Kairos

Golden Door Chapter 6 Angels & Visions, part 2 of 2

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“I am Mrs. Aster,” the fairy said. “Since no one here has the manners to properly introduce anyone.” She fluttered up to the side of the table and appeared to grow instantly. She became a stately woman, very old, but still very shapely and easy to look at. She wore a gown of silver sparkles and a very small circle of silver with small diamonds set around her head to keep back her long silver hair.

“The wings.” James noticed that they were gone.

“Now I could hardly walk around on Earth with wings, could I?” Mrs. Aster responded with an enchanting smile. She took a seat between Beth and David.

“Yes, well, you can call me plain old Deathwalker,” Mister Deathwalker said. He slipped into the seat beside Chris. “I’m too old to worry much about that other part. Anyway, our cook is Mrs. Copperpot.” The dwarf curtsied a little and the children heard the crackling in those old knees. “And you are very fortunate to have her to cook. She mastered the art some three hundred years ago.”

“I wouldn’t say mastered,” Mrs. Copperpot said shyly. She sat beside James who wanted to say she had mastered the art as far as he was concerned, but presently his mouth was too full to speak.

“And this,” Mister Deathwalker stopped in mid-introduction. “Where has that old coot got to?” he asked. They all heard a loud crash from the back room, followed by the words.

“I’m all right! I’m all right! I just slipped on nothing. You shouldn’t leave nothing lying around just anywhere, you know.” A six-foot-tall, most ancient man appeared in the door, supported by a large cane of hickory wood. He had on a scarlet ruffled shirt, a golden vest, complete with pocket watch and fob, something like a tuxedo dinner jacket with tails, and terribly pointed shoes beneath the long black pants that covered very long legs. “Inaros of Constantinople at your service,” he introduced himself, bowed regally, and tipped his hat which looked like an alpine hiker’s hat, complete with a feather on the side.

“He has pointed ears.” David noticed right away.

“Of course he does.” Mister Deathwalker whispered. “Most elves do, you know.”

“An elf?” David got excited.

“Yes.” Mister Deathwalker continued a little louder for the benefit of all. “And nearly deaf.”

“Deft?” Inaros sat beside David and leaned over to let the young man touch his pointed ears. Apparently, David was not the first young man in his experience who needed the assurance of that reality. “Why, I haven’t practiced the art of slight-of-hand in years, but I do thank you for the compliment, Professor Deathwalker, and as for the other part, plain Deathwalker rather than Mister Deathwalker, if I heard aright; might we say Dreamwalker? Perchance to dream, eh? Perchance to dream.”

Mrs. Aster leaned over to whisper to Beth and Chris. “He fancies himself an actor.”

“Yes, those were the days.” Inaros went on without having heard a thing, or perhaps he ignored the comment. “It was the Kairos, Peter Van Dyke, who introduced me to William, you know. A horse. A horse. My kingdom for a horse.”

“Shakespeare?” Beth wondered.

“Indeed. Is there any other William worthy of the name?” Inaros asked. “That was back when I was on the stage, a real stage, mind you, not like the silly things they call plays today. I became the inspiration for Oberon, you know. Some incidental time in my younger days.” Inaros held his chin up as if posing for a picture.

“Peter Van Dyke?” Chris started on another track.

“Your father in this life.” Inaros nodded. “Peter Van Dyke lived as Captain of the Golden Hawk, scourge of the Spanish Main.” He lifted his cane and pretended he had a sword. He almost knocked over the crystal decanter.

“My dad was a pirate?” James whispered to himself.

“My dad was a pirate?” David repeated it loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Not exactly your dad, but the Kairos, certainly,” Deathwalker said.

“Hardly.” Inaros looked offended by the pirate suggestion. “He was a Privateer, with papers from the queen, herself. After destroying the Spanish Armada, we took to the Caribbean. “Have at ye! Make all sail! Two points off the starboard bow Mister Givens! The Golden Hawk was the fastest ship afloat. Many a merchant feared the Flying Dutchman.”

“The Flying Dutchman?”

“Aye-Aye, Captain. Of course, there were real pirates then, not like the silly ones today, or the ones up on the so-called big screen.” He made a disgusted face. Clearly, he did not think much of Hollywood acting. “But that was some years ago, a good while before you young urchins ever came to mind. Like sweet infants, you are.” He looked at the children and meant it as a compliment, but Beth pushed her head up.

“I’ll be twenty next spring,” she said, asserting her adult status.

Inaros smiled. “I just turned fifteen hundred,” he said, and Beth and Chris both swallowed hard.

“I first fought beside the Kairos when she was the Duchess Genevieve, back in the days of Charlemagne, at the battle of Tours.” He tried to lift his cane again for another try at the decanter, but Deathwalker held the stick to the ground, and Mrs. Aster interrupted.

“Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel fought at the battle of Tours, and the Kairos was Lady Margueritte back then.”

“Have some more taters.” Mrs. Copperpot tried Chris, but he felt stuffed and waved her off. James raised his hand. “Ah, my James is a good eater for a little one.” She smiled and loaded James’ plate with enough mashed potatoes for six people.

“Eh? Eh?” Inaros got miffed at the interruption.

“I said—” Mrs. Aster began, but Inaros interrupted her in turn.

“I heard what you said. I’m not deaf, woman, but I am pontificating. Since when do the facts stand in the way of a good story?”

“Oh, well, if you’re pontificating,” Mrs. Aster responded, curtly.

“Pontificate away,” Deathwalker encouraged.

“More milk?” Mrs. Copperpot poured some for David.

“Now, where was I?” Inaros asked and rubbed his ancient chin.

“Tours,” Chris suggested.

“The Kairos was Lady Margueritte.” Beth shook her head.

“Ah, yes.” Inaros looked up, but his eyes were not focused on the glowing ceiling so much as his mind tried to remember. “Lady Margueritte. The Kairos is always a fine Lady when living a female life, not like today, you know. She would never lower herself to be a flapper. Not her.”

“Like Doctor Mishka?” Mrs. Aster interjected.

Inaros looked slightly offended again. “Nadia was a respectable professional in her thirties. An educated woman. A Doctor.”

“But still a fine figure of a woman,” Deathwalker said. “She could get away with the short stuff. She had mighty fine legs.”

“I blame that Hollywood crowd.” Inaros confided to David, but his voice sounded loud enough for everyone to hear.

Chris pushed his plate away. Beth had already finished. David nibbled on a roll and sipped his milk. James began to stare. Everyone could see he was ready for bed.

“So, Okay,” Chris said. “Those are all lovely stories, but now I think we have some questions, like who are you and how did you get here?”

“How did we get here?” James whispered and yawned.

Golden Door Chapter 6 Angels & Visions, part 1 of 2

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“Who are you?” Chris asked. The light dimmed a little and the children came back to their senses.

“Angel.” The presence spoke as he stepped out from the glare and the unbearable light fell into the background, ever present, but not intrusive. “That is what your father called me ages and ages ago.”

