Unwanted Visitor.
Linc smelled something acrid as he woke up the next morning. Raising
up, he looked toward the screen door. There stood a big skunk peering
thru the screen to see what was in the cabin. Oh great! Just what we
need, Linc thought. Now what? The smell was bad enough now, and he
didn't want to have the darn thing spray the place. Lucas woke up
about that time and started to move around. Linc whispered to Lucas,
"don't move, there's a skunk by the door. May be he will go away".
They lay there a while and the darn skunk finally did leave, but the
odor lingered on. Linc got up and got the fire going and the coffee
pot on as Lucas got out of bed, and went out side to sit in the sun.
Linc opened a window so the smell could dissipate. He took coffee
out and they sat there in the sun drinking it waiting for the smell to
go away. Since John had taken the table and chairs back to the farm,
they would have to eat breakfast in the cabin. Linc fixed breakfast
and after cleanup they went up to the trench and looked in. Still no
water. It was sinking in as fast as it went into the trench. Maybe
they hadn't needed a deep trench after all.
Lucas wanted to go on up to the mine so, Linc ran back and got the
flashlights and they went on up.
Inside, the trickle looked to be about the same. They looked again at
the crack. Lucas felt the wall around the crack. He mentioned the
temperature felt the same all around it and was the same as the rest
of the tunnel. " Must not be an opening of any size behind the crack.
that's good', he said.
Looking around the tunnel and offshoots, they could see nothing else
wrong. then went on back to the cabin.
Back at the cabin, the smell was stronger than ever. The blasted
skunk had dug a hole under the cabin. The cabin reeked inside. This
was not going to work. Some how they had to get that darn skunk out
of there. They decided to pack stuff up and go back to the farm. Linc
would get a trap and set it out a way from the cabin, in hopes to
catch it.
Back at the farm, John came running from the barn and Trudy rushed out
of the house. They both feared something had happened to Lucas, but
were very relieved when he got out of the truck. Lucas cussed a bit
then told them about the skunk. John said he saw some traps somewhere
in the barn and he would get them out for Linc. He said the best
thing was to get a can of the cat food he had for the barn cat and
toss a few pieces by the hole and some by at least three different
traps. Bait one with a bit of bacon wired on tight, one with a rag
smeared with peanut butter, also wired on and another with some kind
of raw meat. He and Trudy would round the stuff up for him. Linc
agreed with what John said and figured he would take the stuff back up
to the cabin early the next morning, and set the traps out.
Linc figured if he left real early, he could stop at the dump on the
way to the cabin and take care of the garbage from the retreat while
he was at it.
He and John gathered up the things he would need and loaded it in the truck.
The next morning he was up before daybreak, had some coffee and took
off for the cabin. A quick stop at the dump to get the garbage put
in the dumpster from the retreat, then on up to the cabin.
The smell was as strong as ever in the cabin, but Linc opened the
windows and the door, before finding just where he wanted to set the
traps. That done, he went to the retreat. He wanted to check out the
files on Roland's computer to see if there was anything about the
hidden tunnel.
On the computer, he didn't find anything about the hidden tunnel, but
he did find a file labeled LT. In it he saw where Roland purchased a
gold and turquoise necklace from a tomb robber, who also gave him a
small wooden statue of Anubis, in Egypt. From Japan he acquired a
sword with a golden hilt, in a sheath, from a dealer of antiques
Roland went to an archeology dig in Peru where he was watching a
dig, and saw as they uncovered a skeleton of some dignitary, as there
was a breast-plate of gold and jade on the chest and a bracelet of
gold and jade on one arm. As these were being removed, he could see
one of the team had partially uncovered a jade encrusted dagger under
the fingers of the other hand. He watched as the worker slipped the
dagger out from under the fingers and quickly put it in his tool bag.
The others in the team were unaware of it. Roland waited until the
worker left to eat lunch, then he took the dagger from the tool bag
and left the dig, knowing the worker could never accuse any one of
taking it from his tool bag.
That was all that he could find. But, Linc thought. Where are they?
He didn't see them around the house. Are they in the hidden tunnel,
he wondered. Well maybe there was something in the desk at the cave.
He will have to wait on that.
Back at the cabin, he checked the traps. No skunk, but one rat in the
one with the meat. He re-baited it. He looked again at the trench
and saw no change there. As he was getting ready to go back to the
farm, he noticed the door to the mine was open. What the heck was
going on? He went up to the open door an looked in. He saw a blue
glow in there. He stepped inside and found himself back in Egypt.
Oh boy! Now what?
Monday, May 25, 2020
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Digging the Trench.
Linc got up just as the sun was coming up, built a fire and put on a
pot of coffee. Then went down to the creek and got a bucket of water.
He filled the teakettle,
Lucas got out of bed, and said he had a great night's sleep. He went
on out of the cabin and sat in the sunshine . Linc brought out a
couple cups of coffee and sat down beside him, just as John and Trudy
drove up. Trudy had a container of cinnamon rolls and they sat and
ate them with coffee while they planned on just where to dig the
trench.
Linc helped John unload the front end loader, and as John began to dig
the trench, he joined Trudy and Lucas down at the wild blackberry
patch.
They had been picking about an hour when Trudy let out a shriek. Linc
and Lucas ran to see what was wrong. She stood stark still staring
at something when they found her. There in front of her, curled up on
a berry branch lay a huge rattlesnake. Linc touched her arm and told
her to slowly back away, and she did. She said she was done picking
berries now. She was too scared to pick any more. They had about
three gallons anyway so that was enough for now.
Back up at the cabin, they found John had finished the trench and had
a shovel, digging a ditch to divert the trickle stream of rusty water
into the trench. When he finished, they sat around in the shade
drinking iced tea, and rested while Trudy told John about her
encounter with the rattlesnake. Lucas said he should have warned her
about snakes but just didn't think of it.
They walked back up to look at the trench . They could see where the
water was slowly trickling into the trench and sinking into the
ground. So far, there was only a pile of rust where the water seeped
into the trench. It may be a long time before they would see any
water, but at least it wasn't going into the creek any longer.
It was getting late afternoon so Linc fired up the BBQ and Trudy took
some ribs she had cooked all night in the slow cooker. and put them
on the BBQ and they all got busy, getting the rest of the food ready
and out on the table.
After stuffing themselves, they all sat around talking about family
members and wanting visits and so forth. John said now that the
trench was taken care of he and Trudy would like to take the last
week in the month off to go visit family, if it was ok with them.
Linc said they would make out just fine. He said he could feed the
pigs and the chickens. The cows would take care of them selves. If
there was a problem he couldn't handle, he would call the ranch and
get someone to help him. So they could go, and not worry about them.
Just have a good time visiting.
Linc Thought about how he would like to improve a few things at the
farm. He knew that Lucas was getting older and he wanted to make the
farm his home. He didn't know for sure if he wanted to be a farmer,
but he was educated as a geologist and he liked the education he got.
He could always keep John and Trudy as long as they wanted the job, he
figured. He still didn't know for sure what the time masters had in
store for him, but what ever, so far, it hadn't interfered with his
life in this time period. He would just have to wait and see what
happened.
Linc knew Lucas was enjoying the stay here at the cabin, and figured
they would spend at least three more days here, until he had to take
Lucas into a doctors appointment. He also figured maybe by that time
he would have things straightened out at the retreat and supplied, so
he could tell Lucas about it and maybe take him there. He wanted to
ask the time master if there would be a health issue if he did it
first.
Later that night after Lucas was asleep, Linc went back to the
retreat. He took a strong bright flash light with him this time.
There were some things he wanted to look at in the cave, he couldn't
see with the lamps. He first went to the house and into the office.
After turning on the computer, he searched for any information on
Roland's files that would give him more info about the time masters
and where he had been while a time master. He figured maybe it would
give him some insight as to where and when the time masters lost their
powers and why. There was a lot of trivial junk that wasn't
enlightening at all, that he erased. A bit of porn that he erased as
well. He did find some info about Italy stays that were interesting
an a few items about Egypt that were very interesting. Some of it was
from an attempt to find out what was inside the great pyramid. Seems
he went there when a ruling Caliph was in power, and he had commanded
his army to break into the pyramid and extract the treasures he was
sure was in there. What he found out wasn't
recorded in his files, but it was interesting anyway. Got Linc to
thinking about Ruben Hanks, the tomb painter. Linc found Roland had
been to a lot of different time periods and brought back various
artifacts from them. Well Linc wondered. If he did, then where are
they? Could the terrible painting in the other room be one of them?
