Duxford Airfield (the band) Pt. 10

" (sigh) What is it now, Tim?" my wife asked, very annoyed now, as she briskly walking toward me with open disgust showing.

Stepping close to me, Andrea now abruptly turned and followed my gaze, with impatience.

"...OH, MY, GOD!" Andrea gasped with her hand to her mouth.

"Guys, get your cameras and film this, it'll be gone in just a minute or two, hurry!" I said, as everyone quickly came and stood beside Andrea and myself now.

Andrea intently pointed upward toward the wall at the top of the two grand staircases, while her other hand was still pressed over her mouth in total amazement.

There were now gasps from Earl, Helen, and Kendall as well, as they took out their phones and began taking photos.

"- Oh shit, that scared me! How did that even get there?" Helen asked, recovering from her own initial state of shock in suddenly seeing the image.

"The sun is projecting it, somehow" I replied.

Helen pocketed her phone and quickly began filming with her camera.

I silently took Andrea's camera strap from around her neck and began filming as well. Andrea was apparently too stunned to think of filming the wall.

The image of The Countess was an actual black and white photograph of her that was being projected by the sun's rays within a twelve foot circle of stained glasswork consisting mainly of blue and white hues. There were also several greens, ambers and various other colors, complete with large red hearts. Her image now appeared where I had first seen the strange blue hues, a few minutes earlier.

I speculated that the sunlight was presently shining through a negative tintype plate that someone had incorporated into an elaborate mosaic of stained glasswork. It now appeared as if an actual enlarged photograph of the Countess had been permanently affixed to the wall atop the two massive sweeping staircases.

This elaborate artwork was obviously being projected by the sunlight shining through some type of outside porthole built into the outer wall of the house. This porthole was obviously placed high above us, yet I was unable to determine just exactly where that porthole was located.

Craning my neck upward, I briefly searched all along the upper ceiling and walls behind us, trying to visually locate the porthole, but to no avail.

For the next several seconds all five of us took multiple still photographs and video footage of the mural. Then, seemingly with the same thought in mind and without speaking, all of us at once began to briskly climb the south grand staircase for a closer look at this incredible piece of projected artwork.

Reaching the second floor balcony, we silently stood then, completely mesmerized by the life size image of the Countess now before us.

Standing close to the mosaic and filming again, I suspected that the Countess had been around twenty-seven years of age and in the prime of her life when this black and white photograph had been taken. The most notable feature of the photograph that I immediately noticed were the large mesmerizing and mystical eyes of the Countess.

Her eyes were haunting, and seemingly able to look right through a man at his inner heart of hearts. The Countess had no doubt been a woman with an extremely commanding presence it suddenly occurred to me...

It also dawned on me that the projected photograph that I was currently looking at was well over one-hundred years old now. This fact alone seemed only to ad a further stoic and chilling element to the image, similar in nature to portraits that had been taken during the Civil War...

...With her large and elaborate cherub wings, the projected photograph of the Countess almost seemed childish at first glance. Yet, the longer one studied the photograph, the more lewd and obscene the image seemed to slowly become for some reason.

The image that I was now looking at seemed to evoke several contradicting emotions all at once. The initial reaction upon first seeing the image, was one of complete shock, followed quickly by a captivating fascination appealing to the lower nature.

The exhibitionism of the Countess seemed to encapsulate perfectly, the mental image of the euphoric and idealistic zenith that was hardwired into the heart and mind of every man. Obviously the Countess had not only understood this age old and primordial pursuit of courtship within the souls of men, but she had leaned to easily manipulate it like a puppet master.

...Despite the fascination with her imagery, I suddenly began asking myself why someone would publicly display this type of exhibitionism of themselves onto a common wall inside their own home? - a home continuously filled with servants and honored guests. - A master bedroom, I could possibly understand, but a public room? This made absolutely no sense to me...

Slowly shaking my head, I stood trying to understand the strange and bewildering logic that must have been inside the eccentric mind of the Countess when she'd first had this elaborate mosaic created.

The projected mural now before us, made me begin to call into question the actual mental state of the Countess...