“You know my dad?” David asked, while Beth studied the creature. From the dress, the voice, the long, pure sparkling white hair, and the sparkling eyes of some indeterminate color, it seemed impossible to tell if Angel might be a man or a woman. Beth and the boys eventually referred to him as a man; but to be sure, that was not certain, any more than it was certain how old he might be. He might have been just twenty-something, but he seemed as ancient as time, and possibly older than time.

“I know your dad well.” Angel said, with a smile that looked very warm and very human in a way.

“You know everything.” James whispered. Angel did not acknowledge the comment.

“I knew the Kairos when he was a Scotsman who deserted the English lines to hold the hand of a young French girl named Joan,” Angel spoke. “I knew him when he was a boy, sitting in the dust, holding the camels, waiting for his brothers to return with news of what happened to Sodom. I knew him when he was the young grandson of Odin trying to run away from himself, when he was a priest preparing to face the Witch of Endor, when the Kairos was a woman. I knew her when she had to leave her cousin, Tutankaton, and run for her life. I knew her when she feared Tiamut and the Chaos that started swallowing the world; and again, when the demons came up and infested her village way back in the days of wood and stone, sinew and bone. And even earlier, I knew the Kairos when she was the lady Alice who has not yet been born. She stood not far from this very spot with that old spirit, Cronos, and between them they created the Heart of Time. With the Heart of Time, that thing you call history began. I knew your father when each of you came to be born, and how much he loves you with all of his heart.”

“Is my dad safe?” David had to interrupt. He just had to ask.

“For now,” Angel said. “But you will have to help him. Since that one has come to infest this place with wickedness, you will have to help him and your mother and the little ones who have had this place as a sanctuary for thousands of years. They will be depending on you.”

“Us?” David wondered.

“But the door can move,” Beth pointed out.

“Can’t we just go and get them? Can’t you just take us to them?” Chris thought much the same thing.

“Christopher,” Angel scolded, and that felt like a terrible, frightening moment; but then he spoke with such calm grace the moment passed quickly. “You know the Most-High does not work that way. You must walk by faith, and never lose hope, and always love.” Angel stepped forward, or glided forward, and placed his hands on Beth’s and Chris’ heads. Beth wanted to take a step back, but she did not dare.

“One little one to dance on the clouds. One for the dark, deep underground. There is help, but you need the eyes to see. Be a light to pierce the darkness,” he said, and shifted his position to put his hands on David’s and James’ heads. “One for the light with your feet on the ground, and one to find the narrow path between. You need the ears to hear, and the good sense to find your way.” He stepped back and smiled more deeply. “And no, James, I have no wings.” He looked ready to laugh, and the children found it was something they longed to hear, but it did not quite come. Angel spoke to them all. “The gifts now resident in your heart will not fail. Some, you will discover. Some, others will set free. One for each of you will be given and enhanced by others if they are willing. Then, when you find the ones you seek, simply say, “Angel said, do not be afraid.”  With that, Angel began to fade from sight, still smiling at each of them, personally, and all of them at the same time. No one said wait, or where are you going, they just returned the smile and no longer felt afraid. And then Angel vanished, and they were alone in the small room.

The light faded until it toned down to the intensity of a well-lit room. It glowed down from the ceiling, if indeed there was a ceiling above the glow. The children saw three stark empty walls, and a fourth wall which now held the familiar golden door. On one side of the room, four beds waited for the four of them. A table with eight chairs sat on the other side. But the wall opposite the door had nothing to cover it. It stood out, stark white, and bare. It stared back at them until an unseen door opened in the corner of that wall near the table, and a smallish head popped out.

“Is it gone?” the head asked.

The children, who could not really feel fear at that moment, were shocked all the same at this sudden intrusion of color against the pure white. In fact, the head looked a bit gray in color, and it sported two little horns and eye teeth in its lower jaw which honestly had to be called tusks.

“Tom and Jerry,” James said to himself. David caught the angel and devil suggestion, grinned and nodded.

“Professor Deathwalker, you’ll scare the tykes.” A full-grown woman’s voice got followed by a little fairy who fluttered out from behind the door. She looked about a foot tall and had butterfly-like wings which undulated like a stingray in water. “Welcome children.” The fairy bowed regally in mid-air, though she seemed a bit hard to see, exactly, since she hardly kept still even when she hovered, and she glowed a little as if powered by some internal light.

“Just making sure it was gone, and it is just Mister Deathwalker these days,” the head said.  Mister Deathwalker stepped into the room. The children saw a creature about four feet tall, but it had hairy feet like one might imagine hobbit feet, not cloven hooves, and they saw no tail. He came dressed in a simple black jerkin, and leggings, and the belt looked like well-worn leather. The buckle looked as gold as the door, and he sported a ring on his finger which had to have the biggest, gaudiest cut of green glass in it, because surely no one had an emerald that big.

“Move out of the way.” Another voice boomed out from behind the door, and Mister Deathwalker jumped quickly to the side.

“Mrs. Copperpot.” Mister Deathwalker identified the newcomer with a tip of his hat which the children had thought was his hair. It turned out the imp or goblin or whatever it was, looked utterly hairless apart from the hair on his feet and knuckles.

Mrs. Copperpot appeared to be a more normal dwarf if a real dwarf can be called normal. She stood three-and-a-half feet tall, and had some stubble on her chin, though not what might be called a beard, and she came dressed in a simple green dress with a red and white apron over her front. The thing the children noticed, however, was the fact that she carried the most enormous tray of food, and they realized they were all starving hungry.

“Well, come on,” she said. “It will only get cold if you hesitate.” The children did not hesitate, at least not Chris and James. Beth kept one eye open, and David had always been a bit of a finicky eater, but it all tasted very good, whatever they tried.

Golden Door Chapter 5 Finding the Way

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“My dad is connected, somehow, to women and men in the past?” Beth seemed to have a hard time grasping that idea, and less concerned with the sudden darkness.

“And future lives, too,” David said.

“That doesn’t sound right.” Chris got skeptical.

“What light?” James asked the practical question. They all looked around and saw no light to speak of.

“Anyway,” Beth spoke quickly. “Now that we are together, let’s stick together and try not to get separated this time.”

“But which way?” Chris asked for a change. “Maybe we should make a campfire and stay here until morning,” he suggested.

“I’ve heard that earthquakes usually have aftershocks,” Beth said.

“Oh thanks.” David did not want to hear that.

“Got any matches?” James asked. “Gonna rub two sticks together?”

Chris did not answer, but he realized that his had not been a very good suggestion.

“This way,” Beth said, and if she was not going to head toward the giants, bees, or banshees, she knew only one other direction on the compass. She started to walk. Since Alice called this an island, she wondered if they could find their way to a beach. She imagined sleeping at the edge of the forest where the trees touched the sand might not be so bad as long as the moon stayed up and the stars stayed bright. Then again, the thought crossed her mind to wonder what sort of monsters might be down by the water. She tried not to think too hard about that.

