Category: Short Story

By Alex Binkley

Emily Beattie looked out of the window above her kitchen sink searching for wildlife in the tree-lined ravine that ran behind her apartment building. It was part of her routine as she prepared for work.

On a good morning, she might spot deer or wild turkeys drinking from the pond formed before the ravine flowed into a metal culvert carrying the water under Nixon Road. The animals usually turned around there rather than climbing the embankment to the road, then crossing it into downtown Bethany.

A recent veterinary college graduate, Emily was working in this rural area to gain experience with farm livestock and, when she could, with wild animals.

No large animals were in sight but plenty of birds flitted about. Suddenly a large black shape moving through the trees caught her attention. She studied it closely, then realized it was a black bear. Usually wildlife continually checked the buildings along the ravine for any humans. The bear did not glance about as it strode determinedly forward.

It’s going somewhere in a hurry!

Emily’s training had included companion and farm animals as well as wildlife. She had done a work term at a zoo. She had never seen an animal that moved as purposefully as the bear, except for a horse carrying an experienced rider.

Glancing at her watch, she had about ten minutes before she needed to leave for the vet clinic and another busy day, so she hurried to the living room window for a better view of the bear. Will it go into the village or turn back at the embankment?

The bear disappeared in all the foliage. There were thirteen buildings between hers and Nixon Road so it would take a few minutes for the animal to reach the embankment.

She imagined the excitement if it entered the village. She hoped the clinic would be called on to tranquilize it rather than the police just shooting it. She thought about how big a dose that would take.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the bear reappeared walking as briskly as before. Behind it scampered a man carrying a wooden ladder. She stared until she realized he was the chap who lived alone in the third house from Nixon Road. It looks like he’s jogging to keep up with the bear. She remembered his name was Stan and that the locals were always talking about him.

Well more about the strangers who came in limousines or fancy cars to see him. Others flew in private planes to the nearby airport. Some locals even claimed a few of his guests were accompanied by grim-faced bodyguards. Trucks regularly delivered large packages to his house. While he frequented the local coffee shops and restaurants, he kept mostly to himself checking his laptop or writing copious notes.

When the bear and man were out of sight, Emily finished dressing and preparing for the drive to work. I won’t say anything about what I saw because it’d just become part of the gossip.

However, she took a longer route to work to catch a couple more glimpses of the ravine and trail. At the second opening, she spotted Stan and the bear about to pass out of sight.

As she pulled out her phone and clicked a couple of photos of the scene, a feeling came to her that whatever Stan was up to, he was in no danger.

Waiting for her at the clinic was a couple and their dogs. The receptionist passed her paperwork for both.

“When you’re done,” she said, “there are two farm calls to make. One place has sheep that are off their feed, and the other a cow that has suddenly gone lame.”

One dog had to be put down while the other needed medicine, and the owners were given some education about proper feeding. The sheep had a low-grade virus and the cow’s left rear hoof was badly infected. She gave the cow a needle and told the farmer to come to the clinic for some supplementary medicine.

Her boss was on a holiday, which meant Emily had extra work, but she liked the variety of cases in a rural area and the experience of being on her own. She had yet to decide what field of veterinary medicine she wanted to specialize in.

She treated more dogs and cats at the clinic before heading home. She stopped at the local grocery store for a few items, and to her surprise Stan was there.

It was the first time she had seen him up close. He was at least in his late forties and plainly dressed. Hardly seems like a mystery man.

He approached her when she was alone in the produce section.

“I’d like to explain what happened this morning. It must’ve been a weird sight, but you’re a veterinarian and with your science background you might understand. I think the restaurant down the street is usually quiet on Tuesday evening. Could we could meet there?”

Emily tried not to agree too quickly. An hour later she entered the restaurant and spotted Stan sitting at a corner table.

“How did you know I saw you carrying the ladder, and that I’m a vet?”

He glanced about before responding. “I sense people’s thoughts. Part of it is discovering whoever is paying attention to me. However, in your case I could also sense your curiosity about the bear and knowledge of animals. From that it didn’t take long to learn you’re a vet at the local clinic.”

“Why were you following the bear and what was the ladder for?”

“Glad you asked because that’s the interesting part, and why I want to talk with you. You’ll know a lot more about animal behaviour than I do.”

He waited until she smiled. “About an hour before you saw us, I sensed an animal in great anguish. I guess she was several miles away at the time. It took a lot of effort to comprehend her thoughts but finally I could see her three cubs had fallen into a deep hole and couldn’t climb out. She would’ve crushed them if she jumped down after them.

