Chapter 8

As she sat beside the burly man who’d always been a part of her life, Summer’s mind sought out the Invisible Being in the clouds above them whom William had taught her to love and respect, even while she secretly feared Him for the breathless and dangerous storms He sent them on the open sea. He didn’t seem as intimidating as long as the land stood still under her feet! Captain Billy straightened his back with difficulty, then stood slowly, offering his broad, work calloused hand to her. In the time it took for her to decide to accept his help, or not, a rocky pebble struck the slick rock below, startling them.

“ I think we should use some of that wood from the barn tae keep the horses from coming tae near here. That sounds like it’s quite a way down! “ Summer nodded, falling in step beside him. After several seconds of perplexed silence, staring at their footprints leading toward the new fissure, she decided at last to simply to say what she’d seen. If she tried to explain it away she’d end up looking foolish it if was a natural phenomenon

“ The night of the earthquake when Al and I were alone on the Island, Cappy? “.

William Harcastle tensed and stopped in his tracks, watching her face closely. His concern made it difficult for her to go on.

“ I took the flashlight and came out here to check on Regina and her filly, and I saw lights, yellow lights, shining up from that fissure. The dust was so thick, you could see how yellow they were. But I haven’t seen it since. “

“ Yer kidding mae! “

“ No, I’m deadly serious. “ She assured him quickly, misunderstanding his exclamation of surprise.

William Harcastle looked over his shoulder. From here it was impossible to even see the crack in the rock. He frowned so heavily his eyebrows joined in the middle.

“ Tonight is Shabbat, but first thing in the morning, I’d like tae take a closer look a’ that! “

“ You don’t need my permission to do that, Cappy. “ She said nervously, till his hand closed around hers, warmed and calloused.

“ I was asking ye tae come along wid mae! “

Kim tried to hide her relief but she felt it too deeply. The tall, burly man’s smile deepened and they continued toward the pole corral, matching step for step as he held back, deep in thought.

Because Paul was joining them for dinner, as well as the work crew, Jillian had brought out one of Alice Faye’s heirloom tablecloths and set up the table in the formal dining room. It still smelled of dust and furniture polish, since it was used so seldom, and though Summer felt a little guilty at how hard her Mom had worked while she was done in the pasture, the meal itself went so well that Keith Talbot sat down at the baby grand piano in the living room after dinner and kept them all entertained for nearly an hour.

“ Dave thinks the house will become uninhabitable if we have another hard shake like the last one, Bill. So I guess we have to look at moving up to Emperor’s Croft or building a home of our own somewhere. Do you have any ideas where, Kiddo? I don’t think anyone knows the Island as well as you boys? “ Paul and Keith looked at each other for the first time all evening, but Paul looked away quickly.

“ Grandfather always said this was the only place that won’t blow away or wash away, Dr. Stevens. I can’t think where else you might want to live, unless it would be on the Stockwell’s farm? “

“ We have a team of people who are coming to safeguard the Island this winter, they’ll be staying there. “

Paul looked up in surprise, first to his younger brother’s face and then to hers.

“ Safeguard against what? The Millennium has come and gone, no computers crashed, no panes fell out of the sky, what? “

Before she could answer, his face hardened, and it was as if the pleasant evening had only been an illusion.

“ Not the horses! Because I’m taking those with me, back to the main island! “

“ Paul! “

Summer and Keith said in a single voice.

Kim felt as if her eyes were so wide they were going to take up all of her face as she looked to her mother, waiting breathlessly for her answer. “ My daughter’s well being. She is so attached to this Island that even if we drag her off by force she’ll be worried sick about it the whole time. The animal population, since we’re having more and more deliberate poaching on both halves of the Island, and though you and your family didn’t take great notice of it, we’ve been video-taping an entire wing of ceremonial chambers under the Great Mountain. “

“ The ‘talking sticks’! I saw the same stone glyphs Kim and my brother saw! I was down there too that Kim, Dr. Stevens! “ His voice went icy with contempt.

