Chapter 2

Cathy met Peter in front of Kellman’s Grocery at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon; he led her through the store and down to the basement.

"Jacob is sending someone to meet us to make sure we don’t get lost," he said as he closed the door from the basement and followed Cathy down the ramp.

"I’m already here, Dr. Alcott," called a young male voice.

They reached the bottom of the ramp and a tall young man with dark auburn curls, freckles and a slightly turned up nose stepped out of the tunnel and into the light. He looked vaguely familiar to Catherine.

Suddenly it hit her who he was "Geoffrey?" she asked.

He smiled broadly at her, "Yes, Catherine. It’s great to see you again."

Catherine hugged him, "It’s great to see you. Goodness but you’ve grown!"

"I’m almost sixteen," he told her proudly as they started off down the corridor.

Geoffrey and Peter chatted as they walked and it left Catherine free to absorb the atmosphere. She was surprised at how much she’d missed this place, the feel, the sound of the tapping on the pipes, the subway trains, the smells of smoke and candles, but more than the place, she’d missed the people. She hadn’t realized how much until she’d seen Geoffrey. She'd only begun to get to know people when Vincent had broken off their relationship. Samantha would be nearly grown, as would Kipper, Nick, Eric, Ellie and all the rest of the children. She wondered if all her old friends would still be there or if some of them had decided to go back Above. She’d soon find out.

They reached Father’s study and Geoffrey called out, "Father, they’re here."

"Come in," called a familiar voice.

Catherine stepped through the door, glad she’d asked to meet Father in private, with only Peter present.

She was surprised by the welcome she received. Father hugged her tightly, kissed her on the cheek, then offered her a chair and a cup of tea.

"So how have you been Catherine?" He asked.

They talked for a little, Catherine told him a little of what had been going on in her life. Then finally Father got to the point.

"It is lovely to see you, my dear, but just why, after all this time was it so important for you to meet with me? Peter said you had a favor to ask."

"Well, the long and the short of it is that I’m asking to be allowed to live Below." she said with a sad smile.

Father’s eyebrows shot up so far that they were almost lost in his hairline. "You are asking for sanctuary Below?"

"Yes, Father, I am," she admitted.

Father glanced over at Peter who nodded and gave a small shrug.

"But why, Catherine?"

"To be blunt, I’m broke. I didn’t tell you about that part. I wasn’t diligent about monitoring what was going on with my trust accounts. One of the partners in the law firm, my father's old law firm, embezzled money; I lost nearly everything. I sold everything that I had that was worth anything, except my mother’s jewelry and a few antiques, to cover most of my debts, and once everything was over, all I had was a house and a little cash. The cash went pretty quickly, so I sold the house, paid the rest of my debts and banked what little was left."

"But Catherine, you’re an attorney," said Father.

"An out of work, attorney; one who has been on the front page way too much in recent years and my name is associated with the latest headlines about 'Chandler and Coolidge'. Attorneys have long memories and it doesn't matter that I was a victim of Mark Coolidge. I can’t even get an entry level job anywhere. I even went back to my father’s old firm offering to help them try to rebuild their reputation and I was told that they were dissolving the partnership and going out of business. I can’t even find a job as a law clerk," she sounded exasperated and exhausted.

"And your friends, no one can help you?"

"I sold the house about a month ago, and I’ve been living with my friends Jenny and Joe Maxwell ever since. They won’t take any money, and I am just tired of sponging off them. Peter has offered but soon it would be just like with Jenny and Joe," she shook her head and leaned toward Father. "Father, I want to be some place where I am contributing. Here I can do that. I can teach, or help cook or do laundry, clean, anything that needs to be done; and no one will question why I quit my job with the DA, or what I’ve been doing the last few years. They will just show me how to do a job if I don’t know how and thank me when I’m done. And I will be earning my keep instead of sponging off of friends."

"I have to ask, Catherine, would this be a permanent move or a brief hiatus from the world above to recoup and regroup?" he asked seriously.

