Wild Swans (21 page)

“I suppose,” she admitted, her eyes downcast.

“And do you really want to leave Hank standing at the altar? That poor, dear, deluded boy who loves his parents so much he’s willing to sacrifice his whole life just for the sake of their happiness?” Lindt tapped his cigarette again and added, “I know you’ve told him several times that you aren’t going to marry him, but his duty to his parents makes your words fall on deaf ears. I understand how frustrating that is for you. And yet, he deserves to know the truth, and the only way he will hear it is when you say no when you stand before the priest tomorrow morning. Otherwise he’ll follow you to the ends of the earth looking for you. Your mother will find a way to get you out of the army, and everything you’ve planned will come undone.”

“I guess you’re right. But, Mr. Lindt, I’m scared. Nobody has listened to me so far. How can I think they’ll listen to me tomorrow?”

“Of course you’re scared. It’s only natural. It takes tremendous courage to say no to someone who can’t take no for an answer. And in your young life so many people haven’t taken no for an answer. It is so much easier to cave in to the other person’s demands, and secretly that’s what they expect; but you’ll suffer terribly if you do. You’re hurting now, even now, just thinking about it. How can you bear an entire lifetime of unhappiness because you are too afraid to stand up for yourself when the time comes?”

“This is the same thing I’ve been telling Hank,” she said softly. “Okay. I’ll go to the wedding. I’ll put my foot down and tell them all I won’t be forced into this. I’ll let them all know I’ve joined the army and am going to live my life as I see fit.”

“Good girl.”

“You’re leaving, too,” Althea said unsurprised. “You’ve been mulling over how to tell me.” She tapped her temple. “It’s been in the back of your mind.”

“You’ve become a very astute young woman.”

“Doesn’t that make you a hypocrite by not standing your own ground? After all, you were going to leave under the cover of darkness yourself, weren’t you?”

“This is different. Lives are at stake. I cannot allow that. Other people’s safety supersedes my own.”

“But Mom has a shotgun and we can contact the sheriff—”

“No.”

“But nothing peculiar has happened in quite some time. I think whatever it was has finally gone away.”

“No. Sadly, it hasn’t.”

“How do you know?”

Lindt’s gaze moved toward the docks. “We’re being watched. Even now.”

Fear clattered up Althea’s spine. “Now?”

“Yes. Even now.”

“Why haven’t they done anything?”

“I don’t know. They’re biding their time, perhaps. But I do know we’re safe for the moment. As long as I don’t make any sudden moves.”

“Please, let us help. I want you to stay, and I know
Tante
wants you to stay.”

“The best way you can help me is by not hindering me,” Lindt said gently.

“When are you leaving?”

“As soon as the car arrives. Within the next half hour or so, I think.”

“So soon?”

“Yes,” Lindt said, his voice so soft she could barely hear him. “I’m afraid so.”

“It’s not—not really a car is it?” Althea asked after a long pause.

“There are a great many things that aren’t what they seem.”

“I wish it would never come,” Althea said, “the car, I mean.”

“So do I, but it will and I must leave with it.”

“It’s not fair. You’re supposed to walk me down the aisle.”

Mr. Lindt laughed heartily. “But you forget
bay-bay
you’re not getting married, remember?”

“It would have been nice to have you there with me when I tell everyone that I joined the army.”

“Moral support?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“You can do this very well without me, I think.”

“Maybe I can, but what about
Tante
? She’s in love with you, you know. Ain’t you taking her with you?”

“She cannot go where I’m going.”

“Oh my God, you’re about to die,” Althea said, deadpan.

Again Lindt laughed. He shook his head, then extracting the white handkerchief from his pants’ pocket, used it to wipe the tears from his eyes, and said, “no, no it’s nothing like that at all. It’s simply time to go home.”

“You mean take a powder,” Althea said, jerking her head towards the docks, “before those things come looking you up.”

“Please don’t say that aloud.”

“Why ever not?”

