Darkness upon the Land

Alexia might have slept a little longer, but Kayla started crying again, and she knew Sierra was frustrated by those frequent bouts and J. C. preferred to try to ignore it. The entire family seemed pretty grumpy, and the parents preferred to trade snide remarks to each other while she and Reuben tended to the fire and breakfast.

He did catch three more fish, but they were smaller than the two from last night, so there wasn’t that much more to eat. She gave them her blanket, towel, and the water bottle, and Reuben gave up some of his spare matches after lessons on fire and shelter building. After their guests asked if there was anything else that could be given away, they bid farewell and headed in opposite directions. She could hear the couple argue about whose turn it was to carry the baby, and had to admit she was glad to leave the grown-ups behind.

“I wish we didn’t have to leave that little girl with them,” she sighed as she glanced back at the small group that finally began heading the other way up the highway.

Reuben arched an eyebrow. “She’s not another stray you can pick up. Unless you take up kidnapping, there’s nothing we can do about it. Under the circumstances we’ve been very generous.”

“We could’ve given them more food.”

“That wouldn’t have done Kayla any good. Jerry Can and Sierra Mountains like to keep themselves full.”

Alexia wondered if she would ever want an insight into the workings of his mind. “Is your opinion of them that low? She’s their child.”

He sighed before responding. “I just know what I saw.”

She thought back on what she had seen as well, and after considering the events of the last few hours had to admit that what she believed and hoped would be the case for Kayla wasn’t so. Reuben, as usual, was probably right. She half wished she’d decided to take up kidnapping.

“Keep your weather eye open.” He frowned slightly as he glanced over his left shoulder.

“Not many clouds.” But she noticed the eastern sky was redder this morning and the grass was dry. “Did you get to hear anything about today on the extended forecast?”

“Forty percent chance of rain. At least that’s what they were saying Wednesday night.”

In less than an hour they reached the logging road. It was a more primitive path, constructed from fill structure topped with gravel. A large brown sign at the entrance read, “Private Property. Authorized Personnel Only. Violators Will Be Prosecuted.” Around three years ago her mother once blatantly disregarded the sign and drove down this road just to show Reuben more swampland because of the fascination he’d developed for it. Luckily the only authorized personnel they saw was one truck driver too intent on getting his load of logs out to pay any attention to them.

Alexia initially hadn’t wanted to take this route on their current trek home. It would add a few miles to their trip because the road meandered through swamp. But Reuben wanted to get off the highway, and the only thing that was keeping him from cutting across country was all the wetland they would soon be encountering. She finally agreed to travel through timber territory since he convinced her it would be the safest route.

The first few tracts of bogginess were small, but by noon they were definitely in swamp country. Nobody lived here. There were no houses or stalled cars to be seen anymore.

The peaceful atmosphere of their present location was even more soothing than yesterday before their company showed up. Birds twittered in the treetops and a breeze occasionally rustled through the vegetation, and she found herself content with the quiet that had fallen between the two of them. Their stop for lunch was briefer than before, and she noticed feeling better today than she had yesterday. They were making good time, and her hopes rose that they would make it home by tomorrow evening.

Then late in the afternoon the wind picked up and the southwestern sky darkened. Whatever was coming was blowing in fast and wouldn’t be any gentle rain shower.

They were in about the worst possible place to have a storm bear down on them. With swamp spread across on either side of the elevated road, their options for shelter were few. Reuben pointed out that although they could try to take cover in the tent by erecting it in the middle of the lane, it might not be able to hold up to the increasing winds. He pulled out a poncho that might provide some cover while they took shelter behind a tree, but instead of looking for said tree he picked up the pace down the road.

She wondered what the heck he was thinking as swollen, black clouds roiled toward them and the wind seemed to believe it was an Arctic blast. Suddenly he hesitated and stood on tiptoe to gaze ahead.

“What is it?” Alexia asked, almost having to shout above the wind.

“A truck!” He motioned for her to follow as he broke into a run. “C’mon!”

Even as she took off after him the first drops of rain began to fall. They weren’t going to make it without getting wet. They were actually sprinting toward the very storm clouds they were trying to escape.

