Summer's Passing (2 page)

The embers still burned when her head lowered to her chest and she fell asleep in the chair near the fireplace, the lantern burning brightly by her side.

She awoke coughing. The air had grown thick and stale. She could hardly breathe. She thought she must have still been dreaming, as she looked around her. The air around her had become a heavy fog. She could no longer see the cabin walls. Invisible hands were strangling her.

Then she saw the flames. They were above her, red and hot, and in front of her, blocking her exit. The evil had found her. She could not outrun it. She had traveled miles from home, yet she could not escape the fate of her parents.

She fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Here, low to the ground, it was easier to breathe, but not for long. The fire was approaching her from all sides, and the thick smoke enveloped her like a shroud.

The girl closed her eyes and curled herself into a tight ball. She said a silent prayer to her God to lift her away from all sin and sorrow and into his merciful arms.

And he did. She felt herself rise up into the air. Strong arms wrapped around her, protecting her from the dark spirits of the night. 

"Try not to inhale," she heard a voice say and she remembered moving rapidly through the night before she fainted.

When she woke, she lay in the grass of a forest at night. A man stared down at her. "You'll be alright now," he told her.

She began coughing again, but not as much as before. The man knelt next to her and waited. "Are you God?" The girl asked him once she regained control of her lungs.

The man smiled down on her. "No, I'm afraid not."

"Then I'm not in Heaven".

"No." The man stood. "You are in The Forbidden Forest. I commend you for making it this far. Most don't."

The girl sat up. "You did," she said.

"True, but only because I have a shield strong enough to ward off the evil."

"I don't see a shield," the young woman said.

"You will in time," he answered.

She thought she might be in a dream; in fact, she was sure of it, but she asked anyhow.

"How did you find me here?"

"That, my adventurous traveler, is a question for another time. For now," he held out his hand, "I suggest we leave this place." When she rose up, he lifted her once again in his arms. 

"You're in no shape to walk." 

The girl glanced behind her as they moved through the trees. The flames from the fire had quickly devoured the wooden frame. The brick chimney stood alone in the darkness. Sparks rose and danced around it like fireflies in the night.

"You're new here, aren't you?"

I must have dozed off. When I opened my eyes, three people stood in front of me, a guy and two girls.

"Didn't mean to wake you. Blame it on the girls," the guy said.

"Yeah, blame it on us," a girl added.

I stood, a little embarrassed by the whole napping thing.

"I just got in this morning." I walked down the steps and held out my hand. "Doug Monroe," I said.

The guy stepped forward. "Eric Banner, and this is Cassie and Eve."

"Short for Evening," a girl behind him said.

We shook hands. "Me and the beauty queens are heading down to the Sand Trap. Want to tag along?"

"It's a tiki bar a little ways down," Eve said.

"Sure," I said. "Why not?"

Banner looked back at the girls. "Tell him, Eric," Cassie said.

"Gotta be honest, dude. I saw your beer before I saw you."

I went to the cooler and grabbed a couple of beers. "Coors Light okay?"

The walk to The Sand Trap became an opportunity to quiz my new friends on the culture of Port Grace. All had their opinions, most were positive. The two girls tended to talk and giggle to themselves. They lost interest in talking after a while and became true free spirits, running ahead, barefoot through the night surf where it met the sand.

"So how long have you known Cassie and Eve?" I asked Eric.

He took a hearty pull from his beer."Met 'em last week at Flannigan's. That's a bar not far from here. They had come down to visit Cassie's aunt and maybe stay the summer. Turns out the aunt died a month or so ago." Eric finished off the beer. "I guess nobody told Cassie. Personally, I'm not sure I believe the story. Anyhow, they were living out of their car. We took both of them in at our rental, not far up the beach from yours. That makes twelve of us in our little cottage; not much room to walk around."

"Guess not," I replied. How'd you get so many?"

"I take in strays," Eric said.

The Sand Trap was doing a booming business. Customers, mostly young people, lined up two deep at the large round bar.The bar was open on all sides, covered by a thatch roof that stretched over the bar and a good chunk of the sand around it.White plastic tables and chairs dotted the landscape. While electricity provided light under the canopy, the tables were candlelit and the light cast by the flames flickered like tiny stars on the surface of the sand.

"Over here!" Eve yelled from the darkness nearby. "We've got us a table."

"I thought we'd lost those two," I said to Eric. 

He chuckled. "I should have told you they never stray too far. Since the day I found them they've always been close at hand."

The four of us shared three pitchers of beer as we talked and listened to Caribbean music blaring through The Sand Trap's speaker system. By evening's end, I knew a great deal about my new friends and I probably could have played the steel drums with a degree of competence had I been sober enough.

The return trip to the beach house was an exercise in the art of keeping dry, as Eve and Cassie seemed determined to push both Eric and I into the waves.

"I liked it better when they ran ahead," I told Eric at one point.

By the time we reached my place, the girls had finally run out of steam and satisfied themselves with one last foot splash before they danced into the moonlight.

"They like you, you know; both of them," Eric said once the girls were out of earshot.

