A kind of Homecoming - Chapter 6

6

                Melanie closed her eyes and stared at the ceiling.  She had gone to bed, more out of habit than for sleep and pulled the covers over her as she had always done in her 8 years of marriage.  Habits are hard things to break, the little things we do for ourselves or for others.  Sleeping on the left hand side of the bed for instance when you don’t have to.  She listened to the noises of the house and the rattle of an engine as it cruised down the street. 

Sleep came slowly but it did come and she woke up laying in pretty much the same position.  She had that familiar jet lagged feeling of having too little sleep and with the sense of being in a strange place.  It had been a warm night for end of September but she was still wrapped up in the comforter.  She casually thought of how Gary would have had kicked off everything and still complain it was too hot, or worse, he would have the sheets pulled so tight that you could barely move.  With that she kicked her feet side to side enjoying the freedom of it, it felt almost luxurious and she began to laugh in spite of the empty feeling she carried, tears streaming down over her cheeks the whole time.

The sun was high in the sky when she finally decided enough was enough, “action needed to be taken!” popped the voice of her mother in her head.  She slipped out of bed and crossed the floor to the bathroom stepping over her clothes that lay strewn across the floor from where she dropped them last night.  She didn’t bother getting dressed and headed towards the kitchen catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and stopped, looking at the face and shape of a woman she did not recognize.  How long had it been since she had looked at herself, honestly?  A chorus of echoes inside her head yelled Years - and yet the woman staring back was not altogether displeasing.  She had always been active and so she was firm in all the right places and no gray hairs yet, well maybe one or two but it didn’t matter.  She lifted herself up on her toes and turned sideways looking back over her shoulder and smiled.  An unexpected feeling like teenage giddiness softened the melancholy of the empty room and she left the door open as she headed down to the kitchen. 

She placed a fry pan over the element and turned the knob on the range and a bright blue fame sprung to life.  As the pan heated she pulled out some eggs and orange juice from the fridge.  The sun room was bright and inviting; the warmth of the morning sun heated up the slate tiles and pushed a warm breeze across the kitchen to where she stood and raised goose bumps on her bare arms and breasts.  As she stood there, she noticed the business card that Anna had given her stuck to the fridge door.  “Abbey Parker” – she read the name out loud then looked at the number.  “This can’t be right, Delta 559. They haven’t had numbers like that in years.  How would you even call a number like that?”  There was a popping sound from the frying pan clearing her thought.  She jumped not realizing she had even cracked an egg, in fact her glass was full of orange juice, coffee was made and the toaster sprung up a second later with two pieces of bread.  Melanie had prepared everything without memory of doing any of it.  She finished up and made her way over to the nook and sat down in the sun looking over the place setting.  Her mind was trying to catch up but her body was already dipping the corner of the toast into the middle of the yolk.  Melanie began wolfing down her breakfast like she did when she was 5, eager to get outside to play.  The warm golden yolk of the eggs spreading out over the plate was delicious and tasted like nothing she had ever had before.  Within minutes she was done and ran the last piece of toast across the plate scraping up tail ends.  Melanie relaxed and sat back in the seat and took a sip of coffee when she heard a clicking sound coming from the counter.  She looked over and saw the carton of eggs sitting out beside the stove. The clicking began to increase in speed and get louder; little chips of shell broke off and dropped on to the floor.  Within seconds a small beak popped out, then another.  She dropped her cup and hot coffee spilled down over her legs making her jump up.  Multiple chirps echoed inside the kitchen instinctively she placed her hands over her ears and lowered her head to block it out.  After a few minutes the noise stopped and Melanie cautiously looked up and her gaze froze on her plate.  The residue of yolk on the plate had turned blood red, small drops that left a trail from the plate to where Melanie had lifted the toast up to her mouth.  Her stomach heaved and she felt the rise of fluids in her throat making her want to scream and throw up at the same time.  She jumped up and backed away from the table coughing and spitting out little pieces of toast and bile on the floor just as the phone began to ring.  She answered frantically, hoping the person on the other end could help.

“Hello, hello?”

Nothing more than static filled the ear piece.