The raindrops that hit her were fat and cold, and then they were immediately followed by a barrage of water that stung her face because of the driving wind. All she could see of the logging truck ahead of them was a large, dark mass enveloped by the gray and green wash of the storm. Lightning splintered over the treetops to their south, behind the truck, only a couple of seconds before thunder rumbled like a herd of celestial steeds over their heads. The rain driven by relentless wind chill quickly soaked through her clothes and felt frigid to her skin.

The vehicle was facing them, and when Reuben got there first he leaped up on the running board on the driver’s side and flung the door open. His gear bag went flying inside even as he jumped back down to the saturated gravel.

“Get in!” He grabbed her arm and practically pitched her onto the running board.

She scrambled into the cab and bumped against the steering wheel while trying to scoot out of his way quickly enough. He almost landed in her lap and slammed the door shut.

Gasping for breath, Alexia slid over the console between the bucket seats. The gear bag was leaning off the front edge of the passenger seat, and she picked it up to hold with the duffel bag as she settled in.

Immediately she noticed there was a bench seat behind them. She started to dump the bags back there when Reuben stated, “Don’t do that.”

“It’s crowded up here.”

“We need a dry zone.” He kneeled on the driver’s seat and studied the passenger area behind them.

Someplace dry, and especially warm, certainly sounded appealing. She was soaked through, with her wet hair still dripping down the neck of her soggy tee shirt. If only they could start the truck and run the heater, but that wasn’t an option with the ignition device missing.

“I’ll take that back, thank you.” He reached over to retrieve his gear bag, which he set on the console and opened it. “Here’s the drill. If it’s wet, it comes off. Get undressed and dried off and only put on dry clothes when you get into the back seat with the blanket. I’ll do the same. Between the two of us we should keep from getting hypothermia.”

A split second after she thought his scenario sounded a bit extreme, the first wave of shivering rippled through her. It passed after a few seconds, but she knew it could be followed by more persistent shivering if she didn’t do what he said.

She turned her back to him as he tossed the silvery blanket into the back seat. “We’re lucky we got to this truck when we did,” she stated while pulling the tee shirt over her head.

“We’re lucky this thing was unlocked. The towel’s on the dash board when you’re ready.”

Thunder rumbled overhead again, and while she tugged off her wet shorts through another wave of shivering, he caused a lot of thumping and clanking by moving some things around that were in the back seat. All of her clothes were too wet to leave on, and after laying them out the best she could over the dash board and seat, she dried off with the towel. When she tossed that on the dash board near Reuben and climbed into the space behind them, she noticed he kept his attention focused through the driver’s door window as though he had a consuming passion for meteorology that eclipsed any interest in naked girls.

“Your turn,” Alexia gasped as she landed in the seat and began pulling on dry clothes.

Another bout of shivering passed through her after she got dressed and also took up a fascination for weather. As she gazed out the small passenger side window, she noticed that already a thin, white film of condensation had formed on the darkened glass that shimmered from the waves of raindrops breaking against its surface. The temperature was dropping far and fast, which would explain the ferocity of the storm.

She heard Reuben manually engage the locks on the doors before he hopped into the back seat a few minutes after her, and she kept her attention on the window. Not until he said “Sit with me,” did she look at him. As she scooted toward him she was a bit surprised how quickly he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.

“Keep that blanket over both of us.” There was an odd tremor to his voice.

She immediately figured out why he sounded a little funny. Reuben was shivering much more than she was.

“You doofus!” Alexia hissed as she turned partially toward him and wrapped her arms around his torso. “This is what you get for being chivalrous, isn’t it? You let me dry off first.”

“We only have one towel.”

“You let me do everything first.”

“All right, I admit it, I have an ulterior motive. After all, he who is last shall be first in the kingdom of heaven.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with – wait a minute. Isn’t that from the New Testament?”

He hesitated for a couple of seconds before responding. “I might be delirious.”

