Tending the Stones For The Lock

By aaforringer on January 22, 2017 • ( 2 )

Beginning of a new story, will do a couple pages a week. The inspiration for this came from an off hand comment I made on Facebook, and since people seemed interested I decided to follow through. Happy Reading.

(1st Part) (2nd Part) (3rd Part) (4th Part) (5th Part) (6th Part) (7th Part) (8th Part) (9th Part)(Part 10) (Part 11)(Part 12)(Part 13)(Part 14)(Part 15)(Part 16)(Part 17)(Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)(Part 21) (Part 22 ) (Part 23) (Part 24 ) (Part 25 ) (Part 26)

“Mom why is their a man in monk robes standing on Grandma’s porch?”

“That was way too fast pulling into the driveway Matthew.”

“Mom.”

“I was not driving too fast.” The teenager boy claimed.

“The tires squealed when you pulled into the driveway you were going to fast.”

“Tires squeal for all kinds of reason Mom I was only going about ten miles an hour.”

“Mom is that a monk on Grandma’s porch?”

“Not now Jessica,” She turned back towards her son. “I think you were going faster then ten, more like closer to fifteen.”

Mark looked over toward the porch as he placed the SUV in park and turned off the engine. “Mom I thought Buddhist robes were yellow and red, why is his red and green?

“Would you like more tea John?”

“Hello Mother.”

“Oh that is right you were coming by,” Emily smiled and motioned to the man who was putting down the tea cup. “Meredith I would like you to meet my very old friend High Pilgrim Orujov.”

“Hello.” Meredith stated tersely.

“How nice to meet you Ms. Bartloski.

“Oh she is married.” Emily corrected the robed man sitting across from her in the dining room. “She is Mrs. Wallace.” He mother smiled and asked. “Are the children with you dear.” She said peering around her daughter into the living room.

“They are waiting in the car.” Meredith said simply but her mother did not seem to get the hint that she was worried. “May I speak to you alone mother.”

Emily heard the tone in her voice and saw the expression on her face, the worried look that her husband had on rare occasions.

“John I will be back shortly.” Emily rose from the table grabbing her cane and using it to get to her feet The robed monk in the corner simply nodded as Emily and Meredith passed him walking through the kitchen out the sliding glass door and onto the patio. Meredith closed the door and turned and found her mother standing still with her face pointed upwards enjoying the sunshine on her face and smiling. Meredith looked down at her mother slightly stooped over, with a full head of gray hair, wire rimmed glasses and wearing a red track suit that showed even for her age and the fact she had two hip replacements she was trim and in shape.

“Mother why are their three monks in your house?”

“Well actually there are only two monks the youngest one, I think his name is Hans, is not allowed to be a structure with a roof, some sort of vow or rite he is completing.”

“Okay Mom, why are their two men in robes in your house.”

“Like I said the High Pilgrim is an old friend, of course when I met him he was only a Novice Wayfarer.”

“Do they want money Mom, are they looking for a donation?”

Her mother looked at her with serious look. “No Meredith like I said John is an old friend. Why are you so suspicious of people?”

Meredith tried another tactic. “Was he a friend of Dad’s?”

Emily shook her head. “No I met John a while before I met your father, but he did meet Clark once.” She smiled as if remembering something.

“Are they Buddhist? Meredith said looking back into the house suspiciously.

“No not exactly, they belong to the Waskean Screen.”

“You say that like it is a common thing,” Meredith paused. ” I have never heard of the Waskean before.”

Emily leaned on her cane and spoke like the school teacher she once was. “The Waskean devotes themselves to the fight of good vs. evil by the collection of sacred articles and the alignment of the items of a paranormal nature.”

“A bunch of nuts then.”

“Meredith Katelyn Bartloski that is very prejudiced way to think and I raised you better than to make snap judgements like that. ”

“Sorry Mom.” Meredith said sheepishly. “So where did you meet the..?”

“The High Pilgrim, we met in Egypt and then traveled to Kilimanjaro and a few other places, then we went to Finland.”

“You traveled with this man?” Meredith said in a tone that conveyed both surprise and scorn at the same time.

“Don’t give me that tone young woman I am your mother and I had a life before you came along and besides there was a group of us. ” Emily smiled at a memory. “And people of John’s order take a vow of celibacy.”

“Wait you said you traveled with him to Finland, isn’t that where you met Dad after your skiing accident.”

Emily nodded. “Yes after my skiing accident.”

Emily woke up at 7:00 without an alarm clock on Monday morning. She followed the same schedule she had for the last two years, first a short walk around the block, then she found the paper on the driveway and then put coffee on and drank two cups with toast as she read the paper. It was coming up to nine when she heard the front door open and the same voice called out her name as she had for the last two years.

“Hello Mrs. Emily.”

“In the kitchen Brodie.”

Brodie entered the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and then added his dollop of cream from the refrigerator. Emily watched wandering how he was going to handle her announcement, probably not very well, but she needed him if she had any hope of accomplishing her mission.

Brodie sat down at his customary at the kitchen table and took a sip of his coffee. “Well do you think we can get to work this week throwing some of the junk out of the garage, I still have the number for that company that brings the dumpsters out.”

“No Brodie, I do not think we will be able to get to the garage this week.”

Brodie frowned, while Mrs. Emily was his boss, he had strict instructions from Mrs. Wallace about items Brodie was to accomplish and one was cleaning the garage out. This huge task was in n addition to making sure Mrs. Bartloski took her medicine and did her physical therapy and got to her doctor appointments on time. “What project will we be working on this week I cleaned the gutters last week so no need to do that again.”

Emily looked at him over her coffee mug. “Is your passport still valid?”

(1st Part) (2nd Part) (3rd Part) (4th Part) (5th Part) (6th Part) (7th Part) (8th Part) (9th Part)(Part 10) (Part 11)(Part 12)(Part 13)(Part 14)(Part 15)(Part 16)(Part 17)(Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20) (Part 21) (Part 22) (Part 23) (Part 24) (Part 25) (Part 26)

The problem I have discovered with this type of writing is if I commit to something in the story there is no taking it back I just have to go with is and write my way out of it.

If you would like to read my last weekly story, A Disinclined Purveyor of Sequential Art her it is. (Written in 2013, the same year my wife left me, so I was a different person back then, and I hope I have learned a lot about writing since then.)

If you want to see one of my complete books try Disconnect in the Outfitters Universe.

My Response: The prophecy stated that in 60 years if the Stones were not properly aligned then the world would fall under the sway of the demon king for 1000 years. 1956 21 year old Emily the chosen one starts the quest. She arranges half the Stones around the planet, but then falls in love and life happens. Now it is 59 years later, Emily’s husband of 58 years passed away and one of the monks has found Emily and reminds her that she is the chosen one and needs to complete her task. Anyone interested?