Regardless, one could not argue that the Countess had been absolutely stunning with her long blonde hair cascading wildly down her petite frame. Her exhibitionism and body language portrayed an utter and reckless defiance that was only accentuated further by her seductive piercing eyes and an all knowing smile.

"My God, the look in her eyes scares the hell out of me" Andrea suddenly said with a gasp of air.

"Damn, I guess" Kendall replied, staring at the image of the Countess.

...The eyes of the Countess were in fact challenging and piercing, - daring someone to hold her steady and defiant gaze, it seemed.

Her eyes seemed to be saying, - Look at me, I have nothing to hide!

I quietly studied the face of the Countess intently for several long seconds now. What I found to be the most haunting aspect of the mural was not her eyes, but the slight hint of a smile on her face, instead. This slight hint of a smile suddenly sent a shivering chill through me for some reason, almost as if cold dead fingers had suddenly slid down my back...

The artificial cherub wings of the Countess no longer seemed childish to me. After the initial shock of seeing a gorgeous naked girl on the wall, a person seemed to sense an extremely vicious and enraged spirit within the artwork.

...With her all knowing smile, the eyes of the Countess now seemed to be saying only one thing to anyone that looked at the mural, long enough.

Her intense stare now seemed to say - You can go straight to Hell...

I tore my gaze away from the Countess with utter disgust and quickly reminded myself that we'd all be getting on a plane within twenty-four hours and going home.

...As had always been the case, Prominent House was a seemingly endless and elaborate maze of smoke and mirrors, playing on a person's mind and emotions in the extreme, first one way, and then to the far reaching opposite. The projected image of the Countess was no different.

" - Once a year, only on this day, Valentine's Day, that's the only time this mural can ever be perfectly centered on that wall. Any other day of the year the mural will be off center, to varying degrees, because of the earth's rotation" Andrea now reasoned as she continued to stand transfixed by the haunting image of the Countess within masterful stained glasswork.

"You're right, Andrea, today is Valentine's Day. I'll bet she had the mosaic lens installed so Isaac King could see her image as soon as he walked through the door, when he got home, on Valentine's day. From what we've learned of King, he was an unfaithful bastard and this may have been a way for the Countess to remind him of what he'd once had, and then thrown away" Helen said from behind her camera.

...With Helen's proclamation, the projected image of the Countess suddenly seemed even more disturbing to me.

"...Helen, you're freaking me out me, with that kind of talk!" I said in earnest.

"Don't ever fuck around on your wife then, Tim, and this kind of thing won't happen to you. Just imagine King, opening the door and seeing this when he first walked in. Everyone in this house must have been laughing at him, behind his back" Helen said, snorting with contempt.

With Helen's sharp explanation, Andrea put her arm around me and pulled me closer to her. I immediately felt better with my wife's public display of solidarity toward me...

I stopped filming and quickly took several still photographs of the mural, with Andrea's camera and also my phone.

"...That is one spooky and intense piece of artwork, you guys. My God, I'm beginning to wonder if the Countess was even sane or not" I sighed, as I rubbed my eyes.

"Oh, the Countess was quite sane indeed, when she had this piece created. I can assure you of that, sir" Helen answered me.

"...How can you be so sure?" I asked, looking over at Helen.

"Because this mosaic was created by an extremely intelligent and enraged wife, Tim, not a mad woman. This Valentine's Day artwork was intended as a very public declaration of Isaac King's disloyalty, lack of integrity, failure as a husband and even a lover. The Countess was essentially airing King's dirty laundry within this work of art, for all the world to see" Helen said, as Andrea and Kendall nodded an affirmative.

"How did you acquire all of that, Helen?" I asked, completely baffled.

"Because she's essentially broadcasting to the whole world that Isaac King was impotent, do you see that, Tim?" Helen asked from behind her camera as she continued filming the mural.

"...No, not at all. What do you mean?" I asked, even more confused now.

"Ladies, you see it, don't you?" Helen asked.

"I see it" Andrea replied, knowingly.

"Yes, I see it now" Kendall answered with a nod of the head.

"Earl, do you see it?" Helen asked.

