For the Fluttering End of the Season

 

The Case of Ambrose Abernathy (Part Two)

     "Miss Kindermass?" he managed at last. "I am Mr. Ambrose Abernathy, from the Department of Extranatural Affairs." He shuffled out his wallet and produced a card. She took it with her free hand and looked at it as if he had handed her a dead lizard. "We--I've come to do some follow-up investigation. You remember Mr. Sackett was here before..."

     The lady snorted. It pinched her nose even thinner.

     "And a fat lot of good he did. You people took your time getting back to us." She shifted the dog to get a better grip. "Well, I suppose you'd better come on in. Wipe your feet!" she added sharply.

     Abernathy desperately scuffled his feet on the mat, hung his hat on the coatrack behind the door, and hurried after the disappearing figure of Miss Kindermass into the dimness of the house. With the gathering clouds outside it was growing darker by the minute. He stumbled past obscure pictures and brushed by tiny tables burdened with dusty flowers and bell-jars, following the flag of the lady's rapidly receding skirts. She threw open a parlor door after a final sharp turn down a corridor, flooding the hall with the light of a blazing fire.

     The room inside was stifling and overstuffed with ormolu and chintz. He skittered to a halt, panting and wheezing, as the lady abruptly stopped, set the dog down, and with a precise gesture introduced him to what appeared to be an enormous bundle of laundry and a fragile china doll seated in deep frilly chairs by the fireplace.

     "My sisters," she said, "Miss Anne and Miss Sarah."

     He bowed hastily and began, "Ladies...," but at that instant the pug bounded over to the chairs and clambered enthusiastically up into the capacious lap of the larger sister. The attentions of both the seated ladies were immediately galvanized.

     "Poopschen!" Miss Anne oozed. Her voice was like a bubbling pot of lumpy oatmeal. She began vigorously scratching the beast behind the ears, and he spread himself in ecstasy, puddling his furry folds across her lap. "Has 'oo come to see your Mumsy? Yes 'oo has, yes 'oo has!"

     The tiny Miss Sarah spread her arms out to the dog, like a child asking to be picked up.

     "Oooh, Chessy, come see little meez!" she piped. "Hasn't Chessy got a little kissee for his little meez!"

     Abernathy looked back and forth at them as they caressed and cajoled the pug, at a loss for words. They seemed totally unaware of his presence. He cleared his throat and started again.

     "Ladies..."

     "It's no use, Mr. Abernathy, they're both cracked as cuckoos," the elder Miss Kindermass said matter-of-factly, as she turned away. "The only things they talk to are me and that demanding little creature."

     "Then why...?" he began.

     "It's only manners," she said abruptly. She frowned. "I suppose now you would want to get your investigation started. So we can get this over with?"

     "Oh, yes. Please." The agent hesitated. "Do you think before I begin, I could get a drink of water? I tried the well--"

     "That old thing hasn't worked in ages. I'd have thought that was obvious." She sniffed. "Come into the kitchen."

     The hall was even darker after the brightly lit parlor. As they passed the occasional window it was no better. Outside the clouds had swallowed up the setting sun, and a growing, grieving wind was starting to make its presence known.

     The kitchen was so filled with potted herbs that he gagged on the spiciness of the air. As he gulped down a glass of sulfurous yellow water that he had to pump himself, a low rumble of thunder rattled the plates in the cupboard. The elder Miss Kindermass -- he now thought of her as THE Miss Kindermass, as she had not supplied her first name -- tapped her toe while he drank. His throat tickled, somehow even scratchier after his refreshment, as she lit a lamp and led him back through the halls and into the apparent center of the disturbances.

     She swung open a heavy pine door at the very rear of the house.

     "The master bedroom," she announced. "This is where our father died, and from this room my brother Wallace vanished, over twenty years ago."

     The room was bare, absolutely bare, except for a sturdy bed draped in a dust cover and a huge built-in wardrobe. After the crowded nature of the rest of the house, it was like stepping into a lifeless arctic wasteland. With a grim, measured gate Miss Kindermass entered the space, lamp held high. It seemed to stream shadows more than light down into the room. The agent shivered. In the quivering flame, the bed looked like a squat, bestial specter.

     "Vanished," she continued. "And with him, his beloved bitch, Topsy. Over the years, several other dogs have gone missing from this house. Spotty, Gertrude, Mattie, Brownie, Lucinda, Ginger..."

     She sniffed. Abernathy looked up at her and was surprised to see tears watering in those severe blue eyes. She sniffed again and shook herself.

