for any extended period of time. As it turned out, that was only for a few hours before I was jarred awake by Doctor Rieth calling my cell phone. Given the fact that I probably would have slept right through our planned meeting, I suppose it had been for the best.
I finally stopped rubbing my eyes then reached over to the passenger seat and rooted around in my backpack. After a moment I pulled out a small, point-and-shoot digital camera. I stuffed it into my jacket pocket then shoved my hand back into the pack and retrieved a fresh bottle of aspirin I had picked up earlier this morning.
My headache was bearable for the moment, but the persistent dull ache had started ramping up a few minutes ago and had gradually increased the closer we got to our destination. Since I had a minute I figured it might be a good idea to see if I could head some of it off at the pass. I had just broken the seal on the bottle when Doctor Rieth knocked on the window.
She was in her mid-fifties and stood average height. In truth, she looked much like the photograph on her book jacket. Shoulder-length hair that occupied a hue somewhere between blonde and strawberry. Her features were pretty, but her expression seemed to change little. Except for a quick smile upon our initial face-to-face meeting a little earlier, she had worn a sober mask that spoke to her academic ties. Still, her eyes betrayed untold wisdom that I suspected was born of experience, both good and bad.
I quickly tossed a few of the aspirin into my mouth and swallowed them dry, causing a lump to rise in my throat. Then, I left the bottle in the console and climbed out of my vehicle.
“Headache?” Doctor Rieth asked across the top of the car.
“Yeah,” I answered with a nod, choking the pills the rest of the way down.
“How many aspirin did you take?” she pressed.
“Probably not enough,” I told her as I hooked around the front of the rental and joined her on the sidewalk.
She shook her head. “You know, that probably isn’t very good for you.”
“Yeah. It says that right on the bottle.”
“All right then,” she replied. “I’m not your mother.”
“Thank you for recognizing that fact, Doctor Rieth. Most of my friends don’t.”
“I thought we had agreed to dispense with formality?”
“You’re right,” I said with a nod. “Thank you, Velvet.”
“For what it is worth,” she continued. “I would suspect their concern is what makes them your friends.”
“Uh-huh. That’s the argument they use too.”
She gave me a nod then turned and started walking down the sidewalk. The high walls surrounding the cemetery were rife with signs of their advanced age. However, it was also obvious that great care had been taken to maintain them over the years, and they even appeared to be an eternal work in progress.
The entrance itself was a gaping mouth, and its teeth were iron gates that were now propped open. There was something altogether eerie about the invitation they presented. I wondered if it was just me, or if Velvet viewed it in the same way. If she did, her expression didn’t let on.
We covered the relatively short distance between our vehicles and the entryway in a matter of a half-minute, both silent as we walked. I made the turn as we reached the gate, starting through without really slowing down. However, before I managed to cross the threshold, the good doctor’s arm shot across my path, barring my way. I stumbled against my momentum then caught myself and took a step back.
“What?” I asked.
“What are you doing?” she asked in reply.
“Well… I thought I was going into the cemetery, but I guess I was wrong?”
She shook her head. “You need to give them an offering first.”
“Oh,” I replied, unsure of what else to say.
She gave her head another shake then asked, “Do you have any change with you?”
I shoved my hand in my pocket then dug around and extracted all of the loose coins I managed to find. Holding them in my palm, I used my index finger to spread them out and display them to her. “This enough?”
“It’s really not as much about the amount as the effort and respect,” she told me as she nodded at my hand then showed me the similar pile in her own. “Just let them know you have a gift for them and ask permission to enter.”
“I can’t say that I’ve ever done this before,” I offered, a hint of embarrassment in my voice.
“Have you gone into cemeteries before?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
She sighed. “Then I suspect you’ve offended a few ancestors.”
“Great.”
“Don’t worry about that now. You’ll all get over it,” she told me with a quick shake of her head. “Just do it right this time.”
“Anything special I’m supposed to say?”
“No, just speak from the heart. Tell them you’re bringing a gift and ask permission. It’s not hard. It’s like showing up at a dinner party with a bottle of wine and knocking on the door.”
“And then I just walk in?”
“You’ll know what to do,” she said and smiled for the second time since we’d officially met. “Believe me, if they don’t want you to come in, you’ll know it.”
“Okay,” I replied, unable to keep the apprehension out of my voice.
I stood next to her before the opening and tried to gather my thoughts. I had absolutely no idea what I should say, but after looking through at the closely arranged rows of tombs, I began to speak.
“Greetings…” I said then hesitated.
I glanced over at Velvet in search of reassurance but found little, as her eyes were closed and her lips were moving in a silent greeting to the spirits.
I turned back to the opening and started again, speaking softly but still aloud, though I’m not sure why. “Greetings. My name is Rowan, and I’ve come to visit you…for…well, for some very important reasons. I’ve brought you this token…”
I wasn’t sure quite what else to do at this point, so I held out my hand to display the coinage.
The day was pleasant with the temperature resting in the upper fifties. With the sun shining there had been no reason for anything more than the light jacket I had donned when I left the motel. However, a slight chill ran up the length of my spine causing me to shiver involuntarily. It lasted only a moment and was then followed by soothing warmth that flowed over my entire body. My anxiety was instantly replaced by comfort.
Just as Velvet had said, I knew in that moment that I was welcome.
“Put the coins over here,” Velvet told me, stepping forward and placing her own in a receptacle just past the gate.
I followed suit, and though she hadn’t verbally instructed me to do so, I mimicked her overt motion that made the coins clatter noisily. Still, I glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow.
She recognized the question in my face and immediately explained. “You want them to hear it. They need to know you are actually leaving the gift you promised.”
I simply nodded.
Apparently, she felt at home in the cemetery as it seemed to be loosening her staunch expression more than a little.
“Rowan,” she said with a slight smile. “You can talk here. It’s okay. Just keep your voice low.”
“Okay,” I answered with a nod. “I just wasn’t sure.”
“Well, you can. Oh, and in case I forget, don’t just walk out the gates. When we leave, we’ll say goodbye, thank them, and then back out.”
“Back out? Like walk backwards?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You’re the expert.”
Velvet looked up and to the right, pointing as she mumbled something to herself. A second later she took hold of my arm and pulled gently to guide me.
“The tomb should be this way, near the back.”
With a nod I followed along, letting her lead the way down the narrow paths. We hadn’t been picking our way