After about an hour of carefully picking their way through the woods as quietly as they could, and hearing very little signs of life around them, they came to a small open area and paused to look at the sky.

“Orion.” David pointed, and then he had to explain about the three stars in the belt.

“But we’re not on Earth,” Beth objected.

“I guess Lady Alice made this place as Earth-like as she could,” Chris suggested. James was going to suggest much the same thing, but as it was, he merely nodded in agreement, which no one noticed in the dark.

“Why don’t we stay here?” David suggested. “Like in the middle of the clearing where we can watch the trees.”

“Like we could hear and see anything before it came out on to the clearing and run the opposite way if necessary.” Chris agreed.

“No, no.” Beth already set her mind on sleeping on the beach. She started to walk again, because she could not think of an immediate reason not to agree with David and Chris.

“Hey!” James raised his voice and that gained everyone’s attention. He walked to the side of the others, more in the center of the clearing, and he stepped inside what turned out to be a rather large circle of plain stones. He shouted immediately after he passed the border of that circle. In his eyes, the whole area lit up like morning. He could even see the green grass and tree leaves and the blue in the sky, though the stars were also still present.

The others joined him, but only David echoed his brother. “Hey!”

“Is this the light?” James immediately wondered out loud. Chris and Beth looked at each other and shook their heads.

“I don’t think so,” Beth said.

“But we could sleep here,” David suggested, hopefully. He did prefer to sleep with the light on, after all.

“Mmm.” Beth nodded. She would not be against the idea, and James did not seem to mind the suggestion either.

“But what is that?” Chris pointed. Everyone saw a whole series of little lights close together, flying just inside the shadow edge of the trees. They flowed slowly up and down which made them appear like a school of fish out for a swim. “The moon sparkling off dragon armor?”  Chris suggested. That was not what any of the others were thinking, but it felt a little unnerving because they all admitted it might be true.

“And there.” James pointed off in the direction from which the sparkling lights had come. A light, terrifically bright, appeared in that place. It looked like a narrow beam search light, but it stayed partially hidden behind many trees and it did not appear to be moving.

“And there.” Beth pointed in a direction just at the edge of the trees which meant that they were surrounded by a triangle of lights.

“Hey!” David protested. “How come I didn’t find one?”

“Let’s check it out,” Beth said. She referred to her own find. No one had an interest in checking out what Chris had called a dragon’s glittering neck, and the other light seemed very far away.

“Lady Alice must have meant one of these lights,” Chris said. And Beth’s light did seem the most inviting and earth-like. It had started out dim, but it looked to be slowly warming and growing stronger.

They all felt a bit of a shock when they stepped back into the night, but they had a purpose in going, so it did not shock them so badly. The light strengthened, but slowly. “Hey!” David yelled for the third time as he rushed ahead when he recognized something. He could see his own living room. It looked fuzzy, but grew clearer every moment, and David remembered turning on the light when the house got cast in the late afternoon shadows. “It’s home,” he shouted with undisguised glee.

The others jogged up, happy for a second. They had forgotten about the beasts, and suddenly one appeared in the glimmering circle of light that appeared to be slowly forming into an opening between the worlds. This time they all saw it. The creature, not a great cat and not an overgrown dog, looked more like part hyena and part bear with odd rectangle ears. It looked fast, mean, and it began to drool altogether too much from a mouth that sported the sharpest, longest looking teeth any of them had ever seen.

The children stood in shock for a moment while three other beasts came up behind the first. It looked like they were waiting for the portal to open so they could pass through and get their prey. No one had to say run. Only David, for a change, directed their course.

“To the other light!” he yelled, and they all followed. They crashed back into the woods even as they heard the snarls and howls of the pursuit begin.

“Ahhh!” Beth tripped, but she did not waste her breath cursing. James had a bit of trouble pushing through a bush. David started in front for once, but Chris caught up as they neared that other, blazing light. They heard the pursuit, but then they all saw the source of the light ahead. The golden door stood wide open, and the light, sunlight strong, streamed out from the inside. It seemed as bright and as pure white as a never-ending camera flash. Surely their eyes should have been burned, and Beth would not have been surprised if they all ended up blind. But Chris did not hesitate, and David ran right on his heels. James went across the portal a moment later, and then, like before, Beth dove and whirled around to see; except this time the door did not close.

Beth felt a presence beside her and made herself as small as she could. She saw the beasts and took a deep breath as they stopped at the edge of the light. They snarled, growled, and began to pace. Their eyes never wavered from the door and the children inside that brightness.

Then Beth saw something else. It looked for all the world like a knight in shining armor riding to her rescue. She thought of the castle on the hill and wondered about who might live there. The knight’s armor glistened in moonlight that looked more like sunlight. The valiant, glowing white horse, snorted as it charged through the trees. The lance, held tight beneath the knight’s arm, looked certain to pierce one of the beasts, if not two with one blow. Beth had to blink. The light around the knight began to grow brighter and brighter until Beth had to look away. It felt like Beth might be trying to look directly into the sun, itself.

“Begone.” The presence beside Beth spoke, and the light that shone off that glorious knight reached out and grabbed all four beasts at once. Suddenly, their angry, hungry sounds turned to baleful moans, and the creatures literally melted in the light until at last, four mere wisps of dark smoke rose up to be scattered away on the wind. When Beth looked up again, the knight had gone.

The presence moved back from the door and Beth turned slowly. She saw Chris, David, and James all on their knees, trembling, and she knew why. Somehow, in that light, she felt utterly naked, not unclothed, but in her soul. It felt like every dark corner of her mind and heart filled with that light, and she could not lie, not even to herself. Every wicked thought, every bare mistake, every intention, blessed or cruel stood wide open to examination. Even innocent nine-year-old James trembled in that presence, and David, who never imagined hurting a flea, had his eyes shut tight. At last, the words of the presence helped a little.

“Do not be afraid.”

************************

MONDAY

Do not be afraid seems a good motto, especially in a strange land full of monsters. Making friends is not a bad idea either. Until Next Time, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 4 A Light in the Darkness

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“I am Alice,” the woman said, as she came to the ground and plain sandals appeared around her otherwise bare feet. “Come, let me look at you.” The children stepped carefully forward. “Beth.” Alice named her, “And Chris.” She hugged them both. She turned and hugged David. “And my Davey-boy needs a hug, I can tell.” David felt grateful. He did need a hug, but an eyebrow went up. Only Dad occasionally called him Davey-boy. “And James.” Alice squatted down and hugged him as well, and then she held him at arm’s length and talked to them all, but she kept her eyes focused on James and David. “And I wanted your first visit to Avalon to be special,” she said with a sigh.

“Avalon?” David had heard the name, probably from his father.

“A generic name for this island, for the whole string of islands, and there are many other names, but I did hope to give you a wonderful treat as soon as your father found his way here, only now I can barely hold things together, and with your father so sick…” Alice paused, turned her head, and sneezed, twice.

