[Assist, Home]

  True to his word granddad arrived at dawn, he carried a tray loaded with food and a pot of tea.

  “Come Jaq, are you hungry? I want to show you the temple after we eat. Your great grandfather, your grandmother’s father, set out the hedge maze in Tregaron…”

  “Based on the pattern of the Lotus Flower pools.”

  “Yes Jaq, that’s correct but how did you know?”

  “I dreamt that I was walking the pattern of the pools here at the Temple of the Lotus Flower. The exact pattern to the center of the hedge maze.”

  “Your great grandfather either altered the hedge to match the pools or put in the hedge himself, I never realized it was important until I arrived here. I didn’t even notice it at first but I never walked the maze as often as you. Do you still walk it?”

  “Yes I do, in fact that’s where I met your guru Aya. She was seated naked meditating at the center of the maze. We’ve had lots of interesting discussions.”

  “Yes she’s amazing, I saw a video of her on youtube and brought her to Tregaron to talk about her theories of other worlds and realities.”

  “But you always said you were a rationalist, atheist. I was so surprised to find a guru in the maze.”

  “Jaq, I am a rationalist, and an agnostic, almost an atheist. I can’t disprove that gods exist so I’ll settle for being very very agnostic. If you’ve been in the tower and don’t believe yourself to be insane then you have to acknowledge that other worlds or realities do exist don’t you. She appeared to be well grounded in the subject.”

  “Even more so, I was searching for you and she appeared to have info I needed so I told her about the tower. But she’s never asked me to see it, or come inside it, which really seems odd. If you found a Loch Ness monster expert and you could actually show them Nessy you’d expect they’d like to see the monster in real life don’t you think.”

  “Jaq, Aya is very careful, she urged me to proceed with the utmost caution. I would imagine, she’ll wait until you tell her that you’ve reached the peak and then ask for a peek. It doesn’t usually hurt to be cautious, but it often does if you are rash. Which by our very natures we both are. Tell me didn’t you bring someone to the deserted city to play co-op with?”

  “I brought someone to play, so I could touch you.”

  “Yeah, that’s how you ended up in the desert, if I’d have known I’d have come for you. I’m sorry Jaq. I set up the game to take you to Tregaron or directly to the temple. If you played co-op and beat the game, you both could have stepped directly into the center of the pool maze. We always played co-op so I was trying to give you a shortcut.”

  “Well now for the real question we’ve been dancing around. So if you aren’t trapped and you are clearly alive, why haven’t you come home?”

  “Because I wanted to see you again before I died. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, it’s growing rapidly. Weeks before I lose my sight, a month before my mind goes, two months and I’ll be dead. So I was greedy and figured out a way to wait for you to arrive and ascend the tower and also to hedge my bets. I’m a materialist. I believe with ninety nine percent surety that consciousness is centered in the brain. When I die, I believe that consciousness also dies. But on that one percent chance that I’m wrong, reincarnation seems the most likely scenario for what happens next.”

  “So you’re trying to save your ‘soul’ just in case?”

  “No I wanted you and I to be on the same spiritual plane so to speak. So if reincarnation is real then we’ll be reincarnated together. I think this trip through the tower made us true neutrals. We lean towards goodness but we’ll allow a little redeemable evil into our lives. I manipulated you into searching for me, an evil act, but I did it out of love. You love an actual demon, so you’re about ninety eight percent good but you still fall into neutral because of that missing two percent. We are both chaotic but we strive for order so again neutral. Do you hate me?”

  “Undoubtedly not. I love you granddad, so much. So instead of asking you to come back, I will plead with you to stay. Write your wife a letter. I'll deliver it, if she’s up for it, I’ll bring her here for a visit. I don’t really see her giving up Tregaron for a temple but this would make a lovely getaway.”

  “I’ll stay here if you bring your girlfriend and cat for a visit once and a while. Give me some time to compose the letter. I encourage you to walk the Lotus Flower Pool Maze, even though you already know the path, it is very grounding and you don’t want to miss meditating at the center. I’ll meet you back here for lunch, then you can go check on your friends to make sure they portaled out of the deserted city.”

  So that’s what I did. I walked through the Lotus Flower maze. I meditated for an hour, my ADHD had never felt like less of an issue. I looked around for the kitchen. When I found it, I told them what I wanted, they put me in front of the sink and I started washing bowls, then spoons. When I’d had enough I went back to my room to wait.

  Granddad came sauntering back in with a tray loaded down with food and drink, placed it on the table and we began to eat.

  “So Jaq, are you going to take Frida and Nyx hitchhiking with you?”

  “No, I still love traveling but I have something in mind for Tregaron that’s been bubbling in the back of my mind since leaving the Always Sunny Monastery. I’ll have to talk to you and grandma about it.”

