
It was a strange act, indeed.
You see, the pink carnation symbolizes the undying love that a mother has for
her children. And Lydia certainly wasn't Spencer's mother! And as the seconds
passed in the dream, Spencer received the feeling that Lydia was communicating
her wish to be considered his mother.
"But they're coming!"
warned Spencer to Lydia. "They're coming! I wish you'd listen to me and understand
that they are horrible monsters!" Behind Lydia in the mirror, the scenery
changed to that of a raging fire with the voices of countless people screaming
in horror.
With that, Spencer quickly
awoke.
He glanced over to the clock on
his nightstand which read 4:02 AM. This was the second time that Spencer
startled himself out of sleep from a bad dream in which bad people were coming.
Never before had he experienced such dreams. What did it all mean? Spencer
could only assume that living in the new environment required some adaptation.
This might have been the reason behind the nightmares.
Spencer lay back down in bed and
closed his eyes. He laid there for about ten minutes, but could not fall
asleep. "I am not getting up for the day." he declared. Have you, the
reader, ever woke up extra early and wondered if you were being given a head's
up of important matters to take care of early in the day? It's like something
is urging you to get up and get ready for the day because something unexpected
is soon to take place. Well Spencer thought about this for quite some time.
Maybe there would be a sudden conference call to take place in the early part
of the day. Maybe he would receive a visit from one of the co-investors that
morning who wished to see the portions of land that Spencer found ideal.
Still, Spencer wasn't going to
get out of bed at four o'clock in the morning. He lay there and lay there until
finally dozing off. But then, around 5:15 AM, he was startled awake by the
sound of loud knocking at the door.
"What the...?" Spencer
sat up in bed. "Come-on! Who comes to the door at five o'clock in the
morning!" he complained.
As Spencer walked over to the
door to answer, the knocking continued—louder and louder—like there was
something urgent with the visit. He finally unlocked and opened it.
There stood Lydia with her
plain, unmade face and shabby hair that was grossly parted down the middle. She
wore the same dress as the last visit. "Good morning!" she greeted.
"Morning?" challenged
Spencer. "It's dark outside. It's still night for me."
"But it's nearly half past
five." pointed Lydia. The sun will be rising any minute." Then she
raised her hand to her mouth. "Oh, no! Were you sleeping?"
Spencer nodded. "I
was..."
"Oh I'm so sorry!"
apologized Lydia. "You must have been doing some work after the first
sleep, and didn't return to your second sleep until later. We do that
sometimes."
Spencer hadn't a clue of what
Lydia was talking about. "First sleep...? Second sleep...?" Then he
asked, "Well, what is it that you want?"
"Oh, we were visiting the
old cemetery and found a name on one of the headstones. You can't even read it
during the daytime, probably because of the Sun and its glare. It isn't until
dark when you hold a lantern near the stone that the name, Reverend Jensen, can
barely be read."
Spencer stared at Lydia for a
few seconds. "That's why you came here at not even 5:30 in the morning; to
tell me about a name on the headstone of an old cemetery?"
"Well I thought you'd like
to see it." suggested Lydia. "You said you would research the
cemetery."
"I did?" asked
Spencer.
"Yes, remember? And I
thought you could use a name to help you in this research. So would you like to
see the headstone before the sun rises?"
"Oh, I'm still in my
pajamas." excused Spencer. "I don't have my glasses on, and I haven't
even had my morning coffee."
"I don't mind
pajamas." reassured Lydia. "There isn't much I haven't seen in the
years of raising a family. Put your glasses on and come out. I have coffee.
I'll pour you a cup and bring it outside."
Spencer shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I guess there's no reason not to join you. I'll meet you in your
backyard."
A minute later, Spencer stood in
the backyard of his neighbors’ house. Crickets chirped, and robins announced
the coming of dawn. In the eastern horizon, the barely noticeable glow of
sunlight began to manifest.
And then Lydia emerged with an
eight ounce cup of coffee with saucer underneath in one hand, and a glowing oil
lamp in the other. When finally in his hands, Spencer could see that the coffee
cup was the fancy sort with elaborate flowers and trees painted on it. It
looked to be hand painted. And the small saucer had matching artwork.
The coffee was strong, but very
good. "Mmmm! Perfect!" exclaimed Spencer. "Thank you."
"I'm glad you like
it." acknowledged Lydia. "Now we better get going before the sun
rises." Immediately she walked through the backyard; past the half acre
clearing of trees and to the edge of the property that joined with the forested
wilderness. Spencer followed, but really couldn't see much beyond Lydia and the
glowing oil lamp. He was completely dependent on the guidance of his neighbor
lady.
