The house with the turret was nowhere in sight. Underneath Rey and Christy, the leaves were wet and thick making their shoes damp to the socks. It was Sunday, and, just as Spring wanted, they were trying to look across from the house with the turret for Inez Castel. It was already 4:15, and they were lost. Above them, the sky was dark and cloudy. It looked like it was going to rain. Some snow still hung from the trees – most had melted off. Inez, however, was nowhere to be seen. And the house with the turret seemed to have disappeared.
Christy leaned against a tree, looking distraught. “I guess both times we found it were luck.”
Rey put his hands on his knees. “I don't think we went too far. I think we went off course.”
“I don't know, Rey. It seems like we should have come out by Pleasant St. by now.”
Rey stood up and pulled his cell-phone out of his pocket. “I've got my phone so at least we can call search and rescue.”
Christy laughed.
Then to their shock and surprise, the cell-phone rang. “What if it's my Mom?” Rey asked.
“Don't tell her.”
He flipped open the phone. “Hello?”
“Rey. This is Inez Castel. You guys are lost. I'll tell you where to go.”
Rey looked up in the sky for a helicopter but saw none. “All right,” he said warily.
“See the direction Christy's facing? Walk in that direction until I tell you.”
Christy could hear what Inez was saying. Rey looked at her. She seemed like nothing would surprise her at this point.
“How do you know where we are?” Rey said.
“Don't worry about that now. You're getting close.”
“I see it!” Christy said.
Seventy feet away, they could make out the house with the turret.
“Once you reach the house with the turret,” Inez said, “stand in front and walk opposite the front door for a few minutes. You'll find me.” The line went dead.
They picked up their pace to a trot and the house with the turret neared. Christy noticed the stained glass windows around the upper perimeter. This time she noticed the depictions of avocados. Only time would reveal what these mysteries were all about, and she was beginning to believe, for the first time, that they would actually solve the mysteries.
They walked opposite the red door in silence. In the distance, they could see a clearing where the forest seemed to end.
“What's Inez like?” Christy asked Rey.
“He's really serious. He doesn't find stupid things funny. But I haven't seen him since fifth grade, so I don't really know.”
“Do you think he was in fifth grade with us, just to meet us.”
Ahead of them, they could see the end of the forest. Rey shook his head thoughtfully. “I don't know.”
“I wonder if he's psychic,” Christy said.
The trees became thinner, and they saw a clearing in front of them. It was an enormous field, with freshly cut green grass. The sight was so grand and magnificent, Rey felt like they had climbed a mountain and were now looking down at the view. He looked at Christy. She seemed nervous. An acre and a half away they could see a boy their age sitting against a tree. There were three trees, arranged side by side. The trees had thin trunks, no more than three or four inches in diameter. A boy sat against the middle tree smoking a cigarette. He turned and saw them, but didn't seem to react. The base of the foliage on each tree was at least ten feet wide. Rey could see the lemons. They were definitely lemon trees.
As they got closer, they saw the boy was wearing a yellow leather jacket, black jeans, and low top converses. The boy stood up and Rey and Christy picked up their pace until they came to a stand-still in front of him.
Inez extended his hand, and put the cigarette back in his mouth. “Inez Castel,” he said.
Rey shook his hand. “I'm Rey. This is Christy.”
“Hey Christy,” Inez said, shaking her hand.
“Hey Inez,” Christy said. “Sorry we're late.”
“It's no problem. You guys got here just in time. Another half hour we'd be soaked.” Inez took a drag off his cigarette. “You guys probably have a lot of questions. I know it’s not every day you get a phone call where the caller knows exactly where you are.”
“We're sort of used to being confused,” Rey said, looking over at Christy and then back at Inez. “How did you do that?”
Inez looked up at the sky for what seemed like a long time, not answering Rey’s question. “You put a gerbil on a Ouija Board. That was smart. We all thought so.” He took a drag off his cigarette. “We're all involved in this because of Spring Stone. And her relationship with a woman named Alexa Bartlett. So shoot. What do you want to know?”
“We’re supposed to ask you what functionalism is,” Christy said.
