Monday, April 5, 2004

“There are probably people who need our help right now.” He said
“Yes you’re right, of course you’re right. I just need a second to get hold of myself. Sorry about grabbing you like that. That was inappropriate.” She said to him while straightening here blouse.
Together the two of them began walking back to the university buildings. There was an awkward silence between them. Theo had so many things racing around inside his head he hardly knew where to start. He wished he had a cool head and could ask the right questions like they always do in the movies, but all that came out of his mouth was, “I didn’t know magic was a real thing.”
“Well, I guess that’s normal,” she started to sound like her old self again, like a teacher, “not very many things come up where I feel it warrants a casting like the one I did on the door. It is also considered very bad form, normally, for someone like myself to practice in the open like I did, but, you know, I had the strangest premonition something unusual was going to happen right after Mika left my office. Oh no! I forgot about her. She could have been trapped in the elevator. And Professor Fouglin, we never found him.”
They did. No sooner had she said it, that they stumbled almost on top of him, or what was left of him. Ms. Greanwyloe gasped in horror, and Theo was again startled as she threw herself into him, hiding her eyes from the gruesome remains smeared across the sidewalk. The monsters must have got him, he thought. It was the worse thing he had ever seen. He wasn’t sure he could stand seeing it, his gut wrenched and he felt as though he was going to throw up, but he forced himself to keep walking looking away, keeping his eyes up. As he pushed himself past the mess he knew he would never forget the sound of his footsteps in the blood.
When they were a good way past it, Ms. Greanwyloe finally moved away from him, “I really have to stop doing that, don’t I.” She said.
“No, it’s alright. I understand.” He said. He tried to make his voice sound easy, but noticed she was avoiding his gaze. He could tell she was uncomfortable. Thinking about her made it easy to forget the remains of Professor Fouglin. She had felt soft and very nice when she was close to him. He knew she was way older than him, and he really didn’t have any funny ideas about how he felt for her, but still it was nice. It made him think of Mika. He really wanted to find her safe, he didn’t want to think she had been hurt or killed in the accident. Some accident he thought. He needed to know what just happened and it seemed his mind was finally clear enough to ask.

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Tuesday, March 23, 2004

It was coming at them from the line of trucks one row away. Its legs moved with a quick jerk up, and then down. The whole of the thing resembled a Praying Mantis, only monstrously larger, and fatter, and oddly fuzzier. Theo felt what had to be a million volts of electricity run through his body, and knew he was afraid. He wanted to run, but it had gotten to close. Ms. Greanwyloe screamed. Door suddenly appeared between the Terrible Insect Monster, and them. The thing stopped, slapped at Door with both of its front legs/arms, and then squealed a hideous sound. Door, though it was very solid had no leverage to brace itself and was easily shoved aside. Theo tightened his grip on the shovel and lowered himself, bending at the knees and at the waist, making himself as small as possible. He wasn’t sure how to fight this thing. He tried to think of something helpful, but found his heart beat pounding in his ears was to great to ignore. Door recovered from being pushed out of the way, and hovered to the side, it was shaking too. Theo wondered if could be afraid, as he was. Then the Monster rushed at him. At the last second Theo changed his mind. He was going to jump away from the thing, but instead decided he would try a throw. It was a crazy idea, but it worked. Theo twisted slightly to his left and thrust up and inward with the point of the shovel. The thing instinctively jerked out of the way of the thrust. Theo lifted the creature with the shovel and propelled it in the direction it had moved to avoid being stabbed. Now he knew something was different. The thing sailed up and over the truck they were standing by, and landed sixty feet away with a loud crunch. Then it twitched uncontrollably, spinning around on the pavement trying not to die. Theo was filled with rage now and knew he had to strike a fatal blow, he jumped completely over the truck. When he landed he rolled so that the shovel described a great arc in the air, and then WHAM, it came down edge first cutting the giant bug cleanly in two.
“Theo, help, Theo.” Ms. Greanwyloe screamed.
Another thing like the first was trying to get to her, but Door was there. The big beastly insect had Door in the grip of four of its legs, and the little Ms. Greanwyloe trapped between Door and the bed of the pick-up. Theo ran back toward the truck, and ran right up the front end. He stopped when he reached the roof and raised the shovel above him with both hands holding it high. The thing turned its huge ugly head up to see the point of the shovel coming right for it. The head split between the eyes as Theo buried the shovel through the things head and all the way to its neck. One end of Door touched the ground and that was all it needed to swing itself over and smash the bug into a pulpy mess.
Theo climbed over the bed of the truck to see if Ms. Greanwyloe was okay. She was crumpled on the ground shaking badly, but unharmed. “Barbara, it’s alright now.” Theo said trying to sound calm, even though he felt more tense than he thought possible.
“How can this be happening?” he asked himself. Without warning Ms. Greanwyloe threw her arms around Theo’s neck and held onto him with desperation. He lifted her off the ground and tried to rock her gently like a child all the while telling her everything was all right. He wanted to ask her to explain how that thing could be real. He studied insects and he knew it was impossible for an insect to be that large. He wanted to ask her to explain about a lot of things. He had always seen her as one of the adults, the people who knew things. He was beginning to realize that she was as confused as he was. He finally put her down and saw that she had been crying uncontrollably.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2004

