Desperado Dale (Scenic Route to Paradise) (11 page)

The mysterious truth unfolding in her dreams was
linked to Dale. The stone,
leather covered
, she reminded herself, was
the key and this American was the door…
No, not the door but a doorkeeper,
perhaps.

Her conclusion was correct.

Chapter 17  Pieces of the Puzzle

Only Junior had returned to the deck. The
Forenoon watch was his while the others remained around the table in the
galley.

Tino was scooping together a pile of shavings
from his carving. His look was one of indifference but everyone had been shaken
to the core by the fantastic sea encounter they had just experienced.

Merry’s tummy fluttered. She felt absolutely
giddy. Her God was an awesome God and she knew that for a fact.

Mac had been plying the waters of the seven seas
for thirty years. He had seen a kaleidoscope of strange happenings but this
tsunami-UFO high drama had him wondering just what kind of God he had chosen to
serve. Many a time in the last few months since he had made
that
choice,
Mac experienced God’s divine intervention but the morning’s miraculous event
was in a league all its own.

In shock, Zeff had said nothing while the others
tried to explain or describe what had happened. None of their conclusions made
sense. His hand trembled as he brought the coffee mug to his pale lips.

The galley talk ceased. Finally, Merry said,
“Somehow we got caught up in a battle being fought in the heavenlies. Something
here on this side – on Earth triggered the veil between the… uh, the worlds to
open.” And then she added her much repeated phrase, “Wow! God is awesome!”
Followed by, “Did you see how he rescued us? Wow! God is awesome!”

Mac smiled at her exuberance but wondered once
again how she would fit in with the demure women of D’Almata. Tino glanced at
her uneasily before turning back to his iron wood carving and knife.

Zeff blurted out, “You were dreaming or so you
said. How can I be pulled into your dream like that? It was a nightmare! What
was that song coming from your face? Please, leave me out of it! No more for
me! If you don’t mind. I have problems enough.” He looked from Mac to Merry and
then back to Mac.

“Has the world gone crazy or is it just me? Be
honest,” he asked.

“Come, my friend,” Mac stood and reached for
Zeff, laying his hand on the other’s shoulder. They went into the salon. Tino
went above decks and Merry straightened the galley as she listened-in on her
husband.

“Honestly, I don’t think life on this planet has
been this destabilized in a very long time. Zeff, what we’re experiencing is
alluded to in scripture,” Mac said. He sat down adjacent to Zeff in a tan
leather swivel chair. Zeff sat down heavily landing on the matching leather settee.

“Humans are a fragile bunch compared to these
heavenly creatures described in the Bible. I suppose we won’t know the whole
story until God reveals it but Genesis talks of a time when the ‘sons of god’
lived among us humans and giants were born from them. You’ve heard of Goliath,
right?” Mac asked. Zeff nodded as he looked around for his cigarettes. Neither
Zeff nor Tino smoked below deck. Mac didn’t allow it but Zeff wanted to merely
put one unlit in his mouth to calm his nerves.

“Well, it turns out that there are lots of legends
that include giants and even some artifacts have been discovered worldwide that
indicate there was a super race walking the planet at one time. The most
ancient of religions worship these giants,” Mac nodded to himself and looked
wistfully past Zeff to the sea framed by a port window.

The unlit cigarette jittered about his face as Zeff
said with an accented quiver in his voice, “Si, but those legends are only
that... stories, myths but what we saw was supernatural. The water, those
aircraft and the tsunami; it cannot be possible. I took two years of physics in
college and I’m telling you these things that happened – they did not happen!”
He finished his statement with emphasis.

Mac refocused on Zeff as he spoke. “Making the
laws of science is God’s business. He is very orderly! We live within the
parameters of these laws that God established but He
does not
and
apparently, the spiritual realm follows a different set of laws than we do. I
suppose it is like water creatures and land animals. Some things are the same
but all in all, land animals cannot breathe under water and fish cannot live
without a watery environment.”