Or the two beautiful watercolors in the guest bedroom be some? He
would have to look closer at them. Linc browsed through more files
that he deleted. There were no e-mails. Maybe they would not
transmit from here or something, or maybe he just didn't e-mail
anyone. No record of any deleted ones either. Linc grew tired of
looking through the files for now. There were still a good many
personal ones and a whole lot of other files to go through. Some
other time. He shut the computer down and went into the other room
and looked at the big painting. Oh wow! This ghastly thing was
painted by Roland's Father. No artifact there. He went into the guest
room and looked at the watercolors. They were both signed EBH. So
Roland's Mother painted these. They were very lovely.
Linc went into the bedroom and went into the walk-in closet. As he
looked at the clothing hanging there, he could see some of them were
in style a hundred years ago or more. He thought maybe there were some
cammo sweat pants he might keep, then he put all the rest of the
stuff into a garbage bags to take to a thrift store. Boots and shoes
into another, and emptied all the drawers into another. There was a
trinket box with a few cuff links, tie-bars and rings in it, that he
left on top of a dresser. There was a full length mirror on the wall.
Old Roland was a very sharp dresser, that's for sure. Thing is, a guy
could walk around in the nude here because there was no one around to
see. Well what ever.
There was a shed around in back of the house. Linc took the bags back
there to store them until he figured just how he was going to get it
back off the island. He had put the garbage along with the garbage
that was already there and put the clothes on the other side of the
room. He thought, while John and Trudy were gone, He could drive the
truck to the big dumpsters that were outside of town, very early in
the morning before Lucas woke up, go to the retreat from there, get
the garbage, come back there and put it into the dumpsters. He
could do the same thing at the thrift store as well. Now with thinking
that problem was solved, he got the flashlight and went toward the
cave. When he was here before, he could see there was no water in
the kitchen part but he remembered seeing bowls and pitchers in each
bedroom and a wash basin on a table by the door to the pantry a
bucket stood there as well.
This time he walked on past the cave and walked a bit farther. Here
he found another cave. It was smaller, and had a water tap. Seems
there was a water line from some where to this cave. There was a wood
fired boiler that heated the water for a shower. They got the water
for the main cave here.
Linc returned to the cave and looked at the awful painting hanging
there. Sure enough, Master Hancks had painted that one as well.
He went into the bedroom to check something he thought he saw last
night, but the light was too dim to be sure. He went over to the
chiffenrobe and looked at the floor, Yes! He did see what looked like
tracks on the floor where the thing had been moved many times. It did
have casters on it, but was very heavy and made marks on the cave
floor when moved. Linc gave it a tug. And it swung away from the wall
smoothly. There was a tunnel back of it. Linc went in and followed
it. It must have been a hundred feet long, with notches carved out of
the side walls. He looked in some of them and saw they each had
pinkish glow to them. Linc wondered just what that was all about.
Must be a time masters thing. He went back to the cave and closed
the tunnel up. He had to look on the computer and see it there was
anything about it there before he asked the time master about it.
Could it have something to do with the lose of power?
He went on out of the cave and back to the cabin for a good nights sleep.
To be continued,
Linc got up just as the sun was coming up, built a fire and put on a
pot of coffee. Then went down to the creek and got a bucket of water.
He filled the teakettle,
Lucas got out of bed, and said he had a great night's sleep. He went
on out of the cabin and sat in the sunshine . Linc brought out a
couple cups of coffee and sat down beside him, just as John and Trudy
drove up. Trudy had a container of cinnamon rolls and they sat and
ate them with coffee while they planned on just where to dig the
trench.
Linc helped John unload the front end loader, and as John began to dig
the trench, he joined Trudy and Lucas down at the wild blackberry
patch.
They had been picking about an hour when Trudy let out a shriek. Linc
and Lucas ran to see what was wrong. She stood stark still staring
at something when they found her. There in front of her, curled up on
a berry branch lay a huge rattlesnake. Linc touched her arm and told
her to slowly back away, and she did. She said she was done picking
berries now. She was too scared to pick any more. They had about
three gallons anyway so that was enough for now.
Back up at the cabin, they found John had finished the trench and had
a shovel, digging a ditch to divert the trickle stream of rusty water
into the trench. When he finished, they sat around in the shade
drinking iced tea, and rested while Trudy told John about her
encounter with the rattlesnake. Lucas said he should have warned her
about snakes but just didn't think of it.
They walked back up to look at the trench . They could see where the
water was slowly trickling into the trench and sinking into the
ground. So far, there was only a pile of rust where the water seeped
into the trench. It may be a long time before they would see any
water, but at least it wasn't going into the creek any longer.
It was getting late afternoon so Linc fired up the BBQ and Trudy took
some ribs she had cooked all night in the slow cooker. and put them
on the BBQ and they all got busy, getting the rest of the food ready
and out on the table.
After stuffing themselves, they all sat around talking about family
members and wanting visits and so forth. John said now that the
trench was taken care of he and Trudy would like to take the last
week in the month off to go visit family, if it was ok with them.
Linc said they would make out just fine. He said he could feed the
pigs and the chickens. The cows would take care of them selves. If
there was a problem he couldn't handle, he would call the ranch and
get someone to help him. So they could go, and not worry about them.
Just have a good time visiting.
Linc Thought about how he would like to improve a few things at the
farm. He knew that Lucas was getting older and he wanted to make the
farm his home. He didn't know for sure if he wanted to be a farmer,
but he was educated as a geologist and he liked the education he got.
He could always keep John and Trudy as long as they wanted the job, he
figured. He still didn't know for sure what the time masters had in
store for him, but what ever, so far, it hadn't interfered with his
life in this time period. He would just have to wait and see what
happened.
Linc knew Lucas was enjoying the stay here at the cabin, and figured
they would spend at least three more days here, until he had to take
Lucas into a doctors appointment. He also figured maybe by that time
he would have things straightened out at the retreat and supplied, so
he could tell Lucas about it and maybe take him there. He wanted to
ask the time master if there would be a health issue if he did it
first.
Later that night after Lucas was asleep, Linc went back to the
retreat. He took a strong bright flash light with him this time.
There were some things he wanted to look at in the cave, he couldn't
see with the lamps. He first went to the house and into the office.
After turning on the computer, he searched for any information on
Roland's files that would give him more info about the time masters
and where he had been while a time master. He figured maybe it would
give him some insight as to where and when the time masters lost their
powers and why. There was a lot of trivial junk that wasn't
enlightening at all, that he erased. A bit of porn that he erased as
well. He did find some info about Italy stays that were interesting
an a few items about Egypt that were very interesting. Some of it was
from an attempt to find out what was inside the great pyramid. Seems
he went there when a ruling Caliph was in power, and he had commanded
his army to break into the pyramid and extract the treasures he was
sure was in there. What he found out wasn't
recorded in his files, but it was interesting anyway. Got Linc to
thinking about Ruben Hanks, the tomb painter. Linc found Roland had
been to a lot of different time periods and brought back various
artifacts from them. Well Linc wondered. If he did, then where are
they? Could the terrible painting in the other room be one of them?
Or the two beautiful watercolors in the guest bedroom be some? He
would have to look closer at them. Linc browsed through more files
that he deleted. There were no e-mails. Maybe they would not
transmit from here or something, or maybe he just didn't e-mail
anyone. No record of any deleted ones either. Linc grew tired of
looking through the files for now. There were still a good many
personal ones and a whole lot of other files to go through. Some
other time. He shut the computer down and went into the other room
and looked at the big painting. Oh wow! This ghastly thing was
painted by Roland's Father. No artifact there. He went into the guest
room and looked at the watercolors. They were both signed EBH. So
Roland's Mother painted these. They were very lovely.
Linc went into the bedroom and went into the walk-in closet. As he
looked at the clothing hanging there, he could see some of them were
in style a hundred years ago or more. He thought maybe there were some
cammo sweat pants he might keep, then he put all the rest of the
stuff into a garbage bags to take to a thrift store. Boots and shoes
into another, and emptied all the drawers into another. There was a
trinket box with a few cuff links, tie-bars and rings in it, that he
left on top of a dresser. There was a full length mirror on the wall.
Old Roland was a very sharp dresser, that's for sure. Thing is, a guy
could walk around in the nude here because there was no one around to
see. Well what ever.
There was a shed around in back of the house. Linc took the bags back
there to store them until he figured just how he was going to get it
back off the island. He had put the garbage along with the garbage
that was already there and put the clothes on the other side of the
room. He thought, while John and Trudy were gone, He could drive the
truck to the big dumpsters that were outside of town, very early in
the morning before Lucas woke up, go to the retreat from there, get
the garbage, come back there and put it into the dumpsters. He
could do the same thing at the thrift store as well. Now with thinking
that problem was solved, he got the flashlight and went toward the
cave. When he was here before, he could see there was no water in
the kitchen part but he remembered seeing bowls and pitchers in each
bedroom and a wash basin on a table by the door to the pantry a
bucket stood there as well.