“Her situation reminded me of a video about some workers backing up a pickup truck carrying a ladder to a metal garbage bin at a big park. The truck scared away a bear long enough for a man to jump out of the cab into the back, and slide the ladder into the bin. By then the bear was on her way back and he quickly returned to the cab, moving the truck far enough away to record what happened. Within a few minutes, three cubs crawled up the ladder and jumped down to their mother. The video didn’t show how they got in there in the first place.”

Emily nodded and Stan continued his explanation.

“I kept exploring the bear’s thoughts and somehow she came to understand I was aware of her situation. Then she made it clear she was coming to get my help. I would like to understand how she knew who I am and where I live. When the bear was probably a half mile away, I replayed the video again in mind followed by an image of my ladder. As soon as I saw her coming up the ravine, I sent her an image of me following her back to the cubs carrying the ladder. When she could see me, she nodded her head up and down several times so I grabbed the ladder and off we went. It was like she wanted to see me before she accepted my offer. After we reached the hole, I put the ladder in it and the cubs climbed out right away. The bear grunted and rubbed her head on my arm before they headed off. That must be ‘thank you’ in bear talk.”

“When I saw you following the bear and carrying the ladder,” Emily said, “I thought you must be crazy. But you had the biggest grin on your face. Now I understand why. I hate to think what would’ve happened if anyone else saw you. You do have a reputation as an eccentric around here.”

While his face remained blank, Stan fidgeted with his utensils and the salt and pepper shakers. She had never encountered someone who was as expressionless as him.

“The locals don’t know the half of it, which is just fine by me.”

“How did you… umm… communicate your plan with the bear?”

“You know what extrasensory perception and telepathy are?”

“What some people imagine them to be, yes.”

“Well there are a lot of high-powered and wealthy people who believe my telepathic skills are real, which means governments and corporations want to use my services for insights into the strategies of their competitors as well as public attitudes. They don’t understand how my ability works, and that it doesn’t always produce the results they want. Often I tell them only what they asked for rather than all I’ve learned pursuing their request. By the way, I can turn off my telepathy, which I have done for this conversation.”

“You read my concern this morning.”

“And your intention this afternoon to stop at the grocery store. Your thoughts are a lot more focused than most people around here. My primary concern today was the safety of the bears. It would be a real bonus if this incident leads me to comprehend how I read mother bear’s anguish and whether that would open the door to a wider understanding of wildlife thinking. I wish I could get them to look both ways before crossing a road. I’m always upset by the sight of the ones hit by vehicles.

“Today I’m trying to have a normal conversation with a person who has scientific training to see if I can explain myself in a rational way about something that is generally regarded as a blend of wishful thinking and pseudoscience. If I’m imposing on you too much, please say so.”

“Don’t worry; I’m driven by curiosity. In this case, how you convinced the bear you could save her cubs. As intriguing as that is, I’m even more curious about how she would know you could help her, and accept your idea of using the ladder.”

Stan grinned.

“I hope you can help me find answers to your questions. I became aware of sensing other people’s thoughts about thirty years ago when I was in high school. At first I could just get vague impressions of what a person was thinking. It helped if the thoughts involved me. When I was in the school cafeteria or anywhere people were gathered, I would try to pick up on what they were thinking. By the time I finished university I was quite adept at it. Telepathy doesn’t have many applications in chemical engineering so I guess it became my hobby.

“I can read a person’s thoughts regardless of their language because I sense the images of what they’re speaking or thinking about. When I realized that, I wondered whether it’d work on animals. It was difficult at first because animals don’t think in terms of reference like humans. I’ve focused on telepathy with humans and hoped someday to become better at it with animals.

“Understanding animal thoughts began in grad school. I was sitting on a park bench one day thinking about a problem I faced with recycling plastic waste into useful products. I found myself surrounded by pigeons and squirrels although I had no food in my hands. That didn’t discourage them. Then I remembered the sandwich and cookies in my backpacks. They must have smelled them. I pulled them out and shared them. While I was doing that, the solution came for my problem and I quickly scattered the rest of the sandwich and the cookies and headed for my lab.

“My solution worked better than expected and what it led to is the main reason I get so many visitors. I have a specialized chemistry lab in the house that I work in when I want. It’s highly automated so I don’t have to be in it all the time, and when I am I don’t have people’s thoughts intruding on mine.”

“If you’re into specialized engineering,” asked Emily, “why are you living in this out-of-the-way village?”

“Here I’m an oddball and mostly ignored so I accomplish a lot. At a major university, I’d be hounded all the time.”

“What would you have done if the cubs couldn’t climb up the ladder?”