"I'd hate to think how I would have been treated if they hated me," I added.

"They wanted to stay the night with you, but I talked 'em out of it. Was that okay?'

I watched them fade into the night. Two cute blondes in tight shorts and tank tops; I came close to calling them back and taking them up on the offer. Too much booze does that to me. I have made bad decisions before after several beers and, undoubtedly, that would have been one of them.

"You did the right thing," I said.

"Hey, tomorrow night - same time, same place?" Eric asked as he walked away.

"Sure, why not?"

"Cool. See ya then." He started to run but stumbled and fell in the sand.

"Wait up!" He yelled to the girls, brushing himself off. 

I was determined not to make this summer in Port Grace a vacation, but if my first day and night were any indication, it was well on its way to becoming one.

It seemed he had carried her for miles. The darkness of the woods frightened her, so she closed her eyes. When she reopened them, dawn had brightened the sky.

"We're here," he said, and the warm feeling one has when safe and free of care enveloped her as they entered a small cottage surrounded by trees.

The stranger gently lowered the girl to a wooden chair, next to a small table, in what might generously be called a kitchen.

"I'll need to mend your leg before I fetch us dinner."

She glanced down and saw that her left foot was twisted to the right. 

"It appears to be a clean break. Do you remember how it happened?"

"No," she said, staring at her awkward foot. "No, I do not."

"No matter," the stranger said. "What is your name?"

"Rachel," the girl answered.

"Well, Rachel, I need to give your leg a rather severe yank. I expect you to be brave when I do."

Rachel looked up. The stranger smiled and she knew it would be all right.

"Grip my shoulder if you'd like." He lifted her leg. "You might want to close your eyes."

The moment she did, she felt a flash of intense pain rip through her and she fainted dead away.

When she opened her eyes she was in a room lit by a solitary candle. She lay in a small bed that smelled of summer mornings.

"Ah, good, my patient lives."

She turned her head to see the stranger standing above her. "My leg?" she asked.

"Much better, but not fit for even the shortest of walks. Here, I'll show you." He lifted the blanket covering her. Her left leg was secured by two wooden slats, running from her knee to her ankle. A long strip of cloth, tied at both ends, bound them tightly.

"Not a bad job, if I say so myself," the stranger said. 

"Why is there no pain?" Rachel asked.

"There will be, later. For now, you must rest. It would be best to try to sleep for a time. The days are short but quiet. The nights though, are a different matter altogether. I'll get us some food." He picked up a large bow and a satchel of arrows, leaning against the wall.

"You know my name, what is yours?" Rachel asked him as he made to leave.

"Morgan, call me Morgan." Then he left her, and Rachel did not see him again until hours later.

I stared at the Gulf of Mexico. The water was as calm as a pond. The lapping waves made little sound as they spread across the sand in the early morning light.I stretched my arms before starting my typing. In the porch's shade, my laptop screen reflected more of my face than my words. Even with a good night's sleep, I could see bags under my eyes. This place was aging me and I barely had a day under my belt.

The thought of downing more beer later that night at the Sand Trap gave me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, yet when the sun set and my new found friends appeared with the coming of the night, I was once again ready to hit the beach.

"Did they change since last night?" I asked Eric as we headed upstream. It looked to me like Cassie and Eve wore the same tank tops and shorts from the previous evening, not that I was complaining much. Even stone sober they looked sexy as hell.

"Every article of clothing they own looks like that, tank tops and shorts. I don't think they own shoes," he said. "Oh, by the way." Eric lowered his voice even though both girls ran far ahead. "I think tonight they're going to make their play for you, the two of them." He took a swig of the beer I'd given him at the porch. "They couldn't make up their mind who would go first."

"I guess I have no say in the matter," I said.

"Apparently not." Eric downed his beer. Not far ahead, the girls bumped their hips together playfully in the surf. "Much worse things in life, I would think," he added.

Remarkably, we sat at the same table as the previous evening, compliments once again of Cassie and Eve. And, once again, the steel drums played and the pitchers of beer emptied. 

Cassie and Eve were in a dancing mood, jumping up from the table at the slightest hint of an up-tempo beat. If they couldn't find partners they danced with themselves, but more often than not they found eager dancing companions. Secretly I hoped one, or both, would find a partner for later too. Call me an idiot, but I just wasn't ready for this quite yet. Maybe next week, but not tonight.

Eric excused himself to take a leak and, for the time being, I had the table to myself. I nursed my beer and watched the dark, heavy waves pound the surf. From my vantage point, between two palm trees and away from the bright lights of the bar, I had a clear view of the moonlit water. Yet I didn't see the woman at first, though she might have been there for a while. She stood on the sand near the waves, facing the gulf.

She wore a white flowery sundress; I could make that out in the moonlight. The wind, strengthened by the waves, blew her dress around, and her long hair, as dark as the night, swirled playfully around her neck and shoulders. She carried her shoes in one hand and the other was empty. No, wait, she held something in her other hand, something that reflected the moonlight as it swung in the wind. A necklace? I couldn't be sure at that distance.