“Bless you,” James said. Lady Alice nodded and took a hankie from her sleeve.

Father might be sick, but this woman did not look too well either, Beth thought.

“This is the second heavens.” Alice stood to explain what she could. “It is the dividing place between the Earth and the throne of God. The laws of physics do not exactly apply here. Things fold in and back on themselves in impossible ways, but I have made this place stable and a place of sanctuary for my little ones. But now that Ashtoreth is here, there is no telling what may happen. The Lords of the Dias have come under her control, and they rule the castles. The Ladies are with your mother.”

“Mom is here?” David interrupted when he heard something he understood. He had hope in his voice.

“Yes, but she is in the dungeon with the Ladies, and that is not a good thing.”

“And what about Dad?” James asked in his almost whisper voice. Alice squatted down again to face him. She placed her hand on his arm and spoke.

“Sweet James.  I do not know how much of this you may understand—any of you. I do not wish to confuse you, or tell you wrong, but some things you will have to learn in time and through experience.” She stood again, shut her eyes, and spoke as clearly as she could.

“Your father is a very old and wise person called the Kairos. He did not know this before he got sick, and why he did not know is very complicated. But suffice to say, your mom did not know, and you did not know. But in this life, he is the Kairos.” Alice paused and took a deep breath.

“The Kairos stretches back into the most ancient days, even to the beginning of history.” She smiled. “I am also the Kairos—at least the one that will live fifteen hundred years from now. You see, the Kairos has lived many times in the past, and will live again in the future, except I don’t know what Ashtoreth may do. She may yet find a way to kill me, by which I mean she may find a way to kill your father.”

“The demon Ashtoreth?” Chris wanted to be clear about the Ashtoreth they were talking about.

“For the most part,” Alice said. “As like to a demon as can be.”

“The Kairos. It is like a title passed down from person to person?” David asked.

“Not exactly, but near enough,” Alice said. “It may be easiest to think of it that way.”

“You’re from the future?” James caught that.

“I am,” Alice admitted, and smiled for James.

“But wait. My father. He is this Kairos person in the present day? Okay. I don’t know what that means, but I have no reason to disbelieve you.”  Beth had another thought. “So, how many different Kairos people have there been?”

“Sixty women and sixty men, so far. He is the sixty-first, a male life. And to be more honest, Chris, Ashtoreth is not exactly a demon. She was a goddess in the ancient days, but not a nice girl even then. Now, after hiding here on Avalon for nearly two thousand years, she has been transformed into something terrible; something horribly wicked and twisted.”

“But what about my dad?” David asked. He did not entirely understand what Lady Alice meant when she said he was this Kairos person, and so was she, but his mind stayed focused on what he saw as the present and most pressing problem. “We have to save him.”

Alice smiled again, though this time, it looked like a weak smile. “Your father is in a coma, but he is resting comfortably for the moment. I don’t think Ashtoreth has decided what to do with him. In the meanwhile, she has opened doors and let all sorts of unsavories into Avalon. Monsters and the like have invaded this sanctuary. With your dad unconscious, though, she has also opened the door for me to act. I have been straining against her to keep Avalon and the whole system of islands from collapsing into the natural chaos of the second heavens, but I don’t know how much longer I will be able to keep it up without help.”

“What can we do?” Beth wondered.

Alice shook her head. “I worry about my future life, and about your father, to be sure, but I am worried about Avalon as well. If this system, this sanctuary world should be destroyed, the little spirits of the earth would have no place to run but to Earth, and that would be an unimaginable disaster for the human race. The whole future of humankind, overrun by elves, dwarfs, imps and all would be irrevocably changed, forever. It is possible that I might never be born.” Alice sneezed again. “You have no idea how keeping this place open for my little ones has kept human history moving forward in human hands.” Poor Alice appeared to be genuinely sick, and suffering, but she tried hard not to show it.

“But what can we do about all that?” Chris asked. Beth nodded. David looked up as if surprised by the idea that they might be able to do anything in a land filled with giants and monsters. James remained his usual, unreadable self.

“Go to the light. I have prayed that you may find help there. See if there is anything you can do or not. But you are your father’s children. You are the children of the Kairos. You are hope. I do not know how to hope for myself, but I will hold the land and the sea and the sky together for as long as I can. Now I must go.” A look of relief lifted to the Lady’s face as she laid her sweet hand once more against David’s face and said, “Courage.” Then she vanished. She just utterly and completely disappeared and left four children to stand in the sudden darkness.

Golden Door Chapter 3 Separation, part 2 of 2

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James found himself very near the beehive. He did not notice it at first because the bees had called it a day and gone to bed. James did not relish the idea of sleeping in the bee meadow, but he did not mind the flowers of that little meadow, and he liked being able to see the moon and the stars above. Under the trees just seemed too dark.

Besides, he told himself, his dad always said if he got lost, he should stay where he was until someone came to get him. “With my luck it will be Davey,” he said, and he settled down to get as comfortable as he could. He did not expect to sleep, because he could not seem to get his eyes or ears to close.

At that moment, David started rubbing his throat. It felt sore from calling out for his brothers and sister and he got tired of hearing no response. He had indeed doubled back, as Chris had imagined, but he went well off course. He began to think he might be getting too close to the field of grain and the giants when he heard a rustling of leaves off to one side. He hesitated, afraid of what it might be, and thought that it might be anything in this strange world; but at last he decided he had to take a chance.

“Chris? Beth? James?” He called half-heartedly, still not quite willing to commit himself. He heard the rustling again. “Beth?” He tried once more.

“Hey, Bert.” David heard the giant voice. “I found one.” David looked up. Rupert hovered over him with only two trees between them. David had imagined in the dark that the two giant legs were merely two more trees.

“Well get it.” Bert’s voice came from some distance.

“Grab it.” Knuckles sounded closer.

Rupert got to his knees and reached between the two trees as far as his arm could go, but David had already started running. He had walked for a while and rested. This was just the sort of motivation he needed to start running again.

“Can’t reach it.” He heard Rupert behind him.

“Get after it, you dolt,” Bert said, reasonably closer than before, and David started fleeing for his life. Out in the open, David would have been captured in about twenty seconds or maybe, given those three, it might have been two minutes at the most; but in the forest, the Giants could not go where the trees grew close together, so that involved going around a lot of places. As a result, they moved through the trees with even less speed than a motivated twelve-year-old, even one who tripped several times in the dark. Of course, David would have done much better if he had stopped screaming, “Giants!”

James heard the scream and he called out, for once using his loudest voice instead of his softest. “David, over here! David, I’m over here!” David turned. He recognized his brother’s voice, and never considered if it might be some monster imitating his brother. He only slowed when he recognized the dim figure in the moonlight. “Help me,” James said. He had gathered some rocks and he had an idea.

James started to throw the rocks at the bee tree. David helped, until he heard the buzzing and realized what he was doing. Then they heard the crashing through the woods from the direction David had come, and though David yelled, “No!” James threw a large stone hard enough to crack the entrance to the hive. That made the bees extremely mad, and they swarmed out. The boys ran.

