2nd Installment...
SECOND INSTALLMENT STORY
Home.....finally! what a long crap day full of stress and BS....all
she wanted to do was order a pizza and zone out playing some video
games with Steven and sleep until the next day to start the grind
again...
Carmen: Ahhh good ju aar home I vant to tawk to ju about da boy...
Carmen was Rosemary's pillar she always made her laugh and kept her
life in order. After Father died leaving her to raise Steven her
teenage brother alone she would have been lost without her.
Steven hollered from the next room making fun of Carmen's accent
Steven: Jeah da Boy is hungry caramba!
Carmen made a face and hollered back at him..
Carmen: Jess! jast wait ju monkey I bizzy talking to jour sista!
Carmen: I make all da choppin so ju got food wile I bee gun OK? Da
bus pik up ju brother in da morningh so ju don got to drive him OK?
Rosemary panicked in horror! She had forgotten all about Steven
leaving to camp! Ugh! What kind of guardian was she? She felt very
neglectfull poor Steven he was basically raising himself...she promised
herself she would spend more time with him once he was back from
camp...
Rosemary: Carmen....I...
Carmen: Ju Fogot I new it!
Carmen: Ju know I'm going to Puerto Rico fo 3 weeks I toll ju!
Rosemary: Yes Carmen I know it just skipped my mind that today was
your last day before leaving...
Carmen: Don verry Missy I hire a maed for ju she gunna clean an I made
big choppin so ju have food for avile Ok?
Rosemary: Yes of course Carmen I have to say I'm going to miss you but
you deserve a vacation you have been running this house completely for
me and honestly I don't know what I would do without you.
Carmen laughed.....Carmen: Dat's right baby without Carmen eet's not a
good theen!
Rosemary wrote Carmen a generous check which made Carmen's eyes light
up. Her generosity was well earned and overdue...it was also a bribe
to get Carmen to come back in case she got to Puerto Rico and decided
to stay in tropical paradise instead of coming back to her job...
Rosemary decided to get the call to Douglas over with the longer she
put this off the harder it would be she went into the study and dialed
his number her fingers did it so mechanically almost like if his number
were stored in them magically....
Douglas: Hello...Petersons and Associates may I help you?
Rosemary: Hi Douglas....this is Rosemary....I was hoping I could get
you to examine an artefact that has some type of old Hebrew writtings
on it....
Douglas: Rosemary.....yes of course go ahead send it to me..
How...have you been? I thought about you a great deal..
Rosemary: I have been good very busy and you?
Douglas: Well...things are the same I'm going to counselling with
Laura but honestly I don't know if we will be able to work things
out...I just don't know if I can make myself love her again you know?
Rosemary felt her stomach flop....this was not going good her intention
was not to ease into another meeting and return to screwing Douglas
behind Laura's back scenario....No she wasn't going there...
Rosemary: That's too bad Douglas I know how you really wanted to make
it work. I'm sure you will give it your best try tho...Well back to
business the artefact is some sort of strange box I haven't examined it
but I believe it's Hebrew in Origin and the writting is not Ali's
expertise so if you will take care of this and send me a bill I will
appreciate it a lot.
Douglas: Rosemary...anything for you no bill required it's on me for
old time sake OK?
Rosemary: Are you sure? I'm doing very well Douglas my firm can
certainly afford even your ridiculous fees..
Douglas: Yes I'm sure I'll let you know when I'm done I'll call Ok?
Is this your current number here on my caller Id?
Rosemary: Yes you can call that number.
Rosemary hung up whew! that was done and over with and while awkward
and stomach wrenching it had not gone too badly...now for that bubble
bath and sleep finally....
Steven: Hey!
Rosemary: Hey monster!
Steven: You want to play my new game? It's really cool....and you
won't see me for a month so you can practice it while I'm gone you know
..since I'm gonna kick your ass and all give ya some time to get ready
for a rematch...
Rosemary smiled the bubblebath would come later spending time with
Steven made her happy he was all she had in the world now and precious
to her.
Next day Rosemary awoke to an Empty house Steven independent as he was
had left on his 6 am bus to camp and Carmen wasn't in the kitchen
making her pancakes and expresso...ugh the house felt too still and
uninhabited she dressed quickly and left for the warehouse she was late
and sure Ali would accuse her of making him do all the work alone..
The Beal collection had to be ready for bids by next week and it was
enormous this would take forever even with both her and Ali working
round the clock.....
Ali: Man I'm exausted and all stiff from looking at this crap let's go
have a drink!
Rosemary: Ali I'm not going to screw you again not ever do get that?
Ali threw his head back in a hearty laugh.."Yeah I know I'm not trying
to get into your pretty panties I swear I just seriously need a break
from this my eyes are starting to cross from so much paperwork.."
Rosemary was drop dead tired too she thought about it and said aah what
the hell?
Rosemary: Ok Ali we have three drinks that's it we have Melvin drive
us both home and pick us up 7am sharp tommorow so we can get this over
with ok?
Having a few drinks with Ali would be fun he was funny when he had a
few and as long as he wasn't trying to rape her she enjoyed his
company.
Ali was a brilliant antiguities historian she was amazingly lucky to
have him his paperwork was dubious everything he knew was from being
right there in Egypt working with the big names he had the misfortune
of not being able to document his expertise but as far as his knowledge
it was expert without a doubt she had met him at the museum during her
internship there and came to realize how valuable he could really be to
an Art and Antiguities dealer when she opened her own company he was
her first hire.