“Put branches on it and they could’ve climbed them.”

“It sure would make my job easier if I could communicate with animals. It would’ve been far better for the cow with the infected foot today if she had just lain still while I was treating her.”

“At least you see the potential in what I can do and don’t think I’m a wacko.”

“Well you’d have to prove to me that your telepathy works beyond making educated guesses.”

“Fair enough, although you’ll have to experience it to really understand. I’ll think of a way to demonstrate it that doesn’t intrude on your privacy.” He smiled at her. “Is the food here acceptable to you?”

“I’ve eaten here a couple of times and the fare was always fine.”

“Good. Could we meet here two evenings from now? I hope by then to have figured out a way to demonstrate my telepathy is legitimate.”

“Certainly, and I’ll read up on the topic. There’s probably lots online about it.”

“Plenty, although the arguments for it aren’t very convincing.”

That evening and the next morning before she headed for the clinic, Emily scanned the internet for information on telepathy and ESP. While she read a lot, the information only made her more skeptical. What will it take to verify Stan’s claims?

She drove through Bethany later in the day and spotted several vehicles outside his house. While they could be discussing chemical engineering issues, she suspected they would be discussing his unusual abilities because their presence would not be noticed here.

Mostly she used her spare time to think about ways to test his claim. How could I do it without letting him read my mind? Her research suggested telepathy only worked if the people involved in the communication willingly participated. Did my curiosity about the bear and why Stan was following her open me to him knowing my thoughts?

Once they placed their orders the next evening, Emily told Stan the only way she could think of checking his claim was for him to tell her what she was thinking about now.

“The horse today. While the cut was deep, cleaning and wrapping it was all that was needed. You wished you could have convinced it that standing still so you could treat and bandage it would be a lot less painful than thrashing about. It obviously upset you a great deal because when I sensed you entering the restaurant, you were still projecting strong feelings about it.”

“What other thoughts can you read?”

“Well you’re curious about my visitors yesterday. It’s interesting that having received your thoughts when you first watched me following the bear, I can tell when you are nearby. You have a unique mental pattern. By the way I checked on the bear today. She and the cubs are fine. I told the township about the hole and they’ll arrange to fill it in. While that news makes you happy, you still want to know about the visitors. Well they actually came to discuss an engineering problem.”

“Nothing about telepathy?” she asked. Stan shook his head. “Guessed wrong there. Nothing I’ve read so far makes a plausible case for telepathy or ESP but its supporters are passionate like the flat-Earthers.”

“Please don’t compare telepathy to the charade of the flat-Earth advocates. My house is cloaked to prevent electronic spying, which also stops my telepathy from working on what’s going on around it. So I only engage it when I’m working on something important in my lab. It’s not on when I have visitors because it interferes with cell phones.”

“So there’s still the matter of convincing me telepathy works. While you correctly noted some of my thoughts, they could just be lucky guesses.”

“Can you think of any instances when you successfully deduced what someone was thinking?”

Emily thought for a spell. “I’m sure there have been occasions but I don’t remember any in detail. I would’ve attributed it to paying attention and thinking a bit.”

“Those are parts of the process for sure. Telepathy doesn’t deliver instant insights. Take the incident with the bear. I was sitting on my back deck enjoying the morning when I felt this anguish. I focused on it and discovered it was coming from the forest not the village. While I wondered if someone was lost, the thoughts coming to me made no sense.

“There are sounds with telepathic thoughts. Finally I realized they were coming from an animal, which I correctly deduced was mother bear. Then I could see the bear’s view of the cubs stuck in this hole. I was puzzling over this when I remembered the garbage box rescue. You know the rest of the story.

“As I was following the bear, I sensed someone was watching. I focused on it and could tell the person was in your apartment and wanted to understand what I was doing. You were curious, not alarmed. And I sensed you a bit later in your vehicle tracking us. By the way, I did some further checking on you. You already have a great reputation around here.”

Emily smiled. “I try to imagine what my patients are thinking, but barks and moos don’t help me much.”

“You should try projecting images of how you want to treat them. That’s what I did over and over with the bear, sending her an image of the ladder going into the hole and the cubs climbing out. I repeated it a lot as we were walking to the hole.”

They parted after dinner with both promising to keep working on understanding telepathy.

The next afternoon the vet clinic received an emergency call. A bull had slashed open its left front leg on a piece of farm machinery. The farmer had coaxed the beast into a pen but it was still bleeding and bellowing in agony.

Emily was on the road and reached the farm in about twenty minutes. The farmer led her to the barn where a couple of workers were watching the animal lying on a pile of straw. “I paid a lot for the bull.” He was still thrashing about.

