Welcome to Indigo Kalliope's Thursday Variation, where we exchange the turtleneck and beret for short story writing garb and re-energize those parts of our brain where prose lurks. Don't worry... there will still be poetry. Just not tonight.
Join us every Thursday for another short story from a Kossack with a tale to tell, fact or fiction. One which will both inform and entertain.
And join us on Mondays at 5pm Pacific for poetry from the left where we scream our dissatisfaction with the status quo in verse or worse.
It’s half past midnight. I lie awake, trying to stop thinking about the tasks left unfinished, the petty aggravations of the day, the annoying tasks that await me. Why can’t I take any satisfaction in the things I did accomplish, given the interruptions, distractions, and diversions that littered my path?
Well, there was one intriguing e-mail from a friend about a psychological follow-up study of survivors of a horrific accident in Wales in the 1960’s. Unbeknownst to my friend, this event was actually…
I awaken with a twinge in my back. Cautiously, I sit up, debating whether to take some medication. I slowly realize that I’m outdoors, lying in the damp grass. There’s enough moonlight to enable me to make out the shapes of some very large stones arranged around me in a rough circle, as if Stonehenge had been replicated by history buffs who ran out of time or energy mid-project.
Two figures emerge from the mists: a man and woman, striding purposefully towards me.
“We’ve been looking for you”, the woman says. I’ve never seen either of them before. “We haven’t been able to reach you. We thought that you’d forgotten about us.”
“I’m sorry”, I say, perplexed. My faltering memory has become an increasing source of dread as I recall my father’s heartbreaking descent into the hell of Alzheimer’s. It’s entirely possible that I know these people, but my quick scan of my mental database is drawing a complete blank. “I’m sorry, do I…?”
The man addresses the woman. “I told you. She’s forgotten. We shouldn’t have come.”
Undaunted, the woman turns to me, and says: “You’re Cassandra. You wrote our story. Mine. Evan’s.
“M…Maggie?” I stammer. She nods. I realize now why she doesn’t seem familiar. She’s not real.
She and Evan were protagonists in my unpublished novel, written nearly 20 years ago. A lot has happened in those two decades for me, but they haven’t aged at all; they’re still in their mid-twenties.
Maggie, the American archeology student, spending the summer researching the mysterious stone circles of Wales. Maggie who shows up one evening looking for lodgings at the farm where Evan is working as caretaker.
Evan, who reacts with shock at his first sight of Maggie, Evan whose strange moods and secretive dealings confuse Maggie, and arouse her curiosity. Evan, who notices that since Maggie’s arrival, the fields – plagued by drought – have turned a lush green; the old dry well flows with cool, fresh water.
Maggie, who leaves the farmhouse each morning in her Land Rover, armed with her maps and books and notes seeking out these curious ancient stone circles in rural villages, while Evan tends the farm for the wealthy absentee owner. Surely that’s not enough to consume Evan, and it’s clearly not enough to offset his brooding melancholy.
Follow along below the mysterious stone circle for more...
Maggie, equally silent about her own past, reveals little about her reasons for spending so much of her time alone on her research, so far from home. Maggie and Evan maintain a cordial if distant relationship, embarrassed by inferences from townsfolk that they’re no doubt involved in a torrid romance. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When Maggie finds a framed photograph of a beautiful young woman in Evan’s room, she assumes that he is tormented over a lost love. It’s none of her business… but she can’t help but wonder.
When a local historian uncovers some obscure manuscripts documenting 18th-century observations of unusual phenomena at some of the ancient stone circles not included in her original research. Maggie gladly extends her stay in Wales to study these sites.
One evening, Evan asks Maggie about her research, and he seizes excitedly on her
theories of how the giant stones came to be in their present locations, given their diverse geology. He expounds on the Welsh countryside, and the forces that shaped it, with such eloquence and energy that Maggie stops him, asking how he knows so much about these matters. Evan tells her that was studying geology at the University until… He stops, refusing to say more.
Maggie restrains herself from probing further. She tells Evan that she’d welcome his help with the interpretation of some geologic maps. He agrees to assist, eventually revealing more details of his student days, and his gratitude to his professor, Connor Meredith.
Why didn’t he finish his studies? Maggie asks. He’s clearly got a bright scientific mind. Evan’s discomfort with this line of questioning is palpable, and Maggie reluctantly lets the subject drop.
Maggie telephones the university and confirms that Professor Meredith is still on staff, but away on field research over the summer. She writes him, explaining her relationship with Evan, and her interest in contacting him. To her amazement, she soon receives a reply from the professor, who suggests that they meet at an inn a few hours’ drive from the farm for lunch.
Arriving at the inn, Maggie is shown into the reading room where Professor Meredith sits, smoking his pipe and transcribing his notes. He rises to greet her, but nearly loses his balance, as though he’s seen a ghost. Recovering his composure, he apologizes, and Maggie presses him to find out what’s wrong, and the professor mutters quietly. “Glenna”.
