The War Chamber (12 page)

In the ensuing months, Port Avalon thrives with new business and exhilaration. For the first time in recent history, the Christmas season is as abundant with tourists as the summers are. The parade of exquisitely decorated and illuminated boats sailing around the bay enjoys a standing-room-only crowd along the pier. Restaurants and cozy inns are booked solid all through the New Year's Eve celebration. So many new attractions to entice travelers to Port Avalon, due in part to the intense media coverage of the past autumn's events. The town has become a shining example of economic rejuvenation.

But what keeps visitors returning for more is the ambience, the sense of community and genuine caring and warmth. It is as though Port Avalon's residents and merchants are filled more with a desire to be of service than to reap material rewards. Yet, in giving of their time, talents and goods to one another, the townspeople each receive back tenfold.

When Mike Bozen's carpet store needed new electrical wiring that Mike could ill afford for a bigger outdoor sign, Pete Townsend was there to provide his expertise as an electrician. In exchange, Mike gave Pete an ample supply of remnant carpet for his family room to replace the carpet ruined by a plumbing mishap.

And when Maggie Sturgess was told her new storage freezer would not be delivered in time for her restaurant's Grand Re-Opening, it was the once-cynical Jim Dancy who offered to pick it up in the city and haul it to Port Avalon with his staunch pick up truck. Free meals for a month at Maggie's cafe would be Jim's reward.

“The economy is as good as the attitude,” Maggie Sturges comments to one of her customers as she fills his coffee cup. They both laugh in unison. Then Maggie's eyes take on a reverential gaze as she adds, “It's a miracle, plain and simple.”

For David, Isaac and Janice, the creamy icing on the cake is the upswing in business for Cole Shipping. Offers for new contracts began pouring in after the publicity spread around the world, and there was no need to accept the Navy's offer. Instead, Isaac's dream to design floating hospitals and other vessels of human benevolence is now a reality. And Port Avalon's skyline remains pristine and unadulterated.

“I guess this is what Bianca was trying to achieve,” David muses to himself. “People serving others without being self-serving. It can work. It is working. But for how long, I wonder?”

It is now almost a year since David's adventures with the Moon Singer began. Today there will be a double celebration. It is David's birthday, and also Graduation Day with David graduating with honors and a year earlier than his classmates. Yet it is also a doubly sad day because his mother is not here to share it with him.

“I will always be with you,” she had told him in that inexplicably wonderful vision he had. He can still feel the warmth of her arms around him. Or was it Bianca he had embraced? Truly believing now that they are one and the same, the memory sustains him.

“Okay, David,” Isaac says looking squarely into his son's eyes, both hands on his shoulders. “It's time for your surprise.”

A blindfold is placed around David's eyes by his Aunt Dorothy who stands behind him. Then she and Isaac spin David around to confuse his sense of direction, and guide him outside. Janice and Sally follow, giggling like two schoolgirls.

The air is especially warm on this May day and feels good on David's skin. Even so, goose bumps of anticipation pop up on his arms and on the back of his neck. “It's got to be something really special for all this secrecy,” he says.

The entourage stops walking and Dorothy unties the blindfold. But first, she signs in his hand, “Keep your eyes closed for a minute.”

“Okay,” David says, going along.

David feels Isaac place something in his hand and hold it there firmly for a second. “A key?” David guesses. Then, a revelation. “No. It can't be. Let me open my eyes please!”

Dorothy taps David's hand signaling OK, and David opens his eyes. Yes! He expected a car, but he is bowled over at the sight of the vehicle standing before him. He opens his mouth to exclaim his total surprise and gratitude, but nothing comes out except huffs and puffs of air.

“Ho - what - ho- holy cow!” David finally shouts. “Wow. Where did you? - How did you? - Holy cow,” he keeps repeating. He runs his hands over the deliciously smooth finish on the elegant blue sedan.

“I hope you like it,” Isaac signs. “It's not a current model, but -”

“Like it? I love it! It's an absolute classic. But where did you get it?”

“I went to a car auction in the city and saw this old touring car sitting there being ignored. No one seemed to want it. But it drew me to it, for some strange reason. It picked me, I think. I had it restored and it runs like a top. Frankly,” Isaac says with a wry grin, “I'm pretty taken with it myself. Think I can borrow it some time?”

“Gosh, yes. It's the best, Dad. The
best
. I don't think I can ever explain what this means to me. Okay, now, pile in everyone. Let's take her for a ride.”

“To Lighthouse Point,” Isaac instructs his son, “for your second surprise.”

“A birthday dinner? With the mermaid playing the harp?” David's laughter chimes infectiously. “I hope it's lobster tail,” he says, licking his lips.

Every seat is filled with the people David loves most in the world, and the blue touring car pulls out smoothly from the driveway with David at the controls. He feels as

though he is sailing the Moon Singer as he guides his beautiful new car to his favorite restaurant overlooking the majestic ocean.

Dinner is a sumptuous feast of all the best seafood specialties on the menu, with everyone ordering a different dish so each of them can have a taste of the other's meal. Conversation bubbles, but mostly the focus is on the wonderful food, and they all eat until they can't eat any more.

