Chapter 25
Brian drove both Maggie and himself into Collinsport to the diner so she could get some breakfast before they went out for the day. They went in and sat down at an empty table and looked at the menus. The only thing that Brian was looking at was the coffee and tea selection. The waitress came over and asked if they were ready to order yet. Maggie ordered two eggs over easy with home fries and toast with coffee. Brian said that he would just have coffee.
"Brian, aren't going to have anything else besides the coffee?" Maggie asked him.
"No, just the coffee for me. I'm not that hungry right now. Maybe at lunchtime I'll eat something then." Brian said to her.
"You know, you should eat something now, because come lunch time, you will be hungry like a wolf." She told him.
"What was that you said?" Brian said with concern and surprise is his voice.
She said to him "It's just an expression son. Hungry like a wolf. I remember that song by that group in the 80's. Can't remember the name of the group off hand, but I did like that song."
"I'm sorry mom. I didn't mean it to say that. I just have to get use to living in a small town again. I just been through a lot the last 3 years of writing my articles on the mob slayings back in NY City have me on the edge. I just have to be careful to my surroundings in case someone is after me, which I'm surprised no one has found me yet." He told her while covering his tracks with his mother. He hated stretching the truth to her, but he had no choice in the matter.
"I know son, don't worry about it. It's just that with all the stories that you've written, it's just that I worry about you all the time. I just don't want you to get sick, or worse. I care for you a lot, and I don't want anything bad happening to you. I love you and your father very much. If anything happened to either of you, I don't know what I'll do." She explained to him with concern in her voice.
"I know you do mom. I promise you that nothing is going to happen to me. You have my word on it." He told her.
Their orders came, and Maggie started to eat her breakfast. Brian was drinking some of his coffee when the smell of his mother's food was bothering him. He excused himself and went to the restroom. He now knows why he could not take the smell of food anymore. But he couldn't let his mother know why. He had to think of something of what to do about lunch. He knew that she would wonder why he was going to just have coffee again at lunchtime. He would have to try to eat something so she would not get suspicious about why he was not eating. He went back to the table, and his mother asked him if he was alright. He told her that everything was fine.
After breakfast, they decided to go to Kennebunkport for the day. They walked around the town, going into some of the antique stores, and buying some things to take back as gifts, as well for Collinwood. As they walked past one shop, Brian spotted an item in the window. It was a pentagram with the points down. He told his mother that he would be right back. He went inside to acquire about the medallion.
"Hello. Is anyone here?" He called out.
"Yes, yes, there's someone here. I'll be out in a moment." The man said from the back of the shop with a thick Romanian accent said.
The man came out. He was about in his 50's, average height, and a little heavy in the middle. He came over and shook Brian's hand.
"Hello. I'm Sandor. I own this shop. How may I help today young man?" Sandor said to Brian.
"Yes Sandor. I was wondering about the medallion that's in the window. The one that's shaped like a star. I was wondering if I can look at it?" Brian asked.
"Of course, no problem. I will get it for you." He told Brian.
He went over to the window and got the pentagram for Brian to look at it. He brought it over so Brian can look at it.
"What can you tell me about this medallion?" Brian asked Sandor.
"This star will protect anyone who is wearing it from most types of supernatural magic and creatures. At least that's what the legend says. I for one do believe in this. I'm from the old country where such things are taught to us as young children." He told Brian.
Brian then said "So this will protect the person who wears this star then."
"Yes it will protect the one that wears it. This I swear by." Sandor said to Brian.
"Well then. I was wondering if I could buy this then? I want to give it to my mother as a gift to her. And to protect her from such supernatural things. How much for it. I don't care how much it costs. I want to buy that. It's very important to me." Brian told him. He knew that his mother had to be protected from him.
Sandor looked at him with a smile on his face and told him "Young man. I will tell you what. You can have this for only $5.00. And not a penny more. I'm going to let you have this for the low price, because I know that you will make sure that nothing will happen to your dear mother. I have a feeling that you care for her a great deal. No buts, just take it for the price that I'm asking for."
Brian was shocked that Sandor would let him take the medallion for such a low price. But he wasn't going to argue with the man.
Brian said to Sandor "Thank you very much for this. I greatly appreciate this very much. If there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know." Brian wrote his number for Sandor to call him if he needed anything from him. Brian then paid for the pentagram while Sandor put it on a chain, then in a box for him. Brian then left the shop with the medallion to give to his mother at lunch time.
When he left the shop, Sandor called to the back for his wife to come out now. He looked at his wife and smiled at her.
"I hope that we did the right thing in giving him the star, Magda?" Sandor asked her.
"Yes, we did the right thing in trying to help him Sandor. I know that we both regret putting that curse on Quentin back so long ago. If there was some way of preventing that from happening, it would have been done already." Magda told him.
"I know, my dear. I hope that he will give the star to his mother right away. I wish there was more that we could do for him and Quentin now." Sandor said with regret in his voice.