"The way I feel right now is that it would be permanent, and that is my intention, but one never knows." She was thinking of Vincent's possible reaction to her being there.

"That is all that is necessary. We all know that circumstances change."

"I’m really getting rather desperate, Father. Please, just tell me if I’m not welcome, I know I wasn’t five years ago when Vincent sent me away, but surely by now…"

Father held up his hand and she finally ran down. "When Vincent sent you away?" he asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"Yes, didn’t you know?"

"No, Catherine, I didn’t. He never said why you left and never came back and he refused to talk about it."

"God, and all this time I thought you might have had something to do with it. I’m so sorry I misjudged you, Father." Catherine pushed her hair off her face, sat back in the chair and took a deep breath. It was always a painful subject for her and she didn’t even like thinking about it, much less talking about it. "I was having a bit of a crisis, partly due to some of my personal issues, and partly due to my relationship with Vincent. I went to him for comfort and asked him to allow me to come live Below. He said ‘no’. He could feel my pain through the Bond and he said that it was something he couldn’t bear to live with. He just walked away. I haven’t seen him since.

I waited for a while, then I tried to come Below. I even waited outside the park threshold night after night for Vincent to come out, but I never saw him. I tried to send messages, I sent notes; I used all the usual drop points but I never got any answers. It took a while, but eventually I got the message, and I quit trying." Tears were threatening. "Father, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but one of the biggest ones was letting Vincent get away with barring me from his life."

"My dear, I had no idea!" exclaimed Father. "Vincent just told me that you wouldn’t be visiting us again. The children were very upset and asked questions, and he actually got rather short with them and told them that it was none of their business. That was when I made the assumption that you had found someone Above and moved on with your life. I occasionally read things in the paper about you and what you were doing, but I never saw an engagement or marriage announcement. After the business with the DA, I didn’t see much; I thought you might have moved away. I never asked Vincent about it; I felt that it was none of my business."

"When has that ever stopped you, Jacob?" asked Peter with a wry grin.

"I guess you are right, Peter, but whatever had happened was obviously painful to Vincent, so I let it lie." Father leaned back in his chair, "It explains so much. I wish I had pushed a little harder asked more questions at the time. I think I understand now why he did what he did."

The words sounded ominous and Catherine felt a brief panic.

"What did he do Father?" she asked.

"For the most part he has exiled himself from the rest of the community. He no longer sits on the council, or takes his meals, except for some rare special occasions, with the rest of us. He has moved to a chamber that only Mouse, and I suspect Pascal, know the location of. He still does his patrols, trains the sentries, goes out when there is an intruder alert and helps out with the heavy repairs and other work, but that is all. He doesn’t teach or take part in many of the community activities; he hasn’t even been to Winterfest in three years. Mouse takes him supplies every two weeks, and he tells me that Vincent looks well; he isn’t living rough, his chamber is quite comfortable, he even has a hot spring to bathe in, but we seldom see him. I occasionally see evidence that he has been here in the night. He comes and takes books from the library and gets things from his old chamber; he leaves notes for me and others, but for the last few years we have seen very little of him in the flesh. He was very depressed when he left, and I was sure it was because he was no longer seeing you...At one point, right after he left, we didn’t see him at all for months, not even Mouse knew where he was. I honestly thought that he might have thrown himself into the Abyss. But then Mouse found his chamber, and several of our Helpers said that he’d been trading work for supplies. Once Mouse spoke to him and reported back to me, I was very relieved."

Catherine was shocked, she turned to Peter, "Peter, why didn’t you tell me this the other night?"

"I knew it would be painful to talk about and I didn't know the whole story so I thought I'd let Father tell it."

"I just don’t talk to anyone about what had happened; I didn’t think I knew anyone Above I could talk to until the other night, so I didn’t even speak in generalities. It hurt too much. Not even Jenny or Nancy have any idea." She turned back to Father. "I’m so sorry, Father. If you and the council decide that you don’t want me down here after all that has happened, I really will understand." She stood and went over and kissed Father on the cheek.

