Chapter 39
“Something” is Revealed
(Ó 2010)
(Ó 2010)
Chalet de Lily
The First Saturday of November 2013
Logan awoke early as usual and began his typical daily routine. It would start with his five kilometer run from the house and through the back roads around the village. This morning was clear and cool with absolutely no breeze, which Logan was a bit grateful for because that would mean his run would go much more smoothly with no wind resistance for him to deal with. All the trees were in full autumnal colors that would make the scenery for the run more pleasant. He now stood in the backyard and began to stretch his arms and legs so as to warm up. The quiet of the morning was only broken by the sound of the wind chimes from the gazebo. The same wind chimes that Lily herself had placed in there some two decades prior. Lily so loved the sound of wind chimes and had many of them placed around the chalet.
A little over one hour later after completed his run, he would then went into the cellar for some weightlifting. Logan was still in great physical condition being a man now sixty-two years of age. He would then return to the kitchen and prepare himself a pot of coffee in an old fashioned stove percolator. While the coffee brewed, he would then take a shower and prepare himself to attend the morning mass at the chapel down the road outside the village. Logan attended mass daily.
He would shave and dress in a proper coat and tie. He then stepped into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of the coffee. He would sit in the quiet of his kitchen drinking the first of his two morning cups. Logan would sit in the serenity, always would hoping to hear the voice he had heard long ago, the voice that woke him those three consecutive nights and made him leave the United States for always. However all he could hear was the short sound of the wind chime from the gazebo as it ‘pinged’ just once.
He saw from the clock on the wall that it was time to leave for the chapel. He left the house and made his way up the road. The morning was cool, still and yet pleasant; Logan decided that he would not need an overcoat. Once at the chapel he took his usual place in the last row and watched the morning mass. During the mass he would always pray the rosary.
When the mass would end he would leave and make his way to the center of the village, for he would make his way towards the cemetery, and to do so would mean that he had to walk directly through the center of the village. As always now, there would be the gathering of tourists, curious onlookers and romantics who would stop with their morning breakfast at Gerard’s Cafe so as to watch the grieving old Legionnaire walk to the cemetery and make his daily morning visit to the gravesite of his beloved wife.
There he would sit on the marble bench that he had placed at the foot of her grave. After his return home from America, Logan had purchased the open gravesites that were around Lily’s grave. He had the simple headstone replaced with a taller marker that was made of lavender colored polished granite. He had her image engraved on the marker. He had bushes planted around her grave and made the site a small shrine to her. Also, there was a marked gravesite directly to the right of hers. This was reserved for Logan. He visited the site every day where he would spend eternity.
He would spend about an hour or so at her gravesite. Some days he would bring roses from the rosebushes around Chalet de Lily, the very ones that Lily had planted herself, and he would place them on her grave. The roses were always tied with a lavender ribbon.
Usually after this morning routine he would return to his house and do the daily chores and minor repairs around the house, or even run his errands. For he had lived a fairly quiet and private life since he returned to his home. However, today was Saturday, and that meant just one thing for him today … it was football match day. It was one of the few pleasures he still enjoyed. This particular Saturday was special also for most of Logan’s favorite teams were playing. The first match had the team that he was introduced to long ago by Sergeant Chef Quentin Travis. In fact it was the team that introduced ‘The Beautiful Game’ to him, Arsenal of the English Premier League. Later his favorite Italian team in the Lega Calcio, AC Milan would play. Then later that evening Paris Saint-Germain in the French Football League.
He stood up from the marble bench and looked around the old cemetery. Its worn and weathered headstones mixed in with all the new. The clear blue sky blended with the stark autumn colors of the leaves in the trees, many now which fell straight down from the branches to the ground because there was absolutely now type of breeze at all. He looked down to Lily’s grave and said, “I’ll be back later Lil girl.” He then turned and made his way to the entrance of the cemetery, turned left and made his way back to his house. He would though have to again walk through the center of the village, where the same tourists, onlookers and romantics awaited his return trip.
Upon the arrival to his home Logan entered through the gate and stepped up the pathway to his front door. Once inside he changed out of his clothes and put on a sweatshirt that bore the logo of Paris Saint-Germain along with the matching sweat pants. He also put on a thick pair of sweat socks to keep his feet warm. He went to the small den where the television was. The window in the den had a view of the backyard with the gazebo. Logan picked up the television guide to check the channels and times of all his matches. There was total silence all around him; the only sound that was heard was one single ‘ping’ that again came from the wind chimes in the gazebo. A sound Logan had heard so many times before and just took for granted.
Logan picked up the remote for the television and turned it on. He then spent the next hour watching the first half of the Arsenal match that was being broadcast live from Highbury England.