James held tight to his brother’s sleeve. David nearly tore his own shirt when he realized they ran straight toward the giants and were about to be crushed underfoot. But by then, James let David pull him aside. They squirted behind some bushes and listened for a second. Sure enough, the angry bees and three Giants met in the middle. David pulled James further from the mayhem, and good thing because the language became vile and hands and stomping feet began to flail in every direction. The boys would have been crushed under one of Bert’s great sandaled feet if they had remained behind that bush.

“James, you have the sneakiest mind I know.” David whispered the compliment as they moved swiftly from the engagement. James merely smiled, glad that things worked out so well. Then they saw a light ahead, and both thought only that they needed to be quiet and careful.

Beth and Chris came from the other side when they saw the light. Both got excited by the prospect of not having to be stuck in the darkness of the woods all night, but wary of what might be making the light. It looked warm and comforting enough, but it did not appear to be firelight.

“What do you think it is?” Beth asked, even as the ground began to tremble.

“Earthquake,” Chris said flatly, as he fell to his hands and knees. For nearly five seconds, though it seemed more like five minutes, the earth shook with great violence. The children all heard trees give up the fight and fall to the ground with great crashing and crackling. Whole branches sheared off against other trees, boulders, and the earth. Fortunately, none fell near the children. James and David also saw a great burst of steam shoot up from the ground not far away, and not far, in fact, from the location of the stagnant pool. Then it ended, suddenly, and all four children breathed again. All four made up their minds to head toward the unwavering light no matter what might be there. It had not so much as blinked during that whole trembling episode.

When they arrived, James and David would have run to Beth and Chris who might also have run to the boys if not for the vision that rested between them. A woman, a real lady in a medieval dress, a queen no doubt, given her terrible, breathtaking beauty, hovered a foot or two above the ground like the banshees, but unlike the banshees, she looked purely angelic. The glow that came from her felt warm and welcoming, and without the least trace of ghost or wickedness about her. What is more, no one doubted that despite all appearances, this person seemed to be thoroughly human.

Golden Door Chapter 3 Separation, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Chris felt the presence tromping along beside him, but by a great effort of will, he ignored it. He did speak once. “You divided us and now all four of us are lost and alone in this strange land. David has only just turned twelve and James is only nine. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The invisible thing, whatever it was, did not respond, though it seemed to back off a little. Even so, with all that concentration on trying to not be frightened, it came as no surprise when Chris made a wrong turn. He did not recognize that portion of the forest. He saw a boulder and a stump which he felt sure he had never seen before, and now, since it was just about dark, he thought to sit and rest with the hope that he might catch his bearings.

“Sorry.” He heard the whisper nearby. “I’m a Pookah.”

A spooka, Chris thought, and he also thought to move on before the hair on the back of his neck, which already stood up, took the better part and started running off without him. Besides, he heard something up ahead and wondered if it might be one of the boys.

“So, what? It’s your job?” Chris mumbled as he started off. He did not hear an answer, but he felt the affirmation come from the Pookah, and he seriously had to struggle to keep his feet to a steady pace.

After a short walk, the sound of snoring assured him that whatever it might be, it was not Beth or one of his brothers. He got extra curious when he got close, and the presence of the Pookah went away. It occurred to him that if this, whatever it was, could frighten an invisible creature, he might not want to get too close. He saw it asleep against a tremendous boulder. It looked as big as the boulder, and snored, just across a small clearing where it looked like someone let a campfire get out of control. Chris saw bits of sheep and sheep bones scattered about. He might have gagged, if the smell of roast lamb did not make him feel so hungry. He took a closer look.