     "These disappearances always centered on this room. The girls would be gone, and we would find the door hanging ajar. We kept it up, you know, as a guest room, but eventually we stripped it down and put a lock on it, and since we got Chester, we've had no problems with the other phenomena. But I still worry."

     "Other phenomena?" The little agent hastily pulled out his notepad and a stub of a pencil. "What other phenomena would those be?"

     "I told your man Sackett all that." She frowned. "Didn't he report any of it?"

     Abernathy thought guiltily of the dossier that he had glanced over briefly in contempt, now lying buried some certain fathoms below the earth inside his lost kit.

     "Oh, well, of course," he stammered. "But we like to go over it again firsthand. Confirmation from primary sources, and so on. Just to make sure, you understand?" He smiled at her and nodded his head, trying vainly to garner assent.

     The lady sighed wearily.

     "The stupid waste of it all! Our tax dollars at work, I suppose. Not to mention the time. Very well. There are sounds, every now and then, not very loud, like groans or rumbles, not human, you know, not voices, but not the house settling. I know that sound very well, and this is nothing like it, so don't try to persuade me that it is."

     "Oh, no, of course not," he said. His pencil flew over the notepad.

     "And some people have said they've seen a pale, fishy kind of light. I never have, myself." She walked over to the window and set the lamp down on the sill. "They can never tell quite where it's coming from. But I have smelled the smell."

     "The smell?"

     "Please don't ask me to describe it; it's like nothing I've ever known. The most I can say is that it has something of a chemical tang, but also earthy, somehow. Oh, how can one explain a smell? Other people have smelled it, and have had the same difficulty as I."

     Abernathy raised his eyes.

     "Other people...?"

     "Cleaning girls; we used to have them. Also, neighbors and friends, when they would still visit. Dead now, most of them, or too old to get about, and the young folk don't care to ... well, the young are mostly unpleasant people, anyway." She shrugged, and closed up again, like a touch-me-not.

     "Well, are you going to start 'investigating' then?" she asked.

     "Of course, Miss Kindermass," he said hurriedly. What a lonely life she must lead, he thought, and felt ashamed of the sudden personal insight behind the spiky old woman's facade. The case, the case, he reminded himself. "Would you mind leaving me alone for a bit, while I perform the preliminary examination?"

     "What? Why?" Her voice was sharp with suspicion.

     "Well, I need quiet … the etheric vibrations ... psychic emanations, and so on ... don't want to skew the readings and impressions -- strong personal influence, don't you know..."

     "Sounds like a bunch of humbug to me. Well, I have to check on Anne and Sarah anyway, and start supper." She passed him and headed out the door. She turned quickly with one hand on the knob before she left, a finger on the other raised in warning.

     "No pulling up the floorboards, mind. Or punching holes in the walls, either."

     Abernathy, who had begun to relax a little as she left, contracted once more in alarm.

     "No, of course not, ma'am, of course not!"

     She shook her head vigorously once, in grim, satisfied affirmation, and pulled the grinding door shut.  Abernathy heard the lock click with a little jump of his heart. He was alone in the desolate room.

Notes

Of course there had to be three old spinster sisters at the house; that's traditional, almost like the Three Witches or Triple Goddesses in the old tales. 

I'm sorry I do not have the LOTR post that might nave been expected today just yet; I'm feeling uncommonly lazy on this cool morning. Perhaps later this afternoon, if I can get more steam up. 

Found Another One

 

Ol'Witch Hazel and her niece Little Itch were frequent 'guests' in Little Lul;u Comics, in stories Lulu would tell Alvin to try to keep him quiet. I'm thinking about maybe trying to get some of the Little Lulu Gold Key Digests we had in the old days.

A Few Kind Words From Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

What Is Made Of It?

 This little quote explains so much of our modern culture. But I wonder if it can even be translated into modern thinking. Who says what is high? Who says what is low?

October 2019 Diary

 

10/2/2019: Tried to go in at 7:30 AM to make Kam bacon and eggs as he asked me as I thought he had to go to school early. Devotions. Went back at 9 AM and got the stuff and brought it out to cook. He left about 10:35 AM. Catechism. Nap. 2 PM leftover cabbage. Thoughts all morning about Jocasta story. Two characters: the lawyer who brings the children, and the main servant. Omniscient narrator. Supper pork chops and sauerkraut. Rosary. Wash dishes, and talk to Susan, who is packing for Kameron.

