he say, Sherlock Holmes himself? Well maybe he was not of that ilk yet, but he did feel he was doing some keen detective work here, especially as he went on to grill the teenage attendant at the ticket station about visitors from the previous week.
Regarding whether or not any had the behavioral mannerisms of two off duty policemen? If any had inquired about glowing rocks, with emphasis on the glowing, and if so, did any of those same visitors say why they were inquiring, and if they did, did they mention plans for leaving the country as well?
Frank was going to get to the bottom of this, he could feel it, and that glowing rock was the key to this problem, so where better than a rock museum to find the solution?
The puzzle was fitting so well together in Frank’s vivid yet rusty imagination that he was beginning to feel quite smart indeed, and once he posed all these questions eloquently, in a sophisticated and detailed manner to the attendant, Frank simply sat back.
He eagerly awaited what he could only anticipate as a groundbreaking response in the case from this young citizen of Truth. A citizen who was clearly an individual well-versed in the sedimentary field as he worked at a rock museum, and obviously he would also be concerned about his fellow man.
Frank leaned forward as the youngster responded with his earlier statement once more.
“Tickets are one for five dollars, and two for eight.”
Frank stood firm in his place. He was scolding the attendant for his ignorance on this important matter.
Or at least he was attempting to, but his jaw was currently preoccupied. It was busy doing its own form of push-ups, this time trying to disassociate itself with the knot it had just become close friends with.
After being unable to speak, Frank slowly retreated back to his car through the rain puddles in the nearly empty parking lot.
Chapter Eleven
Laura had finished washing her tea cups and plates from her early lunch with Frank. She had then put them away in the appropriate places in her cupboard. After all looked right with them, she went upstairs and changed her clothes to go for her Saturday jog around the neighborhood. She took pride in staying healthy.
Upon returning from her jog, she showered and put on some fresh and comfortably warm clothes, sat down at her office desk and began grading some papers for Monday. At least she tried to begin. She had always made a habit of getting on top of her homework early so that she would never find herself unprepared when it mattered. Never again would she be unprepared when it mattered the most.
What was unusual today, however, was that she could not focus as she began her work. She must have reread the same book report four times and still did not have a grade in mind to give it. Her computer of a mind had formed a serious glitch, or at the very least was having some issue in terms of what program it wanted to run at the moment.
No matter how much she tried focusing on getting her work underway, thoughts about her good friend Frank and their strange lunch conversation bounced from one side of her mind to the other, and then back again. With her worries effectively gaining weight with each bounce, she really was beginning to get quite bothered by them. She had not seen Frank this out of sorts in quite some time. He really had been making a certain progress in the last year or two. For instance, he had been seeing his lost son less and less in strangers and dwelling negatively on the loss of him as well as his wife much less as well. She was seriously hoping that this was not some sort of setback for him.
Laura has always had a certain affection reserved for Frank in one way or another since shortly after they first met. Even if over time there had certainly been two very different Franks that she has known, one from university and one after. Nevertheless, she cherished them both surprisingly equally. Granted it took a bit more work, especially at first, to cherish the latter.
Laura had known Frank when they both attended the University of California, Berkeley, nearly two decades ago, and that had certainly been a very different Frank than the one she had met again years later.
The Frank at Berkeley was one who if he knew what a worry was, certainly knew it much more in theory than in practice. Conversely, he was much better acquainted with the effects of joy, spontaneity, and humor. His personality at the time was a direct reflection of this, and from what Laura witnessed, the best function of it. He had been definitely fortunate; however, his attitude was incredibly positive and determined, so at least in some ways, it appeared that he was one who made his own luck and apparently believed that to be the case as well. Clearly he saw himself the master of his own destiny, and so far his destiny had appeared to agree.
Frank was social and energetic almost always, but not in an overbearing way. He made those in his presence feel as if they were the center of his attention, and yet he was always telling stories, laughing, cracking jokes, yet never interrupting. He just had a knack for the moment, no matter what that moment was. An ability to make the room feel warmer and better than it had been before he entered. At least Laura thought so, knew so. She had always felt better when he had been around, and still did.
Laura had also played an important role in Frank’s life in another significant way. She had been the one who first introduced him to Sarah. Laura and Sarah had been good friends for a while in university, and one night when working on a class project Frank had stopped by Laura’s room to return a book he had borrowed. Well it did not take long after Laura had invited Frank in and introduced him to Sarah, that the two hit it off and made plans to go on a date. The rest was history, and one that later made Laura feel strangely responsible in a way for Frank’s ensuing misery.
While through the remaining years at Berkeley Laura remained good friends with Sarah and more so with Frank, she went her separate ways from the couple soon after graduating. Despite efforts from both Laura and the couple to stay in contact, as time progressed, they gradually grew further and further apart. Laura had been unable to attend their wedding, and a year or so after graduation had lost touch completely with both Frank and Sarah.
During that time Laura had been busy with her career as a teacher, building a life for herself in one of the best suburbs of San Francisco. After teaching for five years at a fine school, she received an even better job offer at one of the finest private elementary schools in all of California, and she gladly accepted it. She soon moved to that suburb near her new school.
Quickly she made many new friends with fellow teachers and neighbors in the upscale area where she now lived. As the years passed she became ensconced in that community and felt as if she would live there forever and would cherish doing so.
In her current house at the time she could have been happy for years to come, yet was made quite giddy when her boyfriend Tom, who lived in the same suburb, suggested that they move in together. She accepted his offer and was just about to follow through with it, when the incident changed everything.
And after that most horrific day three years ago, she moved away and bravely continued her career at the local elementary school in the rural community of Truth, Oregon. Not long after moving to Truth, she met Frank again at a support group for mourners.
Laura almost didn’t recognize him at first. He was unshaven, with eyes set deep, dimly lit, and glassy, as he sat barely moving. His body language was almost non-existent. He appeared more robot than human, and not a very happy robot at that.
Laura had been so focused on why she was there that the thought the man in the corner could be her once fun loving good friend from Berkeley never made an impression. Not until they passed each other on the way out did she barely recognize that it was him, and only after she insisted did they share
