Read Novel 1987 - The Haunted Mesa (v5.0) for Free Online Page A

by some means of communication. I then took the first sensible, logical step. I went back to the kiva and called my dog.
    Nothing happened. Could sound reach beyond the barrier? Suppose I went through? Could I get back?
    Returning to my drawing board I sat down, and using a notepad, I tried to reason it through. Common sense warned me to sit tight. If Chief could return, he would. It might be a day or it might be two. The “window” was obviously an opening to something, perhaps another dimension, perhaps a world coexistent with our own.
    Did I believe that? I had not sufficient information to make a decision, but what other explanation was there? I knew the idea had been around for thousands of years, and certain speculations in contemporary physics seemed to allow for the possibility, at least. And that opening obviously led to somewhere.
    Moreover, whoever had drawn that red line on my blueprint had obviously wanted such an opening.
    Why? And why had it been so carefully closed up in the beginning? Had there been something over there they feared? Or an attempt to keep our two worlds separate?
    The Hopi Indians, I understood, believe this to be the Fourth World. The Third World, which they left to come into this through a “hole in the ground,” had been evil.
    What evil? Was it a thing? A being? Some tangible force? Or was it a state or condition? I knew too little of their beliefs to venture an opinion, but knew they had some affinity with what the Navajo called the Anasazi, the Ancient Ones.
    Did some monstrous thing lurk beyond that window? Had the kiva been filled in to keep it out?
    Chapter 5
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    Who drew the red line on my plans? Obviously, somebody on this side, somebody who wanted a way back.
    The taking of my pencil seemed more the act of a child, or someone desperately in need of a way to communicate.
    Was there not another opening? After all, how did the person who drew the red line get over here?
    But all this was mad! Mad! What I needed was somebody like Mike Raglan who was familiar with the literature on this sort of thing.
    Monday. Much has happened. I awakened the other morning to find my drafting pencil returned with the point worn down to where it could no longer be used.
    For a moment or two I was puzzled. Then it hit me: Suppose whoever took the pencil did not know how to sharpen one? On a hunch I sharpened the pencil, then stood it erect in the dime-store sharpener and left it, along with a couple of extra pencils.
    In the morning they were gone, and so was an old sweater, a cardigan. It had been hung over a camp chair nearby. For a moment I was irritated. Old as it was, I liked that cardigan. It was cashmere and warm.
    This morning, to my surprise, I found my old sweater returned, and beside it, folded neatly, was another sweater. This was entirely new, a dark brown across the shoulders bleeding to a lighter, then still another lighter shade.
    To my surprise the sweater fitted to perfection. Where the brand name had been in the collar of my sweater there was a sunflower worked in gold thread!
    Wednesday. Cleaned last of the earth from the kiva. Now I must study the paintings. I have deliberately avoided them until they could be examined in their entirety.
    Thursday. Awakened to find a sunflower on my desk! If I am haunted it is by gentle creatures, indeed!
    This afternoon, suddenly, there was Chief! He stood looking at me and only when I called his name did he approach me, but once he was close and got my smell in his nostrils he was excited as a puppy. Tucked behind his collar was a sunflower!
    To say that I was startled would understate the case, for Chief was a one-man dog to such a degree that nobody could touch him but me. If I was present to admonish him he would sometimes permit liberties from a vet, but only sometimes. Yet somebody had obviously placed that sunflower where it was.
    Nonetheless, I am uneasy. I am half-inclined to give up my project and return to the normal and