Kim stood up, her hands pressed hard against her thighs in repressed anger, unsure of what she wanted to do next.

“ Much more than that! “

Jillian Harcastle’s voice and manner softened but still allowed no room for disagreement. Her eyes narrowed, as if she welcomed the challenge.

“ It’s probably time for us to bunk down for the night anyhow. “ Keith’s voice broke in, clam and reasoned. “ We have to get up early in the morning. Thank you for the dinner, Dr. Stevens. Shabbat Shalom. Paul? You coming with me? “

Jillian repeated the farewell in a civil tone, but her anger was clear.

“ Bill and I are going to stay down here and discuss a few things, Dear. :" She said tightly to Kim, as Bryan Landry gathered his sleeping boy from beside his constant companion, gently shaking the older boy awake.

“ Take Angel out for a quick run, will you, son? “

“ Are we leaving the Island too, daddy? “ Breanne whispered, trying to keep her voice low. She would miss the older girl’s company.

“ We’re going to continue our studies, but we’ll be on the big island to do it. Although with Kim and her parents. There’ll be plenty of people for you to make friends with. “ He assured her too quickly, knowing how shy and withdrawn she became in a crowd. He’d given up so much of his own dreams to try and make things right for his children, but he could hardly risk showing his relief to get off this haunted island and out of this house to his employers, or to his children! What it would be like when his oldest daughter rejoined them, he refused to even try to imagine.

That night as Kim gave up trying to close her upstairs bedroom window, she knelt beside the bed, leaned across the old fashioned bedspread Alice Faye let her use while she was just a guest in the house. She laid her face in her hands as she prayed.

“ God? Are You too busy or too mad to talk with me? I’ll understand if You are, but I need to talk with You, so I’m just going to assume that You’re listening, okay? “ She paused, as if waiting for a reply, and used the time to try and sort through some of the new things she’d learned this afternoon; trying to assign them some sort of order in importance.

“ You know I love You, even if sometimes I don’t look or sound like it. And I think it’s wonderful that we had so many people at the Sabbath table tonight, Lord Jesus.Even Paul and Keith, or maybe especially Paul and Keith! “ She added with vigor, thinking that it was important to really say what was uppermost in her heart, even knowing he was already aware of the things she wanted to share or to keep hidden. It was the same thing she did for Captain Billy, or Keith and Eddy when they were still her friends, the way she longed for them to be again!

“ And I know that it may seem a little silly to you, to ask prayers for a horse.But Stormy was born here to be a herd stallion and he’s been with his mares for two years now, Jesus! I just don’t think its fair for Paul to just lock him up in a stall and say that its okay, because Keith will be take him out daily in the ring. How could that be okay? That’d be like taking my Mom and putting her in the midst of a big city, and... “

She stopped short.That was exactly what her Mom was going to do! She’d taken Captain Billy from the decks of the Merry Sow, made him stay with her for two years while they flew around the country to help Rudy promote the film about the Urchins on the national theater circuit, and now she was going to say. ‘ See isn’t this wonderful? Now we can stay in one city instead of having to chase around the country, doing so many interviews in one day,Bill! ‘ And never think twice that she had cut him off the sea he loved as much! She sank back on her calves, fighting the sudden images that flooded her head. What about Maxi? He was nine months older than her, he’d been the ship’s cat all their lives, then she put him in the cat carrier, brought him to Turk Gallagher’s house, then over here to this house, and she never thought twice about how he might feel? Just because she needed him! She’d been so angry at her Mom for changing their lives around without saying a word to her, but she was doing the same thing! How many other things like her Mom was she doing? Pushing aside the weight of the gentle Hand she felt trying to hold her near, she stood to her feet angrily.

