The Windowless Building

I exited the gate and headed down the hillside, skirting the outer perimeter of the ranch's barbed wire boundary fence. Then I crossed the field. My mind started wandering. In just about three weeks I'd be away in Corvallis, starting classes. I was majoring in chemistry and was going to hit the ground running, with a pretty intense class schedule.

I thought about all the times we had crossed this field and played here, and under the dark, cool, gnarled and sprawling oaks. This place was always brought a sense of peace to me. There probably wouldn't be too many more chances to hang out down here, at least not for a while- who knows what I would do come next summer, if I came back here or stayed up in Corvallis at school. I began to hear a mechanical humming sound as I approached the eaves of the woods. It didn't really register with me until I rounded a corner and suddenly the façade of the Windowless Building was right in front of me. The sound was coming from inside of it. I approached the front door, climbed the two front steps and tried the knob on the faceless metal door. It was locked and inscrutable as always. Just out of habit, and more to amuse myself, I knocked. And as always happened, there was no response, other than the strange telltale mechanical hum coming from within.

It occurred to me that the power had not yet come back on when I left the house. So what was causing the mechanical hum then? I thought about it and realized the place must have its own backup generator. I could hear none of the usual telltale electrical 60-hertz hum coming from the large metal transformer sitting across the small paved parking lot, so obviously there had to be a backup power source operating whatever machines were inside. But what machines? What was their purpose? I realized, I had been wondering this same question ever since I was a kid, all those times I had played down here and ran and climbed among the spreading oaks above.

I climbed around the sides of the building, passing an exhaust vent blowing hot air into the already hot valley. I clambered up the steep slope and onto the building's natural grass roof, standing on it triumphantly looking down and across the valley, like a king atop his castle walls. My fortress, my castle, I thought, imagining the place being a mighty keep full of gold and marvelous machinery. Then I hiked up into the cool shade of the woods and had a smoke.

When I got home, the power was, sure enough, still off. Maybe I won't have to come in to work, I thought. No such luck- right before quarter to five, the lights came back on.

7. MAURO.

One afternoon, Mauro received a phone call.

"Hey Mauro, Guess what!?"

"DAD!" Mauro shouted excitedly. He realized he had not heard from his parents since...well, he didn't know when. It was like he had forgotten that they had moved away. But now, here was Dad, on the phone!

"We want to come see you! Are you free tomorrow?"

"Heck yeah! I don't have to work or anything. I'd love to see you guys again! How is your new place?"

"Oh we love it...up...here. Yeah!" his father replied.

"Well, the old place looks the same as ever..." Mauro said, glancing around the room. The house WAS surprisingly clean and neat, he thought, though he never remembered cleaning it. He assumed either Melissa or Jane must be taking care of that.

After a brief conversation, they all agreed that the whole family would get together at noon the next day, maybe grab lunch, hang out, and sample some of Mom's old fashioned cooking.

He spent next morning getting ready, kissed Melissa goodbye as she sauntered off to her job at the library, and waited around, reading, relaxing. Finally, the doorbell rang.

His parents looked wonderful. Dad seemed to look at least 10 years younger, and his brother hadn't changed a bit. He gave each of them a hug then exchanged hi-fives with Paul.

"I haven't seen you since your accident! How are you doing?" his brother asked.

His father gave him a warning look.

"Accident..." Oh yeah. Suddenly Mauro remembered that yes, he had been in an accident, and a pretty bad one at that. Only that the details of it were really fuzzy for some reason. He hadn't really thought about it since it happened. It must have had a serious concussion to cause such memory loss.

"Yeah...I'm doing a lot better- I feel great! Funny I really don't really remember much about the accident. I must have..."

"...The doctors say that you experienced a bit of memory loss afterwards, but otherwise you are fine! And you look great, you really do." His mother said, though Mauro seemed to sense that she was really emotional as she said this. In fact, he had been looking forward to seeing his parents, but yet, he found it rather odd, and off putting, that they seemed to be in such a weird, somber mood. After all, he was fine, he was living here on his own and doing well, and the only thing he wanted to ask was, "So when can I visit YOU guys? Since you guys moved away...how is your new house?"