Stuffed to the gills Isaac, Dorothy and Janice pass up the desert tray and opt for coffee and an aperitif. Sally and David, the “teenaged bottomless pits” as their dad often describes them, take two desserts each, a sampling of different confections to share and swoon over. But not before David blows out the single candle placed in the center of a huge slice of chocolate cake.

A tuneful romp of “Happy Birthday” is engendered by the waiters and customers at nearby tables. David smiles broadly at the tribute. Although he is unable to hear them, the chorus of song reverberates deep in his heart. His eyes mist over with grateful tears and deep abiding love for his family, and for Janice, too, who will become a member as soon as Isaac gathers up his courage and makes a formal proposal.

Now, however, there is something strange, a music he actually hears. Not the familiar “Happy Birthday,” but familiar nevertheless. The refrain becomes louder and more poignant. No one else notices and their chatter continues.

David nudges his sister who sits beside him. She looks up from her dessert, fork frozen in the air. “Do you hear that song?” David signs with his right hand hidden behind his left. Sally nods, then replies with swift fingers. “It's the mermaid singing.”

At that, the Mermaid - actually the harpist - floats serenely by their table on the automated faux lily pad that glides on the pond in the center of the restaurant. All David can see is the back of her as she passes by.

“But David, how can you -?”

David puts his fingers to his lips and shakes his head.

Sally signs discreetly, “Can you hear her?”

“I hear something - music that I've heard before. What is it?”

“I don't recognize it, yet I do. Wait. I'll find out.” Nonchalantly, Sally turns to her companions. “Does anyone know the name of that song the mermaid is singing?”

“Hmm.” Isaac thinks a moment.

“It's an old song, I know,” Janice says. “But the title escapes me.”

“
Fascination
,” Dorothy tells them. “You know. The waltz. 'It was fascination, I know…' ” she sings to them.

“Oh, yes.” They all nod in recognition.

Sally, however, signs to David, “No. It's something else, isn't it? Something mysterious and magical.”

“Yes. I can't hear you or anyone else. Yet I can hear this amazing music. It's all around me. Or just in my head.”

This time when the Mermaid approaches, David sees her full on. She is younger now than just a moment ago, with long blonde hair cascading softly over her shoulders. The song she plays is sweet, haunting. She is almost by their table now and David sees it, the pendant around her neck. It glistens in the spotlight; a beautiful rose crystal pendant just like the one he brought back from the Island and gave to Sally.
It can't be, but it looks just like it.

But when the music resonates from her harp and the words flow from her lips, “Moon Singer, Moon Singer, take to the sea, fly on the wind where the sky used to be -” David is absolutely certain.
She is! She's Saliana!

David rises slightly from his chair to approach her, wanting to touch her to see if she is real or an apparition. But before he can get close she is the Mermaid again, older as he always remembered her, with dark hair instead of golden.

“David?” Dorothy taps David's hand and he looks her way. “Are you all right? Too much dessert?”

“Uh, yeah. I'm stuffed. Um, Sally?” he says, turning now to his sister, “would you like to dance with me?”

Sally's eyes widen. She hasn't danced since before the accident. “Dance? With these?” She motions to her crutches, propped against her chair.

“It's okay. I'm strong enough to hold you.” David helps Sally to the dance floor as Isaac, Dorothy and Janice watch, dumbfounded.

Alternately signing and speaking, Sally and David conduct a secretive conversation, while smiling and pretending casualness. All this, while trying to maneuver on the dance floor, is the kind of challenge both siblings love.

“Sally, whatever happened to the rose crystal pendant I gave you?”

“It's gone, David. Daddy gave it away to some charity when he donated the rest of Mama's things.”

“Why did he do that?”

“It was an accident. I put the pendant in one of Mama's jewelry boxes and Daddy picked it up without looking inside. I went to look for it last week and it was gone.”

“I think I know where it went,” David says.

“Really? Oh, please get it back for me.”

“I'll try. If the person who has it will part with it.”

His eyes search the room for the Mermaid, who is now on a break between sets while recorded music plays some popular songs.

“Oh, David. Keep dancing with me. Here comes one of my favorite ballads. Can you feel the beat?”

David picks up on the rhythm quickly as Sally sways in his arms. He is thrilled to see his sister's eyes light up as she dances again, even though he is mostly carrying her weight.

Soon, Sally is lost in the music, her gaze far away in a fantasy where the handsome prince glides on the dance floor with his beautiful princess. The crutches are no hindrance to her movements; they seem not to exist at all. Her disability is an illusion she refuses to accept as real, and her body follows her spirit's lead.

The Mermaid takes her place again on the lily pad, and gently plucks the strings on her harp. The Rose Crystal Pendant surrounding her throat emanates a mystical radiance until only its glow is visible and its luminescence is felt.

Magically, Sally's crutches fall away and she pirouettes with arms outstretched, free and elegantly, alone…

* * *

“I can't think of any words to describe this moment.”

Other
: There are no words needed.

“Just the music of his soul. He hears it calling and it resonates out to those he loves.”

Other:
He is so close, so close to knowing, to understanding.

“All he needs to do is let it play out.”

Other:
And recognize it as his own.

End of Adventure Two
to be continued in Adventure Three: The Wind Rose

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The War Chamber
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