Duxford Airfield (the band) Pt. 10

I could now feel Andrea and Helen pressed tightly against me and trembling as we stood with Earl and Kendall. All five of us had our backs pressed against the wall as we watched the destructive forces of gravity and hydrodynamics in their most destructive forms...

With a sudden surge, the roaring jet of black liquid seemed only to intensify now, becoming even stronger and more intense.

...Oh my God, it's crude oil, I suddenly reasoned with a cold chill going down my back. My mind instantly deducted that Isaac King must have built Prominent House atop a dead hole, so as to use as a sewage dump. The Teutonic plates had now shifted and the dead hole had suddenly become active now, a hundred years later.

Andrea and Helen were now pulling on me and yelling into my ears but their words were completely inaudible due to the roaring jet of crude oil entering the foyer. The roaring torrent of crude oil was as loud as a huge jetliner engine at full power.

Within seconds, the oil had crept five feet up the grand staircases and it was quickly rising higher. I already knew that if the oil didn't stop or slow, that we could escape by way of the patio where the Countess had once shot skeet, we weren't trapped, we had an escape...

Making eye contact with Earl, I now nodded my head toward the direction of the patio, as a route of escape. Earl quickly shook his head in the negative, meaning "Not yet, we're safer right here for the moment!"

I nodded agreement and pulled Andrea and Helen closer to me.

I held up the camera again as I continued filming and simply watched as the swirling eddies of oil swiftly knocked over the concert grand piano and violently shot the huge instrument out the open foyer doorway as if it had been made of balsawood. In the blink of an eye the huge piano, weighing more than a ton, was suddenly gone...

I continued filming with utter disbelief.

...Perhaps this then, was the repressed wrath of The Countess of Knoff after a hundred years of silence.

Maybe this was Judgement Day for Isaac King, maybe he was finally on his way to Hell...

I shrugged my shoulder with indifference at the latter thought...

I abruptly redirected the camera as I watched a fifty foot section of polished oak floor planking splinter into kindling as it slammed, crossways, into the empty doorframes. The oak flooring looked as if it had originated from the bowling alley and it was quickly and violently shot out the doorway in a million pieces. This was instantly followed by tons of other debris of every description.

As I continued holding the camera and watching the massive jet of oil roaring out from the mantle, I knew that we were all currently within the grips of an extremely deadly situation, yet I instinctively seemed to feel my mother's presence beside me and also that of Andrea's own father and mother. I stood calm and somehow knew that we would all survive this day.

The destructive forces of roaring crude oil quickly and effortlessly destroyed more and more of the mansion, right before our eyes. If a man should fall into that ravaging swirling mass of oil, there would be no hope of him ever getting up again, the currents were far too swift.

All of us now heard and felt several sharp shuddering thuds as the walls of Prominent House shook again. Aiming the camera downward, I watched a huge piece of torn and badly rusted I-beam, weighing several tons, being knocked around and slammed into the walls of the foyer as the forty foot long piece of mangled steel was quickly and violently shot out the doorway. I instantly recognized the curved piece as having been a section of one of the massive arched joyces holding up the bowling alley ceiling.

...The entire foyer was now flooded with six feet of oil and all the decorative windows were gone. The oil rushing through their open frames reminded me of the movie Titanic, only in a reverse scenario. I could suddenly empathize with the passengers of that doomed liner, I could suddenly feel their fear and understand their bewilderment with complete and abundant clarity...

I stole another glance at Earl Billingsly, the man was calmly holding Kendall with his left arm, yet his right hand was still calmly tucked inside the pocket of his windbreaker. Here then, was a man who'd faced combat it now dawned on me. Earl appeared as if he were simply watching someone trying to sink a putt on the third green of a golf course somewhere. I quickly barrowed some of the older man's courage and felt myself relax slightly...

Kendall's left arm was now tightly hooked in Helen's right arm, and Helen's left arm was tightly cinched in my right arm, - my arm holding the camera. I smiled inwardly at Kendall and Helen, two weeks ago they'd hated each other, now they were holding tightly to one another like sisters in a severe storm at sea.