The creature had the body of a giant-sized goat, with a goat’s tail, and it had goat horns on a lion head. The legs and claws appeared lion-like, which suggested the creature might be very fast on the ground; but then it also had great leathery wings and a snake like neck which made Chris think of a dragon. Given what he had already seen in the world, the idea of a dragon did not seem all that strange. He decided to treat this as a sleeping dog—or goat-lion-dragon thing, best left alone, and he started to back out the way he came. But by then it had become quite dark, and he could not help cracking twigs as he walked. After one sharp crack, he considered running, even in the dark. Fortunately, a sudden breath of fire from the creature was more than enough light to show Chris exactly where to place his running feet.

~~~*~~~

“Beth.” The voice floated on the wind and moaned as it called her name. “Your days have been numbered, and it is time for you to die.” The voice sounded very certain about that.

Beth crouched down a little lower in the tall grass and shivered. She would have stopped running much earlier if that darn hoot owl had not screeched at her in the dark. She imagined a giant owl to match the rest of the landscape, and she imagined it swooping down on her, like an owl might swoop down on a mere mouse. As she thought about it, she decided that it might have been a regular sized owl. Of course, when it hooted, she had not been thinking at all, just running. Now she found herself completely separated from the others and hiding in an open field in the middle of the forest. She looked up and felt glad for the glow of the half-moon above, and the shine of the stars which seemed countless, as stars can only appear in the wilderness. It seemed as if she had never seen the stars before, and she would have found it a beautiful sight if not for the voices calling her and talking about her death.

“Be-eth.” A second voice called; a distinctly female voice, like the other voice. “Even you cannot escape the banshee call.”

“Beth. We are coming for you,” a third voice called.

Beth hardly knew what to do. She waited to see where these female creatures would emerge from the trees before she ran in the opposite direction, and she used those few precious moments to settle her heart and catch her breath. She saw them soon enough; three women with hair to their ankles and dressed in what looked like floor length nightgowns. They floated a foot or two off the ground and glowed like the moon. Beth stared for a moment, trying to decide if they looked like angels or ghosts. She finally decided neither image described these women. They had something plainly wicked, even demonic in their looks.

“Beth.” One called as she cupped one hand to her mouth.

“Beth.” A second echoed while the third turned her head all the way around without turning her body in the least. Beth got ready to run back the way she had come, when her eyes got distracted by someone who ran on to the field from the other side.

“Chris,” she cried out, but Chris took two more steps before he dove for the ground. A lion head with two great goat-horns got pushed onto the field by a long snake-like neck. The lion roared and a stream of flame shot directly over Chris’ head. “Chris!” Beth yelled again, but Chris got up as soon as the flame stopped and already swerved in Beth’s direction. Beth glanced at the shrieking banshees, a good thing because the lion head also got drawn to the sound. Beth did not have to be told to run. Chris caught her and they ran together as the three banshees began to rise-up into the night sky. The creature brought its great body on to the field, and without even glancing at the two youngsters who disappeared back into the woods, it opened its leathery wings and took to the sky in pursuit of new prey.

************************

MONDAY

So much for not getting separated. Fortunately there is a light in the darkness and they are all drawn to find out what it is. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Golden Door Chapter 2 The Lay of the Land, part 2 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The children did not go very far before arriving at a pool of stagnant water where they paused to breathe and listen. They heard no pursuit, but all the same, they walked around the pool on the side that took them away from the giants.

“It will be dark soon,” Beth remarked. She looked around at the trees and sky and did not appear happy about the idea of spending the night in that forest.

“That’s all right,” Chris said, from a bit further on. “I think we’ve come to the hill.”

“Yeah.” David nodded and spoke as quietly as he could. “The castle is on the hill.”

Sadly, it turned out to be only a small rise whose backside held a meadow full of flowers. The flowers were in full bloom and the aroma of so many varieties smelled overwhelming. They were well down into the meadow before they noticed the bees. One buzzed past Chris’ head, and he asked.

“What was that? A bird?”

“Bee.” David answered through gritted teeth. His eyes closed, his hands made fists he held up to his chin, his body became as tense as possible, and he stood as still as he could while a bee buzzed in front of him and tried to decide if he might be a flower.

Everyone else looked around and discovered they were in the middle of a swarm, and the bees were like none they had ever seen, being the size of Chris’ fist. “Giant bees,” Chris said softly.

“Figures.” James spoke even more softly. He stared at the hive in a tree if it was not the whole tree.

“Back up everyone, slowly. Back the way we came,” Beth said, though her words were unnecessary since James and Chris were already doing that very thing. David also moved, though he went a bit more swiftly once the bee decided that he was not a flower after all.

They came to the little rise and went back over to the other side before anyone dared exhale; but now, aware of the bees, they saw that some had wandered as far as the stagnant pool in search of nectar.

When the family got back to that water, Beth screamed. She could not help it. She saw a snake swim across the surface of the pool, and she hated snakes. Of course, chances are the snake scurried away thinking that Beth’s scream was some predatory bird out for a late day snack; but then the children had to stand still for another minute and listen again. They strained against the sound of the wind and rustling leaves to see if they attracted anything unwanted. They all twitched nervously, but David, one especially inclined to be jumpy, did not imagine he could take much more. He stood a little apart and faced the others, his body as tense as it had been in the bee field, his hands still in fists.

“Boo!” David heard that in his ear as clear as a bell. He felt the presence behind him, and he screamed. He could not help it any more than Beth; and he also could not help what his feet did as he began to run for his life.

“Davey!” Chris and James yelled together.

“We have to stick together,” Beth said more quietly, with a hard glance at the yellers. She began to follow in David’s direction, and she noticed the sun had nearly set at her back. “At least he ran away from the giants.”

Chris followed. James brought up the rear and shook his head.

While pushing through an area of thick underbrush, James’ shirt got caught on a thorn bush. He had to stop to get himself free and remove a few burrs he picked up along the way.

“A little lamb.” James heard the words clearly. He felt startled, but not frightened. He thought it might be a person just out of sight. There might have still been light by the sea where they first came into the world, but in among the trees, the darkness had come up fast and James could not see well in the twilight. The colors had already faded to gray.

“Who are you?” James asked. He tried not to tremble.

“Pookah,” the answer came, but it did not get followed by the person.

“Show yourself,” James demanded.

“But I’m right beside you,” Pookah said.

James felt his hair stand up and a chill run down his spine. He spun around but found nothing to see. “Go away!” he yelled, like he sometimes yelled at his brother David. “Leave me alone. Go away!”

“See if I help you!” Pookah snapped back at him, and James heard the footsteps of something big. He saw the grass crushed and the bushes pushed out of the way, but Pookah stayed invisible.

James added his own scream to the late afternoon air. He sounded and acted very much like David as he ran from the invisible monster. It hardly mattered. Chris and Beth had neither heard James nor saw him stop and had moved on. James might not have found them again in any case.

“I don’t think David went much farther than this,” Chris said at last. He attempted to halt his sister. “After his panic I would guess David doubled back to try and find us, especially now that it is getting dark. We must have missed him.”

Beth stopped walking, but she honestly did not listen. Her eyes focused on the evening shadows of the trees that darkened as the last of the light began to vanish. She did not feel thrilled with the shapes of some of those shadows and decided that she would not enjoy spending the night in the woods. “But we have to find him. We have to stick together,” she said at last.

“This way.” Chris pointed, turned, and started walking. He tried to keep a careful eye on their progress while Beth shouted for David. He believed he could find the way back, at least to the stagnant pool.

Beth paused long enough for one last look around her immediate area. She heard a voice. “Will you join me for supper?” She felt the hot breath on the back of her neck and something that wasn’t there licked her neck and ear. Beth ran. She shrieked. She said “Eew!” and wiped her ear and neck clean of the slimy lick, and while she managed not to scream, she ran all the same.

