CHAPTER TWELVE – DWARG & EDNA
Edna was pleasantly surprised that Aggie (or was it Dwarg) did not get excited when driving past New York. She had expected Aggie to beg and plead for them to go to the Museum of Modern Art to see the original The Starry Night painting. Nothing, not even a comment, so she had to ask “Aggie, it’s really no great trouble, it will only cost us an extra day on the way up, while we’re so close we could pop in if you would like to see that painting.”
“No, it’s OK; the pictures in the book are enough for now. Aunt, here’s something funny about Dwarg – he doesn’t know about colour, I mean he doesn’t know exactly what it is and he’s been trying for years. I don’t know how to help him.”
“Honey, can you see colours all right?”
“Yes I can, but I can’t explain what colour is to him.” Without thinking, Edna said, “so then Dwarg would have problems with those paintings, because that’s what Vincent was all about – his unusual use of colour.”
“I suppose so Aunt, but Dwarg still sees something like coded messages in them, even without the colours.”
“Ok, are you sure you don’t want to take a look at it in New York?”
“It’s fine – there’s only one original painting that Dwarg would like to see and that’s the one called Starry Night on the Rhone – the book says that it’s in a museum in Paris – I suppose we’re not going anywhere near there soon?”
Edna’s head snapped towards Aggie who had a broad smile on her face – “very funny Aggie – tell Dwarg to pull his head in.” She turned on the car radio - they both broke in song and joined John Denver singing take me home down country roads – Dwarg hated Human music.
Another motel stop in Hartford without too much excitement. Books were studied and Edna now knew how to build nice and practicable bird boxes. In fact she was looking forward to a few hours in her toolshed and off her backside, which by now was quite sore – even the special cushions on the driver’s seat became hard from all this driving. Yes, it would be a birdhouse in the shape of a railroad station – she remembered that she had some old toy trains in her basement and these would do the trick. She was also looking forward to seeing the two puppies again – her family was growing. She also had a little worry about Robert’s estate. The delay in getting the death certificate would be a hindrance and she hoped that the bureaucrats down South would not insist that they had to return for any legal proceedings they may decide upon.
Her own credit card had received a beating in the last few weeks, and although she had a substantial holding of assets, she would have to start getting her finances in some sense of order. A visit to Jimmy, the accountant would probably solve her financial worries – it wouldn’t cost her much because she had given him some stuff after which, he never suffered again from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and could now eat all the cheeses and drink all wines, he so loved.
She also thought about her future with Aggie. There was school to worry about, there was her Dwarg to worry about, and how would the other children react to her? She would have to encourage Aggie not to talk about her little colour-blind alien friend to others – that would certainly lead to a lot of heartache, ridicule and isolation. Kids can be so cruel without realizing it – she herself had had a fair share of teasing, bullying and anguish. She had also resolved to get herself a personal computer and learn how to use it. The local school for adult learning in Putney was always advertising courses in computing, and Bucky down the road was a computer freak who could also help her with the ways of using one. If she was going to be Aggies’s mentor, she had to get herself up to date with the modern world. She just hoped that Aggie would not develop an interest in modern pop music, it was something that she would never understand – especially that hop beat rap stuff – it just didn’t make sense at all. And what was she to do about Dwarg? - should she just humor Aggie until the novelty wore off?
After leaving Hartford, Edna pulled off Highway I91 – it was time for lunch and a leg stretch. Aggie had spent most of the time reading about van Gogh and the letters he had written. Edna didn’t mind, it gave her more time for thinking about the future. She would also have to make an appointment with Tony Lee, the town’s attorney to get him up to date about what was going on with the family. She would probably have to use his services to make sure Robert’s estate and his Will would be processed smoothly. Aggie was the beneficiary of everything that Robert had left and there was to be a very generous allowance for Edna for the costs of caring – not that Edna felt this was of great importance – she was prepared to care for Aggie no matter what, and given the delicate condition of Aggie’s mind, she felt that she was the best person for the job anyway.
At the stop, there was a rather large diner with a big car-park. A few semi’s were parked there (Edna had already worked out that the food is always good where you see semi’s pulled up) – so this looked like a good place for lunch – and she was really hungry. They found a booth and Edna ordered the special of open hamburger and fries, Aggie would just like a plate of French fries plus a lime thick-shake. As they sat there looking through the large windows at the passing traffic, Edna thought that she would have a little fun with Aggie’s Dwarg. “Aggie, do you see that TV screen up on the wall? – see that screen of numbers from one to eighty - see how some of them end up with a cross on them? - well that’s a game called Keno. You have to guess which numbers will end up with a cross on them. There will be twenty crosses. Let’s see if you can guess which numbers will end up with crosses on them in the next game – OK?”
“OK, but we’ll have to wait for two more games to work that out.”
Edna thought that here at last was a situation where Aggie (or Dwarg) was bound to fail – she knew from experience that the odds of winning anything on Keno were extreme. By the time the food arrived and Aggie took her first sip of the lime thick-shake, she said “Aunt Edna, I can only give you six numbers that will have a cross on them in the next game and they will be nine, eighteen, nineteen, twenty six, twenty eight and thirty six. I will need to see more games to tell you more numbers that will be crossed.”
Edna then wrote those numbers down on a card which she gave to the cashier for registration. She paid a dollar to play the numbers for the next game of Keno.