 

10/3/2019: Up about 6:30 AM. Devotions and catechism. Andy brings me some grapefruit and an elderly banana just as I'm stepping out from the shower. Go out and wait a little after 8 AM to say bon voyage to Kam [he went to Germany with Andy’s parents]; 8:20 AM the grandparents came to pick him up. They loaded up and I said my good travels and went in. At 9 AM went in and got leftover cabbage, taters, and pork chops and made into a stew with tomato sauce. Right now it’s about 10:30 AM.

 

10/4/2019: Instead of doing any work, I mostly napped. It started well enough, with prayers, catechism, AND Bible this morning. Then I went in at 9 AM and ate the leftover broccoli salad (quite a bit this time) and the chicken salad (a lot - do they even ever eat any?), then watched a lot of "Minty" videos on old 80's movies, then bloated off to sleep. At 2 PM I get up, feeling pains in my legs (am I headed into the October trifecta?), go in, and grass dogs early - they were pretty loud. Came in and started DW shows. Also turned on the AC this late. Feeding, grassing at 4 PM. Rosary at 4:30 PM. No dishes or cleaning; I went to bed very early.

Sent John: I am sad to report that I didn't get very far on my writing this week. Various unusual circumstances, both good and bad, knocked me off my routine and set me atilt. It torments me, and fills me with guilt, and makes me think of how I am wasting my limited time. The solution, of course, is to simply apply myself, but the mechanism seems unusually tetchy right now. I am, perhaps, relying too much on an autumnal boost; also, I am diverted by an idea for a new short story based on a very old dream [Aunt Jocasta], that would fit in very well with the month. I came up with an unusual twist for the old idea, and it rises up like a ghost in front of BB2. Perhaps I should get it out of the way first, while it's hot. All I wants to do is binge on Netflix (I'm in the middle of "The Good Place", a Bangsian fantasy), watch YouTube reviews of 80's movies and novelty songs, and sip tea. But the night is young.

His reply: There is an odd antsy-ness in the air- I suppose mostly it is the expectation of fall weather- but also in the larger world- this impeachment business has drawn a very stark picture of our bifurcated society- one side seems to be gloating that they have their man red-handed,  and as good as gone, the other gloats that their opponents have finally totally overplayed their hand, and are as good finished- and who the eff really knows what is going on. It's like an enormous rubber band that's been pulled to its extreme on both sides, and all we can do is watch and wait to see how it's going to snap. [It hasn’t changed much, has it?] Alas...I think if you have a hot idea you should pursue it, even if it was unplanned for. Discipline is of course the key to bringing things to conclusion, but inspiration brings things out of nothing, and that is a mighty fine gift that can't be taken for granted or put off.  Follow the fire, my boy!

 

10/5/2019: Woke up about 3 AM and wrote down a dream, checked my e-mail, played WWF, then fixed the first paragraph of AJ (Aunt Jocasta) [published elsewhere on this blog] so that I should be able to pick it up when I want to. Prayers, catechism, Bible. Ready to lay down a while now.  

Up again at 7 AM, and between shows of celebrities who died young and making breakfast, managed to get up to page 4, and the appearance of Aunt Jocasta. It is now almost 11 AM, and I think I might nap again.

About 2 PM I had lunch. About 4 PM Andy brought me out 4 bananas and the rest of the oatmeal cookies. At 9 PM said the Rosary, with a decade for Kameron's safety.

 

10/6/2019: Woke up again at about 2:30 AM, wrote down dream, went on a quest for the old blue bat with a rubbery lip; never found him, but found many other amazing "vending machine" and "rack toy" treasures. Went back to sleep about 4 AM, with my right leg entering, as it seems, a new level of painumbness.

Woke up about 6:30 AM, got ready for church despite leg and left at 7 AM. They were asking for help with Jamaica for the second offering, but I didn't even have anything for the first. The bells seem fine now. Walked home, saw Gloria and Ginger/or Mary Anne(?). Had 2 bananas and the last Pumpkin Delight for breakfast. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

I don't envy J. K. Rowling; she has to compete against J. K. Rowling.

At 11:30 AM I went in and got 2 ramen, cooked them, napped about an hour, then ate. About 2 PM I went out and swept the back and kitchen porches, carelessly rubbing a layer of skin off my left thumb. More annoying than painful; you get that squeaky new skin. They had the first 2 Hobbit movies on today. I tried to watch, but I couldn't take it very long.

