The Cantor Dimension (3 page)

Bob Weissmuller, Eric's father, stood leaning up against a police car with his face illuminated by the rotating blue lights. His cheeks had a sucked in look, accentuating the bitter lines that had appeared on either side of his face. His hands were shoved deep into his coat pockets and a pipe hung from the corner of his mouth. His shabby brown coat was a perfect match for his drab, brown cap. His hobnail boots had seen better days as well. Bob Weissmuller was a frugal man and did not believe in spending money needlessly.

He silently watched the searchers. The only sign that he was distressed was the quick succession of smoke puffs emanating from the pipe. Eric was his only son. The birth had been a complicated one rendering Ann Weissmuller incapable of having more children, so Eric was the end of the line until he fathered children of his own. That was a hard pill for a farmer to swallow. Ann Weissmuller did not know that her only son was missing. She was visiting her sister in Joliet and they hadn't been able to contact her.

A young man in his mid-twenties walked up to Chief Hunsinger. "Sergeant?"

"Hmm? No, chief. Chief Hunsinger. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Mark Boeing, Eric's friend. His
best
friend." He emphasized the word "best." Mark looked around as if to make sure that no one could hear them. "I need to talk to you in private. It's really important."

Chief Hunsinger looked up with keen interest. "Do you have some information about Eric?"

"Yes! I mean, I think so."

Chief Hunsinger waited expectantly. "Well?" he prompted.

Mark stood uncomfortably, fidgeting with his leather gloves. He frowned at a group of people standing nearby. "Can we talk over there? Away from all these people?" Chief Hunsinger took Mark by the elbow and steered him away from the crowd hoping to finally get the break he needed in this case.

When they were far enough away, Mark let out his breath as if he'd been holding it. His discomfort did not seem to lessen and his gaze shifted nervously as he spoke. "I overheard old man Billings telling you about those funny looking lights in the sky. I wanted to talk to you about something but not here. Maybe we could meet somewhere tomorrow?"

Oh no, not another one
, thought Chief Hunsinger. Why did the crackpots always seem to show up whenever something strange happened? But you never knew, the kid might know something. "Don't you think tomorrow might be a little late for your friend, if he's in trouble?"

Mark answered, "No, a day won't make any difference if what he told me is true."

It was getting dark and it was well past time to call off the searchers for the day. "Okay," Hunsinger sighed. "What time?"

"I could meet you by the old Starnes' farm at 4:00 p.m."

The Starnes' farm had been vacant for decades and the house was a profusion of rotting wood and boarded up windows surrounded by tall, spindly weeds. Some said it was haunted by Billy Starnes who had been murdered there. It had been a gruesome killing with Billy Starnes butchered in his bed while his family lie sleeping down the hall. Billy was not yet twenty years old when it happened. It was a double tragedy as Billy was engaged to be married. Emily, his fiancee, had been inconsolable. She'd been the one to find the bloody body.

The prevailing theory was that her previous beau, Doug Darnell, had murdered Billy. Nothing was ever proven and both the Starnes' family and Emily had moved away. Some said Emily had been shipped off to a mental institution, never recovering from the gruesome murder of her beau. Rumors abounded when it came to the Starnes' murder and the old farmhouse had developed quite a reputation as a haunted house. The Starnes' farm had remained vacant ever since. Farmers were a superstitious bunch and nobody would touch the place after that.

Chief Hunsinger wondered,
Why'd this kid pick the Starnes' farm for a meeting? He must be as batty as the old man.
To Mark he said, "Okay, Mark, see you at the Starnes' farm tomorrow at 4:00 p.m."

Table of Contents

The astronomer Edmond Halley, whose photo was hanging on Max's wall, had been born and raised in Kent County, England. Brody knew that Max had a fascination with both Edmond Halley and Kent County as evidenced by the many books Max owned about both. One book had been flagged with a sticky stamped with the cube and he'd brought it home along with the Cantor papers. It was the history of Kent County, England - a place rich in myths, legends, and bizarre history - and it had been written when people still believed in magic, witchcraft and curses.