Her smile was involuntarily as she rested her head on his shoulder and noticed the faint aroma of campfire smoke still clung to him. But her amusement was quickly replaced by renewed concern as she realized that for the second time since they’d left the university, Reuben struck her as vulnerable. Until the last couple of days his athletic prowess and sound judgment always made her think of him as too competent to come to harm. Even during his bout with the bullies, she had enough faith in his strength and agility to anticipate he would prevail. But when they were back there on the bridge, when he nearly got impaled because he’d thrown himself over her, the reality hit her for the first time that he wasn’t so invincible.

Now they had only each other as a source of warmth in a stalled truck that was dropping in temperature as quickly inside as it was outside. She did, however, have something of an ace up her sleeve, although under the circumstances it would be of no use to her. It would be beneficial for him, and that was enough to make her decide that for his sake she was going to play it. And because he would protest that she shouldn’t, Alexia didn’t mention what she was about to do.

The long, slow breaths she began taking was the physical part of her concentration, but her success lay in how she focused on her goal. As she released thought of everything but her objective, she thought she heard him say her name, and then some more words, but they had no meaning to her because words had become inconsequential.

Even before her mother brought her to the research university, she had already learned, although on a more limited basis, how to exercise some control over part of her autonomic system. Because everything medicinal except for pure aspirin was basically poisonous to her, Alexia’s recourse when ailment struck was herbal remedies and self-regulation. And Mѐre was more than just an expert on this condition; the woman had been studying to become a doctor before marriage and widowhood and motherhood all happened in rapid progression. So when Dr. Vaughn plugged her into the biofeedback equipment to help her learn how to control this new manifestation, she quickly mastered the meditative game.

Her own body seemed distant to her even as she felt the flicker of warmth spread from her belly to her torso and to her limbs. Yet it was also all she was conscious of. The blowing storm, the dim cab, and even Reuben no longer existed. Sight and sound were meaningless.

She had no way to keep track of time, but before she started to feel drained she released her concentration as slowly as she had drawn into it. The pounding of the storm on the truck pushed itself into her consciousness again. As she opened her eyes she noticed that he wasn’t shivering at the moment, and he also had one palm placed on her temple as though trying to determine if she had a fever.

“You all right?” He asked.

She drew another deep breath as she broke completely away from her meditative state. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

He shivered again, but briefly. “It’s awfully risky for you to draw heat from your core temperature like that. It’s just going to make you colder.”

“You’re welcome,” Alexia growled.

He chortled briefly as he removed his hand from her head to casually wrap his arm back around her. “Not that I didn’t appreciate it. You need anything to eat?”

She wasn’t going to let his question bother her this time. “Not right now. We’re getting pretty low on food, and obviously tonight you’re not going to be catching any fish.”

“Flying fish, maybe, if I used the net.” He craned his neck to try to gaze out the fogged up window.

“Well, this is the night you said you’d pull the rabbit out of your gear bag.”

Reuben broke into a grin as his attention returned to her. “Sorry, I think he got washed away while we were running down here. Let’s get good and warm first, and then we’ll take stock of our gear and have a bite of something.”

After finishing the last of the jerky and dried apricots, they determined the most comfortable way for them to share the back seat and the blanket was for him to lean against the side of the cab and have her sit with her back against his chest. There was still most of the evening ahead of them, and she was a little surprised they hadn’t grown tired yet. At least tonight they could both sleep without any guard duty since the storm and the locked truck precluded anyone would intrude upon them.

Several minutes passed as they sat in thoughtful silence while she gazed at the window that couldn’t be seen out of. The rain was no longer pelting the truck, but it was still heavy enough to keep a constant drumming noise in the cab.

“Tomorrow’s Easter,” Alexia muttered as the realization struck her.

Reuben’s response came after a few seconds. “Purim begins tonight.”

She frowned. “I thought it was Passover that was around the same time as Easter.”

“Not when you all decide to have Easter this early in the season.”

She smiled. “Maybe you all decided to have Passover late.” Her brow furrowed slightly. “So, what is Purim, anyway?”

She felt him draw a deep breath before he answered. “It’s based on the book of Esther and how one woman’s courage helped to save her people. But mostly it’s a reminder how God is still there even when He’s hidden, especially when He’s the most hidden.”

