Subj:	A Fable remembered
Date:	96-06-19 00:04:46 EDT
From:	superula@oz.net
Sender: owner-ag-fanfic@stargame.org
To:	ag-fanfic@stargame.org

My mama knows all there is to know around these parts. She's 
seen people come and go, heard their stories, learned their lessons.  
My mama and I lived in a boarding house. I didn't have a privileged
upbringing, but I had love and good friends, and a  lifetime of great 
stories.

The lady that ran our boarding house was named Miss Loris Holt. 
Mama told me that Miss Holt was an "old soul", but I didn't know 
what she meant by that.  I just thought that Miss Holt was strange. 
She had these big ole buggy eyes that would stick right out of her 
head and vibrate if she was real serious.  She kept a doll on the 
lookout. I don't know what this doll was looking out for, exactly, 
and it's eyes were closed up tight to boot.  Miss Holt had
secrets, too. She kept them locked up tight in a chifferobe in the 
front room.  In my time at the boarding house, I seen two people 
look into Miss Holt's book of secrets and a world of trouble come 
to them both.

Mama told me that Miss Holt had lived a long, long time, and it was 
best to always do as she said, cause she had the "wisdom of ages". 
I was 9! What did I care? It turns out the wisdom of ages was all 
around me in that old house.

Lucas Buck was the town sheriff. He was the daddy of Caleb, my 
best friend at the boarding house. Mama didnt like Caleb much 
when he come to live with us (on account a his daddy killin his 
sister and then killin hisself, too) cause she said "the apple don't 
fall far from the tree". Lots of folk said that about Caleb, but he 
was my friend. He told better ghost stories than anyone.

Lucas Buck, mama said, was an "old soul", too. One night I heard 
mama and her friends on the porch, they was sippin fancy drinks 
and talkin real loud.  Caleb and I stayed up as long as we could to 
hear, but Caleb fell asleep.

I listened all night.

Lucas Buck, mama said, was a spirit, an "entity". He came back 
to earth every so often, to cause trouble in people's hearts. She 
named a few names that I didnt know too good, except that I 
heard them in school: Modred, Cyclops, Kuurten, Hitler, LaPointe......

Every time he came back, mama said, so did SHE. that would 
be Miss Holt.


Lucas Buck first roamed the earth as the snake in the Garden of 
Eden. He was a beautiful, shiny serpent. Any person would love 
that gorgeous snake and want to own him. But there were only a 
few people then, and one lady, Eve, chose to listen to Lucas, even 
then. The trouble he caused was beyond the imagination of  the 
people of the garden, and they were forced to leave their wondeful 
home and go to the desert. 

Miss Holt, mama said, was the first twinge of conscience and 
remorse in the hearts of God's perfect creations. She was sent to 
battle the serpent, and to give strength to the people. But she lost 
that fight.

Things went crazy for  years after that. Mama said Lucas can be 
found all through history: in the stories of Judas, Cyclops, and 
that Miss Holt was always there, too. Her job was to help the 
chosen ones stay strong. 

Every time a chosen one defeated Lucas, he would retire to a 
secret land, and he would summon all his strength and power, 
and he would wait until another chosen one arrived on the earth. 

The thing is, every time this happened, Lucas was not as strong 
as he had been. He left a little behind each time he walked the earth.

Miss Holt, on the other hand, got stronger with each passing year. 
The hearts of the warriors grew stronger, and their battles, 
although never easy, grew less difficult. 

King Arthur met with Lucas the day he made love to his sister, 
Morgause. They had a son, Modred, who later would fight Arthur 
and take Camelot. Lucas strolled the battlefields in his shining 
armour, and he was what Arthur feared most: the embodiment 
of his physical love for his own sister. This, mama said, is how 
Lucas Buck would work his whole life. He could find what the 
warrior feared most, and like a little worm, he would get into 
that spot and wiggle until the fear could no longer be ignored. 
Then he would make a big ole show of himself.

Sometimes the chosen one could fight back and win, and 
sometimes not.  Arthur couldnt. He had Merlin to aide him 
(Mama pointed out that Caleb's sister was called Merlyn, too. 
Weird, huh?) and guide him through his darkest hour. Mama 
said that Merlin was Miss Holt, come to guide Arthur through 
the battle, but that Arthur's fear was more than he could take, 
and he gave his fear to Lucas and let him run with it. Camelot fell, 
and Arthur was a ruined man.

