What Lyeth Behind the Blinding Light

First date

A blind date for her cousin's wedding. Why had Shawna agreed to such a thing? The date was two weeks away, and already her family was battering her with advice.

"Do not wear socks with your heels again."

"I know that. I only wore them that one time to make the shoes fit. I thought the dress would cover my feet."

"Don't show up with wet hair."

"My hair dryer wouldn't turn on. None of these things were my fault anyway. Everything is because of…."

"Shh! Don't say it. Do not talk about that. Don't mention it on your date either."

~*~

Ebenezer, a fully grown adult man with a full-time job as an assistant professor in the physics department at the university, watched his mother turn the page of a magazine while a woman gave him a manicure. Why had he ever consented to this?

"She'll look at your hands. You want to make a good impression. First impressions last forever."

The blind date for the wedding was still a week away.

"Don't talk too much. Try listening for a change. Give shorter answers and ask more questions. But not too many questions. Don't overdo it," Eb's sister told him. "You always overdo everything."

Every time he saw his family, they offered more advice. Different advice every day, inadvertently bringing up every mistake he'd ever made.

~*~

The next day, Eb's phone rang with Shawna's name.

He'd saved it from when he'd made the initial call asking her to the wedding. His cousin, the groom, had stood beside him while he did so. If I don't, you'll put it off until it's too late."

"I have to take this," he told the student in his office, "I'll change the grade to a B-. It's the best I can do." He excused himself from the room.

"Ebenezer?"

"Yes?"

"This is Shawna Blake."

He stopped himself from saying, I know. His sister. No one cares that you know. Stop saying it. She's calling to cancel already and hasn't even met me. Relief and disappointment jumbled together.

"Just call me Eb." What a stupid thing to say. What did it matter what she called him if the date was off?

"Eb? I have a favor to ask. It's my family, you see. They've gotten way out of hand."

"I understand," he said.

"You do?"

Silence.

Stupid again. His sister also accused him of interrupting people before they finished their sentences.

~*~

On the other end of the call, Shawna berated herself for expecting an answer. She'd prepared a speech and had written it on paper to read to Eb, with specific examples of how much her family had gotten out of control, but if he already understood…. She found the spot on the paper that summed everything up.

"Anyway, the point is, our date has become my family's date, and now I'm afraid everything I say and do this Saturday will affect their entire well-being. Before I ruin everyone's life, I was wondering if we could meet."

Eb smiled. Shawna couldn't see, but maybe she could hear it in his answer. "I'd love to."

~*~

"I'll have a cup of that wonderful aroma." Shawna smiled at the person behind the counter. She'd arrived at the meeting place first. Brick walls and distressed hardwood floors surrounded her. Chrome accents garnished the tables. Framed posters covered the bricks. Murmuring voices, clicking laptop keys, and utensils striking plates mingled with the traffic outside. She took a seat at a table for two. The dark wood was shiny enough to see her reflection. Did she look as nervous as she felt? No. The dark wood hid everything. Maybe they could talk while staring at each other through the table's gloss.

~*~

"We can't see infrared or ultraviolet on the rainbow. Everything we see is comprised of the colors in between. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. And they're not really colors at all, just variations of light waves. Adding more light fades the colors to white while removing light darkens them until we see them as black," explained Eb.

He smelled of Bengay and talked with his hands. When he accidentally tipped the saltshaker, he pinched some of what spilled between his thumb and index finger and tossed the granules behind him.

Shawna smiled. He's passionate and believes in things.

"I'm hoping to have my paper published by spring."

He stopped to knock the wood on the table.

He believes.

~*~

Eb had fallen down the stairs the week before. He'd been reading a book he couldn't put down and walked with it open in one hand while a finger from the other hand moved along the words in the sentences. When he missed a step, he lost his place. The bruises were barely visible now, but his shoulder still ached. He'd spilled the salt on the table, but at least it wasn't red wine this time, as had happened on other dates with other women.

Shawna was lovely, hanging on to every word and laughing at his small jokes.

"My cousin tells me you work in a hospital," Eb said. He'd come to realize he'd been talking all about himself. His sister would have been livid.

"Yes," answered Shawna. "But I'm not a doctor or nurse or anything like that. I work in the reception area."

"You must meet a lot of interesting people."

"Oh yes," answered Shawna. "People with interesting names. So many. And addresses. You wouldn't believe some of the street names we get."

Eb laughed.

Shawna laughed, too. She hated talking about herself. She wasn't allowed to talk about the hospital's patients. There wasn't much else to say about her job unless she brought in the hospital gossip and the everyday drama among her colleagues. Eb would have been bored. His job sounded fascinating. To him, it seemed most of the light in the universe was invisible, and all we could see were the rainbows. If only that were true.

