The Wishmonger: Chapter four

Chapter 4

A Surprising Discovery

“Hey, wait,” yelled Roger.

Matthias paused and turned back, “Aren’t you coming?”

“I’d like to, but I’m not sure I know that trick.” Roger looked at Matthias quizzically.

“Trick?”

“ Walking through solid iron gates,” the boy quipped.

Matthias walked back toward the gate and reaching down he lifted a section of the bars. They swung easily from hinges at the top. The door was hidden completely, unless, you knew where to look, “Coming, or gawking?” Matthias asked.

Roger clamped his open mouth shut, “Sorry, thought you might be a ghost there for a second.” He stepped through the gate and the two companions continued on their way.

Roger noticed a low stone sign off the right side of the drive right inside the gate. He walked over to it and pulled away the ivy that had long hidden its inscription. In bold script it read, “Fountain Park”. The boy stumbled back in surprise.

“Fountain Park? So it wasn’t destroyed, I knew it! But, everyone says it used to be where the courthouse is now.” Roger choked.

“It wouldn’t be the first time everyone was wrong, would it?” asked Matthias wryly.

“So that means ‘it’s’ here?” the boy asked in a whisper.

“Yes, it is.” Matthias replied in a mocking whisper.

Roger turned and began to sprint up the drive. He stopped when he realized he was alone, “aren’t you coming?”

Matthias grinned, “I thought you’d never ask.”

The park was overgrown, but there were signs of what had been luxurious landscaping. Large stone picnic tables sat in the shade of enormous oak and walnut trees. Smaller stone paths led off at regular intervals snaking off into the tall grass where they disappeared from view.

As they crested a hill Roger glimpsed the corner of a stone gazebo in a grove of trees a hundred yards off. His heart leaped. This was it, he’d been here before, in his dreams. He had been right. He hadn’t really believed something as magical as Jeremish Wish’s fountain could have ceased to exist.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Roger glanced over at Matthias to see if he was aware of the electricity Roger felt pulsing through his veins as they left the main road and headed into the grove of trees surrounding the gazebo. Matthias seemed aware of what he was feeling but immune to it himself. Maybe you
got used to it, Roger guessed.

High up on the hill overlooking Wishful the man in black paced excitedly. He couldn’t put his finger on it but something was changing. It wasn’t a good change either, not for him at least.

He walked over to a nearby desk and picked up a telephone, “Ishmael please,” he waited impatiently for the voice on the other end of the line, “I think they’ve found it…never mind how I know. What are we going to do about it? When have I ever cared about that stupid festival? I will not allow my plans to be interrupted. Do you hear me? Fine! Tomorrow then. Ishmael? Do not cross me!”

He slammed the phone down and continued his pacing. The vague feeling of change was growing stronger.
They must be stopped!

Cobwebs hung heavily from every angle of the gazebo. Roger stepped under the protection of the roof brushing them away with his hand. He stepped eagerly up to the short, stone wall surrounding the fountain and leaned out expecting to see his reflection. Instead he found the fountain filled with decades of decaying leaves and dust.

He reached down brushing the leaves back. His hand felt rough wood. He cleared a larger area and realized that some kind of wooden cover had been placed over the water of the spring below.

“It’s boarded up.” he sat heavily on the wall.

“Yes, I thought you knew” Matthias replied.

“What do we do now? Can’t very well make a wish in a dry fountain,” the boy felt tears welling in his eyes.

“Well, so much for extraordinary tenacity,” said the old
man turning back the way they had come.

“Where are you going?” Roger asked, startled.

“Back to town, can’t make wishes in a dry fountain. You
said it yourself.” Matthias stood looking at Roger.

Roger leaped into action, “Don’t just stand there! Give me a hand. There must be some tools around here somewhere.”

He disappeared into a closed off section of the gazebo. He returned a moment later with a badly rusted rake and a broken handled spade. As Matthias watched, the boy desperately pried at the ancient lumber covering the water of the fountain, as if he were trying to free a dying prisoner.

What was left of the broken spade splintered
in his hand and he reached for the rake, determination gleaming in his eye.

“Hold on there, Mr. Fix-it. Let’s take a look at this thing,” Mathias said as he leaned out over the fountain.

