The Props Master 1 Ritual RealityChapter 21 Summons
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The third arrow struck the target. It was wide of the center, but definitely in the target. Wayne turned to Glenn and smiled.
“It works!”
“Yeah. Congratulations. But why?”
“Because I made it right.”
“I know why it works. Why did you want it to work? It’s just a prop,” Glenn said shaking his head. He could be so dense.
“Nothing is just a prop,” Wayne explained to his friend. “How many of us are guards on the battlements?”
“Two.”
“And how many bows did we have?”
“One.”
“So how can we both carry a bow on the battlements if there is only one bow?”
“So, we need a second bow.”
“Give the man a cigar.”
“So why should it work?”
“Because the other one works. If this one works, then it’s like the other one. Maybe not as accurate—yet—but still a working model.”
“What are you going to be when you grow up, kid?”
“Robin Hood. And you can be Little Glenn,” answered Wayne.
“What I’m going to be when I grow up is alive,” said Glenn. “And that doesn’t include running around playing with sharp sticks.”
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate,” said Wayne. “Now look. What if things really go to shit and they scrap our deferments. Nixon talks about peace in the same breath that he starts carpet bombing Cambodia. What’s next? Laos? China? What do we do then?”
“Run.”
“Just like Chicago last summer. The real antiwar pacifists were hiding in the basement of Marshall Field’s. So, we run, jogga, jogga, jogga,” Wayne mimed running in place as they left the archery range. “Hey man! You’ve got to get in shape. So, we get up to Canada. What then?”
“We start a commune and go into farming.”
“That reminds me. I’ve got to ask Lissa how she feels about farming. God, she could be a hawk, can you believe it?”
“She could be married for all you know,” Glenn punctured Wayne’s little balloon.
“Well, on to bigger and better things. It’s a long way to Canada. We’ve got to be ready to live off the land. No one out there to cook doughnuts for us. No McDonald’s. Neither one of us will pick up a gun. What do we do?”
“Become vegetarians.”
“Don’t be dense,” Wayne chimed back. “We tried being vegetarians. Remember, when we were trying to date the vegetarian twins? But no matter what the FDA says, they still put meat in a double cheeseburger.”
“They sure flipped out when they found the hamburger cartons in the back seat.”
“Yeah. ‘Someone threw them through the window.’ Great line, my friend. But if we’re going to live off the land we’ve got to be able to hunt game or we’ll starve.”
“You really think you could point that thing at a bunny rabbit and pull the trigger? Or string?”
“I don’t know,” Wayne confessed. “I nearly passed out when we had to dissect a frog in biology. I suppose it would depend on how hungry I was. It’s a whole new branch of situation ethics.”
“Speaking of which, we just missed lunch.”
“What’s that got to do with situation ethics?”
“Not ethics. Hunger.”
“Hey! That’s why they invented McDonald’s.”
They walked across campus toward the familiar golden arches. It was one of those friendships that had come out of nowhere and which no one, least of all Wayne, would have expected. Glenn was six and a half feet tall. Wayne felt like a dwarf when he stood straight and tall at six feet—well, five-eleven-and-a-half. Glenn easily tipped the scale at two-thirty. Wayne kept his balance at about one-seventy. Both were sharp and intelligent students, but Glenn tended to maintain a slight edge academically.
“What’s the story between you and Dr. Allen, Romeo?” Glenn asked.
“No story. I got her into the department so Jim made it clear that I was responsible for babysitting her. Cheap shot to make me act next to her. She could have played Guildenstern. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead anyway. You’d think I had enough to worry about with all the props for this bloody show.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” laughed Glenn.
“Well, she’s neat, I won’t deny that,” argued Wayne. “But face it. She’s got to be pushing forty. And you know you can’t trust anyone over thirty.”
“Older. Experienced.”
“Bullshit.”
“How about Judith? You and the WASP don’t seem to be getting along too well lately,” Glenn observed.
“No shit, Sherlock. There’s another story. She’s been PO’d at me ever since Dr. Allen joined the cast. Even before that. I don’t think she’s ever forgiven me for not going to England with her over spring break.”
“It shows.”
“Do you know how many foils she’s gone through in the last month?” Wayne asked. “I’m doing nothing in the shop lately but repair her weapons. Then she’s got this weird thing going with Chuck’s dagger and how his sword has to be cross-hilted for the ghost scene.”
“I keep telling you, they’re only props. You build like the royal army is going to war. You dumb hippie.”
“Gimme a head with hair, long, beautiful hair...” Wayne sang. “Anyway, lately it’s just been slap a handle on it and polish it up. There’s just too much to do.”
“Well,” Glenn said, “if you decide to make your little dispute permanent and drop her for an older woman—or a doughnut lady—I’d appreciate it if you’d drop her on me.”
