CHAPTER 32
“H
e seems to be walking just fine.”
Burke stood at the fence, looking over it at Old Jack. His father was leading the horse around the paddock, watching his feet as he moved.
“Seems he isn't the only one,” his father said.
Burke opened the gate and went inside. Going over to Old Jack, he rubbed the horse's nose. Jack immediately butted Burke with his head.
“You're right,” Burke said. “I brought you an apple.”
He brought the apple out from behind his back and held it out to the horse, who took it and started chewing. Bits of apple fell from his lips.
“It doesn't take much to make him happy,” Burke remarked, scratching Old Jack's ears.
“Not much, no,” said his father.
“Not like people,” Burke said.
“I suspect you want to talk some more,” Ed said.
“I do,” said Burke. “But not now.”
His father looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face.
“I don't think either of us is really ready to talk,” Burke continued. “Not in the way we need to. So I'm just going to say I'm sorry if anything I said hurt you.”
His father ran his hand along Old Jack's back. “I guess we both said a lot of things,” he said.
Burke nodded. “We did,” he agreed.
His father continued to pet Old Jack. After a minute he said, “They say that when a woman has a boy child, the first time she holds him in her arms, he replaces the husband in her heart. Doesn't shove him aside as such, but maybe fills up the space the husband used to occupy a little more than he did. Your mother loved you more than anything in this world.”
“I know she did,” said Burke.
Ed spoke again. “It's different for the father. I don't think there's ever anything a man loves more than his wife. I've heard women say they couldn't bear to lose a child. That's how I felt about your mother. But I did bear it. Sometimes I didn't think I would, but I did.” He finally looked up at Burke. “I don't want to find out if I could bear losing my child, too.”
Burke reached across Old Jack's back and touched his father's hand. “You won't,” he said. He pulled his hand back. “I've got to go,” he said, “but we'll talk soon.”
His father waved, saying nothing. But he didn't have to. Burke knew that something had changed between them, just as something had changed between him and Sam. Where this change would lead him in his relationship with his father, he didn't know. But the door had been opened, and that was a start.
He got into Sam's car. Driving himself to his father's house had been a bit of an adventure. The car wasn't an automatic, and adjusting to pressing the clutch with his left foot was almost like learning to drive all over again. Several times he had forgotten to push it in and had ground the gears, making him glad that Sam wasn't in the car to hear him mistreat it.
He'd wanted to see his father before the evening's activities. Somehow he knew that it was important for him to clear those feelings out of his head as much as possible. They weren't gone completely, and might never be, but he did feel better.
When he arrived at the Hague farm, there was another car already parked by the side of the road. A sticker on the bumper showed a brown-striped flag with a black bear paw where the field of stars would normally be. Seeing it, Burke couldn't help but laugh.
He got out and walked through the grass. The late afternoon sun was warm but not hot, and shadows were already creeping across the field. Soon it would be twilight. Burke looked at the ruins of the farmhouse as he walked by. The stones were touched with gold as the sunlight moved across them, and the flowers sprouting from the cracks were motionless in the still air.
He made his way down the low rise to the trees and passed through them. When he reached the pond, he saw the others there. Ginger, Jonas, Thad, Sam, and Gaither stood on the far side, near the large rock. Sam, seeing Burke, waved. Burke waved back and made his way along the shoreline, skirting the edge of the pond.
“How'd it go?” Sam asked.
“Okay,” said Burke. “We'll see what happens.”
Gaither came over and gave Burke a hug. “Hello, love,” he said. “It's good to see you again.”
“Thank you for coming,” Burke said. “I hope the drive down wasn't too awful.”
“Much easier than when we had to use the horse and buggy,” said Gaither, feigning seriousness.
“You'll stay the night with us, won't you?” Sam asked.
“Of course he will, and so will we.” Ginger hugged Burke. “It'll be a slumber party, only some of us won't be wearing pj's.”
“Saints preserve us,” Gaither said, looking heavenward.
“So, what exactly are we doing?” Burke asked.
“Ask Jonas,” Ginger said. “He's the one who came up with the ritual.”
They gathered around Jonas, who smiled at them shyly through his beard. “Well, Sam told me that Thomas Beattie drowned here while swimming with Amos Hague.”
“Right,” said Sam. “I was able to track down a newspaper article about it through the archives of the Vermont Historical Society. Apparently, the two of them were swimming here, and something happened to Thomas. Amos tried to save him, but Thomas drowned.”
“And a year to the day laterâon this date, as it happensâAmos drowned here as well,” Jonas said. “We think on purpose. All right, what I'd like to do is a ritual to send these boys on their way. It sounds as if they've been hanging around this farm long enough.”
“And just how do we do that?” Gaither inquired.
“We're going to let them know that we know their story,” Jonas said. “That we remember them. My guess is that they've been waiting for someone to figure it all out, which it sounds like Sam and Burke have.”
“By accident,” Burke said.
“Nothing is an accident,” said Thadeus. “You're just the first ones who listened to them.”
“This is pretty straightforward,” Jonas said. “We're going to raise some energy, then disperse it by jumping into the pond. All you have to do is follow my lead. Oh, and it works best if we do it skyclad.”
“Skyclad?” Gaither said.
“Naked,” said Ginger, already stripping off his clothes.
Burke looked at Sam. “Why am I not surprised?”
