Free LeOmi's Solitude by Gene Curtis Page B

Hannah was wearing the broach, the broach she only wore on
special occasions.
    * * *
    She didn’t really know what to expect. Her
father had made the arrangements. In the early afternoon, just
after lunch there was a car waiting out front for her.
    “Hi. I’m Benjamin. Your father and Bekka sent
me.” That was all she needed. He helped her with her trunk and she
got into the back seat of the custom made car. There was no special
markings and no auto manufacturer.
    There was no one to see her off but he didn’t
mention that.
    After they were in the car and he began to
drive he said, “Welcome, we are going to a secure location—and it
may take a while to get there. Do you know why?”
    “Yes, it is because we are being followed
isn’t it.”
    “Exactly. Apparently your grandmother doesn’t
want to let go of you.”
    “Actually I think she is probably glad that I
am gone. Let’s just say that she is very curious.”
    “Okey-dokey…Whatever you say! Bekka told me
that we may have to deal with this. We carriers are followed quite
often, more than you would think.” He paused in his conversation
while he made a U-turn.
    “There is a special container for any
electronic equipment that you may have with you: watches, cell
phones, e-readers, computers, wireless devices, etc. They will not
work on the grounds of The Seventh Mountain but they will be safe
in the container. I will see that it gets to your room at the
mountain.”
    LeOmi placed her cell phone, watch and laptop
computer into the container.
    “Make sure the container is sealed.”
    He made another U-turn and his speed
picked-up.
    “The trick is to lose them in such a way that
they think it is just one of those things that happen, and not
through the skills of your driver, in this case, yours truly.” He
smiled and tipped his hat as he looked at her in the rear view
mirror.
    “Don’t worry, I am good at what I do, you
will actually be able to meet Bekka very soon.”
    His smile was contagious, and soon she felt
like she was being driven around by Bruce Willis—a man skilled at
using a car as a tool.
    * * *
DAY ONE
    I’m on my way Henry.
    The night that Henry relapsed, he had
explained to her about his ‘Wheel of Four Ages’. It was almost like
a wagon or carriage wheel, made of wood with four substantial
spokes and then each quadrant had two smaller diameter spokes that
divided each quadrant of the wheel into three more sections.
    “I painted the vine with flowers that went
all around the inside portion of the wheel.” He was so weak, so
different from when he first trained her.
    “See how it’s woven in and out of the spokes
sometimes going completely around and then finally making it all
the way around to the first spoke.” He traced the air as he
pointed, like he remembered every line. “The Main divisions
represent infancy, youth, middle age, and the last is old age.”
    You could tell that this wheel had been made
by a true craftsman. The vine sometimes went on the side of the
wheel but it never reached the flat outer portion that would roll
on the road. The primary vine had been painted by a youthful hand.
As the vine went from quadrant to quadrant the skill of detail was
evident. The vine had side shoots that made the more intricate
patterns. There were more flowers in some sections and no flowers
in others. When LeOmi first saw the wheel where it hung on the
wall, it was not at all obvious about the significance, the Wheel
of Four Ages—of Henry’s four ages of his life.
    “I want you to see it before…I wanted you to
know that these flowers near the end—they represent you.”
    I’m on my way Henry.
     
    It took longer than Benjamin thought to lose
them but as soon as they were in a section full of trees, the car
lurched as if it had been airborne, the light seemed to shift and
then the car sputtered and the engine died.
    “That’s okay. It always happens, nothing to
worry about.” They coasted towards a group of people.
    The