This writing is publishe in the June 2010 issue
(v209, the 17 year anniversary issue)
of cc&d magazine.

To order this, click on the link below:

Order this writing in the book (bound) cc&d prose edition		order the 5.5" x 8.5" ISSN# book order the 8.5" x 11" ISBN# book

Order this writing in the book Friction cc&d June 2014 anniversary issue collection book + bonus 2014 cc&d writings		get the June 2014 108 page cc&d magazine 2010 anniversary expanded issue supplement collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Secret Haven

Mel Waldman

        A year ago, my best friend Harry vanished. The police searched for him and followed a few leads that led nowhere. Until a few hours ago, I thought he was dead. Then I got the call and heard the strangely familiar voice.
    “Is that you, Harry?”
    “Don’t you recognize your old buddy?”
    “What the hell happened to you?”
    “I’ll explain everything to you when I see you. Tomorrow morning drive to Cape Cod and take the afternoon ferry at Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. You’ll find me in town at the Black Dog Tavern. See you when you get there.”
    “Sure, Harry.”
    “And Adam, don’t tell anyone where you’re going or that you spoke to me. It’s our secret.”
    “Why?”
    Harry hung up. I miss my friend and I’m a curious S.O.B. So I’m going. Got to see my buddy again.

    On this cold November day, I arrive in Vineyard Haven in the off-season. Harry and I were here ten years ago in the early fall after Labor Day when the summer folks were gone. Harry got drunk in the Black Dog Tavern and kept drinking for a whole week. A gifted artist obsessed with various shades of red, he painted red hot beetlebung trees, as well as tupelo trees, sumacs, and swamp maples, in vibrant pastels and watercolors. When the autumn leaves turned crimson red, he cried out: “Hallelujah!”
    Now, in this secret Haven, the snow begins to fall. But soon, I’ll see Harry again. I love him. He’s my soul brother. But love hurts. I lost my wife Anna ten years ago. She died suddenly of a heart attack.

    As I approach the tavern, I notice three old men staring at me. One fellow with a long gray beard smiles wickedly at me. I look away.
    Inside the tavern, the lights are dim, just a few customers in the place. Harry’s in a booth in the back.
    “Good to see you, Harry.”
    “Same here, old buddy.”
    “You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
    “Somebody was stalking me. I felt his presence. Got spooked and left town. Came here. Welcome to Paradise.”
    “Why didn’t you go to the police?”
    “Don’t trust them, only you and these good folks in Vineyard Haven.”
    My eyes dart across the place and wherever they land, I find a stranger’s eerie eyes fixed on me.
    “Harry, you sure you can trust these people?”
    “Yeah, we’re family now. Last month my neighbor gave me a lucky charm I wear as a necklace. Look!”
    “Beautiful. But I see a skull and crossbones.”
    “Yeah. It’s supposed to protect me. Seems to work. So what are you drinking?”
    “Coffee. Got to wake up.”
    We eat and drink and Harry tells me we’re going to a Town Meeting and the Vineyard Haven cemetery. Weird guy, my friend.
    Suddenly, the Black Dog Tavern whirls and swirls in my brain and I black out.

    I wake up in a school gym. And I’m in the center of a circle of fire, surrounded by men in black robes, adorned with rings, necklaces, and pendants with esoteric symbols, including the symbol of the skull and crossbones.
    A black-robed man slithers toward me. “Welcome, Adam. This is our Town Meeting and our Secret Society.”
    “Harry?”
    “Yes, it’s me. Tonight I will join this glorious society. Look at these celestial flames! Feel the power of crimson red! Your death is my rite of initiation-my entrance into Heaven-my apotheosis!”
    “Why me?”
    Pointing a slick .38 at my head, he says: “To join the New Brotherhood of Death, I must kill someone I love.”
    “I know. I killed Anna before joining.”
    The others surround Harry.
    “Wanted you to become a brother too. But you yearn to be our G-d.”
    I watch my brothers set Harry on fire. His body turns crimson red. Tomorrow, we will bury his remains in the cemetery. Only we and the dead know the secret Haven.

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...