Chapter Nine
IŞIĞIN KORUYUCUSU
We were well on our way to our good friend Henry's house. I was always as amazed as Margo is just now, on every drive. I just hid my excitement better. It's like anything else in life that you get used too over time. The fact that you're used too it, doesn't take away from it beauty.
"Look at the size of that dragon fly!" She exclaimed as she reached through the open window, as if to grab it right out of the air.
"Its so wonderful!" she finished. Turning to key and stopping to gaze at him for an extended moment. I don't think he noticed her gaze. I just kept to myself in the backseat and let Margo have her moment in the sunshine.
"We are almost halfway, Key." I warned my dear old friend driving. Henry's driveway is almost naked to the eye. It takes a great deal of concentration to find. And you can't do it when you are hauling ass down a light sand road with snatch on the mind.
"Aye Aye Captain." He said, looking back at me in the rear view mirror.
He began to slow down as he knew we were approaching our destination.
"ahh the air is thick out here." I remembered out loud from the backseat.
"I always forget to wear a sweater. If the fucking bugs here don't get me. The lizards will." I said, referring to a day that will live in infamy for the rest of my life. Key hates hearing about it. But sometimes I like to work myself up by telling the story.
Key and I had just gotten done drinking tea with our good friend Henry when on our walk back to the car a young giant yorlandish lizard blocked our way. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the lizard people. But this youngster still has some lessons to learn in being a civilized member of Mercer Street. We by law cannot kill them. On purpose. But we have done a good god damn job of segregating them way out here in the wastelands. It always baffled me that Henry chose this place of all places to live, way out here with the yorlandish lizard people in the wastelands. I will never forget that young yorlandish lizard for all my life. The little cocksucker.
"Oh relax yourself parky dear friend. You say the same thing every time we come to Henry's house.' Key pointed out.
"It was only that once we had to deal with that fucking lizard and we gave him a good whats for." He finished.
He was probably right. I could see it.
We made the right turn into the driveway and began our trek up to our good friend Henry's house.
"Buckle up, darling." Key said, reaching across and fastening Margo's seat belt for her.
'Darling', I thought. Well that's new. He is definitely becoming more and more smitten with our strange new friend Margo.
"Thanks dear." She replied.
And she was playing right along with it.
We knew we were getting close to the house when the lanterns began to light our way. The best part of the purple sun days was when the sun went down. The sky was filled with a splash work of indigos and yellows and breath taking greens. It was surely a wonder. It is what kept me in Mercer street all those years ago. I wanted to leave when we first arrived. And then the purple sun came and washed my fears away. I remember staring out the glass doors of our apartment house to the backyard when I had first noticed it, that first purple sun took my breath away. It made me feel home.
"Don't you just love the sound of the crickets and frogs out here Margo?" Key asked excitedly. You could hear the ribbits and chirps slicing through the air long our path.
I could tell he was happy to introduce our good friend Henry to Margo. He's never had someone to introduce before.
Margo opened her window wide and stuck the top half of her body out.
"Oh it's just wonderful, Key. The wind in my hair and the sweet smell of gardenias." She spoke of Henry's flower fields that line the path. She slid back into her seat belt.
She was looking over at Key while he was driving. The smile on her face could have raised a thousand ships from the sea. And sank a thousand more.
I was staring out the window in the backseat thinking about how happy I was for my dear old friend. When suddenly I got overwhelmed with the thought of how our new strange friend Margo came into our lives. It was only just yesterday that she appeared on the doorstep of our apartment house. Covered in rain from head to toe, when there hasn't been rain in over forty years. We still know nothing about her. She is a stranger to us. For all I know she is a figment of some drug induced dream. I know she isn't dangerous. I don't get that feeling in any way. But, still I am curious. I want to know more. I want to know everything. I want to know about the rain.
"There it is Margo. This is our good friend Henry's house." Key said as we approached the behemoth structure perched against the backdrop of bubble falls and Nectar creek. It was smack dab in the middle.
A small wooden sign that held the name of Henry's house hung from a wooden T. It was clapping against its harness in the wind. It was always windy at Henrys house. I never understood why. Usually when the winds comes it blows everything away. But not here at Henry's house.
Margo poked her head closer to Key's side of the seat to try and read the sign. She read it out loud :
"Işık Muhafızları." She said with a pause…
"How long has your good friend Henry lived out here?" She asked the two of us with a look of confusion on her face.
"I think it's been about sixty decades or so at this point. He chose this house the day he became the Keeper Of The Light." I tossed from the back seat.
"His wife used to live out here with him. She was a lovely lady. Always wearing those ridiculous hats. You remember those fucking hats, park? She was killed in a rodeo accident. She always loved riding the bulls. It was a tragic accident." Key added.
"But we never bring her up." He further explained.
Each year we set lanterns to the sky to remember her. Lily was a lovely lady. I could tell by the look on Margo's face she was running through scores of questions and images in her mind. It is not every day that you get to meet a Keeper. I did not want to take any glory away from Henry by explaining to her what he could most certainly explain better himself. Henry was good like that. He had a wonderful grasp for telling stories. He was quite riveting really. I was excited for Margo to meet Henry. And for Key to introduce her to him. It is certainly a joyous occasion.
"So here is where we park." Key explained to a bewildered Margo who was looking around wondering how we got way up there to the house from where we are down here.
This is where it gets fun.