Mama said things  got even worse after that. the whole world was 
torn apart by wars and fighting. Lucas had made everyone afraid 
of something, and everyone was fighting to escape that fear.

Mama said that Lucas can be found in myths from all over the 
world, and sure enough, Miss Loris Holt is right there too. She 
didnt always lose the fight, neither. Mama said that Miss Holt 
was right there with Harriet Tubman, and I do know that name. 
Miss Holt helped the slaves escape the plantations and the evil 
men who ran them. Mama said that Lucas had made the 
plantation owners afraid of the black people, he had told the 
owners that they knew voodoo, and werent afraid to use it. 
Lucas left dead animals lyin around, no telling how much fear a 
chicken with it's throat slit could cause a man with slaves. Lucas 
himself was a very influential plantation man, then, John LaPointe. 
He had many slaves and alot of land. But he wanted more land, 
and he found a way to get it. He wanted to whup the landsmen into 
a right frenzy over the slaves, get them real scared so that they 
couldnt see any way to handle them any more but to just kill them 
right off, or, more likely, sell off their land cheap and let the new 
master deal with the slaves. Sending them back on the boats they 
come in on wasnt good enough, didnt they know that Voodoo 
can let a man walk on water? Voodoo can cause disease and 
deform your children, too.  

Miss Holt worked for Mr. LaPointe. She knew what he was 
saying, and she could guess what he was up to. Lucas didnt 
know Miss Holt's people could read, so he left his writings all 
around the house. She knew every step of his plan.

The slaves at Mr. LaPointe's plantation were treated well, they 
were happy there for the mostpart. Mr La Pointe liked to help 
himself to a girl now and again, but they girls always came back 
in one piece, and he hadnt beat them like some owners did. But 
when they learned what Lucas had planned for them, and for all 
their families and friends around, they had to do something. Miss 
Holt led one woman, Harriet Tubman, to organize a way out. She 
summoned her strength and together they saved the lives of a good 
many slaves.  LaPointe and many others lost their land, and soon, 
their right to own people.

Lucas had lost that round, and he went to ground again.

I guess after that Lucas and Miss Holt rested awhile. Mama 
said she reckons Lucas was responsible for all the problems 
in Vietnam, and Loris fought by organizing young people to show 
how wrong it was. Mama reckons nobody won that fight, and that 
was the last the world heard of the pair of them for many years.

Until Trinity, South Carolina.

I dont know how Lucas Buck came to be sheriff, only that he 
always HAS been sheriff. Miss Holt took me and mama in when 
Daddy run off, and mama helped Miss Holt out for our room and 
board. She brought Caleb here, too. And Dr. Matt. Mama said 
Miss Holt was bringing a whole army to the house! I guess she 
meant a whole army to fight Lucas.

Lucas stayed away from Miss Holt for the most part, and Caleb 
and I went about our business. Caleb told me one time that his 
dead sister talks to him, but I figured it was just more stuff like 
that ole Potato Boy story I heard. 

Mama told her friends that night that she had heard Miss Holt 

telling Caleb about saying goodbye to Merlyn, and she showed 
him that big ole book of secrets she keeps locked up tight. Now 
even I know that this is when the real trouble started. That book 
was kept locked away for a good reason, I guess, cause I seen 
alot of trouble start when it come out. Caleb stopped tellin me 
about Merlyn comin, and Dr. Matt went crazy from a fever  
and they took him off to the looney bin.  Caleb started acting 
real strange, like he knew something we didnt know nothing 
about. Lucas even seemed afraid of something, I heard. Miss 
Holt took to the kitchen, reading from her big old book and 
cooking up some smelly stew.  Bad men came along, Lucas run 
em off, the end. It just seemed like things felt different. I cant say 
how though.

This one day, Mama was shopping, Caleb and I were sitting 
on the porch with some special lemonade Miss Holt made. 
Sheriff Buck came up the walk. Him and Caleb were becoming 
buddies these days, and Miss Holt didnt like this much at all. 

"Hey, Son. Rose. Caleb, I need to take a run to Acsencion 
today, pick up a few things. You feel like a drive?"

Caleb looked around for Miss Holt before answering.

"Sure."