“Would you fellows please go outside,” Emily said. “I want to try something.” When they were gone, she spoke softly to the bull while she projected an image of her entering the pen and cleaning and wrapping his wound. She repeated it several times and to her surprise the animal quieted.

She opened the door into the pen and stepped in carrying her vet satchel. The bull sniffed a lot so she put her hand in front of its head. The bull reached up to brush her hand with his nose, and then licked her fingers. Then he laid his head back on the straw.

For several minutes, Emily cleaned the wound, and then sprayed it with disinfectant. The bull groaned a couple of times but did not even twitch at her ministrations. Emily finished by wrapping the wound, all the while projecting an image of the bull remaining quiet, the healing occurring, and the bull soon back outside.

With her ministrations complete, she stepped back. The bull struggled slowly to its feet, and then gently moved toward her. He rubbed his head on her arm a couple of times and then stepped back.

She choked back a rush of emotions.

“I believe now Stan.”

Misque Press included my story Woods beyond the Walls in a 2017 issue of Hero and Heroine, an anthology of paranormal, fantasy and science fiction stories. It’s about a boy celebrating his 13^th birthday who discovers his ability to perform some tricks is just the beginning of his gaining powerful magical abilities that will make him feared by many. This story became the basis for my next novel Consciousness Rising, which should be published in 2021.

Woods Beyond the Walls

By Alex Binkley

Jake slipped a leg over the ledge of his bedroom window and eased his body outside once the pre-dawn light was bright enough to retrieve the rifle and backpack he had hidden the day before.

He wanted to celebrate his 13^th birthday by finally seeing what lay beyond the 15-foot high stone wall that encircled his home and a workshop, barn and corral.

Being quiet was crucial. His room was in-between his parents’ and sisters’ bedrooms on the main floor of their home and their windows were likely open. Grandpa’s room was at the other end of the house while Aunt Gert and Uncle Jon lived in the attic.

Jake’s heart pounded like a drum as he stepped carefully to avoid making any noise. He headed for the workshop where he had spent many hours with his father and uncle. He glanced occasionally to his right at the barn, sending soothing thoughts to quiet the livestock. He wanted to be gone before anyone awoke.

When he neared the workshop, he visualized the pack and rifle where he had stored them behind the old barrels. They floated through the air to him.

Jake had not told anyone about his summoning ability or other tricks. He could start fires and open doors and windows with a simple thought. The sheep and cattle entered and left the barn at his unspoken commands. He especially enjoyed raising a pile of wood into the air and breaking it into stove-sized pieces before dropping it into an orderly stack.

He did not dare attempt any other tricks inside the wall out of fear of being discovered. In old books in Grandpa’s library, he had discovered drawings of people performing all sorts of feats like parting rivers and destroying tall buildings. If he could only read the twisting letters, he could learn how to do these tricks.

He sent the pack and rifle floating over the wall to settle on the ground. He had always wanted to climb it and had been scolded often enough when he had tried. He pressed his hands against the stones and glanced up. It looked one hundred feet tall. Could he actually make it?

He had chosen this spot because enough rock projected from the wall to give him hand and foot holds. He reached up to grip two stones, placed his right foot on another and pushed. Keep moving, he muttered.

The holds became smaller as he crept upwards. He stopped several times to wipe the sweat from his eyes on his sleeve. He told himself not to look down and did not dare glance any higher than the next chunk of stone.

His left hand reached up and felt a flat spot. His right hand joined it and his legs gave an extra push. At last, he shimmied onto the top of the wall. In the mist and dim light, the Torrance forest looked like a black smudge broken in places by the outline of tall trees. He inhaled deeply. To his surprise, the air smelled the same as inside the wall.

Cautiously he stood to gaze in every direction. There was enough sunlight to see that forest encircled his home. A wide strip of grassland separated the wall from the trees.

 Thoughts tumbled through Jake’s brain as he wondered in which direction to head. Would the rest of the outside world really resemble the forests, rivers, bridges, roads, cities, towns and people with different colored skin depicted in Grandpa’s books? How about the mechanical devices that rode on the rivers or flew like birds.

When Jake glanced down at his pack and rifle, he noticed the outer wall was smoother with few holds for his hands and feet. One slip and he would fall. He crept along the top until he found what looked like the best place to descend. He swung his legs over, placed one hand on a stone and lowered himself.

Just before his feet reached the ground, the left one snagged on a ledge. He moved the foot back and forth. While the ledge was wide enough for the toes of both boots to fit in, he could think of no reason for it to be there. He had never seen one on the inside of the wall.

