A Hollow Story

by Karen Goldrick

There once was a young boy who had a most curious vision. if he looked a person in the eye, and waited exactly half a minute, a certain process would occur in his mind. The eye within would see this same person on their deathbed. Not, dear listener, the mere physicality, but also the circumstances of their leaving. Our lad knew at what time, and in what way, they would die.

Naturally he was withdrawn and reticent. Naturally, dear listener, he spent much time looking to the ground. He had few friends. Dieter, for that was his name, never revealed this terrible secret to any living person.

He discovered at a young age that his gift, for want of a better term, could not be used to alter a person’s fate. What will be, will be. Young Dieter was given a white rabbit for Namestag when he was but five years old. He was given the rabbit by his mother’s brother, Herr Baumstadt, (destined to die horribly at the hands of another for coveting this other’s wife). Dieter loved this rabbit, but when he looked adoringly in it’s eyes he saw a terrible vision., the poor rabbit crushed by a passing auto. So Dieter kept the rabbit locked in a wooden hutch, or kept it with him at all times. It was his younger sister, Anke ( to die giving birth to her second child), who let the poor rabbit out.

The same rule of life applied to Dieters father, a devotee of the pipe. He was to die from cancer of the lungs when Dieter was nearly twelve, leaving his poor mother with no income and four children to bear.

When fourteen, Dieter fell in love. It was not his choice to, but Sabine was an elfin faerie. Tall, slender, with long corn yellow hair. Dieter did not know the colour of her eyes, he would never look to them. But he imagined them a deep violet blue.

Sabine was a student at the Thale village school with Dieter. She was maybe one year older. She was surrounded and courted by all the young lads at the school. Particularly devoted were the Schloss boys — Hans, Pieter and Fritz. Dieter knew, dear listener, via his unique gift, they they were not destined much longer for this world.

Sabine was just as adroitly avoided by all the young lasses. Love and envy, dear listener. love and envy.

And of course, Sabine had little regard for the strange pale thin boy with the untidy hair who rarely spoke and always looked to the ground. Dieter stopped eating. grew more thin. His mother( fortunately destined to live until over 100) dragged him to see Herr Doktor ( destined to die strangely naked with his hands tied above his head) with his new steel table; microscope; and shiny xray machine. Herr Doktor made the diagnosis of ague and prescribed bed rest and chicken broth. Dieter’s mother enforced this with a wooden funnel and a padlock.

But it is time to go on with the story. Enough introduction. Enough hoopdedoodle. The listener has enough facts to comprehend the story. We know of Dieter’s unfortunate gift. gift. We know of his unrequited love. We need to add in but two more ingredients. The first: Walpurgisnacht;, when all the witches gather to dance i the mountains of the Hartz. The second: and this is a clue to be remembered later in the story: the human condition that is the tendency to throw away the old and replace it with the new. Enough. Now we go to the story.

Our story begins on the night of the Walpurgis, the eve of Mayday. At dusk, with the sky fading from golden to mauve to deep dark blue, the villagers began the long walk up to the mountaintop. The younger ones ran ahead, dressed on long dark hooded cloaks to keep out the late spring chill. They carried torches, a chain of light leading the way up the mountain path.

Dieter was locked in his room, having endured so much chicken broth he felt quite unwell. From his window, in his small attic room he watched the two blonde plaits swinging out behind Sabine as she ran ahead with Fritz, Hans and Pieter. As the sun moved behind the mountain, its top began to glow and shimmer. Dieter stared at this golden outline, and a shivering began in his feet and spread up his legs to his chest. Be blinked, and thought he saw silhouette of witches dark and erratic, flying over the mountaintop away from the sun.

He knew he must go. But the padlock was fast. His mother, with Anke, Frida and little Anna had left with the others. There was no-one to help. He risked his mother’s rife, and tore his bed sheet into three long strips. These he plaited, like Sabine’s hair, into a rope of some strength, and tied this to his bedpost, his bed dragged over to the window. His rope did not reach to the ground, but with brave desperation he climbed down. All the while seeing the vision of those erratic laughing witches. All the while wishing he had looked into Sabine’s eyes. All the while wishing to know, that she was safe.

The drop to the ground was of several feet. he relaxed as much as he could to make the jump, but felt a sharp pain in his left foot as he hit the ground. NO doubt, he thought, he would need the services of her Doktor’s new Xray machine.

The chicken broth exited his stomach as he tried to push away the pain, the he hobbled slowly, in much agony, up the long path in the growing darkness.

He could hear laughter as he climbed. At first he thought it might be the witches. But as slowly and in much agony he closed the gap, the laughter turned to that of the village. Now , dear listener, laughter is not unusual at the celebrations. There is much joy to be had in the lighting of bonfires. especially if one is warmed by a small nip of schnapps. But to Dieter the laughter seemed more intense, more bright,. perhaps his mind was clouded by pain. perhaps by uncalled for hysteria. But he grew more afraid, more desperate to find Sabine. To save her, from what he did not know.

A terrible site awaited him at the summit. The villagers had lit the fire, which burned large and free, sending clumps of sparks up to the stars. They were settled around the circle of dancing stones, laughing and pointing. At what. Dieter hobbled up the last bit of slope to see. And then he saw it. For within the stone circle, the earth glowed with a green light that was more than the reflection of the fire. Alight that was made by itself. And dancing and laughing in the circle, four witches: their faces covered and painted with the green glowing earth; their black hoods pulled up over their heads.