“ I’ll have to get back to you on that, Lord. “ She said softly, under her breath. Reaching over and lay on the covers beside the sleeping Siamese. Maxi woke with a start, but smelling her near he didn’t strain his fading eyesight. His nose told him everything he needed to know, and though he was mildly annoyed at being awakened with the covers set up to received him beside her chest, he reached ip and delicately licked at the salt of her tears. His nose and ears acutely aware of the sounds the sea made on this oversized ship. As long as he was with her, he was content. But he simply assumed she knew that, and as soon as she moved him to pull back the covers properly, he snuggled down against the body warmed flannel of her pajamas and returned to his interrupted dream of the Merry Sow’s boiler room and the massive wharf rat he’d challenged so often and failed to catch. The girl beside him took longer to go to sleep.

The odd slant of the floor catch her off guard as she awoke and crawled out of bed, her eyes nearly swollen shut with lack of sleep. For just an instant she thought she was back on the Merry Sow and they’d hit a place of turbulence and she automatically locked her knees and spread her feet apart, waiting for the other side of the wave to tip the room to the same degree but in the opposite direction. When that unnaturally refused to occur she was shocked awake. Reaching out the four steps where she should have found the reassuring bulk of the built-in dresser, her hand only knocked against open air, mixing anger with her concern. She was just looking around when a small brown bird on the tree limb near her window began a song that should have belonged to a magnificently garbed bird like a peacock! Standing in place, she felt her facial muscles ease into a smile. Even before she smelled the odors of beef bacon sizzling on the wood burning stove, the acidic smell of smoke and green wood she knew Captain Billy and her Mom were home, and her world was right again!

“ Thank you, GOD! “ She demanded happily, stripping off her pajama and tossing it over the serene black cat curled in a neat ball on the warmth of her covers. She expected him to shake his head or to crawl out, instead Maxi just snuggled under the additional warmth and scent, content to stay in place until she left the room to where she could actually feed him. Her laughter sparked the tiny brown bird into a fresh burst of song then it flit away, anxious to reach the next furthest point of its territory to proclaim and defend the territory he and his smaller mate had chosen to feed their growing young.

She found that she had to hold her hands out to support her as she walked down the tight spiral of the servant’s staircase. She was excited about having the whole day ahead of them but she found herself boxed in by the designs of a generation she hardly knew. The master and mistress had a staircase four times as wide, even though she was sure Elizabeth was too down to earth to wear those kind of hoop skirts that extended three feet in every direction, but the servants had barely enough room to pass each shoulder, as if Andrew had already built the house before he realized they were going to need help to keep the two and a half story house so he’d chopped out space enough to allow them to come and go without being seen by the visitors or wearing out the expensive carpet that had to be shipped up here by tamp steamer when this part of Northern Washington State was still a wild territory, half Russian, half-Native American!

Her Mom was standing beside the heat of the wood burning stove, smiling at her in surprise and annoyance as she walked in from the formal dining room at the rear of the house.

“ I hope you didn’t track in mud and manure back there! “

“ I just got up. “ Kim admitted with a yawn. Leaning over William Harcastle’s shoulder to look at the Saturday paper. It was air dropped with the rest of their mail, but at just that moment she didn’t even want to think about any envelopes or letters! There was only a letter once every two months from Vicki because they lived so deep in the jungle, and any other letters would just be official business from the bankers or a worried note from Rudy who gave himself an ulcer worrying about why he didn’t have a reason to worry, and any of those could only pull her mother away from the Island and spoil this perfect moment.

“ Did you brush your teeth? “ Jillian asked as she raised from kissing her daughter’s cheek and her husband’s cheek in one smooth movement. “ Doesn’t it look like I did? “ She temporized, trying not to lie outright

“ I’ll be right back! “ She added hastily, as her dad folded down one edge of the paper to look at her, a bushy eyebrow raised in question.

Running back upstairs, she held her hands along the stained portion of the wood, pretending she was an airplane spiraling into the cloudless sky, her heart beating anxiously with pleasure.

“ Oh, I’m sorry. “ She apologized, simply because the two men glared at her as she raced down the hall toward the bathroom.

Paul Talbot turned and walked away quickly, going toward the front staircase as if he had an important meeting her didn’t want to be late for, and Dr. Landry stepped aside to allow her to enter the steam filled room. She tried not to feel the hard questioning in his eyes as she ducked under his outstretched hand, locking the old fashioned door to keep out the depth of the look.