After dropping to the ground, he straightened and snapped his fingers. A glowing ball of light appeared revealing a huge, jagged-edged gouge in the wall. It would take a lot of blows with a sledge hammer to dislodge so much mortar and stone. Jake felt about in the flattened grass until he found rocks from the wall. They had no traces of mortar on them.

He stared at the hole that should not be there and spotted several more gouges in either direction. He picked up his backpack and rifle and walked along the wall, surprised by the number of fresh mortar patches. A couple of spots awaited repair.

Even when Mum and Dad find I’m gone, they’ll check with Uncle Jon and Grandpa before they start looking for me so that’ll give me more time.

As he continued his inspection, Jake noticed the forest halted about one hundred yards from the wall. His father and uncle harvested the lush grass that grew in the meadow to feed the livestock during the winter.

Jake spotted an opening at the edge of the forest. Where does it lead?

Whenever he had asked about what lay beyond the wall, his parents and Grandpa said they would tell him when he was older. They had forbidden him from venturing outside the compound because the forest harbored too many dangerous creatures.

Jon would not tell him anything. Just mentioning the outside world made Aunt Gert sad.

Jake faced an immediate choice—keep checking the wall or head for the woods. He had come to explore. He extinguished the light and let his eyes adjust to the low light before walking across the grass to the opening. It was the start of a trail that meandered off among the trees. It was several strides wide, not the footpath he had imagined as he approached the forest.

He inhaled deeply and took his first step into the gloom created by the thick canopy of leaf-covered tree branches. He shuddered at the thought of how dark it would be in here on a moonless night.

Many different bird calls rang through the woods. He wondered if they were normal sounds or a warning about the presence of an intruder in the forest.

As his sight adjusted to the gloom, it came to him the forest would be a perfect place to attempt new tricks. What if I could see or hear better. With those thoughts, the forest became bright enough to distinguish individual trees and boulders. The bird calls were deafening.

Like the other tricks, he just had to think about what he wanted to do and it happened. He counted his steps so he knew how far he had traveled. He kept peering about utterly unsure of what to make of his surroundings. There were so many different kinds of trees; some were thick, others were thin and many were broken or bent.

He glanced at the surface of trail and was surprised by how marked up it was. He bent down for a closer look. Lines about a hand width across and marked with regular indentations stretched as far as he could see. He remembered pictures of vehicles in Grandpa’s books and the tires on them. Where could have one been headed for on this trail other than to his home? He had never heard one.

Just as puzzling were the different paw prints crossing the trail. He only recognized the marks of sheep, dogs and cats. He took several steps and spotted six that were new to him. A couple were large with pronounced toes. Then there were completely round ones set deeper in the dirt. Jake could not imagine what beast could be heavy enough to make such a depression.

His father and uncle’s warnings about the dangerous animals in the woods chewed at his confidence and he slipped off the safety on the rifle.

Birds flitted about and squirrels scampered up trees at his approach. Well past 200 steps, something stirred in the brush. He raised the rifle and stepped off the trail to hide behind a tree.

A light brown head peeked out from bushes. Jake was downwind from the animal and it eased from its coverage followed by two young. It had to be a doe with two fawns. He watched intently as he had never seen wild animals. The deer stepped onto the trail, her ears raised to catch any sounds.

Jake thought about the deer as he did the sheep and cattle. The doe stepped toward him, her head bobbing up and down as she looked at him. The fawns stood beside her. They no longer feared him. In time they would come up to him.

A loud screech caused the doe to flip up her tail and dash into the underbrush followed by her young. The screech rang through the forest again. As Jake thought about what could make such a racket, a large bird flew up the trail coming from deeper in the forest. The tips of its wing were almost brushing the foliage.

The bird, which Jake guessed was an eagle, landed just past him and pulled its wings against its sides. It walked back to where Jake stood ready to cover his ears against another screech. Instead the bird mewled and tilted its head from side to side while looking at him. The forest remained silent.

Jake stepped toward the eagle wondering if attracting wildlife was another of his tricks. If it was, there had to be a purpose to it. Up close, an eagle did not look like a good pet, especially with the long, pointed talons.

 A branch snapped. A snout with two nasty-looking tusks appeared. The eagle screeched a warning and spread its wings. A black boar grunted and charged at Jake. The eagle flapped into the air with a deafening screech before landing on the boar’s back. It tried to dig its talons into the beast and chop at it with its pointed beak. The boar took no notice as it focused on Jake.

