Book of Days_ A Novel - James L. Rubart [73]
"Probably not, but I know people, and too many things about Stone don't add up."
"Like what?"
"His reaction to you at Jason's gathering at the community center. His—"
"Hold it. What do you mean his reaction to me?"
"Didn't I tell you about that?"
"No."
"It was weird. As soon as you got up onstage, he went white and doubled over like he'd been gut-punched. He and his wife left a few minutes later."
"You're kidding."
"I was standing close to him. After one look at you, he did the white-as-a-sheet thing."
"You have no idea why?"
"No clue."
Ann tried to remember if she saw someone leave right after getting onstage. Maybe. She shook her head. "All right. You have my attention. Anything else?"
"When we met the first time, he exploded after I left and he didn't think I saw him. It was right after we talked about the book. Then he tells me to stay away from Jason. And he writes that note trying to scare me into leaving town. His coming close to telling me things he knows about the book, then shutting down like he has secrets that would make the CIA gasp."
"That doesn't make the book real, Cam."
"There's nothing that could make you even start to believe, huh?"
"It's like something out of a comic book. I think we landed on the moon. I don't think Kennedy was killed by the Mafia. I don't believe little green men buzz the planet and borrow some of us for experiments. I think there's a rational explanation for why ships and planes disappear over the Bermuda Triangle. And sorry, I don't believe in a nine-hundred-pound book that has recorded the past, present, and future of every soul on earth." Sorry, Jessie.
"Nice speech."
"Thanks, I've been practicing."
Ann turned and climbed higher. She had been practicing. If she could rip the idea of searching for the book out of Cameron's head, she would do it. The whole search for the book brought up her own regrets. Jason was right. Jessie had told her about the book in more detail than she'd ever told Cameron.
How Jessie knew the year and season she would die but nothing specific enough to prevent it.
How Jessie had seen Cameron after she died, standing in silhouette holding another woman and laughing.
How she knew for certain Ann would find her Wesley someday and her Princess Bride poster would come to life.
All through their teens and early twenties, Ann teased Jessie about believing in a magical book that revealed all these things when she was ten. Ann had done it so frequently Jessie stopped talking about it, even when Ann asked for forgiveness and to hear more of what Jessie had seen.
"The last part is too precious to tell you when I know you don't believe me," Jessie had said.
"I do believe!" Ann protested.
Jessie smiled. "No you don't, but I'll still love you when the sun buries itself in the sea forever."
Jessie was right. Ann didn't believe.
She still didn't.
The Book of Days couldn't be real.
She stretched her leg to its limit to reach a knob that jutted out from the wall a quarter inch and pushed herself another two feet up the sheer cliff.
"So, what if it turns out this book exists on Earth? Will you believe in God then?"
Cameron burst out laughing. "Welcome to the climb, Ms. Conundrum! You crack me up. Twenty seconds ago you're telling me to pull my head out of my proverbial sandbox, and now you're saying the book could be real."
"I'm not saying it's real or even could be real; I'm just asking if it would change what you believe." Ann reached into her climbing bag for more chalk. "And I'm finding this intellectual banter helps me climb better." She swung her right leg up to a ninety-degree angle and shoved her foot into a crack just wide enough for her big toe to slide into.
"Nice move," Cameron said.
"I'm serious. If the book is real, is God real? Or is life still arbitrary?"
"No, if