Tending the Stones for the Lock X

By aaforringer on March 26, 2017 • ( 0 )

10th part of the new weekly story. (1st Part) 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)

Meredith Wallace put down the phone, this was the third time in an hour she had tried her mother and it went right to voice mail every time. Meredith sighed, mom was so aggravating sometimes, she would refuse to answer her phone for hours and sometimes never even listened to her voice mail messages. It was not that her Mom was afraid of technology, heck the lady had a Mac Book Air with its on Internet connection. She was one of the first persons she knew to get involved in EBay and had no fear of ordering clothes and gifts on line. No Meredith thought her mother was just obstinate and did not like to be controlled by what she called the electronic leash. Thankfully she did not get angry or upset if you did not call or respond to an voice mail so at least she was not a hypocrite.

Meredith looked at her phone, he mother had sent her an email today, it was light an breezy saying how she would be staying with her friend Helen a few more days. Typical mother.

A few hours later Ms. Meredith decided it was time to treat herself to an afternoon at the bookstore, her kids were busy with their afterschool activities and friends and her husband was on a business trip to San Diego so what better time to peruse the local book store and relax with a cup of coffee.

One hour later she was sitting in the coffee shop adjacent to book store leafing thru her magazine she was wondering if she should get a refill of her tea or maybe indulge her sweet tooth with a pastry.

“Meredith is that you?”

Meredith looked up and saw it was Helen.

“It is you Meredith how have you been and where is you mother, I tried calling her to tell her I was coming to town for a few days but that naughty girl has not responded to any of my calls or texts.”

Meredith was in shock but Helen did not let her speak. “You know she is such a feisty gal your mother, I suppose she is still of on her little adventure. Why Finland this time of year I have no idea, Finland is best in the fall, of course your mother is into strange trips, I consider it roughing it if the hotel does not have a twenty-four hour a day masseuse on call.” Helen took a breath and motioned for her ever constant companion, a driver/assistant to come close. “Mary could you get me a tea, green and two pastries, one chocolate one caramel,” She looked at Meredith then started digging through her purse. “I just can’t decide between caramel or chocolate lately, so we can share the pastries.” She retrieved from her purse her compact and started checking herself out in the small mirror.

“You said my mother was were Helen?”

Helen never looked up. “Finland, or maybe it was Sweden, I know it was one of those Scandinavian countries, is Denmark considered part of Scandinavia, I know it is in the general area but I am not sure.”

“She was supposed to be visiting you Helen, didn’t she come up to see you last week, on Tuesday.”

Helen put her compact down after she completed her checks and started looking thru her purse for her wallet. “Last Tuesday, no I have not seen your mother in about two months.” Meredith thought. “I know it was not Norway because when someone mentions Norway I always think of my third husband, he was of Norwegian descent, so tall, so blonde but he had this terrible desire for fish all the time. I know they say fish is brain food and Wilmer was incredibly smart, at least when it came to money but you can only eat fish maybe once or twice a week then you become tired of it, of course he did not consider lobster fish, I tell you I think I could a lobster dish four times a week.” Helen stopped when Mary came and placed the pastries and tea on the table. Helen looked over to where Meredith was, and noticed that Meredith was no longer there and caught a glimpse of her going the out the front door or the coffee shop.

Helen paused her talking and reviewed the conversation then looked at Mary. “I don’t think I was supposed to tell her about the trip to Finland, yes it was definitely Finland that Emily went to.”

Mary simply nodded.

Helen smiled at her assistant. “Well sit dear, I simply cannot eat both of these pastries myself.”

Meredith let herself into her mother’s house deactivating the alarm as she entered before she took another step she looked closely at the control panel, it had not been deactivated since the date her mother had called telling her the lie about going to Helen’s. She saw that her mother had at least called to have the mail stopped so this trip to Finland was not a truly spontaneous decision.

Slamming down her keys on the kitchen table grabbed her mother’s address book and found the number she was looking for she sat at her mother’s desk and dialed the house phone. “Hi this is Meredith Wallace.”

“Yes my mother is Ms. Emily and you are Brodie’s sister?”

“Well I was wondering if you had heard from Brodie in the last couple of days?” Meredith got a pencil from the jar and got her pen ready.

“You got an e-mail three days ago? He was enjoying Finland and wondered if you could keep his cat a few more days because they were taking a ferry to St. Petersburg.”

Upon hearing St. Petersburg Meredith snapped the pencil in her hand.

“Yes my mother is generous but I am sure Brodie is earning his pay on the trip. Is there any chance I can get Brodie’s e-mail address, just in case of an emergency of course.” Meredith stated trying not to sound anxious, writing down the address she repeated it back to be sure she got it down correctly then stated she would remind Brodie about his library book being overdue.

Meredith was about to start drafting an e-mail but then thought of something else and reached up and found the sealed envelop that was kept under a stack of books. She normally would have hesitated before opening it but her mother had given her no choice. She unfolded the white papers inside and looked over her mother’s passwords to both her bank accounts and her credit cards.

Logging into the computer she opened the internet browser. “Mother where are you and what are you thinking?”

(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)

Not crazy about the title, any suggestions will be duly considered.

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?