“Who’s Glenna?” asks Maggie. Professor Meredith pulls a faded photo from his wallet. It’s the very same photo that she had seen in Evan’s room! The woman in the photo that, now that she studies it, looks a lot like… her.
“Evan never said anything to you? When he met you?” Professor Meredith continued, scanning Maggie’s face for some glimmer of recognition.
“No, he didn’t”, she said, trying to hide her confusion and growing irritation. “Who’s Glenna?”
“Was”.
“Was? You mean she’s…” Maggie’s voice was loud enough to attract the attention of other diners.
“Dead. Yes. Evan never mentioned… Aberfan?”
“Aberfan? No, what…”
Professor Meredith re-lit his pipe, sighing. “In October, 1966, Evan was beginning his second year. He got word there’d been a terrible accident in his hometown, Aberfan. The coal tip – an enormous pile of mine waste – had been loosened by heavy rains. It slid down, engulfing the town, killing many of the residents. Evan’s entire family: father, mother, and sister Glenna, who had been a teacher in Aberfan. All dead, instantly.”
Maggie is stunned. Nothing she’d imagined in her quest to explain Evan’s behavior was this awful. Suddenly, she just wanted to be back on the farm with him.
“There was… more”, Professor Meredith continued. Evidently, he met Glenna while interviewing Evan in Aberfan for a scholarship, and was captivated by her beauty and charm. He and Glenna had become romantically involved. “She was so beautiful. So bright”, he said, his eyes misty.
“After the accident”, he continued, “Evan was devastated. Filled with guilt. Convinced – against all reason – that they would have lived if he hadn’t been at University. They were helping pay his tuition.”
Maggie tried to compose herself. “So he never came back?”
“No. I did all I could, believe me, but his mind was made up.”
Maggie paused, and then asks: “If he wanted to return again, could you… help?”
“Well, of course, but… it’s really Evan’s decision, don’t you think?”
Maggie returns to the farm late at night, and Evan demands to know where she was. Maggie, exhausted and emotionally spent, say she doesn’t want to discuss it. Standing near her, Evan sniffs her hair, recoiling in shock. His mood turns from confusion to anger as he realizes where he has smelled that pipe tobacco before.
Maggie confesses that she met with Professor Meredith. Evan, outraged, berates her for interfering in his life, thus provoking their first serious argument. Evan learns that Professor Meredith told her about Aberfan, about his family. He accuses Maggie of having no idea of the grief he feels.
Days later, Evan draws out Maggie’s story: her brother who died the previous year in Vietnam, the ensuing disintegration of her family, her mother, who seemed to wish that it was Maggie who died, her father, who threw himself into his work, never speaking of his lost son.
Evan and Maggie, now bound by their mutual losses, begin to trust and confide in one another. Eventually, Evan contacts Professor Meredith, who offers him a temporary position as his research assistant. Evan is enthralled in his work, leaving Maggie to look after the farm as she pursues her research.
Evan’s letters brim with excitement. He has been examining occurrences of a particular fossil, the trilobite Paradoxides harlanii, in rock formations along the Welsh coast. He has learned that this same fossil has been found in North America, in the same rock formations. This, he hypothesizes, suggests that the continents were once joined as a single land mass. If true, this would totally revolutionize scientific thinking.
Evan invites Maggie to join him for the weekend, and she gladly accepts. Over a candlelight dinner, Evan shares his plans to continue with his research in North America, once he has completed his undergraduate work. He thanks Maggie for her faith in him and even for going behind his back to Professor Meredith. Their happiness is short-lived, though, as Evan soon learns that his scholarship has been summarily cancelled, and he will be forced to leave the University.
How well I remember Maggie’s torment! How she had trusted –naively - in Professor Meredith’s good intentions. Meanwhile, the professor – convinced that Maggie was the reincarnation of his lost love, Glenna –reneged on his promise to help Evan when Maggie, shocked and angry, rejected his advances.
Evan, unaware of the background, struggles to take this setback in stride. Despite all he has endured, he and Maggie resolve to…
I realize that Maggie and Evan are staring at me. The early morning sun suffuses the huge stones with a warm glow.
“What?” I ask. “You didn’t like the ending?”
“The ending was fine”, said Evan. “We were wondering whether YOU liked the ending.”
“Well, yes, I mean, I wrote it, didn’t I?”
“Yes”, he continued, “so why are we stuck in that file drawer? Can’t anyone read our story?”
“I’ve been meaning to give it a thorough re-write. I can improve it. I’ve just been busy with other things.”
“Well, we’d appreciate it if you’d get on with it. We’d like to move on with our lives”, says Maggie, with a wink, “and see what happens next.”
“I will”, I said. “I promise”.
“Honey, you’re talking in your sleep again”. My husband nudges me. I check the bedside clock. Where did the night go?