This time he walked on past the cave and walked a bit farther. Here
he found another cave. It was smaller, and had a water tap. Seems
there was a water line from some where to this cave. There was a wood
fired boiler that heated the water for a shower. They got the water
for the main cave here.
Linc returned to the cave and looked at the awful painting hanging
there. Sure enough, Master Hancks had painted that one as well.
He went into the bedroom to check something he thought he saw last
night, but the light was too dim to be sure. He went over to the
chiffenrobe and looked at the floor, Yes! He did see what looked like
tracks on the floor where the thing had been moved many times. It did
have casters on it, but was very heavy and made marks on the cave
floor when moved. Linc gave it a tug. And it swung away from the wall
smoothly. There was a tunnel back of it. Linc went in and followed
it. It must have been a hundred feet long, with notches carved out of
the side walls. He looked in some of them and saw they each had
pinkish glow to them. Linc wondered just what that was all about.
Must be a time masters thing. He went back to the cave and closed
the tunnel up. He had to look on the computer and see it there was
anything about it there before he asked the time master about it.
Could it have something to do with the lose of power?
He went on out of the cave and back to the cabin for a good nights sleep.
To be continued,
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Cabin.
Up At the cabin.
They got everything unloaded and stowed away, then sat out under a
tree drinking Ice tea and rested a bit before going up to the mine.
Lucas was surprised to see that it wasn't caved in from the blast, and
that Linc had cleared the entrance out. They looked at the trickle of
rusty water and saw that it was real bad. The rust wasn't settling
out like it should, even after running the length of the tunnel.
Linc ltt the lantern, and they went inside. He had brought a strong
flashlight and played it on the crack at the end of the tunnel. Lucas
gasped when he saw it. Since Linc had seen it last, it had made a
big pool of rust that looked almost like blood. John dipped a finger
in the pool and rubbed his finger and thumb together. "Pretty
gritty", he said. Lucas bent and looked closer at the crack. Said,"
I'm glad you didn't decide to pick at it. I think it's best left
alone". They walked on back out of the mine.
John was concerned about the rust going into the creek, and said, It
may be a good idea to bring the front end loader and make a trench
back away from the creek. Let the rusty water drain into it and
settle out the rust before it is let into the creek. He said he
hadn't seen any sign of rust in the stock pond, but then he hadn't
known about it and looked. Lucas and Linc both thought this was a
good idea. Linc was glad he decided to ask him to come on up to the
cabin.
Trudy said, "while John is digging that trench tomorrow, I'm going to
go down there where those wild blackberries are growing and pick a
bunch for some jam". Lucas told Trudy there were some old lard
buckets in the cellar on the floor beneath the shelves, that they used
for picking fruit in. They used to pick blackberries, gooseberries
and wild currants in them every year when the kids were home. Linc
said he would help since he grabbed the last bottle of blackberry jam
to bring up here to the cabin.
John went to his truck and started to unload a folding table. Linc
hastened over to help and they took out four folding chairs too and
set them up under a big oak tree that grew along side the cabin.
Trudy was bustling around getting things ready for the picnic. Linc
was going to fire up the BBQ, when Trudy said she had everything they
needed to eat in the coolers they brought, and a feast it was too.
After they ate and cleaned things up, they sat around, drank coffee
and recalled old times.
John asked Linc what his plans were, as he said that he and Trudy
would like to take a week off and go visit her folks before the cold
weather set in. Linc told about the job offer, but said he would
rather spend more time with Lucas. Said his finances would permit it,
so he was going to do it. He had no other responsibilities right now
any way. He said to just let him know when they planned to go. Linc
figured since the farm was legally his anyway, he had best spend what
time Lucas has left, with him. He was still young, and anyway he and
Lucas got along fine together. He Hadn't told Lucas yet about the
time masters and what they wanted from him. He planned to tell Lucas
all about it later and wanted to take him to the retreat. He would do
it as soon as this business with the trench was taken care of. And
too, he wanted to spend a bit of time at the retreat getting it
cleaned up and find out a bit about Roland and his family before he
told any one else about it.
Trudy told Linc not to make any plans for the next days meal, because
she had that all planned out in her mind. All she needed from him was
the BBQ fired up for supper the next day.
The sun was beginning to go down when John and Trudy piled into their
truck and went back to the farm.
As Lucas was getting ready to go to bed that night, Linc gave him a
small flashlight and told him to put it under his pillow in case he
had to get up at night.
Linc puttered around the cabin a while before he got into bed. He
wanted to go to the retreat as soon as Lucas fell asleep.
An hour later, he got up, put his jeans back on and went outside,
touched the broach in his pocket and said, "retreat".
Linc walked in the house and marveled at all the real "modern"
conveniences Roland had put into the place. The solar panels and the
two wind generators seemed to power every thing here. He wondered why
Roland's father had picked this particular time period to make his
retreat, and why Roland kept it instead of making one of his own. A
lot of things had to be sorted out in his mind yet.
He went around doing things while all these thoughts filled his mind.
He stripped the beds in both bedrooms and tossed the bedding into the
washer. Then he picked up all the dirty clothes lying all over the
house, then got a garbage bag and collected all the trash laying
around. He was going to have to figure out just how he was going to
dispose of all the garbage piled up in the shed in back of the house.
While things were washing he cleaned up the kitchen and took stock of
what supplies were in the place, to know what he needed to bring back
with him. After taking the bedding from the dryer he put the clothes
he had washed in the dryer and remade the beds before going into the
office. There was a very weird painting on the wall Looked like a
very disjointed woman smoking a cigarette or something. Real strange.
The office equipment was very up to date. State of the art computer
system was installed.
Linc sat down at the computer and switched it on. No password need to run.
He went thru some of the files, but looked for a file on Roland's
family. He didn't find one right off hand and switched the computer
off and went on doing the chores needed to be done. He figured the
clothing left in the bedrooms could wait, he removed the clean clothes
from the dryer and left them in a basket to deal with later.
He left the house and went on down to the cave. The cave had not been
modernized. There was still kerosene lamps in use here. He wondered
why. There seemed to be a good supply of it, so he lit a lamp and went
into the grotto where the coffins were placed. He read on the top of
one that had a brass plaque, Marchand Raul Hancks., and on the other
coffin plaque, Estelle Bonde Hancks. Hmmm! Linc thought. Those names
sounded French. Was it possible Roland's parents were French? Were
they any relation to his family tree? Then he began wondering just
where this retreat was. What country was it in? All the equipment he
saw looked American. The electric power at the house was most likely
American. A lot of questions yet to be answered.
He went back out into the main room. Behind the sofa was an awful
painting of what he really didn't know. An animal ln parts, separated
by squares. Real strange.
He went into a bedroom and saw that the bed had been carved out of the
wall, as were the closets. There was a fur spread on the bed, and a
fur rug on the floor by it. A small table with a bowl and pitcher on
it and behind it hung a small mirror. A kerosene lamp was on a table
by the bed, and a large dresser. The room was otherwise bare.
Going into the other one, He saw a much larger room had been carved
out and had a very ornate double bed, side tables, one with a
kerosene lamp, dresser and tall chiffenrobe were definitely French
furniture. Clothing was still in them. There was a big roll top desk
and bench also in the room. He looked in the drawers, but all the
papers he saw were in French so he didn't understand them. He knew
Lucas could read and speak French because Grandma Hanks was very
fluent in the language and had taught it to Lucas. Just wait until he
got here to explore this place.
Linc remembered a roll top desk his Uncle Vernon had and also
remembered that there was a hidden compartment in it as well. Linc
went around to the side of the desk, removed a waste basket and looked
down at the back leg. Sure enough there was a hinge there, very hard
to see, but Linc felt around the leg and found the catch the held the
hidden door close to the bottom of the desk. The hidden door popped
open and Linc reached inside. He pulled out a packet tied with a
purple silk cord and a case of some sort.
First he opened the case, and in it lay two very fancy dueling
pistols. Wow! Linc thought. How very fancy, and very old as well.
Wonder about the history behind this. The Packet contained a couple
of large keys and a bunch of legal looking documents in French. Also a
thick packet of French money.
Instead of putting them back in the hidden compartment he laid them
inside the desk to show Lucas when he brought him here.
Linc looked around the cave for a bit longer. Saw there were quite a
few staples in the large pantry. He then went back up to the house.
Inside, he found the list he started and looked around to see what
else he might need here. He knew he had the farm as his own home, but
he also knew since this place was his too, he might spend some time
here as well. He wanted to get to the bottom of just who Roland and
his Parents really were.
