The Seventh Mountain (4 page)

Mark looked at his mom. She smiled.

“Your mother was almost ready to give birth
to our child. That would be you.”

“I know that.”

“I thought, even as much as I wanted to, I
wouldn’t be home for your birth. A lot I knew.”

“I was born right there in the park.”

“That’s right. I was so wrapped up in just
being there with your mother. I remember thinking of how bright her
blue eyes were. Your mom loves horses, so we strolled over to the
horse corral and stables. I hadn’t noticed the clouds forming over
head.”

“I like horses, too. Can I learn how to
ride?”

“We’ll see. Your mom couldn’t ride then. I
guess you already know that too.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Even though she couldn’t ride, in her
advanced condition, she enjoyed just being around them. I
remember... she smiled at me, you know, the kind of smile that says
‘I know something that you don’t know.’”

“Yeah, she does that a lot.”

“I remember that day like it was yesterday,
the pleasant cool breeze, and the warmth of the sun. I wanted to
savor every moment before I had to go.”

“How long were you gone?”

“Almost a year. I wasn’t back long either
before I had to ship out for somewhere else, not a nice place
either.”

Shirley began setting the table. “He made
sergeant after that. He got to stay home more then, because of
training.”

“All right, back to the story.
Your mother said,
‘I wish that you could be here when
your son is born.’ I barely noticed when a low rumble of thunder
sounded in the distance.”

“The storm’s getting ready to start.”

“Let me tell the story… I said, ‘What makes
you so sure it’s going to be a boy. The doctor didn’t let it slip,
did he?’ I think that some doctors might feel that it is important
for the parents to know the gender of the child before it’s born,
so that they can prepare. Your mom and I had agreed that we wanted
to be surprised. We would love and cherish you, whichever you
were.”

“I’m glad I was a boy.”

“Your mother looked at me with a sly smile
across her lips, ‘Oh, I just know. Nobody told me.’ The breeze was
picking up. It had the heavy feel of rain.

“Your mother pointed at the horses and said,
‘The horses are acting strange.’ She had a touch of apprehension in
her voice. ‘Look at that bay over there. It’s scared. You can see
the white in her eyes. She wants to bolt, but there is no place for
her to run. All of the other horses are doing short circles. They
want to run away, too.’

“I looked up when I felt the mist on my
face. The clouds seemed menacing. I was just about to speak when,
BOOM! A bolt of lightning struck a pine tree not fifty yards from
where we were standing. That tree, every bit of ninety feet tall,
exploded straight down the middle. The thunder rattled our bones.
Small shards of wood pelted us. I grabbed your mother to keep her
from falling over. The concussion from that blast was that strong.
I placed myself between her and the tree while I scanned for some
place to take cover.”

“That’s when you went in the stable.”

“Not quite yet. Another bolt struck another
pine tree not ten yards from the previous one. It reminded me of
taking incoming artillery fire. Our bones quivered and splinters
peppered us again. The tumultuous downpour started. We needed
cover, now. We were caught in a microburst. I knew it. I’d been
caught in one before.”

“What’s a microburst?”

“It’s like, well... imagine blowing on an
anthill through a straw. Now imagine yourself as an ant caught in
that blast. Add rain, hail, lightning, and gut-wrenching fear. That
about says it all. That’s what a microburst is like. It’s not
fun.”

“Like a tornado?”

“Kind of, some people call it a
straight-line tornado.”

“That’s scary.”

“Yeah, it is. The three-sided stable didn’t
offer much cover but it was all we had. I nodded toward the stable.
I grabbed your mother. Without hesitation, we both made our way
through the corral fence and into the stable. You might say we were
well motivated.”

“I bet.”

“Lightning flashed again. Thunder pounded. I
couldn’t see where it had struck. It had been very close, too
close. I felt the tingle in my legs.”

“You were struck by lightning?”

