Chapter Four:
It had been about a week before I looked down at that little red book Sarah gave to me. With these new sources of information about the town's history in my possession, my motivation for writing this paper was on an all time high. My day basically consisted of: waking up, drinking at least two cups of coffee, sitting down at my kitchen table and reading. Lunch would roll around, I would make a small meal for myself, and then afterwards, open my laptop to start typing my thesis. A few hours of that, and then I would usually get up and stretch my legs. Sometimes, if the weather was just right, I would drag my chair out to the front porch and watch my street. I didn't usually have much traffic, until around the afternoon time. Adults would be coming home from work, and buses would drop kids off at the corner. After a while, I would start to recognize the strangers, and sometimes I would strike up a conversation with them. I got to know my neighbor Mrs. Wallis, a older woman who liked to garden and had a fluffy ginger colored cat. There was Amanda, a preppy college student who jogged around the neighborhood everyday around six o'clock. And old Bill, across the street. He didn't say much, and usually only came outside to check his mail. But one day, his trash can blew over in the wind and I chased after it. He thanked me over and over again, and since then, always either said hi or give a cheerful wave to me.
After a week of this pattern, I eventually decided to give my thesis a rest and take a little me time. NYU sent out a check every two weeks, but starting pay wasn't the greatest. I would stay home, talk to my family every now and then. I gave Mrs. Newton a call and told her my thesis was coming along great, to which she seemed satisfied. She would tell me the professors and students were looking forward to what I had to present. After a bit, she came up with an idea to present it to the professors myself, and if it was approved, to the students in their class time. The thought alone gave me butterflies, but I happily agreed.
Clay didn't forget about me. He called almost the next day from our first meet, but I told him I would have to take a rain check on him. I explained that I wanted to work on my thesis, and he dutifully agreed. I was now pushing a week, and his patience seem to be wearing thin. We agreed to meet at a coffee shop, near where the grocery store was. By now, I was slowly learning my way around Haverstraw, so with my purse and keys in tow, I climbed in my car to meet him.
We met at a little shop called "Rosie's Coffee Shop", which served breakfast and lunch. I climbed out of the car and observed the little building. It was a homey little spot, an apparent "mom and pop" store. It had a ramp leading up to the door, and pretty little flowers in pots along the sidewalk. A little neon sign hung in the window that flashed "O-P-E-N" in bright red. I locked my car and walked up the ramp, and pushed the door open. I was greeted by a warm environment and the smell of bacon, pancakes, french fries, and burgers. A coffee machine sat on the counter and was steadily pouring coffee out of it's spout, and there was a low, dull roar of customer's chitchatting and utensil's clattering. A plump woman looked up from writing her ticket and called out, "Welcome doll, take any seat you would like. I'll be with ya in one moment."
I looked up and down the busy row of tables and booths, and saw a table in the far corner was open. I made my way through the sprawling legs and high chairs and waitresses and finally nestled down in my seat. It must have been good place to eat, there wasn't another seat open in the place. I was alone for just a few minutes when the waitress that greeted me stepped up to my table. "Morning doll, welcome to Rosie's. I'll be your waitress, my name is Fran. Can I start you up with something to drink?" She handed me a worn out menu, and I quickly glanced over it. "Um let's just start with a coffee. I haven't fed my addiction yet." I laughed.
"Sounds good doll. Would you like any creamer, milk, sugar?" she asked.
"I'll take sugar and some milk, please." I answered. She wrote it down on her pad and said, "Okay sweetie, I'll bring it out to you. We let our customers fix it up the way they like." I nodded and said, "Thank you," and she turned on her heel and headed over to the counter.
I glanced around the restaurant, and decided it was a little to noisy for me. I pulled my purse up and sat it down in the seat next to me and pulled out the little "Labyrinth" book. I thought to myself that if this little "date" went terribly wrong, which it probably will, I could at least entertain myself with a good book. I opened it to chapter one, which was called "The White Owl."
"Nobody saw the owl, white in the moonlight, black against the stars, nobody heard him as he glided over on silent wings of velvet. The owl saw and heard everything.