He aimed the rifle at the animal’s head and gently squeezed the trigger as Jon had shown him. The discharge boomed through the forest punctuated by the whine of the bullet ricocheting off the boar and several trees. It shouldn’t have bounced like that.

The boar fell over, twitched for a couple of minutes and stilled. The eagle continued to hack at it. Jake stepped toward the beast, his rifle pointed at. No blood pooled around it. What kind of animal doesn’t bleed? The eagle’s talons should have ripped it open.

The bullet had struck just above its eyes. Instead of puncturing the skin and creating a huge hole, it had crumpled the animal’s forehead. He stepped cautiously around the boar, rifle at the ready. He considered pulling out his knife to slice the animal open as Jon had shown him. However the blade was unlikely to have any more effect than the eagle’s talons.

The eagle mewled at him, and then looked down the trail in the direction of his home. Staring at the bird, Jake understood something was following him. Could it be another boar? He stepped back when the bird spread its wings and headed along the trail deeper into the forest. With a glance at the inert boar, Jake hurried after it.

The eagle was almost out of sight when a shimmering flame erupted, snapping and hissing. Reaching ten feet into the air, it created a barrier across the trail and into the forest as far as he could see in either direction.

When Jake’s heart stopped racing, he hoped the eagle was well clear of the flame. He picked up a large branch, moved as close to the light as he dared and pitched it with both arms. The branch flared and disappeared. He picked up a rock and hurled it as hard as he could. The rock, like the branch, didn’t burn or pass over the fire; it flashed out of existence. He would not be going any farther as long as the barrier was there unless he could find a way around it.

He headed to his left. With every step more of it came to life. It had to be reacting to his presence. The stone wall had fenced him in and now this barrier of flame did. Was there a connection between them?

“The barrier comes on if one of us approaches.” His father’s soft voice, coming from behind, startled Jake. “It’s meant to contain Grandpa. And you, it seems.” His father was breathing deeply as if he had run up the trail in pursuit. “Step back from it.”

As Jake stepped toward his father, the flame disappeared.

“Stay here.” His father walked along the trail to where the flame had been. Nothing happened. “It only reacts to the presence of magic. Grandpa wants to know how it senses magic.”

Jake shook his head. “How did you know I was here?”

“It wasn’t hard to follow your steps and I heard the gun discharge. Grandpa had tracked you since you summoned your pack and rifle. However, he didn’t tell us you’d gone over the wall until your mother asked.”

His father placed his hands on Jake’s shoulder. “Grandpa was exiled to our residence because he possesses great magic. He can do many of the feats you would have seen in his books.”

“Will I be able to do them?”

Jake’s father hummed and hawed. “You’ll come into powers far greater than his. Your tricks are an inkling of those abilities. It’s a big world out there and important people are frightened of magic, especially the kind of power you’ll possess. We didn’t let you outside the wall because the boars are programmed to attack any of us who enter the forest.”

The eagle’s screech as it flew up the trail drowned out his father’s words. Jake raised his gun, certain the giant bird was warning him more boars approached.

“Grandpa can’t attract wildlife,” his father said as the eagle landed on the trail. “You must convince the eagle to visit us at home. Let’s inspect your boar.”

Jake’s head swirled with ideas until they reached the still inert animal. “What should we do with it?”

“Although it’s an excellent copy of a boar, surely you’ve figured out by now it’s a machine.” His father laughed. He poked the tail with his rifle and it sprang back and forth. “This is the antenna. Jon thinks they eat the mortar in the wall because there’s something wrong with their energy source. We can take it apart and find out.”

His father put down his rifle and rolled the boar over to study the head. “Your shot must have collapsed its head enough to cause a short circuit in its operating system and it shut down.”

“What are antennas, short circuits and operating systems?”

His father raised his hand to forestall further questions while he pulled a small device from a pocket inside his jacket and held it up to his mouth. “Hey Jon. Jake has a trophy for you and Dad, but we need a vehicle to haul it into the compound. It’s totally shut down. We’ll wait for you.”

Animals that are machines. Boxes that talk over long distances. What else have they kept from me?

His father put his arm around Jake. “You’re a lot like Grandpa. He agreed to exile in the compound to protect Jon and me from being killed as we had no magic to defend ourselves. Your dear mother came with us. We knew a few months after your birth that you could eclipse Grandpa if we protected you until you’re ready. You’ve grown up faster than we wanted.”

“Where does Aunt Gert come from?”

“She had been sentenced to death because of her talents. Magic is a crime in the outside world. Grandpa gained clemency for her to marry Jon because we could control her.”

They sat listening to the truck’s approach. Jake stared at the boar.

