Chapter 12

Chapter 12

We landed behind the cabin. I dropped to the ground from about ten feet. Coal followed, and soon the wings folded into his back once more. Even his hair returned to the light sunshine color that he originally had.  He grunted and winced as it happened and mumbled something about not knowing that it would hurt so much. I chuckled to myself as we snuck back around to the side and back into the cabin.

      “Coal! I was so worried about you.” Came Miss Betty’s voice. I had shut my eyes as we entered and heard her squeal. I opened my eyes and saw them at the low table playing with cards. Wolfe now had a splint with two straight boards bracing her leg. She smiled at Coal, then turned and shot a questioning glance at me. She got up and walked over to Coal, giving him a hug, then turned it on me.

      “Can’t… breathe…” Coal squeaked, even though she wasn’t hugging that hard.

      “Sorry,” Miss Betty apologized and released us. Coal took a deep breath, I think just to keep his little show going. I turned to the card table.

      “What’cha doing?” I asked as I sat next to Wolfe on the couch who was playing Grey.

      “Rummy 500,” she replied, and didn’t elaborate. I had no idea what that was, but I went along with it anyway. In the corner of my eye, I noticed a carving going around the table. They were similar to the ones on the cloth that covered the basket.

      “Miss Betty?” I called, “Do you know what the symbols on the table mean?”

      “Where?” she asked, as she emerged from the kitchen.

      “Here, on the table,” I pointed, and she walked into the kitchen fully.

      “Oh, those are the symbols of the monk’s language.” She said. “Those there are a Bible verse. Grey carved it. It says ‘John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall never die.’ It really is more of a code than a language.” She sat down next to me on the couch as she pointed out each letter. “See? Each symbol stands for a letter in our language. They just write it differently.” She pulled out a piece of paper with each symbol from the table on it plus a lot that I didn’t recognize. “This one,” she pointed at the table, “It looks like an A but it is from the Greek language and is Alpha, or beginning. The one next to it is also from Greek and means Omega, or end. The cross in the middle means that Jesus is the beginning and the end.” The symbols that she pointed to were in the middle of the table. Ἀ ┼ ᾨ it did make a little sense.

      “That’s really cool. Hey Wolfe!” I said to change the topic, “Do you think that you could teach me how to play your game?” I said, I hoped to get rid of the awkward silence.

“Sure,” she replied. And gathered up the cards. She taught me the game and I picked up on it quickly. By the second round I was far in the lead.