Theme Thursday...........SURFACE

Opal Nation18

I was laying there on the couch thinking these thoughts and still wondering where Ben was, when I fell asleep. I am not sure how long I had been asleep, but the room was dark when I opened my eyes. Something had made me jump and awaken quickly. Then I heard it again, a very loud noise coming from upstairs. Had the ghost returned? Was Mother upstairs rocking in her rocking chair? What was making so much noise?

I quickly stood up and immediately felt lightheaded. It must be later than I thought, I then wondered why neither Clara, nor one of the maids, had not awakened me to let me know that dinner was ready. What was going on? Then I heard it again, such a loud noise. I knew I had better be careful while checking out the noise, but I truly wanted to see if it was Mother's ghost again.

I ran up the stairs as fast as I possible could. The noise was coming from my bedroom, but where was everyone else in the household. They had to have heard the noise. Where was Clara or for that matter where was Cook? Would Clara have not gotten him to come check it out? I stopped just outside my bedroom door. The light by my bed seemed to be on when I looked inside the room. I quickly looked at the rocking chair, it was moving, rocking back and forth, but no ghost was sitting in it. The room was not even cold, let alone frozen.

Then I saw him, Ben was lying on the floor beside the rocking chair. I quickly rushed over to him to see what was wrong. I saw the puddle of water on the floor beside the rocking chair, and almost jumped out of my shoes, but then I also saw the flowers and the broken vase. That must have been the loud noise that had awoken me. Ben was laying there moaning and holding his head. His eyes were glazed over with drunkenness. Had he been drinking Father's Special Reserve? He had probably fallen out of the rocking chair.

He looked at me and said, "Mom, you came back!"

"No, it's me Ben. Mother is not here."

"It is you, I saw you in the rocking chair last night." Then he passed out.

What was I going to do? He was too large for me to lift up and carry to his room. I tried to ring Clara's room, but there was no answer. Cook did not answer either. The maids did not spend the nights here, so I knew none of them would be here. So I just decided the best thing to do was to make Ben as comfortable as possible. I put one of my pillows under his head and then covered him with Mother's quilt. That would have to do until morning. Right at that moment I heard my stomach growl. I was so hungry I thought I could eat a whole tillacock if someone cooked one for me.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. I found some sandwiches sitting wrapped on a plate. Oh how much I loved Clara for always looking out for us. I poured a cup of milk and went back into the library to sit and eat the sandwiches I had put on a plate. Maybe I should have sat in the dinning room to eat them. The library always made me think of Father. And when I thought of Father in the library, I usually thought about one of the many stories he had told us about Opal Nation while sitting in his chair. I sat in his chair while eating the sandwiches. Sometimes just sitting in his chair made me feel closer to him.

After eating my sandwiches, sitting there replete, my hunger abated, I indulged myself enough to try and remember another of Father's stories. There were so many.

Father's love of Opals knew no boundaries. Only his love for Mother was greater. He knew everything that one could possibly know about Opals, except where to find them. Yes, he knew that there were many mines from whence Opals had been found in abundance. He also had known that some Opals had been found just lying on the surface of our planet. These Opals had been found inside rocks that had been out in the open near some small lakes. A few of these lakes had once been larger bodies of water, covering the square surface of over 50 miles. Opals had a high water content and could be found in almost any kind of rock. They could be found in sandstone, basalt, rhyolite and even more commonly in limonite, mostly found under the surface of our planet in mines. Opal came from a Latin word, opalus, which originated from a Greek word, opallios, which has roots in a word for "stone".

Father could tell you just about anything about Opals and when he talked about Opals, he would get this gleam in his eyes. He truly loved Opals. I almost could not blame him for they were a most beautiful stone. Opals contain every color of every other stone in existence. They are the only stone that does this. Some believe Opals are lucky and some believe Opals are evil. Father believed they were lucky.

He had been in the Swirling Marshlands more than once. Father truly believed that the Swirling Marshlands hid the secrets to where the ten large revered Opals in the Opal Nation had been found. For you see, he had once found an Opal of which he swore was even larger than any of the ten that the Opalites worshiped. Then he had lost it.....

For those who missed part 17, here is the link. Which also links to parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. For more Theme Thursday's please go here.