Brody had no idea what connection the book might have to Max's disappearance but he began to read it along with the Cantor papers hoping for a clue. A few sections were highlighted with a yellow marker and he zeroed in on those, immersing himself in subjects that Max considered important.

Strood was one such subject. Strood, a town in Kent County, England, started out as a bridge built over the River Medway by the Romans. Archeological evidence suggested that a good size Roman settlement was once built there. Both Roman and Saxon graves were unearthed near Temple Farm in Strood in which a variety of weapons, a bronze ring with an amethyst stone, a hoard of Roman coins and other antiquities were found.

The old Roman roads lead to the Hoo Peninsula in Kent where the lands of the ancient Hoo All Hallows were located. Hoo All Hallows was once under the rule of the monastery in Peterborough which was built by Bishop Sexwulf
²
of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia in the year 675. The kingdom of Mercia occupied the central portion of what is now England and came after the Celts, Romans and Jutes during the years 527 to 918 A.D.

Offa, the King of Mercia from 757 to 796, introduced the first penny to England which was made of pure silver and which was known as a
pennyweight
or
pence
at various times. It took 240 of King Offa's silver pennies to weigh one Saxon pound, also known as a Tower Pound, which was 12 ounces.

In the year 764, King Offa of Mercia, who was the son of Thingfrith
³
of Mercia, granted the lands now known as Strood to Bishop Eardwulf of Rochester, England. Four hundred years later in the year 1165, Strood was cursed by Saint Thomas Becket who was the Archbishop of Canterbury. As archbishop, Becket was one of the highest ranked bishops in the Church of England and a curse by one of such high ranking would be very powerful indeed. Strood, which was once under the ownership of a bishop, had now been cursed by an even higher bishop.

Becket had a falling out with King Henry II and a bitter feud had been waging between them over matters of church and state, with the de Broc family planted right in the middle of the feud. Robert de Broc sent his nephew John to find and lay insults upon Becket. The young John caught up with Becket just outside of Strood and on Christmas Eve, he cut the tails off of Becket's horse and sumpter-mule with the help of the townsfolk who had sided with the king. When Becket discovered the dastardly deed, he laid a curse upon the de Broc family and all of the people of Strood that their descendants would thereafter be born with tails until such time that the citizens did repent.

The men of Kent were mocked even in faraway lands where people believed them to be men born with tails. Apparently the citizens of Strood never repented because almost three hundred years later, an Italian by the name of Enea Piccolomini reported that he had traveled to the village in England where men were born with tails. Piccolomini later became Pope Pius II. To this day the men of Kent are known as the Kentish Longtails.

The term
Kentish Long-tails
existed even in Bailey's dictionary according to Volume 122 of the London Quarterly Review published in 1867, this being more than 700 years after Strood had been cursed. The men of Kent divided themselves to be called a
man of Kent
if he were from East Kent and a
Kentish man
if he were from West Kent, so that even in Kent itself a certain portion of the men were being disowned.

The London Quarterly Review told how the Portuguese preacher Vieyra had said that even Satan was tailless until his fall, after which the appendage grew "as an outward and visible token that he had lost the rank of an angel and had fallen to the level of a brute."

The existence of men with tails was known throughout the ancient world and Kent was not the only place where tailed men were known to exist. An island in the Indian Sea was the home of a tribe of tailed men which may have been the Isle of Satyrs as described by the esteemed Ptolemy
⁴
. Even the revered Pliny
⁵
, whose knowledge is referenced even today, spoke of men with tails and extraordinary swiftness of foot. The Isle of Batochina was reputed to have men with tails, and other tailed men were thought to live high up on a mountain near Canton, China. The island of Borneo was also afflicted, their tails being described as four inches long and very stiff, requiring the use of perforated seats on which to sit.

