THE
GARNET RINGS
By Forrest Wayne Schultz
My Ideal
Job
I have the ideal
engineering job. I work at home using my computer to solve problems which I
enjoy doing because they are like the ones in the math, science, and
engineering textbooks we used in college. My job also turned out to be ideal
when my father asked me to return home to help him run the family business.
This will be no problem -- I will take my computer home with me and move back
into my spacious boyhood bedroom for the duration and do my engineering work
there.
Woman In
Danger
Several hours before I
left to go home I received a visit from an old friend requesting me to do him a
favor for him. He has a super-secret job about which he had never told me
anything before then. He told me has had just been assigned to a task force
with the mission of protecting a young woman from assassination. The day after
tomorrow (Wednesday) she will be moving into the house next door to my boyhood
home. He does NOT want me to use any spy-craft gadgetry or methodology but
simply to keep my eyes and ears open and report anything noteworthy to him via
a super-secret electronic gizmo he gave me. I am NOT to tell ANYONE about this
nor am I to do anything to arouse anyone's suspicion. And I am not to contact
him in any other way than through this special e-gizmo, which will enable us to
communicate directly with each other (NOT via the Internet). He told me that
his first e-comm to me will instruct me in how to use my e-gizmo for this
purpose. He will NOT be contacting me in any other way.
I immediately agreed to
do so. My task will be easier than he realized because I already know this
woman, Cara, who used to live in our community when she was a girl. It will be
wonderful to see her again, so that it will be natural for me to spend a good
bit of time with her because we were close friends during our childhood. In
fact, shortly before she left, her grandmother, one of the greatest persons I
have ever known, gave Cara two very beautiful garnet-colored rings, one for her
to wear and one for me to wear. I will speak more of them later.
-1-
My
Father's Candor
Following my father's
instructions, I went to see him in his study as soon as I returned home, which
was on Monday afternoon. He too had something to tell me that I needed to keep
secret. He told me that his illness was a permanent one from which he would not
recover. He learned this seven years ago after which he secretly changed his
will and several legal documents which made me the co-owner of everything --
his house, his farm, his stocks, and his business. He has not told my mother or
anyone else: until he told me his attorney was the only
other person who knew this. Upon his death I will own everything automatically
-- the will merely states this; it does not make it happen. He does NOT want my
mother to know because she would not be able to emotionally handle it. Starting
a few months ago, the illness began slowly weakening him and he now needs me to
take about half his burden in running our business, an ultra-modern, heavily
computerized bakery which does not require a lot of supervision. He and my mother
were splitting the supervisory work roughly half and half. I will now be taking
about half of his half, i.e. about a quarter of the overall supervisory work,
which will amount to about 4 hours a day. The farm takes no work at all now
because several years ago he stopped farming and turned the whole of the land
into pasture which he has leased to a nearby farmer using it to pasture his
beef cattle.
Cara And
The Garnet Rings
I got to know Cara when
she was two years old and I was seven years old. We met at a special swimming
hole that was ideal for toddlers and other small children because it was just
the right size and depth for splashing around without having to worry about drowning
or anything else dangerous. And the water was clean and refreshing and never
muddy or polluted. Her family left the area and moved to California when she
was four years old and I was nine years old. Cara is one of the very finest
human beings I have ever known as well as one of the feistiest and most
creative. She liked to make up stories and change stories -- for instance, she
said it was actually the Three Bears that jumped out the window, not
Goldilocks. By the time she was three and I was eight we were very close
friends, and it was at that time that her grandmother gave to Cara and to me
The Garnet Rings, which were and are the most beautiful objects I have ever
seen.
-2-
Her grandma with great
joy and solemnity gave us these rings with instructions NEVER to take them off
and NEVER to tell anyone about them. She said that with them we could
communicate with each other, and she said that they would protect both of us
from harm. Communicating via them is easy -- when we wish to speak with each
other, each of us sees the other and hears the other via a kind of holographic
projection plus audio that looks and sounds just like we are with each other.