At the end of the first half, Logan went into the kitchen to prepare his afternoon tea. It was something that Lily had brought to his life. She would have tea with him everyday that he was home. “You can take the girl out from England, but you can not take England out of the girl.” she quipped. As he waited for the water to boil, he again sat in the quiet of the kitchen. The sound of the television broadcast came from the den. Once the water was boiling he picked up the kettle, turned the flame of the stove off and then poured it into the teapot that was from Lily’s tea set. He placed the tea into the pot to let it brew. He went to the cupboard and retrieved for himself just a plain large cup for his tea. However, he would then get a cup and saucer from Lily’s tea set. He went back into the den and placed his cup by his chair and then placed the other cup next to the chair that Lily would have sat in, placed it on the small side table.
He returned to the kitchen to retrieve the pot of tea. As he picked it up the sound again of a single ‘ping’ came from the wind chimes in the gazebo. Logan paid no attention. He just went to the refrigerator where he kept some small slices of lemon. He then returned to the den and poured the tea into Lily’s teacup, and then filled his own. He placed the slice of lemon into Lily’s tea cup and then returned to his chair.
This was another one of the many little rituals of Logan’s. He always prepared a separate cup of tea for Lily during the afternoon tea. Afterwards when he was finished he would take both cups into the kitchen, place his empty cup in the sink and then take the one for Lily outside and then pour the contents into the soil of one of the rose bushes. He would alternate between each one every day.
Logan then watched the second half of the Arsenal match and enjoyed both the game and his tea. After the match ended he then picked up his teacup as well as the one for Lily and made his way back to the kitchen He placed his cup into the sink and then went to the back door that led to the side of the house. There on the floor next to the door were his running shoes. He put them on his feet and then stepped back to the sink to get Lily’s cup of tea. He picked it up by the saucer and then went to the door. He opened the door and stepped outside and down the short flight of steps. The day was now getting cooler and the air was still motionless. He stepped down to the yard and went right to the rose bushes that were on the side of the house. He knelt down and then gently poured the cold tea into the soil. He watches as the brown liquid was absorbed by the soil.
Then he heard the quiet of the day broken by the single ‘ping’ of the wind chimes in the gazebo. He looked over to the gazebo. It stood empty in the backyard.
Then … something.
Something. Something caused him to be fixated on the gazebo. He stared at it and he felt that … something was looking back to him. The gazebo was staring back at him. Something … was drawing him to the gazebo. Something … strange. Something … that he has felt before.
Then be realized … something. How could the wind chime ring when there was no breeze?
Logan stood and then slowly stepped to the gazebo.
He came to the doorway and looked inside though the mesh screen all the time with Lily’s teacup in his hand. He placed his free hand on the door handle and slowly opened it and looked inside. He felt … something. He stepped inside.
Although he would hardly go inside of it, Logan did keep the gazebo they way Lily would have wanted. It was large enough for about eight people to sit comfortably in the hexagonal circle. The gazebo was screened in on all of the wide openings in order to keep Lily and he guests comfortable and safe from any insects. The outside was painted in white and the inside was of course painted in lavender. Above directly in the center of the gazebo the wind chime hung where Lily herself had placed them.
Logan looked to the seat that was directly across the doorway. This is where Lily would always sit. He then stepped over and sat down next to where she used to sit. He placed her teacup on that part of the seat. He stared at the spot where she used to always sit, and read, or have her tea, and he placed his hand there. Tears began to come to his eyes.
He missed her so much.
He then recalled a memory of her sitting there on that very spot. It was one a cool autumn day just like this one. She was sitting there with him that day, having her tea. She was dressed in blue jeans and a lavender turtleneck sweater - - -
- - - “Logan?” she said, “When was it that you first knew that you loved me?”
“Oh that’s an easy one Lil Girl; it was the second that I first laid eyes on you.”
“Really? It was love at first sight?” She asked. “It was that sudden?”
“Yep, you had me right there that night.” He answered, then asked, “Okay, my turn, when did you know when you loved me?”
“Oh, for me dear it was much later?”
“Yeah? When was that?” He asked.
“It was the very next evening, in the alleyway behind Le Club Argenté D'oiseau.” She answered, “It that little incident with Charles.”
Logan looked at her with some confusion and then looked to the floor of the gazebo. “What? How could that be? That really wasn’t one of my most shining moments.” Logan seemed somewhat embarrassed by the memory of that evening.
