Strange days indeed
―John Lennon
Awakening
Our dinner at Sassafras went well as I imagined .
Yes, candlelight and wine were romantic but beyond an enchanting ambiance and intimate conversation was something mysterious and indefinable I could only call a soul connection.
We often talk about picking up certain vibes from people. Well, Kate and I have always been on the same wavelength like a radio receivers perfectly attuned with no static between us.
And that got me thinking about the meaning of our lives.
I'm talking about the hidden part of us back when she was Viv and I was Cole and how that's always been largely concealed from us. It's so weird we had another life and the people we knew then are still connected to us.
I get bumblebees in my brain trying to make sense of it. The Dark Lady and Gemma are also entangled with us and we seem to affect one another.
The closest I can get to figuring it out is our vibrations match, and time and distance cannot diminish this. Maybe it's Quantum Communication and it's eerie in its effects, so strange, that Einstein called it spooky action at a distance.
It explains why we're not hampered by time or space because the medium we use is the very fabric of the universe.
Spooky action indeed and peculiar days ahead for all of us.
The weekend's over and I'm back to the comfort of my routine. The T.A.'s are at their usual table in the Grill and tittering with gossip and whispered comments and furtive glances my way.
Life is good, I smile inwardly, as I savour my morning coffee.
"You look content this morning," Gemma says, as she slides in beside me. "Are you practicing Zen?"
"Oh, nothing that profound, just glad to be back from the weekend."
"Was it that bad?" she chuckles.
"Nothing like that―just moved into new digs and weekend down-time meant I had no excuse for not unpacking mover's boxes."
"Wow! A new job and a new house. It's been a hard time for you," she sympathized.
"A hard time but a good time," I smile.
"Ah, a true player's motto. I knew you were a womanizer."
"Can't I dissuade you from that opinion," I implored, making a sad face.
"Let's say you can't fool me and leave it at that."
She decided she teased me enough and took on a more serious tone.
"So, where is this new house of yours?"
"It's new to me but it's an older century house on the Niagara Escarpment, backing onto the Bruce Trail."
"Really?" her face brightened, "what part of the Trail?"
"The Red Cliff survey, near the marsh. Do you know it?"
"Of course, my uncle just sold his house there and moved to Florida. You must have bought it. It's the only century house in that area."
"Do you happen to know anything about the history of the house?"
"As a matter of fact, I do and you might be surprised at the property's rather distinguished provenance."
"And why is that?"
"Lorne Ratliff originally owned a tract of farm land and sub-divided it and sold some land to my great uncle . He built the house on the site."
"Is Gail Ratliff, the Department Chair, related to him?"
Gemma nodded. "He was her great grandfather. Seems to be a generational curse," she laughed.
I smiled outwardly but inwardly was thinking this was more than a coincidence. I felt she was closely watching my reaction.
“Those were trying times back in the mid-19th century," she said, "there was political unrest and religious intolerance and added to that, problems with indigenous peoples, particularly the Iroquois tribe who lived in the area."
"What kind of trouble from the Iroquois specifically?" I asked.
"They were very protective of their land especially sacred sites that the pioneers threatened to destroy in order to build their settlements."
"Native rights and compensation is a problem to this day," I agreed.
"Lorne Ratliff was very enlightened for his time and that was evident when he sold the tract of land to my great uncle. It seems my great uncle married an Iroquois woman and bought the land to protect two sacred sites. The government eventually expropriated the marsh and the cliff to be used as a conservation area but did not expropriate the tract of land your house is on because there was a residential dwelling built on the site."
I shook my head in disbelief. Gemma had unknowingly explained to me why the Dark Lady was guarding the sites to this day. She wanted to preserve them from being destroyed.
So many connections in my little circle of flesh and all our lives somehow entangled. No wonder I get overwhelmed trying to disentangle all the connections.