Soul Dancing with the Brass Band (The Brass Band Series) (13 page)

“Will’s ready for a change. Let’s see from what. What’s the middle card?” Ruth glanced down to see what the card was. “This one is Will’s current situation.”

I picked it up before Ruth could get her hands on it. It was a pink card decorated with young girls. “Oh, this should be interesting,” I said as I read what was on the bottom. “
You are good at helping, counseling and healing children
.”

Ruth thumbed to the proper page and announced,

“
One can be gentle and a fierce protector simultaneously. Your vigilant focus on keeping harmony within the household stems from your desire for children to maintain their youthful awe and sense of wonder.
”

“Don’t get worried yet, Hillary,” Ruth said with a snicker. “Will might still end up having some testosterone. The card on the right is the future outcome. Let’s see what he decides to do about his babysitting job.” I took a playful swipe at her. “Come on Hillary, what’s the last card?”

The card had a bluish girl on it with her finger up to her lips.

“
Take some quiet time alone to rest, meditate and contemplate
.”

“Oh…Will is just a wild man,” Ruth said as she found the correct page,

“
Shhhhh, dear one. Go into that space of silence deep within you. Now is the time to retreat into silence and spend time alone. Do not try to make any decisions now. Just allow your mind to rest and re-center. You’ll know soon enough when it’s time to take action
.”

“Well, now I know why he hasn’t called,” I said as I looked up at Ruth with a big smile on my face. “I hope he’s re-centered and ready to take action by Saturday or I’m stood up.”

Ruth picked up the cards and held them in her left hand.

“Let’s see if George is going to be a good or bad influence on poor sensitive Will. If Will is looking for a change, maybe George can facilitate it for him.”

I rolled my eyes at Ruth. “I’ll warm up the water for more tea.” I headed to the kitchen and noticed it was already after midnight and I was beginning to feel sleepy.

When I returned with the teakettle, Ruth already had the cards laid out and was reading from the handbook.

“Look at this, Hillary. The night I met George, he was
honoring the cycles of his body, energy levels and emotions
. Now,
he’s stronger than he thinks and his strength assures a happy outcome
. And Saturday night he’s going to
be honest to himself and his heart’s true desire
! I’d say George is going to be a very, very bad influence on soft hearted Will!”

“Well, let’s hope that George and his
desire
can get gentle Will to the party. Maybe the full moon can bring out Will’s wild side.”

Ruth laughed at me and said, “I think the Goddess has matched us correctly. I do deserve the wilder one.”

“And the shorter one,” I added.

SEPT 19, 35 A.D.

Tall, broad-chested Liam looks as if he is a powerful Druid warrior, but he is not. He spends his days totally involved in the teaching of children, oblivious to the world around him. Without his full attention, these young adapts might never be able to unleash the full potential within them. Liam encourages the innocent, pliable minds to follow him into other dimensions by letting them hitch a ride into the heavens on his life force. Once there, they play in this magical world, bringing back to the Earth plane supernatural talents not known to mere mortals. The powers are first felt as a vibration, but as the children learn to trust themselves, they manifest according to each child’s desire.

During the hours their souls take flight, the young students’ bodies sit limp next to Liam’s, in the silence of the temple. There is only one person Liam trusts with the monumental responsibility of guarding these helpless children, his lifelong friend, Georog. Battle scared and a giant among men, he has a ferocious love and loyalty for his fellow Druids and would happily lay down his life in defense of his brethren
.

Sept 19, 2010

I was sound asleep when I heard it or thought I heard it. I tossed off my covers, walked to the living room and switched on the lights. Ruth was madly running between computers trying to figure out which was hers.

“Yours is over here, Ruth and it looks like you have mail.” We had forgotten to shut our computers down when we stumbled off to bed.

“Here’s yours, Hillary and you’ve got mail too! Who should open first?”

“Like I have a choice. You go first. You look like you’re going to have an apoplexy.”

She opened New Mail and clicked.

I will wait on the South side of The Bell Tower

11:00 pm September 30th

Under the full Moon

George

“What’s yours say, Hillary?’

“The same as yours but without the full moon thing.”

“Oh George, you
are
a little wilder than Will,” Ruth said with satisfaction. “Get your party on, Hillary,” and she danced off to bed.

The rest of the week passed by rather unremarkably. I talked to other employees at the library and they seemed neutral about attending the Fall Mixer.

Ruth, on the other hand, had a group of friends who were going fully dressed or undressed for the occasion. Ruth’s friends viewed the Fall Mixer as a full-on costume party and were attending in Pagan garb.

I planned on falling right in the center of the two groups.

We painted our toenails Saturday morning. After all, we were wearing sandals and while I’d feel funny with the same color on my fingernails, I love dark polish on my toes. This took most of the morning, painting, drying, and repainting.

Later we visited the cosmetic section of the drug store.

“Okay Hillary,” Ruth said motioning me to the hair product aisle. “Your hair needs some fullness. This’ll work.”

