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• Eye of the Desert (Description)
• Eye of the Desert (Chapter 1)
• Eye of the Desert (Chapter 2)

Description

Elizabeth Stanford sits in her kitchen, drinking her morning coffee, thinking about her dreams of last evening and of the past few weeks. She begins to wonder what might be causing her to have such strange and active dreams. Her grandmother had always warned her that eating right before bedtime causes nightmares. All she had eaten last night was some soup and a cup of tea. This was hours before she had retired for the night. Although, she had been looking through some old pictures of her grandmother that she had found in some old boxes. The pictures were from her grandmother’s trips abroad to North Africa and the Mediterranean. That must be it. Everything she dreamed she must have seen in the pictures. She would have to check on that later, but in the meantime, she has plenty of moving in left to do. She had finished painting yesterday so the furniture and the moving boxes are still in the center of every room. Elizabeth had finally decided to move into her grandmother’s house. Before she had left on her last trip five years ago, Elizabeth’s grandmother, Victoria Stanford, had given her house to her only grandchild. Victoria Stanford traveled extensively and had come to realize that the house sat empty almost all the time. Now the stately eighteenth century three story gray Victorian house belonged to Elizabeth. She had always loved visiting and playing in the old house and the garden outside. Elizabeth had lived with her grandmother in this house for many years when she was growing up. Her mother had always kept herself busy with her causes and her friends. She had never seemed to have any time to devote to her daughter. While Elizabeth is taking the trash outside, a car pulls into her driveway and drives up to the edge of the garage. The driver is her best friend Madeleine Howard, or Maddie as Elizabeth calls her. Maddie has been her best friend for as long as either of them can remember. It is Maddie who has been helping Elizabeth cope with her Nana Victoria’s disappearance. Maddie has always called Elizabeth Lizzie, even though she knows she prefers to be called Elizabeth. They are such close friends that Elizabeth just ignores it. Maddie herself insists on being called Maddie instead of Madeleine, to which Elizabeth readily agrees. “Hey Maddie. Great to see you. Perfect timing. I was hoping for a good excuse to take a break.” Elizabeth calls out. “That’s great, because I was going to interrupt you if you weren’t. I have not heard from you for a few days. I was beginning to worry. Anyway, you should let me help. We can have you all moved in no time.” Maddie says as she gets out of her car and walks towards her friend. “I can help by scaring off the neighbors.” “My neighbors are very friendly and nice and they mean well. I really do enjoy their conversation.” “What you mean is they are very nice and nosy. You are providing them with someone new to gossip about. Anyway, I can’t wait to see how your house looks. I came over to see how much redecorating you have done. Maybe there is some furniture I can help you move.” “I have not been ignoring you, Maddie. I have just wanted to be alone and lost in my thoughts. Consider it therapy for me. A catharsis, if you will. I need to work things out for myself. The neighbors provide a welcome diversion. They are completely unaware of my circumstances, unlike you who knows all about me. I have not changed my views at all. I am still hoping and believing Nana will come home and move back into her house. Anyhow, feel free to move any furniture you wish. By yourself of course.” “In that case, I am moving something in every room.” Maddie laughed as the two women walked into the house. Elizabeth finishes showing Maddie the house and watches as Maddie moves something in every room, mostly small items like lamps, flower vases or a Kleenex box. They sit together in the family room with their iced tea. On the coffee table in front of them are the pictures of Elizabeth’s grandmother Victoria, taken on her many trips to Egypt. “I found these last night when I was going through boxes. I was thinking how Nana loved to travel in Egypt. I think she took more trips to Egypt than anywhere else. In fact, if I remember correctly, she was thinking about going back to Egypt on her way home from her last trip. Odd, that she never told me where she was going first. I remember I asked her many times, but she would just smile and say it was just some old business she had to take care of. Elizabeth, she told me, it is really just a short layover, no more than three or four hours. When I return home, dear, I promise to tell you all about it.” Elizabeth says as she picks up a few of the photographs to show to Maddie. “It has been five years since she just disappeared. I really miss her. And I am still puzzled over the circumstances.” “I know, Lizzie. I miss her too. She was so much fun to be with. I should have some pictures that Nana Victoria sent to me from Egypt and everywhere else she went. It may take me a while to find them. You know how organized I can be. I always stick things into any drawer handy and then forget which one.” Elizabeth sits staring intently at the photographs. “There is something strange about these pictures that I noticed just now. These pictures must have been taken a long time ago. I never realized Nana had been in Egypt a really long long time ago.” Elizabeth looks even more closely at the photos. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I have ever seen these before. Nana looks so young in these pictures. You know…these pictures look like they were taken even before my mother was born. That is sixty or more years ago. Nana could not have been more than twenty years old, if she was even that old. Strange that I never noticed this before. It seems so obvious now. I wonder where they came from.” Elizabeth pauses for a brief moment before she continues. “Maddie, maybe this is an omen. Nana wanted me to find these pictures. Remember, Maddie, she did just disappear without a trace. She fell completely off the grid, you might say. And no one knows where. She never did tell anybody where she was flying off to. And no one has any record of her going anywhere. Maybe she is trying to send me a message, you know, communicate from another dimension or wherever she is. Maybe Nana is trying to tell me she is okay, just lost somewhere. Maybe even somewhere in Egypt.” Elizabeth says as she stares intently at Maddie. Maddie smiles at Elizabeth. “Now this is what I have been telling you all along. Spirits do communicate with the living.” “Oh, Maddie, you know, you may just be influencing me in spite of myself with your belief in the occult.” Elizabeth says with reticence. “You know that I do not believe in ghosts at all. Although, lately, things have been happening that make me not so sure anymore. Sometimes I feel as if there is someone in the room with me, watching me or perhaps keeping watch over me. I don’t feel afraid at all. I feel very comforted by its or her presence. I tell myself it is Nana, watching me, and protecting me. I know you think it’s silly, but I have never believed that she is dead. Her body was never found. No one knows where she went. One day she just up and disappeared. I do truly believe in my heart that Nana is still alive somewhere. She just cannot tell me where she is. Maybe her spirit or aura or whatever it is is trying to talk to me. I just can’t hear her. Yet.” Elizabeth lets out a deep sigh. The two women sit in silence staring out the window. “Maddie, something else that you may find weird. You would not believe the strange dreams I have been having the past few weeks. I find myself in Egypt. I am almost positive I am in ancient Egypt. In my dream, I am following a strange woman. Or maybe I am just watching her and events unfold. I am not really sure which, but I am sure that she is a very important person. And very powerful too. “And there is more, much more. I can read and understand a strange papyrus that she’s holding in her hands. The papyrus is part of a ritual, for what I don’t know. And I am not afraid. No, I am excited, exhilarated and proud of what must be done. And these shadows, they are everywhere. They seem to follow me everywhere.” Elizabeth speaks again after a short while. “And I can speak their ancient language. Can you believe it? Now, how in the world can that be possible? I don’t know any languages. The German I took years ago in school is distant and hardly a memory.” Maddie sits for a long while, not speaking. She has an eerie look of fear that slowly turns to anger on her face. Then just a moment later her facial expression turns benign and she speaks. “Lizzie, you need to go to Egypt. Let’s go look for her, for Nana Victoria. I can take my vacation and I’ll go with you. You have the photographs. We can go to all the places she is at in the photographs. Especially the photos of her as a young woman. “Wow, Lizzie. This is so exciting. I never thought you would ever accept my beliefs. You see, there is something else out there. This has to be an omen. We have to go to Egypt now. We must. You must. Someone is calling to you. It must be your grandmother who is calling to you.” There is a long pause as the two women sit and just stare at each other. Elizabeth knows that Maddie is right. She has been thinking the same thing in the back of her mind for a long time. She knew she would be going to Egypt the moment she saw the photographs. Elizabeth decides to let Maddie believe that it is all her idea. Not quite sure why but she believes it is the prudent thing to do for now. She is the first to speak. “Maddie, the whole idea sounds ridiculous, but maybe it isn’t after all. There is only one problem. Don’t laugh, but in my dreams it is raining. Pouring rain outside the temple. It does not rain in the desert. Egypt is desert.” “Maybe it rained in ancient Egypt.” “Maddie, the pictures aren’t ten thousand years old. And neither is Nana.” “Lizzie let’s plan on leaving in a few weeks. It will give us enough time to get things together, and for me to set up time off from work. Let’s combine all our photos, and let’s also get some travel guides. We can find the names of the temples and pyramids Nana Victoria is standing next to.” “It is a shame I don’t have her journal. Nana took it with her everywhere. She said it was invaluable to her in her travels. I’ll bet it would have told me where she had gone. It could have even told me where she was when she disappeared. It would tell me exactly where she is now.” Elizabeth walks over to her grandmother’s roll top desk and opens the first drawer on the left. This is where Victoria always kept her journal when she was at home. Elizabeth just stands there staring for a very long time. “Lizzie, are you all right? I know it must be upsetting to not see the journal in the desk drawer. Close the drawer and come back and sit over here.” “Maddie, look.” Elizabeth says as she holds up the journal. “I know Nana took it with her on her last trip. How did it get here?” “Lizzie, are you sure it is the same journal? She must have had two of them. This one must be a spare.” “Maddie, this is Nana’s journal. This is her only journal. I saw her put it in her bag as she walked out the door five years ago.” Elizabeth stands there staring blankly into space. “Lizzie, now you have to go. This is just not a coincidence. It must be an omen. It is something you cannot ignore. Nana or someone or something is calling you, telling you to go. And I must go with you to help in any way that I can. After all, this is what friends are for.” “Ok. Ok. I’ll go. This is really exciting. I am going to Egypt. I will find out what happened to my Nana. I will go now. Maddie, I’ll call the airlines. You call a hotel.” “Lizzie, don’t forget to pack your umbrella. You don’t want to get caught in a downpour while visiting The Great Sphinx.” Maddie says chuckling to herself. www.nkbauer.com

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