"Catherine, you aren’t to blame. It sounds to me like you both made mistakes but most of it is on Vincent’s shoulders. He had no right to ban you from our community without the backing of the council. We have our regular meeting tomorrow evening. I will send word of our decision as soon as the vote is taken. But I wouldn’t worry; you should probably go back and start packing," he said with a smile as he hugged her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Overnight Cathy perfected the story she planned to tell Jenny and Joe to cover her possible move Below. Even though Father had been sure, she wasn’t counting on it until she got the final word from Peter.

On Monday morning at breakfast Cathy announced that she’d applied for a job in Lansing, Michigan. It sounded close enough that she’d be able to make trips back to visit, but far enough away, that it wouldn’t be convenient for a couple with two small children to make the trip to see her.

"Lansing, Michigan?" repeated Joe.

"Yes Joe. The capital of the state of Michigan," she said with a smile. "A law firm there wants someone with a background in criminal law. I sent my resume a few weeks ago, and I got a call yesterday, while you were at your sister’s in New Jersey, that I’m on the short list. They said they would call sometime this evening and let me know their decision."

"Well, congratulations, I guess. You will come back to visit, won’t you?" he asked as he hugged his suddenly distraught wife.

"Of course, I could probably drive it in less than a day once I get a car. But I’ll have to wait until I’ve been there for a while before I can get some time off. I’ll fly there, if I get the job."

Jenny was upset about the possibility, but she understood that Cathy was desperate to get a job.

Cathy was in the kitchen with Jenny when the phone rang just before 9:00 that evening. Cathy was the first one to it, in truth she’d been waiting for the call.

"Hello. Maxwell residence," she answered in a businesslike tone.

"Cathy, it’s Peter."

"Yes, this is Catherine, Mr. Peters."

"Someone is there, huh? OK, well the council voted in your favor and said you can move in any time you want. Mary is already preparing a chamber for you."

Catherine smiled "Why thank you Mr. Peters. That is great news. Yes, I can start next Monday. I will have to be there several days earlier to find a place to live."

"When do you plan to go Below?" asked Peter.

"I can probably get a flight on Wednesday morning. Thank you again Mr. Peters."

She hung up the phone and heaved a sigh of relief; she had a hard time containing her relief and joy.

"But Michigan is so far away," moaned Jenny as she hugged her.

"Not that far, and as soon as I get settled, I’ll be here every chance I get."

Cathy excused herself a little while later saying she had to go make flight and hotel reservations.

Once she was in her room she called Peter back. Peter told her that when she was ready to leave on Wednesday morning not to call a cab but to call him and he would send a Helper who was a cab driver and he would take her to a threshold and she would be met there. They also made plans for Peter to send a truck the next afternoon to pick up a bunch of stuff to be put in storage at his house. Actually he’d have the stuff sent below to be put in her chamber. All she had was a few pieces of antique furniture, some off season clothing and some boxes of books, keepsakes and photo albums.

All Cathy had to do was convince Jenny and Joe that there was no need for them to take her to the airport to see her off. That was decided for them when little Cate came down with the croup in the early hours of Wednesday. They were just returning home from the doctor’s office when Cathy was getting ready to leave. There was just time to give hugs all around, shed a few tears and wave good-bye from the back seat of the cab.

The cab only took her a short distance before setting her down in front of Kellman’s Grocery again. The driver told her that her guide was waiting for her inside, and helped her with her two suitcases and overnight case. Geoffrey and one of the younger children met her as she went down the ramp with Mr. Kellman who was helping her with her bags. Geoffrey hugged and welcomed her, then he introduced the youngster as James and told her that James had been below for about three years. He and James each took one of her larger bags and she carried her overnight case and purse.