“Hello, who is this?” said Melanie again but the phone began to ring again in her hand and she dropped the receiver.  As it bounced off the wall the cord straightened and turned into a bell shape as it remained swinging back and forth.  The phone had changed into a period model, with a wooden box and fixed mouth piece.  The ringing continued but changed in tone, over and over and she felt like she was being pushed backwards and over something hard in the middle of the room.  She fell backwards and just as she felt herself hit the floor she bounced back up in bed drenched in sweat and still wearing the clothes from the night before.  Her body was achy and stiff and the cloud of sleep infused with the depth of the dream made her feel like she needed to move gently.  She slowly rolled over on her side facing the night stand cluttered with Kleenex, pill bottles and various hand creams over that surrounded the alarm clock and night lamp.  As she focused on the clock to check the time she noticed a small white card clipped to the rim of the lamp with a clothes pin.  It was a business card,  the same card that she received the other day from the young girl living next door; Abbey Parker,  Madison and Harper Law.

Melanie sat up quickly and rested on the edge of the bed drawing in a deep breath trying to gather her thoughts and push out the images of the mornings dream.  Each time she closed her eyes the cracking shells hitting the floor and tiny heads poking out was all she could see.  Shuddering she stood up and peeled each piece of clothing off and let them drop to the floor.  On her way over to the dresser catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror and paused.  She half expected to see egg shells stuck to her bare skin but there was nothing.  The rest of the morning was routine, coffee and a dish of yogurt with granola, no eggs on the menu for a while.  She started the dishwasher after she had cleaned up and was just wiping the counter when there was a knock at the door.  Anna stood in the same place as she had the previous day holding the morning paper in one hand and a set of car keys pinched firmly between two fingers in the other.  “We need to go for a drive!” she said rather sternly.

Melanie hesitated, almost ready to object but something in Anna’s tone measured something a bit more than what it appeared.   “Okay, yes, come in while I get my things.”

Anna stepped in and stood in the hall and placed the paper down on a mahogany table. 

“Do we need coffee for this?  I just made a fresh pot this morning?  Will we be long?”

“I never say no to coffee, good idea.  We should be about 2 hours I would guess.”

“Can I ask where we are going?”

“You can but you won’t recognize it once we’re there anyway.”

Her lips parted; ready to make a comment but only air escaped in the form of a very faint “huh?”

“I know how that must sound but you will understand what I mean I promise.”

“Considering the fact I just met you yesterday after my husband remarried someone else under my nose that resulted in a horrific nightmare… I would say I doubt it.”  “But for some unexplainable reason, I trust you, here is your coffee.”

Anna smiled and stretched out her arm. “Thanks, it does sound crazy doesn’t it?  I’m not exactly sure myself why I’m here.  Something told me I needed to do this and it needed to be with you.  Ready?

“I guess.”

Within fifteen minutes they were on the highway heading southwest passing by the last row of houses on the street they headed out into the flat prairie, round bales of straw dotting the landscape.  Yellow and brown leaves swirled in the wind of the car at the side of the road.  Anna turned right at the next intersection and pressed hard on the accelerator.  Melanie sunk back into the seat and looked over a little apprehensively, “Whoa, what’s the hurry?”

“We have to get there for noon.”

Without shifting her focus, she raised one eyebrow and recounted sarcastically, “ah I see, Noon, of course.  Actually, isn’t it supposed to be midnight?”

Ann ignored the remark and kept her eyes on the road, after all how could she know.

“How long ‘till we get to the spot?” asked Melanie.

“Should take about an hour!”

“Do you mind if I close my eyes? Terrible dream last night, remind me to tell it to you sometime.”

“No problem, I’ll wake you just before we’re there.”

She closed her eyes and drifted in and out, feeling the rise and fall of the road on the hills as they headed into the foothills.  They were just passing over the crest of one when Anna slammed on the brakes and steered into a roadside turn off at the edge of an old cemetery.  Melanie sat straight up and reached out for something to hang on to.  The car settled to a stop in a cloud of dust that followed a breeze straight down the road ahead of them.  A magpie lifted up into the air, disturbed of its seed gathering and flew up into the cross brace of the nearby telephone pole.  Both girls followed the bird’s movement and then followed the progression of dark brown poles and wire that marked the edge of the road off into the distance.  Anna got out first motioning for Melanie to do the same leaving the door ajar.  Melanie watched Anna move around the car and through the ditch towards the cemetery.  She started quickly after her when it looked like she wasn’t stopping any time soon.

“You’re right about one thing; I don’t recognize this place at all.”

“That’s because it’s missing something.”