“Theo, that in all likelihood was no earthquake.” Ms. Greanwyloe said. “And if it is just what I think it was, we are going to be in a lot of danger, if not immediately than very soon.” She was walking with a very slow pace, turning her head from side to side quickly, as she spoke. Everything about her seemed different now. There was a stiffness to the way she held herself.
He followed her and could not help but feel alert to everything around him. It was suddenly odd to him that the air had been filled with so many sounds only a few minutes ago, and now the quiet was pervasive, with a distant almost ghost-like wail of a siren in the distance and nothing else.
Ms. Greanwyloe stopped near the back of a small pick-up; something in the bed had caught her eye. “Do you know how to fight?” She asked.
“My father made me study Ch’uan Fa when I was 10, and I learned a little of the Bo, but not much. I was on the wrestling team in high school. Why?”
“I don’t think I have time to explain,” she started to say as she pulled a bull-nose garden shovel from the back of the truck. “Take this and be ready to use it. I will have the door help as much as possible but it is really better as a shield than anything else.”
“Wait. Why can’t you tell me what’s going on?” He tried not to sound upset but he was losing his patience.
“It’s not that I don’t want to explain, but I'm not sure I understand it all myself. I have only heard stories, and read a little. If things go alright, I think I know someone who can…” before another word could come out of her mouth she froze, mouth open, eyes wide in terror

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Monday, March 1, 2004

It looked as if they were going to be safe. The parking lot was just ahead of them. The ground was shaking less, and the loud sounds of the collapsing building were fading. Theo did not have to run very fast, and besides he did not want to lose Ms. Greanwyloe. He had questions for her, and he was not going anywhere else until he asked them.
All morning things had been happening that taken by themselves were not all that strange, but now as the excitement in him was waning, and he was for the first time really focused on the here and now, he could practically feel the ominousness of this day. Like a thick blanket it closed in on him. Not a lot of things just a few; class seemed easier, people had been nicer, a girl he had always been interested in spoke to him, and there was the old man. Why did the old man seem so different? What was it that kept bugging him about seeing the old man this morning? Then he remembered the last thing the old man had said, “You will want to see me when I get back”. Did the old man have a feeling this was going to happen? Did he know?
“Theo, do you see Mr. Fouglin?” Ms. Greanwyloe was asking him as they reached the parking lot.
“No I don’t, but I thought he was headed this way.” he answered.
The two of them stopped running near a line of sporty trucks and utility vehicles. Theo was looking side to side for the man that had come down the stairs with them. He must be the one she was asking about. Then he realized Ms. Greanwyloe was out of breath, she was holding her side as well. “Are you al right?” He asked.
“I thought I would never be able to keep up with you,” she said between breaths. “I run every Saturday, but you,” she breathed deeply, “I’ve never seen any one move like that for so long.”
Theo wasn’t sure what she meant, but then he noticed she was looking back the way they had come and when he turned his head he saw that they were not on the East side of the Parking lot, but the West side. He had run across the entire campus parking lot and it was at least half a mile.
“I don’t understand.” He said. “What’s going on? I was only running for a couple of seconds. And how did you make that door move? What was that just now?” The questions came spilling out of him, but it was obvious that Ms. Greanwyloe was too tired to answer him. He looked out into the distance at the city behind the University. Most of the buildings were still standing, but there were flames and clouds of dust. He suddenly remembered Mika and wanted to go back and find her. He hoped she had gotten out before the shaking started. “We have to go back and check on the others,” he said calmly.
“We will,” she answered him still catching her breath. “I just want to make sure Bob is alright. We must have passed him in the parking lot somewhere. He drives a blue station wagon. Lets look for him first. Oh and just so you know, I don’t want you to be alarmed or anything, but I am a witch. Been one for years. I don’t practice the art very often, kind of fallen out of favor with most people. You know most of the people I learned from have gone into movies, and foreign aid programs, but it’s good to know I can still do a simple animation spell.
Theo looked around for the door. It was making long circular passes overhead turning this way and that, and generally creeping him out altogether.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004