Rest of the day? Not much. Tried to keep my hunger at bay with tea and peppermints. Unboxed the Peanuts toys. Tried to read Proust. Wrote a little on AJ.

 

10/7/2019: Up pretty early; about 5 AM. Prayers, Bible, Catechism. A little before 8 AM Andy brings me a couple of huge tacos: Chorizo eggs, beans, and I think cream cheese. I write on and off all day. At 9 AM start wash, and have the windows open, as it is a beautiful, mild, windy day.  Finish the wash about 1 PM. Lunch, a turkey and cheese sandwich and a ramen. Make broccoli salad. At 4 PM grass dogs, feed cats, start supper: salmon rolls and parmesan couscous. Eat couscous for my own supper, as well as salad. Watch DW shows.

Went in at 8 PM to wash up and was given a couple of bean and sausage breakfast tacos as well as the rest of the couscous. Susan told me about their Halloween garage sale this Saturday; I might throw in a few items. Rosary at 9 PM. Reached the 10th page of "Aunt Jocasta".

 

10/8/2019: No writing today. All things went per usual. Weather nicely cool; didn't need AC until 2 PM. Susan worked on her Halloween garage sale all evening. There was a bit of tension when a cruise ship was damaged on the Danube, but it wasn't Kameron's, which was a relief. S&A gave me left over oatmeal cookies.

 

10/9/2019: Woke up from dreams about 7 AM obsessed (again) with ideas about re-writing the past: what I should do, what special conditions and abilities I would want. Washed dishes, prayed, catechism, read Bible. Caught up diary. Now 8 AM.

Got a spreadsheet from Kris Jerome; it shows a profit of $5.65 on the 3 e-books sold. No word about the money on the 22 physical copies yet. Checked on my Amazon page and found a second review, a 5 star review, no less! Hope it's sincere. Reads: (Lenny the Pep) I loved it! Definition of a page turner! I could not put it down, 5 stars for sure! [That's a lot of !!!. I love it! - BB]

Went in and picked up the witch wind-excluder and repaired her boot and cloak for Susan. It's now 11 AM, weather a little sultry, and I feel ready for another nap.

Went in at 1 PM and baked jalapeno cornbread, and had cabbage and taters for lunch. Went in at 4 PM and made crab chowder. Rosary at 7 PM, then at 8 PM went in to wash up. Susan gave me a sheet, and we talked a bit.

 

10/10/2019: Leftover chowder for supper. Prayers, Catechism, Bible, Rosary. Wrote up to page 14 of AJ. Gave Susan the "orc sword" for garage sale. Going to library sale with J&A tomorrow at 8:30 AM.

 

10/11/2019: Got up about 6:30 AM. When I turned off the AC heard wind and a bit of rain. Showered, dressed, prayed, read catechism and Bible. Now 7:30 AM, and I await going with J&A, and wonder about mud, dogs, and rain when I leave. Going into sale without hopes or expectations, but ready for good surprises.

Went and sat on the porch and nice and cold, very windy, sky dark grey with clouds. They appeared at 8:30 AM and off we went to New Braunfels. We had very good conversation on the way up. Got there and started the hunt. I found some good books, including: Medieval English Verse; 82 Charing Cross Road; After the Victorians; Brewer's Phrase and Fable for the 20th Century; America in Legend; and at long last a hardback of The Once and Future King. Afterwards we ate at IHOP, where I had an omelet and 3 pancakes. We headed back, and I got home a little before 1 PM. Immediately opened the house to catch the winds, and read the Charing Cross book. Laid down a bit, fed and grassed pets at 4 PM. Later went in at 6 PM, said hi to Kaitlyn, and got chicken and broccoli salads for supper. Rosary a little after 8 PM. No AC all day! Now working on the After the Victorians book.

 

10/12/2019: The day of Susan's Halloween garage sale and (what I was even less involved in) the library 'creators' event. Looked out about 7 AM and they were already gone. The Rotts had torn up one of the red pillows on the back porch bench. In a little bit I cleaned that up, and gradually I swept the kitchen porch (watching out for my blister scar). Had breakfast, and crab chowder for lunch (the cornbread was already bad; had to throw that out; cook it longer next time), and for supper an orange. Read the AV book all day. Prayers, catechism, Bible in the morning, and Rosary about 8 PM. Finally saw Kameron at about 11:20 AM; went to hug him but he stopped me as he has a cold. Got him some Sprite and let the dogs out and fed the cats. About 4 PM Gloria brought me a jacket and some more shirts, which was sweet but a little problematic for me, as I don't have much room and not sure how they'll fit. About 5:30 PM let the dogs out again, and the little raccoon with the bare tail was already out and about and ready to eat. S&A and Kaitlyn came back about 8 PM, I guess, but never checked in with me, as I imagine they were busy for a while putting stuff up. Went to bed reading, and never had the AC on all day, though it did clear and warm up as time passed.

