Chapter Two of Center Game, Heir of Drachma, Book Two

Here is the second chapter of Center Game, Heir of Drachma, Book Two.
If you folks like it, I'll post a chapter per week for a while.

Chapter Two

Charlie Stephens was seated behind his cluttered desk. Spread out before him were scattered pieces of paper. He then took out a new piece of paper and began sketching out a timeline of the events that had involved him. Searching for some pattern, something to explain these troublesome events and insinuations, something to provide meaning in all of this.

Four years ago: Dr. Robert Gilsen and Judy Morrison, disappear mysteriously. He finds out and interviews Marilyn Gilsen. Next Carlo Vincente makes his rather otherworldly appearance in his life. After depositing the earl of Shepperton into his lap, Carlo vanishes. Others who become involved include Janie and Earl Crabtree, Chris Lewinsky, Edgar Bryant, Carol, and that danged coin!

Then he had his famous television show. And it pleased his boss enough that he signed a contract to do news and specials for the station for the next three years. And when ABC came around, and wanted to snatch him away into syndication, he surprised himself by saying no. He wondered why to this day, but now thinks he knows – must talk to the earl.

The next four years go by, during which the earl recovers. He, with Marilyn’s help, arranges for the earl to live and to have a living. All the while Marilyn, Carol and he keep the rest of the media at bay. And then the earl and Carol get married. Though he had been secretly hoping for the right opportunity to do another TV special, the opportunity never materialized – have to talk to Carol about that.

And now: Marilyn disappeared from his life, and just as Dr. Gilsen and Judy had done, without preamble, and with no means to reconnect. And this definitely hurt. Who was Marilyn, if not his best friend?

And now this latest stuff, with Janie and Lonnie – all so confusing. Got to talk with Janie first. See if she can shed any light. Then see the others.

As he stood to leave, he looked down at the paper he’d written on again, and then he folded the paper and put it in his pocket. As he made his reach for the telephone, a thought flooded his mind. That which you seek is great, but your search even greater. It was as if the words had come rushing out of the forest of his dreams. And accompanying the words was the subtle fragrance of springtime, and newly turned earth. He sat back down, immobilized for the moment. Then, as the feeling and the smell faded into the background of his memory, he reached for the phone and dialed Janie’s number. It rang three times, and Janie answered.

“Oh, hello, Janie, this is Charlie Stephens… Oh, I’m fine. And how are you doing…? Ah, I see. Well I’d like to come over and talk to you… No, it’s not anything specific. It’s just that I’m searching… for something, just trying to piece a few things together, since Marilyn’s gone missing… Well, I appreciate your concern, I really do…You would? It wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience...? Of course, if you get to feeling like I’m becoming a nuisance or anything, just have Earl show me the door… You do? Well, come to think of it, I love you too…” Charlie swallowed hard, and then said, “Okay, I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

Charlie Stephens, ace reporter, usually unmoved, and unflappable, was suddenly shaking as he hung up the phone. Somehow, he knew that what he was walking into was big, and it was scary, and no one knew what rules applied anymore.

Charlie got out of his car, and looked around at the neighborhood, which was bright, cheerful, with springtime perfection that could be seen and felt everywhere. The newness of the leaves, and the exuberance of the flowers were playing against a chorus of birdcalls. He just stood for a moment, absorbing the welcome urges of warmth infiltrating his limbs. He then headed up the walkway to the little home on Winterstone Drive. He rang the doorbell and was greeted by Earl.

“Oh, Charlie, it’s so good of you to come. I know Janie wants to talk with you. She got that phone call from you, and it so lifted her spirits. Well, here she is, now…”

Janie walked slowly, carefully toward Charlie, and she flung her arms around him. Charlie returned her embrace cautiously, as if holding a fragile present. 

“Charlie, thank you for coming,” she said, “I just wanted to take this opportunity to really tell you all about what I’ve been through these past weeks. Won’t you sit down?”

Charlie gradually released his hold on Janie, and then he helped her to sit down, before sitting down himself. He turned toward Janie and said, with his own voice a bit husky from emotion, “All right, then. Why don’t you tell me about your recent weeks? And then I’ll tell you about my own journey.”

“Okay, Charlie. Some of what I’ve got to say comes from the depths of my soul. That place in me where I don’t even want to tread. And that place where even Lonnie fears to wander.”

“Ah, yes, Lonnie. She’s really quite a special woman. And I do believe you’ve got a real friend there, if my one experience with her is any indication.”

“Let me tell you, she hopes that your one experience won’t be the last one. She was quite smitten with you as well.” Janie smiled as she said this.

“Well, the next time you see her, tell her from me that I have no intention of letting that be the last.”