She was happy and she was going to stay that way! When she was done, she lingered for a moment, curious why the steam was blowing toward the small closet door to the right of the cast iron tub? It was barely two feet square, and the louvers had been painted over so many times they were almost sealed, yet the room had cleared remarkably the short time she’d been standing in front of the mirror brushing her teeth. She knew her Mom and Dad were waiting breakfast on her downstairs and she wanted to join them as quickly as possible, to make the most of every second she had with them before Jillian took flight again, but her curiosity got the better of her. It was difficult to keep her footing on the narrow and curved edge of the high metal tub, but seizing a hold of the shower rod suspended from the ceiling, she tight-rope walked her way to where she could see the small square at eye level. There were natural spaces occurring between the globules of dried paint, allowing the smoke to be sucked into a dark place of some sort. There had to nearby access to the air outside for a suction to have been created. She found herself oddly disappointed, she’d hoped to find some new mystery, but Andrew had simply been modern enough to know that wet and mold would ruin the room if there wasn’t someway to get air in and out. It was only modern plumbing.

Kim jumped down to the thick rug beside the tub careless, certain that the stout flooring put in nearly a hundred years would muffle the sound of her fall and hold her weight despite the strange angle of the tub and walls. At the very least, she was fully awake, she told herself joyfully, putting the new discovery out of her mind. Eddy Logan breathed a sigh of relief. First that dog barking up here this morning now when the light was blocked off by the girl’s head peering into the vents, he’d thought for sure she’d heard something to make her suspicious! Wiping the dampness of his palms on his soiled jeans he vowed to quicken his word here, even at the risk of discovery, because the longer he took here, the greater the likelihood that he would be uncovered by one of the Talbot sons! And he didn’t want a needless conflict with Paul, he was in a position to really hurt them if he ever guessed what they were doing in secret! Breanne Landry looked up from her partially eaten breakfast, looking so guilty that Kim had to laugh out loud to reassure her. As soon as she sat down, Jillian Harcastle pulled a second plate from the oven, having to use a thick mitt since there wasn’t any way to regulate the heat until the wood was fully consumed. It was either stone cold or very hot.

William lingered over a second cup of coffee he didn’t really want, simply to buy time with them in the kitchen as the woman and two girls laughed and talked between themselves in a way that brought a kind of peace into his heart.

“ I’d like tae go over tae van Dantz wid Paul today, unless ye hae something already planned, Sweetheart? “

“ I can’t think of anything, but since I need to talk with Martina and do some grocery shopping, I might as well go with you. Or is this a ‘guy thing’? “

He laughed out loud, as though she’d made a very funny joke, while Kim and Breanne shared a pitying look for the senility of their seniors! Apparently only a mind well past thirty could think that was funny! Although it was late in the morning, Kim took off as soon as her dishes were rinsed and put in the dishwasher. It couldn’t be run until tonight when they had a full load, for fear they would empty out the metal reservoir before it could refill, and that would take another three days Captain Billy felt, then calling to Venture and Angel before she remembered, she let her spirit fly like a bird on wing as she ran downhill toward the modest red barn and the loosely kit collection of dark shapes grazing in the center of the oversized pasture.

Two Red-tailed hawks were circling, but she guessed they had fed from the cast up fish at the base of the mountain for they were too far over to be hunting from the sheer cliffs. At least they weren’t a threat to the little one, she thought with a guilty start. It was a good thing that the former owner of the Island allowed Al Hoag and his family to live there, because there’d been so much going on here that she’d totally forgotten the wild acalephand his precarious lifestyle, living so close to the surface of the water where he was an easy target to any raptor hunting from the sky! For a moment she wondered if he could dive, or did he even know if he could or not? But just as quickly, she noticed the patent old mare waiting in the feeding shed and the brightly colored colt at her side, and she forgot everything except what was in front of her eye.

