The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival (14 page)

“No, I got it.”

“You’ve got to let it live!” she pumped her
arms.

“It’s bewildering, that’s all.”

She nodded, smiled and said quietly. “I
suppose it really is. Let’s go back home.”

Johnny didn’t go back into work the next day,
although the routine of work and the life it supported still
shadowed his mind. He went back to his apartment to pick up a few
things. He ditched his khakis for some cargo shorts and an old
comfortable T-shirt, and threw his loafers in the trash and slipped
on a pair of sandals. He realized almost every single thing in the
apartment was unnecessary, except in the context of his work life.
He filled a box with some toiletries, a few changes of clothes,
some keepsakes, photos of his friends and family, an old address
book and his laptop and left.

He hung out in the shop during the day.
Between bouts of talking, sex and Dana taking care of customers, he
checked out the things she sold. She had some books in her
inventory. Some antique volumes and a mishmash of new age and magic
books.

In the afternoon, his Blackberry buzzed and
the red inbox notification light blinked. His boss sent an email.
“Everything alright? Come in tomorrow?”

He looked at the message and his stomach
briefly knotted. In his mind’s eye, he tried to imagine shuffling
through work days and hanging out with Dana in the evenings. She
crept up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

He felt her presence there and turned around.
“Work…” he gestured with the phone.

“Well?” she asked.

He read the message out loud and typed his
response.“‘Everything alright?’ He typed and said out loud,
“Yes.”

“‘Come in tomorrow?’ He said and wrote, “No.
Done. Bye.”

She hugged him and jumped up to kiss his
face. He went to toss the phone in the garbage.

“Wait!” she said. “Let’s sell that shit.”

As the days went by, the grip his former life
held over his mind, body, and habits slowly sloughed off. He
stopped shaving and his stubble had turned into the start of a
blond-red beard.

He was lounging on the futon, surfing the web
when her phone rang. He could barely hear her initial, “Hello.” but
then her voice went into high pitched laughter and happy chat. She
jogged into the apartment and sat next to him.

“Hey David.” She put her hand over the phone
and said to Johnny, “an old friend of mine is coming into town.”
Her face took on a look of complete surprise. “Oh no way! I can’t
believe that.” She covered it again, “he’s got a school bus!” She
smiled and laughed. “Am I in? Hell yeah! Let me hand the phone over
to my lovah boy, Johnny.” she chucked the receiver at him then
dragged some suitcases out of her closet and began loading them
up.

“Uh, hello?” Johnny said.

“Hey, Johnny is it? I’m David Mathis--Dana’s
a friend of mine. We’re swinging through your town in a few hours
on the way up to Hamilton, New York--that’s a college town, then
over to Ohio, then... well around. You in?”

He smiled. “Sounds great. Looking forward to
it.” She took the receiver back. “Well, we better get packing! See
you soon.”

She squealed and stamped her feet. She was a
whirlwind of activity, calling people, packing, and sending him on
an errand to take the cat to a neighbors. She locked up the
apartment and they went out on the sidewalk to wait. They heard the
unmistakable rumble of a diesel school bus and saw the yellow
rooftop as it made its way toward them. She got up and clapped and
waved.

David waved back. Other heads were visible
through the glass. He engaged the brakes, and the bus grunted and
wheezed to a stop. He leaned out the side window. “It’s tough to
park this thing on such a busy street. Can you guys just hurry
on?”

They climbed on board. David was smiling,
“What do you think of this?” Two other men waved hello. There was a
spot for luggage in the back of the converted school bus. About
half of the rows of seats had been removed, and a hardwood floor
was put down over the steel. The bus lurched toward the
freeway.

Robbie Wells was sitting on the floor. He got
up to give Dana a hug. “Hey girl! It’s been an age. How are
you?”

“I’m really good. Heeere’s Johnny.” She
flourished at Johnny.

“Nice to meet you.” Robbie said. “That’s my
brother, Matt sitting over there in the chair.”

Matt Wells was sitting in a leather armchair
that was bolted to the floor in the place of a row of seats. He
waved and got up to hug Dana.

“You are as pretty as ever, Dana! I hope this
guy’s been treating you right.” he gave Johnny a stern look, then
offered a hand.

“Pleased to meet you.” Johnny said.

They returned to their seats and Johnny and
Dana got comfortable on the floor by making a nest out of pillows
and blankets.

“This guy used to work as an Intelligence
Analyst…” she said.

“Yeah, and when she said ‘used to’ it was
really until last Monday.” Johnny offered.

Robbie eyed him, “that’s an interesting line
of work.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it… I’m actually
an EE. Started out working as an engineer and sort of got sucked
into the spy biz. It pays… paid well”

Robbie asked, “how long as an EE? doing
what?”

“Oh for, gosh, five years out of school.... I
did a little bit of everything… It was through working on remote
sensing systems that I bounced over into the dark side.”

Dana said, “yeah he woke up on Monday.” She
rubbed his chest again. He smiled.

“And here I am.” Johnny said. He gestured
around. “So what’s in Hamilton?”

Robbie and Matt looked at each other. Matt
spoke, “the dude was a spy a week ago.”

“Analyst.” Dana said.

Robbie took off his hat and ruffled his hair.
“Geez, Matty. If Dana’s good with him, then I am too.”

“How do you know he’s good enough for you?”
Matty asked. Johnny was starting to get a little peeved.

“What’s going on here?” Johnny asked. Robbie
started to speak, but Dana held up her hand.

“You just joined the resistance.” She said.
Robbie shrugged and nodded.

“Resistance? Against what?” The gears of his
mind were spinning but not engaging anything useful.

“Remember what you said when you walked into
my store for the first time?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you say?” she asked.