He added a few more things to the list, then putting it into his
pocket he went outside and back to the cabin. He saw he was only gone
for a couple of minutes cabin time, so he climbed into bed and fell
sound asleep.
To be continued.
They got everything unloaded and stowed away, then sat out under a
tree drinking Ice tea and rested a bit before going up to the mine.
Lucas was surprised to see that it wasn't caved in from the blast, and
that Linc had cleared the entrance out. They looked at the trickle of
rusty water and saw that it was real bad. The rust wasn't settling
out like it should, even after running the length of the tunnel.
Linc ltt the lantern, and they went inside. He had brought a strong
flashlight and played it on the crack at the end of the tunnel. Lucas
gasped when he saw it. Since Linc had seen it last, it had made a
big pool of rust that looked almost like blood. John dipped a finger
in the pool and rubbed his finger and thumb together. "Pretty
gritty", he said. Lucas bent and looked closer at the crack. Said,"
I'm glad you didn't decide to pick at it. I think it's best left
alone". They walked on back out of the mine.
John was concerned about the rust going into the creek, and said, It
may be a good idea to bring the front end loader and make a trench
back away from the creek. Let the rusty water drain into it and
settle out the rust before it is let into the creek. He said he
hadn't seen any sign of rust in the stock pond, but then he hadn't
known about it and looked. Lucas and Linc both thought this was a
good idea. Linc was glad he decided to ask him to come on up to the
cabin.
Trudy said, "while John is digging that trench tomorrow, I'm going to
go down there where those wild blackberries are growing and pick a
bunch for some jam". Lucas told Trudy there were some old lard
buckets in the cellar on the floor beneath the shelves, that they used
for picking fruit in. They used to pick blackberries, gooseberries
and wild currants in them every year when the kids were home. Linc
said he would help since he grabbed the last bottle of blackberry jam
to bring up here to the cabin.
John went to his truck and started to unload a folding table. Linc
hastened over to help and they took out four folding chairs too and
set them up under a big oak tree that grew along side the cabin.
Trudy was bustling around getting things ready for the picnic. Linc
was going to fire up the BBQ, when Trudy said she had everything they
needed to eat in the coolers they brought, and a feast it was too.
After they ate and cleaned things up, they sat around, drank coffee
and recalled old times.
John asked Linc what his plans were, as he said that he and Trudy
would like to take a week off and go visit her folks before the cold
weather set in. Linc told about the job offer, but said he would
rather spend more time with Lucas. Said his finances would permit it,
so he was going to do it. He had no other responsibilities right now
any way. He said to just let him know when they planned to go. Linc
figured since the farm was legally his anyway, he had best spend what
time Lucas has left, with him. He was still young, and anyway he and
Lucas got along fine together. He Hadn't told Lucas yet about the
time masters and what they wanted from him. He planned to tell Lucas
all about it later and wanted to take him to the retreat. He would do
it as soon as this business with the trench was taken care of. And
too, he wanted to spend a bit of time at the retreat getting it
cleaned up and find out a bit about Roland and his family before he
told any one else about it.
Trudy told Linc not to make any plans for the next days meal, because
she had that all planned out in her mind. All she needed from him was
the BBQ fired up for supper the next day.
The sun was beginning to go down when John and Trudy piled into their
truck and went back to the farm.
As Lucas was getting ready to go to bed that night, Linc gave him a
small flashlight and told him to put it under his pillow in case he
had to get up at night.
Linc puttered around the cabin a while before he got into bed. He
wanted to go to the retreat as soon as Lucas fell asleep.
An hour later, he got up, put his jeans back on and went outside,
touched the broach in his pocket and said, "retreat".
Linc walked in the house and marveled at all the real "modern"
conveniences Roland had put into the place. The solar panels and the
two wind generators seemed to power every thing here. He wondered why
Roland's father had picked this particular time period to make his
retreat, and why Roland kept it instead of making one of his own. A
lot of things had to be sorted out in his mind yet.
He went around doing things while all these thoughts filled his mind.
He stripped the beds in both bedrooms and tossed the bedding into the
washer. Then he picked up all the dirty clothes lying all over the
house, then got a garbage bag and collected all the trash laying
around. He was going to have to figure out just how he was going to
dispose of all the garbage piled up in the shed in back of the house.
While things were washing he cleaned up the kitchen and took stock of
what supplies were in the place, to know what he needed to bring back
with him. After taking the bedding from the dryer he put the clothes
he had washed in the dryer and remade the beds before going into the
office. There was a very weird painting on the wall Looked like a
very disjointed woman smoking a cigarette or something. Real strange.
The office equipment was very up to date. State of the art computer
system was installed.
Linc sat down at the computer and switched it on. No password need to run.
He went thru some of the files, but looked for a file on Roland's
family. He didn't find one right off hand and switched the computer
off and went on doing the chores needed to be done. He figured the
clothing left in the bedrooms could wait, he removed the clean clothes
from the dryer and left them in a basket to deal with later.
He left the house and went on down to the cave. The cave had not been
modernized. There was still kerosene lamps in use here. He wondered
why. There seemed to be a good supply of it, so he lit a lamp and went
into the grotto where the coffins were placed. He read on the top of
one that had a brass plaque, Marchand Raul Hancks., and on the other
coffin plaque, Estelle Bonde Hancks. Hmmm! Linc thought. Those names
sounded French. Was it possible Roland's parents were French? Were
they any relation to his family tree? Then he began wondering just
where this retreat was. What country was it in? All the equipment he
saw looked American. The electric power at the house was most likely
American. A lot of questions yet to be answered.
He went back out into the main room. Behind the sofa was an awful
painting of what he really didn't know. An animal ln parts, separated
by squares. Real strange.
He went into a bedroom and saw that the bed had been carved out of the
wall, as were the closets. There was a fur spread on the bed, and a
fur rug on the floor by it. A small table with a bowl and pitcher on
it and behind it hung a small mirror. A kerosene lamp was on a table
by the bed, and a large dresser. The room was otherwise bare.
Going into the other one, He saw a much larger room had been carved
out and had a very ornate double bed, side tables, one with a
kerosene lamp, dresser and tall chiffenrobe were definitely French
furniture. Clothing was still in them. There was a big roll top desk
and bench also in the room. He looked in the drawers, but all the
papers he saw were in French so he didn't understand them. He knew
Lucas could read and speak French because Grandma Hanks was very
fluent in the language and had taught it to Lucas. Just wait until he
got here to explore this place.
Linc remembered a roll top desk his Uncle Vernon had and also
remembered that there was a hidden compartment in it as well. Linc
went around to the side of the desk, removed a waste basket and looked
down at the back leg. Sure enough there was a hinge there, very hard
to see, but Linc felt around the leg and found the catch the held the
hidden door close to the bottom of the desk. The hidden door popped
open and Linc reached inside. He pulled out a packet tied with a
purple silk cord and a case of some sort.
First he opened the case, and in it lay two very fancy dueling
pistols. Wow! Linc thought. How very fancy, and very old as well.
Wonder about the history behind this. The Packet contained a couple
of large keys and a bunch of legal looking documents in French. Also a
thick packet of French money.
Instead of putting them back in the hidden compartment he laid them
inside the desk to show Lucas when he brought him here.
Linc looked around the cave for a bit longer. Saw there were quite a
few staples in the large pantry. He then went back up to the house.
Inside, he found the list he started and looked around to see what
else he might need here. He knew he had the farm as his own home, but
he also knew since this place was his too, he might spend some time
here as well. He wanted to get to the bottom of just who Roland and
his Parents really were.
He added a few more things to the list, then putting it into his
pocket he went outside and back to the cabin. He saw he was only gone
for a couple of minutes cabin time, so he climbed into bed and fell
sound asleep.
To be continued.
Saturday, May 16, 2020
A Utah memory.
A Utah Memory.
It had to be late summer of 19 47. We had rode into town with Dad on
his way to work.. Walked the half mile down to the park. I had taken
the guitar, like I had done a few times before, to have something to
do while waiting for Mom to do her shopping. Mom had got enough
coupons saved up to get school shoes for the boys, so she had Weldon
and Fred with her on this shopping excursion. The girls and I were
left in the park til she returnrd. I took the guitar out and was
playing when a woman with two girls came by. They stopped, and the
littlest girl started dancing. That got Margaret to dancing as well.