“Beth?” Chris turned back around at the sound of his sister’s distress. “Beth?” He called a little louder but heard no response. “James?” he called. He thought his little brother had been right on his heels, but James was not there. Three of the four children had run off, and poor Chris now stood there all alone in the dark, in the midst of a forest that did not exist on Earth. “Beth? James? David?” He tried once more.

“Dave’s not here.” Chris heard the words and he decided he had better start walking. He could wait for the others by the pool, and hope that they might show up soon.

Golden Door Chapter 2 The Lay of the Land, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Hey! Children!” Someone yelled from behind. Beth and Chris spun around to see a man tall enough to block the sun.

“Run!” Beth and Chris both spoke at the same time, and all four scattered for the grain. They had little hope they could get there, or hide once they arrived, but there seemed no other choice.

“Bert?” One of the giants turned, squinted, and shaded his eyes.

“Say something?” The other giant looked up, afraid he missed something important.

“Get them! Get the children!” Bert yelled, but by the time the other two figured out what he was yelling about, the children were hidden in the field, amongst the grain. After a short way, Beth fell to her knees and crawled in a zig-zag pattern as fast as she could. The boys came right behind her.

Bert continued to yell. “Get out! Get out of there, you morons! Get out of the grain, you’re stomping it to bits!” James, in the rear, caught sight of a sandaled foot nearly as big as himself being gently lifted into the sky. “Lady Ashtoreth isn’t a stupid demon. She doesn’t want the field destroyed.”

“But this is the field of the Kairos,” one of the giants spoke. “If he wakes up, he’ll be really mad.”

“All the more reason to stay out of it, you blinkin’ fool,” Bert responded.

“Sorry, Bert.”

The children heard a loud slap! “Stupid doofus!” Bert said, and one giant began to cry.

“What did you hit Rupert for? Why are you yelling at him?”

They heard a second slap. “I was yelling at you, pea brain.”

That got followed by a dull thud, which sounded like a punch. “I am not a pea brain. You take that back.”

“Why should I, pea brain?” Apparently, someone got pushed because the giant that was crying stopped crying and yelled.

“What ya pushing for?” He must have shoved back, because the cursing started up along with plenty of slapping, hitting, and kicking.

“I feel sorry for the one in the middle,” James mumbled as he came to a stop. Chris and Beth were whispering, and then Chris shared with David and James.

“We’re going to try and get to the trees at the back of the field. I think we can lose them in the forest.”

“But we have got to stick together,” Beth added, and they started to crawl in the direction they hoped would take them into the forest.

The fighting between the giants, and it sounded like an awful row, stopped as suddenly as it started when Bert shouted, “The children!”

“But the grain,” Rupert reminded them.

“Get around to the back,” Bert ordered. “If they get to the trees, they might get away. Come on, Knuckles, quit lying around.”

“Coming,” Knuckles answered, but his voice sounded rather shaky and uncertain.

The children stopped. The giants circled the field much faster than they could go through it. “The castle?” Chris whispered, but Beth shook her head. She was not moving until she saw what the giants did.

“But Bert. The field’s too big for the three of us,” Rupert complained.

“They could be anywhere in there by now,” Knuckles agreed with his friend, and the children heard a groan coupled with a rending in the earth. Bert pulled up a switch, in fact, a young sapling. The others did the same.

“Now, look careful-like,” Bert said, and the children heard the swishing back and forth, as the grain covered them for a second. They heard swishing down the way as well, until Bert exploded. “I said careful!” Then they heard a whoosh of wind and the stinging sound like a whip struck home, and a tremendous, “Ow!” This got followed by more whooshing and the cracking of whip-trees against shirts and bare skin, and Beth decided to take a chance.

Beth got to her feet but stayed bent over. The boys did the same, except James who did not need to bend over at all, and they ran for the forest. They were very close. Fortunately, Bert and Knuckles had their backs to the children. Knuckles turned away, because he just whipped Rupert in the eyes. Rupert, the only giant facing them had both eyes closed and he rubbed one. Bert did not notice, because he got busy bringing his small tree down on the back of Knuckle’s head.

“Doofus is right,” James mumbled as they ran deep into the trees. This time David heard and smiled in spite of himself.

After a while, the children stopped. They huffed and puffed, and Beth had to put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Chris seemed the best off of the four. At fifteen, soon to be sixteen, he did a lot of jogging and walking around town back home when he could not catch a ride.

“Which way?” Beth asked, but she honestly wondered, because the forest turned thick with undergrowth, so their trajectory had not exactly been in a straight line. Chris judged the position of the sun and pointed in the way he imagined led to the castle. He started to walk before the others were quite ready.

“Wait a minute,” Beth said, sharply. She kept herself from yelling. “Who put you in charge? Don’t we even get a vote?”

Chris did not answer her directly. “The castle has to be this way.”

“But don’t you think that is where the Ashtoreth demon is, and the sleeping Kairos, whoever she is?” Beth spoke, even as she began to follow. David got ahead of her at that point, and he turned to walk backwards.

“But maybe Mom and Dad are there, too.” David held on to that thought as his source of comfort. He tripped over a root and fell. James laughed but tried to cover up. “Not funny!” David yelled, way too loud, and he only realized that maybe yelling was not a smart thing to do after it was too late. They heard the noise of crashing trees back the way they came, and they all hurried to catch up with Chris.

Golden Door Chapter 1 Monsters in the House, part 2 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Green grass stretched out before them in a world that looked bright with late afternoon sunshine. They heard the faint roll of the sea somewhere, but they could not see it through the door. They smelled the fresh air and the aroma of growing grain which they could barely make out off to their right. They felt a touch of the cool breeze that wafted through the meadow on a lazy afternoon in late May. The grass looked freshly cut or grazed. Beth judged grazed, from the medieval dress of the two people who stood some hundred yards off down by the grain. It seemed hard to tell, exactly, because those people had their backs to the door; but they looked medieval, and the grain looked like early grain, barely up to their knees after a March planting.

“Creepy,” Chris breathed.

“Cool!” David yelled. To be sure, yelling was David’s normal volume. “Look at the castle.” It sat up on a hill, well beyond the people. There were more towers and spires than any of them could count, including some that reached right up into the clouds. The castle walls looked formidable enough to withstand any army foolish enough to assault them. A clear stream came from somewhere inside the castle grounds and wound lazily down the hillside, around the occasional clump of trees, until it reached the meadow. By then it became a very small river which found the sea somewhere behind them. Beth looked behind, but all she could see was the kitchen.

The scratching came again, and this time it sounded definite and pronounced.

“Did you guys leave Seabass trapped in Mom and Dad’s closet all afternoon?”  Some scorn entered Beth’s voice, but before the boys could answer, she stepped around the corner. Chris shook his head. David pointed, but Seabass had gone from the couch.

They found the cat under the couch, shivering and afraid. With James’ help, David got the cat out and then held the beast securely in his arms as overweight, gregarious, love everyone Catbird, the golden retriever, began to growl. Beth screamed and the boys heard a tremendous crash in their parent’s room. Beth made it to the bedroom door, slammed it shut. She held the doorknob and poked her head around the corner to the living room.

“Run!”

The boys just stood there.

Catbird began to dance and bark his head off at whatever was behind the door. Seabass tried to wriggle free to follow Beth’s instructions, but David held the cat tight. Chris stared with his mouth open. James had the good sense to step through the door and on to the green meadow. That movement broke the spell; that and the sudden crash against the bedroom door from the inside which almost made Beth lose her grip, and which came punctuated by a loud crack. The wood door looked ready to give way.

Chris grabbed David to keep him from running down the front hall and out the front door. He shoved David after James. Then he grabbed Catbird by the collar, and carefully, because the dog had become agitated beyond belief. Chris nodded to Beth as he dragged the dog toward the golden door, and only paused when he got to the place where the door and rug met.

“Come on!” Chris screamed at his sister and went through, even as a second crash came against the bedroom door.

“There’s more than one!” Beth screamed back.

“Hurry!” The golden door started to close of its’ own volition. A third crash, and the bedroom door came to pieces, but it held together in sharp and ragged edges long enough to keep back whatever growling, snarling, roaring beasts were trying to get at Beth. Beth managed a good scream as she ran and dove through the doorway. They heard the roar of the beast echo in the house before the golden door slammed shut and they were no longer in the world.