Sam chuckled. “Actually, it's pretty traditional to do it this way.”
Burke turned to Gaither. “You don't have to do this if you'reâ”
“Do what?” Gaither asked, folding his socks and putting them on top of the neatly folded pile of clothes he'd already removed.
“Never mind,” said Burke, suppressing a laugh. I should have known he'd have no problem with it, he thought. It had been Sam's idea to invite Gaither, and at first Burke had resisted. But given Gaither's connection to Amos, having him there seemed fitting, and so Burke had asked him to come.
When they were all undressed, Jonas had them sit in a circle on the rock. Burke sat between Gaither and Sam, close enough that their knees were just touching. Jonas, who was across from Burke, closed his eyes and began to speak.
“Close your eyes,” he said. “Now feel the rock beneath you. Feel its connection to the earth from which it's made.”
Burke focused on the warmth soaking into his skin out of the rock. He pictured the rock cradled in hands of earth.
“Now imagine that there are roots descending from your body into the rock,” Jonas said. “The roots go through the rock and into the earth below it. They go down, down, down until they reach a pool of golden light. Draw this light up through the roots, up through the earth, and into your body. Let the light fill your body.”
Burke tried and was surprised to find that doing what Jonas asked wasn't as difficult as he'd worried it would be. Instead of feeling silly or embarrassed, he felt as if he really was filling up with light. He pictured the light as liquid gold, pulsing with energy. He imagined it entering through the roots and flowing through his veins.
“Join hands with the brothers on either side of you,” said Jonas, his voice soft yet commanding.
Burke reached for Sam and Gaither, felt their hands in his.
“Let the light inside of you pass through your hands and into your brothers' hands. Picture it flowing from one body to the next. Feel it flow like water out through your left-hand fingertips and in through the right as it moves clockwise around the circle.”
In his mind Burke saw Gaither to his left, drawing the light out of Burke's body and into his own. At the same time, Burke drew light from Sam. The light mixed inside of him, becoming brighter and warmer before flowing on until all six of them were glowing.
“The circle is cast,” Jonas said. “Open your eyes.”
Burke half expected to see the others actually glowing. But they looked the same. Still, the atmosphere around them had changed. It was more electric, and his skin tingled.
They were still holding hands and continued to do so as Jonas called out, “Amos and Thomas. We, your brothers, invite you into our circle. Come, be with us and rest.”
The air was still. Even the crickets had stopped chirping.
“Amos Hague and Thomas Beattie,” Jonas cried, “we celebrate your love here tonight, we who are also lovers of men. Come, be with us and rest.”
A breeze blew across the water. In the dusk a bird, startled, flew up from the grass.
“Welcome, brothers,” said Jonas. “Rest here in our circle. The time for wandering is over. We release you from this place, carrying your names in our hearts.” A moment later he began to chant. “Out of earth and into water, love and light will be reborn.”
He repeated the words again, several voices joining with his. On the third repetition, Burke joined in, followed by Gaither. Now all six of them were chanting the words, their voices combining to form one.
“Out of earth and into water, love and light will be reborn,” Burke intoned.
They kept chanting, and time stood still. Burke didn't know how many minutes went by as he concentrated on the words he spoke. They were so simple, yet they held so much meaning.
Then the chant changed. As Burke finished saying the first part of the chant, Jonas began it again, so that they were now singing it as a round.
“Out of earth and into water,” Jonas chanted as Burke said, “Love and light will be reborn.”
By unspoken agreement they formed two groups, every other man singing the same line. Their voices rose and fell like waves. “Out of earth and into water,” Burke sang as on either side of him Sam and Gaither chanted, “Love and light will be reborn.” Burke looked at Thadeus, Jonas, and Ginger, sitting across from him. Their eyes sparkled, and on their faces were expressions of joy.
At some point they stood. Still linked hand to hand, they swayed slightly as they continued to chant. After some time the chanting slowed, and one by one the men stopped singing, until only Jonas sang the last line. When the sound of his voice faded into the night, he looked around the circle.
“Feel the energy,” he said. “Feel the power we've raised in this circle. Amos and Thomas, we give this energy to you, and we send you on your way!”
He dropped Ginger's hand and, still holding Thadeus's, ran to the edge of the rock and jumped. Like a chain, the other men followed, one after the other, still holding hands. As they leaped into the pond, they shouted joyously.
Burke, pulled by Sam, in turn pulled Gaither toward the water. There was a momentary rush of air as he jumped, and then he was in the water. It closed over his head, but then he surfaced, laughing, in time to see Ginger jump last into the pond with a happy shout.
The water was alive with bodies as they splashed one another. Slowly, they calmed down and floated, looking up at the stars, which were just beginning to come out. Burke felt hands touching his body, and he in turn touched others, bumping into one and floating away again.
Gaither was the first to speak. “Farewell, Great-grandfather,” he said. “Safe journey.”
Arms went around Burke, and Sam whispered in his ear. “That was pretty neat, huh?”
Burke laughed. “Neat? The man who has a quote for every occasion can only come up with
neat?
”
“How about this? âLove must be as much a light, as it is a flame.'”
“I'll take that,” Burke said. “Who said it?”
“Thoreau,” said Sam.
“How appropriate,” Burke remarked. “You know, the whole pond theme and all that.”
“I do my best,” said Sam.