“Oh, I will… Anyway, you asked, and so I’m going to tell you of the past few weeks. Just what I’ve been going through, what I’ve experienced – and also what Judy’s going through. For you see, I believe our struggles are related.”

“Oh? And how would that be?”

“Charlie,” she continued, “you remember me telling you of my dream with Maggie, Dr. Gilsen, Judy, Diego and the little girl, Alex?”

Charlie nodded.

“Well, now, it appears that was only the beginning. You see, someone’s not quite done with me yet. I’ve been having more of these very real dreams, and they’ve been getting more insistent, and even more intense.”

Charlie pulled out of his jacket pocket his little notebook and pen and began jotting down what Janie was telling him.

“A couple of weeks ago now, I dreamt that Judy was going on a trip somewhere, and she was riding in the back of some horse-drawn cart. She was in the cart with three others. There was some woman who appeared to be friends with Judy, and two others, namely Diego and Alex.”

Charlie was jotting this down, and then he asked, “Any idea where she was going?” Then he thought about what he had just asked, and he just groaned. “Well, now, if that wasn’t the stupidest question I could have asked?”

Janie just smiled, and she asked, “If I knew, and I told you, would it mean anything at all?”

Charlie simply shook his head.

“All right then, Charlie. As I was saying, Judy seemed to be going on this trip with her companions, which included Dr. Gilsen, whom I could see ahead, riding a horse with his own companions.”

“Dr. Gilsen riding a horse, huh? I never pictured him as a cowboy.” 

Janie smiled at that. “Well, it was my dream, remember…”

“All right, m’lady – it was.”

“Now I could see that they were headed toward some mountains in the distance and were leaving the castle.”

The castle! Thought Charlie and wrote that among his notes. I’ll have to look that one up. For even though I can’t find Shepperton, maybe if I could get a description of the castle.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but could you tell me what this castle looked like?”

“Oh sure, Charlie. It was enormous, and it appeared to be made of gray stone. It was sort of a sprawling sort of a building, if you could even call it a building. It was up on a hill, and it extended toward the northwest. And there was a moat around it. I don’t really know what the rest of it looked like, but from where I was, there was some sort of a very tall structure, with these finger-like projections around the base of it. And this seemed to be built as some sort of watchtower or something…”

“Now wait just a minute,” Charlie interrupted. “How could you tell directions in your dream? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Oh, that’s easy, Charlie. You see it was morning, and from where I was, you could clearly see which way the sun was coming up.”

Charlie jotted something down in his little notebook.

“What are you writing, Charlie?” Marilyn asked. “If you’re wondering about what the castle looks like, I could draw you a picture. I’m not too good at it, but I think that you’d at least get some idea. Enough, I’d say to take back to your book search, and look it up – that’s what you want to do, isn’t it? Here, hand me your notebook, and I’ll sketch you what I saw.”

And when Marilyn was done, Charlie looked, and right there in his little notebook was a striking rendition of Shepperton Castle. It was rather extraordinary, really. There was the castle, and off in the distance was the ridge of mountains.

“Wow, Janie, this is really something! I didn’t know you were an artist.”

“Oh, I’m not, Charlie, but you see that scene is burned in my memory, and I don’t know how or why.

“Anyway, Charlie, back to my story. What I then saw was that this little group of people set off down this road,” she pointed out the road in her little drawing, “but then I saw another who followed the group, though at a distance. That was all I saw that first night. But the next night I dreamt again, and saw this same group was now in a hut in the mountains, along with some others, and it was night. Dr. Gilsen and Judy were asleep in one corner of the hut, and in the other corner I saw the man who had been following the group, sitting down, and talking to the little girl, Alex, and he was telling her something about a man named Antoine LeGace. And I could tell by what he said that this was one really evil person. And the guy telling this used to work for this LeGace person. But Alex showed not the least hint of fear of the man.

“Then I was outside the hut, and it was Maggie who took my hand and led me into the dark woods. And all I could do was just follow, and hold her hand, because I couldn’t see anything. But then Maggie turned, and we were in the interior of some building, which was dimly lit, and it really smelled awful. It was nauseating, a very sick smell, but then my attention was directed towards two persons inside. There was a tall, thin man, and another young girl. The girl was crying. And from what I could tell, she had been torn away from her mother, and brought to this place by this Mr. LeGace. And the tall man, too, was a prisoner. He was giving her some comfort, and I could tell that this was one gentle but powerful man.

“It was then that Maggie took me out of that smelly underground place. And she stopped, and took both my hands and she said, “She is called Lisa, and he is Melchior, and both need your help.” But she never said what kind of help.”