Suzanne just sat there and glowered, then moved to another bench away
from us. The woman with the girls took some coins out of her purse
and put them in the guitar case that was laying on the ground by the
bench. Wow! I thought. how anout that. Then I started to play the
fandango Grandma had taught me, and I had spent hours, practicing to
get it right. It is a very lively song, snd Margaret always danced to
it. Then other people tossed money in the case. I am thinking this
is great. Getting money and I didn't ask for it either. Mom came
back and saw the money in the case and had a fit. Said we were not
beggers, and made me put the guitar up. Later when Dad came and
picked us up Mom told Dad what I had done. Dad said maybe we should
let her play there every day, And Mom slugged him in the shoulder.
That ended my panhandeling career
It had to be late summer of 19 47. We had rode into town with Dad on
his way to work.. Walked the half mile down to the park. I had taken
the guitar, like I had done a few times before, to have something to
do while waiting for Mom to do her shopping. Mom had got enough
coupons saved up to get school shoes for the boys, so she had Weldon
and Fred with her on this shopping excursion. The girls and I were
left in the park til she returnrd. I took the guitar out and was
playing when a woman with two girls came by. They stopped, and the
littlest girl started dancing. That got Margaret to dancing as well.
Suzanne just sat there and glowered, then moved to another bench away
from us. The woman with the girls took some coins out of her purse
and put them in the guitar case that was laying on the ground by the
bench. Wow! I thought. how anout that. Then I started to play the
fandango Grandma had taught me, and I had spent hours, practicing to
get it right. It is a very lively song, snd Margaret always danced to
it. Then other people tossed money in the case. I am thinking this
is great. Getting money and I didn't ask for it either. Mom came
back and saw the money in the case and had a fit. Said we were not
beggers, and made me put the guitar up. Later when Dad came and
picked us up Mom told Dad what I had done. Dad said maybe we should
let her play there every day, And Mom slugged him in the shoulder.
That ended my panhandeling career
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Back at the Truck
Back at the truck.
Linc was flabbergasted to see the time masters waiting there. He
wondered why they were there.
His time master said to him, " Roland Hancks would not like to have
been buried back in that time period . He would have wanted to be laid
to rest at his retreat. You now have his broach and the key to his
retreat. We want you to return and get his body and take it to his
retreat. Even if we could go back in time and get it, we could not
take it to his retreat No one can go to an others retreat with out
being taken or invited. Since Roland is dead, he can do neither.
Will you do it"?
Linc was stunned. How on earth did they expect him to do this. One
person alone could not do it. He wondered if Bernard could go back
and forth through portals and take stuff with him, then why couldn't
he take the time masters back in time to help him? He asked the time
masters if this could be done. The two he saw with Roland said they
would try it,
They went back toward the mine and as they entered, a portal opened up
and they were back at the mound. They quickly dug Roland out of the
mound and took him back to the mine. The time masters that were left
at the truck, had procured a coffin, and Roland's body was placed in
it.
The time master told Linc to pin the broach on his shirt, Tell them
they were all invited to take the coffin to the retreat. Linc did
this, then was told to place his hand on the broach and say, "
Retreat" He no sooner did this, than they were transported to a
beautiful Island.
The time master said, " Roland had a cave where his parents were laid
to rest. That is where we should put Roland as well."
They carried the coffin down the beach to a huge cave that had been
partly rocked in and had glass the rest of the way to enclose it.
They went in a glass door and went into an opening on their right
that led to a small grotto with a high window in it. There were two
caskets along one wall. The time masters placed Roland's coffin along
side them and one of them had a bronze plaque with Roland Hancks
engraved on it that he placed on top of the coffin.
With heads bowed, they all said their final words to their friend.
The head time master led them all back into the cave. Linc could see
that the cave was quite large and surprisingly light inside. There was
one main room that looked to be kitchen, dining room and living room
combined. There were three curtained off doorways leading from the
main room. There was a fireplace cooking area and a large table with
benches on three sides of it. Lots of cupboards and cabinets. Couch,
big comfy chairs, desk and book cases. The place looked very
comfortable indeed.
The head time master bade Linc to sit as he wanted to tell him about
the retreat and what it means to him. The other time masters went out
of the cave and back to where they came from.
Linc pulled one of the benches out from the table and sat down.
The time master told Linc the retreat was really his and his alone.
To travel to it from anywhere, all he had to do was touch the broach
and say "retreat" to get here, No one else could access it with out
him or being invited and no one else could use the broach unless they
were a Hanks.. This was not considered time travel because coming
here is the same time as were he was at when he touched the broach.
On a retreat, the time stood still. It was constant. To leave, he
would only have to touch the broach and say "back" and he would be
back at the point where he started from. He also said if he needed
to talk to a time master, he could touch the broach and say, " time
master" and he would come to him here at the retreat.
He told Linc how Roland's Father started this retreat and spent most
of his time here after his wife passed away. When Roland became time
master when his father died, he built the house at the end of the
island. He wanted things more modern. He spent most of his time in
Italy and Egypt chariot racing, than at the island. He said Roland
was reckless and a bit foolhardy, but he wasn't the only one. There
was another time master they haven't heard from in quite a while.
Last they heard of him, he was experimenting with the idea of making a
permanent steel arch portal that he could go through and get to other
planets. He said he could use different minerals on the arch to
accomplish that. So far he had only went to the moon and back. Who
knows what he did since no one has seen the arch nor him. He told
Linc he hoped he would be able to find out where they lost the powers
soon. There were millions of portals all over the world, and Linc
could go through any of them.
The time master then got up, shook Linc's hand and went out the door and left.
Linc looked around the cave. Looked into two bedrooms, a bathroom and
a storage room. The he left the cave and walked on up to the house.
It was surrounded by lots of trees, shrubs and flowers. It had a nice
big patio, and a veranda that went all around the whole house. He went
inside and saw it was very modern indeed. Very nicely decorated . Big
kitchen and dining room combined. Large living room. Den to the side
with a bar and pool table. Office, pantry and two bedrooms with
bathrooms. He could also see that Roland was a terrible house
keeper. Place was dirty, cluttered, and needed airing out bad.
Well he wasn't going to do anything about it now. He better get home.
He went outside, touched the broach and said "back".
Back at the truck, he headed back to the house and hit the shower.
Trudy called to him just as he left his room. She said she called him
earlier, but he must have been in the shower. She said Lucas had
asked about him after the ladies left and when he found Linc went for
a hike, he decided to take a nap. He had just woke up a while ago,
She told Linc, supper would be ready in about a half hour so Linc went
to find Lucas. He was sitting in a swing that hung on the porch.
Lucas said he had a grand visit with the ladies. What flirts they
were. He was smiling when he said it so he must have been flattered.
There was a pitcher of ice tea on a side table. Linc poured
himself a glass and went and sat by Lucas in the swing. He sat in
thought for a moment then asked Lucas, if he was up to it, how about
packing up and spending a few days at the cabin. Maybe ask John and
Trudy up for a picnic since they hadn't been up there yet. Linc
thought for a minute then told Lucas about the rusty water coming out
of the mine tunnel. He thought John was pretty astute, and he wanted
to see what he might have to say about the rusty waster that was
leaking into the creek. Some of that water made it's way to the pond
by the corrals.
Linc figured after supper he would head into town and pick up the
supplies needed for the stay at the cabin, gather up the clean bedding
and anything else they would need, and load it in the truck. At supper
he would talk to John and Trudy about it. And ask Trudy if she needed
anything for a picnic, while he was in town.
There was a lot of things he wanted to do right now, and he had been
offered a job as search geologist with the big mine out of town a
ways. He was glad he had given his Uncle Vernon one of the diamonds
Bernard had given him to sell. He was going to need the money his
uncle put into his account when he sold the diamond. A job could come
later.
Trudy and John were glad to be invited up to the cabin. They had
heard a lot about it. Linc and Trudy loaded things they would use for
their stay at the mine and for the picnic into some coolers the next
morning. With everything in their trucks, they headed up to the
cabin.
It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining, the air was crisp,
flowers were blooming and the birds were singing their hearts out when
they got there.
To be continued.
Linc was flabbergasted to see the time masters waiting there. He
wondered why they were there.
His time master said to him, " Roland Hancks would not like to have
been buried back in that time period . He would have wanted to be laid
to rest at his retreat. You now have his broach and the key to his
retreat. We want you to return and get his body and take it to his
retreat. Even if we could go back in time and get it, we could not
take it to his retreat No one can go to an others retreat with out
being taken or invited. Since Roland is dead, he can do neither.
Will you do it"?
Linc was stunned. How on earth did they expect him to do this. One
person alone could not do it. He wondered if Bernard could go back
and forth through portals and take stuff with him, then why couldn't
he take the time masters back in time to help him? He asked the time
masters if this could be done. The two he saw with Roland said they
would try it,
They went back toward the mine and as they entered, a portal opened up
and they were back at the mound. They quickly dug Roland out of the
mound and took him back to the mine. The time masters that were left
at the truck, had procured a coffin, and Roland's body was placed in
it.