We kept in touch with each other many times both here and then after she and
her family moved to California when she was four and I was nine years old.
These rings are the
color of garnet, which is a vibrant deep dark red -- the red of life and
vitality, which is exactly the feeling Cara and I get when we see and feel our
rings. Another thing special about these rings is that garnet is the color of
the ring itself, NOT of a stone mounted on the ring. The ring is composed of a
metal which is both ultra-strong and ultra-light, which is unusual also in that
it radiates the garnet color in a vibrant manner.
Although Cara and I can
see these rings, they are invisible to everyone else, and no one beside us and
her grandmother knows of them. We never talk about them with anyone else. They
were especially important to us after she moved to California -- it was easy
for us to stay in touch. As soon as I was done speaking with my father upon my
return home, I went and moved back into my bedroom and then contacted Cara via
our rings. And she had quite a tale to tell me! That morning while she and her
grandmother were chatting they suddenly sensed danger from a cabal of evil
wizards, whereupon they prayed, and then her ring showed her the evil wizards
and their magical paraphernalia being destroyed as their remote cabin was
burned by a wildfire. Wow, was that exciting and really "far out".
Unfortunately, I could not tell Cara about what I had learned from my friend
because of my promise to him not to tell anyone.
The Girl
Next Door
Suzie is NOW the girl
next door and has been the girl next door all of her life. She will cease to be
the girl next door after she and her parents move out tomorrow (Tuesday). She
is the same age as I am, and she was one of my closest friends during our teen
years, and I suppose you could call her my "girlfriend", although we
rarely "dated" in the usual sense of that term. We spent a lot of
time together in and around our houses, but our favorite activities were taking
long walks and bike rides.
-3-
Immediately after we
graduated from high school, her second cousin Billy moved nearby and he soon
replaced me as her best friend. I maintained my friendship with Suzie but it
became a rather inactive one because I then was spending almost all my time
away at college and at my job near the college, so that I only got to see her
on my few visits home at Christmas and a few other times.
Billy also liked to go
on walks and bike rides with Suzie but his favorite pastime was spy stuff. He
not only enjoyed reading espionage suspense stories, he also liked electronic
surveillance gadgetry, and doing things like trying to figure out how he would
carry out a "hit" as a sniper.
On the other side of
the road that runs past our houses is a very high hill. Climbing it and gazing
over the vast vista which can be seen from its summit was one of the most
enjoyable things Suzie and I did together. Billy also liked doing this but in
addition he liked to imagine being a sniper perched on its lofty heights. And
he got Suzie interested in this as well. They spent a lot of time up there
trying to figure out a good location for a sniper. They finally found it -- a
rock ideally situated and just the right size and configuration upon which a
sniper's rifle could be mounted for a direct shot into her bedroom window. Then,
SUDDENLY, Suzie has a premonition that a sniper was intending to come very soon
to this very spot in order to shoot into her window!!
Billy believed her and
also believed that they needed to act immediately to prevent this from
occurring. In a nearby tree they installed a poison-dart delivery-system and an
electronic surveillance camera, and they installed another such camera in a
tree near the spot where the sniper would be likely to park his car -- in the
bushes near the dirt road on the back side of the hill. He then put his
computer skills to use whereby he discovered that the assassination plot was
hatched by two super-wealthy, super-reclusive, super-wicked brothers, who a
very short while ago had contracted the job to a sniper who is one of the best
hit-men in the business. As quickly as possible Billy paid a visit to this
dastardly duo in their lair (a cabin in a remote woods) where he executed them
and retrieved all their conspiratorial data.
