Crazy Old Man

Etna looked startled, when she heard Henry's proposal, but her expression quickly changed to one of sheer joy. "Henry Addison you are not a beat-up wreak! You are my true love, and I want you with me always. I want to be your wife, and the sooner we can be married, the better I will like it. I will be with you for all time and eternity; nothing will come between us to change to change that. Promise me you will love me forever."

A heartfelt smile lit up Henry's face. "I promise, and it is the easiest promise I've ever made. Etna, nothing will ever stop me from loving you. You are mine and I am yours, this day and for all the days to come throughout all eternity."

Tears of happiness filled her eyes. "You shall always be my love. When you go somewhere I'll be counting the moments until you come home to me. I am so happy I don't know what to do."

"Well, I could suggest a few things you could do; they all start with another kiss and go on for the rest of the night."

She covered his lips with a kiss and whispered to him. "I've got some suggestions of my own for the rest of this night and for many, many nights to come."

The next day the couple awoke to find that it had snowed during the night and the ground was covered with a light layer of white powder. Henry looked out the window and shook his head. "It looks like winter is officially here. I'll get my car, pack a suitcase, and be back here within an hour. Then, we can drive into the city and start to work getting a marriage license."

Etna put her arms around him as he looked out the window. "I'll pack a grip and be waiting for you. You had better dress warm, it is a long way into the city and it will be a cold trip."

He turned around and kissed her. "It won't be too bad. I've got a good heater in the car."

A smile lit up her face. "I've never been in an automobile with a heater. I've only been in a couple automobiles in my life and they were all open; you must have a new model."

"New? No, it was made before the war, but it is still a good car. I'll go get it and be back before you miss me."

She kissed him and held him tightly to her body. "I already miss you. I'll be watching out the window and will be ready to open the door for you when I see you come home. Don't be too long."

Henry quickly pulled on his coat, and after kissing Etna, left the house. He moved toward his cabin, as fast as his leg would permit. His heart was soaring with joy and he was eager to return to Etna, so that they could embark upon their life together. His mind was filled with all things that he would have to do, when they got to the city. He felt as if he was the most fortunate man alive. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would find a woman like Etna living in seclusion, near the shores of Lake of the Sky. More incredible, to his mind, was the fact that Etna turned out to be his perfect match. Everything about her, the way she moved, the manner in which she spoke, everything about the woman was perfect.

Arriving at his cabin, Henry started his car to warm it up and went inside to start packing. He wouldn't need a lot. He didn't think that they would be gone for very long, just a few days at most. Honeymoon! Because of the sudden way in which they had decided to get married, they hadn't even talked about a honeymoon. Well, there would be time enough to talk, about where she wanted to go for a honeymoon, during the drive to the city. For the moment, there was enough to do just getting things ready. He quickly packed and went out to the car. He drove up to the main road and then turned down the road to Etna's house.

He had only driven a short distance down the road when he stopped. A puzzled look crossed his face. At first he thought he had turned down the wrong road. The way was overgrown and didn't look at all like it did when he had walked down it earlier in the year. Still and all, he remembered how the road had curved just like it curved ahead of him. He went on until his way was blocked by a fallen tree.

"Great, it looks as if I'll have some work to do when we get back. Tree or no tree, it is not going to stop us from going into the city. I'm afraid Etna's going to have to walk this far."

Henry got out of the car and stepping over the tree, walked down the rest of the way to where Etna was waiting. Finally, he walked around the last turn in the road and entered the clearing where the house stood.

He stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes went wide with disbelief, and he felt his heart gripped by the icy cold fingers of sheer panic. The house was gone! The only thing remaining was the stone foundation overgrown by brush and the half fallen remains of the fireplace. He ran forward. He stood in the middle of what had once been Etna's home and turned round and round. What he was seeing could not possibly be. Where was the house? More importantly, where was Etna?

Looking around the rubble, he saw signs of fire, but everything had the unmistakable look of age about it. There was no ash, just charred stones and a few blackened boards sticking up through the overgrowth of brush. What had happened here appeared to have occurred a long time ago. But, that was insanity he had just left Etna less than an hour ago. He began yelling her name, but the only answer was the wind sighing through the trees. He walked around the clearing and went down by the lake, where he and Etna had walked hand in hand, but nowhere did he find any sign of his lover.