“No, but it was close. The wind started. I
knew it would. Every single treetop that we could see snapped right
off in a straight line as if some giant, invisible flying saucer
had flown through the tops of the trees. The stable shook. Large
sheets of metal roofing were being torn off and flying away. Your
mom and I huddled in the corner of a stall. Lightning flashed about
every ten seconds. Objects exploded with every flash. Every
thunderclap penetrated us to the very core. I thought that the wind
might blow us away. I had to work fast. I took my wet shirt off and
tied one end of the shirt to a stall post that was set into the
ground. The other end of the shirt I tied around your mom’s ankle.
I lashed my leg to the post with my belt. Your mother sobbed. I
thought it was fear, I hadn’t realized that she had started
childbirth.

“I knew that a microburst was a short-lived
event, less than twenty minutes. At most, we had less than fifteen
minutes left to tough it out. Fifteen minutes can be an eternity
when you’re under fire. We were relatively safe in the corner of
the stable. Well, as safe as we could be anyway, all things
considered. I remember praying, ‘Father be with us now, cover us,
and keep us safe.’

“The wind ended. It had seemed like forever,
but it had been only about ten minutes. The lightning was still
striking but nowhere as near as close or as frequently as it had
been. The rain had quit altogether.

“I straightened up and started to look
around. The first thing that I noticed was that the stable was
still mostly intact except for the roof at the far end. I turned to
look and came nose to nose with that bay colored horse. Her eyes
were wide with fear. She whinnied and reared.”

“I know. I saw it in my dream.”

“I tried to dodge her hooves but my leg was
still lashed to the post. I couldn’t move much. I knew that I had
to keep the horse’s attention on myself and away from your mother.
I heard your mother sigh a little. The first hoof hit me on the
right side of my chest. Broken ribs. The second hoof hit my
shoulder. I heard my collarbone snap. I went down. The horse reared
again. I managed to loosen the belt and free my leg. I was thinking
that if I moved to the side the horse would follow me and not see
your mom. I tried it. The horse didn’t follow me. She was fixed on
your mother. It was about then that I noticed two hooded figures
just outside the stable. I dove toward your mother to protect her
from the hooves. I called out, ‘Help me.’

“Your mother had looked just in time to see
the bay horse rearing and me diving toward her. She scrambled to
back away. The hooves came down on the back of both of my legs.
Both of my femurs snapped. I felt the pain. I saw in that instant
your mom’s predicament. She was still tied to the post. She
couldn’t get away. I managed to get my pocketknife from my pocket
before I lost consciousness.”

Shirley sat the platter of breakfast steaks
and scrambled eggs on the table. “I remember it like it was
yesterday. The horse started to rear up again. I reached for the
knife. One of the hooded figures entered the stall. I quickly
opened the knife. Another contraction hit me. The hooded figure
interposed himself between the horse and me. I heard him yell ‘Burn
it now!’ I remember that because I thought it was very odd. What
was he supposed to burn, the stable? Lightning struck just outside
of the stable.”

Mark exclaimed, “Yeah! It hit the fence post
right where Tim was!”

Shirley continued. “The hooded figure hopped
around in front of the horse with his arms waving. He was saying
something that I couldn’t quite make out. Smoke started to come
into the stable. Evidently the last lightning strike had started a
fire.”

“It did! Tim was burning something.”

“It stunk, like fish burning on the grill.
The horse cried out, crumpled down onto its front knees and rolled
over onto its side. It let out a long sigh then lay still, like it
was dead.”

“It wasn’t dead. In my dream, I saw it
leave.”

“The hooded figure turned toward me, and
then toward your dad. He looked at me again and pulled back his
hood. He was a young man, barely eighteen I guess. He had long,
flowing, blond hair and deep green eyes. He said, ‘My name is
Gerod. Don’t be afraid, we’re here to help you.’

“Another huge hooded figure came into the
stable. He pulled back his hood. He was an older man with thick
black hair and a full beard. This was very much in contrast with
his intense, very blue eyes. ‘My name is Tim,’ he said.”

“That’s the guy in my dream!”

“Another contraction hit me. I must have
grimaced at the pain. In two strides Gerod, the blond kid, was at
my side. He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Don’t worry,
the best people are born in stables.’ With that, he gave me a smile
and a wink. ‘You just lay back. Everything is going to be all
right.’”

“That’s why Tim said that I should tell you
that.”