"...Not really" the other man admitted.

"See what, Helen?" I asked again, looking back up at the mural.

"Look at her right hand, gentlemen. Her index finger and thumb are pressed together and shaped like a vagina, while the ring finger on her left hand is pointing straight downward, like a limp dick. That's her finger with Isaac King's wedding band on it" Helen explained.

"...Oh my God, Helen!" I stammered in total disbelief as I suddenly noticed the lewd and now blatantly obvious implication of the Countess.

Helen elaborated further.

"There are many subliminal messages within this artwork that are all detrimental in regard to King's manhood. If you look closely at the hearts and scrollwork you can see implications of solitary masturbation, implying that King was incapable of pleasing a woman. Now, look at the stained glass panels, all around the outer scrollwork, they're all divided by pillars that look like large stiff dicks pointing at the Countess. Obviously this was an implication that the Countess could easily replace King with her choice of many lovers" Helen pointed out.

Helen was right again, I noticed with a blank expression...

My wife now made her own observation.

"Notice that there is an elaborate, letter "Q", within the large heart at the lower right of the mural, and that there also appears to be a mangled, letter "K", and a broken diamond at her feet. I'm assuming those imply that the Countess viewed herself as the Queen of Hearts, and that she felt victorious over the King of Diamonds. The King of Diamonds being Isaac King himself, no doubt" Andrea now stated.

...With my wife's proclamation I now realized that the artwork within the mosaic was very similar to the backs of playing cards, with many subliminal messages not detected by the eye at first glance.

We were all silent for a few moments.

"...The sunlight must be shining through the negative plate of a tintype that she'd had taken, with embellished glasswork incorporated around the edges" Andrea reasoned, still looking upward at the Countess.

"I was just thinking the same thing, Andrea. Many turn of the century tintype negatives had been made from half inch thick glass, and they'd been extremely durable, so it's entirely possible that someone created this mosaic lens with a tintype negative and combined stained glasswork" Earl now agreed, staring upward at the Countess, himself.

"...The rain, all the rain we've had during the last week must have washed away all the years of dirt from the stained glass window projecting this image. Otherwise we would have seen this mosaic on the first day that we explored the mansion" Helen now reasoned.

"I think you're right, Helen, we would have seen part of the mural, anyway" Andrea replied.

...The reflection stayed center for about three minutes before it slowly began to slide upward, over to the next doorway and toward the second floor ceiling with the earth's rotation.

"Where is the porthole, that's creating this mural?" Andrea now asked as she turned her attention to the east wall of the mansion.

After a brief search, we spotted the actual porthole that was projecting the image. Over the large cathedral doors, and high above the large ornate clock, we now saw a stained glass window which was about the size of a small pizza table, made for two.

"That took some real engineering, folks. Whoever figured out how to project that image onto the wall, perfectly center, was a very, very, smart individual. Whomever created that piece was also a very gifted artist with stained glasswork" I added.

Five minutes later, the projected mural had completely slipped away with the earth's rotation. It would appear again tomorrow but it wouldn't be quite as center in relationship with the wall again, until Valentine's Day, next year.

I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair now...

Once our yellow pick up truck returned, Andrea, Helen, and myself would say good bye to Prominent House, for the last time.

We were done here.

...We had a Valentine's Day dinner planned that all of us were looking forward to tonight, which Kendall and her boyfriend were invited to join us in celebrating. It was also time for Andrea, myself, and Helen to start getting ready to fly home, in less than a day and a half now.

Looking down, I shut off Andrea's camera.

Andrea and Helen abruptly became interested in something within room 441 again and Kendall began exploring the walkway leading along the second floor's handrailing over the open foyer.

"Sorry you sold this place now, Tim?" Earl casually asked, staring out onto the large foyer floor below.

"No, Earl, we've studied some of the history on this house and Isaac King, both. King's empire was built, in large part, upon the blood of soldiers slogging through the trenches of France during World War I. King committed treason and was subpoenaed to appear before a Senate hearing but he disappeared and never showed. I don't get good vibes from this house, and neither does my wife" I answered bluntly.

