Decatur by Patricia Lynch Page B

it might have disturbed his child bride right into this pond and he changed after that and finally one day just got in the car and drove away. It was one of his theories, as above so below he would say. He used to talk to me especially after Mrs. Charlesworth died. They say the pond will fill back up on its own if…” She broke off.
    “If what, Marilyn?” Max asked as Rowley prowled the edge of the dry pond nervously.
    There was a pause, and Max felt Marilyn struggling to form the words.
    “If the infernity gets too strong,” she finally managed almost in a gasp as she tried to prevent the old memories from rushing back in.
    “Infernity? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that term. And who says?” Max asked carefully, walking around of edges of drained koi pond feeling Marilyn’s mood like one might little quakes on a Richter scale, noticing how the dog was sticking close and sniffing the air.
    “ J.J. said. It was one of his words.” Marilyn replied thinking that her mother’s employer didn’t just say it, he predicted it, leaning in close to Marilyn, his voice gruff and eyes intense.
    “Do you think that?” Max asked.
    “I think the world is a mysterious place. That’s the one thing the Church has right. You just can’t explain everything.”
    “No.” Max had to restrain himself for reaching for her then, she was so vulnerable and yet she had a power in her, a magnetic pull.
    “Let’s go,” Marilyn said suddenly and they walked briskly back to the front of the place. The trees were rustling in the evening breeze with the three quarters moon throwing sharp shadows on the lawn and everything had an edge to it. As they passed a massive weeping pine Max could almost imagine the young wife’s moans as the wind sawed through the branches. Back behind the house, the koi pond felt the wet trickle begin and rejoiced in a hateful way, fill me full, it whispered to itself, grow a mighty stream , as one thin line of water sprouted like a crack in the old stone floor. Something had come to Decatur at last ; the one who grew up on the grounds, she was drawing it close and it was time to get the dark full.
    As they got to the edges of the grounds, Marilyn turned to face Max, biting her bottom lip and hair waving in the night breeze. “I want to go back to the Map Room, Max. I can feel something going on, it’s everywhere tonight. We can just bring Rowley with us, right?”
    Max didn’t know if it was alright or not, but he didn’t care. Everything felt so real and urgent now. His life was restarting again in the most unlikely of places.
    They pulled into the guest parking space in front of the old Arts and Sciences building. Rowley hopped right out of the front seat, Marilyn put the leash on him and led him up to the door like bringing a dog in a building was the most natural thing in the world. The doors were open as a few evening classes were still going on but Max was pretty sure that the Map Room would be deserted again. In part to keep the familiar anxiety at bay as he broke what he was sure were campus rules against bringing animals into campus buildings, Max pressed Marilyn to tell him about her dream as they climbed the three flights to the Map Room.
    “I’ve had it before, but like I said this was the first time I was positive I’d had it.” she said as Rowley pulled ahead of them up the stairs. “It’s more of a nightmare really.”
    “Perhaps our last session brought it further up in your consciousness,” murmured Max, glad that Rowley wasn’t a yapper as he heard a class on the second floor letting out with the familiar sounds of thudding student feet, chatter about notes, quizzes and that night’s lecture.
    “It’s pretty simple, really. I’m always somewhere I’ve never been but it seems weirdly familiar, like in a train car only an old fashioned kind, or once in a cart, or like last night on a ghostly boat. Anyway, I’m always looking back over my shoulder because something’s