“My job was about killing people... I was the
guy on the death star blowing up planets...”

Matty rolled his eyes. Dana glared at Matt,
then continued. “You said ‘they’ told you there were reasons--like
the greater good, but you didn’t buy the reasons any more… Did you
ever wonder what was fabricating the reasons… making you believe
it?”

“Well, to be honest, not really too much.” He
shrugged.

Dana said, “it’s like there’s this grasping
powerful presence.”

Johnny laughed. “You mean the Emperor?”

She just nodded. Robbie said, “Bingo.”

He was incredulous, “You are telling me
there’s an emperor...”

Robbie nodded. “This is really hard to
explain at first without the context.”

Matt interjected, “So, should we really
explain to him?”

Robbie got angry. “Matt, how many times….
We’re
not
them
. This stuff’s a secret only because
it’s so hard to convey.”

Matt said, “Just not sure it’s wise... We
just met.”

Robbie shrugged it off and continued.
“Anyway, yes, there’s an Emperor, and in fact, some might call it a
god
.”

Dana nodded. “But before you get too awed by
the idea--it’s important to ask yourself, ‘self, what exactly is a
god?’”

Robbie picked up the thread, “Good point.
What if the god
s,
” he emphasized the ‘s’, “are real
beings--but they’re only empowered by
us
?”

Johnny was a little stunned, but he caught up
quickly. “That makes sense.” he said. “There’s this concept
‘emergent properties’ in physics. Maybe these things exist because
of us, but they also have an independent, objective existence sort
of the way consciousness emerges from a bunch of neurons.”

“Hey… this one’s quick!” Robbie smiled. He
popped open a cooler. “Beer?”

The drive to Hamilton took all day. They
stopped for dinner at a rest stop just across the New York State
line. Robbie got a grill going in no time, and he started pressing
out some burger patties. David walked over.

“Oh man, that looks soooo good. I missed
breakfast, think you could make me an extra?”

“Sure.”

While Robbie grilled, the rest of the crew
set the picnic table. Dana had a blue tablecloth with a big cartoon
sun in the middle. They weighed it down with plates to keep a gusty
summer wind from carrying it away.

David got up, “oh man, I forgot the tunes… be
right back.”

Robbie put the burgers and some grilled corn
and peppers in the center of the table. “There’s an extra burger
there.”

“Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve had any
meat! All rice and beans lately…” Johnny grabbed two burgers. He
was halfway through the first one when David returned with an old
ghetto blaster. He started to set it on the table, but the handle
disconnected from the body and it fell on the ground and broke
open.

“Ohhh shoot.” He said. “No tunes with
dinner.” He sat down in his place. “Where’s the extra?” he looked
around. Johnny looked down at his plate. “Oh man, you swiped my
burger!”

“Oh sorry! I didn’t know it was yours.”

He gestured at Matt, “Do you believe this
guy?”

Matt laughed, “oh get over it, David, he’s a
growing boy.”

“We can split the burger.” Johnny offered
half to David. “Plus, I’ll fix your radio.”

David took the burger. “That’s a really good
bargain. Thanks man.” He smiled and looked around at the table.
“He’s alright.”

The bus rolled onto the campus of Hamilton
College, which was summertime slow. A maintenance crew was at work
on one of the buildings, so the whine of power tools and banging
hammers drifted through the summer air. David shut the diesel down
and got up to stretch.

Jack Godwin was already walking out to the
bus. He had a briefcase and an overnight bag and was wearing a
white short sleeve dress shirt, comfortable slacks, and black socks
with sandals.

“Man that was a long ride.” David said and
rubbed his eyes.

“Now that’s a way to get around in style!”
Jack said in a lilting English accent. He gave David a hug.

“She’s been running really well, but whoa
what a fuel hog!”

“I bet it takes a lot to move that big yellow
chariot! I’ve got a couple of students taking the trip. They’ll be
out in a minute.”

The rest of the crew got out, too. David
asked, “Mind if we take a walk before we hit the road--we’ve been
cramped up in there for a day. It’s so good to be on a college
campus--so stately and serene.”

Jack and his students loaded their luggage on
the bus, then the group wandered the campus. Jack, David and the
Wells boys fell in together, while the students gravitated toward
Johnny and Dana.

“I almost take it for granted being nestled
and coddled--you are all out there on the frontier.” Jack said. He
was a professor of music, but wrote a pile of books on the western
esoteric tradition and had worked with the Wells family since the
70’s with Matt and Robbie’s father and grandfather.

Robbie patted his shoulder, “well we’re
always glad to have you join us for some adventures.”

“Nothing, too exciting--I mean physically
exciting I hope! At my age, I’m not sure I’d be of much use.”

Robbie laughed, “Nah. Not this time. Dad
sends his regards, by the way.”

“Is he enjoying his retirement? It’s hard to
imagine!”

Matt laughed. “Yeah, he went back to running
the farm full time instead, playing at the simple life. He still
likes to hear what we’re up to but doesn’t get involved any
more.”

Jack shook his fists, and laughed, “Oh that
sounds so pleasant. The Isles of the Blessed. Your father deserves
his retirement. I’m getting there myself, but I’ve got a few more
books in me, I’m afraid.”

“That’s good news for us!” David said.

The groups made the loop around the main
campus streets then headed back to the bus.

The bus rumbled west along I-90,
en
route
to Cincinnati where Jack was due to give a lecture on the
influence of the Troubadours on western literature. He was enjoying
some wine and cheese with the crew. They sat near the front of the
bus so David could participate. The students lounged around in the
back of the bus.

“Are you stuck driving the whole way?” Jack
asked David. His face was becoming a little rosy from the wine.