"He was a brutal sonofabitch, from what I've heard, Tim. I don't get good vibes from this house either" Earl said evenly and slowly shaking his head.

I simply nodded my head as I continued listening to the sounds of snorting diesel engines and clanking Caterpillar tracks outside the open cathedral doors. Even from where I now stood, I could feel the slight vibrations of heavy machinery in my feet.

"Come take a look at this, you guys!" Kendall now called from the far end of the walkway.

Earl and I walked the hundred yards to an open door where Kendall was now standing.

"This must have been where the Countess shot skeet, I bet" Kendall said leading us out the doorway and into the open sunshine.

The three of us now stood upon a large open stone patio with steps leading down into the massive backyard, opposite of the driveway. The view at this part of the house was spectacular.

After milling about on the patio for a few minutes, the three of us slowly made our way back to the head of the grand staircases again, to wait for our yellow pick up truck to return. Andrea and Helen were still rummaging through room 441 I noticed as I quickly glanced inside the room again. Helen now had a stuffed chimpanzee in her backpack, the monkey's head was poking out the top of Helen's pack, like a papoose.

...Where the hell was our yellow pick up truck? I wondered with slight annoyance. I was ready to leave now.

With a deep sigh of boredom, I switched on Andrea's camera again and did a wide video pan of the entire foyer, with Earl and Kendall standing silently beside me. I then craned my neck upward at the large overhead skylight, high above us, and noticed that it's glasswork now revealed more angels in flight. The recent rains had obviously washed away the years of dirt from this magnificent piece of artwork. I held the camera upward at the skylight for several seconds and then slowly panned down to the concert grand piano.

- Suddenly, from far down the hallway behind me, came the sharp report of a rifle shot. The shot sounded like a thirty-ought-six caliber rifle bullet, quickly followed by an echoing of several ricochets on heavy gauged steel. The shot sounded as if it had come from directly inside Prominent House, and not outside mansion.

Earl was now looking down the long westward hallway, in the same direction that I was.

"...Must be the seismic crew, Tim" Earl finally said, shrugging his shoulder and turning forward again.

Earl's demeanor was calm and his hands were currently tucked inside the pockets of his windbreaker I noticed.

I continued slowly filming the inside of the massive foyer.

All at once came another rifle shot, followed by several more in quick succession. These were then quickly followed by what could only be described as the blast of an extremely loud and piercing trumpet, the reverberation was so loud and intense that it seemed to make my bones quiver slightly. The piercing trumpet was then quickly followed by the loud knocking sounds of heavy gauged steel being twisted. The balcony floor then began to shake, accompanied by what sounded like a long string of railroad cars rolling toward us at a fast pace.

Abruptly, from down the westward hallway came a thirty mile an hour wind, bringing with it loose flying debris and the most horrible stench that I'd ever experienced in my entire life. The pungent odor was almost unbearable and I quickly covered my nose with my shirt collar. In doing so, I had inadvertently raised Andrea's camera to eye level again and noticed that I was still filming.

I didn't know what was happening within the house at this moment but I quickly glanced inside room 441 again and saw that Andrea and Helen were presently safe. They were a mere ten feet away from me...

The second floor balcony which we were standing on began shaking even harder now, as if an earthquake had hit. Bracing myself, I quickly leaned my back against the wall, where the sunlight's projected image of the Countess had stood, only minutes before.

Andrea and Helen were now holding tightly to me as the noise continued to get louder and Prominent House shook.

Without warning there was a horrific crash below us as the mantle exploded in all directions as bricks and huge sheets of thick marble flew tumbling high into the air of the open foyer. This was instantly followed by a streaming jet of black liquid, twelve feet in diameter and under tremendous pressure. This violent jet of liquid now slammed into the front wall and the huge cathedral doors were instantly ripped away as if they'd been nothing more than graham crackers.

The impact of the roaring black liquid hit the opposing wall with such force that the huge skylight, seventy feet above us, began crumbling and falling into the water fountain on the foyer floor. The huge skylight began falling with an immense crashing sound and destructive display of exploding glass and ironwork in every direction, all seemingly in slow motion.