“I drive this way out to Banff all the time but it all looks the same”… her voice trailing off.  “How exactly do you know that I travel out here enough to recognize that something is missing or out of place?”

Anna had her back to Melanie looking intently down at a large headstone and didn’t answer.

Melanie charged through the grass and grabbed Anna’s shoulder intending to make her look up; look back at her when she caught was Anna was looking at. The sandstone marker had several names on it for a couple of generations of family members.  It had eroded over the years but was somehow the small chips and weather worn edges were repairing themselves.  Anna stepped forward and pushed a large clump of grass to the side revealing a flat black granite headstone with the name William Adamson on it, Born 1808, Died 1889 then pointed out towards a farm house in the distance, “Look over there.”

“What am I looking at?”

“See the farm over there?

“Yes, but...”

“Shhh, just wait, watch the farm and the road past the house.”

Melanie looked at Anna a bit suspiciously but did as she was asked and stared off at the horizon and the old farm house.  There was a shimming like a heat wave off pavement on a hot summer day and gradually the black asphalt began to lighten and turn gray.  She wasn’t sure but it almost looked like it had a textured appearance as well.  “Is that gravel?”

Before Anna could answer Melanie choked out “holy shit.” 

Anna looked up and nodded, “I noticed this this last week when I was a bit farther out West.  No idea how long it’s been happening but it seems to be speeding up.  At first I thought it was random power problems, maybe related to the dam, but the more I watched it started to make sense.

Melanie watched as the road past the farm driveway began to shimmer and change colour.  It was almost like a funnel of mature hay, golden brown and ready for harvest was growing down the road.  Just then the small second house at the end of the property simply vanished.  “Oh my god, what the hell is going on?”

Anna answered Melanie’s thoughts as if she had heard her ask the question. “I think it’s all reversing and repairing the changes we’ve made, the history of civilization. I think that house was built early 1940’s.”

She had to force herself to look away and she found herself staring down at a thick patch of prairie grass where the black tombstone used to be.  “Anna, are you seeing what I’m not seeing?”

“That house belonged to Mr. Adamson” whispered Anna pointing down to the headstone.

“This is insane, how can time simply be erasing itself like this, and more importantly where does it end?”  Suddenly there was a large tree stump about 4 feet in front of them, rotted out at the base.  They quickly walked over to the side of the road again; afraid of what might disappear, but the realization that something could also reappear or come back suddenly dawned on them.  They looked out towards the Adamson farm again, the road now ended at the foot of the driveway but things seemed to have settled.  The valley between where they stood was still covered in crop at some places but already harvested in most and ready for winter.  A light mist was beginning to form in the low areas as the warmth of the day began to let go as the sun began to slide behind the mountains.  What they didn’t see was the small river that was once again flowing at the very bottom of the valley.  The valley has been dry since 1983 when a dam was put in to act as a reservoir and power supply to control floods from the Red Deer River. 

As the car pulled away Anna watched in the rear view mirror catching glimpses and fragments of changes.  Melanie refused to look at anything else; she pulled her hat down over her closed eyes and waited until they were back to the intersection just at the edge of town.  As they turned to head back to the house they were both aware that there were no  changes, nothing had disappeared, nothing added, not even the paint on the houses.  They looked at each other but said nothing, didn’t need to say anything, and drove the rest of the way in silence.

As Anna pulled into the driveway she was deep in thought and jumped as Melanie spoke.  “There has to be a source, a starting point to all this”, she had been looking straight ahead but looked over at Anna as she continued.  “Have you seen anything on the news?  We can’t be the only ones who have noticed this – Right?”

Anna shifted the gear to Park but left the car idling and reached over hitting the power button on the radio. The display light up but there was just static.  When she hit the seek button the numbers cycled around the entire FM band.  “Maybe we are just in a void or something on the driveway.”  Anna shifted the transmission into drive and pulled forward letting the radio continue its infinite cycle in search of a signal.  She crept forward as far as she could go and then back. “Nothing” she said.

“Let’s drive through town and see if we can find something.”

They drove in a crisscross pattern for about a half hour when the dial stopped and a voice penetrated the silence.  It was so unexpected Anna slammed her foot on the brake and came to a screeching halt in front of an old house that had been turned into a Law office.  “No, no way, it can’t be.”  Melanie reached into her pocket and pulled out the business card for Abbey Parker, Madison and Harper Law.