...Holding Andrea with my left arm, and aiming the camera with my right, two things seemed to dawn on me at once now. The oil seemed to be getting lighter in color for some reason, and I didn't seem to feel any heat radiating onto my face either. Crude oil comes out of the ground at a very high temperature, yet the open foyer almost seemed colder than it had been a few minutes earlier...

A moment later, clarity dawned on me as I began to smell chlorine.

Making eye contact with Earl again, I mouthed the words "Swimming pool."

Earl nodded his agreement.

...Five minutes later the flow of filthy water had almost stopped completely and there were only a few inches of standing water remaining on the debris covered foyer floor.

In the ensuing stillness I could hear all of us breathing heavily with adrenaline now.

The room was abruptly quiet again with only slight trickling sounds of water, accompanied by the horrible stench of black mold. The once elegant Grand Foyer now looked as if it had ravaged by decades of decay on the ocean floor inside a shipwreck that had just been raised. The complete and utter destruction in front of us now had taken less than six minutes...

"COLORADO, COLORADO, COLORADO!!! THIS IS ADAM ONE, COLORADO!!! CONTROL, WE ARE PRESENTLY ON PARCEL 134, DO YOU COPY, OVER?" Earl yelled into his mic.

"Affirmative, Adam one, Colorado. The facility is now on lockdown. Do you need first responders on Parcel 134? over" came the quick and calm reply.

"Affirmative!!! I want first responders and both helicopters on Parcel 134, immediately!!! Earl demanded.

"Affirmative, they're on their way!" came the quick reply.

"I WANT A HEAD COUNT ON PARCEL 134, STARTING WITH JIM DAY!!! JIM DAY, ARE YOU PRESENT?!!!" Earl asked loudly over his two-way radio.

"Earl, I'm here, Bob Christiansen, are you here?" the voice over the speaker then asked.

"I am present, Lue Oliver, are you here?" the next voice asked.

...Obviously Earl's crew used what was known as "The Buddy System", where each man would look after one other man. The very last man to be called would then ask the where abouts of the first man, completing the head count in a full circle.

I watched as Earl closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, undoubtedly praying to God that no one had been injured or killed by the huge jet of water or flying debris.

After several minutes, the head count was completed with all hands present...

Earl, with relief showing in his face, slowly sat down on one of the second floor benches and calmly began the head count all over again, just to be on the safe side.

I presently sat, opposite of Earl, as I held Kendall in one arm and Andrea in the other. Helen was leaning against Andrea, with her head in her hands.

I began speaking reassuringly to the ladies in a soft tone of encouragement. Andrea and Kendall were shaking violently as all five of us sat stunned, within a state of shock now.

...Sitting with the ladies, I gradually became aware of a soft ticking sound that was presiding within the foyer. Looking upward, I realized that the minute hand on the huge ornate clock was now pointing at the number "5" on the clock's face.

Sometime during the mayhem of the last several minutes, the clock had mysteriously begun to function again. After a hundred years of silence, the timepiece was now mysteriously functioning again...

"When can we go?" Helen asked softly.

"After the head count, honey, won't be long now. I think everybody's OK" I said gently.

"God, I hope so, what happened?" Helen asked in a stunned voice.

"I think the recent rains flooded a swimming pool that must have been on the second or third floor, probably up close to, or above the bowling alley that we saw the other night. Those weren't gunshots that we heard a few minutes ago, they were rivets popping in the ironwork, I think" I replied.

"...I'm so sorry I was such a fucking bitch to you, Tim. If you hadn't been sitting there, eating Helen's sandwich and noticed that mural, we might all be dead right now. All of us were standing right in front of that fucking mantle" Andrea now sobbed uncontrollably.

"Honey, its alright. C'mon babe, everything's OK now" I soothed Andrea as I pulled her close.

There was a long silence.

I could hear excited voices outside now.

Looking around the open foyer, I again, stared in complete amazement at all of the destruction and black mold which was now plastered all over the walls and everything else. The front foyer looked as if a thousand vandals had defaced the large open room...

"...There must be a service hallway for the kitchen staff concealed behind where the mantle had been. The swimming pool was probably just above the bowling alley" I now reasoned.

"Tim, please shut up!" Helen snapped, with her head still in her hands.