“Oh no honey,” Lily said, “that was the moment for me when you shone the most.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Poor Bricey, he was so frightened, and I don’t know what would have happened if you were not there. It was how you defended him … not me. How you stood up to Charles for Bricey. How you took it upon yourself to defend someone weaker than yourself, someone you hardly knew, and not just that, how you protected someone that is so different from yourself. When you helped Bricey up from the ground and brushed to dirt from him and asked him if he was alright. It was then … right then … at that moment … that I fell so in love with you.” Logan looked up to her, she smiled, leaned to him and cupped his face in her hands, “He still has a bit of a crush on you.” - - -
- - - Logan continued to stare at the place where Lily would sit. He leaned back against the post on the wall and looked up to the wind chime, it was motionless. He again wondered how heard the ‘pings’ but what caused them to chime? There had been no kind of a breeze at all. He looked around the gazebo, he felt “something”, and he felt a presence. The cool air around him and the stillness of the day, Logan drew in a couple of deep breaths then looked up at the ceiling of the gazebo, at the wind chime. He sat there for quite some time meditating on the memories of his beloved. Tears would come to his eyes and pains would hit his throat. He then began to feel somewhat drowsy so he thought that he would close his eyes just for a few minutes.
He missed her so much.
In a few minutes, he fell asleep. He drifted into darkness. Soon … the vision came to him - - -
- - - He was in the alleyway walking briskly. He felt himself filled with the rage, how long and how far he had been walking was unknown to him. He knew though that he had been doing so for quite some time. He could feel how tightly his fists and teeth were clenched. He could even feel the anger as he breathed. He was now far down the alleyway when the voices called to him.
“Logan.” Said the first voice … a woman’s voice.
The second voice … that too of a woman, called to him right afterwards, “Scowls Like the Wolf.”
He stopped dead in his tracks, “What?” he said looking for the voices. He raised his right hand to his right ear. His fingers were spread in a “V” shape with index finger together with the middle, and the ring together with the little finger. He heard the sound again of the wind chimes, along with the sound of the tribal drums. He looked around the alleyway and he heard that voices.
“Logan … please … help her.”
“Help her Scowls Like the Wolf … my son … she needs you.”
He became stationary, searching for the voices and the sounds, trying to separate the sounds that were already around him. Then, the sound of the wind chimes came from further down the alley, where there was a side entry to another alley between the buildings. There he saw the slight white image of a specter, the specter of a woman … the woman … it was Lily. She was pointing in the direction of the side alleyway. “Down there Logan … please help her … please hurry.”
Logan quickly and silently made his way to the entrance of the side alley. He stopped right at the corner of the alley and placed his back to the wall. He saw the specter of Lily again pointing down the alley, he then slowing turned his head and peered down the alley.
There he saw two men raping a young girl. He quickly hid back up against the brick wall. He whispered to himself, “She’s just a child.” He began then to frantically look around. The voices of the women began to speak.
“We will help you Logan.”
“We will guide you as we always do … my son.”
“We will watch over you as we always do Logan.”
“Stop them my son.”
“Please stop them Logan … please help her.”
He again looked around the alleyway and his instincts took him over. In seconds his plan was set. He looked again down the alley and saw how he would execute his plan. He again pressed himself against the brick wall of the building he his behind and then began to count to himself.
One --- two ---
The voice of the other woman spoke to him he looked up and he saw the specter of Bird in the Rainbow, his mother, in her white Sioux tribal dress. “Scowls Like the Wolf … remember your promise to me my son.” He nodded acknowledgement to her then continued with his count.
Three … STRIKE!
He turned and began to run down the alleyway towards the two men. His eyes first focused on the man holding down the young girl. He could feel how fast he was running and could hear the sound of the air as it went into his ears. This sound was now starting to be replaced with the sound of wind chimes. The wind chimes grew louder as he came closer to the men and the girl. He began to time his strides so that he could kick the man holding down the girl square in his face, where he would then counter kick the other man to the side of his head using the same foot in one motion.
As here came closer everything then seemed to go slower, and as it grew slower the wind chimes would grow louder. He came closer, the chimes grew louder, and louder, and even louder. He could see in slow motion his right foot as it then was making it way to the center of the first mans face.
The wind chimes were now very loud and his foot was now within inches of the man’s face when - - -
- - - Logan gasped in a deep breath as he awoke in the gazebo. The wind was now blowing, causing the wind chimes in the gazebo to ring rapidly. It was dark, night had fallen and he sat up straight and looked around. He was breathing heavy and looked to the house. The only light that was coming from the house was that of the television from the den. Logan quickly looked to his wristwatch; much to his amazement he discovered that he had been asleep for over four hours.
He looked around in all directions of the gazebo still breathing heavily. He then stood and looked into the darkness. He then said, “It’s you …it’s the both of you … it always has been. It’s all true. It’s all as the Holy Elder said it would be.” He then began to cry, “It is you … it’s the both of you.”
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