{"id":3134,"date":"2019-08-12T08:59:14","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T15:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/?p=3134"},"modified":"2019-08-12T13:04:15","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T20:04:15","slug":"the-brick-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/archives\/3134","title":{"rendered":"The Brick Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

An avowed atheist, James is sixty-seven and has lived in Seattle for fifty years. A fastidious dresser and vain of his appearance, James bristles whenever he hears the words spiritual, astrology, mystical, God, karma<\/i> or anything suggesting life might be more than a purely mechanistic crapshoot.<\/p>\n

James\u2019s first marriage produced Andrew, forty two, a massage therapist. Andrew\u2019s mother Claire divorced James when Andrew was five, and James didn\u2019t see much of Andrew after the divorce until Andrew moved to nearby Vashon Island fifteen years ago. Thereafter James visited Andrew and his wife Cecily and their children Zeke and Maru several times a year until three years ago when James called Andrew the worst sort of idiot<\/i>.<\/p>\n

James was visiting Andrew and Cecily and Zeke and Maru at their house on Vashon Island, and Andrew was showing James the large labyrinth they created at the heart of their two-acre orchard and garden\u2014the labyrinth\u2019s path, based on the famous labyrinth at Chartres, delineated by large rocks and perennial herbs.<\/p>\n

Andrew told James that since he began walking the winding path to the center of the labyrinth every day, he no longer suffered from the excruciating headaches that had plagued him since childhood. That was when James called Andrew the worst sort of idiot<\/i>, after which Andrew decided to stop making an effort to connect with his father.<\/p>\n

Three months into his second marriage, when James\u2019s wife Rose was pregnant with Electra, who is now thirty-six, Rose told James she\u2019d dreamt their child was a girl and believed the dream prophetic.<\/p>\n

To which James responded, \u201cYou can\u2019t be serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I\u2019m serious,\u201d said Rose, frowning at him. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t I be?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause,\u201d said James, snarling at her, \u201canyone who believes a dream is prophetic is dangerously delusional. Prophecies are wishful-thinking nonsense.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

From that moment on, Rose no longer trusted James and they divorced when Electra was two. James has only seen Electra twice since then, both times for lunch when Electra came to Seattle for conferences having to do with dance therapy, a field in which she is well-known. Electra sends James a Christmas card every year, which prompts James to send her a check for five hundred dollars, which inevitably brings an effusive letter from Electra; and that is where James always ends the back-and-forth because he knows Electra is a Buddhist, which he considers a form of organized idiocy, and he doesn\u2019t want to put himself in a position where he will feel compelled to tell Electra what he thinks of her religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

After divorcing Rose, James did not marry again for thirty years, though he did have several short-lived entanglements, none of which produced children. He has been married to his current wife, Leslie, for eleven months. Leslie is fifty-eight and an ardent atheist. She delights in finding articles and videos that she and James categorize as spiritual balderdash<\/i>; and until recently she would seek James out several times a day to share the latest proof she\u2019d found of how incredibly ignorant and misguided most other people are.<\/p>\n

Leslie and James married shortly after they both retired\u2014Leslie an accountant, James a lawyer\u2014and they are quite wealthy. They live in a large old house they bought in an upscale neighborhood in Seattle and have spent much of their brief marriage travelling around Europe celebrating the ends of the careers they never enjoyed. And everywhere they went in Europe, they visited cathedrals and temples and holy places they contemptuously referred to as relics of mass ignorance.<\/i><\/p>\n

Sadly, since returning from Europe a month ago, James and Leslie have entered a new phase of their relationship, one in which they do not enjoy each other\u2019s company and spend most of their time in separate rooms\u2014Leslie smoking pot and drinking bourbon and playing online Scrabble, James drinking wine and watching brainy British games shows on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u2206<\/p>\n

At the height of their marital discord, James has a lucid dream in which an old man with long white hair and wearing a sackcloth robe tells James that there is an ancient doorway in the basement leading to a mystical labyrinth. <\/i><\/p>\n

The morning after, James finds Leslie in the kitchen and says to her, \u201cI had a vivid blast of brain gibberish last night. This old man, a kind of Socrates, said there\u2019s a doorway in the basement leading to a labyrinth and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh that\u2019s just mental garbage,\u201d says Leslie, making strong coffee to combat her hangover. \u201cAbout your stupid son dumping you because you exposed the idiocy of his fantasy that his hippie dippy labyrinth was curing his headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

