I jumped from the chair as Eddie rang back. Rubbing my hands over my face to shake off the dream, blindly reached for the portable phone mutter to my self "I swear, I'm laying of the herbal tea, she must have been liberal with the Valariam [check sp]. strange, strange dreams."
By the fourth ring I had the phone in hand and hit the talk button. I didn't even say hello before Eddie launched in, unfamiliar edginess in his voice "The local DNR office and the sheriff have been inundated with calls, people living along the dam road felt the rattle all the way over at the Lake Patrol office. Was there any damage to your property?"
"I didn't notice any on my flight up to the house. I'm sure the boat was banged around, but I was more worried about my child. The pottery wheel and the kiln are in the room on the top floor, I'll check them when the sun gets up." Eddie was rattling paper; a signal he was already in his office and the conversation was ending. "Casey I've worked with you long enough to know your instincts are good, and you rarely over-react to anything. I trust your judgment. Keep your eyes open and contact me immediately if you see anything unusual. I've already asked a local officer from the private lake security firm to stop by and take a statement. I've also asked the local DNR office to get a courier out to you this morning. I assume you have your test kits."
"Always.
" I want the results routed directly to me-samples in tact. You may have to bump up your start date at the local office. You OK with that?"
"O.K., but hey, stop being the bureaucrat for a minute and listen to me."
He stopped rattling papers.
"What the hell is going on Eddie? This place is very important to me, I just rearranged my life to get Kyle away from the hateful city violence. I need to know we're safe. You'll let me know what's going on." It was a statement, not a question.
His voice changed from that of a paper pushing government worker to the friend who served as a pall-barer at my husband's funeral. "I know, Case, I know. I love that place too and I won't sit and see it destroyed by some ignorant SOB trying who-knows-what to make a quick buck. Linda and I are still planning to come up next weekend, if know something before then I'll call."
I thanked him and hung up. I paced the thread-bare rug unable to shake the feeling of foreboding. The recurring dream, the explosion under the lake, clandestine divers paddling boats in the dead of night. Oh yea, and the dream, lets not forget the strange recurring dream - a nun and a goddess. That's who Gaia is...my grandmother named her garden spot where I had been asleep in honor of Gaia...[define here]. OK, I can justify that as stress induced subliminal manifestations of something that give me comfort, something from my past...something of my grandmother's. But in my gut I new something big was coming, something beyond my ability understand.
Realizing this kind of obsessing was was not healthy, and the anxiety something I didn't want to handle alone. But who to call? Aunt Elsie was on tour of South American rain forests, her usually sound advice was out of the question. I could text her but who knows when I'd hear back, it could be days, weeks, even months sometimes. Still, this whoo-woo stuff was her territory and I needed to get word to her that some strange things were going on. My purse sat with cell charger and my filed notebook on an old wood and marble table by the front door. I grabbed my cell off the charger and began to text a message.
SOS, strg tngs @ lake. Gaia and nun. call me.
It was time to call in the reinforcements. First daylight, I was going to call and 'convene the coven', the joking reference my grandmother made for when my four very strong, independent, girl friends, now women friends, who were the pillars of sanity in my life since college, got together. There was no problem too big for this smart, funny, sassy group of to handle. We found the coven reference so funny, and such a true reference to the amazing sense of creativity and power we could create when we put our heads together that it became our code for "I need help, get here."
Even though the sky would soon be light beyond the sliding glass doors, I joined Kyle on the sofa, hoping to catch a little sleep. My protective instinct had kicked in, and I didn't want him out of my sight, there was no way I was sending him to school. "Screw it." I said out loud to the cat now watching me. I reached to the table and grabbed my cell, composed an other text and clicked the boxes by their names in my phone: Char, [...name them here].
I need U. Coven convenes @ lake asap.
Feeling more secure for sending the messages, I sat down the phone, rubbed the cats ears and closed my eyes to the loud purr. Yes, it was time to convene the coven. Time to call in my girls, time to conviene the Divas.
(c) 2009 Rosanne Chastain Short
DBA Rosanne Chastain________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment