Sand Glass (22 page)

‘Janey
I,…..’

‘It’s alright.
I know. She found the equation, not me. I know this. I see it now.
But this wise woman, this Leanna, well there is more for me out
there. I need to get back.’ Her face screwed up then and she turned
away for a moment; ‘I have something I have to do. And then
everything will make sense.’

‘What?’

‘I’m still as
much of a genius as the other,’ she said, and if you are sure you
want to end this then I can help from my reality. I can go back and
I can do something that no one will expect. They will all look the
other way. You see….Jared is not the only one with a vendetta. He
doesn’t understand yet. But he will, one day. And I might ask
something of you at some time in the future. You see, we all have
secrets Davey.’

‘What
secrets?’

She ignored my
question and stared at me for several seconds, ‘Yes….secrets,’ she
repeated, ‘ and some things are like a pebble dropped in a river.
It just disappears. But you drop it in a pond and the ripples
travel outwards until they strike something and then get reflected
back. You do see what I mean don’t you?’

‘Err….’

‘You might have
to ask Dr Julian Rosen for the answer to that one.’ She sighed, ‘
besides, I owe him a grovelling apology. Perhaps you can make some
of it on my behalf?’

‘Yes….but what
are you going to do?’

‘That, my dear
is going to be one of your life’s little mysteries.’

I tried a
different tack, ‘What about Jared? What will you tell him?’

‘I don't know;
but we are to be invited to a feast this evening perhaps I’ll think
of something by then….it has at least been a chance to say
goodbye…. And for that I am grateful to you. You’re alright…..
Look, I’ll see you at the big dinner. And don’t look so glum.
Things being what they are, not every story has a neat well tied-up
ending. Sometimes you just never do know. I would have liked to
have seen the Cloud Fields for myself. But it’s just one of those
things.’

She was giving
me a rather unpleasant sense of fatalistic chills up my spine. What
she said sound ominous and filled with shades of charcoal and dingy
rain.

I opened my
mouth, shut it again. There really was nothing I could do. She had
come and seen another world, only to find that it wasn’t her world.
It belonged to another place. If this place allowed different
realities to coexist perhaps it was just a meeting like at a cross
roads. Soon to divide and go their separate ways. I was still not
sure what she had really meant about rivers and ponds. I would not
see it for a very long time. I looked at her. And I thought of
Jared again. He was going to be in a very weird state after this. I
really didn’t know what to expect.

She raised her
hand in a little wave, inclined her head and smiled; then turned
without the slightest hesitation, and left through the nearest
arched door way.

I sat down.
Partly because I was grindingly tired and mostly because I honestly
didn’t think I could stand up, the way my knees were feeling kind
of fizzy. It was the same sensation that I had on a fairground
ride. Ten minutes after getting off I swore I’d never go on it
again. The interview with Janey had been highly unsettling.

Then I felt
that I was being ignored and wondered where everyone had gone. It
was the first time I’d actually been alone since that time out
there in the cold desert near the endless rolling sea. I shivered
and went to the low dais to find a blanket. I wrapped one round and
curled up into it. For a while I felt hollow and exhausted.

I must have
dozed off for a bit, because the next thing was that Marcia was
gently shaking my shoulder.

I was so glad
to see her I almost burst into tears. But seeing as how being soft
and soppy had got me into this mess with the girls in the first
place, I just screwed my face up and acted all cool. Well I thought
I did.

‘Just to let
you know; I got all the pegs up.’ Marcia said. ‘I know that Heelio
said we didn’t need to. But after a cold night and a lot of trying
to write the definitive chocolate cake recipe, I got bored and
decided that you were: A; lost, B; Dead (and therefore really
lost), or C; annoying alive, and on your way back by another
route.’

‘You waited for
me?’

‘Of course I
did Milnes. What are friends for? But you know how my skills are
not just in cooking. But there is a point when one has to be extra
practical. I had a full cake box of daylight the next morning, and
the weather looked like it would hold, so I took the rope back
up.’

‘All of
it?’