James winces. \u201cI wish you wouldn\u2019t call Andrew stupid<\/i>. You\u2019ve never even met him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou call him stupid<\/i> all the time,\u201d says Leslie, glaring at James. \u201cAnd I haven\u2019t met him because he doesn\u2019t want to have anything to do with you because you called him an idiot for thinking his stupid labyrinth cured his headaches. I\u2019m only quoting you, so if you don\u2019t want me calling him stupid, you<\/i> stop calling him stupid, though why you suddenly feel the need to defend a magical-thinking moron, I can\u2019t imagine?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, you\u2019re right,\u201d says James, nodding emphatically. \u201cDelusional dreamer raised by his delusional mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2206<\/p>\n

Which might have been the end of James thinking about his dream except he can\u2019t resist doing what the old man in the dream told him to do, which is go down into the basement and examine the brick wall adjacent to the furnace, where, according to the old man, he will discern a continuous crack in the mortar of the bricks, a crack delineating the shape of a large door.<\/p>\n

How the old man in James\u2019s dream knew about this crack is an irritating mystery to James because he, James, knew nothing about a crack delineating a door. So how, James wonders, did that knowledge get into his brain to be translated into brain gibberish?<\/p>\n

James had only been in the basement two times prior to having the dream, once when he and Leslie were considering buying the place, and once when he peeked in while a plumber was installing a new hot water heater. Neither time did he notice there was a brick wall adjacent to the furnace, but when he went down to see if the dream information might be true, he found there is<\/i> a brick wall and there is <\/i>a continuous crack in the mortar outlining what may or may not be a hidden door.<\/p>\n

So now what? The old man in the dream said, \u201cRemove the bricks and reveal the ancient door needing no key to open. Upon passing through this portal you will enter a mystical labyrinth guiding you to what you\u2019ve been seeking your whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

James wishes he could talk to someone about his dream, someone who could explain the meaning of the dream and why the dream was so incredibly vivid and real seeming. He doesn\u2019t believe the dream could possibly be prophetic, though the door-delineating crack in the mortar is definitely there.<\/p>\n

The truth is, James has no friends; and Leslie, he is certain, will think he\u2019s a complete idiot for giving the dream a second thought, so\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2206<\/p>\n

James barely sleeps for the next two days, after which he and Leslie have a horrific screaming fight and she decides to go visit her mother in Palm Springs for a couple weeks. She packs four suitcases, which seems excessive to James, says she\u2019ll be in touch, and takes a cab to the airport.<\/p>\n

That night James falls into a sodden sleep that lasts until late morning when he has another dream in which the old white-haired man appears and says, \u201cThe labyrinth awaits you, James. The time is now. Remove the bricks and reveal the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

James wakes from the dream shaking with fright.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is this shit?\u201d he growls, flinging back the covers and getting out of bed. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in this shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s in the kitchen making a pot of coffee when the phone rings.<\/p>\n

Thinking this must be Leslie calling to apologize for accusing him of being a heartless misanthrope, James picks up the phone and says gruffly, \u201cHello.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Dad, it\u2019s Andrew. Are you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m fine,\u201d he says, derisively. \u201cWhy do you ask? After three years of not talking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a dream about you this morning,\u201d says Andrew, speaking softly. \u201cYou were stuck somewhere. In a basement or a cave and I thought\u2026 maybe you needed help with something or\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think your dream was real<\/i>?\u201d says James, gritting his teeth to keep from shouting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d says Andrew, pausing. \u201cMaybe it was just my subconscious prodding me to call you. I\u2019ve been thinking about you lately and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout what a rotten asshole I am?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I was thinking about how I wish you could spend some time with the kids. Zeke is fourteen and Maru is twelve going on seventeen and\u2026 they ask about you all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still have that stupid labyrinth?\u201d says James, unable to quell his vitriol.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we still have the labyrinth,\u201d says Andrew, sighing. \u201cI won\u2019t keep you any longer, Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, wait.\u201d James clears his throat. \u201cUm\u2026 there actually is something you could help me with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d asks Andrew, his voice full of kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u2026 it\u2019s funny you should mention a basement because I\u2019ve got kind of a mystery going on in mine, and\u2026 maybe you could help me solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it plumbing or\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s, uh\u2026 I think there might be a door behind the brick wall down there, and I\u2019m\u2026 I\u2026 I\u2019d like to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds fun,\u201d says Andrew, laughing. \u201cCan I bring the kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want,\u201d says James, shrugging painfully. \u201cUm\u2026 when would you like to come?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about this afternoon? We\u2019ll catch the next ferry and\u2026 maybe we could spend the night if you have room or\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, fine. We\u2019ll get pizza or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2206<\/p>\n

