The Traveler

A Midnight Vault II Story

Photo by Ximin Lin on Unsplash.com Final image prepared by Shane Bzdok.

Imagine, if you will, the emptiness of a child separated by death from his father while still in the womb, never to experience that parent’s presence or love. That is about to change for Josh as he enters the Twilight Zone.

*****

Josh relaxed at a table filled with business associates, sipping wine after dinner, nursing a buzz he had received from a couple of bourbon and waters in the hotel lobby after the day-long sales meeting had ended. A salesperson with a record of mediocre performance, Josh detested these semi-annual district-wide events. They served as a reminder that he wasn’t cutting it and probably never would. The other representatives didn’t respect him, though they treated him cordially. He sat at the far end of the table, away from the district manager and his pets.

The restaurant perched atop the mountain that overlooked the desert and city below. Windowed-walls on three sides of the wood-paneled dining room provided a spectacular view. His party had parked at the base of the mountain, then witnessed a majestic summer sunset as they rode a tram to the summit.

It was near closing time, and they were the only ones left. The server had finished distributing squares of tres leches cake when a man passed by their table in the aisle that ran at right angles to it. Josh caught a glimpse of him. What he saw took him back to his childhood and a photo of his father, a father he never knew, standing tall on the deck of a ship, wearing a navy blue wool peacoat, a black turtleneck sweater, and a black knit watchman’s cap. The same apparel as the man who had walked past him. But it was the man’s facial features, the square jaw, deep-set eyes, heavy eyebrows, and bushy mustache, that touched Josh’s soul. His father had written on the photo: With love, The Traveler.

Washed overboard during a storm and presumed dead, his body had never been recovered. At the time of the accident, Josh still occupied his mother’s womb. As a child, he longed for his missing father to return. Now, the man from the photograph, The Traveler, had appeared.

Josh pushed his chair away from the table, stood up, turned in the direction the man had been walking, and watched him exit through the door at the end of the aisle. To no one in particular, he announced, “I have to go. I’ll be back.”

“Don’t be long,” his neighbor, Eddie, who had already devoured his cake, said. “Your dessert might not be here when you return.”

Eddie scavenged for everything—food, drink, office supplies, recognition, transportation, and customers outside of his assignment.

“You can have it, Eddie. Did you see the man who just walked by our table? He wore a peacoat and knit cap.

“Peacoat? What’s that?”

“So you didn’t see him?”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

Josh proceeded to the exit and pushed through the door. It opened onto a weather-worn wooden observation deck that surrounded the sides and front of the restaurant. The deck was empty except for an attractive, dark-haired woman dressed in casual attire, who stood to one side of the door smoking a cigarette. Josh approached her.

“Excuse me. The man in a blue wool peacoat and knit cap who just walked out the door, did you happen to notice where he went? He had a bushy mustache.”

The woman exhaled a cloud of smoke and answered, “No. I’ve been out here for a few minutes, and you are the first person to come out that door.”

“That’s strange.”

The woman giggled. “W-what’s strange about that?”

“He left the dining room through this door no more than two minutes ago.”

“I’m afraid not. I would have seen him.” The woman put the cigarette to her full lips, inhaled, and let the smoke drift out of her mouth. She turned to Josh with a concerned look on her face. “Did you lose someone?”

“You might say that. My father died at sea while my mother was pregnant with me. A storm washed him overboard, and his body was not recovered.”

“That’s terrible. So you never saw your father.”

“Only in photographs. A man who looked like him walked by my table and through this door.”

The woman pursed her lips and wrinkled her brow. “You think it was your father.”

Josh gave a slight nod of his head. “Maybe. I mean, he was lost at sea. He could have survived.”

The woman crushed her cigarette in the ashtray by the door and dropped it in the can. She offered Josh her hand. “Maggie.”

He clasped it and said, “Josh.”

“Well, Josh,” Maggie gave him a tired smile. “Let’s go find your father. Where do we start?”

“That’s nice of you, Maggie, but I have no idea.”

