The Old Man

“What do we do now, Limpy?” Linda had this acerbic way of asking questions and she knew it. She also knew that Bernardo hated nicknames. The other aspect of her personality was that she really didn’t care. They were sitting there in the hovercar that seemed to be experiencing some mechanical problems. This was unusual for the magnetic dynamo that propelled it. Normally the only thing that affected the L20 Hover was an anomaly in the magnetic field. All the gauges read normal but the thing just wasn’t running right. Linda switched from the magnetic propulsion system over to hydrogen cell which straightened the hovering problem out but left them with less power to accelerate away if they needed to. At this moment they were hovering about six feet off the ground just above the old roadbed. Linda took the car up about twenty feet to get a better view of the area and a white tailed deer jumped from the brush. It ran straight toward the crystal wall and when it got there ran through it and disappeared. “Bernardo, did you see that?” Linda asked.
“Yes, it was a white tail.”
“Did you see what happened to it?”
“Yeah, it ran into the brush over there.”
“It disappeared, Bernardo,” Linda was serious now. “It didn’t go into the brush, it disappeared into the crystal wall. I want to look over there where it went in.”
Bernardo unfastened his seat belt and prepared for descent. “No time like the present,” he said as the car slowly descended to ground level. He and Linda got out. They walked through the thicket toward the wall. The weather was a cool seventy degrees and the sunlight felt good. As they got closer, they could see the glass like structure of the wall and could feel a low level vibration in the ground around them. Linda walked right up to the wall and reached out. Her hand really didn’t touch the wall it just stopped a little short and she couldn’t get it to go any further forward. Bernardo did the same thing. “How do you suppose that happened that the deer can go right through and we can’t even touch the wall?” Bernardo asked, looking at the wall in front of him that shimmered in the Kansas sunlight. The vibration around his feet increased and he stepped back a little.
“I don’t know but I’m going to find out. Remote viewing will give us the configuration of the energy level of the wall and any gaps where something may penetrate it. We can also find out what is on the other side.” Linda went into remote viewing, the trance-like state of awareness that she was so good at. After a couple of minutes she came back. “It’s really interesting, Bernardo, it’s like there aren’t any gaps in the field but there seems to be the outline of a gate right here. You try. Better yet, hook up with me and we will view it together.” Linda stepped next to him and Bernardo felt weak in the knees. To link with Linda Marble had been one of his goals if not fantasies and now it was going to happen. She looked at him and laughed. “Bernie, we are Kansa and we are viewers, nothing more, nothing less. Let’s do this in the spirit of adventure and fun and not be so serious about the meaning behind what we are doing together.”
“Sure, Linda, but you know I have been interested in seeing you outside of our profession. I think we have lots in common besides our ability to view.” Bernardo regained his stature and composure.
“Maybe so, Bernie, but let’s just concentrate on the task at hand right now.” Linda grabbed his hand and they both concentrated on the remote viewing of the wall and what lay behind it. There was indeed a gate in front of them. It resembled an old ornamental iron gate that was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beyond it was an old man who was looking at them and pointing with a bony finger. He had on an old straw hat the top of which was torn out. An old owl feather protruded from one side. He wore some blue jeans and a black tee shirt. His work boots were tattered and worn out on the sides. As they looked, he beckoned to them and smiled as he made his way to the gate to let them in. As he reached for the old iron latch, Linda and Bernardo broke off the remote viewing and found themselves once again standing in front of the shimmering crystal wall. There was no gate or old man. “Who was that?” Linda asked. Bernard reached for his cell phone and punched on the QWERTY keypad.
“Not Darjeeling,” Bernardo said, “Even if he has aged that much since the KIDA he still would not look like the old man we saw.”
“Maybe he’s the caretaker of the place. Let’s view again.”
Bernardo was all for that. He liked the linked viewing sensation he got from Linda. They joined hands and tranced again. The old man appeared again the same as before except for the sign he held in front of him. Scrawled on the sign in black calligraphic style was one word, “Caretaker”. He was laughing at them and beckoning for them to come in. He reached for the gate latch and they broke off again only to find themselves once more outside of the wall just as before. “He looked oriental,” Bernardo offered, “Let’s try it again.” They linked as before and the old man appeared again, this time holding a similar sign with two words on it. “Oriental Caretaker”. This time the old man was laughing so hard he was about to double over. Bernardo looked at Linda and they linked. He communicated to her that they were to first enter into remote viewing and then proceed directly to dreamwalking and actually enter into the remote viewing vision. Linda had never done this before and was not technically qualified to even attempt it but she was all ready to try. She nervously grasped Bernardo’s hand. There again in front of them was the old man, laughing and seemingly drawing them in with his bony finger. As he reached the gate and took hold of the latch they could see his penetrating emerald green eyes. Rays of green light came from them and covered the two agents. He hesitated a bit, then pushed down the latch, turning his back to them and motioning with his hand to follow. Linda let go of Bernardo’s hand and pushed the gate open wide enough for both of them to enter. They both felt a twinge of vibration as they stepped through, following the hunched over figure in front of them. Linda looked at Bernardo and communicated.
“Did you see those eyes?” Just as she finished, Bernardo acknowledge by moving his head. The old man suddenly turned around and abruptly appeared face to face with the two of them, not more than a foot away. His piercing emerald eyes captivated them, nearly hypnotizing them even in the dreamwalking trance. He put his bony finger to his lips as a sign for keeping quiet. Then he turned around and continued down the rock path, stepping slowly on each stone that had seemingly been placed ages ago. All they could do was follow.