(eng) Jonathan Carroll by Bathing the Lion

Author:Bathing the Lion [Lion, Bathing the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

TWO

After the airplane took off the night before, Kaspar had originally planned to make a detailed list of all the things he needed to do in Vienna. He also wanted to play a new video game he’d downloaded onto his iPad a few days before. But to his mild surprise he felt completely exhausted after eating dinner and decided to nap for an hour or two before doing anything else.

By the time he awoke, the plane was already crossing the Irish coastline. It made no difference because he was too disturbed by what he’d just experienced to do anything he’d originally planned for the flight. Wide eyed and sitting stiffly upright in his seat, he stared unseeing at the blank television screen on the seat back in front of him, all the while trying to grasp what had just happened and, more important, what it meant.

Kaspar Benn, Jane Claudius, Bill Edmonds, and the two Corbins had somehow combined their separate dreams into one and then all five of them experienced the mix at exactly the same time.

Eventually Kaspar got out a large notepad he usually only used for business matters. For the rest of the flight, he wrote on it until the plane landed in Vienna. When a flight attendant walked down the aisle checking to see if everyone’s seat belt was fastened, she glanced down to see what the man was writing and paused.

“Wow! What’s all that?” She smiled, raising her eyebrows to show how impressed she was while pointing at the notebook.

Kaspar looked up but said nothing, which was very unlike him. His expression would trouble the woman for some time. The flight attendant was usually very good at reading people. It was part of her job and she prided herself on the skill. But what she saw on this guy’s face was not only impossible to read, but a contradiction. That was the only word for it. On the one hand the man’s face said I’m busy, can’t talk now, but thanks for your interest. At the same time his large brown eyes were ice cold, steely and appraising. In an instant she felt like he was looking straight into her and seeing things she didn’t allow anyone to see.

“It’s a map.”

“Excuse me?” His glance had unsettled her so she didn’t register he was answering her question.

“I said it’s a map.”

The flight attendant immediately wanted to say, it is not a map. The page was filled from corner to corner with detailed, precise drawings of mysterious figures and what looked like hieroglyphics, intricate illustrations, strange alphabets, and abstruse-looking math problems. Also, single words and sentences were written in fine calligraphy. The paper looked like some kind of recondite illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages.

On the taxi ride into Vienna, Kaspar continued writing on his notepad. But it was a new drawing this time. If the flight attendant were to see this page it would have made her even more confused. The entire sheet of paper was covered with seventy-two identically drawn glass ink bottles.

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