Key got out of the car and practically jumped to the other side to open Margo's door. He was on a mission. He absolutely had to open that door. Even after all these years (thousands of years) chivalry is not dead.
"My lady." He said, giving his arm to the girl with the rain.
"Ahhhhh, this drive always does a number on my back." I muttered, stretching towards the sky to help alleviate my pains.
"You never want to use the pillow. I put that pillow in the back seat for you and you never use it." Key started in on me. "You always insist on sitting in the back seat when we go on trips. Why don't you use the pillow? It would help your back. I don't understand why you can't just use the pillow. It's been in there at least five years." Key snarked at me as he and Margo walked away.
I could sense the attitude in his voice. I never did use that pillow. It sat beside me the whole way out here to our good friend Henry's house. I looked up at the sky taking in the last views I would get for the next few hours. The last views I would get of the purple sun.
"Do you remember where the tunnels are?" I asked Key. I didn't remember which one took us up and which one went around and down, I can never remember.
"Tunnels?" Margo asked the two of us in a seemingly disappointed tone.
"Yes my darling" Key said, wrapping his arms around her. I think he is going to kiss her. I hope he kisses her. I don't think he has kissed someone in years. So I really want him to kiss her.
"They lead up to the horses." He explained further. She seemed to be more confused than before. But she was leaning in with the upmost curiosity.
He didn't kiss her.
"Ahh I wonder how old Agatha is." I said excitedly as we worked our ways towards the tunnel entrance. I had forgotten about her. I think I always forget about her. She was the most wonderful draft horse. Getting a bit passed her prime. But she will work until the day she dies. I admire that about Agatha, it's not a trait you find in things much these days anymore.
"Over here!" Yelled Key.
He was clearing the entrance free from the loose light sand.
"I know this is it." He said as he brushed off the plaque sign fixed to the wall. "tek bir yol var"
Margo was rushing to his side. She wanted to help unveil the entrance. For her this is a great adventure. I remember my first adventure with my good friend Henry. It was rather peculiar, and I ended up married to his sister Grace. Oh how I remember that peculiar day. That is one time I don't think I will ever forget.
I followed Key and Margo through the round square hole in the side of the hill, I could smell nag champa that Henry was always burning. It was Lily's favorite.
"Your friend Henry must be a very strange man. To live out here all alone. What does he do way out here all alone?" Margo asked in an increasingly curious tone.
We had come to the first intersection. On the wall ahead of us is one of the first murals that Grace ever did for Henry. It is of a vibration she felt one day. It is beautiful. She always had a way with colors. She could create colors that held such depth you would think you were falling from a building. I always got lost in her works. Henry used to find me at times, lying with her murals in his tunnels. He didn't ever mind, and never said anything. He misses his sister too.
"We go left here." Key said, taking Margo's hand and pulling her in the right direction. She had an affinity for going in the other direction. I wonder if that's how she came to our doorstep just yesterday. Perhaps she took the wrong direction.
The lanterns that lit our way through the tunnel came from an ancient time that Henry and Lily used to visit many years ago. He brought them back each time, one by one. They always looked happy to light the way. Like they were doing their job and doing it well.
"Don't let go of my hand up here hun, we have to climb up over the ledge." Key said, pulling Margo closer to him and giving her a lift up the ledge.
I could hear the horses. Rather, I could smell the horses. I was getting more and more excited to see my old friend Henry. I stepped up to the ledge and key reached out.
"Here you go old man, I will give you a hand." He said half jokingly. He always helped me up the ledge. And I was always grateful for it. I hated this fucking ledge. But he is well over six feet tall so it's easy for him to get up the fucking thing.
"That one is Leo, he came from a champion line of work horses." Key said pointing at the horse Margo was quickly becoming friends with. Leo is a good horse, I always liked him. But Agatha is who I wanted to see.
"He likes me I think." Margo said of Leo. He was licking her palms. I think she worked up quite a sweat climbing up through those tunnels.
"Whats not to like." Key quickly quipped. They both giggled. They are growing quite fond each other. Right in front of my eyes. It's truly a beautiful sight to see.
"Here, let me help you up old friend." Key said helping me into my carriage. Agatha and Kinison are pulling my carriage tonight. They've been together, side by side for the better part of a century.
We had all gotten into our carriages and we were off! On our way up towards the house that Henry built.
I hadn't noticed until I was moving that the purple sun had almost vanished from the sky. The green harvest moon looked like it was pushing the purple sun back down into the earth.
"Look at the moon Margo!" Key said excitedly pointing to her from his carriage.
"Isnt it wonderful!" he exclaimed as he took a long pull from his opium stone. His exhale caught me in a fog momentarilily.
"I haven't seen such a beautiful moon in a long time." She answered. There was a certain sense of longing in her voice. I wondered what she was thinking in that moment. Was it of the place with forests and rain? Was she remembering? This was hardly the right time to ask. But still, I find myself curious.
"Park! Do you remember the time the horses just up and quit. Just stopped pulling. We had to walk up to the house. I am grateful for these horses ever since. I think they were proving their worth to us. Next time I will just shoot one though. " Key said in a dark, humorous tone. It gave me quite the little chuckle.
"I remember that fucking day." I muttered. I was getting cold now. This was why I always wanted that sweater. I hate being cold. And now I'm getting cold. If only I could just remember that fucking sweater. Grace would be so disappointed in me.