-4-
The following day,
which was this (Monday) morning, the hired sniper arrived to perform his
reconnaissance of the hill. It did not take him long to locate the
aforementioned ideal sniper spot. The electronic surveillance camera made a
positive identification of the man -- this was indeed THE sniper! Before he
could open his weapon case, Billy pressed the button which sent a
super-poisonous dart into this villain, killing him in seconds. Billy and Suzie then drove to the summit of
the hill in Suzie's car. They both dragged the hit man's corpse to his car and
stashed it in the trunk thereof. Billy then drove the hit man's car (with Suzie
following him in her car) to a long abandoned quarry, where they buried the hit
man by pushing his car over the cliff which caused it to plunge into the deep
lake at its base, which is now the tomb of this would-be assassin. They then
returned to Suzie's place in her car. They decided to maintain the electronic
surveillance in operation in Suzie's bedroom (which on Wednesday will become
Cara's bedroom) and to place another receiver for it in my bedroom.
Suzie and Billy told me
all of this on that evening in my room. I had arrived on Monday afternoon and
met with my father soon after that. Billy and Suzie came over as soon as he
left for his Kiwanis Club meeting that evening. We spent the whole evening
going over this and getting caught up on lots of other stuff.
Billy and Suzie, as
they had planned to do, left on Tuesday afternoon, the same time that Cara and
her family were preparing to leave California, which they did, arriving here on
Wednesday afternoon.
Cara
Returns
It is now Wednesday
afternoon. No words are adequate to convey how wondrous it is to have her back
here. After a time of joyous greeting in which I welcomed her, her parents and
her grandmother and I helped them unload their stuff, I finally had some time
alone with Cara. Although we had spoken to one another during our absence from
each other, on the phone and by email and the contact via the Garnet Rings, these
are no substitutes for being with a person. I especially was anxious for us
finally to discuss something we just could not do until we were back together
again, and that is whether she wishes to marry me. We agreed to devote the main
time of our conversations to this, because each of us appears to wish to marry
but each has some hesitations. Tomorrow
(Thursday) she and the rest of her family will have a lot to do, so we have
decided that we will devote all of Friday afternoon to this discussion.
-5-
"Reddie"
It is now Thursday
morning and my friend has finally contacted me via the e-gizmo. He had two messages for me. The first message stated very emphatically
that Cara was no longer in danger of assassination. This is very good to hear
and, of course, it confirms what I learned when Billy and Suzie told me what
they had done. The second message was
very different due to its uncertainties. It stated that it was not certain that
anyone else here was in danger of assassination but that there was a
possibility that another young woman living in our community might be the
target. It also stated that the only information available was that her name
was "Ready". I had a good
laugh over that!! I know exactly to whom the message refers and her name, or, I
should say, nickname, is "Reddie".
We have two elementary
schools in our community. When I was in second grade a new girl, who had just
moved to our part of the community, joined our class. She had -- and has --
beautiful red hair. We had a boy in our class who had red hair and we had
nicknamed him "Red". We could not give her the same name without
getting the two confused, so we decided to nickname her "Reddie". She
LOVED this nickname "Reddie", and ever since then everyone here calls
her that.
Like me, Reddie lives
on the edge of town, and, in fact, her house is directly south of the house
which Suzie just left and into which Cara just moved. As you proceed south the
land gradually slopes down to a small creek and then slopes gradually up to
Reddie's house. It is approximately a third of a mile from my house to hers.
As soon as I had the
opportunity, very early on Thursday afternoon, I climbed to the summit of the
hill, and went to that ideal sniper rock and I was horrified to see that it is
also an ideal spot for a sniper to use to shoot directly into Reddie's bedroom
window!!! What in the world is going on
here??
Further complicating
this matter is that Reddie, who has wanted me for some time, finally decided to
make her move when I returned. I agreed
to meet her on Thursday at 4 PM at my place to discuss this. Although this adds a complication, it will
give me the opportunity to renew our acquaintance and to see if I can detect
anything from our conversation that would indicate that she is in any
danger.
-6-
It was
quite exciting meeting with Reddie to discuss very candidly something so
important and so personal. I clearly
expressed to her my strong tie with Cara, and I emphasized that I would not
make any decision until after my talk with Cara tomorrow. Reddie accepted this without any reservation
or complaint. Our discussion was frank
and mature and friendly and informative.