“Functionalism is a philosophy that asserts that all mental processes arise out of a functioning dependence on other processes. There is 114 elements on the Periodic Table. Now, there is 115. The newest element is the Avocadonine. It’s a compound that behaves different than any other in the universe. See these three trees behind me?”
Christy and Rey looked at the three lemon trees.
“They're what it's all about,” Inez said.
Rey noticed some of the lemons were more oblong than others.
Inez continued. “They're three different varieties of lemon tree. The first is called the Sweet Tree. Here,” he pointed behind him, “is the special variety. It's actually called the Interdonato, an Italian variety. But we're calling it the Special Tree. And this,” he pointed to another tree,” is the Eureka variety. The varieties each have a meaning.”
“Eureka?” Christy asked.
“’An expression of achievement,’” Inez explained. “We’re calling it the Achievement Tree. Alexa Bartlett has started a new pharmaceutical company called Preston. We’re going to use the Avocadonine to create a medication that improves academic performance and social interaction. Parents want a child who is sweet, special, and achievement oriented. It'll be a global initiative -- a cure for children with attention deficit disorder, an answer for a child with failing marks no matter how hard they try. We'll market it the same way they do anti-depressants. In five years, we’ll be a billion dollar corporation.”
“How?” Christy asked.
“Hochus Mochus and Mountain Springs are manufactured by a company in South Pemota called Bartlett Foods which is owned by Alexa Bartlett. Alexa is running the show. She’s hired an organization of mercenaries. Their clients have two problems: money and boredom. Too much of both. It’s an understatement to say mercenaries will do just about anything.” Inez took another drag off his cigarette and then spoke, his eyes narrowed. “Alexa has founded a School for the Gifted. Alexa says the problem is that the Avocadonine is bitter. We give the gifted students the Avocadonine, and have discovered that those students don’t become bitter. So we had the mercenaries graffiti Pemota High with the word Avocadonine to make the students at Pemota High conscious that a new neurotransmitter in their brain may exist. We think if the students realize we are trying to help them, we can change their mind’s resistance to the positive aspects of the Avocadonine. If not, we’re pretty sure we can alleviate the bitterness by adding an anti-depressant. The tree in front of Pemota High, painted purple, is an iconic symbol -- one that will live forever as part of the legend, the genesis of a pharmaceutical company that changed the world. Carl Jung talked about the tree of life that grows towards Heaven. Each ninth grader will be like that Ponderosa Pine in front of Pemota High.”
“There's lots of students at Pemota High who are sweet, special, and achievement oriented or whatever,” Rey said.
Inez narrowed his eyes again. “So you think it's okay what Huxley did to Viola.”
“You want a ninth grade where no one does anything wrong?” Christy asked. “And all the ninth graders are going to be bitter
?”
“It's time to talk about Alexa,” Inez said. He threw his cigarette on the ground and put it out. “But you might want to sit down.” He walked ahead of them. “Come on. I got us some sandwiches.”
They followed Inez away from the three lemon trees towards the forest. They walked in silence for a couple minutes, and then went into the house with the turret. There, against the back wall, was the card table Rey had seen Viola Specks bent over. On top, there now rested three deli-wrapped sandwiches and root beers. Inez closed the door after the two of them entered.
“Ham and cheese for Rey,” Inez said. “Turkey for Christy.”
“Sounds about right,” Christy said. They took seats at the table and began opening the sandwiches. “So who's Alexa?”
Rey took a bite of his ham and cheese wondering if anything Inez said was true. There was something in his words that sounded insincere. Spring had said he was a “liar for hire.”
“Alexa was a Russian born peasant. She worked as a maid during the early part of the Cold War for a man who was an agent of the KGB. The KGB had discovered a substance called L-95. It exhibited qualities of no other substance in the universe. Alexa likes to say that curiosity killed the cat but the cat has nine lives. She stole a year’s stash of the L-95 from her employer and emigrated to America. Changed her last name to Bartlett.”
“Wow,” Christy said.
“So where do you fit in?” Rey asked.
“Alexa recruits young advanced minds for her school. That's how I met her. She's an MD in psychology. She has friends on the state testing boards. She has connections among scholarship foundations. My parents sent me to the school. Alexa can be very persuasive. It was her decision to have me infiltrate the fifth grade where I met Rey.”
“So Spring's dead?” Christy asked.