In the year 1677 which was during the life of Edmond Halley, the Isle of Formosa was said to have men with tails like brute beasts. The story was told by John Struys who had seen such a man with his own eyes. Struys witnessed the execution of a man who, upon being stripped, was exposed of a tail about a foot long and covered with red hair much like the tail of a cow. Other such stories were told of Formosa as well.

In Africa, the Niam-Niam people were reputed to possess tails. Men with tails existed even in the year 1861, some tails having hair and others being hairless. It was thought that the term
tailor
originated from such men. Albertus Magnus
⁶
, possessor of the powerful Philosopher's Stone, personally knew of three such tailed beings found in the forests of Saxony, one male and one female, and a third whose dead body was salted and sent to Antioch where it was presented to the Emperor Constantine. Magnus was the author of
The Book of Secrets
which spoke of astrology, the magical properties of stones and other such things which he considered important.

While Albertus Magnus might consider the magical properties of stones and men with tails to be important, Brody's head was spinning over the bizarre facts he was reading in Max's book. None of it told him why Max had disappeared unless he was off searching the jungles of some remote island for men with tails. All Brody got out of it was the discovery that his friend was very strange indeed. As to why the book was stamped with the cube to be protected along with the rest of the Cantor papers was a mystery to Brody, but he read on hoping that somehow it would help him find his missing friend. The legends of Kent didn't just encompass men with tails, the legends included a number of notable people who'd lived in Kent or had passed through including the writer Charles Dickens.

While the curse of the tails divided the county of Kent in two, the shires
⁷
of England were once separated into divisions of one hundred persons or households. Such divisions were called
the hundred of
so that you'd have
the Hundred of Greens Norton
,
the Hundred of Eggerton
and
the Hundred of Ham
. Most of the Hoo Peninsula in Kent was part of
the Hundred of Hoo
.

A mansion known as
Allhallows House
in Hoo All Hallows was once the estate of the esteemed Pimpe
⁸
family. It was later sold to the Copingers and by way of marriage, came into the possession of Sir Harbottle Grimston who was Master of the Rolls. Grimston was a very generous man with such a good heart that he often paid off the debts of prisoners so that they might be released from debtor's prison. If only the family of author Charles Dickens had lived during the time of Sir Grimston, perhaps he would have bailed them out of debtor's prison. As it was, the 12 year old Charles Dickens was the only member of his family to escape debtor's prison, as he was boarding with a family friend at the time of the arrests. Grimston spent much time in prayer and meditation and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. Sir Grimston died one year before the murder of Edmond Halley the soap-boiler, who was the father of the astronomer Edmond Halley whose picture was hanging on Max's wall. The book touched upon a mention of Edmond Halley.

The church of Strood was dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors. It was considered very bad luck to be buried at the north end of the church in ancient times and only unbaptized infants, excommunicated souls, criminals and suicides were buried in the region known as "down under."

In the registry of the burials in Strood, the name
Robinson
occurs. Robinson was the maiden name of the astronomer Edmond Halley's mother, Anne, who was married to the senior Edmond Halley the soap-boiler. Poor people didn't get their names in the burial register. The entries would simply say, "a poor old woman, a poor man of London, a bastard child, a servant, a maid, a seaman, a young man that was drown, a poor traveling boy from the Squires, a poor traveler who died suddenly in John Paine's yard," or "the hemp dresser's son." This would suggest that the Robinson's were of a good family. George Robinson was the Mayor of Rochester, England in 1655.

Another notable who passed through Strood was the Prince of Transylvania in 1661. This would have been during the life of Edmond Halley the soap-boiler, and his son the astronomer who would have been five years old. Prince Cossuma Albertus was approaching Rochester in his coach when it got stuck in the mud on High Old Robbing Hill about a mile from Strood. Little did he know that he had stopped at one of the most notorious places in Strood, a place where travelers were often robbed as the name of the location implied.

He decided to sleep in his coach and once asleep, his own coachman stabbed him in the heart, and then with the help of the footman they cut off the prince's head and threw his body into a ditch. The body was found by a doctor of physics who was passing by the ditch and was horrified when his dog brought him a human arm.