“Okay, let me get this written down,” said Charlie. “In your dreams, you’ve seen Dr. Gilsen, Judy, Judy’s companions, which include this girl, Alex, and this strange man who was following them…”

“And Diego. He was among them, too,” Janie added. “And another woman, whose name was Diane.”

“All right I got it.” Said Charlie, scribbling in his notebook. “And in this last part of your dream, you meet up with two new persons named Lisa and Mel…”

“Melchior, like one of the Christmas wise men.”

“Yes. And Maggie, who told you that this Lisa and Melchior need your help. Is that right?”

“And did you get any indication that Judy also needed your help?”

“Not then, but I’m getting to that, Charlie.” Janie smiled, and then reached out her hand, and took Charlie’s. “And, Mr. TV reporter, here’s where you come in.”

As she said this Charlie turned pale. “Me?”

“Yes, Charlie, my dear – you. Wait ‘til you hear about my latest dream.”

“Well, m’lady, then you better lay it on me,” Charlie managed to say with just a hint of a far-off smile.

“In my latest dream, if I may even call it that - for there was much about it that felt too real and too frightening. It was my last chemo treatment with Lonnie, and she had given me some medicine in my IV for nausea. Almost immediately I found I was back in Shepperton, walking along behind the cart in which Judy, Diane and Alex were now riding. But this time we were going through a forest, and I could make out that the men in our little group were now prisoners. They were all tied together, and there were also riders, who kept the men walking along the path. And then I looked, and I saw that Diego was about to fall down from exhaustion. And from the cart, suddenly Alex sprang up and she ran back to Diego. She offered to help him walk, taking his weight upon her. But this commotion was noticed and the leader of the bigger group that had taken them all captive, and he turned and rode back to where Alex and Diego were. But little Alex turned toward the leader, and she smiled. And that smile carried with it the subtle blue light from the depths of eternity. And this leader upon his horse became putty in her hands.

And so the men untied Diego, and he was helped into the cart with Judy and the other woman. And then as they began their cumbersome journey again, Alex turned to me and said very distinctly, “Janie, help Judy. I shall help Diego.””

“This happened in your dream, huh?” asked Charlie. “How did you feel? I mean what were you supposed to do? How were you supposed to get help across the barriers of time and distance?”

“Well, Charlie, here’s where things really get weird,” Janie went on. “You see, as I watched the group go off along the path in the forest, I found myself alone. I was walking in some other part of the forest, where the trees were taller and older – as old as time itself it seemed to me – and off to the left I could hear the sound of running water, and I just walked along. Next, as I followed a turn in the path, there he was, as old as the forest and yet vigorous as the mountain stream, and he smiled at me, and welcomed me with his warm embrace. And he smelled of the forest.

“Now, you’re Drachma, aren’t you?” I said to him. And he acknowledged that he was, and that he was most happy to see me. And he thanked me personally for being the mother for Josh.” At this Charlie looked at her quizzically. “That’s right. And then he told me the most interesting things about his grandson, Tom. Now do you remember me telling you that Tom, from this other time and place, was the absolute spitting image of my own Josh?”

Charlie told her he thought that he’d heard that, either from Lonnie or Janie herself, but just to refresh his own mind, could she repeat what she had told him of Tom? And so, Janie filled him in on her previous encounters with Tom. And Charlie jotted more in his notebook.

“But Charlie, I had no idea that Tom was Drachma’s grandson until he told me so himself. But I’ll tell you, that was only the beginning. It seems that Tom’s grandmother was Felicia Vincente, whom you know about, but who died shortly before Dr. Gilsen and Judy got to Shepperton. But now, get this… do you know who Tom’s mother is? It’s Maggie!”

“Now wait a minute. Maggie, if we’re talking about the same person, is too young – she’s maybe nine or ten, isn’t she?”

“I asked Drachma that very thing, and you know what he told me? He said that Maggie was his own daughter, who was fifteen when she died in childbirth, giving birth to Tom. And he himself has seen her once, very briefly since she died, but that she appeared quite young - about ten years old.”

“You know,” said Charlie, with a tone of resignation, “if I hadn’t also seen her myself, I’d be willing to attribute all this dreaming to the effects of medication.”

Janie smiled, and reached out for his hand. “Now, that’s what Lonnie thought too, and that would be very reasonable, except for what I’m about to tell you, Charlie. You see, what Drachma then told me was something he had never shared with anyone. He told me that as he was riding furiously toward someplace called Killiburn with his newborn baby boy, in search of a wet nurse for him, he got the strangest vision. It was of Maggie taking his son to some healer named Yordy, where she dropped him off, and then fled. And then all time seemed to stop as Drachma was allowed to see that his grandson, who would be called Joshua, was in my care, and that the child that he was so frantically carrying would be well, and would be named Drachma, but be known as Tom, and whatever illness or miseries that he might experience would be taken up by Joshua, who was also his grandson. He could do nothing, but he did leave something with young Joshua.”