“Kind of soften her landing?” Wayne chuckled. “Looks to me like she’s the one in the driver’s seat. She hardly lets me near her lately.”
They finished their burgers and shoved the trash into the overfilled basket. Wayne picked up the bow and quiver of arrows.
“I gotta get this stuff back to the shop before class,” he said.
“Yeah. I’m just going to get another shake to take along. See you at rehearsal tonight,” Glenn finished. Wayne turned around and faced his friend.
“Look, Glenn,” he said, “if you think she’s interested, go for it. I mean I know your thing with Gail has been going nowhere. Don’t worry about, like, our friendship or anything. We’re solid.” He turned and went on back toward the scene shop.
Once back at the shop, Wayne found that he was not much in the mood to attend another lecture by Coop on English poets. Too many projects demanded attention to deal with T.S. Eliot. He sat at the workbench and opened his art box. He carefully unfolded the drawing of the next piece on his project list, Hamlet’s dagger. The drawing looked strangely barren when Wayne looked at it. It was the exact size and shape of the knife his uncle had given him at Christmas, but had none of the decorative hieroglyphs on it.
Two identical blade blanks lay in a drawer under the workbench with others for swords and knives. He always bought the blanks in pairs. He pulled one out and felt along the length of it, allowing the touch of the steel to penetrate his senses. This would be a beautiful piece when he was done with it. He had ground both blanks down to the same shape, but of course he would not sharpen it for the show. Pointed would be enough. After the show, though, it would be his to keep. Then he would sharpen it and tool it down to be decorated. His uncle’s journal said that making a tool endowed it with the strengths and characteristics of its maker. If that was true, he hoped Judith never used the sword he made her in a duel. She could get hurt.
Thinking about Judith was another pain. Things had been going so well for them before her trip to England. Even then it looked like they’d get it back together until Dr. Allen joined the Hamlet cast. Alone, they were okay, but there weren’t any alone times lately. They hadn’t had a date with just the two of them in three weeks. There was tech weekend, then two weekends of shows, and now finals were coming next week and they’d have to spend the weekend studying. And at rehearsals, she was cold, especially when Dr. Allen was around.
He balanced the blade on his finger and began adding wood chips to the handle end until the balance point was where he wanted it. He wrapped a piece of duct tape around the shank and woodchips. When it was secure he glanced across the empty shop to a stack of polystyrene beadboard used in construction. Taking careful aim, he threw the knife. It hit and stuck—handle end first with the blade sticking out at him. He sighed. He didn’t know if it was the blade balance or his lousy throwing.
“Why don’t you let a pro handle that part?” Judith asked from the doorway. “You don’t throw a knife like a baseball.”
“Why don’t you teach me the right way?” Wayne said turning to look at her.
“Sure. It would be easier to teach you than Chuck. He’s got a beautiful voice, but his hand-eye coordination sucks. I think he’s a little cross-eyed.” She retrieved the knife from the foam block. “What’s all this junk taped to the end?”
“I was trying to determine how much weight it took to balance it.”
“Balance is only half the battle,” she said, stripping the taped woodchips off the shank. “First find out if it flies right. Then you can adjust your hold to compensate for the balance.” She raised her hand and threw the knife at the polystyrene block. It sank in perfectly, blade first. “See? Nothing wrong with its balance,” she said walking to get the blade again.
“What about when I put a handle on it?”
“Put one on it. I’ll teach him to use it right,” she answered. “Black, I think. It should be a black handle so it blends in with the rest of his costume until he draws it. Not too shiny on the handle. The silver blade comes to life against the black backdrop of his chest.” She sidled up to Wayne with the blade still in her hand and pressed it flat against his chest as she spoke. “Like that idea?” she asked pressing herself against him as well.
“I think you’re dangerous, lady,” he answered wrapping his arms around her, but afraid to squeeze too tightly with the knife still held between them. In spite of himself, he was getting hard.
“Oh, I can be much more dangerous than that,” she whispered, letting the knife hand slide down his torso until he felt it pressing against his cock. “Want to cross swords?” He smiled faintly.
“You should be locked up.”
“Just remember who loves you, boyo,” she said. With a quick twist, she slipped the knife out from between them and threw it behind her back. She never looked, but over her shoulder Wayne could see that it stuck in the block perfectly again. “You wouldn’t want to lose anything near and dear to you, would you?” She muffled his response, pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss.
“Class,” she said, suddenly breaking away from him. “See you later?”
Wayne watched her swaying hips as she walked down the hall. He went to get the knife and contemplated throwing it one more time, but decided against it. He put it back in the drawer beside its twin and the other blanks he’d ordered at the beginning of the term. T. S. Eliot suddenly sounded a lot better to him and he ran to catch up with Judith.