Josh noticed the back of a man wearing a knit cap and blue coat as he disappeared around the far corner of the deck. “Wait, The Traveler went round the corner behind you.”

“Who?”

“The Traveler. That’s what I call my father.”

Still holding hands, they hurried the length of the deck but did not see The Traveler when they turned the corner, only a lone man walking toward them.

They stopped the man and asked if he had seen someone in a knit cap and blue coat walking in the other direction. He said he hadn’t encountered anyone on the deck except them. They thanked him and hurried to the next corner, but The Traveler had vanished.

A quick check through the restaurant window revealed an empty dining room except for members of the staff, who busied themselves cleaning tables and vacuuming.

“What do we do now?” Maggie asked.

“You don’t have to do this. Isn’t someone waiting for you?”

“I met a girlfriend here for dinner. She already left.”

“I wonder where that goes?” Josh pointed to a stairway at the end of the deck.

“That leads down to a parking lot,” Maggie answered. “It’s where people park who drive up to the restaurant rather than ride the tram. My car is parked there. I’m afraid of trams, so I take the maintenance road up here.”

“Maybe he drove, too. Let’s go check it out.”

Josh scanned the parking lot as they hurried down the steps. Off to the left, a man in a coat and knit cap passed through the pool of light cast by a lone bulb.

“Maggie, it’s The Traveler. Over there.” He pointed toward the light pole. “Did you see him?”

“Where?”

“He walked by the light pole headed away from us.” Josh pointed. “Over there.”

“No, I didn’t.”

When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, they split up and scouted the parking lot and the handful of vehicles that remained in it, but did not find him.

“Where did he go? No cars left the lot.” Josh peered into the pine trees that grew among the boulders, his hands on his hips. “It’s like he’s leading me on some wild goose chase.”

Maggie touched his shoulder, and he turned towards her. She put her arms around his neck, gazed into his face, and sighed.

Even in the dim light, the radiance of her eyes captivated Josh.

“How did you get to the restaurant this evening?” Maggie asked.

“I rode with some co-workers.”

“Well, it’s too late for you to catch the last tram. You’re going to miss your ride. How about I drive you home? The maintenance road takes us down the other side of the mountain, then we’ll have to go around it to get back to town. Are you all right with that?”

Josh disengaged from Maggie and took a step back.

“That is very generous of you, Maggie.” He turned away, stared off into the distance, and slowly shook his head. “There’s no point in hanging around here. I have waited twenty-six years for this moment and—nothing.” Josh threw up his hands. “Hell, I have no idea what I’d have said to him if we had found him.”

“The words would have come to you. Don’t assume this experience has come to nothing. More will be revealed; give it time.”

“I guess I don’t have a choice. You should know that I’m staying at the Hyatt out at the airport.” Josh thumbed to his right. “Do you still want to drive me home?”

“No problem.”

They started down the mountain on the narrow two-lane road in Maggie’s Subaru Forester. Josh monitored the sides of the road for any sign of The Traveler, hoping to spot him walking along the shoulder. After a couple of miles, he gave up.

A few more minutes of silence passed between them before Maggie spoke up. “Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet over there.”

Josh stared out the windshield and answered, “I thought we’d come across The Traveler on this road for sure. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“No, I don’t think you are crazy, Josh.”

“Why didn’t anyone see him? You didn’t see him. Isn’t that weird?”

“You saw him. That is all that matters.”

“Now I’m not certain what I saw. Did I imagine it all? I had a little buzz from the alcohol I drank tonight.”

Josh looked at Maggie. She met his eyes, then turned her attention back to the road.

“You don’t think he was real, do you?” Josh said. “Well neither do I.”

“Was he real in three dimensional terms? No, but he was real, more real than you can understand, Josh.”

Josh shifted in his seat to face Maggie.

“I’m sorry, but what you say sounds like gibberish to me.”

“I can’t explain it to you,” Maggie replied, keeping her eyes on the road. “You’re not ready. Just accept that you experienced it, and it was real. More will be revealed, and you will have a deeper understanding.”