“Oh, my…” said Charlie, as he was madly scribbling in his notebook. “So, explain to me, if you can, about this healer named Yordy. That’s kind of an unusual name.”

“Dr. Yordy was a general practitioner, in rural Kentucky, who sent Josh to Lexington, where I was. And he described a young girl who couldn’t be more that 14 or 15, with red hair, a strange accent, who dropped Josh off, and fled. She was never found, nor heard from again.”

“And that name, Killiburn – that’s someplace that the earl was talking about. I’m going to have to ask him some more about it. But please, go on with your story, as it’s really getting interesting.”

“And it’s almost to the point at which you come into the picture, perhaps in some way which you’re not ready for, but you do need to hear.”

Charlie cocked his head slightly but said nothing. Sensing his trepidation, Janie paused, but then started again.

“Okay, Charlie. It seems that Drachma was able to follow Josh’s progression over time, and as it came toward the end he, for reasons I don’t pretend to understand, saw that the time was right to bring on the likes of Dr. Gilsen and Judy Morrison, and to take them back to his time. And apparently that was the right thing to do, as they have now established a unique and powerful center for medical care right there in Shepperton. And he also explained that his own time was coming to an end, and that Tom was now in position to take over for him.

“But now there were threats to the well-being of the people of Shepperton, and what they stand for. Some of which could be handled by persons there, but some that would need our intervention.”

“Our intervention? How do you mean…?”

“Well, this is where it gets really personal. You see, Charlie, I don’t have much more time here, in our world, and yet I’ve got things to do before I’m gone.”

Unbidden, a tear rolled down Charlie’s cheek.

“And you know what? It’s you that I have chosen to do the most important thing…”

“Me? Asked Charlie, barely able to get the word out.

“Yes, Charlie, when the time comes, I’ll give you something to take to Shepperton with you.” She grasped his hand again gently. “And don’t you worry, you’ll be informed of when that time is to be.”

Thoughts were spinning around in Charlie’s head.  His look was of utter bewilderment. Then Earl, who had been silently watching all this from the corner of the living room, spoke to him.

“Charlie, while I don’t pretend to understand any of this, I do know that it all fits with my own experience of these dreams. You see, Drachma told me that Josh had not died in vain, and that I would understand things more fully in the hour of my own death. Now I don’t have any idea when that would be, but all this with Janie has gotten to me. And it’s got me thinking, there’s something there, in that murky world of Drachma and Shepperton. With Janie, now experiencing all of these dreams, and seeing this Tom person – I believe that I’m catching glimpses of what the truth may be.

“And also, Charlie, even though I’ve been through this with Janie, it’s her decision to trust you with this mission, if I might call it that. And yes, Janie and I have discussed this in detail. We don’t know the ramifications, or even your willingness to undertake anything like this. Be assured, though, that you’ll be notified when the time comes.”

“Charlie, I realize what I’m asking of you,” said Janie, “and I also understand if you say no. But let me tell you that Drachma has this sort of persuasive power over others.”

“So, it would seem, my lady,” Charlie replied from somewhere deep within his own soul.

“But now, let me hear from you…what you’re searching for.”

“Well now, I would say that you have succeeded in defining just what the nature of my own search is to become. For this morning, I was sitting at my desk, trying to piece together some of these untidy events, which just seem to have culminated in Marilyn’s disappearance, your own illness, and your own revelations.”

He then pulled out of his pocket the paper he’d been writing on.

“Here, look at this… this is what I was working on before I called you.”

Janie took the paper, studied it, and then handed it back.

“Well, it would seem, Mr. Ace Reporter, that you do, indeed, need to see Carol and the earl of Shepperton. For it appears that they too can provide you with some of what you need.”

“I plan to. And thank you, m’lady,” he said with a wink and a sly smile. “Until we meet again.”

Janie reached out, took his face in her hands, and drew him close, and said in a whisper, “God be with you, my lovely friend.” Then she kissed his wet cheek.

As Charlie walked out to his car, the late spring day was just as magnificent as before, but he could not sense it this time. All he felt was a deep foreboding.  

“Marilyn, Marilyn,” he whispered as he got into his blue Nissan wagon. “What am I supposed to do next?” He thought about her, and about Janie, about Alonza Chavez, and about Judy Morrison, off in that other time and place, whom he had never met, and he knew there was one more place he had to visit before going to Shepperton’s home.