STALKER

Chapter 41 4th July - November, 1942 Belgium

The proper Chapter 41.

Knowing Granddad was coming to me when I slept made me feel like I had a deadline to meet. I lay there stiff as a board, fully dressed, my anxiety building and unfortunately totally awake. The last time I traveled  I saw someone die, and came back speaking french, the mind boggles what could happen this time.

As I lay there I made pointless plans to keep myself from having a full-on panic attack. Should I buy some art work? By that I mean go back to 1889 and buy a couple from a destitute Van Gogh. No, that's banal. I'd love an original Amadeo Modigliani, Woman in a Black Tie, that's always been my favorite of his. I'd hang it in my bedroom and just stare at her. That thought lead to me making a long list of my favorite paintings. A long-term project to collect extraordinary masterpieces. My fantasy was expanding exponentially at this point. I imagined filling the house with the world's most amazing collection of perfectly preserved artworks. A collection to rival the Louvre or the Vatican. Then I started to worry about getting them insured and how much it would cost. What security would I need? I started to do some calculations and thankfully I started to feel drowsy...I fell asleep before I could come up with a plan to take over the world.

.....

I found myself in the kitchen of the farmhouse, definitely not somewhere I wanted to revisit. The house was silent and cold, there was no one home. I had no idea of the date or time, I was hoping that at some point I would understand why I was there and where along the timeline this was.

It took me a moment to realize I was on the ceiling looking down, an odd angle to look at the world. I went from room to room and then up a narrow staircase that lead to a  tiny landing with two doors. I went into the first room, not sure how. This was all new to me and I had no time to be afraid. It was like one of those arty noir movies where they transition from one scene to another, fade in fade out. It was the elder Willem's bedroom, how could I tell? The Holy Mary was staring at me from above the bed. It was a freakish glare, like she could see me when no one else could. The room consisted of a brass bed and wardrobe. The two cumbersome pieces of furniture took up most of the room. A small table holding a kerosene lamp and a set of rosary beads was squashed between the bed and wall in one corner. The room was suffocatingly small. A single rectangular window titling up to the sky letting a meager amount of natural light in the room.  The only luxury was an elaborate bedspread, a heavy brocade patchwork. I moved to the next room and stopped suddenly and jumped back. For a moment I forgot I was just a breeze, a shadow, something people glimpsed from the corner of their eyes. I went back into the room and watched as Martin slowly went through the draws of the dresser. He was pulling out the clothing one by one and sniffing them.  What an irksome creature. What the hell was he doing here?

I looked around the room. There was a narrow single bed up against one wall. A candlestick beside the bed on the floor. He continued rummaging, I tried to ignore him.  On the wall above the dresser was a poster of The 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The bold yellows and oranges of the poster had faded but it still managed to brighten the otherwise drab, colorless room. Next to the dresser was a shabby set of shelves. I noticed a bottle of cologne on one of the shelves. This was Jules' room. What was Martin doing in here, besides sniffing his way around Jules' clothes like some pervert? If I could have given him a good smack in the back of the head or yanked him out of the room, I would have. Instead, I was stuck watching in disgust as he searched in every draw, and poked about every shelf.

When he pulled out an old suitcase from under the bed, I thought if Jules caught him snooping, the kid would be dead meat. Martin opened it and examined its contents. Carefully putting everything back neatly. In one corner he saw something that caught his interest and he gently freed a portion of it. I floated above his head to get a better look and saw the corner of a few sheets of yellowed paper. All I saw was the top sheet had bold black letters across the top..LA LIB. It was an old edition of La Libre Beligique. It was hidden in the lining of the suitcase. The fool had found something that could potentially have the whole family arrested and sent to a work camp for the rest of their very short lives.