When they reached the main hub of the community there were several people there to greet and welcome her. Finally it was whittled down to Mary, Livvy and Rebecca escorting her to her chamber. She was surprised and pleased to find that she was only a few steps away from Father’s Study. She was also surprised to find that the ladies had already unpacked everything she’d sent down the day before. She walked into the chamber and was greeted by the familiar sights of some of her own furniture: her mother’s vanity, her curio cabinet full of her keepsakes, a bookcase already filled with her books and albums. Her clothing was unpacked and in drawers and chests and the armoire. She was nearly overcome at the welcome. She hugged each of the women in turn, thanking them. Mary told her to change and get comfortable and finish her unpacking and she would come and get her to take her to lunch.

Lunch was another emotional scene where she was hugged by nearly every person in the chamber. Even William came out and hugged her. She had only known these people a short time before she had left, but they had become very dear to her.

She ate at a table with Father and Mary, and Father told her to take a few days to get settled in and reacquainted then she should come to him and they would discuss what she would like to do.

That night she slept better than she had in months, and woke feeling rested for a change. After breakfast, she spent the morning going through her clothes, deciding what was appropriate to keep and what she should send to the seamstresses to be reused and repurposed. She kept all her jeans and warm pants, all her sweats, all her warm nightgowns and robes, all her washable sweaters. All but a couple of her most classic suits and blouses went into a pile in the center of the room. She decided she had to keep a few things that could be worn Above for when she visited Jenny and Joe and other friends. Almost all of her formal gowns went into the pile, but she might need one or two of the warmer ones for special occasions Below; she had a green velvet that she’d never even worn. She kept a dress coat, her trench coat, a hooded black velvet cape that she loved and a couple of down jackets. And if it was made of denim, she kept it. Some dress shoes with matching purses, and her brief case went into the back of the armoire, some regular low heel shoes, athletic shoes and hiking boots were kept. Everything else went into the pile. Then she went out in search of some children to help her carry everything to the storage room off the sewing room.

By lunch time she had disposed of about two thirds of her old wardrobe and was feeling even better than she had when she woke up. She knew that it would take time for her to start looking like the rest of the people Below, but as her clothing wore out and was either repaired or replaced she would start to look more and more like she fit in.

It took her a few days to get settled and learn the routine. She used that time to visit and find her way around. The maps that mouse gave her were a bit confusing in their detail, but once she figured them out she found them to be accurate. By the end of her ‘orientation week’ she was able to find her way to any place in the main hub of the community without trouble.

She went to Father to tell him that she was ready to start earning her keep. He asked her to sit and they discussed what she would like to do.

"I’d love to work with the children in some way," she said hopefully.

"We are in need of someone to teach reading to some of the younger children; and you have a good background in literature and with your legal experience…would you be willing to teach more than one class?"

"Of course! What classes?"

"We used to have a regular reading class every weekday morning right after breakfast for the five and six year olds. Vincent taught it, but since he left, it has been kind of hit and miss, and the children are suffering for it. I tried taking it, but I’m not always free at that time; Mary has tried but the toddlers keep her too busy. If we could go back to a regular time and place it would be a great benefit for the children."

"Do you think that William would allow us to stay right there at one of the tables in the dining chamber? The light in there is excellent and I could catch them all before they ran off to other things."

"I’m sure he would; it would be the perfect time and place for it." He made a note on his list.

"What else?"

"Vincent also used to teach a literature class to the 13, 14 and 15 year olds three times a week. I’ve taken it, but have only been able to do it twice a week. Three times is really much better. And with your law background I was thinking that maybe you could teach civics or government to the older children once or twice a week."

Catherine nodded. "Reading for about an hour every weekday morning, starting say at 8:30?" she looked at Father and he nodded. She made a note on the pad in front of her. "How about Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the Literature classes?"

"That would work well. You could start them at 10:00 in the class room; it’s not far from your chamber. Vincent and I always found that about an hour and a half worked well. And you could have the civics classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time."

Catherine made notes on her pad and smiled up at him. "That takes care of the mornings, so what do you want me to do in the afternoons?"

