Mighty Mason

Leaving Wisconsin

Mr and Mrs Riecke battled with maintaining the regular payment of their rent at their apartment in Wisconsin. The owner of their apartment doubled the monthly cost of staying on his property and the Riecke's didn't have enough money to cope with the adjustments. Already dealing with taxes, water and electricity rates, school fees and so on; the pressure was only so much. Mrs Cherry Riecke - was just a mere house wife and for a woman with so much academic qualifications, it was surprising that she brought very little to the table. Mr and Mrs Riecke had three kids - Mason, Maximilian and Maddison or more fondly - Mase, Max and Maddie; all in high school at the time. The eldest of all three being Mason; a fairly tall and slim young man - he was in the eleventh grade, and was followed by Maximilian in the ninth and Maddison; their only daughter in the eighth.

The family had been given a four week ultimatum to pay their outstanding fees or vacate the premises. They always put into their prayers that 'The Almighty' should direct them on the next step to carry out. One Saturday evening, the family prepared to have dinner, also picking out their wears for church the next day. Maddie helped Cherry out in the kitchen while the boys were taking turns on the video game in the living room. Maddie knew how to play video games better than anyone else. On multiple occasions she beat her brothers and her Dad in a variety of games ranging from Frozen and Unfazed to Sega's Sonic video game and FIFA. The guys were relieved to know that she was helping out Mom in the kitchen. Lots of people called Maddison the brightest and most promising of the Riecke siblings but that fact didn't bother her brothers one bit.

"Dinner's ready!" said an oncoming voice from the house passage whom they later discovered to be Cherry's.

"Oh great I'm starving" said Mr Riecke who simultaneously patted his belly.

The plates went round and everyone was served. They feasted on a meal of pasta, vegetables and fresh stew. It wasn't exactly a meal they would have loved to be eating on a Saturday night, but as long as it kept their tummies from grumbling, everyone would have to eat their dinner with delight. They said their prayers and everybody dug in.

After an unusual and brief period of silence, Cherry finally spoke up.

"So kids your Dad I discussed and..." she paused turning to see if she had everyone's attention.

"...We'll be moving to Seattle in a couple of weeks"

"Well...Your Dad found a job there and I thought it'd be good for us to familiarize with a new environment" said Cherry. She tried as much as possible to bend around the actual reason for their move - in actuality Mr Riecke did not find a job, they would actually be hoping he found a job as early as possible and more preferably before winter started to cave in.

All three kids weren't happy about the decision their parents took without them. The idea of leaving behind their few friends along with all the memories they had made at the Bramall Apartment wasn't really pleasant - more worrisome was the fact that they were doing so only a few weeks to Christmas.

Cherry and her husband had a couple of memories too but they had to leave Wisconsin in search of a cheaper house where they could live as well as a highly paying job for Mr Riecke.

Mason and Maximilian went to play golf with their Dad the following Saturday. There was nothing like a relaxing game of golf at the Wisconsin country side park to ease off all the stress of the entire week. Of course, it was the last time they would get to play golf like that being that in seven days they would be faraway in Seattle - Just a day before the first sightings of snow were expected. They left for the park no earlier than 9am and commenced play half an hour later. This time, Max was calling the shots, sweeping his big brother and his Dad away as they alternated turns - Whoever wasn't playing at the moment would fetch the balls wherever they went.

Mr Riecke managed to get his golf ball into the designated pot before Mason could and so Mase would have to sit out the next round. In an attempt to make the game a lot more competitive than it already was, they decided to increase the distance between the point of commencement and the pots - where the players would try and direct their balls. With everything now set for the good ol' game to resume, Max went first - he set the ball flying with very high velocity and at amazing altitude. From a distance, it could already be seen that the ball had passed its designated pot by quite a distance.

"Mase why don't you help us go get it?" Mr Riecke asked.

"Sure Dad" Mason said already on the run.

He ran and ran while trying to catch his breath. At about halfway through the distance he started walking. Mason finally reached the pot and held the flag directly overhead. He looked around and couldn't seem to find the golf ball. He walked around the potential landing spots for the golf ball well over fifteen minutes and he soon got tired. Just when he was about to turn to inform the others of yet another missing ball, he heard his name called so clearly from a large collection of shrubs on his right.

"Mason!" the voice echoed until it became silent. Young Mason was already feeling startled at the persistent voice that he just couldn't ignore.

As he walked towards the direction from which he had heard the voice it appeared as if a dark figure ran away from behind the bushes trying at the least to keep out of Mason's sight. As if it couldn't get any stranger than it already was, a number of tall coconut trees sprouted up to high altitude within split seconds and just as Mason was about to take to his heels, the voice called out yet again. It seemed like the voice had hands that drew Mason closer and closer to its source - it just cried out with some form of urgency.

He walked into the forest-like path that had formed right in front of him; there he found a glowing light that was so bright he had to bring out a pair of shades he had had in his pockets since the start of the trip. He tiptoed in his own way of trying not to disturb the wild animals which he suspected were all around him until he reached the source of the bright light and discovered it was a scroll. He reached out to it and as soon as he moved it from it's initial position, a heavy wind blew across the 'makeshift' forest which caused him to fall into a deep trance. He opened his eyes a while after and found himself outside the pack of shrubs as the trees which sprouted up so quickly were no more.

In his left hand he had the scroll and in his other, the golf ball which he had searched for for so long. In the opposite direction, his dad and his younger brother came running to know if Mason was okay. To Mason, it felt like he had only been away for twenty to twenty five minutes but in actual reality, he was away for close to two hours!

"Mason! Mason!! Mason!!! are you okay?" his worried father asked.

"I'm okay Dad, I never felt better" Mason said to their amazement. Hoping they hadn't seen the magical trees that grew and disappeared a while ago, he slid the scroll into his pocket and handed Max the golf ball.

"What's wrong with you man? You've been away for two hours!" Max added looking slightly worried but a lot more vexed.

"Nothing...Nothing! I just had a little trouble looking for the ball round those bushes" answered Mason pointing in the direction of the shrubs which he saw earlier.

"Lets get going" he continued facing his father.

The trio headed back to the car with Mason acting strangely up until the very moment they got home. He even requested to sit in the passenger's seat of his father's old Camry while Max sat in the seat next to the driver's seat - that was something he had never done on a guys outing. As he sat in his chair he brought the scroll out of his pocket where he had kept it earlier and used his lips to read the letter without making any sound. It read:

"Vereor ne parum se nam electi per quod a ingentem deorum a TENOR Triplum praesidio quod infirmum Triplum et fortis bellator fortis nobillem"

Latin - definitely a language he knew nothing about, was the language in which the letter was written. How exactly was he going to find out for sure what it meant. The monthly internet connection had expired during the week and as the family policy stated, there wasn't going to be another payment until the first day of the next month - December. A Google translator ad would've really helped him at the moment. How else could he get to know what the Latin inscription meant? After thinking and thinking of how he could find out what it meant, an idea finally hit him in the head.

"Maddie!" he soliloquises while raising up his right index.

"But if I tell her then she'll know too" He continued. Mason was willing to keep his discovery at the park a secret as much and as long as possible.

"Mase! Did you say something?" his Dad said still handling the steering wheel.

"No Dad! Nothing!" he answered almost immediately. Maddison - his sweet and intelligent little sister could be the only one in a position to help him at the moment.