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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 34: Cooper 11
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Brown 293
Brian awoke on the cold stone floor of the cell. It was mostly dark, but for some flicker light coming through the bars of the window in the cell door, and a bit of night gloom suggesting a clear starry moonlit sky outside. He hadn’t eaten, and wondered if that was part of the conditions mandated for his stay. He could, he supposed, ask. Of course, medieval prison food was not particularly palatable; he doubted whether it would merit even one star. He picked himself up and started walking to the door.
“Hello?” he called. No, they wouldn’t understand English, but he wasn’t sure whether hello had any real meaning anyway. Still, there was no answer. He went to call again, and leaned against the door.
It swung open. Someone had forgotten to latch the door.
Uncertain of the situation, he stepped into the hall and looked both ways. To one end was a chair where a soldier sat slumped over asleep. He’s going to be in trouble, Cooper thought, and walked toward him. The man didn’t awaken, and Cooper decided he should check to be sure he was alive, but at that moment he snorted, so he was breathing.
The door at the end of the hall opened easily, and he wondered again that it should have been locked, but he went through it all the same. It occurred to him that maybe some soldier would kill him for trying to escape, and indeed that this might be the plan, but as he entered the outer room he saw only one person, also asleep slumped on a desk. His walking stick was leaning against that desk, and he casually walked over and picked it up.
He remembered when Peter was removed from prison. He had an angel leading him, but it was very like this otherwise. Of course, Peter thought it was a dream. He wondered whether this was a dream.
As he stepped outside, he decided it was definitely not a dream. The cold of the air was too real. He was tempted to head back to the cell--not warm, exactly, but sheltered and not so cold as this. However, this had to be the hand of God bringing him here, and God wouldn’t bring him outside only to have him freeze to death. The question was, what does he do next?
He thought of finding the barn, but he was disoriented enough at this point that this was not likely. He could find the gate; could he find the chalet? It was a bit of a walk, but he liked walking, and although the flannel shirt he wore wasn’t going to protect him from the cold, walking should keep him from freezing. Besides, as he relaxed he could feel that scriff sense that pointed him to the rest of his possessions, which he left at the Tell homestead. That seemed the best choice.
The gate opened easily, and it was not difficult to decide which was the correct road up the mountain to the right address. He started at a brisk but controlled pace, balancing the need to stay warm against the need to travel that distance.
As he walked, he thought. This seemed to be a miracle. He wasn’t sure he’d ever actually seen one before, but he wasn’t going to discount the possibility. The only explanation for his release in this manner was that God wanted him out. The question was, why?
One answer was that he had wanted to be released. He had declined to have an earthquake destroy the jail, but God brought him out another way. So maybe it was just an answer to his prayer. He was out of the jail.
On the other hand, God could have destroyed the jail and dropped the roof atop him, sending him to the next world. That would have gotten him out of the jail; it would have gotten him out of the world. That suggested that God wanted him out of the jail but not out of the world.
That meant he still had something to do here.
Of course, he had no idea what; but knowing that there would be something gave one purpose even without understanding the purpose. He would find out.
His mind wandered most of the night as he trudged up the mountain road. Sometimes he was thinking nothing; sometimes he was remembering home; sometimes he was back to pondering where he was and why. Dawn was breaking as he realized he had reached the chateau, and turned in the drive. He heard the cuckoo. There were goats in the yard; Leonhard was taking care of them, but seeing Brian he exclaimed, “Herr Cooper!”, and whatever else he said was lost as he rushed to the house shouting rapidly over his shoulder. Brian followed, and since the door was swinging unlatched when he reached it, he entered the back of the house.
The warmth from the kitchen was welcome, and he followed the heat to find a seat in there. The cook was apparently working on breakfast already, and nearly dropped her utensil when she saw him.
He had forgotten that when Peter had gotten back to the house, people thought he was a ghost. He greeted her in German, and asked if he could sit by the fire to warm himself. She nodded.
It was not long before Wilhelm and Hans entered, wearing dressing gowns. “How are you here?” Hans asked, which seemed to be what Wilhelm was asking simultaneously in German.
“I’m not sure,” he said, but then in his still limited German he told the story of the unlocked doors and the sleeping guards.
Concluding, he said that he would love something to eat, but he was also exhausted, so if it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition he would like to have breakfast as soon as it was served, and then retire to his room for a few hours of sleep before beginning his daily chores.
The wide-eyed looks of amazement surrounding him suddenly were replaced by laughter, and Wilhelm came over and patted him on his back again, saying he didn’t know how much of the story was true, but it was another great story and worth giving him the morning to himself. The group moved to the dining room, where something Brian would have called porridge was soon placed in front of them. He managed to stay awake long enough to finish the meal, get to his room, and get out of his cold sweaty clothes.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #502: Character Setbacks. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