  “If it’s about that ass Arthur Farthing, don’t worry about it. I already put his eviction notice in the letter to your grandma.”

  “No that’s not it, I was thinking about having writing retreats, anything from one week to six months. Writers that can afford to pay, would pay toward their food and also for the staff salaries. But they would also be required to do some physical labor around the place for an hour a day. Writers who can’t afford to pay, would sign a contract to give one percent of the book profits back to Tregaron, for a period of time, maybe a year or two. They’d also do one hour of labor a day just like the paying authors. That way Tregaron always has an interesting group of people visiting. Also making the house sustainable for the foreseeable future. I’m sorry in my search for you, I went through all your papers and I noticed that you’ll run out of money in a few years if nothing is done.”

  “Yes well you see, you won’t have to ask my permission or your grandma’s. I deeded you Tregaron and all its contents. So tomorrow just talk to Collin. He knows more about running the place than anyone. He can help you figure out how much to charge, and what kind of labor would be most useful to the staff and what kind would just cause them trouble. It’s a brilliant idea.”

  “Well it wasn’t my idea really I just stole it from the monastery, that’s the way they support themselves and they are going to start having tourists in small numbers so that they have a little more contact with the outside world. I love this tea by the way.”

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  “I’ll get you some to take back with you, we grow it here on the grounds.”

  Granddad got up and collected the dirty bowls onto the tray. “I’ll be right back with the tea and I’ll show you to the portal.”

  I had the letter and a bag of tea in my arms as I followed granddad to the portal to home. I gave him a quick hug and he handed me another letter addressed to Draco.

  “Bye granddad, I love you and I’ll be back soon.”

  “Take your time love, you have a lot to set up and I’ll be here for eternity. I’ll look forward to seeing you again, when you have time."

  “That’s the gift of the tower isn’t it. Time.”

  I stepped through the portal and went looking for my friends.

  Frida was in my room.

  “Jaq, are you alright, we were so worried about you after you disappeared. Did you find the colonel?”

  “Yes I’m fine, I just solved it the wrong way round. If you and I had just played the co-op game we would have portaled right to granddad. Did everyone else make it back safe?”

  “Yes no problem at all, it took me about thirty dollars in quarters but aside from that it was no trouble at all. You just picked the wrong person to play the game. Groucho beat the NES version on his second try.”

  “Of course he did, he’s amazingly agile. I have some letters to deliver and in a few days I’d love to take you to meet granddad. I’ll meet you back here for dinner.”

  I went and gave granddad’s letter to grandma, then gave her some privacy to read it. Then I went to the dragon’s lair.

  “Hey Draco, I have a letter for you from granddad.”

  “So you found the old coot, did you drag him home?”

  “No he’s really sick, so he’ll be staying at the temple I found him in.”

  “An atheist living in a temple, only the old coot could manage something like that. Did he say anything about Merlin?”

  “No he didn’t, I’m sorry I forgot to ask, if you want to reply to granddad or visit him I’m going back in a couple of days, I promise I won’t forget to ask about Merlin this time. I’m going to see Groucho. See you tonight.”

  I knocked on Groucho’s door.

  “Come in.”

  Groucho was lying on his bed, NES controller in his feet, playing Dragonquest two. He paused the game when he saw me.

  “Hey, did you find the old coot?”

  “Yep sure did, he’s staying in the tower, I’m going back to visit him in a few days if you’d like to come.”

  Harry came into Groucho’s room.

  “Jaq, I heard you were back, did you find him.”

  “Yep, we’re all going to visit him in a few days, come with us please.”

  Draco came charging in.

  “In three months time a path will open to Merlin, it requires a restart and all the lower floors will be changed, only the top three floors will remain unchanged. Will you guys come with me?”

  “Hey I happen to be a woman.”

  “I don't think so Jaq, women have these big bumps on the front of their bodies, you so obviously do not. Sorry Jaq, you are our Bro. But I’m coming, Draco, maybe I can use my fighting stick.”

  “Count me in Draco, I’ll need a break from pottery by then.”

  “I’m coming too, but I’m bringing Frida and Nyx, we young ladies need to stick together.”

  “But Jaq, your baby breasts, just don’t compare to Frida’s and mine.”

  “Nyx what are you doing here?”

  “I was supposed to play Dragonquest with Groucho, but now that you're home you and Frida did promise me anything I want, so.” Pop.

  We startled Frida when we appeared with a pop.

  “What are you two up to now?”

  “I am collecting my promise from you two.”

  Frida started to undress, luckily she still had a bra on, when. Pop. We stood in front of Walt Disney World’s Front Gate. The first thing we bought was a t-shirt for Frida.

  The End

  “Tregaron:The Search for the Damn Wizard” begins in three months.