In Parched Gardens: Book 1

Chapter 6: Clamorous Testimony

The sky was light gray and the day was humid. Looking out at the trees, he saw the dark, velvety green of their leaves and their soft, light green underbellies, tossing and turning in a slight wind. Not many people were out now, though he did see a woman walking a large dog, north on Concord Street, away from the library. Turning his eyes down from the window, Isaac scanned the table and its contents in front of him.

He had returned here nearly everyday over the past week. The books had fascinated him, as had Natalie's peculiar offer, the possibility of meeting their author. On his days off he had spent several hours here, turning through pages of words and images. Even when he worked, if it was a shorter shift, he had often stopped by for an hour or so. Between work, occasionally hanging out with Fin, and visiting the library, Isaac had done little else over the last week.

Leaning forward, Isaac picked up On the Origins and History of Allbrook, the first in Robert Bell's three part series about the town, some of its history, and its strangeness. He had decided yesterday that he would look more into the lighthouse today. It was something he had wanted to look into for the last week, but he had been distracted by all of the other information and speculation the books had to offer.

Turning to the index, he found where the lighthouse was described in the book. Under the heading, Crow Island Lighthouse, he began to read:

"The lighthouse which now sits atop the very slight bluff on the eastern edge of Crow Island has sat there for nearly 40 years. Construction began on the lighthouse in 1920 at the behest of Henry Allbrook, a direct descendant of the original Allbrooks who founded the village in which the lighthouse resides. Because Mr. Allbrook insisted that the lighthouse be built on Crow Island, as opposed to somewhere on the shores of Mill Lake, its development was slow, but continual. Interestingly, and especially strange for many of the inhabitants of Allbrook, though Mr. Allbrook and his family had resided in the village for several generations, he exclusively hired workers from outside of Allbrook to both design and construct the building. Equally unusual, Mr. Allbrook refused to have any materials for the structure sourced from within the village limits of Allbrook itself.

"Though by the time of development, brick, wood, and especially steel were more common for the construction of lighthouse towers, Mr. Allbrook insisted on limestone found in deposits at and around the base of Mt. Rankine northeast of Allbrook. This also slowed construction of the lighthouse considerably, and the main tower itself was not completed until the spring of 1926. After finishing touches were applied to the lighthouse, such as the brilliant light within its ornate lantern room as well as the small house situated at the base of the tower, construction was not concluded until the fall of 1929, just before the great stock market crash and the concomitant Great Depression."

Isaac stopped reading for a moment and slid the book slightly forward in front of him on the table. He didn't use any workers or materials from Allbrook, Isaac wondered. That seemed very strange to him, as apparently it had to the people of Allbrook nearly a hundred years before. Hearing a loud roar, he looked quickly outside at the world he had momentarily lost to the Allbrook of a hundred years past. While he had been reading, the light gray of the sky had turned to dark gray and it had begun to rain lightly. Through the gray and the rain, the sounds of thunder had just reached him, still bellowing as if from far away hollows. Nonetheless, intrigued, he continued reading:

"To this day..." the next paragraph started, and Isaac turned to the front of the book to remind himself when this book was printed - 1959. He turned back to the page he had been on, continuing down it. "To this day, little is known about why Mr. Allbrook made the decisions he made regarding the Crow Island Lighthouse. Why did he build a lighthouse in the first place? Why was it located on Crow Island? Why did he only hire workers and bring in materials from outside of the village itself? Why did he choose to construct the lighthouse out of materials much more difficult to use and costly than more common options of the day? To answer these questions there is little fact, but significant speculation.