Our
discussion also included a lot of catching up.
We each told the other what we had been doing during the past five years,
so that I succeeded in my plan of learning everything I could about what was
happening in her life. I wanted to learn
if there was anything at all in what she said or any feelings she expressed
that might be a clue to whether or not she was in any danger, and if so, what
kind and from whom. I did not see
anything at all either in her statements or her attitude that would indicate
her being in any kind of danger. Whew,
what a relief!
Immediately after she left I began having some fun as I began thinking
about having to choose between The Girl With The Red Ring and The Girl With The
Red Hair!!
“Randie”
Reddie and I had had our conversation while seated
on lawn chairs in a secluded spot under the shade of a maple tree on the
boundary between my back yard and the adjacent woods. After our conversation, as I walking toward
my house, my soliloquy about the Red-Ring/Red-Hair choice was abruptly
interrupted by a cry of pain and a thump from the woods behind me. As I turned around I beheld sprawled upon the
ground Miranda The Poe Girl alias Raven-Haired Randie alias Nevermore alias
Goth Girl. She was a not-so-secret
admirer whom I had forgotten, whose sudden dramatic appearance brought back
memories of her strange attractiveness.
Unlike the strange attractors in arcane physics books, Randie was a
strange attractor in real life!
Not
wanting to admit this to her, I jokingly reproached her: “Well, Randie, nice of you to drop in like
this! I had already surmised that you
were falling for me, but I never thought you would do so literally!”.
She
retorted with a huff: “Hey, cut the
chit-chat! Help me get up – I am hurting
real bad – must have sprained my ankle!”.
-7-
“Wow! This is really exciting – a semi-nerd like me
coming to the rescue of the tough Goth Girl.
Well, here I am, Sir Galahad at your service”, I exclaimed as I walked
over to her and gently assisted her to stand and then lean upon me as she
limped toward the house with my support.
I guided her toward the living room and placed her on the couch, where
she reclined as I rubbed capsicum ointment on her ankle, which I then wrapped
in an ace bandage.
As she
was recuperating she brought me up to date on what was happening in her
life. Lots of interesting stuff in her
account but the only thing of relevance here was her dabbling in “psychic”
stuff, including contact with a famous pychic “reader” whose services have been
used by various persons, including intelligence operatives, one of whom I
suspect was my abovementioned friend – I am sure this psychic was the source of
the intel he gave me about “Ready”.
The reason
for this conclusion was that Randie said that yesterday when she heard of
Reddie’s decision to chase me, that she blurted out “I could kill that Reddie
girl!”, after which the psychic appeared to her in a vision and proclaimed, “I
will help you to do so!”. Randie then told
me that, heeding the warnings against demonic stuff her pastor had been giving
in his recent sermons, she had decided to discontinue her contact with this
psychic, and to pray to God for a Hedge of Protection to be placed around her,
which she received. Therefore, she told
the psychic to get lost and never contact her again! The psychic in anger tried to barge in
anyway, reminiscent of the Big Bad Wolf trying to blow down the brick house of
the Third Little Pig, except in her case it was more like a force field into
which the psychic crashed and was bounced off, then withdrew in defeat.
We had
further discussions in which she said that she wanted me but had prayed to God
for His guidance and would submit to His Will in this matter. Sooo, this time with Randie ended like my
time with Reddie: a mature, intelligent,
open discussion with no hard feelings. A
very refreshing experience indeed!!!
What a blessing!!
My Meeting
With Cara
I was
greatly encouraged by the outcome of the meetings with both Reddie and Randie,
so much so that I renewed my commitment to God, which, I am sorry to say, had
become somewhat lukewarm. When Cara and
I met the following day, Friday, I was then ready for it, and after some
discussion we both concluded that God had given us the Garnet Rings because He
wanted us to marry and to work together in a special life of service He has
planned for us. This is not The End,
but THE
BEGINNING!!!
-8-