Inez nodded. “Alexa is holding onto a dream spanning several decades. Alexa wants to create a new training ground for life, a rigorous method of shaping young minds to lead great productive lives. Where people are happy and achieve. With Spring, the three trees, the medication, we'll begin to see a new world, absent of violence and stupidity like the one we have now.”
Inez's cell-phone rang. “Yeah?”
They heard a woman's voice. She sounded cynical, tense, and malicious. “Inez, what in the hell do you think you're doing?”
“Telling them the truth, Alexa. Most of it. What's wrong?”
“Spring said something. The little surpriser never fails to surprise. She wants you to do EMDR on them.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But tell Rey and Christy I think they are just darling little angels. Get the photograph. We need it. We're bringing you some mats to sit on.”
“All right,” Inez said. He hung up.
“I thought Spring was dead,” Rey said.
“She is,” Inez said. “Let's just say you’re not the only ones who have found a way to communicate.”
When the red door opened, Rey and Christy gave a little jump. Two men in camouflage pants and jackets came in carrying yoga mats. They placed the mats on the wood floor looking serious. Then one gave Inez a quick sober nod. “Inez,” he said formally. The other guy said, “Hey Rey. Hey Christy.” They both gave two-fingered salutes, then walked out.
Inez said, “You guys know what EMDR is?”
Rey had heard it mentioned once. His fourth grade teacher brought it up in passing when talking about rapid eye movement. But Rey couldn't remember what he said.
Inez finished his root beer, then said, “EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Someone moves a finger in front of your eyes and you follow it. It's based on rapid eye movement. Then you say whatever comes to mind. It's a technique used to resolve trauma.”
“I don't think we're traumatized,” Christy said.
“We're trying to get a reaction from the Avocadonine,” Inez said.
“I'll try it,” Rey said. Rey situated himself on one of the yoga mats.
Inez's cell-phone rang again. He slid it open.
They heard Alexa's voice on the other end. “And do get the photograph before they tear down the Great Wall of China.”
Inez hung up and sighed. “Let me see your cell-phone,” Inez said to Rey.
“You want the photograph of Viola? Why?”
“I don't know.”
Rey looked into Inez's eyes and decided he was telling the truth. He may not have known. But Rey was certain he had a guess. Rey reluctantly handed his cell-phone to Inez. Inez took a few moments sending the photograph to his own phone and then handed the phone back to Rey.
“Follow my finger and keep your mind blank,” Inez said. Inez began moving his finger in front of Rey's face like he
was assessing the possible guilt of a drunk driver. Rey followed, his eyes moving left then right. Inez did this for approximately fifteen seconds then said, “Do you see anything?”
Rey shook his head while simultaneously his eyes began to widen. He did see something.
“What did you see?” Inez asked.
“I saw a big field of avocado trees. All the avocados had
gone bad. And I saw letters that said, ‘Replace the avocados.’ And I heard a voice say, ‘Every year.’”
“Let's try again.” Again, Inez moved his finger back and forth in front of Rey's face while Rey followed along. Another fifteen seconds passed. Inez looked at Rey searchingly. “What do you see?”
Rey closed his eyes briefly, then they began to widen. “I saw a gerbil on a Ouija Board and a sign that said, ‘This is the psychic ability.’ And I heard a voice say, ‘December 3rd.’”
“One more time,” Inez said. He moved his finger back in forth in front of Rey’s face. Then he asked him what he saw.
“I saw the house with the turret and letters that said, ‘This is the tomb.’ And I heard a voice say, ‘soon enough.’”
“All right,” Inez said. “That's enough for today.”
“What does it mean?” Christy asked.
Inez flipped open his cell-phone, double-checking to see he had a copy of the photograph. He cleared his throat. “I don't know.”
“Are you telling the truth?” Christy asked.
“Yes,” Inez said. “I really don't know. Let’s all hope for the best. It's all we can do. You can call me if you want. I'll be interested to see what happens with Mr. Chandon.”
“Are you psychic?” Christy asked.
Inez nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you on L-95?” Christy asked.
“No.” Inez pulled a couple business cards out of his wallet. They had his name on them and a phone number. “Be in touch,” he said. “I'll be watching.”