He sighed, his expression wistful as he looked out at the night sky. “I knew when we saw the remnant in the woods that day. I knew they were too close then, especially after the incident with the fireflies, but I couldn’t move without causing suspicion. Besides, I didn’t want to go. I’ve come to think of you as a daughter, and Cally, yes...I had hoped...I knew it wouldn’t be possible but still—still, I yearned...to have a home here with you and Cally and live a quiet unobtrusive life. I’m afraid I must go. Even now, it might be too late. It’s out of selfishness and my own desires that I lingered too long.” He gazed out at the docks. His jaw clenched. Althea’s skin crawled.

“What are they? Why are they after you? Can’t you call the Feds or the National Guard or something?”

“No one can help me, I’m afraid. I’m pretty much on my own for now.” He winked at her. “I have allies. Powerful allies, but they’re too far away to be much help right now. You needn’t worry about me. This isn’t the first time I’ve run afoul of these things.”

“What makes tonight any more or less dangerous than a week ago?” Althea asked.

“Let’s just say I heard a whisper on the wind,” Lindt said. He sighed as he gazed up at the trees which had taken on a sickly cast. “I could have spent the rest of my days here in peace, being with your lovely aunt. She’s the first woman since Anoryah that I loved.”

“And you do love her?
Tante
, I mean.”

“Yes.”

“Fiercely?”

“More than she will ever know.”

“But she’ll be heartbroken if you go without telling her. She loves you too. I’ve never seen her so happy.”

“I’ll see her again before I leave,” Lindt said. “I’m not a hypocrite, telling you to face your responsibilities while shirking my own.”

“I know you’re not,” Althea replied. She paused, contemplating. “Where are you going to go?”

“For the time being? Not far. I intend to slip out of Rapides Parish as quietly as I arrived.”

“I’ll miss you,” Althea said.

“I know you will.”

“I’ll never see you again, will I?” she asked, tears stinging her eyes.

“I’m afraid not.”

“Are you sure? Or is everything you said about things changing a lie?”

“Impermanence is never a lie.”

“Never seeing you again sounds pretty permanent to me.”

He paused for a long time, his expression unreadable. “I have a birthday present for you. It’s something Mrs. Ramsay quaintly called ‘the showing.’ Do you mind if I offered you the showing?”

“No, not at all.”

Offering her an enigmatic smile, Mr. Lindt slid off of his chair and kneeled onto the deck. He raised his hands towards her in an offering gesture. Althea hesitated for a moment, and she took his hands and knelt in front of him.

“It’s best if you straddle my legs.” He laughed. “I’m not a pervert, I promise. This is purely platonic.”

“No funny business,” she cautioned as she sat in his lap, curling her feet cat like alongside his thighs. She was sure there’d be a bulge in his pants, and was somewhat puzzled when there was none. His expression was impassive, yet his eyes underwent several subtle mutations that were startling, yet at the same time, Althea was unsure she really saw what was happening.
The dim light plays tricks,
she told herself.
But Lindt is an odd bird. The oddest bird I’ve ever known
.
And somehow I don’t think I know just how strange he really is.

Lindt placed his hand on either side of her face, letting his fingers slip into her soft curls. Smiling faintly, he tilted her head toward his, and they touched foreheads.

Althea heard herself gasp as they were propelled out of their bodies. She looked down and saw to her surprise the house, the little store, and the forest surrounding them falling away at a terrifying rate of speed.

**
What’s happening
?**

**
Wait
,** Lindt replied.

Seconds later, the world itself dropped away, the moon skimming past like a skiff on a lake as they soared through the solar system. Asteroids and other space debris tumbled away as the sun and its planets receded into pinpoints of light
. How can we breathe? Althea wondered. There’s no air out here. At least that’s what my science teacher told me. The only thing beyond Pluto is dust, radiation and...demons, Mrs. Walters had said...

Mr. Lindt laughed.**
If only it were that simple
,**
he responded.