Ali: Sounds good to me let me find Melvin he is in the back moving
boxes he can take us in the pickup I tell him to take it home so he can
pick us both up in the morning..
They had a like three drinks at their usual haunt and practically fell
asleep into their drinks. She was so tired she called a cab by the
second drink and had her third drink while waiting for it to show up.
Once home she plopped into bed without even changing her clothes she
was sooo tired....as she dozed off she went right into a weird dream
that was more of a nightmare flavor....
It was just glimpses of weirdness....She saw herself in a strange dark
gallery with disgusting evil looking displays and at the end was
Elizabeth Merrell standing holding a teddy bear looking pale and
bloodied and pretty much like the walking dead...and in front of her
was the creepy box..Ugh! No more drinks late at night when she was
bordering on exaustion that was just creepy!
The next morning Rosemary woke up to a pounding headache and an
annoying alarm clock...she staggered out of bed
The clock read 6:10 am...Oh Crap Melvin will be here soon she showered
and dressed quickly Melvin and Ali were chatty and cheerfull in the
truck and she felt grumpy and sleepy...
Rosemary and Ali worked into the evening late and ordered a pizza they
ate while they worked and around 7pm her private line rang she was
gratefull for the break and went to answer it instead of allowing her
voicemail to pick up.
Rosemary: Hello?
Douglas: Rosemary? Douglas here...I wanted to talk to you about this
box you sent me..do you have a minute?
Rosemary: Yeah a few go ahead...
Douglas: I'm working on the documentation and I will send it to you
with the box but I wanted to ask you where did you get it?
Rosemary: It was part of a private collection the owner prefers to
remain anonymous but I can tell you the owner was reputable...
Douglas: Well it's not That old it was made sometime in the 14th
century the writtings on it are mostly ancient Hebrew with some Aramaic
on the exterior of the box...when I opened it inside it was empty and
dusty as hell I just about had an asthma attack had to use my inhaler
and see my Alergy doctor it's weird cause I haven't had an Asthma
attack since my childhood...
Rosemary: Oh Doug I'm sorry are you ok?
Douglas: Yeah no worries I'm back on medicines and it seems now that
I'm finished working on your little devil box it's clearing up....
Rosemary: Devil Box?
Douglas: Yeah....the writings on the outside are mostly Kabbalistic
type spells of an exorcism nature they name a specific demon contained
within the box it was a sort of binding of this demon let me see here
oh his name is ....Azazel
He is one of the fallen angels who rebelled and became a devil in The
book of Enoch.
Anyway inside the box there is more writtings but not in Hebrew or
Aramaic but Enochian writting which is suppose to be Angelic script I
haven't translated that yet as soon as I do I will inlcude it in my
report I should be done by tonight and have it ready to ship back to
you by next day.
Rosemary: Thank you Douglas! Take your time this particular item is
mine now so there is no hurry on it.
Douglas: No worries I'm almost done with it and I'm glad to be of some
help. It was certainly interesting to examine.
Rosemary: Well considering it's 14th century it's not trully an
antiguity so I guess I'll hold on to it until I find a curio type
collector who might be into the dracula aspect of it.
Douglas laughed ...oh his laugh it made her melt inside why did he have
to be married!
Douglas: Rosemary it was wonderfull talking to you again please call
me if you need anything I mean it anything...
Rosemary: Thanks Douglas I will..
The next day she worked into the night with Ali and the collection was
finally ready for auction. She went home and slept a good dreamless
dead sleep of exaustion.....she was going to stay home and finalize
some paperwork while Ali repacked the collection for the auction on
Saturday Ali would attend the auction and keep her posted by phone her
Egyptian collector had come by for a private viewing and bought like 15
pieces of it He paid a small fortune and her commission was $20,000
from that sale alone!
She had worked her butt off on this collection and it was finally
paying off!
The auction hopefully would be the icing on the cake and she could
maybe take a week off and unwind maybe take a 3 day cruise and get some
sun she could definately use some of that...
The door bell rang she looked up she wasn't expecting anyone...
At the door was a delivery man with a package she signed for it and
when she opened it she realized it was the box that Douglas was
examining for her...
She put the box in her office and opened the envelope package attached
it was Douglas's report on the box.
She read thru the technical historical parts of it measurements,
descriptions of materials and laquered finish and flipped to the last
page with the translations..
she skimmed over it being it was mostly....codes and formulas of
angelic names with astrological measurements it was almost like reading
some hermetic tablet...
the last part was the translation of the
Enochian writting it read.....
"Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an
opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein. And
place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and
let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see
light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the
fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim
the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all
the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that
the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. And the whole
earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl:
to him ascribe all sin."
Rosemary tried to digest what she just read...How weird she reattached
the report to the container she didn't feel up to reading it on her day
off and picked up the phone to call Maggy.
Rosemary: Hey girl feel like doing lunch today?
Maggy: Rosemary I was just about to call you! Oh my God you haven't
heard have you?
Rosemary: Heard what? What happened?
Maggy: Rosemary....there was an accident in Veronaville some kind of
chemical fire five people were killed in the fire Rosemary Douglas's
building was burned I'm afraid he was killed...I'm so sorry...I know
you still cared for him....
Rosemary went cold and numb the room seemed to be going black she
stuttered stupidly to Maggy on the phone I just talked to him...
Maggy: Rosemary I'm coming over Ok? I'll be there in 10 minutes ok?