Taking an armful of leaves and debris, he deposited it on the ground and scooped up a second armful. Roger stepped up to help and before long the two had cleared the cover of most of the refuse.

Now that they could see it the problem became clear. The cover was built in half circle sections surrounding the center fountain that stood above it some six feet. The center of the two pieces was joined with a large hasp and padlock on each side of the fountain and similar locks held the outside edges down to the stone wall, their loops firmly anchored in large metal eyes protruding out of the solid rock.

“ What do we do now?” Roger asked impatiently.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use a little break from the walk up here. Maybe if we rest our backs a minute a solution will come to us.” With that Matthias sank down on the ground with his back against the wall of the fountain.

Roger paced excitedly stopping every now and then to peer over the wall at the wooden cover that separated him from the fountain he could not wait to see.

After what seemed to roger like hours, Matthias struggled to his feet and stood leaning over the wall.

“Those locks are pretty old,” Matthias said, “The rust has probably weakened the metal. If we had a hammer and chisel we could break the locks and lift the cover off.”

“ My Dad has just what we need, a big pair of bolt cutters. I bet I could get them out of the garage without him knowing and be back here in less than an hour.” Roger offered.

“It’s going to be dark before that, you’d better head home.” The old man coughed, the evening air apparently didn’t agree with him, “we can sort this out tomorrow.”

Roger smiled, “I don’t think I’ll do much sleeping tonight.”

Matthias grinned at his youthful enthusiasm, “Fine then we’ll start first thing after breakfast tomorrow, okay?”

Roger felt like he was floating all the way home. He could hardly keep himself from bursting into the house shouting about how he had discovered The Fountain of Wishes with the help of an old storyteller.

They’d never believe him anyway, they never did. But they would forbid him to go back to the park. “You never can tell about strangers,” his mother would say. “Even when they seem like harmless old men, you never know for sure.” So he kept his secret.

“What are you so excited about?” his mother asked him at dinner.

Roger smiled, “Oh, just festival stuff. I got to help a story teller today.”

“Did you hear that dear, Roger got to help a story teller today,” his mother said.

Dad didn’t even look up from his paper, “Filling his head with foolish nonsense.”

“It’s only three days a year. It wouldn’t hurt you to take a day off and go to the festival tomorrow.” His mother said with exasperation.

“No thanks, the whole thing is just a plot to get our money anyway. Think about it. We have a law against wishes, then they allow us three days a year to wish. And those three days just happen to coincide with the biggest sales of the year?

“We have a fireplace if I feel the need to burn up money, at least I might get the benefit of some heat from it.” his father's voice dripped with sarcasm.

He wasn’t sure what his father had against wishes but it was clear that whatever it was wasn’t going to change during this festival.

Roger could hardly sleep that night, dreams of the fountain were stronger than ever, only this time he had a real image to fuel them.

First he dreamed of breaking the locks and opening the cover to discover the fountain had dried up, he woke from this one in a cold sweat.

Then he dreamed of himself and Matthias lounging in the fountain like guests in a five star hotel enjoying the Jacuzzi. Mayor Wish showed up and pulled a lever, flushing the fountain.

He felt himself swirling faster and faster and just as he was about to go under he woke to the smell of bacon and eggs.

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The fountain is found. This section reminds me of the times the Children of Israel would rediscover the Book of the Law. The Book that God instructed Moses to tell them to have their eventual king read daily so he wouldn't forget it. From time to time , they lost their way (putting it mildly) and ended up in captivity. Most notably, the book of Nehemiah recalls one such rediscovery.

When Roger finds the well, he is disappointed in the fact that he must actually do something to apprehend its power. Many times we are like that. We find some little known promise of scripture and want to take its blessing for our own, with no thought, of what comes first. You see, God's covenants are always two parts, one blessing (for abiding by God's precepts) and one curse (for disobeying and forsaking God). It seems we like the blessing part, but are unwilling to do the work. On the other hand, we assume the curse is for someone else, or call it an attack of the enemy.

When truth is rediscovered, it always takes a little work to get it functional again. First, we must ingest it, read it, ponder it. Second, it takes time to take root in our lives and bear fruit. So, what fountains have you uncovered? Were you discouraged when you realized it would take some work to get it going again?

What do you think Roger will find when and if he gets the cover off the fountain? Will it give him everything he ever wanted, or be the end of him?