The time master told Linc to pin the broach on his shirt, Tell them
they were all invited to take the coffin to the retreat. Linc did
this, then was told to place his hand on the broach and say, "
Retreat" He no sooner did this, than they were transported to a
beautiful Island.
The time master said, " Roland had a cave where his parents were laid
to rest. That is where we should put Roland as well."
They carried the coffin down the beach to a huge cave that had been
partly rocked in and had glass the rest of the way to enclose it.
They went in a glass door and went into an opening on their right
that led to a small grotto with a high window in it. There were two
caskets along one wall. The time masters placed Roland's coffin along
side them and one of them had a bronze plaque with Roland Hancks
engraved on it that he placed on top of the coffin.
With heads bowed, they all said their final words to their friend.
The head time master led them all back into the cave. Linc could see
that the cave was quite large and surprisingly light inside. There was
one main room that looked to be kitchen, dining room and living room
combined. There were three curtained off doorways leading from the
main room. There was a fireplace cooking area and a large table with
benches on three sides of it. Lots of cupboards and cabinets. Couch,
big comfy chairs, desk and book cases. The place looked very
comfortable indeed.
The head time master bade Linc to sit as he wanted to tell him about
the retreat and what it means to him. The other time masters went out
of the cave and back to where they came from.
Linc pulled one of the benches out from the table and sat down.
The time master told Linc the retreat was really his and his alone.
To travel to it from anywhere, all he had to do was touch the broach
and say "retreat" to get here, No one else could access it with out
him or being invited and no one else could use the broach unless they
were a Hanks.. This was not considered time travel because coming
here is the same time as were he was at when he touched the broach.
On a retreat, the time stood still. It was constant. To leave, he
would only have to touch the broach and say "back" and he would be
back at the point where he started from. He also said if he needed
to talk to a time master, he could touch the broach and say, " time
master" and he would come to him here at the retreat.
He told Linc how Roland's Father started this retreat and spent most
of his time here after his wife passed away. When Roland became time
master when his father died, he built the house at the end of the
island. He wanted things more modern. He spent most of his time in
Italy and Egypt chariot racing, than at the island. He said Roland
was reckless and a bit foolhardy, but he wasn't the only one. There
was another time master they haven't heard from in quite a while.
Last they heard of him, he was experimenting with the idea of making a
permanent steel arch portal that he could go through and get to other
planets. He said he could use different minerals on the arch to
accomplish that. So far he had only went to the moon and back. Who
knows what he did since no one has seen the arch nor him. He told
Linc he hoped he would be able to find out where they lost the powers
soon. There were millions of portals all over the world, and Linc
could go through any of them.
The time master then got up, shook Linc's hand and went out the door and left.
Linc looked around the cave. Looked into two bedrooms, a bathroom and
a storage room. The he left the cave and walked on up to the house.
It was surrounded by lots of trees, shrubs and flowers. It had a nice
big patio, and a veranda that went all around the whole house. He went
inside and saw it was very modern indeed. Very nicely decorated . Big
kitchen and dining room combined. Large living room. Den to the side
with a bar and pool table. Office, pantry and two bedrooms with
bathrooms. He could also see that Roland was a terrible house
keeper. Place was dirty, cluttered, and needed airing out bad.
Well he wasn't going to do anything about it now. He better get home.
He went outside, touched the broach and said "back".
Back at the truck, he headed back to the house and hit the shower.
Trudy called to him just as he left his room. She said she called him
earlier, but he must have been in the shower. She said Lucas had
asked about him after the ladies left and when he found Linc went for
a hike, he decided to take a nap. He had just woke up a while ago,
She told Linc, supper would be ready in about a half hour so Linc went
to find Lucas. He was sitting in a swing that hung on the porch.
Lucas said he had a grand visit with the ladies. What flirts they
were. He was smiling when he said it so he must have been flattered.
There was a pitcher of ice tea on a side table. Linc poured
himself a glass and went and sat by Lucas in the swing. He sat in
thought for a moment then asked Lucas, if he was up to it, how about
packing up and spending a few days at the cabin. Maybe ask John and
Trudy up for a picnic since they hadn't been up there yet. Linc
thought for a minute then told Lucas about the rusty water coming out
of the mine tunnel. He thought John was pretty astute, and he wanted
to see what he might have to say about the rusty waster that was
leaking into the creek. Some of that water made it's way to the pond
by the corrals.
Linc figured after supper he would head into town and pick up the
supplies needed for the stay at the cabin, gather up the clean bedding
and anything else they would need, and load it in the truck. At supper
he would talk to John and Trudy about it. And ask Trudy if she needed
anything for a picnic, while he was in town.
There was a lot of things he wanted to do right now, and he had been
offered a job as search geologist with the big mine out of town a
ways. He was glad he had given his Uncle Vernon one of the diamonds
Bernard had given him to sell. He was going to need the money his
uncle put into his account when he sold the diamond. A job could come
later.
Trudy and John were glad to be invited up to the cabin. They had
heard a lot about it. Linc and Trudy loaded things they would use for
their stay at the mine and for the picnic into some coolers the next
morning. With everything in their trucks, they headed up to the
cabin.
It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining, the air was crisp,
flowers were blooming and the birds were singing their hearts out when
they got there.
To be continued.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Mamma
I Remember Momma.
This had to be around 1943 because Dad was frozen to his job because
of the war. He worked at a box factory that made boxes for guns and
ammunition for the war effort. He had to be to work at 8:00 in the
morning. The box factory was about a half mile from the center of
town.
Mom and I would walk downtown. At that time I figured she just wanted
company, but what she was doing was teaching me how to shop. Anyway,
we walked around town and bought the things we needed there in town.
Around 1:00 we would go into Woolsworth and have lunch. I almost
always had a grilled cheese sandwich and a hot fudge sundae. Mom had
the same sandwich, but she had a carmel sundae. Then we would walk
back up toward the box factory. We would stop at the Safeway store,
that was a couple of blocks from the factory. We would then pick out
the grocreies and sit on a bench just outside the store and wait for
Dad to get off work and pick us up. This went on for a year or so
without much variation.
One day, Mom gave me the grocery list, and told me to pick out the
groceries as she went went along with me. She told me I did good. I
remember her telling Dad how well I did. Then one day she handed me
the list and money. Told me I had to get everything on the list, and
if I could find a way to save some money, it was mine to keep. Wow!
what a challange. I only had so much time before Dad came to get us
so I couldn't dally around too long. First time I didn't save much,
but as I got older, I found more ways to save. Besides by the time I
was 14, I was doing a lot of the cooking too, so I knew what I could
use and what I couldn't. I learned a lot from all this, and feel so
very lucky I had a Mom who thought to teach me.
Yes....I remember Mamma. She was my Mom and my best friend who I know
loved me, but not as much as I loved her.
This had to be around 1943 because Dad was frozen to his job because
of the war. He worked at a box factory that made boxes for guns and
ammunition for the war effort. He had to be to work at 8:00 in the
morning. The box factory was about a half mile from the center of
town.
Mom and I would walk downtown. At that time I figured she just wanted
company, but what she was doing was teaching me how to shop. Anyway,
we walked around town and bought the things we needed there in town.
Around 1:00 we would go into Woolsworth and have lunch. I almost
always had a grilled cheese sandwich and a hot fudge sundae. Mom had
the same sandwich, but she had a carmel sundae. Then we would walk
back up toward the box factory. We would stop at the Safeway store,
that was a couple of blocks from the factory. We would then pick out
the grocreies and sit on a bench just outside the store and wait for
Dad to get off work and pick us up. This went on for a year or so
without much variation.
One day, Mom gave me the grocery list, and told me to pick out the
groceries as she went went along with me. She told me I did good. I
remember her telling Dad how well I did. Then one day she handed me
the list and money. Told me I had to get everything on the list, and
if I could find a way to save some money, it was mine to keep. Wow!
what a challange. I only had so much time before Dad came to get us
so I couldn't dally around too long. First time I didn't save much,
but as I got older, I found more ways to save. Besides by the time I
was 14, I was doing a lot of the cooking too, so I knew what I could
use and what I couldn't. I learned a lot from all this, and feel so
very lucky I had a Mom who thought to teach me.
Yes....I remember Mamma. She was my Mom and my best friend who I know
loved me, but not as much as I loved her.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Story.
The next day.