With what can only be described as calm deliberate purpose Ms. Greanwyloe had picked up a small piece of the broken plaster and with it began to make strange symbols and patterns on the steel surface of the fallen door that lay on the ground next to Theo. She seemed oblivious to the chaos that was surrounding them. A new fear began to swell up in the pit of Theo’s stomach. The shaking was not stopping. All he knew about earthquakes, all that he had ever understood told him it should have stopped by now. He struggled to his feet and reached for Ms Greanwyloe. The little woman took a small cautious step away from Theo and smiled. It was perhaps the most reassuring smile he had ever seen. With a burst of motion she began to wave her arms around in the strangest fashion, and over the roar of the destruction going on around them he could hear her voice singing a beautiful melody. The rhythm was quick and the beat was grabbing at his heart. She sang only a few verses of a strange song in a language he did not understand, and suddenly Theo felt the air next to him being sucked away as the fallen door rocketed off the ground like a jet. It shot straight up into the air and when it was as high as the roof of the Dokik tower, the arts and sciences building that was coming down all around them, it stopped and then like some kind of delicate bird it twirled and dipped. It seemed silly to think it, but Theo could almost swear the door was happy to be flying.
Wait! He shouted in his mind, the door is flying?! This was impossible. He stared in disbelief and felt the world was turning upside down, but Ms. Greanwyloe moved towards him now and shouted. “ Get moving,” and pushed him away from the collapsing building. The two of them began to run. Ms. Greanwyloe was making weird gestures with her right hand and giving out loud sharp whistles. Theo could not help but see the animated door darting above them, left and right. Pieces of the falling building were raining down all around them, and those pieces that would have surely rained down right on their heads were neatly deflected by the flying door.


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To Theo everything seemed to slow down. He had no time to think. The shaking just kept getting worse. It was becoming difficult to stay on his feet. Plaster was falling from the ceiling as the three of them started down the stairs. A loud crash came from above them, followed by the sound of popping fluorescent lamps and then the stairwell was dark for a moment before the emergency lights came on. He didn’t know how or why it happened, but as he started down the last flight of stairs, and could see the light from out side coming through the small window in the door at the bottom of the stairs, he realized he was supporting both the older teacher and Ms. Greanwyloe with one arm around each of their waists. He was moving fast, but managed to stop before he crashed them all into the door. The stairs were coming down. The sounds of straining metal members, and concrete being snapped were overwhelming. Theo shoved against the door. It would not open. He flung himself against it just as the wall around it was giving way. He tumbled out into the daylight. Pieces of the wall were thrown to the ground, as the door was broken free from its bind. The old teacher ran past him, toward the parking lot at the west end of the building, with out looking down and stepped on Theo’s fingers, but it didn’t hurt. Ms. Greanwyloe, on the other hand was doing something entirely unexpected.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2004

“Good. I understand Dr. Hokkum will need some sketches of the specimens, and some photos to go along with the research. I just spoke with Mika Woolorly and she was excited to be a part of this. She is a photographer. Did you know? I think she has even changed her major, but anyway that’s not important…” She stopped talking very suddenly and the room began to shake.
Theo heard it before he felt it. On a small table by Ms. Greanwyloe’s desk were a coffee maker, and some cups. Inside the cups were a few metal spoons and forks. The utensils were clanging against each other. The sound was very slight but she must have heard it as well. For a few long seconds they looked at each other and then the real shaking started. It was an earthquake. They were uncommon, but happened. It was the third one in Theo’s life that he could remember. Theo looked around for some place safe, while Ms. Greanwyloe easily slide under her small desk. As a feeling of panic began to come over him as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.
“We should get out of the building Ms. Greanwyloe. There could be aftershocks.” He said as he reached for her hand to help her up from under the desk. He let her go ahead of him as they hurried out into the hall.
A tall thin man was coming out of the office across the hall from them at the same time, he looked calm, and Theo hoped he didn’t look as frightened as he felt.
“Barbara, was that me, or was that a quake?” The man said.
“A little one I think”, she answered.
“Barb…Ms. Greanwyloe shouldn’t we use the stairs?” Theo asked, and was embarrassed at almost calling her by her first name. It was the first time he had heard her called anything other than Ms. Greanwyloe, and yet it almost popped out of his mouth. The three of them turned away from the elevators and headed toward the stairs at the other end of the hall. Before the reached the door the shaking started again.

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