His explanation was actually fuller than anticipated, but she was still puzzled. “Hidden? How do you mean?”

“Have you ever read the book of Esther?”

“Well, in bits and pieces.”

“God is never mentioned.”

She gave his statement time to soak in. “But it’s in the Bible. Are you sure about that?”

“You want me to give a recitation?”

Reuben’s tongue might have been heading for his cheek when he said that, but she figured they had the time. “Might as well. It’s short enough, isn’t it? And there’s not much else to do while we wait for the storm to blow over.”

“You’ve got a point. Where’s the water bottle?”

Listening to him quote from memory the entire book of Esther was not exactly a new experience. But she did notice something about his superior memory which she’d always been aware of before, but it now manifested in a different way. Although he knew the words by rote, they were still alive to him. His delivery was filled with inflections and emotion that made her chuckle a couple of times but also drew her into the tension of the plot. She almost forgot to stay alert for any mention of God. By the time he finished, she admitted it was more like he’d told her a bedtime story than recited scripture.

As he took another sip of water from the bottle, she asked, “It’s a bit morbid, isn’t it, celebrating that all those other people got killed instead?”

“Well, no, it’s a celebration of survival. The killing of all those other people was a necessary evil in order to bring about a greater good. It’s what we’re stuck with while we live in a broken world.”

She thought about his comment for a few seconds. “I guess there is a common thread between Purim and Easter. It was necessary for Jesus to die in order to bring about the greater good of His resurrection.”

“I wonder how Father Nick and Deacon Bernard are gonna handle the celebration this year?”

His question about the two pastors that oversaw her parish reminded Alexia how she was currently cut off from communion with her fellow communicants. Here she was, stuck in the middle of nowhere with a non-Trinitarian during the most significant holy day of her faith. It struck her again how the belief she had always taken for granted and hadn’t given much thought to lately suddenly became more important. And that reminded her of something.

On impulse she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small, blue velvet bag. Alexia removed the circular chain embedded with small mother-of-pearl beads and a crucifix.

“That’s not a rosary, is it?” Reuben asked.

“You know what those look like?” She held the object up where they could both see it better.

“Sort of. I thought they were supposed to have big black beads on them, not little white dainty ones like that.”

“They can come in all colors. All sizes. I thought since you just recited the book of Esther, maybe I could say the rosary. Have you ever heard it said before?”

“Well, in bits and pieces.”

“Would it be all right with you if I said it now?”

He seemed to settle in as though preparing for a bedtime story. “Go for it.”

Alexia held the beads in her left hand and grasped the crucifix in her right, made the sign of the cross, and began the prayer. “I believe in God, the Father almighty....”

It occurred to her that by the time she finished, he would probably have the whole thing memorized – assuming he was actually paying attention. They had compared religious notes at times in their few years of knowing each other, but she usually came away from those discussions with the sense he was more “well-versed” than she was.

When she was younger her faith was just a way of life she didn’t question, not even when her stepfather scoffed at it. But then her curse emerged and the questions began – the first one being why would God create her as a freak? But probably the main contribution to her growing detachment was Mѐre’s involvement with the Church. What her mother deemed important became insignificant to her.

That attitude began with these outbursts. Mѐre had been so adamant about keeping this manifestation secret, she had even managed to conceal it from Alexia’s stepfather. It wasn’t that the girl wanted others to know about her aberration – she much preferred to be normal – but her mother’s proclivity to shield her from all the evils of the world intensified into an obsession. Mѐre was of the delusion there were factions out there that would go beyond mere intrigue about her daughter’s condition.

Presumably they would declare her to be a threat to national security, lock her away for her own good, and turn her into a lab rat in order to discover how to knock over furniture without touching it. She knew that behind Reuben’s obligation to bring her home laid the priority to keep her away from such an entity. Mѐre must have convinced him such a threat was real.

She couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like when she finally got home. With a world that seemed to have just descended more deeply into chaos, her mother would probably be at an even worse level of vigilance. So Alexia braced herself for a reunion that could be fraught with increasing conflict.