Willing to take Ruth’s advice, I read the labe
l of the bottle she handed me, “
Sex It Up
- just hilarious, Ruth.”

“No joke, it’s really good. You’ll like it.”

My two-item bag didn’t compare to Ruth’s very large bag and as if she wasn’t loaded down enough, she insisted on one more stop, the bath shop.

“This is a make or break deal. We need a body mist, not perfume,” Ruth explained as we both picked out a scent before heading home.

Figuring we needed a nap so we’d be able to stay up until 1 or 2 a.m., we set our alarms to wake us up in two hours… but neither one of us could sleep. Instead we decided to go out for Italian food and strong espressos. I had a double shot, but Ruth was already so wired I tried to steer her toward water.

“You know we have to set up some rules, Hil
lary,” Ruth proposed.

“Rules! Like putting a sock on the door handle?” I laughed.

“Nooooo…” she said, drawing it out for effect. “You know last time…” I nodded my head yes. “We got home and didn’t know a thing about George and Will. This time we have to ask some questions. I’d at least like to know enough to look them up online.”

“Have you tried a computer search on them already?” I asked with a sneaking suspicion.

“Yes, and I can’t find anything. I need to know where they’re from, maybe their high school, something traceable.”

“Wow, I thought the Tarot cards were invasive! You did a search?”

“Yes, my sister and I started checking on people as soon as we learned how to get online. It’s fun.”

“I’m not ready to do a full interrogation, just a little small talk.”

“Okay,” Ruth said grudgingly. “Let’s get the dinner bill and head home.”

“I’m nervous. Are you?” I admitted as we walked slowly back to our apartment.

“You really have to ask? You can’t see me shaking?” Ruth said as she unlocked the door. “I have a lot of guy
friends
, which is how all of my dates end. I hope George doesn’t want to just be friends.”

“I guess we won’t know anything for another few hours. Let’s leave early, so we can walk across campus and back
toward the tower. I want to make sure they are at the tower before us.” By now I could tell nothing was going to relax Ruth.

It wasn’t long before I was slipping my red party toes into my sandals and locking the door behind us. We had talked about everything twice, so it was a silent walk to campus. We could see the smoke from the bonfire through
the trees as we walked toward The Commons. It wasn’t what we would call a bonfire down on the farm, but it would pass for one tonight.

Ruth and I skirted the crowd. Some of the students looked as if they had been here all day and it was looking a bit like Woodstock. The full moon was definitely having an effect. We were meeting Will and George another block to the east, so we slowed our pace down, knowing that we would soon intersect the sidewalk that was directly in front of the bell tower. We finally reached the point of no return and turned down the walk toward the tower as the bells rang eleven times. By the moonlight we could see two figures standing by the stairs. They walked up to meet us
, their smiles brilliant.

“WHAT DO you prefer?” Will asked, stopping directly in front of me and looking into my eyes. “Do you like Hillary or Chelsea?”

“It usually depends on my mood, but tonight I think it is better that I’m Hillary.” I was a little embarrassed that I wasn’t truthful about my name the first night we met.

“Okay,
Hillary
… would you like to sit?” He motioned to a moonlit park bench just outside a ring of students. It looked very romantic, but my mind and body were far too revved up with the excitement of seeing Will again to sit still. I smiled inwardly as I began to feel the same humming sensation in my body that I felt in the carriage house and now knew it was related to my proximity to Will.

“I think I’d like to walk for a bit.”

During the first few uncomfortable moments, we strolled silently through groups of students who were obviously eager for the midnight show to begin. We found an open space to stand about 20 feet from the stage and as the silence between us began to grow to a deafening roar, the floodlights dimmed and the lights came up on the stage. The dancers were astonishingly talented, so I tried to concentrate on the show, but found myself worrying about what I was going to say when the music was over.

At intermission, the student body erupted into applause as the stagehands moved the old sets off stage and the new ones on. The time allowed us to become more comfortable with one another, but now was the hardest part, talking.

“What have you been up to?” I asked knowing it was as lame as it sounded.

“I did promise you an explanation. Would you like me to answer your questions or do you want me to start where we left off the last time we were together?” Will asked just loud enough for me to hear over the crowd.

“You can just start. I’ll let you know if I have a question.”

Will looked up at the moon and seemed to gather his thoughts.

“George and I live in a fraternity house with our brothers. We just aren’t affiliated with the university. We’re a fraternity dedicated to the study of
knowledge
instead of
learning
.” He paused to look for my expression and I motioned for him to continue.

“Last spring George and I stepped outside the boundaries set forth by what we’ll call our
fraternity
, and found we really enjoyed ourselves.” He seemed to smile to himself. “Our home is not a seminary,” he said as if reading my mind. “We’ve just chosen to remain hidden from the rest of the world.”

I could tell he was trying to pick his words carefully, so I remained quiet while he gathered his next thought.