At last, in despair and with a heavy heart, he returned to his car. He sat there for a long time, his head bowed to the steering wheel, as he tried to clear his thoughts and find some logical explanation to the insane situation. Through the mists of his emotion filled mind, came a name, a name that he had heard Etna mention, and which he had almost forgotten—the name of Winslow.

Still dazed by the strange event, which had bombarded his senses, he started the car and put it in reverse. He backed up the road until he came out onto the main drive. Then, he drove to the store.

Entering the store, he found the storekeeper stocking can goods on some shelves. "Nate, I need to know if you have ever heard of anyone named Winslow."

The storekeeper looked at Henry and was shocked to see how upset the man appeared to be. "What is it Henry? Is something wrong?"

"I just need to know, if you know anything about a couple by the name of Winslow."

"Well sure, they come in here a lot. They live over on the other side of the lake from where you live. They've been around here for a long time. They're good people."

"Can you give me directions how to find them? It is very of important that I talk to them right away."

"Sure, I'll even draw you a map. What's up? Has something happened?"

"Nothing that you can help me with other than giving me that map. I'm really in a hurry."

The storekeeper quickly drew a map, for his agitated friend and included a verbal explanation, before Henry rushed out of the store leaving the bewildered storekeeper wondering what happened. Henry drove away from the store and headed for the far side of the lake. The storekeeper's directions were excellent, and Henry had no difficulty in finding the well kept house where Mr. and Mrs. Winslow lived.

An elderly woman opened the door in response to Henry's knocks. "Good morning young man."

"Good morning, is this the Winslow residence?"

"Yes, indeed it is. What can I do for you?"

"My name is Henry Addison. I live on the other side of the lake and I need some information about a young woman by the named Etna Dodd."

"You want to know about Etna? Are you some relative of hers?"

Henry shook his head. "No, but I really would appreciate anything you could tell me about her."

"Well, in that case I think you had better come in and talk to my husband, Alan."

She showed him into the house and introduced him to her husband who was sitting in a chair in their living room. "Alan, he wants to know about Etna Dodd. I'll leave you two alone to talk."

The old man motioned Henry to be seated. "Etna Dodd, I haven't heard that name in a spell. Why do you want to know about Etna?

"My house is over near Etna's, but her place is all in ruins. I thought that maybe you could tell me something about it."

"Yes, I can. Poor Etna was a sweet girl who had a sad life. The missus and I would pick up groceries for her and help her out any way we could. Her husband died back in 1918 in the Great War. After he was dead, she continued to live in the house by the lake. I think she had some sort of trouble with her parents and in-laws. Anyhow, back in early '23, there was a fire. No one knows for sure how it started, but I figure either a kerosene lamp got knocked over or dropped. Whatever happened, happened fast, and the fire engulfed the house in no time flat. Poor, little Etna never got out of the house. There wasn't much of the place left by the time people got there to help. It broke my heart to see the smoldering shell that once had been her house. It was a terrible fate for a nice girl. She deserved better; she deserved to find some happiness."

Henry's mouth hung open in amazement. "1923. It was 1923 when her house burned down? But, I've been down the road to her place and I've seen the ruins, they don't look that old."

"I suppose that the road is still kept up a little bit by people wanting to go down to the beach. I haven't been down that way since the fire. It just broke my heart when Etna died."

Nodding his head, Henry stood up and shook the older man's hand. "It broke my heart too. Thank you for your help, I now know what happened."

Henry drove back to his house and made the trek to the ruins of Etna's house. He stood there, in the cold cutting wind, and stared at the remains of the place. His mind was filled with a mass of emotions, which had been caused by the impossible events of the day.

He knew with positively that he had met and fallen in love with a real woman. Somehow, in some strange manner, something had occurred, which transcended the normal laws of the universe, and he had met the love of his life. It was as though fate had rewritten the rules of the universe, to bring Etna and him together, only to snatch her away in the moment of their greatest happiness.

As he looked at the overgrown wreckage, he remembered the promise he made to Etna. "Etna, nothing will ever stop me from loving you. You are mine and I am yours, this day and for all the days to come throughout all eternity."