“They didn’t appear until we moved here,” his father said. “Jon found a broken down one when you were a baby. That’s when we learned it was a machine.”

“What’s on the other side of the barrier?”

“More forest. It would take days, even with a motorized vehicle, to reach the nearest settlement. You wouldn’t be welcome if people knew what you are.”

“Do I look different?”

“Too often, Grandpa would become offended by conditions in the outside world and in his anger, lose control of his magic and cause all sorts of turmoil. If you can master yours, which he never has, no one could tell you’re a wizard.”

“If Grandpa couldn’t, how will I?”

“We’ll work on that.”

Jon waved a greeting and steered the truck beside the boar. “Would you load it, Jake?”

He stared at his uncle. “I can’t lift that by myself.”

“Didn’t mean the way your father and I would.”

Jake hesitated and then imagined the beast in the back of the truck.

“Easier than doing the firewood?” Jon laughed as the beast thumped down in the vehicle.

Jake imagined himself standing with one leg on the boar like the drawing of the knight that had slain the dragon. In a flash, he was there.

He glanced at a tree and flew to thick branch. As he sat there, the eagle landed and mewled at him.

Jake floated down from the tree to land beside his father and uncle.

“Happy birthday son.”

“It’s been pretty good so far.” Jake leaned into his father to deliver an unspoken thank you.

After a final one arm hug, his father removed his arm. “Grandpa and the rest of us will start answering your questions. You can disassemble the boar with Jon.”

Jake shook his head, thinking about all he had to learn.

“You need to spend the next few years learning about technology and people,” his Dad said. “The first part is really interesting. People are harder because you have to understand them for what they are and not just what they say and do.”

His father hesitated before nudging Jake toward the cab of the truck. “While we expected you would go exploring one day, we knew you couldn’t get past the barrier yet. The day will come when you can.

“I want to be there when you take it down.”

This is one of my short stories. As a wise writer said, the hardest part of writing a short story is keeping it short. They all want to become novels. Comments welcome. – Alex

—

Ainsley Smyth held her breath as another couple strolled toward her booth.

She had sold 10 landscapes within three hours of the art show’s opening. Finally she had enough money in her bank account to enable her to reduce her hours working at the coffee shop and devote more time to painting, her goal since finishing art school.

Several customers had left their names for notification of her next show. Some had described the kinds of scenes they wanted. She envisaged the landscapes and seashore vistas she would create for them. Finally her career was coming together.

The couple barely glanced at her remaining piece before moving on. It showed was a double hung window partly open to let a gentle summer breeze ripple lace curtains. Hints of a garden, trees and a rubber tire swing hovered in the background.

While artist friends told her it was a good painting, to Ainsley it did not fit with her other works because it lacked the sweeping scenery she had become known for. Even when she pointed it out, no one seemed to see it.

She had dumped it in the garbage, and then retrieved it saying she would reuse the canvas. When she could not bring herself to paint over the scene, she tried offering it free with no takers. It was like a stray mutt that had adopted her. She called it The Window. Unlike her other works, she had no memory of painting it.

Three fashionably-dressed women did not slow for a look at it. Under the terms of the show, exhibitors could only leave before closing time if all their pieces were sold. It was early afternoon and she could be outside enjoying the sunshine.

While close to 100 people wandered from artist to artist stopping at most exhibits for a chat, they kept walking past her.

She rearranged the promotional material for her studio, and then pulled out her sketch pad to work on ideas for her next paintings. The clock mounted above the entrance to the display room read 1:30 pm. Four o’clock seemed so far away.

She glanced at the painting and to her surprise, a man was examining it. She had not heard him arrive.

People usually stepped back to get a better view of a painting. He stood so close his nose was almost touching it. His head moved as if peering out both sides of the window as well as the top and bottom. Did he expect to see something?

Ainsley shook her head. Most art lovers babbled on about colors and images and where they could hang the piece. He kept examining it. She tiptoed around the desk and approached him wondering how to inquire about his usual form of art appraisal.

Five steps away him she saw something move in the background of the painting. A scream formed in her throat, but stayed there. This is a painting, not an animation.

“Just take a deep breath and let it out slowly,” the man said without taking his eyes off the picture. She inhaled. “My apologies, Ms. Smythe.” The man faced her. “I should’ve been more careful. You shouldn’t have seen that.”

Ainsley could not get any words out.

“We knew a portal had been created but until now we couldn’t find it.” The man’s soft voice did not mask his excitement. Ainsley still could not say a word. “How much do you want for it? All I have with me is $400.” He pulled the cash out of his pocket.