Father smiled at her enthusiasm. "Everyone rotates through the non-specialty areas. During the last week of every month I post a chart for the next month that shows all the work that needs to be done with the times and places. Everyone volunteers and writes their own names in where they would like to work and when. If there are any gaps I find someone to fill in. If someone finds that they won’t be available for something they volunteered for, it is up to them to find someone to fill in for them. The only jobs that aren’t on that list are the sentries and patrols. Vincent always used to organize them, Cullen has taken that over and it only includes the males between the ages of 16 and 50. All the jobs are covered for this month, so you can float and try things out to see what you like and what you don’t, then at the beginning of next month you can add yourself to the list. Don’t spread yourself too thin, Catherine. Give yourself some time off."

"I just want to stay busy, Father," she said with a smile. "Now, do you have any kind of lesson plan that you’ve been using for the Literature Class?"

"I have some notes that I can give you and I think Vincent kept his records in black and white composition books. He kept track of the books that he used and how he covered them, if that would be of use. I think you’ll find them on the bookshelf behind his bed." Father pointed to a stack of books on his desk. "Those are some of the things I’ve been using and the younger children have their reading primers. I will put the notice out that the new classes will start on Monday for everyone. Is that enough time for you to get prepared?"

Catherine rose and gave Father a quick hug before collecting the stack. "More than enough. I’m going to enjoy this. I’ll take these to my chamber and then go back to Vincent’s and see if I can find his notes. Thanks Father."

Catherine took the stack to her chamber and dropped it on the small desk, then headed back up the corridor to Vincent’s chamber.

It was the first time she’d been there since before Vincent has banished her. It had a chilly, musty, unused air. She lit several candles that were on the table in the middle of the room. It looked strange without light coming through the stained glass window. She’d asked Vincent once, where the window had come from and he’d explained that there was another chamber behind this one. It was about the same size, but was always colder and seemed to suck the warmer air out of this one. The opening between them was natural and he and Devin, were always trying to find a way to keep the warm air in. They’d tried everything, then one day, on a foraging excursion above at a demolition site, Devin had found the window, and carried it Below. It had fit in the opening almost perfectly and with the help of one of the stone masons below they had installed it permanently. But they’d both been disappointed when the colors weren’t visible because the chamber behind it was dark. One of the other residents, who had worked with stained glass, had helped them solve that problem. She had fixed it so that one of the lower pieces of glass, near the center could be removed and then the boys could place long burning candles behind the glass to illuminate it. They had both been thrilled with their innovation and the beauty of the glass. Catherine had grown to love it too. It had always cast a lovely golden glow over the room.

As she looked around the room she spotted several black and white composition notebooks on the shelf behind the bed, where father had said they were. She tried reaching them without getting on the bed, but the bed was too wide and she was too short, so she gave up and crawled across the bed raising a little dust as she did. She pulled the books off. Each of them was a record of a literature class Vincent had taught; one for each year. He had meticulously noted the books used, the students’ names and their reactions to the books and the changes he had made each year. As she sat on the bed looking through the notebooks she glanced up and saw the suede pouch containing her mother’s ivory rose where it was laying on top of a book on the night stand. The sight of it made her catch her breath.

She picked it up to make sure it was the same pouch and was disappointed when she found that it was. He wasn’t wearing it; he’d left it behind when he had left. She touched the crystal he’d given her where it hung next to her heart under her sweater. She’d seldom been without it since he’d given it to her. It had been her only connection with him for so long. And to think that he’d left the rose behind; hadn’t wanted the connection or maybe the reminder hurt too much. She almost put it in her pocket, it had been her mother’s, after all, but she stopped. No, she’d given it to Vincent. It was his even if he chose not to wear or carry it. He no doubt saw it when he came to pick things up; it was still a reminder. She put it back where she found it, picked up the notebooks, slapped some dust off her jeans and hands, blew out the candles and left the chamber.