He settled in a tree, his claws hooked on a branch, and he stared at the girl in the glade below. The wind moaned, rocking the branch, scudding low clouds across the evening sky. It lifted the hair of the girl. The owl was watching her, with his round dark eyes.
The girl moved slowly from the trees toward the middle of the glade, where a pool glimmered. She was concentrating. Each deliberate step took her nearer to her purpose. Her hands were open, and held slightly in front of her. The wind sighed again in the trees. It blew her cloak tightly around her slender figure, and rustled her hair around her wide-eyed face. Her lips were parted.
"Give me the child," Sarah said, in a voice that was low, but firm with the courage her guest needed. She halted, her hands still held out. "Give me the child," she repeated. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child you have stolen." She bit her lip and continued, "For my will is as strong as yours... and my kingdom as great..."
She closed her eyes tightly. Thunder rumbled. The owl blinked, once.
"My will as strong as yours." Sarah spoke with even more intensity now. "And my kingdom as great..." She frowned, and her shoulders dropped.
"Oh damn.." she muttered.
A slight tap against my shoulder startled me from my trance of reading. Looking up, I saw Clay standing over me, with an eyebrow raised and smirk on his face. "I'm sorry for disrupting you, but I believe we have a date?"
I resisted the urge to sigh. "Um yeah, hi Clay. Sorry about that, I got here a little early and was just waiting for you." I smiled a hard smile and nodded to the chair across from me. "You gonna sit down?" I teased.
Clay shrugged his out of his jacket, and laid it on the back of the chair. He sat down with ease and smiled. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long?" he asked.
I shook my head. Leaning down, I slid my book back in my purse and smiled again. "Oh no, just a few minutes. Our waitress came by our table with my coffee, a small pitcher of milk, and a little bowl of sugar. "Clay, surgah, I didn't expect you here today. How ya doin boy?" Fran sat my stuff down on the table and leaned in for a hug from Clay.
"Hiya Fran, I'm doing good. I had a date with this lovely lady here, I figured we should go to one of the town's favorites. This is Andrea, she's new here." he pointed towards me.
"I knew you must have been new. If you have been around as long as I have in this place, you recognize just about everybody. I figured you were just passing through." She smiled.
"Oh well, no ma'am. I moved here a little over a week ago." I explained.
"Where ya from honey?" She asked.
"Texas actually. Long way from home," I laughed a little.
"Sure is! What are you all the way up here for? Work, family?"
"Work. I have been recently hired at NYU as a historian. Right now, I'm working with the professors and providing some content for their students. I am writing a research paper for the students to learn from, so they can make their own for their finals." I said, feeling a little self conscious about explaining this to a complete stranger. But Clay had a huge smile on his face, so it made me figure that it was okay to trust Fran.
"Well, that sounds mighty interesting. And lots of work! I thought it was exhausting working at this place." she chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you two be. Clay, you want some coffee dear?" she asked.
"Yes ma'ma, you know how I like it." Clay answered, smiling. Fran nodded and tottered away, and Clay turned his attention back to me. "Well I guess now Fran knows you. Even if you don't know her, you'll be one of her favorites now."
"She seems sweet," I said. "You must know her very well? She seemed very fond of you." I pointed out. Clay nodded. "Yeah, she's been in my life for a long time. Almost like a grandmother to me..." he trailed off.
I could sense something was a little off, so I took my spoon and stirred my sugar and milk in my coffee slowly. "I'm sorry, if that is a touchy subject...?" I started off saying.
"Oh no, you are fine. My parents aren't really a big part of my life. When I was sixteen, I moved out of my parent's house and stayed with a friend to finish high school. Fran help me get a job here until I could go to college. She was a real sweetie to me back in the day." he explained.
"Aww, that's sweet," I commented. I sat my spoon down on the little saucer and carefully picked up my coffee and sipped on it. Perfection.
"Yeah, I have a lot to thank her for. Anyways, how's your paper coming along? You've been busy for a bit with it!" he asked. I nodded and sat my coffee down gently. "It's been going great. I sent the thesis over and they reviewed what I have so far and they love it. Another week to finish it out, and then another week to proofread and review it, and I should be able to send it in. My boss actually called me the other day, and I get to present it myself." I said proudly.