He was rudely awakened the next morning by a man who was standing over
him with a wooden pitchfork, yelling at him. He couldn't understand
a word the man said, so he held up his hands then put them over his
ears then nodded a few times. The man backed off as Linc tried to
raise up waving his hands by his mouth and ears. The man finally left
him alone and went to fork hay
down from the loft. Linc hurriedly rolled up the mat and put it back
in his pack before climbing back down from the loft with out saying a
word to the man. Let him think maybe he was deaf and dumb or
something.
Back out on the street, Linc walked back up toward the big arena. His
boot lace was loose so he bent to tie it back up tighter. As he
scuffed the dust around, he saw a coin. He picked it up, but had no
idea what it was, since the coins of this time period are different
than home. Since it was silver, he figured it was enough to get a
bite to eat with and wandered over to a booth set up by the wall
across from a small park. There were a couple of people sitting by a
makeshift table, eating small loaves of bread, salami, fruit and
tomatoes. Tearing off chunks of bread and dipping it into cups with
some oily herb stuff in them.
Linc pointed to a loaf of bread and a large tomato. Placed the bread
on the table and took out his knife and slit it end to end. Not all
the way through but almost. Then he took the tomato and sliced it and
put the slices in the slit. Motioned for some of the dipping sauce to
be put on the tomato slices. He gave the coin to the tender and got
back two copper coins in return. He held out the coins and pointed to
a big pot of tea of some kind, and was surprised to get a cup for one
coin. He started to put his knife away when he felt some one pat his
arm. A very cute gal had moved in next to him, and wanted him to fix
her a sandwich too. He did it, then she bumped his hip a couple of
times. Oh no! Linc thought. A hooker. The last thing he needed was
to get one of them on his case. He shook his head and crossed over
the street and sat on a bench by the park to eat his breakfast. A
husky dude came and stood by the hooker, and patted her butt. She
gave him the hip bump and he put his arm around her. She laid her
sandwich down to pat the guy and a kid came up and grabbed it and ran
away as fast as he could down the street. The hooker stamped her
foot and screamed at the little devil. All the people around laughed
at that. The dude pulled her away from the table and drug her off down
the street the other way. Linc looked across the way and saw the
tender was using a big brass knife to fix sandwiches for people who
wanted them since they saw the one Linc had made. He had to drag the
knife across the top of the wall to sharpen it a bit but he raised his
hands to Linc and nodded his head at him too. Wonder if this is how
sandwiches got the start here? Who knows?
Linc finished the sandwich and took the cup back to the tender.
Tender raised his hand, so Linc gave him a high five. Tender nodded
and laughed.
Linc could see that a lot of people were headed toward the arena.
Wow! He thought. Things get started pretty early around here.
The arena was quite large. Stood three tiers high. There looked to
be four large openings into to it. Linc saw that there were a lot of
people going into the different openings. There was no one standing
there to take a fee to enter, so he figured jousting must be a free
event and a lot of people must enjoy the game.
He went into the closest opening. Just inside there were steps to the
right and left, up to the first seating tier. He went up the left
side, but instead of finding a place to sit, he stood against the
railing just above the entrance.
Looking across the arena he could see the time masters standing
against the rail, over the opening opposite from him, like he was.
Linc scanned all around the arena. The place was almost filled with
spectators. Most talking to people next to them, and a lot of the
eating as well.
A man with a green flag walked out into the arena and Called for
quiet. He announced the events of the day and then call for the first
set of young junior jousters to enter the arena They came riding in
from opposite entrances and galloped around the arena once then back
to the place where they entered. The flag man then called out the
rules to follow. There were to the best two out of three tries.
Called at ease, and the jousters placed their wooden lances, that had
the points covered with a padded cloth at the end., across the front
of their saddle. He then called out ready, and the jousters raised
their lances forward. When he lowered the green flag, then the
jousters each made their play to unseat the other rider. They were
given points for the different contacts the made as they raced their
mounts back and forth and around each other. The best you could do
was to unseat the other dude as fast as you could, by ramming him with
the padded end of the lance. There was lots of cheering and yelled
advice from the spectators.
After five sets of junior jousters competed, some more advanced teams
preformed. They were wearing armor, helmets and the points of their
lances were not protected. There was plenty of cheering and some
onlookers had noise makers of some kind they kept using.
Linc was beginning to get tired of standing when the flag man called
the main event. The bully who challenged Roland was called in. The
flagman called, out, " Thorn, the champion jouster". Thorn raced his
horse madly around the arena, fogging up plentiful dust in the
process, then into the middle where he made his mount rear up, kicking
up more dust, raising his lance above his head amid the cheers and
jeers of the crowd. The flagman chastised him loudly, and told him
that his juvenile display was going to cost him two points off his
final score. More cheers and boos emanated from the crowd. Then he
moved over to stand just below where Linc was standing. The flagman
then called out, " Roland, the , the master charioteer". The crowd
cheered madly as Roland trotted around the arena, then went to stand
across from Linc, below the standing time masters.
Linc noticed that Thorn was wearing a much heavier armor than Roland,
who was wearing highly polished armor that the charioteers wore.. The
other jousters didn't wear the heavy armor either. This looked more
like the armor that warriors wore. It must be legal as the flagman
said nothing about it. They sat at ease till the flagman called the
action and lowered the flag. Roland lopped around Thorn and did a few
feints as he passed. Thorn galloped at him with a raised lance, looked
like he was aiming for Roland's head. Roland ducked down at the last
second and used his lance to whack Thorn in the back. Causing a loud
clang on his armor. The flagman called out the points for the
contact. They retreated to their mutual starting places. As Thorn
drew near below Linc, Linc could see him pull his lance back and
attach an iron spike to the end of it that he had pulled out of a
pocket on his saddle.. Roland was already sitting at ease, but before
the flagman went out to call action, Thorn kicked his horse viciously
into a charging gallop, with the pike out in front of him. Linc yelled
out, " He has a pike, watch out". People in the crown began to stand
up and scream. Thorn raced at Roland so fast, he didn't even have
time to raise his lance when the iron pike pierced his thin armor and
into his chest. The crown went wild. People dropping the six feet or
so down onto the arena floor. They tore Thorn from his horse and
began beating him with everything they had. The time masters went to
Roland and when one of them pronounced him dead, one of the spectators
Grabbed the pike and rammed it into Thorn's throat. The arena had
dissolved into pandemonium.. People were screaming and crying. Linc
was so stunned, he could only stand there and stare unbelievingly at
the horrid scene in front of him.
A couple of people had brought in Roland's chariot and then they
loaded his body onto it and drove out of the arena with it.
Not knowing what else to do, Linc went outside and saw that there were
lots of wagons filing up behind the chariot. People were piling onto
them so Linc climbed up onto one of them as well He could see the
time masters were in a wagon next to the chariot. There were a mass of
people in the procession. Linc figures well over a hundred. They
drove out into the countryside. Where they stopped and starting
digging a very large hole
As the hole diggers were busy digging a very wide but shallow hole,
there were others dismantling the chariot, and yet others removing the
armor and wrapping Roland's body in in shrouds. The chariot parts
were placed in the hole. The armor placed on top of it. Then the
people began bringing various offerings and flowers that were placed
in with the chariot parts. The crowd became very quiet while
Roland's body was placed on top of the chariot and covered with a
blanket.
There were loud cries and wailing as all the people began to pile dirt
on top of everything. By the time they were finished, it was dark,
and the crowd of mourners left. Linc was still sitting on the big
rock he found when he arrived, and the time masters went over to the
huge mound after the crowd left. As they stood with bowed heads, one
took the broach he had removed from Roland's body, dug a small hole in
the mound and placed the broach in it and covered it up. Linc could
hear him say, "Maybe some day a Hancks will come along and find it.
Rest in peace Roland Hancks"
The time masters then turned as a portal opened up and they went through.
Wow! He thought. Another Hanks.
Linc went to the mound to see if he could follow them instead of
retracing back to where he entered this time period. As he drew close
to the mound where they disappeared, he could see a pale blue light
glowing from the mound. He dug in the dirt and his hand closed on the
broach. He drew it out and was quickly thrust through a new portal.
He found himself back at the mine adit, and saw the time masters
standing by the truck.
To be continued.
He was rudely awakened the next morning by a man who was standing over
him with a wooden pitchfork, yelling at him. He couldn't understand
a word the man said, so he held up his hands then put them over his
ears then nodded a few times. The man backed off as Linc tried to
raise up waving his hands by his mouth and ears. The man finally left
him alone and went to fork hay
down from the loft. Linc hurriedly rolled up the mat and put it back
in his pack before climbing back down from the loft with out saying a
word to the man. Let him think maybe he was deaf and dumb or
something.