Zeff looking at Mac agreed. “Yes, it makes sense
like that but I do not enjoy being a character on God’s stage. I was in a
sci-fi movie!”

Mac grinned. “I suppose with every miracle we
humans want a logical explanation… It isn’t good enough that there has been a
great miracle performed by a supernatural God on our behalf but we also want
the formula to answer all our questions.”

Continuing to smile, Mac said, “Zeff, you’re
correct! It was like a stage! I was singing but I am not a singer, as you know
by now being on this little boat with me for so many months!

You know my friend, you should be grateful that
God loves you and allowed you to be part of His plan today. I think we may have
gotten swallowed up by that tsunami or vaporized by those not-so-friendly
heavenly visitors… I don’t know how it would have played out but I do know that
God loves you. If you had died… Where would you be right now? I’m curious about
your thoughts on this because we all came very close to leaving this world
behind today.”

Thoughts of death and the fragile threshold
between one heartbeat and the next had played about Zeff’s mind all morning.
Dead
and in hell
, he had concluded more than once sitting in the galley as the
others raved about the “adventure.” He was raised a Catholic!
Of course I
believe in hell, purgatory and all the church propaganda
, he wanted to say.
Instead Zeff said, “I suppose I would be drifting face down among the flotsam.”

Astonished, Mac let out a chuckle that could be
heard throughout the sloop. “If you were destined to be drowned and floating
among the waves, you would have died months ago, that day we dragged you out of
the
Vallarta
Bay
!” Mac laughed again and
shook his head. “You see Zeff, God has spared you. I think you must have a
destiny that includes surviving supernatural battles with foes the size of
giants.”

Zeff didn’t like the sound of that prophecy. He
muttered in Spanish and then he questioned in English, “How do you know so much
about these giants? Did you major in mythology or something?”

Mac sobered. The smile faded and he answered as
he got up to go to his berth to pray, “The giants? I know them and they know
me. The infamous ‘Twelve Gods of Renown’ are worshipped by my people on
D’Almata.”

Chapter 18  Above the Ruins

Satisfied that Anna and her companions were not
those traveling with the blond American male who cunningly made off with a
small fortune, Karlo and his right hand man mounted their bikes. He realized
that the unreliable boy, Guppo was not worth chastising… Not at this time,
anyway. The men headed back to the city, leaving a dusty cloud in their wake. Anna
and the others were not surprised when Jellybean’s ear piercing whistle brought
Guppo out from the shrubbery.

Afterward, when she and the boy had returned to
the car and Anna finished speaking with Dale, she asked Guppo what he thought
of the group called, New Dawn. There had been lots of talk about the faction
before she left the states. Mostly from the common people of
Greece
, the chatter glowingly
cast them in a positive light. As the national infrastructure began failing
members of the New Dawn stepped in providing food, medicine and protection.
There had been rumors of violence and the abuse of power too.

Nine year old Guppo gave his viewpoint. “When I
was a little boy, everyone liked these men. They were nice. Lately, my family
tells me they are mean and I am to stay out of their way.” He didn’t appear fearful
as he spoke. He said, “I didn’t see it with my own eyes but my sister told me
they came to the store and took all the cigarettes and some other things
without paying… That was before I went to visit. Also, the boys told me that
they beat up people just for fun.” The child hadn’t made the link between the
men on the café bikes being one and the same as the New Dawn agents.

Bernie had called Guppo their tour guide but the
boy knew very little of island geography that was not within a half mile of his
own threshold. They stopped in the late afternoon. Anna was tired of driving on
bumpy roads with the added necessity of dodging goats, bikes and fowl acting as
obstacle course. Their average speed was 7 miles an hour according to Dale’s
grandfather.