His mom and dad looked at each other. "We're still working on that..." she replied.

"Well...as soon as we get the guest room ready. We still haven't unpacked all the way, boxes everywhere..." his father replied, interrupting her as they exchanged a weird look.

"Hey, let's go to the taco place for lunch! You always loved that place!" he told Paul.

Mauro drove them down to the square. "How's my old car doing?" his dad asked. "You got it all fixed up and repainted I see."

"It's my car now Dad! Best graduation present ever!! This buddy of mine named Brad, he's a mechanic. He did all the bodywork and the paint. Looks great, doesn't it!" he beamed.

At the taco place, the each ordered a huge lunch platter. He noticed his family looking around wonderingly the whole time, as if taking everything in for the first time.

"It's so amazing- I mean, this looks so realistic, so much like our neighborhood!" His mother said suddenly. His dad gave her an alarmed look.

"Realistic?"

"Nostalgic." His dad coughed. "I think you meant 'Nostalgic.'"

"Well, yeah but I mean, it hasn't really changed that much in only three months." Mauro replied. Geez, what an odd comment, I mean, It really hadn't been THAT long since they moved away, he thought. "You guys really should come visit more often. Stay and hang out, and visit. You will spend the night, right? Jane won't mind, we're just roommates, don't worry we aren't like, you know."

"I actually have a new girlfriend, her name's Melissa." He went on. "I just met her earlier this summer. In fact, you'll meet her later. I'll invite her over for croquet with us."

The rest of the conversation was the usual family banter, Paul's school and antics with his buddies, Dad's job, Mom's exploits with her book club (which was more of an excuse to get together and drink wine and gossip than it was about actual literature, Mauro deduced) and of course, what he himself had been up to.

"Nothing much...we just hang out, cruise around, work, have fun...you know."

"That's great!" his dad said. "We are so proud of you. And you look great, and you're happy. That's what's important."

He drove them through the upper Madrone Drive loop, past the rec center at the top of the hill which doubled as both a library, concert hall, community center, and a variety of other necessary functions. He stopped there to pick up Melissa. There she was; he had spotted her walking out of the building, smiling, as they pulled up.

"Hey, I got a surprise for you!" he told her, as they pulled up. "This is Mom, Dad, my brother Paul... Here's Melissa!"

"Wow!" She said, beaming. "Awesome to meet you guys! Mauro's told everyone about you all," she said, laughing.

"We just had lunch, but are you hungry? I could make you something..."

"No that's fine."

"Hop in!" he said, and drove the five of them back home.

Paul practically ran into the house, running around exploring it as if for the first time, then into the back yard, where Mauro had already set up the wickets for a croquet game. His mom made them some lemonade, and then they all sat on the back porch looking up at the green hills behind them, chatting.

"You guys keep the place so neat... It's cleaner than I expected, with a 19 year old guy living here..."

"Well, don't forget Mom, I live with two women. Jane and Melissa keep it pretty clean...'

Melissa looked over, startled. "Wait, what? I thought YOU were the one who was cleaning the place all the time."

"Hm, well, maybe it's Jane then. I'll ask her when she gets home... I didn't see her this morning, Is she..."

"She spent the night over at Amy and Brad's. She and Gabe got together last night..." (Melissa whispered this last part.) But she might be back later."

"So how's Krista doing? Have you heard from her?" Mauro asked suddenly. His mother and father looked at each other.

"I, uh...think she left, you know, for school last week, I haven't really heard." Paul said then. Mauro had suddenly remembered that Krista had been his ex-girlfriend, but that he hadn't even thought of her since he got together with Melissa, since, well, before the accident. Though he couldn't remember a thing about how or why, he assumed she must have broken up with him right afterwards.

"So you guys are half-brothers then? Melissa asked."

"Well no, well, yes, I mean, sort of. I tease him, call him half-pint, and what not- so he's like, my half pint brother." He laughed. "I'm so stoked you guys came back here though!" He said to them. " Paul, dude, if you ever get bored up there with all those old folks up there, come back and live with us!" He was expecting Paul to laugh and smile, but oddly, he only saw a strange, sad expression on his face.