"That's awesome!" Clay exclaimed.
After about an hour had past, and Clay got his coffee, we chatted about random things. Clay was full of questions, stuff about my hometown and family, how I liked it here, if I planned to stay in Haverstraw. I was honest and said I wasn't sure. I planned to have my family visit me around Christmas, and I planned a trip down there during the summer vacation, but other than that, I wasn't sure about how the rest was going to go. This job will provide me with opportunities, and if one comes up, I might not pass it up. Clay didn't seem to like the idea of me leaving in the future, but he didn't question that anymore and moved on. We sat there for a long time, and we ended up eating lunch there. Fran brought me a chicken cobb salad and Clay got a huge bacon cheeseburger. We finished up around 1:45 and paid the check. We left a nice tip for Fran and he walked me out to my car.
"Well, I had a nice time with you, Andrea. I'm glad you got some time out of the house." He said. I dug around in my purse for my key, and I said back, "I had fun to Clay. Thank you, I did need a break from my computer." Finally finding my key, I turned it into the lock and heard the familiar sound of the door unlocking. I opened it slightly and leaned into the car.
"Maybe we can meet up again soon?" he asked, hope in his eyes. I mashed my lips together, and in a defeated way said, "Yeah, maybe. Well, bye Clay." I sat down quickly in my car and pulled the door closed. I smiled and waved, hoping to not look to much like a bitch. Clay had a strange look on his face, and he finally waved and turned around, walking down the path to his car. I sighed. I was hoping that he would strike me interesting, but in the three and a half hours we talked, he proved to be as boring as a dictionary. There was nothing wrong with him per-say, but he didn't have that.. spark.
I drove home, and passed Sarah's bookstore. I could see her through the windows, laughing with another customer. Funny, I just realized that the book shared the same name as her. I came upon my house and pulled into the driveway. Grabbing a hold of my things, I climbed out of my car and saw Nancy outside her house, squatting down next to her flowerbed. She looked over and saw me, and waved. I waved back and called out, "Good afternoon Mrs. Wallis!"
"Good afternoon to you to, sweetie. How's your day been?" She asked. She sat up, brushed the dirt off her hands on an old dish rag, and came over to the fence that separated our yards. She was a pretty lady, with rosy wrinkled cheeks and a poof of silver hair sticking out from her flowey hat. She always had a smile on her face, and usually an apron around her waist that had dirt smudged on it.
"I've had an alright day, just got back from a date." I grimaced.
"A date, ohhh, that sounds fun!" she smiled. "Why the long face though?"
"To be honest, he's as interesting a door knob. I just can't like him enough to keep dating him. But he seems to have a lot more interest in me than I do of him." I sighed.
"Well, if it's meant to be, it will find a way. If not, then it will solve itself." She advised. "And if it doesn't work out, you can always send him over to my place! I'll bake a pie, just for him!" She giggled, with a twinkle in her eye.
I burst into laughter. "Mrs. Wallis, you are terrible! But I'll remember that!"
We both laughed for a minute longer until Mrs. Wallis had to dab the corner of her eyes. We composed ourselves and she said, "Well dear, I better go back inside and start dinner. You have a good evening."
"Thanks Mrs. Wallis, you too." I smiled. I walked up the steps of my porch and couldn't help but to think on how funny it was that out of all the people I got along with the most, it was my elderly neighbor.
I unlocked my front door and set my stuff down on the kitchen table. I flopped down on my couch and propped up my feet on the throw pillow. Unlike Mrs. Wallis, it was to early for me to eat dinner. I laid my head back and closed me eyes, thinking about what I could do to pass the time. I must have laid there for to long, because before I knew it, I was dreaming.
I wasn't sure where I was at, but it felt like a park, because there was a huge pond with a fountain spraying up towards the sky right in the middle of it. There were big open grassy fields and beautiful spring flowers blooming and tall willows and oaks towering above me. I walked down the trail, unsure where I was going. Nobody else was there, and the park gave off an almost desolate feel to it.