~*~

When they left the café, Eb walked Shawna to her car.

The real world was back again. The wedding date still loomed, but it wasn't as tall.

Eb couldn't decide what to say. Goodbye? No. See you on Saturday? Maybe. This has been nice. Maybe. The first departing was the worst part of every first date. To kiss or not to kiss. Was this even a date? And then you had to find the right second. If you hesitated, all was lost.

As soon as they reached Shawna's car, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. She even closed her eyes.

"Good night, Eb. You have been great. I'll see you on Saturday."

She drove away while Eb stared after the car until it disappeared.

~*~

A summer breeze drifted through the screen of the bedroom window. Crickets and frogs sang out in abundance just beyond as Shawna lay in bed thinking about Eb. Maybe a scientist who believed in the little people could help with her problem, and even if he couldn't, he had a pleasant voice, and she loved the scent of Bengay.

When a persistent banging came from inside her garage, she put in her earplugs, determined to get a good night's sleep.

Second date

Eb came to the hospital for an X-ray of his neck. His doctor wanted to be sure. When the X-ray was finished, he asked Shawna to dinner.

They met just before dusk, Shawna's favorite time of the day.

As the light faded from the sky, colors deepened.

The traffic light changed to vivid red. Vibrant taillights competed with luminescent streetlights and the lighted signs of the pubs and restaurants up and down the street.

Eb had to raise his voice to talk over the car motors, the trucks, and the bass from a car speaker. When the light turned iridescent green, the noise drove away. Shawna sipped iced tea from a glass rimmed with a pale lemon round. The remains of a casual meal sat at the side of the outdoor table.

"So, all the lights are present all the time. We just can't see them," Shawna stated. "If things could hide within these lights we can't see, would they become invisible too?"

Impossible, Eb almost answered.

Never ever laugh at someone's question, his sister's voice said.

"Like what? What type of things?"

"Oh, maybe those rocks we trip over when nothing is there."

"Of course," Eb told her while nodding his head. "That's how I fell down the stairs. The mass we do not see. Why not?"

"And the little people, too."

"Who?"

"The little people. You know. Pixies. Boggarts. Nixes. Brownies. Those invisible folks who wreak havoc on our lives when we aren't being careful. The reason we avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalks and such."

Eb lost his smile a little. "There's no such thing."

"Then why did you throw the salt and knock on wood at the table?"

"My grandmother believed. I don't really believe in mischievous beings. Old habits. I should stop doing them; I know better. Has anyone ever accused you of having too much imagination?"

"Now and then," Shawna smiled. But not everything was her imagination. She reached for Eb's hand and used it to tip over the saltshaker.

An uncomfortable silence followed. They each took a sip from their iced tea glasses, but Shawna could tell Eb wanted to seize hold of the spilled salt.

They watched a man step on a crack in the sidewalk as he passed their table. A tray of colorful drinks somehow upended to drench him in flamboyant liquids. Eb snatched a smidgeon of salt and heaved the granules over his shoulder.

"I once saw something that cannot be explained by science," he admitted. 

He was a child—maybe ten years old, pulling weeds from his grandmother's garden to earn extra money. A little man dressed in browns came charging through, no higher than his knee.

Eb made a grab for him.

"Watch out!" the little creature shouted, pointing. Eb did no more than glance away, and the creature was gone. Only his grandmother believed him. Everyone else said he imagined it.

"So, do you believe in pixies, boggarts, and nixes?" Eb asked. "Have you ever seen one?"

"Even worse," Shawna answered. "I caught one. I have him trapped inside a wooden box in my garage."

~*~ 

Shawna's house sat alone among cornfields. She'd spent the last three years fixing it into something she could love, though it was still a work in progress. It came with a bad roof, plumbing, and other derelictions, mostly repaired or replaced by now.

A series of unexplained mishaps had her thinking the place was haunted, at first. Coffee cream and milk soured overnight. She had to hire an electrician to ensure there wasn't a short in her refrigerator.

On some days, her shoes wouldn't fit.

Things got lost, only to be found days later. Important things, like umbrellas on rainy days.  

Alarm clocks went off at all hours.

Sometimes, on cold evenings, the fire wouldn't light.

Hair dryers quit working.

"After a while, I knew he was there. Any cream I bought curdled—even ice cream and I'd caught glimpses of him in my peripheral vision. When I heard a noise in the garage, I grabbed out and caught an arm, then held on with everything I had. I tossed him into this box and sealed the lid with the clasps." 

The box had been sitting in the garage since she moved in.

Eb looked it over and picked it up. Tipped it and knocked on the wood.