“ Can I go with you? “ Breanne Landry asked, tensed for an abrupt refusal. Instead the older girl turned around and smiled as she nodded. It wasn’t what she expected from someone her own age who owned a whole island!

Leaving her to pat the gentle red mare so she could get over her fear of the size of the horse, Kim picked up the single work glove, glancing over the edge of the fresh bale of hay for the missing mate. Her first thought was that the ground had shaken more here, since the stallion barn had listed so badly afterwards, but even when she pulled the bale loose and looked under it, the yellow leather glove was nowhere in sight. Thinking Angel might have found it and carried it into the back stall to her ‘nest’ Kim straightened with a jerk and looked toward the other girl. Her heart almost stopping in fear.

Coiled near the city girl’s leg was a large snake!

“ Brae? If you can hear me, please walk toward me as quietly and as quickly as you can. “

“ You’re scaring me! “

“ I don’t me too! But come here, slowly! Please! “

At first she though the girl was too frightened to move, then she raced toward her, almost knocking them both down in fear, as they turned and looked, the viper raised its head, it tongue flicking out to taste the scent left on the air. It was too full to hunt more and too warm to stay in one place. Slithering back toward its burrow under the decaying wood of the barn post, the annoyed snake found itself unable to push all the way into the narrow hole because of the size of its swallowed but undigested meal. Seeing the snake’s tail and penning the partially obscured reptile’s body with a stick, Kim looked around for an empty feed sack. But the girl behind her was too frightened to answer her sharp requests to go into the tack room to get an empty oat sack, as if she feared every shred of burlap of dirt contained a venomous creature ready to strike her dead. She headed out the barn door at a dead run while Kim stood there, unable to trap the creature and unwilling to kill it.

With a snort of disgust, even though she understood the girl’s rational fear, she sprinted toward the cob web covered door, chagrined to find it locked. The city girl wouldn’t have been able to get in anyhow! Nervously she looked back at the rope like creature as it recoiled into a tight ball, the end of its tail rattling its anger and alarm. Hearing the familiar noise and recognizing the danger, Regina began to whinny alarm to her sleeping filly. Rearing up and smashing her front hooves on the back of the coiled viper until only a bloody, writhing mass remained at the door to the stall.

Dr. Bryan Landry had difficulty hiding his disgust at the bloody pulp, and he launched into an angry tirade against the trembling fourteen year old for having put his younger daughter in such jeepload. Then without warning his hands flew up in the air and he whirled around like a rag doll, held in place by the burly sailor.

“ If ye hae something tae say, say it tae mae! This is nae a sanitized city street, mun! Think! The gurl wud’ ha done nothing tae put yer daughter in harm’s way! But ye’d hae her tremble for fear o’ her life a’ the face of a spider! “

“ That was no spider! It was a snake! “

He broke the grip of the older man with the sharp sound of tearing cloth. Kim ran to his side, unable to keep her feet under her she was trembling so violently.

“ I’ve never seen a rattler on this Island. Hae ye o’ the Lad? Kim? Are ye al’right Lassie? “

“ I will be. “ She promised.

“ Where’s the glove, Lassie? “

William asked, returning to the dusty alleyway with the blood smeared shovel.

“ I couldn’t find it, Cappy. “

“ Maybe I left it in the loft? “ He said unwillingly. “ Will ye be alright while I look fer it? “

“ Yes! “ Kim assured him, forcing a smile. “ I’m just acting like a baby. Anyway. “ She stood to her feet but her leg bones still seemed as if they were rubber and she walked only as far as the door of the empty stall, leaning against the dust smelling wood.

“ Were ye up here earlier, Lass? “ William Harcastle asked with a puzzled frown as he forced his weight to rest on the ladder nailed to the side of the stall.

“ No. Why? “

“ Somebody with small feet was up there, und several bales are out ’ta place. “

“ You keep this barn neater than most women keep their houses, Cappy. “She started to tease, until she saw the serious look on her Dad’s face.