They both watched the TV screen as the next game commenced. The first number was seventy-seven, the next was three, the next was eleven, and Edna relaxed and picked up half the hamburger which was neatly sliced. On her first chew, the number twenty-eight come up, followed by nine, followed by seventy four, followed by twenty six and thirty six and nineteen. She looked down to her card of numbers, five out of her six crossed so far – number eighteen still needed a cross and there were eleven crosses yet to come. Crosses appeared on other numbers but number eighteen was not chosen until the very last cross came down- and it fell on number eighteen – Edna then had six out of six numbers crossed – she had won.
“Aunt, Dwarg wants to pass on this message ...“Pull your head in Edna.”
So Dwarg has a wry sense of humour. Edna had never eaten a tastier hamburger with fries and even managed to eat the fries that Aggie could not eat.
The eight hundred dollars she collected from the cashier would make a decent payment off her credit card. Had she cheated? -hell no - she assured herself – nevertheless, she was not going to push her luck any further. Deep down inside, what Edna really ached for, was to just sit down on her front porch, watch the squirrels scurrying up to their feed-bowl – and all the time, getting well and truly inebriated. Maybe in this condition, she, as Aggie had already done, would accept Dwarg for what he was – whatever that was! The pick-up continued on its long journey North.
They had just crossed the border into Vermont and Edna had finally plucked up the courage to ask Aggie something she had been afraid to ask before - “Aggie, is it possible that I can talk to Dwarg, you know like person to person?”
“Well sort of Aunt, but he can only
do it through me – he can’t talk or anything because he’s only a tiny thing – he’s not like a person with arms and legs, he’s not human, but does have a personality – and he’s so very smart” she replied with an air of cheekiness. That comment was not lost on Edna, who saw that Aggie at least, did have some capacity in separating herself from her ET, or should that now be, her IT.
“OK, can I ask him where he came from?”
“Sure, I can tell you that myself without asking him because he already told me”
“Well I’d rather like to hear it from him directly if that’s OK Aggie.”
“Fine. Edna, you must trust Aggie. I come from a place that Humans do not know about yet. I was a Whisp and Whisps exist in a place we call the Aura, which is the Earth and its surrounds – Whisps are not physical. We share the Earth with all things on it, but until now, we have never made contact or communication with any creature.”
“What do you want with Aggie?”
“I am on a quest and needed to become physical in order to communicate with Humans. Robert Kellor became my host ten Human years ago.”
“We were both free of the Aura – in what you call outer-space. He would not allow me to communicate with him until he asked me to enter Aggie to prevent her from not existing. I did that and now I must look after her to ensure my own existence. She is my host and I will protect her from harm.”
“Does she have her own free will?”
“Certainly she does, not only that, Robert Kellor’s influence and spirit are with her – I am not her controller. She does call on me for information. I can suggest and recommend, but she makes all decisions by herself.”
“Do you believe in God?”
“I can only answer that from my world, not yours. Whisps exist in a non physical Aura which was never created by anything or anyone, so... no.”
“Can you come out of Aggie?”
“Yes it’s possible but it may mean that I and Aggie will perish – it was an exceptional condition when I went from Robert Kellor to Aggie. I will leave Aggie when I work out how to do it safely. It may take more Human years.”
“Does Aggie understand all of this?”
“Yes she does – I did have to accelerate cerebellum apperception in her cognitive ego, so the acroamatics are current and functioning well.”
“Aunt Edna, I think Dwarg needs a little spanking for being such a smartass – just for that Dwarg, no books about Vincent tonight!”
Edna’s face was flushed. “Dwarg, just humour me some more. Years ago when I was a small kid, my Pop had something that frightened the heck out of Robert. He would threaten Robert with it if he was naughty, can you tell me what it was?” Edna always wondered just what power was within that small ceramic pirate treasure chest. Pop would only have to pretend to reach for it and Robert would instantly behave or do as he had been told. Apparently nobody except Pop and Robert knew what was inside the ornament.
“You must be referring to the porcelain treasure box with the hinged lid – yes, Robert really hated it.”
Edna remembered how, just after pop’s funeral, Robert raced home before anyone, took the chest, peddled to the banks of the Connecticut River and threw that evil thing into it.
“So what was inside the box?” Edna’s heart started pounding hoping to at last hear exactly what it was that scared Robert so much.
There was a pause, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that Edna.”
Edna turned the steering wheel and drove onto the emergency breakdown lane of the highway – then turned to Aggie. “Well, did Robert know what was inside it?”
“Yes he did.”
“So do you know what was inside it?”
“Yes.”
“Well damn-well tell me mister- now!” Another awkward pause and Edna found herself starring into Aggie’s eyes yet directing her demands straight at Dwarg.
Aggie squirmed a little, blinked and nodded. “Sorry Aunt Edna, I don’t know what it means, but there was some of daddy’s skin in it.”
The pickup took off with a spin of the wheels and for the next few miles, there was utter silence. Edna thought to herself well I’ve put myself into my own minefield – dumb bitch – what on earth am I supposed to think now? - damned if I know.
Aggie finally said, “Did I say something bad Aunt?”
“No, It’s OK honey, I just have to pull into this rest area coming up – need to go to the bathroom.”
She now knew it all. Their asshole of a father had had Robert circumcised – no, mutilated, and he kept the evidence to use as a weapon. To the Abenaki, mutulation of this type was the greatest of insults to a male – how Robert must have suffered to appease his father to keep the secret. “By the way Aggie,” she asked between stifled sobs, “did I tell you about our puppies?”
She couldn’t say anything further. She thought, if only I could have been at the hospital one day earlier – I could have hugged and kissed poor, suffering Robert.