A door in the fabric of eternity had opened allowing Henry to meet his lover, and if the door had opened once, it was possible that it could open another time. Henry became determined to be on hand the next time the door swung open. A short time later he bought the property where Etna's house had stood, and from that time forward, Henry would visit the place where once he had made sweet love to Etna, in the hope of finding her once more.

For over fifty years he had pursued his quest. People thought he was crazy when they heard his story. Most people felt that a man had to be insane to dedicate his life to a hopeless dream of finding a woman long dead. Yet, Henry stayed true to the promise he had made to Etna. He sought her in the morning and in the evening, never being discouraged by the daily failures, which always met him.

We came out into the clearing, to where the stone work of the burnt house still stood. Henry had finished his tale and turned to me. "So, there you have it, the whole story, as nutty as it may seem. Now, are you going to think of me as a crazy old man?"

I studied his face for a moment. There was something almost pleading in his eyes as I replied. "Crazy? I only wish I had something I believed in as strongly as you do. This world is a mighty strange place and unexplained things happen all the time. I don't know what happened to you way back then, but that's not important. What is important is what you know and believe. I certainly respect your beliefs. I really hope and pray that someday, somehow you will find what you seek."

It was about a month when an unseasonable thunder and lightning storm lit up the night. No more than the thunder had died away than snow began to fall. Henry stopped by the next morning and we commented about the fury of the storm the night before. However, the next morning Henry didn't show up for coffee. I wasn't too concerned, at the time, because he no longer stopped by everyday, but I wanted to ask him about some property I was thinking about buying. I went over to his place that afternoon and found no one at home, although his car was parked in its normal place at the side of the house. I tried the door and found it open. Entering the house I found it cold, as if the heat had been off for a long time. The day was extremely cold, and I became concerned when I noticed Henry's footprints in the snow; footprints that led away from the house, but no footprints returning to the house.

I followed Henry's trail marked in the snow, as it led along the normal route, which he took on his daily walks. It was late afternoon, and the sun had set down behind the mountains. I stopped at my cabin and picked up a flashlight, before continuing to follow Henry's footprints. Snow began to fall as I walked along and was falling heavily before I had managed to go very far. Even through the falling snow, the trail was clear enough to follow, and I made good time moving through the trees.

By the time I reached the clearing where the ruins stood, night had descended to blanket the land with darkness. As I approached where the house had once stood I saw something dark lying in the snow. My heart leaped to my throat, when I saw the dark shape was a man who had fallen not far, from where the doorway to the house once stood. I rushed to the side of the man, knowing exactly what I would find.

The man was Henry. He was lying on his side, his arms outstretched before him; he was dead. It appeared as if he had been here since the evening before, his flesh was cold and frozen. Yet, there was a peculiar expression upon his frozen face, a look of incredible elation and wonder lit up his continence. His dead eyes were opened wide and his lips were locked in a wide grin.

Poor Henry! His life long quest had ended. His dream had vanished in the icy winds, which blew down from Storm Mountain. I let out a deep breath and shook my head, as I thought about all the people, who would laugh about the crazy old man that had chased his delusions to the grave. I stood and was getting ready to leave, when I suddenly noticed something, which I had overlooked when I rushed to Henry's side.

Henry's trail of footprints was still clearly discernable in the snow. I could see where he had walked along and then fell over to the side and died. A chill, which was not caused by the frigid wind, shot through me. The trail did not end where Henry had fallen, his footprints continued on going one way, up to where the doorway had been, before they totally vanished. It was as if Henry had continued walking after his body had fallen.

My eyes filled with moisture as I realized with an unshakable certainty that somehow, beyond all odds, Henry had been successful in his search. I remembered what Etna had long ago said to him, "I'll be watching out the window and will be ready to open the door for you when I see you coming home." The Crazy Old Man of Lake of the Sky had gone home to his Etna.

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Author's note: I would like to thank three remarkable women. First, Lady Lay whose stories Bittersweet Memories and Texas Red, and Patricia51 whose Bridget's Nights stories, help to inspire this foray into the strange and unexplained. In particular, I need to thank my Commander-In-Chief (otherwise known as my wife, Marie) for her aid, input and encouragement during the editing process.