 

10/13/2019: Up about 5 AM; laid a while then decided to catch up dream journal and diary. Did so, and now time to get moving, I guess. Prayers, Bible, and Catechism. Left for church at 7 AM, catechists there today. Home. Andy brings me Pumpkin Delights [it's that season again!] and bananas, AND $20 from the garage sale. Went to FD about 12:30 PM and got 3 cans of Pringles for $3 and some shrimp ramen. Spent all day eating, reading, and glancing at YT. 8 PM Kameron calls and says no school tomorrow (Columbus Day). Spent time going through the shirts from Gloria.

 

10/14/2019: Up about 7 AM. Got dressed. Andy comes and tells me to make chicken salad again, and I joke that is he sure? Will they eat it this week at last?  Started wash and went in to salad and make my ramen. The shop cat is here; Kameron says because work is too hot, but I get the feeling that it's on its way out. Listening to GGACP.

Today feels very ... well, sehnsucht-y. Maybe having the windows open and hearing all the migrating birds calling and quarreling. And trains over the weekend.  I'm finding it hard to watch anything at all or read anything fantasy (I'm reading After the Victorians, but it's not a feeding reading, if you know what I mean) much less write anything. They take the cat Fluffy to be put to sleep.

Between 12:45 PM and 2 PM I make broccoli salad, interrupted when Kameron asks me to grass the chis. At 2 PM make lunch. Then Fluffy's bag is on the back porch; take to my bathroom. At 4 PM feed cats and make supper (fish rolls and couscous). About 5:40 PM Susan comes around with guy to look at window. Finish prayers, then catechism and Bible. The pile of shirts on the bins, swaddled in white plastic, make that side of the room look lighter, and I keep thinking the kitchen light is on. Andy comes to get Fluffy’s body about 8 PM I go in and clean up. Read, rosary, slump to sleep.

Bus-te-e-ed!

 

Okay. I must simply share this little story, as it is so typically Babellian, and perhaps even more typically Brer-bellian. Yesterday I had to voyage to the hospital for some follow-up with my vascular doctor. This entailed walking several blocks to catch a local bus, and then quite a hump through the medical center to his office. Not too kind to my arthritis. The good news was that my arteries and veins were looking pretty good (except for some constriction to my left foot, though blood was still going to my toes okay) and my stents seemed fine; the bad news (not altogether unexpected) was the X-ray of my right knee did not look good at all; I'll be going to another doctor about setting up a knee replacement (strangely enough the same doctor who oversaw Mom's knee replacements forty years ago). So far, so good. Now I had to go to the bus stop to make my way home.

While I can be delivered right to the hospital by 'special arrangement', to catch the bus again I have to trudge to one of two stops: a nearer one at Walmart, and one across a busy main road at the farther HEB. As I had some prescriptions ready at the pharmacy there, and I could save almost $8 by picking them up myself, I decided HEB it was, and set out.

The day was clear and hot by then, my friend. I have to point out that in all my sixty-one years, I have been a stickler about crossing the road. Some of my relatives have berated me about standing by my standards. But today, temptation raised its ugly head. My knee was already hurting badly. I was getting sweaty, and panting. As I slogged along the sidewalk, leaning on two canes, I noticed the traffic was pretty clear both ways. The crosswalk with its regulating lights seemed so far away. Temptation reared its ugly head, and I decided it would be all right, just this once, to jaywalk. 

I had no sooner made my way half across the roads when a black-and-white came gliding up silently out of nowhere to my side, going the other way. A policeman, looking out the window, firmly but courteously informed me I was jaywalking, and 'don't do that'. Somewhat flabbergasted (and busted) I babbled 'Oh, yes, sir!' and he glided on. As I was already halfway over I proceeded (illegally) to my destination. I got my medicine at HEB (three prescriptions) and (surpisingly) some egg nog; they already had about seven containers of various sizes. 

But the one time - the one time! - in sixty-one years I have every jaywalked, and I was busted. I guess it just goes to show: Crime Does Not Pay. Oh, and Safety First.