They stand before the brick wall in the basement\u2014James, Andrew, Zeke, and Maru.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes you think there\u2019s a door behind there?\u201d asks Zeke, his deep voice revealing traces of his mother\u2019s British accent.<\/p>\n

Zeke\u2019s reddish brown hair falls to his broad shoulders and he is dressed similarly to his father and sister\u2014a denim shirt and jeans and sneakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crack in the mortar,\u201d says James, squinting at the bricks. \u201cSee it? Delineates the shape of a door.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWow,\u201d says Maru, nearly as tall as her brother, her blonde hair in a long braid. \u201cHow did you even see it?\u201d She practically puts her nose on the bricks to study the crack. \u201cYou have great eyes, Grandpa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a dream,\u201d says James, his throat constricting, \u201cin which an old man told me it was there. So I came and looked and there it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d says Zeke, beaming at his grandfather. \u201cThat\u2019s like Maru dreaming about going to visit the Andersons, which we never used to do, and they\u2026\u201d He looks at his sister. \u201cYou tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in my dream,\u201d says Maru, smiling rapturously at James, \u201cI rode my bike over to Mrs. Anderson\u2019s farm, though in real life Mrs. Anderson used to yell at us not to pick the blackberries on the road in front of her farm. But in my dream she invited me in for pie and said she wanted to give me a present, and when I told Mom the dream she said I should go over there in case the dream was prophetic even though I\u2019ve always been afraid of Mrs. Anderson and they have this huge Black Lab who barks ferociously, but Zeke said he\u2019d come with me, so we rode our bikes over there and their dog was totally friendly and Mrs. Anderson invited us in only she didn\u2019t give us pie but tea and cookies and then she asked if we were looking for a puppy, which we were, and her dog had just had a litter and we got two of them. Tillie and Molly. Half-Labs, half-Golden Retrievers, and they\u2019re the best dogs ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a fortunate coincidence,\u201d says James, forcing a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like the crack in the mortar,\u201d says Zeke, tapping the brick wall. \u201cA fortunate coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is the crack fortunate?\u201d asks James, glowering at Zeke.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it got you to invite us to come visit,\u201d says Zeke, smiling at his grandfather. \u201cRight?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI suggest,\u201d says Andrew, winking at Zeke, \u201cthat we remove a few of these bricks, see if we find anything resembling a door, and if not, we put the bricks back. But if there is a door, we\u2019ll remove the rest of the bricks. To that end, I\u2019ve brought a ceramic-cutting blade for my saw, so if you will all now don your earplugs I\u2019ll have a go at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earplugs inserted, James and Zeke and Maru stand back and watch Andrew expertly cut around a block of eight bricks that may or may not be concealing an ancient door.<\/p>\n

The cut completed, Zeke and Maru wield chisels and hammers and pry bars, and a section of an old wooden door is revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s definitely a door,\u201d says Andrew, nodding. \u201cShall we continue?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait,\u201d says James, his heart aching. \u201cHow could it lead anywhere? The outer basement wall is only four feet away. Even if the door opens, there would just be a little gap and then we\u2019d come to the wall. Right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless there\u2019s a stairway,\u201d says Maru, nodding eagerly. \u201cLeading down to a room full of treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid the old man in your dream say anything else?\u201d asks Andrew, smiling quizzically at his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d says James, feeling more vulnerable than he can ever remember feeling. \u201cHe said this was a doorway to a labyrinth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d says Andrew, arching his eyebrow. \u201cDid he say if it was a stupid labyrinth or a smart labyrinth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry I said that to you,\u201d says James, gazing earnestly at his son. \u201cWill you forgive me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have,\u201d says Andrew, nodding. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo shall we take away the rest of the bricks?\u201d asks Maru, looking from her father to her grandfather. \u201cSee if we find a labyrinth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said it was a mystical labyrinth,\u201d says James, smiling through his tears at his grandchildren. \u201cWhatever that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2206<\/p>\n

They remove the rest of the bricks and open the ancient door that needs no key, and sure enough there is a stairway descending into darkness.<\/p>\n

So down they go, flashlights blazing.<\/p>\n

fin<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An avowed atheist, James is sixty-seven and has lived in Seattle for fifty years. A fastidious dresser and vain of his appearance, James bristles whenever he hears the words spiritual, astrology, mystical, God, karma or anything suggesting life might be more than a purely mechanistic crapshoot. James\u2019s first marriage produced Andrew, forty two, a massage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5592,2156,713,5593,4297,5591,5589,5590,51,5588,9,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3140,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3134\/revisions\/3140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}