**
We haven’t left the porch, have we?**
Althea asked as they rocketed past unfathomable columns of green glowing plasma.

**
Our bodies are still where we left them
,** Lindt replied, amused. **
Our souls, however, are uncounted light years away.
**

**
Are we really in outer space, or are you just making all of this up
?**

**
Define real
.**

**
You know what I mean. **

**Yes, we really are out here
**

Althea was stunned to silence.

Galaxies, nebulae, and strange gaseous formations Althea could barely comprehend appeared, and then faded from view. The universe itself receded until it became one long thin green-gold string dancing in a miasma of other strings. Some were greenish bronze, some were white or silver, others blue. Some were colors she couldn’t fathom, and weren’t sure if they were colors at all, but vibrating strands of sound masquerading as light. All of the threads pulsed and hummed; writhed and twisted until they tied into an eternal tangle of knots, twists and loops which resembled a slowly rotating figure eight.

**
What are those things? **

**The word we use for them is incomprehensible to the Human mind.**

**But that green string we just came out of, was that the universe?**

**One of an infinite number, yes.**

**I thought there was only one.**

**Yes, you would think that. Oh don’t be offended, you simply have no way of knowing. You and your people can only see the thinnest edge of reality; the way someone looks at a razor’s edge yet does not see the entire blade. Even this,**
Lindt’s arm swept across the panorama of space
, **is only a fragment of what truly exists. Your
mind would burn out if you looked beyond what I am showing you now.**

**We’re not the only ones living on it, are we? Our own universe I mean.**

**No. The All is generous when it comes to creating life.**

**And all those other strands? They’re universes too, aren’t they?**

**In a manner of speaking. In the future your scientists will refer to them as branes.**

**Brains?**

**
No, like membranes. They’ll be right, but terribly wrong too. Disastrously wrong, in fact.**

**I don’t understand.**

**I know.**

Althea tried to absorb this information and found her mind bogging down
. **Where are we?
**Althea asked. **
This place outside those—those—branes
?**

Lindt replied. **
We call it The Forever
.**

**
I don’t... I just can’t...**

**
I know. You cannot comprehend it. Don’t try. Your mind would disintegrate if you tried,*
* Lindt replied, his thoughts tinged with humor. **
Besides, that’s not what I wanted to show you. What I want to show you is there, just above us. Now, look up and gaze upon the only thing that is greater than yourself.
**

Althea looked up and saw to her astonishment a cone of the purest white light she’d ever seen piercing the blackness. Tears of joy spilled down her cheeks, and with the joy came a yearning so powerful she couldn’t resist. She felt herself pushing away from Lindt, to free herself from the bonds of flesh, bone and blood and dissolve into the perfection of the great awareness flowing from the light.

Lindt’s hand closed over the back of her head. He pushed her face into his shoulder. **
Don’t look for long; otherwise the yearning will never cease
.**

**
What is that?**
She asked, averting her gaze.

**
The All
,** Lindt replied.

**
You mean God don’t you?
**

**
It is far beyond what you comprehend as a god, but yes, it has been called that. Others know it as The Supreme Awareness. Or the Great Compassion. Some call it The Great Beginning and End. My race knows it simply as The All
.**

**
Then tell me...**

**
There is nothing to tell
.**

**
Is it a part of this place?**

**Yes and no. It’s from beyond and yet has a foothold here.**

**You mean there’s something else beyond here?**

**Only the gateway that you see. The All is just beyond it.**

**It’s...It’s...**

**I know,*
* Lindt laughed. **
It’s not exactly what they taught you in Sunday school, is it?**

**Not even close.**

**And yet, there’s more.**

Before Althea could ask, Lindt carried them further away. Overwhelmed, Althea burrowed her face into his shoulder once more. The multiverse fell back until nothing remained but a faint glimmer of light. Above them the great eye of The All gazed down upon them.

Lindt stopped.
**Look now.**

She shook her head.