Session 3: Are You Loyal To The Old Covenant?
1969. The whole gang had gathered together at the Finch household. The kids had gone swimming in the backyard pool and had some lunch. They were then left to entertain themselves while the adults went downstairs to the den to talk about letter campaigns and write some cheques. Althogh they had been given permission to listen to the record player in the library, the kids were bored. Only Marcus and Simon thought that the old, leather-bound books were very interesting, and Simon could’t read. So they decided to sneak down to the basement to get ginger beer.
While in the basement, the kids discovered a secret cubicle - like a Catholic confessional - that allowed one to spy on the den on the other side of the wall. Through the spyhole, they could see their parnets seated around the card table and dressed in flowing, purple robes. Unfortunately, the gang made a lot of noise and even broke a bottle of ginger beer, and although they tried to escape the crime, the way was blocked by Mrs. Finch... looking scary and not at all motherly in her purple robes. She started to speak, and...
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1988. Marcus was late for a get-together at Eric’s place, having stopped to get a bottle fo something called Zinfandel along the way.He wasn’t sure, but it seemed to him that this was the first time that the old gang had been together since they were kids. He arrived at Eric’s modest home, made some small-talk with Eric’s wife Sally and with Simon’s girlfriend, and went down into the den.
As he walked through the door, the others looked up form their Poker game with pleased expressions. Then a strange emotion swept across the face of everybody in the room, and the Finch brothers chanted in an eerie unison, “Are you loyal to the old covenant?”
Marcus’ head reeled, and suddenly...
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... he was awake, in a small hotel room in L.A. Eric had been separated from the others in Vegas as he did some background checks on “Bill Toge” and asked some of his shadowy contacts about anything strange that might be connected to the address in Long Beach. He’d flown from Vegas back to Berkeley, picked up his car, and driven to L.A. to meet the others at Jim Carpenter’s house. A few hours sleep in a cheap roadside hotel had been a necessity, but his rest had been broken by dreams and memories.
Marcus was surprised but pleased to run into Jim Carpenter in the hotel parking lot. Marcus explained what he had learned in vegas, and Jim appeared thoughtful. Jim suggested that they take their cars and go to meet the others at his house. However, as Marcus was leaving the parking lot in his VW, he saw Jim speeding off in a different direction - driving a silver Mercedes. Marcus knew that he’d seen that Mercedes before.
Marcus did arrive at Jim’s house, and he was told about the house in Long Beach and the box of video tapes. For the second time that day, he repeated what he had learned about Bill Toge, and the strange behaviour of the hippy Moonglow in Long Beach last year.
More soon...