Back out on the street, Linc walked back up toward the big arena. His
boot lace was loose so he bent to tie it back up tighter. As he
scuffed the dust around, he saw a coin. He picked it up, but had no
idea what it was, since the coins of this time period are different
than home. Since it was silver, he figured it was enough to get a
bite to eat with and wandered over to a booth set up by the wall
across from a small park. There were a couple of people sitting by a
makeshift table, eating small loaves of bread, salami, fruit and
tomatoes. Tearing off chunks of bread and dipping it into cups with
some oily herb stuff in them.
Linc pointed to a loaf of bread and a large tomato. Placed the bread
on the table and took out his knife and slit it end to end. Not all
the way through but almost. Then he took the tomato and sliced it and
put the slices in the slit. Motioned for some of the dipping sauce to
be put on the tomato slices. He gave the coin to the tender and got
back two copper coins in return. He held out the coins and pointed to
a big pot of tea of some kind, and was surprised to get a cup for one
coin. He started to put his knife away when he felt some one pat his
arm. A very cute gal had moved in next to him, and wanted him to fix
her a sandwich too. He did it, then she bumped his hip a couple of
times. Oh no! Linc thought. A hooker. The last thing he needed was
to get one of them on his case. He shook his head and crossed over
the street and sat on a bench by the park to eat his breakfast. A
husky dude came and stood by the hooker, and patted her butt. She
gave him the hip bump and he put his arm around her. She laid her
sandwich down to pat the guy and a kid came up and grabbed it and ran
away as fast as he could down the street. The hooker stamped her
foot and screamed at the little devil. All the people around laughed
at that. The dude pulled her away from the table and drug her off down
the street the other way. Linc looked across the way and saw the
tender was using a big brass knife to fix sandwiches for people who
wanted them since they saw the one Linc had made. He had to drag the
knife across the top of the wall to sharpen it a bit but he raised his
hands to Linc and nodded his head at him too. Wonder if this is how
sandwiches got the start here? Who knows?
Linc finished the sandwich and took the cup back to the tender.
Tender raised his hand, so Linc gave him a high five. Tender nodded
and laughed.
Linc could see that a lot of people were headed toward the arena.
Wow! He thought. Things get started pretty early around here.
The arena was quite large. Stood three tiers high. There looked to
be four large openings into to it. Linc saw that there were a lot of
people going into the different openings. There was no one standing
there to take a fee to enter, so he figured jousting must be a free
event and a lot of people must enjoy the game.
He went into the closest opening. Just inside there were steps to the
right and left, up to the first seating tier. He went up the left
side, but instead of finding a place to sit, he stood against the
railing just above the entrance.
Looking across the arena he could see the time masters standing
against the rail, over the opening opposite from him, like he was.
Linc scanned all around the arena. The place was almost filled with
spectators. Most talking to people next to them, and a lot of the
eating as well.
A man with a green flag walked out into the arena and Called for
quiet. He announced the events of the day and then call for the first
set of young junior jousters to enter the arena They came riding in
from opposite entrances and galloped around the arena once then back
to the place where they entered. The flag man then called out the
rules to follow. There were to the best two out of three tries.
Called at ease, and the jousters placed their wooden lances, that had
the points covered with a padded cloth at the end., across the front
of their saddle. He then called out ready, and the jousters raised
their lances forward. When he lowered the green flag, then the
jousters each made their play to unseat the other rider. They were
given points for the different contacts the made as they raced their
mounts back and forth and around each other. The best you could do
was to unseat the other dude as fast as you could, by ramming him with
the padded end of the lance. There was lots of cheering and yelled
advice from the spectators.
After five sets of junior jousters competed, some more advanced teams
preformed. They were wearing armor, helmets and the points of their
lances were not protected. There was plenty of cheering and some
onlookers had noise makers of some kind they kept using.
Linc was beginning to get tired of standing when the flag man called
the main event. The bully who challenged Roland was called in. The
flagman called, out, " Thorn, the champion jouster". Thorn raced his
horse madly around the arena, fogging up plentiful dust in the
process, then into the middle where he made his mount rear up, kicking
up more dust, raising his lance above his head amid the cheers and
jeers of the crowd. The flagman chastised him loudly, and told him
that his juvenile display was going to cost him two points off his
final score. More cheers and boos emanated from the crowd. Then he
moved over to stand just below where Linc was standing. The flagman
then called out, " Roland, the , the master charioteer". The crowd
cheered madly as Roland trotted around the arena, then went to stand
across from Linc, below the standing time masters.
Linc noticed that Thorn was wearing a much heavier armor than Roland,
who was wearing highly polished armor that the charioteers wore.. The
other jousters didn't wear the heavy armor either. This looked more
like the armor that warriors wore. It must be legal as the flagman
said nothing about it. They sat at ease till the flagman called the
action and lowered the flag. Roland lopped around Thorn and did a few
feints as he passed. Thorn galloped at him with a raised lance, looked
like he was aiming for Roland's head. Roland ducked down at the last
second and used his lance to whack Thorn in the back. Causing a loud
clang on his armor. The flagman called out the points for the
contact. They retreated to their mutual starting places. As Thorn
drew near below Linc, Linc could see him pull his lance back and
attach an iron spike to the end of it that he had pulled out of a
pocket on his saddle.. Roland was already sitting at ease, but before
the flagman went out to call action, Thorn kicked his horse viciously
into a charging gallop, with the pike out in front of him. Linc yelled
out, " He has a pike, watch out". People in the crown began to stand
up and scream. Thorn raced at Roland so fast, he didn't even have
time to raise his lance when the iron pike pierced his thin armor and
into his chest. The crown went wild. People dropping the six feet or
so down onto the arena floor. They tore Thorn from his horse and
began beating him with everything they had. The time masters went to
Roland and when one of them pronounced him dead, one of the spectators
Grabbed the pike and rammed it into Thorn's throat. The arena had
dissolved into pandemonium.. People were screaming and crying. Linc
was so stunned, he could only stand there and stare unbelievingly at
the horrid scene in front of him.
A couple of people had brought in Roland's chariot and then they
loaded his body onto it and drove out of the arena with it.
Not knowing what else to do, Linc went outside and saw that there were
lots of wagons filing up behind the chariot. People were piling onto
them so Linc climbed up onto one of them as well He could see the
time masters were in a wagon next to the chariot. There were a mass of
people in the procession. Linc figures well over a hundred. They
drove out into the countryside. Where they stopped and starting
digging a very large hole
As the hole diggers were busy digging a very wide but shallow hole,
there were others dismantling the chariot, and yet others removing the
armor and wrapping Roland's body in in shrouds. The chariot parts
were placed in the hole. The armor placed on top of it. Then the
people began bringing various offerings and flowers that were placed
in with the chariot parts. The crowd became very quiet while
Roland's body was placed on top of the chariot and covered with a
blanket.
There were loud cries and wailing as all the people began to pile dirt
on top of everything. By the time they were finished, it was dark,
and the crowd of mourners left. Linc was still sitting on the big
rock he found when he arrived, and the time masters went over to the
huge mound after the crowd left. As they stood with bowed heads, one
took the broach he had removed from Roland's body, dug a small hole in
the mound and placed the broach in it and covered it up. Linc could
hear him say, "Maybe some day a Hancks will come along and find it.
Rest in peace Roland Hancks"
The time masters then turned as a portal opened up and they went through.
Wow! He thought. Another Hanks.
Linc went to the mound to see if he could follow them instead of
retracing back to where he entered this time period. As he drew close
to the mound where they disappeared, he could see a pale blue light
glowing from the mound. He dug in the dirt and his hand closed on the
broach. He drew it out and was quickly thrust through a new portal.
He found himself back at the mine adit, and saw the time masters
standing by the truck.
To be continued.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Memory.
A Utah memory
I can remember a time before Uncle Linn got married and we had a
family reunion at Uintah. I remember Grandma playing the guitar.
Aunt Freda playing the fiddle and Uncle Linn playing the mandolin.
They were playing an Irish jig. Grandpa was dancing the jig and he
was flapping his arms like he was trying to fly. I guess it gave him
some lift or something. Weldon and I were doing the same thing, but
Weldon got too close to me, and caught me in the face with a flying
fist. That put an end to our dancing with Grandpa, because when he
clobbered me, I shoved him on his butt.
I can remember a time before Uncle Linn got married and we had a
family reunion at Uintah. I remember Grandma playing the guitar.
Aunt Freda playing the fiddle and Uncle Linn playing the mandolin.
They were playing an Irish jig. Grandpa was dancing the jig and he
was flapping his arms like he was trying to fly. I guess it gave him
some lift or something. Weldon and I were doing the same thing, but
Weldon got too close to me, and caught me in the face with a flying
fist. That put an end to our dancing with Grandpa, because when he
clobbered me, I shoved him on his butt.
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