They had some intense rounds of croquet (Melissa beat all four of them handily) and then, as the afternoon wore on till evening, his mother decided to show off her cooking skills and made her signature stuffed manicotti and grilled zucchini dish for all of them. By then Jane had arrived, and had asked if her friend Gabe could join them.

"Would that be okay...?"

Sure, there's more than enough!" His mother said.

They were of course glad to see Jane, as they had met her before; she and her ex-boyfriend had been over to the house on more than one occasion. They wanted to catch up with her and her life, and Gabe was a gentleman (though Mauro knew that at times, Gabe did have bit of a wild streak.)

They all had a great home cooked meal, and a great round of card games and drinks afterward, and their day in paradise wound down.

Tears came to Mauro's eyes when his father said that they could not stay the night.

"But it's your house!... Why not? I mean, I can sleep in the guest room, it's all cool..."

"It's your house now. It is in good hands, and so are you..." his father said, nodding at his roommate and his girlfriend standing next to them. "You look great. I'm sorry, but we have a long drive, and we would like to stay, but we can't." his dad said, solemnly. "But I promise, we will make it a point to visit you more often. I promise."

"Well, wait a sec, what if I come up and see you guys?"

"Well, hold on, maybe you can...excuse us, your father and I need to talk real quick." she said, mysteriously, as she drew his father aside and they went into the next room.

He could hear them, speaking in low voices together.

His mom was saying, "I think we can make a visit happen, if we get the doctors, and the programmers all on board...it will be tricky, but why not, they made all of this work..." Mauro wasn't clear on what they were talking about, but as long as he had a clean bill of health, he didn't see a problem.

Paul was finishing up some first person shoot-em up game on the TV and ran out into the hall. His mother and father joined them.

"Maybe you can come up and visit in a month or so, when we get things squared away... we are going out of town though, house sitting for Aunt Kate for a couple weeks, so maybe after that."

"I love you, son. Remember that." His father said, tears in his eyes. "You look wonderful, sweetie." His mother added. "We'll call you soon. And remember, we will always love you. Bye now."

His mother told Melissa it was so nice to meet her, and told Jane it was so nice to see her again. Then his dad shook hands with Gabe, and Mauro watched as his brother, mother and father walked out into the night.

8. RICK AMHERST.

Hauling drywall was a drag.

Rick told himself that he had only taken this job as a stop gap, keep busy kind of thing before he was due to arrive at Fort Benning in just a couple months. But it was physical, backbreaking work, to the point where he began almost looking forward to the rigors of basic training- the 6 Am wake up calls, pushups with the drill sergeants in his face screaming at him, and marching around in the sweltering heat. He was in good physical shape, but this was drudgery. At least in the Army, the drudgery would be constructive; he would learn to actually be a soldier for real. No more pretend running around attacking imaginary forts like they had as kids, he thought to himself, and had to laugh. He was heading home from the warehouse, cruising down Round Top Valley Road towards the little shopping center where he planned to stop off and grab a mallet from the little hardware store they had there. The road passed by the long sloping field where the ranch was located that they had all played as kids, and up to the right, that weird structure which, oddly enough, he and his buddies had "attacked" and "Taken over" on many occasions when playing soldier as kids. He had to laugh about that; in a few months, he would be the real thing. And who knows, he might even be deployed into combat, and have to attack something far more dangerous than a mere water treatment plant.

At least, that was what he had always assumed that place was. His buddy Jason had always tripped out over that place for some reason.

But something was tripping HIM out. He had barely noticed it as he sped by, but now that he thought about it, what was that car doing at that one pull-out, where the cave used to be?

He thought he recognized the car; that dark olive green Mercedes ML420 with the fish sticker on it. That would have been the Palmieri's ride. Paul and Mauro's parents. Maybe Paul borrowed it and went to check out the cave, he thought. Although he had thought the cave had been sealed off after the water company had installed that big new water main, maybe five or six years ago now. The water company had not only fenced the area off, but supposedly had turned the cave into some kind of underground well reservoir. Round Top Valley Road had been torn up for months during the whole process. So, as far as he knew, you couldn't get into the cave, so what would Paul be doing there?