Thunder rumbled above me, but the dark clouds were staying out of the way, dark and ominous. In front of her, a huge trunk protrude from the ground, and I could see something red laying on top of it. I increased my pace towards it and found that it was my book, the Labyrinth. Curiously, I flipped through the pages, and saw that nothing had changed. I opened it to chapter one, and read through the paragraphs. All was the same except... the name.. it was different? It was no longer Sarah, but it was Andrea. Every time Sarah's name was mentioned, it was replaced with Andrea. "But that makes no sense?" I thought to myself.
Suddenly, a swooshing noise flew right down next to her ear. Terrified, I dropped the book to the ground and threw my hands up in defense. A huge white owl hovered in front of me, it's talons raised and it's huge dark eyes staring intently at me. It hovered for a moment more before it swept away, and my eyes snapped open.
I was sweaty and out of breathe, and I glanced wildly around my house. The sun had start to go down, and the shadows were creeping up into my windows. I grabbed my phone from my purse and saw that it was about 5:30.
"Wow, what a weird rush. Almost a three hour nap? I wasn't even tired?" I thought. Shaking my head, I walked to my kitchen and pulled out a coffee mug. Not bothering with the Keurig, I turned my sink on and let the faucet dispense ice cold water into it. I sipped on it gingerly, trying to recover from such a weird dream. I turned to lean against the counter and saw the red cover of the book, laying openly on my kitchen table. I cocked my head to the side, because I didn't remember pulling the book out before I laid down on the couch. I tiptoed to it, and looked down, it was opened to the direct spot that I had left off from this morning. "How fucking weird is that?" I thought.
I shut the book and left it laying on the table. Turning around, I made for the kitchen and began rooting through the fridge, searching for something to eat. I was still a little shaken from the dream, so I opted for something lighter. I pulled out some of my veggies from the crisper drawer and sat them on the counter tops. Bending over, I pulled my skillet pan out and sat it on the front burner. I stood on my tiptoes and opened the cabinet above the stove and grabbed the vegetable oil and pour a drizzled in the pan. Turn the heat up, I let it warm up and chopped up some bell peppers and spinach leaves and dumped them into the pan. I then opened my freezer door and pulled out some frozen fajita chicken and pulled apart a few and dropped it in with the veggies. I used a wooden spoon to stir it around, until it was nice and steamy.
I turned the stove off and pulled out a plate from one of the cabinets. Opening the tortillas from their plastic wrapper, I took two out and tied it back with the twisty tie. I arranged my wraps and took my dinner and water to the kitchen table. I sat down and picked up one of my wraps and slowly ate, staring at the book. Curiosity got to the best of me and I opened to my spot I left off and continued to read on.
"Reaching under her cloak, she brought out the book. Its title was The Labyrinth. Holding the book up before her, she read aloud from it. In the fading light, it was not easy to make out the words. "You have no power over me..."
She got no further. Another clap of thunder, nearer this time, made her jump. It also alarmed a big, shaggy sheepdog, who had not minded sitting by the pool and being admonished by Sarah, but who now decided that it was time to go home, and said so with several sharp barks.
Sarah held her cloak around her. It did not give her much warmth, being no more than an old curtain, cut down, and fastened at the neck by a glass brooch. She ignored Merlin, the sheepdog, while concentrating on learning the speech in the book. "You have no power over me," she whispered. She closed her eyes again and repeated the phrase several times.
A clock above the little pavilion in the park chimed seven times and penetrated Sarah's concentration. She stared at Merlin. "Oh no, " she said. "I don't believe it. That was seven, wasn't it?"
Merlin stood up and shook himself, sensing that some more interesting action was due. Sarah turned and ran. Merlin followed. The thunder clouds splattered them both with large drops of rain.
The owl watched it all. When Sarah and Merlin left the park, he still sat still on his branch, in no hurry to follow them. This was his time of the day. He knew what he wanted. An owl is born with all his questions answered."
I sat the book down, and couldn't help but to wonder if this was the same owl that was in my dream. I know dreams are often formed from your mind's thoughts, but could I really be dreaming about a book I just started to read? It was just to weird... I closed the book and continued eating, lost in my thoughts, my eyes stranding to the kitchen's window and the setting of the sun.