A wind worn sign, posted at a crossroads
indicated a restaurant-motel was less than 250 meters up the hill. Anna looked
at her gas gauge and was content that they indeed had enough to get them to the
coast in the morning. Tonight she needed rest. Guppo, Dale and the others, the
motorcycles and the tortuous driving had worn her out. The sun had not made its
bow yet. Still by the time they made provision for the night, it would be dark.

The motel and restaurant were part of a smallish
town. At one time it may have been a tourist stop because there were stone
ruins on the hillside facing the western sea. Anna didn’t ask. The owners, a
family, scrambled as the rental car came to a stop in front of place. Bernie
reached past Guppo to throw the car door open. He had to get out. The old man
stretched and grunted to the mortification of Guppo.

Anna went inside with Guppo at her heels and a
grey terrier at Guppo’s heels. A middle aged woman with copper red hair and a
younger woman – a brunette, greeted Anna while ignoring Guppo.

They had two rooms that would be ready for
guests momentarily. Would Anna like to order dinner first? She would?
Wonderful!

The brunette disappeared and Guppo could hear
her yelling to her siblings to clean up the back patio.

It was almost an hour later when the car was
emptied and the family, including Guppo was seated at the back patio. The view
of the northwestern tip of the island was in plain sight. The sun disappeared
off to their left making the northern waters look purple. It had been a hot day
but now it was cooling. Flaming tiki torches encircled the eating area.

Bottled soda and a coffee with warm cream were
brought out as requested. Anna stirred her thick coffee in its tiny cup.

Bernie said, “We’re making headway, yes sir.” He
winked at Guppo who smiled and drank his soda pop.

Anna nodded but she had hoped to make it all the
way to her cousin’s home. Instead, they had taken the back way and again, they
were forced to stop for the night. Belatedly, she realized that the so-called
shortcut took twice as long because the roads were in such disrepair. If she
had been traveling alone, Anna would have skipped the meal, retiring to her
room to have a good cry.

Later as the night arrived
in earnest bringing a
wet chill, Anna and the children fell asleep but Bean took her pillow – the one
she used in the car and went to Bernie’s room.

His room had a kerosene lamp turned low. He
seated Bean at a square wooden table. There were two chairs in the room so
Bernie sat in the other one after closing the window shutter and setting the
lamp on the window ledge.

Bean unzipped the cushion and brought forth the
journal. As she adjusted the cushion in the chair for her back, Bernie plucked
the notebook up.

Examining the several excerpts, he said, “You
read it dear. You were always the better reader… go ahead.”

“Oh, nonsense! Mr Adams, we both know you’re a
natural when it comes to memorizing lines, acting and whistling. Your whistle
is so clear and strong. It always was,” she responded as she adjusted her reading
glasses.

Bernie let out a quiet chuckle, “We weren’t the USO
but we were an act! Weren’t we? Our performances were superb although
your
acting was done behind the scenes… We put our lives on the line during the war.
I was so proud to be doing my bit for our country… for freedom!”

For several minutes, they discussed their
nation’s dismal future prospects;
America
was in ruins. Would the citizens rise above it?
And also, they reminisced until the inevitable tiff broke out between them. At
this point, with more force than before, Bernie said again, “You read it, dear.
You were always the better reader… go ahead.”

And because she thought he put such an ugly
emphasis on the word “dear,” Bean agreed that she
was
the better reader.
She began to read.

Chapter 19  ...But Who Will Guard the Goat?

As the seasons changed, Greek industriousness
moved to high gear. Summer was the time of lazy living while the other seasons
were filled with harvesting, canning, baking, bartering and all the rest which
in turn allowed for the celebrations of summer.

Old Bethania was the leader of the Jews who
congregated at the villa. There was a synagogue in the
Kerkira
Jewish quarter, and the
small band had visited there individually. The cultural and religious warmth
that had made the Jewish section of town a magnet to wealthy Jewish tourists in
the early 1900’s had cooled since the Final Solution arrived with the Nazis
during WWII. Although, it had remained touristy when tourists were still coming
to the island.