Laughing at each other. Laughing at their audience. Laughing at him.

Dieter stopped to regain his breath. The pain forgotten in this new fear. He searched the crowd for Sabine, but could not see her. The dancing witches now picked up wads of shiny soil and threw them about. Some at each other. Some at the crowd. More laughter and more sparks. The leafless branches of the trees still against the stars. Broomsticks waiting to fly away.

He walked towards the circle, fearing and knowing what he would find. For the witches, dear listener, were none other but the Baum boys, dancing and adoring their

Sabine. As Dieter approached she looked towards him. She started to walk in hi direction. He watches as her plaits reflected the fire. He watched her face, glowing green and violet. And he watched her eyes, dark voids within her painted face as they gazed at his.

“Is it Dieter? Come and play, Dieter. Come into the circle and dance.” And she held out her hand, shining with the magic dirt.

And as Dieter watched, her dark eyes in that pale face, his old wooden watch counted to thirty. He saw her lying, as if in sleep, her long hair strewn alongside her face. On lilac sheets covered in lavender. A young beautiful girl wearing the mask of death. And the witches laughed and flew up with the sparks to the moon.

And now, dear listener, we pass to the following week. Dieter, released from his prison despite the plaited sheet, enjoyed his week at school. Sabine sat next to him in class. Her dark eyes meeting his blue ones across the scarred wooden desks and pencils and rulers. The Baum boys up the back, their futile sniggering and flicked rubbers ignored. At lunch Dieter and Sabine sat under the old oak, now with a few pale buds struggling to find the sun. They rubbed the dirt into their fingers and held hands and painted masks on their faces. Dieter allowed himself to forget his fears of the growing distant night. He allowed himself to think them tricks from too much soup, the pain in his foot, and the bonfire in the darkness. he allowed himself to forget the glowing dirt and the laughing witches. His foot, revealed by Herr Doktor’s machine to be a mere sprain, healed quickly. Dieter, my friends, allowed himself to be happy. But happiness, especially if founded on self deceit, can never last.

On the seventh day after Walpurgisnacht, a day when the spring winds cold and bitter rounded every corner, Fritz Baum became sick. He crouched down with pain, and vomited all food and liquid. His face grew pale; with bruises behind his eyes , and his nose began to bleed. Herr Doktor used all his toys. he tested the blood. he listened to the heart. He took radiographic pictures of the intestines. But he found no diagnosis. He read his books, and telegraphed in friend in the city, Herr Professor, who agreed to catch the next mountain train to Thale.

Only two days later, the other Baum boys, Pieter and Hans, were also sick. Their clinical signs were the same. No longer taunting Dieter, no longer Coveting Sabine, they lay, pale and weak in the hospital beds. Dieter remembered his fear, and watched Sabine anxiously for any sign. But she remained well, and remained at hi side.

The whole village gathered at the train station to greet Herr Professor. He was old and stooped, with a worried face. He had seen many bad things in his years, and had resolved few of them. Dieter looked to his eyes, and saw he would choke on rye bread not many years hence, still worried, still unsolved.

The professor examined the boys, while the villagers gathered outside. He listened to their hearts, looked at Herr Doktor’s blood samples under the microscope, and looked at the radiographic pictures taken by the Xray machine.

“A nice machine,” he said. “From where did you get it, Herr Doktor?”

“From the big factory in Bonn. I arrived by train, like yourself.” Herr Doktor was proud of his machine, and gave it a fond stroke.

“Did you have the old model, the XK125?”

“I did, Herr Professor. Such a nuisance, having to attach lead cones to reduce the scatter radiation. With this new model, there is little need for lead aprons and gloves.”

“indeed, Herr Doktor. And what did you do with the old machine?”

“No-one would buy it, Herr Professor. So I loaded it to the horse and trap, and took it away from the village, high up in the mountains.”

Herr Professor grunted, and walked outside to tell the crowd. For this problem he had solved. He had a diagnosis. But there was no joy in his success. He knew, from his years with the army, there was no cure for radiation poisoning.

Within a week, the Baum boys had all died. Some days later, after the funeral, Herr Doktor was found. bound and naked, just as in Dieter’s vision. No-one attended his funeral. Dieter continued to watch Sabine with the same anxiety, but she remained well and attentive. More days passed, and again Dieter allowed himself the happiness of self deception. He forgot his vision, and wove her a ring from the new spring daisies.

But that is not the end, dear listener, for it is not the purpose of this story to have a happy ending. Real life, as we all know, does not have happy endings with rosy sunsets and scented flowers. In real life we all must die. And it was a night of the full moon, when Dieter could see the glow on top of the mountain, that he heard a sudden despairing wail in the street. It was Sabine’s father. She had died, as she lay in bed. There was no mark, no sign of sickness, Just the white, still mask of death.

Dieter walked up the mountain. His foot remembered it’s pain. and he walked slow, with a limp, towards the Hexentanzplatz. There he sat, watching the glowing circle, waiting for the moon to show herself from behind a cloud. I the distance he could hear laughter, and he rubbed the stardust into his face as he watched the silhouette fly away towards the moon. It was Sabine, laughing, flying away, beckoning him to follow.

And dear reader, he did, not five days hence.