Where The Birds Go When It Rains
by
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The firelight dueled with the darkness for control of the cavern in the base of the massive sycamore tree, as the group of men, women and children gathered around the bonfire. “The perfect setting,” Patrick mused. He glanced around at his audience and smirked playfully. “Welcome to you and your families." He waved his right hand toward the tree with a flamboyant flair. "I’d like to introduce you to the Master of Time Travel... the portal to unknown realms.”
Patrick’s heart raced from his passion of storytelling; in his veins flowed the blood of a long line of storytellers. He took a seat on an upended log with the ancient sycamore behind him and slightly to the right, in view of the group and archaeological team. He caught Ellen staring at him; she flashed a sultry gaze seizing his immediate attention. She smiled at his uninhibited, familiar reaction: widening eyes, tilted head, devilish grin… the wink of his left eye. She nodded once and tossed her hair with her hands, sending golden locks cascading across the front of her chest and down her back -- the coup de grace. She smiled knowing she commanded his full attention at an inopportune moment. Patrick rolled his eyes and feigned passing out.
“I’ll make you sick to your stomach,” she mocked, although Patrick couldn’t hear her.
“Well, we’re ready fearless leader,” came a quip from the gathering.
“Yeah,” said another. “Quit flirting with the help and get on with the story.”
The crowd burst into laughter, as the thirty-three men, women, and children took their places around the fire, in a circle, on logs and bales of straw.
Patrick waved them off. “I confess, but my face is red only because I’m sitting too close to the fire.”
“Yeah right!” And then, more laughter.
Patrick grinned at Ellen. He then turned with a solemn look at the tree, and faced the group again. He stared at the faithful followers, and with a slight quaver in his voice he asked, “How many of you know where the birds go when it rains?” He waited a moment. “As sure as you are that I’m in front of you tonight, the story I’m about to tell is equally true. I’ll venture to say your lives will be forever changed before those logs turn to ashes.”
He looked at Ellen, returned her smile, and slowly turned back to face the group.
“I was seventeen when I received the call that night from my grandfather, Carey Paul Oldenkamp, the man whose two thousand year-old grave we discovered on the hill today.” Patrick hesitated. His voice cracked when he began to speak again. “That was the last night I saw him alive.’
“I was working on my homework when the phone rang, and…”
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About the Book
PATRICK OLDENKAMP became an archaeologist for one reason and one reason only: to find his grandfather's two thousand year-old grave in the Majenica Indian burial ground on a hilltop north of Cambridge City, Indiana. The afternoon discovery of the skeleton wearing a pair of black plastic rimmed glasses confirms that CAREY OLDENKAMP succeeded in his attempt to go back in time. Standing in front of the hollow base of a massive sycamore, the time portal, and to the flicker of a bonfire, Patrick tells his archaeological team his grandfather's spiritual, romantic, time-travel tale of Where The Birds Go When It Rains.
Eleven years before the discovery: Carey Oldenkamp calculates he has just two hours before his death. The prospect thrills him. The east wind bears down on him as it returns to claim his soul. He has spent over sixty years believing the first journey was a dream of a grieving brother desperate for a sign from his deceased sister, but the contents of his wife's cherished wooden box prove otherwise. Carey is The Messenger who has failed to carry out his assignment to deliver proof of Christ's birth to the modern world... a messenger who has denounced the very existence of God! Fate gives him only two hours to deliver the divine meaning of the sacred circle Indian mounds, or the message will be lost for eternity, entering the grave with him.
This novel is based on the 1968 excavation of the Bertsch sacred circle mound near Cambridge City, Indiana. A new archaeological theory is introduced.
If you have ever lost a loved one, may you find comfort through the journey of Where The Birds Go When It Rains.
About the Author
Jamie Paul Wesseler's debut novel, Where The Birds Go When It Rains, is an epic tale of time-travel set in his beloved Whitewater River Valley of Cambridge City, Indiana. In 1968, at the age of ten, Jamie became the youngest member of an archaeological team from Earlham College to excavate a sacred circle Indian mound. In 1972, he discovered the Adena and Hopewell hilltop village of the "Majenica" tribe. He and his wife, Susan, purchased the site in 2001 and plan to reconstruct the ancient village. Jamie introduces an intriguing archaeological theory through the telling of his spiritual tale of romance. He plans to return to his cherished Goose Heaven Road surroundings, at Cambridge City, to pursue his archaeological work and to write additional novels, including a child and young adult adventure and fantasy series.