CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE ROAD WAS EMBLAZONED IN RED. IT WAS AS THOUGH SOME unseen god had used a magic marker to chart their course, much like a travel guide indicates a preferable route to be taken. They rode, as usual, with the windows down. Travel noises drowned out the radio which Ron angrily shut off. “Damn that air conditioner!” he said in a savage undertone that left little else to be said. They rattled on, Ron under visible strain. Now and again, he vented himself of random and inopportune thoughts. He could hardly hear his own mutterings. Once he spoke to Kristy whose face he had caught in the rearview mirror. “You know, don’t you, that you are never to go anywhere, anywhere, with strangers. Next time, listen.” Kristy made no response. Chandal suggested that they stay the night in Brackston, giving them all a chance to calm down. There was a friendly note to her voice that gently reminded him this was supposed to be a pleasure trip.

Ron found the first road, turned left, and started the climb. “Let’s see Brackston first,” he said. “From the sound of it, they probably don’t even have a motel. Look for yourself, the damn town isn’t even on the map.”

Ron came up over the top of the pass and instinctively slowed the car. There, rising before him were the most awesome mountains he had ever seen. The car took a gradual series of rises and descents, yet from below he had imagined the horizon was the same level in all directions.

“God in heaven,” Chandal said simply, gazing from the window.

Abruptly Ron turned, his eyes drawn to a cluster of trees by the quick movement of bodies. There were at least six of them. Filthy things dressed in rags. Awful looking children with dirty hands and faces. He slowed the car and strained to get a better look. Some of the children were wearing sackclothes; others he realized now were naked.

“Del, look.”

“What?”

“There in the trees. Children.”

“Where?”

“There. Some of them are...” When he turned back, the children had vanished.

Chandal craned her neck. “I don’t see anything.”

Ron’s attention was diverted as the road narrowed; it seemed hardly traveled but for an occasional farm wagon or tractor. A moment later the road dropped drastically and he began stomping on the brake pedal more than the accelerator. In the distance was a small opening in the mountain, barely large enough for a car to pass through. Chandal placed her arm over Ron’s shoulder. “Can we get through there?”

“I think.”

“Are you sure we took the right turn?”

“Christ, Del—I’m not sure of anything.”

“The valley is up ahead,” Kristy mumbled.

“What, hon?” Chandal turned.

“Nothing.”

They came through the pass slowly, like a flock of lost sheep reluctant to finish their journey. Ron slowed the car to a stop as the valley suddenly sprang up before his eyes.

“Look, Daddy! There it is! We found it... we found it!”

The great stone clung to heaven for support. Twisted and gnarled, it rose above all things, the uppermost part crumbled away, leaving only two huge jagged edges that looked like the jaws of an alligator.

Kristy was in a state of exaltation close to ecstasy. “It’s beautiful! Yes, yes, yes... beautiful!” She was out of the car now, running toward the stone.

“Kristy!” Ron shouted and Chandal said: “It’s all right, I’ll get her.”

Ron hunched over the steering wheel and waited for the two girls to return. Standing at the foot of the stone, they looked like miniature toys. How high was the stone, he wondered. Fifty feet? A hundred? It was sure an impressive looking thing. The whole area surrounding the stone was a solid layer of hard chalk, dotted with dark, almost black foliage of trees that looked like—what? Not trees, actually, but... he couldn’t put a name to it.

Directly ahead of the stone, the road dipped abruptly. Just before the descent was an old milestone with the inscription “2 miles to Brackston.”

Once Chandal had Kristy safely back in the car, after having gone through one of the “Daddy-is-waiting” routines, she said: “The town is below. Over to the left.” A tolling of a distant bell brought Ron around to gaze at the stone.

“Right,” he said and let loose the emergency brake. Slowly they began their descent.