‘Look… I’ll
tell you about how I did that another time ok?’ she patted my arm,
causing me to wince slightly. It was the right one, ‘oh, sorry… I
forgot. Is there anywhere that doesn’t hurt?’

‘Not really.’ I
said, as at that moment two younger girls came in to light the
lamps.

‘Heelio said to
come. He has something to tell you.’

‘Well it’s not
going to be much use now.’ I stood up then and hobbled over to the
part of the room to where my pack had been left. I plonked myself
down on a low wooden bench.

‘Janey is
giving you trouble?’ Marcia had always been direct, and this time
it was a relief. I shrugged.

‘She sounds
like Jared on a bad day.’ I said.

‘She’ll come
round.’

‘I don’t think
she will.’ I said woefully, ‘she was talking about something she
says she has to do. She’s going back to Base.’

‘I see.’ Marcia
seemed thoughtful.

‘You don’t
think she going to do something stupid?’

‘She just as
smart as Jules. And just as crazy as Jared. Do you really want me
to hypothesize on that one?’ Marcia shifted her weight from one
foot to the other.

‘What do you
know?’ I asked.

‘Only that you
can’t keep two of her in the same space without someone getting
hurt.’ she said; ‘this is not unusual, not for here. Jared used to
meet himself all the time.’ She spoke casually as if it was
nothing.

‘You’re
worried.’ I said.

‘Of course I
am.’ Marcia, ‘So let’s just be practical about this.’

‘But I don’t
know what to do…’

Marcia came and
sat next to me, ‘You really aren’t familiar with the law of sex and
oppression.’

‘Are you making
that up?’

‘Well… just my
name for it.’ Marcia made herself comfortable on the cushioned long
bench. I put my feet onto a pile of cushions laid over a large
rug.

‘Confidentially,’ said Marcia, ‘there is no real secret to
understanding a woman.’

‘Oh?’

‘You just have
to do exactly what she wants.’

‘What she
wants?’

‘Exactly. And
even, and this is important… if she changes her mind!’

‘Huh? I really
will not ever understand you lot at all. But we get on fine. Don’t
we?’

‘Yes of course
Davey! But that’s when you don’t have that terrible thing called
“Love” entering the equation.’

‘I think I
should have listened to Uncle Alex.’

‘Who is
that?’

‘The Alex. The
prefix is a term of friendly abuse. He was friends with our
psychiatrist long before we came here, and I didn’t find out until
all this happened. Actually, I thought you’d met before last
week.’

‘I think I
would remember that.’

‘Oh… of course.
I know that you are the brains of the operation.’

‘I do have
everything that is useful stored up here, it’s true. Maps; lists;
equipment logs; the lot. Give me two minutes and I can get all the
details out.’

‘Are you like
this back home?’

‘Sort of,’
Marcia smiled in a cheery way, ‘they get frustrated with me because
I’m a sod for not writing anything down.’

‘So how does
one get round that?’

‘I issued them
with Dictaphones, and told them to write down what they needed
later. Staff meetings are so much shorter when there’s no paper to
shuffle.’

‘That’s
brilliant!’

‘Thank you. I
am rather, don’t you think?’

‘Definitely.’

‘So how are
you?’ Marcia was turning it all back to the Janey thing I
assumed.

‘Not
overwhelmingly great. I guess it would be simpler to just get my
head round what was needed for tomorrow.’

‘Mostly, it
would yes. But Heelio was most insistent. He said you should visit
him in his own place before the evening gathering.’

‘Oh. Is there
food involved?’

‘Of course.
It’s a kind of farewell party. And don’t be concerned. They won’t
both be there. Our Janey is with Leanna. You will see her later,
after the dinner. It’s nothing heavy either. Just relax and eat and
have some cheery conversation with the natives. Oh, and avoid the
big white cherry things.’

‘Why?’

‘I think a
stronger constitution is needed for some of the fruits they eat
here. But look at the results! No teenage spots… fantastic hair and
nails.’

‘I hadn’t
noticed.’

‘Don’t you try
to… that is definitely a girl thing.’