“ Al said there were fresh boot marks around the barn a’ fore it fell the rest o’ the way over. Was it done tae keep the horses from being hurt, o’ was it a malicious attempt tae keep us from salvaging the tack inside? “

“ If there were other people on the Island, wouldn’t they have come up to the house and let me know they were here? “

“ No if they knew they had no right tae be here. Und what started Storm and his mares down the hill when ye und Al Hoag were in harm’s way? I think it’s time we form an island police unit, Lass. It looks as though we’ve left this land unprotected fer tae long already! “

“ But I don’t want a bunch of strangers running around on the Island with jeeps and guns, Cappy! “

“ We mae no hae a lot o’ choice. We’d better go tae the house, yer mo’other is waiting. I’m sure by now that scientist has built himself up a full head ’o steam about how I attacked him! If I live tae be a hundred, I’ll never understand people! Give mae a shark any day! At least I can get out’ta the water when I dun’t want tae be around one! “

“ That’s how I’m beginning to feel too. “ She agreed under her breath.

For a moment they feared it was a mummy of a trapper, because of the bits of fragile cloth clinging to the dried straw that they suppose was meant to keep him warm but as Al probed gently, he found no skeleton inside! As careful as they can be, he has her try since her fingers are half the size as his. She wais a lot more comfortable once she could confirms that the realistic object wasn’t a dead human.Under the wig of human hair, the carved gourd had shriveled and dried pictures she’d see of real mummies. Shells lay against the dust which now began to stir and blow from the wind that hasn’t been allowed.

“ We hae tae cover up the hole, Lass. “ He says regretfully. It was the lack o; air that preserved this, wha’ever this is. We’ll come back with better lights und take photographs lest this thing crumble tae dust its so old! “

“ Do you think the Clan Story teller will be able to tell us the meaning of this Hugh? “ She asks excitedly, but it didn’t come out like a question she was so certain that a visit to van Dantz Island would answer the question.

. “ I doubt it. This is mu’ch older than a century fer leather tae get that brittle! More lie a thousand years, o’more! “

There is awe in his voice that impresses her. She had thought the Island had given up all its secrets, but here in the midst of stone tools and ornaments of bronze and antler, is a whole new direction she never guessed!

Hugh knelt so quickly she thought he’s fallen and she reached up to support his arm. He prayed humbly, clearly expecting to be heard and answered that they be good stewards of this new insight He’s placed in their hands. Kim was shocked. She’d never been around an ‘actively’ religious person before and she was embarrassed by his ‘public’ display. When they come back down her mother is recovering and she’s simply annoyed at the dirt on the girl’s face then fearful of the stranger’s excitement. He takes the discarded half of the tarp and the can Captain Billy was trying to recluse. He called for her to brush the tarp while he held it in place. The brush was already drying into a solid lump but she did the best she could

Jillian was deeply resentful that this man influenced her daughter to climb up the narrow ledge against her parental wishes and she took a dislike to the quiet spoken man that luckily Captain Billy didn’t share. They the they got to the house, Hugh Hoagland was the only one not tense or excited. There was a summons to go to court on the 17^thof August. The Five Clans were suing over Kim's claim to ownership of the Island, rather than suing the Talbots, saying they had no right to give it to her, and she had no right to claim it after Andrew Talbot's death!

Using the ship to get through the high caves, they saw clear evidence that earthquake caused considerable damage on van Dantz Island as well. Lowering of the water level inside the deep lagoon, until the sunken yacht at the mouth of the harbour now posed a danger to larger ships trying to enter and leave. Hugh Hoagland left them abruptly as soon as the boat was tied up in the private area of the wharf, puzzling Captain Billy but cementing Jillian’s growing dislike for the man, Kim held back on saying anything about what they’d seen in the time they spent together. They were shocked at the damage to some of the newer buildings. The sound of fire alarms and the smell of smoke seemed trapped by the high walls which had usually meant shelter from the storm. This was a storm within that

nothing seemed powerful enough to calm or restore. She followed after her parents glumly as they made their way to the high hotel built on the hill overlooking Shelter Harbour.

End Chapter 8

Chapter 8

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