Beth chalked up her spinning head and queasy stomach to having just escaped with her life, but as she turned from the door to look at the boys, she noticed they all looked as pale as she felt. Chris started looking around, but it seemed hard to tell if he could focus on anything. David, fallen to his knees, looked sick to his stomach. James just sat, his head in his hands, until he looked up at her.

“I feel like I died.”

“That’s all right.” Beth comforted her littlest brother. “We made it. We’re safe.”

“That’s not it.” James pointed into the west.

Beth turned to look. She shaded her eyes as well as she could against a sun which sat low in the sky, ready to set in a couple of hours. She saw the sea, closer than she imagined. A wide, sandy beach started some twenty yards off; but at the moment, it got hard to gaze in that direction because the sun glistened off the water with such intensity it made her eyes tear. She got ready to turn back to her brother when she realized what he pointed at. The golden door had vanished.

“Chris?” Beth called to get her brother’s attention.

“Catbird and Seabass disappeared when we came through, just like the door,” Chris said.

“They ran off?” Beth wondered, but James shook his head, so she knew they vanished and were not going to be found, just like their dad, and now maybe their mom, too.

David touched her shoulder. Beth reached out and hugged him, which was what he needed at that moment, and then she included James in her hug, and Chris bent down to add his arms.

“What was that thing?” James tried to ask.

“What will happen when Mom comes home?” David’s voice drowned out his brother’s natural whisper. “It will eat her.”

“No,” Beth spoke quickly. “I think the reason Mom was not home when we all got there is because she is already here.” She looked around and wondered where “here” might be. She looked up at Chris, in need of his support.

“Mom is probably here already, and Dad too, I think.” Chris did not sound sure about what he thought, but he tried to speak with conviction to not frighten the younger two.

“But where are we?” James tried again.

“Maybe Mom and Dad are in the castle,” David suggested.

“Maybe.” Beth stood, so the others stood as well. The feeling of having died faded. “Maybe those people can help.” Without another word, they began to walk toward the distant field of grain.

The men beside the field looked away from the sun. They appeared to be studying the grain, like they were watching it grow. But there was no way they would have ever seen the children through that glaring sun, even if they turned around. Thus, the children got close before the mind trick Beth played with herself suddenly let go and things came into perspective. She had imagined two men by a new-May field full of short stalks just sprouted from the ground. As she approached, she came to see the field as fully ripe and tall, despite it being May. That meant it likely stood taller than Chris, the tallest of the four children, and that meant the men had to be fifteen or twenty feet tall.

“Giants,” James whispered.

“Creepy,” Chris agreed, and he clamped his hand over David’s mouth before David could say anything too loud.

************************

MONDAY

Four young people escape the monsters by going to another world, only this other world appears to be full of giants. That might not be an improvement. Until Next Time, Happy Reading.

*

Golden Door Chapter 1 Monsters in the House, part 1 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

David and James got off the school bus for the last time that year. Summer vacation arrived, but it would be a long one with their dad unaccountably missing. The boys figured their older brother Chris got home, since the high school bus came before their own. Their older sister Beth’s car also sat in the driveway, parked a little crooked. It blocked dad’s car, but that hardly mattered. Dad had been missing for a week, and no one knew where he had gone. Chris said he asked everyone he knew. Beth said she checked the hospitals. Mom had no ideas. She just cried, a lot.

As David and James came into the run-down ranch house, David yelled.

“Mom.”

No one answered. Mom appeared to be the one person who was not home.

Backpacks went on the living room floor, and James pulled out pencil and paper. He turned to his brother. “I’m going to try and write something before I start actual vacation,” he said. “Be good and try not to disturb me. I won’t be long.”

David nodded. He wanted to see what damage he could do in the kitchen first. He watched James go down the hall to the room they shared before he stuffed his face. That did not take long, and then he feared he might get bored before his vacation even started. He paused to listen to the silence in the house.

Beth, his nineteen-year-old sister, was most likely on the phone, locked in her room, though dad said they were not supposed to lock the doors. Chris, who would be sixteen in a month, in his own locked room, probably got on the computer or started playing some videogame. Little brother James had their room where he worked on some secret thing with his pencil and paper. Mom probably went shopping. David felt like the only one left to worry. He very much wanted his dad to come home and be safe and well.

David paused at the door of his parent’s room. The bed sat empty and made. Mama said it was the strangest thing when Dad disappeared. One-minute Dad lay there, and the next he vanished, like into thin air. “Like he went invisible?” David had asked. Mama could not answer because she had been in the kitchen at the time. She did not actually see him disappear. She heard scampering, like little feet, but then he was gone and all she could do was cry. In fact, crying seemed about all she could do for the first few days—that and stare at the golden door in the living room which showed up at about the same time.

David peeked around the corner at the living room—just a step away. He looked at the door, solid gold in a silver frame. It reached to the ceiling and stood in the middle of the room with no visible support of any kind. Mom did not know what to make of it, but she said don’t tell anyone until she had a chance to think about what to do. Chris said it was only a gold painted slab of junk metal with a handle and ignored it. Beth said Dad was probably behind the door. David wondered how it stayed upright. He imagined a good knock would send it falling flat-side to the floor, and what a terrific crash that would be!

A scratching sound came from the closet in his parent’s room. David imagined Mama went out and accidentally shut Seabass the cat into the windowless, walk-in closet. “Mama would never allow the clothes to be hung in a way where they might scratch the paint,” David assured himself, out loud, to calm his nerves. He hesitated at the handle. David was not the bravest soul in the world, but he thought that maybe this once he might look. Besides, Seabass the cat was nowhere to be seen, though how the cat might have shut himself in the closet was beyond his ability to imagine.

He opened the door quickly. The late afternoon sun shot into the space. He called the cat, but nothing happened. He did not look any further. He felt afraid to look too closely, so he shut the closet door again and returned to the living room where he sat on the couch and stared at the golden door for a long time.

Seabass, the cat came to sit beside him. Catbird, the big golden retriever, yawned and got up from where he slept against the sliding doors to the back yard. That spot no longer appeared attractive once the sun dipped behind the trees and cast the whole back side of the house in shadow.

David petted Catbird’s contented golden head with one hand while his other hand stroked Seabass’ soft fur. They stayed that way for a time, until David abruptly stood. Both animals looked up, startled by the sudden movement and loss of attention. David clenched his teeth.  The fact that the door had been locked all week did not matter, except in the back of David’s mind where he hoped the door might still be locked.

“Ga!” It was unlocked. David peeked and closed the door again with another “Ga,” significantly louder than the first.

James heard. He had finished writing his letter and decided he better find out what Davey got all stirred up about. He went next door and tapped Chris on the shoulder. Chris took a couple of taps before he looked up and lowered his headphones. A piece of sandwich dangled from his mouth. He honestly wasn’t listening.

“Come on,” James said. “Come on.” He had to say it twice before Chris got up. Perhaps Chris was still not paying attention, but at least his feet started moving.

Halfway to the living room, they heard it again. “Gaaa!” It got deliberately shouted down the hallway.

“The call of the excited Davey.” James spoke under his breath as they arrived, and David shouted something at his brothers they could all understand.

“It’s unlocked!”

Chris immediately turned to get Beth and almost bumped into her as she came barreling out of her room.

“I heard,” Beth said. “What’s in there?”

Chris shrugged.

“I looked,” David grinned, and his eyes were as wide open as they could be.

“What did you see?” Beth sounded miffed that she had to ask twice.

“Gaa!” James answered for his brother. He shrugged, as if to say, “What else?”

Beth looked perturbed, but David giggled. “Gaa!” He nodded in agreement with James. He kept grinning as he pointed at the door.

Beth shoved Chris forward. Chris put on the brakes. While they stared each other down, James stepped up to look for himself. He opened the door a mere crack.

“He’s right. It’s Gaa,”

Beth frowned, swung the door wide open and almost said “Gaa!” herself.