I waited
outside the little curtained arch. A young woman came out with an
empty wooden tray. I entered. The cave had the rich hangings on the
walls, but was like the others and simply furnished. Heelio held
out his hand waving it to bring me into his circle of lamp
light.

I settled
myself on the little covered bench opposite him. There was a low
table next to what I took to be an arm chair of sorts. It was
unusual. Heelio regarded me with bright eyes and indicated the two
glasses full of an amber liquid that had been set there.

I carefully
picked up the glass. I was hand-blown and had itself a golden tint
that mirrored the liquid within.

Heelio looked
deeply into my eyes and sipped from his glass. I tasted the drink
also. It was mellow and aromatic and quite strong with the proof of
a spirit like whiskey.

I had grown
used to this being quietly examined and measured by the tribe. I
let him look. I relaxed and tried not to resist his penetrating
gaze.

My mind was
unhooking. I saw those pictures in my minds eyes. Many things that
were there like a flood; like a river of knowledge just beneath the
surface of the conscious mind. But they were all confused, flowing
and tossing like the leaves on a tree in a strong wind. My eyes
refocused. Heelio was still staring at me. He sipped from the glass
again and returned it to the table. I put mine down also.

‘There is no
peace to be found, my son. You have broken into a divided world,
and there can be no peace. Do not trouble yourself. You cannot save
those who do not want your help. You cannot save yourself!’

‘It is true.’ I
said quietly.

‘Son. You must
let go of the other.’ At his point he took out a knife from his
robes, ‘do not be concerned. Do you know what this is?’

‘It looks…. I
means it might be similar to one we found out on the edge of the
err place the Moon walks; a lot further east of here.’

‘Yes…’ Heelio
smiled and nodded, ‘it is like that one. It was lost. And here we
do not tell the tale for there is a right time for such stories.
Now we could tell the tale of this blade.’

He held it out
to me. I took it cautiously. It was strangely light. Of perhaps the
fact that it was small and fine. I don’t know what I expected.

‘This blade is
the only kind that can break the connection for one who has not
their origin in this place, but has taken the water or the earth
into themselves. It was once used in a circumstance where a person
is two, not one. It has not happened in my time or my
grandfather’s. We stay away from the mountain. We only go down into
the caves now. Our people once did do that. And sometimes it was
very dreadful. Not everything within you is meant to come out. Some
things are designed to rest on other things. They are not meant to
have their own life separate from the rest of the mind. The
mountain takes a man’s soul and splits it into different parts.
These are like monsters or demons in some men.’

‘What of the
women?’

‘Our women do
not divide themselves. They are very…. As you would say “single
minded”. Here that is always true. It is the men whose minds are
filled with foolish ambitions and strange desires that might go to
the mountain place.’

‘Is it
forbidden to enter it?’

‘No….. We do
not forbid, because that would make it very desirable. We tell a
story to our young people. We tell them the truth. That way, should
anyone go near the place they would remember the truth we have told
them and it will warn them to not go into the mountain.’

Heelio took
another sip of his drink. I stared at the knife. It was dawning on
me that this could be used on any of our own team. I needed to be
sure.

‘How deep must
be the cut? And who can it be used on?’

‘Ah! Now you
see…. The cut must only break the skin. But it must be intended.
This does not work accidentally. I know your Chief has sent back
the soldiers with the wooden arrow heads. This is enough if they
have not tasted the water or eaten the fruit. And our hunting
blades will also work. We will act with mercy to send a stranger
back to their origin place. But now you and the others of your
whole tribe have taken into your body part of the body of this
earth, the metal that does not change must now be used. And then it
will only work when the desire is strong to act. Also you cannot
send a friend back against their will.’

I looked at him
startled, it felt as if he had seen inside my mind and knew what I
was thinking.

‘But now I will
tell you a secret…..’ Heelio took the blade from me and putting it
in a sheath, laid it on the table, ‘drink, and listen to what I say
to you.’

He waited until
I had taken several mouthfuls of the spirit from the glass. In the
lamplight and in the stillness of the room I felt a certainty
growing. This was what we would call “insurance”, if plan A and
plan B failed.