"Are you sure something's in here? How long have you had him?"

"I caught him a few days before you called to ask me to the wedding. I've wanted to meet you ever since you said you worked at the university. Look at this label." 

Shawna tipped the box and pointed to a sticker on the bottom.

If found, please return to the Folklore Department, Michigan State University. 

"I made the mistake of telling my mother. She suggested I toss the box off a bridge."

I couldn't do that, Mother! Could you?

Of course, I could. You're my child. You have no idea what lengths parents would go to for their children.

"You want proof he's in there? Take your tie off and try feeding it through one of the breathing holes."

She didn't know if the thing breathed, but she knew it couldn't squeeze through the holes in the sides and top or pass through the wood, even though it could make itself invisible.

Eb fed the tie inch by inch, and suddenly, the creature latched on and pulled it inside. Moments later, the tie popped out through one of the top holes, tied into the shape of a noose. A threat.

She hoped Eb didn't give the same advice as everyone else had when she told them she thought she had a boggart living in her house.

"You should move away and put the house up for sale."

Eb never said such a thing.

"We should do what the sticker suggests and return it to the university. If what I remember of my grandmother's lore is true, you'll have to assign him a task before we let him go. Believe it or not, they like to clean. We'll leave it in one of the dormitories. It should like it there."

"Right now?"

Eb nodded. He took her hand and led her back to the car, then loaded the box into his trunk. They drove back to the city with only headlights to guide them while kicking and thumping carried out from the trunk. Eb turned up the volume on the radio. Shawna looked at the stars while keeping an eye out for the police.

~*~

The dormitory was ivy-covered brick on the outside and incredibly noisy on the inside. Shawna entered when someone came out, then held the door as Eb carried the box in.

"Keep all the windows clean," Shawna said to the box. Then Eb unlatched and removed the lid; something flashed, then nothing.

"Hello, Mr. E!" a student said.

"Hello, Tim." Tim was the student who'd argued for a better grade.

"Are you here to see someone?"

"Oh no, we just dropped someone off. See you in class."

Before leaving, they left the box outside the door of the university's mail room.

"They should be able to find the folklore department."

~*~

Eb and Shawna stopped at a noisy pub before going home, arriving in high spirits. Toasting their drinks together in victory. 

"I knew you were going to be someone special. I wanted to meet you first to make sure, but there was something in your voice,” Shawna said.

Eb blushed rainbow red, but smiled. They held hands across the table.

"We should talk about the wedding," he said. "Both our families will be watching us. The bride and groom may get jealous."

Shawna gave a nervous laugh. They made plans.

 The wedding date

They survived the church service by listening intently to every word the pastor said, ignoring every eye that glanced their way. Eb's idea.

When they arrived at the reception, they stood to the side and let everyone come to them. Over and over, they introduced each other, "This is Eb, he's my date for the evening. This is Shawna, my date for the evening."

"No. No. We're not ready to get married yet," they added to the forty or so relatives who asked. Shawna's idea.

When the dishes were cleared from the tables and music began to play, they danced to every number that invited the crowd. They were painfully self-conscious at first but relaxed after everyone got tired of watching them. No one could offer advice or ask personal questions if they stayed on the dance floor. Eb's idea. They both excused themselves to use the restroom when the bride threw her bouquet. Shawna's idea. When the reception was over, they bid goodbye to only their parents before hurrying out the reception door. Both their ideas.

Six months later

Rumors abounded in the dorm with the boggart. There were sightings. Ice cream had to be consumed elsewhere—coffee drunk black or with sugar only. Someone was always looking for some misplaced something or another. General chaos.

One evening, a student came in with a wooden box.

"Look what I found."

They pooled a hundred dollars together. The money would go to whoever captured whatever it was into the box. It took a month. Once the thing was locked inside the box, everyone sighed with relief.

"What will we do with it?"

"I have an idea," said Tim. "Let's turn it loose in the physics department." He'd gotten another C on his paper. Not acceptable.

"You have to assign a task, or it will come right back."

"Keep the erasers clean," Tim said to the box just before they opened it.

A month after that

Eb was ready to propose to Shawna. He didn't tell his family. He wanted to do this on his own, without everyone’s advice.

There was a fountain. At a certain time of day, the sun would turn the droplets and spray into prisms. That's where he wanted to ask her to marry him. Today, between three and four, he'd get down on one knee and …. He couldn't find the ring. He opened the drawer. Looked behind. Felt all his pockets. Looked in all the other drawers. Hadn’t one of the other assistants lost their briefcase last week only to have it turn up yesterday? And didn't he see someone in the breakroom toss out an entire half-gallon of ice cream after tasting it? Oh no! Where was the ring!