Handcuffed

The Old Man at the Bookstand

Saturday was a day to sleep late, but her nerves were too tense to sleep. It was only 6:00 in the morning, but she found herself taking a stroll that misty chilly morning. She aimlessly wandered for about thirty minutes when she noticed something odd.
The gray gutter pipe running from left to right, just below the second floor windowsill had something strange on it. Below the third window to the left was a gray patch on the top of the pipe, barely visible from where Shirley stood. It almost perfectly blended into the gutter pipe itself. "Was that always there? If not, who did it?" It had to be someone from the faculty, since the second and third floor was their living area.

Now that she was concentrating on it, she thought she heard low muffled sounds coming from the patch, as though it was running through the pipe. She walked to the left side of The House, seeing nothing she turned towards the right side.

She hadn't yet reached the corner, when she heard Professor Moran's voice coming from the right side of The House. Shirley carefully peeked around the corner. A small patch of grass was sandwiched in the form of a "V" between the wall of The House and a small chainlike fence that came in on an angle attaching itself to The House.

The fence connected to a large oak tree growing on the farther side of this small "V" which took up most of the area. From that tree and on were a ton of trees and ivy that they had been told to stay away from since it was highly suspected to be poison oak and poison ivy. Through the chainlike fence Shirley could see steep cliffs.
As Shirley was about to turn away, wondering if she actually heard Professor Moran's voice or not, she heard The Dean.

"Watch!"

The voice seemed to be coming from the upper floors of The House. She peered up to the tower and heard Professor Moran yelp in excitement. "Hush," said The Dean, "there are people sleeping on the lower floor. We do not wish to awaken them."

"Amazing," Professor Moran breathed. "Can you do it to the whole landscape?"

"I have been expanding it bit by bit, and having to modify it at times, but it will be ready with more than enough time to spare," The Dean's excited voice came again. "Here it is again slightly larger."

Shirley heard the whirl of a machine and then for a moment she thought a patch of greenery on the far side cliff had become glistening coal-black rock. She shook her head, screwing her eyes shut thinking about her bed and looked again.

Everything looked perfectly normal. Up in the tower she could hear Professor Moran exclaim, "Amazing, perfectly amazing!"

"Time to get where we belong," said The Dean. "We don't want any questions."

A door closed, bolts turned, something sounded like a muffled train running on smooth tracks, metal struck metal, and then everything became extremely quiet.
Finding a beach chair in the garden wasn't hard. She stretched out lost in thought, the tips of her fingers pressed together. Who sleeps in that third room from the left? Was that patch always there? Why were The Dean and Sebastian in the right tower so early on a Saturday morning? Did she imagine that coal-black rock on the cliff and the whirl of a machine or did The Dean actually do something from his tower to affect it? If he did cause that change, how was it possible and why? She ran these questions and everything else that had been bothering her in her mind and was left with very few answers.

The sound of footsteps brought her back to reality. Everyone was making plans. Shopping and movies, arcades, bowling, and ice-skating were being discussed.

"Hey Shirley, Diana," called Ram. "Donna got four free tickets to a basketball game and I'm going with her. Wanta go?

"Proper English please. Would you like to join?" the clear taut voice of Professor Thorney was heard. Everyone jumped.