Before I could answer Helen, all of us were abruptly shocked with a single strike of a deep and lonely sounding gong resonating from the ornate wall clock, indicating the half hour. The timepiece then came to an abrupt and grinding halt, becoming silent again forever. It almost seemed as if the clock was now telling us that we could all very well be dead at this moment...

" - Oh my God, that scared the hell out of me!" Kendall sighed, staring up at the clock.

According to the clock, it was now six-thirty.

"I HATE THIS GODDAMN PLACE!!! LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!" Helen suddenly burst out, as she stood abruptly.

"Yes, let's go" Andrea said, taking Helen's hand.

"Walk close to the wall, down that way, ladies, that'll lead us right out onto a large patio. It's safer that way." I said calmly, pointing toward the open door at the far end of the walkway.

Helen helped me bring Kendall to her feet as we all held hands and began walking swiftly toward the far open door, with Earl trailing behind us.

"You OK, babe? I asked Kendall as I slipped my arm around her and we began walking.

"...I'm, - I'm OK, Tim" the girl answered wearily.

My legs were trembling now and I didn't feel very steady on my feet but I still managed to help Andrea and Kendall walk along the balcony as we followed Helen Lunsford.

Two minutes later the five of us had climbed down the huge stone staircase at the mansion's rear and began slowly heading toward Kendall's yellow pick up truck that was presently surrounded by a group of oil workers. The truck was now parked beside another of the yellow crew cabs, this one was lying on it's passenger side within the front yard of Prominent house, where the new pad was being built.

We walked past the open entrance of the main foyer, staying well away from the mansion itself, in fear that the structure was now unstable.

I quickly noted a thirty foot wide trench leading from the entryway where the huge cathedral doors had stood. This massive trench, heading due east and stretching for a hundred yards, was the pathway that the jet of water had taken, cutting a trench six feet deep in places.

Walking past the long dormant water fountain in the center of the driveway, I quickly noticed a forty foot section of old rusted railroad tracks heading south. The powerful torrent of water had uncovered the many decades of sand which had been covering this long abandoned rail bed. The folklore had been correct, Isaac King had owned his own Pullman car, with tracks leading right up to his own front door.

I then saw something else which suddenly made me wish that I hadn't...

I sighed heavily, and was thankful that none of the ladies had seen what I had just noticed...

...We walked onto the new pad just as oilfield paramedics were beginning to make the rounds and talking with everyone. There were probably close to seventy-five oil field workers now standing around in green and orange safety vests. The whole place looked as if a tornado had ravaged an entire neighborhood and debris of every description lay everywhere.

We slowly walked past one of the massive D-10 Caterpillars, it's engine was still idling and the operator's door ajar. No one was inside the cab and I quickly noted black mold upon the tracks of the machine. Even as far away as this machine had been from the open doorway of Prominent House, the powerful jet of filthy water had managed to splash the dozer's tracks...

Holding my wife's hand and walking past the idling Caterpillar, I quickly scanned all around us at the debris that was now lying on the pad, looking for the concert grand piano. After a brief search, I was unable to locate the huge instrument anywhere.

Stepping up to Kendall's crew cab, I helped Andrea out of her backpack, and then assisted Kendall with hers. Earl Billingsly was helping Helen out of her pack, on the other side of the truck.

Workers were already documenting the site with cameras and phones.

The sound of approaching helicopters now became evident as I watched each craft come into view and touch down on the new pad. The pilots throttled the engines back but kept the rotors turning on both machines.

"Ladies, I'm going to get all of you settled in Kendall's truck, then I have to show Earl something. We'll be right back" I said.

"You're not going back in that fuckin' place, Tim!" Andrea now shouted at me, near panic.

"No, we're not going in there, ever again, love. I just have to show Earl something and then we'll go" I said as I held Andrea close to me for a brief moment. I felt the urge to burst into tears of joy, simply in holding Andrea again but I managed to keep these strong emotions at bay for the time being as I walked toward Earl Billingsly...

Earl Billingsly was presently having a conversation with several roughnecks and construction workers that were standing in front of him. He also appeared to be having another conversation over his two way radio at the same time.

I now stood waited for Earl to finish his conversations.

Several minutes later I nodded to Earl, beckoning him to follow me. I then started walking as Earl Billingsly fell into step beside me and we began to slosh our way through the debris and standing water.