“Do you think he was The Traveler?”

“You said he looked like your father. Who am I to say he wasn’t?”

“Why, if The Traveler came to me, didn’t he acknowledge me?”

“I can’t answer that, but there was a reason for it.”

“A reason for coming or a reason for ignoring me or both?”

“They are all connected.”

“Why did you help me, Maggie? Why are you doing this?”

“Let’s just say I understand your situation, Josh. I can relate.”

They continued on in silence while resentment welled up in Josh. He felt his father, real or not, had betrayed Josh’s love for him that night.

They merged onto the three-lane bypass that would take them around the mountain and into the city. After a while, Maggie exited onto a frontage road and pulled into a brightly lighted truck stop.

“If it’s okay with you, I could use a cup of coffee,” Maggie said.

Josh shrugged his shoulders. “You’re driving.”

The big-screen televisions that encircled the dining area had a baseball game on. Truckers in ball caps and T-shirts sat at the counter. A few couples occupied the booths. Maggie chose a table for two.

“Feel like anything more than coffee?” Maggie asked after they settled in. “They have good pie here.”

Josh arched his eyebrows and grabbed a menu.

“Well, I did miss out on dessert this evening.”

“What was it?”

“Tres leches cake.”

“Yummy. They don’t have that here, but they have good pie.”

“Pecan?”

“How’d you guess?”

They chuckled. A waitress walked over to their table with her order pad and pen out and a grin on her face.

“Maggie, what are you doing here?”

“Hi, Blanca. How’d you get stuck with the late shift?”

“I slept with Don.” Blanca guffawed and slapped the pad against her thigh.

“No you didn’t.”

“You’re right. That’s why I’m working the late shift.”

Both women giggled at that.

“Actually, one of the new girls called in sick. What’ll it be?”

Maggie ordered first.

“I’ll have black coffee, strong, with a slice of apple pie.”

Blanca looked expectantly at Josh.

“How about you, young man?”

“That’s Josh,” Maggie said.

“Happy to meet you, Josh. What will it be?”

“Decaf coffee and a slice of pecan pie, please.”

“I’ll have those for you in a jiffy.” Blanca drifted off to one of the booths.

“You must come here a lot,” Josh said, taking a sip from his water glass. “They use your first name.”

“It’s not that. I worked here with Blanca when I was going to college.”

“Strong black coffee and cigarettes, Maggie? Are you planning on staying up all night?” Josh smirked.

“Hey, you’re not my mother.” Maggie feigned outrage before a mischievous smile lit her face. “I’m trying to quit—caffeinated coffee.”

Josh snickered.

A news bulletin interrupted the ballgame and caught his attention.

“That’s the parking lot for the tram.” Josh pointed at the big-screen television facing him.

This is Carlos Ramirez reporting from the Cielo Vista Mountain tram parking lot, where a tragic accident occurred earlier this evening when a cable snapped as the tram made its final journey of the evening from the Ojos de Dios restaurant to the parking lot below. The tram broke loose and fell one hundred and fifty feet, striking the side of the mountain. It tumbled another three hundred feet before coming to rest. The mountain rescue team is on the scene searching for survivors and recovering the bodies of the deceased with the aid of a helicopter. So far, they have found no survivors among the twenty-eight passengers on the tram.

This is a breaking story. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.

With mouth agape, Josh stared at Maggie, who appeared to be in shock.

“That’s why,” he whispered to himself. “You were right, Maggie,” he said. “There was a reason for The Traveler’s appearance tonight.”

Maggie studied the tabletop without acknowledging his remark.

“My friend, Maria, was on that tram. Your associates were on that tram.” Then, raising her moist eyes to Josh, Maggie added, “You would have been on that tram.”

*****

There is a fourth dimension to life, one beyond touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight—a spiritual dimension. Tonight, Josh experienced the power of that fourth dimension on his journey through the Twilight Zone.