The forested wilderness was even
darker, still. None of the barely manifested glow of sunlight in the eastern horizon
could be seen in this landscape. In the forest, it was still midnight. Lydia
must have ventured some one hundred feet until reaching a creek. From there she
followed it some distance until (in the midst of darkness) seemed to open as a wide
brook. She followed it further before finally stopping. There she announced
over the soft roar of the brook from a distance, "This is the
cemetery."
A short distance away, Spencer
could see the silhouette of a stone cross. It was the only thing he could see
of the area. Naturally, he began to walk towards it.
Lydia held her hand out to stop
him. "You're going to walk over the graves." she warned.
"Besides, the headstone I want to show you is over here."
Now July, the ground of the
forest was mostly tall vegetation—weeds and wild flowers that spring up through
last autumn's fallen and decaying leaves. But portions of this area had been
cleared by—assumedly—Lydia. She knelt down at one of these clearances and
touched a stone. "This is the one." Lydia announced. She held the
lantern near the stone. Sure enough, the barely recognizable name of Reverend
Jensen could be seen. "Is this the person you are looking for?" she
asked.
Spencer confessed, "Well,
up until now I haven't done much research into this cemetery. But I'll
definitely look this guy's name up. Maybe they have some old news clippings at
the library."
Lydia nodded her head in acknowledgement.
Spencer was suddenly interested
in the cemetery and asked, "Would you mind if I return here during the
daylight hours, and cut through your backyard to access the forest?"
"Oh I wouldn't mind if you
use my backyard as an easement to the forest." reassured Lydia.
"Please feel free."
After a few minutes of additional
conversation, and speculating that, perhaps, the cemetery belonged to a small
settlement of pioneers that predated Mapleview; Spencer and Lydia began to walk
back to their houses. It was then that Spencer casually brought up the
"For Sale" sign in the front of Lydia's house.
"So I was driving past your
house the other morning, and noticed the For Sale sign in your front
lawn."
"You did?" asked Lydia
with a note of surprise. "You saw a For Sale sign?"
"Yup!" answered
Spencer. "So I assume you will be leaving?"
"No, we are here to
stay." declared Lydia. "And I'm going to have to see this For Sale
sign. I'm not sure why someone would have put in our front lawn."
"Spencer was confused for a
few seconds. Then he suggested, "Maybe there was a mistake. It's probably
gone by now."
"Probably..." agreed
Lydia.
The remainder of the hike was
mostly silent. By the time Spencer and Lydia returned, the sun was peaking over
the horizon. This yielded Spencer a view of Lydia's garden at the side of her
house. It was, exactly, where she had described it to be the last time she
visited Spencer.
"Oh, there's your
garden!" said Spencer with a note of surprise."
"Yes, come over and take a
look." invited Lydia.
It was a large garden that
extended some distance beyond the side perimeter of the house. It was the sort
of garden that one would have if growing vegetables as a means to supply food
throughout the winter months. There was corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers,
asparagus, squash and eggplant along with herbs. Lydia and her family had no
reason to visit the grocery store throughout the winter months for vegetables.
This, of course, baffled
Spencer. As you recall, he hadn't seen evidence of a garden while perimetering
Lydia's house last week.
"Would you mind showing me
where you saw this For Sale sign?" requested Lydia as Spencer stared in
awe at her garden.
"Oh yes." affirmed
Spencer while walking to the front yard. "It was right there in the center
of the lawn." Spencer lightly jogged over to the spot and stood where he
saw it. "Right here... It was a big sign. Like I said, someone probably
made a mistake and quickly pulled it out."
"Probably..." agreed
Lydia. "But I'm glad to see that it's no longer there. Like I said before,
we are not moving. We are here to stay!"
***
An hour later on that Monday
morning—showered, groomed and dressed for the day—Spencer backed out of his
driveway and checked the highway for oncoming vehicles before pulling onto the
road. He was on his way into town for breakfast. But just like last week, he quickly
applied the brakes in front of Lydia's house and pulled over to the shoulder.
"Son of a..."
exclaimed Spencer before holding his tongue. "There it is, again!"
Right there in the middle of
Lydia's front lawn was a "For Sale" sign; listed by Mapleview's, Jack
Swieley Realty!
Spencer dashed out of his car
and up to the front door of the house. He would warn Lydia of the sign's
reappearance. And just like last week, there was even a lock box shackled to
the door knob.
"KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
KNOCK!" Spencer anxiously pounded on the door. He even rang the doorbell.
But there was no answer.
"Oh come-on!"
complained Spencer. "Maybe she's out in the back." "Spencer
rushed to the side of the house to where he and Lydia stood not more than an
hour ago.
But what was this?
Lydia's large garden was no
longer there! In its place was nothing more than the grass along with
overgrown, uncared-for landscaping. In utter disbelief, Spencer jogged around
the entire house while concluding that the house hadn't been lived in for over
two years!
What happened????
To be continued...
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