"What's on your mind, Tim?" Earl asked, a little impatiently.

"I think you need to see something, sir, it'll just take a minute" I said.

"Alright, Tim, I've got about one minute I can give you" Earl replied with a hurried sigh.

"...How familiar are you with the story of Prominent House?" I suddenly asked, looking over at the other man.

"I've heard all the folklore, the same as everyone else has, I guess" Earl replied, unsure of why I was asking at a time like this.

I made no reply as I pulled my flashlight from my own pack. After a minute's walk, we neared the water fountain, sitting in the center of the driveway.

The violent jet of water that had shot out of the entryway of Prominent House only minutes earlier, had not only unearthed Isaac King's ancient railroad tracks, but also much of the crumbling stone foundation of the driveway's hundred year old decorative water fountain, revealing it's lower stonework.

I now saw what I had feared I'd seen...

The long dormant water fountain had actually been built with cavernous sides, meaning that it had an ornate outer wall of stone and also an inner wall of stone.

Holding my breath and ignoring the smell, I bent down and shined my light into the small breakage within the outer wall of the fountain.

I then silently handed the light to Earl.

Earl took the flashlight and then stooped down, looking into the stone wall's opening, which was roughly the size of a chair cushion.

" - Aw, Jesus" Earl sighed, handing me back my light.

"Sorry, Earl, I should have warned you first, but I guess I'm still in shock to some degree" I said, my hands still shaking slightly.

"We all are, Tim. I guess the rumors are all true about this damn place" Earl sighed, almost with contempt.

Looking upward at Prominent House now, the structure appeared similar to that of a human skull, all the doors and decorative windows leading into the foyer were gone now and more of the black slimy mold covered the exterior window casings. The mansion, again, reminded me of a rotting shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean...

I clicked off my flashlight and turned my back on Prominent House, for the last time.

Earl made a phone call as we began making our way back toward Kendall's yellow crew cab.

Nearing the yellow crew cab again, I saw two things within the debris field that caught my attention. First, I saw my coil of rope, which I had brought with us on our first day of exploration inside the mansion.

I stopped and just stared at the coil of rope, realizing how incredibly arrogant I had been during the last several days.

The second thing I saw was a small sailboat, a foot long, with a blue hull and white upper works. By some fluke, the wooden dowels which the masts had been created from, were unbroken. The two masts still held their flags and sails which appeared to have been fashioned from what looked like bed sheets.

The boat looked as if it had been crafted by a small child...

I gently picked up the small craft, which was still wet with the brackish water. Looking underneath at the bottom of the hull I read the name which had been carved into the vessel by its creator.

Earl remained silent as I inspected the little boat.

...Paramedics were walking away from the yellow crew cab and the helicopters were now silent as Earl and I stepped up to Kendall's truck again. It appeared that the paramedics were double checking with everyone to make sure that no one was injured.

Andrea, Kendall, and Helen were now sitting in the back seat of the yellow crew cab and consoling each other.

I put the small sailboat into the cargo bed, next to the Avro Lancaster and P-40.

"What was that, Tim? What did you put in the back, just now?" Helen asked curiously.

"Something for you, Helen" I said quietly.

"I don't want anything to remind me of this fucking place, throw it back, Tim!" Helen viciously snapped at me.

"...Please trust me, OK, honey?" I asked gently, pulling the girl close to me.

Helen now broke down into tears as I held her close to my chest. The girl was still shaking slightly and her tears flowed freely as Andrea began rubbing Helen's back.

I assumed that Helen, Andrea, and Kendall, were all experiencing survivor's shock now.

...Had we remained in front of the mantle for a mere five or six more minutes, some, or perhaps all of us would have been killed instantly when the mantle exploded from the water's force.

"Let the tears come, Helen, get it out now, babe. It wasn't our time to leave this earth yet" I soothed.

"Can we go?" Kendall asked, looking over at Earl.

"Not yet, but soon. Tim and I have to talk to someone first" Earl answered.

"Can't we go now and you can talk to them later, for Christ's sake!?" Kendall roughly demanded of her boss.

Earl leaned down, taking Kendall's hand and began talking quietly to her. She too was shaking and on the verge of tears.