Then, as silently as it had arrived, the ship withdrew.
The night was, once again, completely still. The hush was broken only once by the sound of Happy bellowing,
"Holy shit!"
Chapter 23
The beginnings of a working theory hit Sam like a thunderbolt.
It was her monthly excursion to the Mainland for supplies. With the extensive shopping list completed, Sam was treating herself to lunch and a salty rimmed margarita at THE MEX before heading back to catch the late afternoon ferry.
Sitting alone in a corner booth, she was mulling over the recent happenings, trying to gain some sort of prospective on it all as she ate.
The very idea was so ludicrous that it caused her to choke on her chicken burrito. Got to take it easy on that hot sauce, the waitress mumbled, as she quickly brought Sam a glass of ice water.
Sam put her fork down and found her cigarettes and lighter. Try to think sensibly, she admonished herself wordlessly. Deliberately, one by one, she mentally began to lay out the recent events, trying to place them into some kind of order.
Where to begin? Her abduction. Happy’s abduction. Start with those. There had undeniably been many similarities between the two unrelated incidents. The same type of unfamiliar craft, light and faceless beings. Could they both have dreamed it? No, Sam didn’t believe in the possibility of that strong a coincidence. Besides, what about the disc - like object? If, as Happy claimed, it had really come out of his eye, wasn’t that some sort of physical evidence?
Next there were the enigmatic radio beacons. What if they hadn’t meant to be contact signals to Earth at all? Perhaps the signals really weren’t overtures from a friendly, distant civilization as she had assumed. What if they had simply been mistakenly intercepted?
And what about Wanda’s recent visions? Well, Sam reasoned, why not? Christians claimed to see Christ; Buddhists saw Buddha, so why couldn’t Wanda see Gluskabe?
Was there any significance there? Of course there was.
Here Sam paused to finish off her margarita in one gulp.
The one common thread running through all of these episodes was the constant allegation of an imminent end to the entire world.
Sam reluctantly weighed the possibility. Doom and damnation.
Now, that’s a cheerful hypothesis, she thought as she paid the bill.
She was queued up in a long line of cars to board the ferry in Bass Harbor when the next incongruous notion occurred to her.
Was Per somehow entangled in this pattern of events? Where had he in reality come from? Was it truly Norway, as he had claimed? Perhaps more importantly, why was Per on Swans Island? Once again, she realized how very little she actually knew about him. He, on the other hand, seemed to know a great deal about her.
Before the ferry had even begun to dock, Sam spotted first Spike, then Happy sitting on the wharf. She had to assume they were waiting for her. She departed the ferry and pulled off onto the side of the parking lot to pick them up. Sam tried very hard not to wince too noticeably as Spike eagerly clawed his way into the back seat.
As it was now the middle of June, the tourists were out in full force. Sam had to wait a bit before she could turn out onto Harbor Road. Traffic jams on the Island were generally a rare occurrence.
She took a quick glance at Happy as she drove. He had said absolutely nothing.
On the other hand, he didn’t have to. The audible crunching on the stem of his pipe spoke volumes by itself. For the first time in all the years Sam had known him, Happy looked every day of his age.
"When are you going to tell me what’s wrong?" she asked, pulling the car neatly into her driveway.
"I saw it again ..... last night." Sam nodded quietly, waiting for the other shoe to drop ..... knowing it would. "This time, though, I wasn’t alone. Someone else was there, too."
Sam was elated. "Happy, that’s wonderful! Someone else has seen it, too.
Who? Who was this person, Hap?"
Clearing his throat, Happy tried to pick his words carefully. "It was that Per fellow standing out there. He was waiting. That’s just what he was doing." He finished strongly.
"But Happy, I don’t understand. What’s the problem here? God, I’m delighted that someone else besides us has finally seen it!" Sam quickly snapped her head up to look Happy in the eye. "What do you mean, he was waiting? Waiting for what?"
"Them." Happy stated flatly. "He was waiting for them to come. And another thing, he’s not a he."
Sam couldn’t suppress a short, humorless laugh. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I watched him, Sam. Stayed out of sight in my old Impala, don’t you know, and I saw him ....... disappear before my very eyes. Jumping Jesus! His body just started vanishing from his head on down! People can’t do that, can they Sam?" He sounded like a plaintive child desperately seeking reassurance that all was right with his world.
Chapter 24
Sam didn’t believe Happy. She couldn’t. She reminded herself that, after all, he was well into his eighties and everyone knew he did like to go on a good bender every now and then. Obviously, this fantasy was the end result of the latest one.
The air at first light was heavy with mist. Sam had given up on sleep, found a warm sweater and was walking the lonely stretch of beach at the Carrying Place well before dawn. The only sounds were of the gently lapping water and a sleepy night owl hidden above in the trees.
She had just rounded the bend when she saw him, thickly shrouded in the vagueness of the early morning light. Somehow, she wasn’t at all surprised to see him standing there. As if compellingly drawn to him, she intensified her pace over the rough pebbles until she was standing in the short dune grass beside him.
Per’s eyes were warm and friendly, so damned attractive the way they looked deeply into hers. He didn’t say a word as he cupped his hand under her chin, lifting it in order to touch her lips lightly with his own. Then he touched them again. This time a little longer and firmer. Gently, he skimmed his thumb along her cheek before he dropped his hand.
"How was your excursion to the Mainland yesterday?" he asked.
"Crowded" Sam replied briefly. "What have you been up to while I was away?"
"Not a great deal." Per responded nebulously. He took her hand in his and they leisurely made their way along the path that dipped in and out of the rocks until it came to her house.
Sam could hear the insistent ringing of the phone as she opened the door. Martha sounded frantic on the other end.
"It’s Nana." she said brokenly.
Wanda was gone quickly. A massive stroke. Without any warning, Martha said.
"But, Mom," insisted Michael, doggedly tugging on her arm, "Nana said she was going to go away to be with Gluskabe."
Eventually, though, he gave up, joining his brothers to play outside in the sunshine.
Geez, no one ever listens to us kids, he thought disgustedly.
Chapter 25
It was just before 3:00 in the morning when Per noiselessly slipped out of the warmth of Sam’s bed, leaving her alone to her dreams. In the heavy darkness, he left the house and made his way to Hockamock Head.
Sam’s eyes flew wide open the moment he left her room. With a single determination, she pulled on nearby jeans and a sweatshirt before following Per out into the moonless night.
She stumbled along the rocky track that was barely visible in the dimness. In her haste, she tripped, smashing her left foot into a rough outcropping of granite. In reflex, she frantically grabbed at a bush on the side of the trail.