"I do too. But, it's too late to change the past. Too bad that we can't go see Quentin one last time before we return to the other side. Just to see him again and tell him that we do regret what we did. I know that I did, but we should find a way to both forgive him for what he did to Jenny." She said with sadness in her voice.
"In time we will. But now we must return to our eternal sleep and watch over the both of them as best as we could. Come on. Let's go back and try to put this behind us." He said to Magda.
With that, Sandor, Magda, walked into the back of the shop, and then everything disappeared. The shop was empty once again with dust and cob webs everywhere around the empty space.
The two of the found a little hole in the wall restaurant that seemed to be very crowded. They managed to find a table for the two of them. They were handed their menus and the waiter left them alone while they looked at them.
Brian decided that he would try to eat at least a salad. He hoped that he could keep it down while he was with his mother. He couldn't very well go to the restroom again without her worrying about him. They both went with the seafood salad and iced tea. The waiter came over and took their orders. The waiter was looking at the two of them and was thinking that she could have done better than him, but kept his mouth shut.
"Brian, why don't you tell me about what you were doing while in New York City. I don't mean the articles that you wrote, but about your social life. Was there anyone special that I should know about?" She said/asked to him.
"Mom, right now I'm just trying to relax from the things that I have done while in New York City. But if there was someone special, you would be the first to know." He told her this. But he wasn't sure on how to tell her about Angelique yet. He would have to wait until she was ready to meet his family.
"I know that you would. I was just curious about your love life. I just hope that you had a steady girlfriend yet like that one you had in High School. I think her name was Alondra, wasn't it?" She asked him.
"Yes it was Alondra. I haven't thought of her in a while. I remember the day that she moved to the west coast. Her father was transferred there for a better position with the job that he had. We were both upset that she was moving. Neither of us wanted her to move. I wonder what she's doing now?" He said to his mother.
"If you want, you could look up her phone number on the internet when we get home and call her. I'm sure that she would love to hear from you after all this time." She said.
"I don't think that I should come back into her life like that after all this time. She may either be seeing someone now, or, possibly be married with kids. I don't want to impose myself like that." Brian told his mother.
"Of course not dear. It's just that I don't want you to be lonely without someone to be there with you." She told him.
"I promise you, that when I find that special someone, that you will be the first to know about it. Now then, can we please stop talking about my love life. I just want to spend the day with you." He told her.
"Alright, alright. I just don't want to go old and not making me a grandmother before I die. Is that so much to ask for?" She said.
"Now mom, let's not get into that. Here comes our lunch. Let's just enjoy this day, and I promise that someday that I will make you a grandmother. Just not right now." He said while trying to eat the salad that was in front of him.
He'd managed to keep his lunch down barely. He didn't want to use the restroom if possible. When they were just about done eating, Brian remembered that he wanted to give his mother the medallion. He took the box out of his pocket, and gave it to his mother.
"Go ahead and open it. I thought that you might like this. I got this in the shop that I went into while you were standing outside. I know that it would safe guard you from most supernatural things. At least that's what the shop owner told me." Brian to his mother.
Maggie opened the box and saw the pentagram. She took it out of the box and looked at it. She then put it on around her neck.
"Brian, I think it's lovely. I hope the shop owner didn't try to hike the price up?" She said.
"Nope. In fact, he was only asking for $5.00 for it. I paid him what he wanted and he put it on a chain, then put it in a box for me. He was nice about it too. I liked him very much. Maybe before we go home, we could stop by and thank him for this." He said.
"That sounds like a good idea. In fact, let's go now. I want to thank him for giving this to you." She said.
"Alright. I just have to go to the restroom. I'll be right back." He said as he was getting up.
He went to the restroom and put his head over the toilet. He washed his face after that, and met his mother outside. He asked her if she paid the check, she told him that she did. They walked to where the shop should have been, but all they saw was an empty store. They knew that this was the right spot, but could not figure where the store had gone. This puzzled them very much. They asked someone at the shop next door. They asked the owner what happened to the place next door. The person there said that spot had been empty for years. There was no one in that place since it shut down back in the 60's. This confused both Brian and Maggie, they had hoped to thank the shop owner, but to find out the shop had been closed for a long time was confusing.
They then went back to the car and drove home. They still could not figure out how the shop had been closed for a long time, but yet Brian had purchased a medallion from there a short time ago. They arrived home and went to show the Quentin what they had bought while they were out. Maggie then explained to Quentin about the shop that had disappeared with no reason. Brian then told his father what happened in the shop after his mother went to put the items away. He told his father the shop owner's name. Quentin was shocked by the name. He asked Brian if the owner told him his last name. Brian said that he never got it. He asked his father why. Quentin told him that it sounded like the same Sandor that had put the curse on him, and that maybe he was trying to help him after all this time. Quentin told Brian about this, and that that both should be grateful that they were getting help from beyond the grave. With that, Maggie came into the living room and wanted to know what they were going to do for dinner. Both Quentin and Brian were not sure what to do, since it was about a couple of hours before Brian had to get to the secret room.