Rehearsal was another disaster for the struggling cast of Hamlet. Jim spent most of his time with the new cast members. Carol Nygard had stepped up to the challenge of playing Guildenstern and everyone was wondering exactly how they were going to hide her bodacious tits for the man’s role. Wayne ran through the play within the play with Dr. Allen only once. Jim hauled him aside after the choppy run.
“Look, Wayne. It’s your scene. You staged it last fall like an independent little troupe of traveling actors. Now you’ve got a new member of your troupe. You are the player king, not me. Get the scene smoothed out with Dr. Allen and bring me something that’s ready to polish and integrate into the show. You’re falling over each other like it was slapstick. If you need feedback, take Lena along.”
“Okay, I’ll work on it. But she’s terrible, Jim. Her head’s never in the same room with the rest of her.”
“You got her into this; you can get her through it,” Jim said. “When do I see those drawings for the thrones, by the way?”
“Lena’s got them. If you approve them, we can send them off in the morning.”
“Did you revise them for Judith’s specifications?”
“Do I value my life?” Wayne responded. “We’re going to have to re-cover it after every performance.”
“Then make sure we’ve got enough pieces of covering for ten performances.” Wayne assented and turned to walk back toward the stage. Jim called after him. “I want to see that scene ready to polish Friday night. We’re running out of time.”
“No kidding,” Wayne muttered as he walked away. He spotted Rebecca in the wings. “Dr. Allen, if you can spare the time, we need to find a place to work on our scene for a while.”
“It wasn’t very good, was it?” she asked.
“On a scale of one to ten, we didn’t move the needle.”
“Well, I can stay a while to work,” she answered. “Where to?”
“Let’s see if anyone’s using the dressing rooms,” he said. They went down the back stairs from the stage to the two small rooms that served the college theatre as dressing rooms. One was strewn with costumes, actors, and the costumer.
“Wayne! Where the hell have you been? You’ve been called for fitting three times.”
“Sorry, Gail. I’ve been busy making new props. Jim just sent us out to rehearse the dumbshow.”
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Do I have the courage? “What must I do?” she whispered. Old Mrs. Weed patted her hand gently. “There are no observers,” she said. “If you would watch, you must join. If you would join, you must come as the goddess entered through the gates of death.” Rebecca caught her breath, torn between her own religious morality and the desire to know. To participate in a surviving witch cult, however, might be more than she wanted to know. She took a deep breath and tried to let it relax her. “You...
The staff in his hand was still alive, though it had never again burst into flames. Doc felt it vibrate with each step through the canyons of the Metéora, the fire of the Mediterranean sun beating on his back. He’d been back every summer since the war. Though the staff had never again called fire, Doc had found other uses for it and felt it resonate with the land around him. The goat track that locals called a road was as dusty as the foothills had been. A preternatural awareness of his...
Wesley watched from his hiding place as the argument came to an end with Pol leading a reluctant Doc and Margaret away from the rostrum into the West where they seemed to disappear into the sun. Had they realized he was missing earlier, he would never have been able to remain hidden in this small world. But Pol’s plea to Doc and Margaret was so insistent, and their memory of the warning against the night so clear, that they disappeared along the Aquarius Avenue with a pang of...
Even with the shock and daring of The Blade, Rebecca considered her first gathering with the full circle on Lughnasad to have been a high point of her life. There were more celebrations, dancing, and even couples slipping into the shadows of the huge stones to make love. After the circle had dispersed, Rebecca and Mrs. Weed made their way back to the Bed and Breakfast in Keswick. Breakfast Sunday morning was a typical English affair with boiled sausages, beans, soft boiled eggs, and dry...
Doc and Margaret ran up the avenue toward the rostrum. Pol moved more cautiously forward at a distance. Rebecca stood to meet them and began pulling her clothes on. Wesley blushed and scrambled into his own tattered clothing. “Rebecca!” said Margaret. “How did you ever... ?” “Wesley, are you all right?” Doc overlapped in the excitement. “Did you see them?” Wesley ignored the questions, he was so caught up in the experience. “The pillars arrived just before the sunrise. Did you see them...
At daybreak on Monday, Marcos, Pol, and the three Americans gathered at the common well to receive instructions from the old man. Besides the six of them, the family remained asleep and the courtyard lifeless. Wesley surprised himself when he realized he no longer considered them heathens. The old man was leader of a tribal sect, he thought. After all, a priest had been in the gathering the night before and had invited him to attend services at the monastery when they returned to the...
Rebecca Hart Allen, world traveler. She stepped off the plane to the glare of the afternoon sun, much warmer here than in Edinburgh. She shifted beneath the woolen sweater she wore over her plaid pleated skirt. Mrs. Weed had taken her shopping for tartans, a favorite souvenir of Americans who imagined they had some Scottish blood in their veins. Perhaps Rebecca did have Scottish ancestors. They had found a Hart tartan, though it was classified as Clan Urquhart. Nonetheless, Mrs. Weed sewed...