“I was worried about your dad. I saw what
that horse had done to him. ‘What about Steve?’

“Don’t you fret one bit. Tim is going to
take care of him. You just lie back, and let’s bring this baby into
the world.”

“There was something about his voice that I
just trusted him. I can’t explain it.

“He reached deep into a pocket of his robe.
He took out a small bottle, put some of the liquid on his finger
and rubbed my forehead with it. I felt a deep reassuring peace
settle over me. When I woke up, I was cradling a newborn baby boy
in my arms. Your dad was kneeling at my side.

“I was dumbfounded. His legs had been
broken. I looked at his legs. They looked all right. I said, ‘Your
legs!’

“He said, ‘Shhh… I’m all right.’ I found out
later that he was baffled, too.

“Just then a park ranger jeep pulled up
outside.

“The ranger called out, ‘Hello! Anyone
here?’

“Your dad called to the ranger, ‘We’re over
here.’

“The ranger strode over to the corner stall
where your dad and I were. ‘Well, well, well, what have we
here?’

“Your dad said, ‘Well, there were only two
of us in here before the storm.’

“The ranger looked at you, your dad and me.
He smiled while saying, ‘I hear tell that the best people are born
in stables.’”

Steve looked at Mark. “That’s how it
happened. We never saw the two strangers again. We never figured
out who they were. When I woke up, that horse was gone too. We’re
still baffled about the whole thing. I don’t think that we’ll ever
figure it out.”

Mark looked at his dad. “That’s exactly the
dream I had last night, only, I was up in the air watching the
whole thing. In the first part of the dream, Tim, the big guy, with
the blue eyes, was in it. He showed me a mountain. He said that I
was chosen to go to school there. I had to go there, I didn’t have
a choice. He said that the school was a part of who I am and who I
will become. What do you think it means?”

“I don’t really know, Mark. Tim told me the
same thing. I came around a little, while he was working on me. He
told me that it would start to happen when you were twelve years
old.”

“Wow! That was some story.” James stood up
and stepped off the stairs. All eyes turned to James. No one said
anything. James walked up and handed Mark a piece of paper. “Happy
birthday, misc.”

Steve said, “What’s a misc?”

“You know. It’s like when you’re sorting
stuff. It’s the things that don’t fit into any other category.”

James felt more like the misc after the
dream that he had last night. He knew that his dream had been
significant, not like any other dream that he had ever had or even
heard of, until today.

He had sat on the stairs and listened to the
story of Mark’s birth. Mark had dreamed about his birth and it had
been absolutely accurate. James was almost certain now that his
dream and what he had found out as a result was probably true as
well; he just didn’t want to believe it.

Mark looked at the slip of paper. It read,
“FREE HINT  DIG.” He recognized it immediately as an
anagram.

Steve said, “What is this?”

Shirley was setting the rest of breakfast on
the table.

Mark said to his dad, “James likes games. I
suspect this is a clue to where my birthday present from him
is.”

Shirley said, “James! That’s not very nice.
How would you like it, if I made you clues for you to find your
breakfast?”

Mark interrupted, “It’s okay, Mom. We do
this kind of thing all the time. James loves anagrams.”

James said, “It’s part of the present, Mom.
It’s just a short treasure hunt.”

Shirley said in a half scolding tone, “All
right then, sit down. It will have to wait until after
breakfast.”

Steve looked at everyone around the table
before he bowed his head and asked the blessing.

After breakfast Mark went and got the
Scrabble
^®
tiles and went to
work on the first clue. Unscrambled, the first clue, “FREE
HINT  DIG” was an anagram for “IN THE FRIDGE.”

Mark went to the refrigerator and retrieved
the second clue. The second clue read, “OUCH   CREED
HUNT.” After a few minutes
and several wrong
answers,
Mark had deciphered the second clue as “UNDER THE
COUCH.”

He looked under the couch and found another
slip of paper that read “YONDER  U  BO.” It took a little
longer
and much more careful thought
for
Mark to decrypt the message into “ON YOUR BED.”

Mark returned with the brightly wrapped
present in his hand. He was surprised to see a brand new bicycle
standing in the kitchen.