They started off the porch when Miss Holt just appeared, right
 in their path. She was blocking the car door, and her buggy 
eyes was blazin away at the Sheriff.

"Caleb, It's school tomorrow. You best be stayin put."

Lucas rolled his eyes, "That old chestnut, Miss Holt? Couldnt 
you try something a little more creative?"

"There is no real need for the truth to be creative, Sheriff. But 
as a man who doesnt deal with the truth, I doubt you'd know 
that, now would you?"

Lucas fixed Miss Holt with a stare like nothin I ever seen before 
or since.  She stared right back, not moving a muscle.  Caleb got 
a funny look on his face and told me we'd better get inside.

From the window, we could see Miss Holt and Lucas Buck 
arguing, and Caleb turned white as a sheet. Lucas was wavin his 
arms around and Miss Holt just stood there. The sky turned the 
blackest black ever, and then it went blue again. Rain fell, sun 
shone, hail fell, lightening flashed. I didnt know what was happening.

Caleb finally ran outside, and he shouted some things at Lucas 
Buck. Then I seen  something I will never forget in all my days. 
I seen Merlyn Temple. I seen Merlyn Temple standing just outside 
the circle of Miss Holt, Sheriff Buck and Caleb. Merlyn had one 
hand on Miss Holt's shoulder and the other was reaching for Caleb. 
Caleb was crying and shouting. I couldnt hear his words over the 
noise of wind and thunder and rain, but he wasnt happy, I could 
see that much. Suddenly, Merlyn took her hand from Caleb's 
shoulder and stepped back. Miss Holt dropped her head. Lucas 
seemed to grow and inch or two hisself, and he was all puffed up 
like a peacock.

Then the sky turned blue again. And I saw Merlyn Temple just 
vanish intonothin.

Miss Holt looked back at the boarding house, she looked like 
nothing I can remember. She took a few steps to the house, looked 
over her shoulder at Lucas,  standing with a hand on top of Caleb's 
head. He was smiling. Caleb wasnt smiling, but he wasnt looking 
sad, neither. Miss Holt walked back toward the house. Lucas 
steered Caleb toward the car. They drove off to Acsension.

Miss Holt went and left us at the boarding house after that. Mama 
run it for her, in case she came back. I heard mama tell her friends 
a few times that Lucas run Miss Holt out of town yet again, and 
that, for a while at least, we were all in for some bad times.  She 
told me to look out for Caleb, as he was in some kind of trouble. 

"Bad judgement is the first brick laid of the road to pure evil", she 
told me.

She didnt have to worry too much, I never seen Caleb much after 
he moved into Lucas' house. He barely came along to school 
anymore. Miss Coombs went round there to teach him in private, 
is what was said.  I missed him, and Boone did, too. We were 
three musketeers. Sometimes we'd see him around and he wouldnt 
even notice us. 

Mama and I left Trinity not too long after that. Mama said she 
wanted to get out before "the next round". Lucas Buck was still 
the Sheriff, Caleb and I were about to start junior high. We 
moved up north to stay with a friend of mama's brother.

Mama would talk to the TV news. 

"He's at it again", she would say whenever something bad happened.

I heard her prayin alot more than she used to. Mama was scared 
of something.


Sometimes I think I  might go back there, to Trinity. I might just 
go and see what he done to the place where I was so happy 
growin up. See what he done to my best friend. When the urge 
gets real strong, and I'm lying in bed thinking that I'll go tomorrow, 
just wake up and get in the car and go, I have a dream.

In my dream, I am nine again. I'm sitting in the window of the 
boarding house, and I am watching the argument. I see Caleb, 
Merlyn, Miss Holt and Sheriff Buck, and this time I can hear them.

"Don't make me choose! Don't make me choose!" Caleb is 
shouting with tears streaming down his face.

"Now, son, no one who truly loves you would ever ask you to 
make a choice like this one. Not if they REALLY loved you." 
This was Lucas.

"Caleb, I want what's best for you! It's God's plan, Caleb, and 
Lucas wants to change it all! Lucas would take you from the hand 
of God if you let him!"

At this point in my dream, Merlyn always looks at me and says: 

"Why won't he listen, Rose? Why won't he listen?!"

And it wakes me up, and I spend the next few hours wondering 
what I should have done.



end.
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