That was more than a full week’s shift at the coffee shop. The man wore a light blue polo shirt, brown shorts and running shoes. His black hair was cut short. Overall, his appearance was respectable but not flashy. “Name’s Harvey Abrams.”

Ainsley hesitated in case her voice conveyed her guilt about accepting so much for a painting she despised. “Why are you interested in it?”

“I came to the show after reading the article in Brush Strokes on the grandeur of your renderings hoping you might be able to create portals for us. The last thing I expected was to find you’d already painted one.”

“That?” she said, pointing at The Window.

Harvey nodded. “It might sound delusional to you but you did spot a creature moving. Rare is the artist who can create portals with the range of yours.”

Ainsley glanced around to make sure they were alone. “What is this all about and what moved in the painting?”

“Step closer to it.” When she did, Harvey placed his hand on the window frame.

The scene came to life. In the background she spotted towering snow capped mountains and great soaring birds. She leaned forward. A large animal shuffled through a meadow. Its meandering gait resembled a bear in no hurry to go anywhere. “So what am I seeing?”

“Another dimension.” Harvey removed his hand and the faint outline of the swing returned. He handed her the money and produced a business card. It said he was a temporal and timeline consultant. “I have a lot of customers with special requirements.”

“Watching other dimensions?”

“It’s connected and your portals will play an important role in our work. I only let you see it briefly because when anyone other than a watcher looks through a portal it alerts ….” He hummed. “Let’s call them the bad guys.

“They would wreak havoc if they got into our world. I can watch without them noticing. I look for other things too.”

Ainsley stuffed the cash in her purse and pulled out her receipt book. Too bad Harvey was odd, she thought as she filled out the slip of paper. Still she would like someone to celebrate selling all her paintings. His comments about portals and other dimensions had raised a lot of questions.

“Would you please keep my card handy?” he said. “Someday you’ll paint another portal and we’ll pay well for it. Don’t worry. It won’t be for a while. It’d be a shame to interrupt your landscapes.”

She held out her hand. “Would you like to go for a coffee?”

“I prefer tea.”

She loaded her notes and promotional material into her bag and took a step toward the entrance.

“If I carry the painting unwrapped, people will see what you did in it,” Harvey said. “If you would take it to where they wrap it in brown paper, I can carry it from there. Even if I trigger the portal, no one will see it.”

Once they were outside the building, Harvey pulled out his phone and typed in a number. He did not identify himself to whoever answered. “Portal secured. Works better than expected. Discussing acquisition of additional ones.”

After stowing the painting in his SUV, he stepped away and locked the vehicle with the obligatory squawk. He typed a second code. “That ensures a nasty surprise for anyone who attempts to break into it.” They walked to the coffee shop.

Harvey remembered every detail about her that was in the Brush Strokes article. She selected a table on the patio where they could chat without being overheard. She waited until they were seated before questioning him.

“I’m both an electrical and computer software engineer,” he explained. “One of my pals took astro-physics and became intrigued in the research into other or parallel dimensions to ours. He roped me into helping him understand the physics of parallel dimensions and I was hooked. While I’m busy enough as an engineer, some of my assignments have led me deeper into the concept. But until now, our ability to see into them was limited to technology that isn’t anywhere effective as your portal.”

“Do you have other portals?”

“Yours is the first and when you’re ready, we need more. Money is no object for the people I work with.”

“Could we just make copies of that picture; the process is fairly inexpensive these days.”

“My understanding is that only original paintings work.”

“If I painted the same scene from scratch?”

Harvey shook his head. “I doubt it.”

“I wish I could remember what was going on in my head when I painted it. Any idea on what kind of scenes would work.”

“I’ve been wondering about that. I don’t know what’s in The Window that enables me to see other dimensions.”

“Ponds have been used in literature to enable people to see what’s happening elsewhere.”

“That might work if there is a sense of depth to the water or something mysterious hinted at in its depths. Perhaps a shadow.”

Ainsley pulled out her tablet. “I’ve copies of all my paintings on this. Maybe one will give you some ideas.” She passed the tablet to him. “You’ve a lot of security on your vehicle.”

“The bad guys have agents in this dimension and they try to disrupt our efforts to monitor their bosses. They’ll be a threat to you and we’ll provide you with special security. I’ll bring it to your place once it’s fully programed. I’ll show you how to expand its capabilities and knowledge of what you do. It does ask a lot of questions.”

“Will it follow me around?”

“No because it’ll be too obvious and attract a lot of attention. It’ll monitor your whereabouts when you’re at work or out. It should also be able to determine whether what you’re working on has the potential to be a portal.”