Paul was always the annoying younger brother who could be a somewhat annoying tag-along. And to be truthful, he hadn't hardly seen him around the last few months- it was like, after his brother died, he totally kept to himself. Rick actually felt kind of sorry for him. Must be going through all kinds of emotional trauma and what not. Maybe they should have reached out to him more.

Only, out of "Them", right now Rick was one of the last of the old neighborhood crew left. Well, actually, his own brother and Danny were still around, but they had grown apart during the last few months, started running in different circles, or whatever. And it was like, as he was preparing for the army, and his brother for college, even that felt like it was a big rift. And most of the rest of his former buddies were either away at school, or in some cases, moving to bigger towns to party and work the same dead end jobs they would have worked if they had stayed here. And Jason and Dillan were both off at separate colleges, chasing girls, tailgating at Ducks and Beavers games, and doing all that rah raw fun stuff that college guys did. No beavers or rah rah fun for us army guys, he thought, thinking of his impending shipping out date.

So for now, here he was, left behind with his brother, and soon he, too, would be onto his new life.

Maybe I'll go see what ol' Paul is up to, he thought. He flipped a U-turn and drove back down the road. It was about a half a mile to where he had seen the car parked, in a wide turn-out big enough for several cars. He pulled up facing the dark green SUV. That big circle star thing on the grille seemed to scream out at him. It was definitely the Palmieri's vehicle, all right- he even recognized the special "Crater Lake" license plate they had, that you had to pay extra money for.

He got out of the car. Nobody seemed to be around.

"Hey, PAUL!" He called. No answer. What the fuck, maybe he had stopped to smoke a joint up in the woods, he thought (and he suddenly realized he would not be able to join him in this vice, as the army would catch him in the drug test.)

But then he realized, the woods were not really that accessible. The chain link fence was just a few yards behind the road and of course the telltale "no trespassing" signs were there. They had always been allowed here as kids, but since they built the storage tank in there, they must have wanted to keep people out now, he figured. The fence had not been enough to deter Paul obviously, so it wouldn't deter him either. He quickly scaled it.

Where he had remembered there being just an old rutted wagon path as a kid, there was now an improved, graded gravel road that led from the fence line back into the woods. He followed it up towards where he remembered the cave entrance being. After about fifty yards, the road ended in front of what looked like some kind of concrete bunker; a squat, square building maybe ten feet by ten feet, build back into the steep banks of the canyon. It had a square overhanging roof and no windows- it was just a near-featureless square block of concrete. It almost reminded him of that water treatment plant thing near the ranch, he thought, in that the back end of it was built right into the hillside.

When had they built THIS? He thought. This must have been done as part of the water main upgrade, he figured. He hadn't been down here in years. Jason used to hang out in the woods, so maybe HE's been here, Rick thought. I wonder if that building is open; it would be a chill spot to party and hang out where nobody would find you.

Except, when he walked up to it, all he saw was a single metal door. Not only was it irresolutely locked when he tried it, but he noticed what looked like some kind of security key-card reader had been installed on the door. Above the door was what looked like some kind of security camera. And it was facing him, staring him down. He backed away quickly.

What the fuck was this place? On the door was a sparse plaque with the cryptic words "TT FACILITY SERVICE AND VISITOR NODE. UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS KEEP OUT. "

The last part made sense- they clearly didn't want anyone breaking into this shack, but what was in there? One thing was clear, Paul obviously wasn't. Maybe he was in the cave, if it was still there?

But he searched the banks of the creek and couldn't find the cave entrance either. He THOUGHT it might have been somewhere near where that concrete bunker thing was, but it had been so long since he had been there he wasn't sure. Maybe they DID build that bunker over top of the cave entrance. It made sense in a way, it would be the perfect place to build a secret lair. Bigger on the inside than out, he thought, suddenly remembering this oddball British sci-fi TV show he had seen once. He called out to Paul a few more times. No response. Wherever he was, he was either not that close by, or was avoiding him. Finally after a while, Rick started back down to his car. He scaled the fence...just in time to see a sheriff's car pull up.