Dearest Husband Wesley, I hope you can read this. I’m on a bus. Such beautiful country here in the north. So unlike London. But then, we really didn’t see much of London since we stayed in our hotel room. I’m sorry the time of the month was such that I was likely not fertile on our honeymoon. I doubt there is a child yet in my womb. But, oh, my dear, I long to have you in me again. I want to bear your child. My adjustment to life in Edinburgh has been chaotic. I was thrust immediately into...
“I am happy that you chose to join me on this little jaunt, Brother John,” said Brother El. “I go by Wesley. No one has called me John in many years.” “Precisely why I chose to name you Brother John. Should anyone hear your name spoken, they will not relate it to the American explorers in the village. Are you doing all right?” Wesley glanced down at the sheer cliff beside him and the narrow stairs cut into it. For a moment, he considered that he might have been better being hauled up the...
The desert sun beat down as Doc climbs one dune after another—dunes that were in different places hours ago. That was before the sandstorm buried him and his fellow archaeologists in the Sinai. He has to get help. Any relief from the burning heat. More miles of desert to cross. In his Greenwich home, Doc snapped back to reality, staring at a carved wood panel in his library that replayed the event. Each of the eleven panels in the room showed a different expedition. His eye wandered back to...
Not everything went as smoothly as anticipated. Indiana required a blood test before a license would be issued and there was a three-day waiting period after they had a license. Rebecca broke out in tears when the county clerk refused to issue a license. “We leave on our cruise on Saturday!” she protested. “Have the ship’s captain marry you then,” the sympathetic clerk said. “You really should have thought about this before you decided to honeymoon.” A visit to the travel agent Rebecca had...
Pol met Rebecca and Wesley at the gate when they returned from their walk late in the afternoon. Even after the exertions of their open air lovemaking, they had continued on up between the two highest of Metéora’s monasteries and then followed the road back past yet another. Tourists had begun to arrive for the weekend in Kalambaka to tour the open monasteries on Saturday or attend Divine Liturgy on Sunday. “Have you been waiting for us, Pol?” Wesley asked. The boy nodded and...
Doc and Margaret boarded a train to Chicago with Milton’s notes safely tucked between them. The Chicago tickets, purchased by William the day before their departure, would postpone anyone following them at least a day. If they were lucky, it would send someone ahead of them to Chicago. When they arrived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they got off the train. Wesley Allen was waiting to pick them up. The meeting was warm and cordial. The three-hour trip from Fort Wayne to Wesley’s home in...
Rebecca recognized all the players as she emerged from the fog. She screamed for Wesley as he dove into the river but her words were ripped away by the wind. Rebecca ran hard for the tree with Marcos slipping on the rocks behind her as the rain increased. They vaulted the near-side stream onto what was now an island in the midst of which the old olive stood unmoving. At the river bank, they could see nothing but rushing water; then, far downstream, Pol’s head and hand emerged. Rebecca ran...
Dreams. There were always dreams. He had just awakened to find Rebecca draped across him, having not stirred from where they ended their lovemaking the night before. His dream had been so real and so familiar in the afterglow. He was married. His wife and, in her womb, their daughter were the world to him and he would guard and protect them for eternity. But the dream had revealed something. Eternity might be a very long time. He looks out at his dream world through watery eyes. An empty...
Getting out of Scotland and to the Metéora proved more complicated than anticipated. Rebecca spent most of Thursday at the embassy retrieving her updated passport with her new name. She ran to the university and explained to Dr. Reston that she would be pursuing a lead in Central Greece where a form of goddess worship was still practiced at the very foot of the Orthodox monasteries. And that while based in the Greek pantheon, it appeared that a single goddess was the object of reverence. This...
They arrived at The Seville promptly at 8:00, a little late to dine in Indiana, but about right for Doc and Margaret. Doc began the story of what had brought them to Wesley. He was careful to downplay the supernatural elements of the City of the Gods, though Rebecca seemed quickly to comprehend that aspect. They explained that Professor Wilton had disappeared after making the initial discovery and that Wesley’s key was a page from Wilton’s notes. “We’ve been here interviewing you for one...
“It’s remarkable, William. It captures so much.” Margaret, Doc, and William stood in the doorway of the study looking at the panel over the fireplace. William had finished the installation late the previous night and had kept the door locked all morning as he polished and cleaned the room. At last, he was ready to unveil the wood relief. Doc and Margaret accepted filled champagne glasses, ready to toast the artist’s most recent work. Looking at it, however, the champagne was forgotten as the...