Aldersgate Closed

Thad was alone. It was dark. He was walking. On and on he walked. He could see dark clouds in the sky moving quickly across the face of the moon. It was cold. Thad held his cloak tightly around him. He was hurrying. To where he was not sure, but he felt he was being followed, or even pursued. He knew he had to get somewhere. He looked over his shoulder, and just as he did, he ran into something and fell backward. He looked up and there was a figure in a black robe. As he looked at the figure, the figure raised and arm pointing back in the direction Thad had been coming from. The moon spoke to Thad, "You cannot go this way, find a new way west."
At that moment Thad found himself waking up on the floor next to his candle. It had been a dream but it meant something.

"I've got to go west." Thad thought to himself. He packed up his candle, put on his cloak and went to find Anne.

"Anne, I'm going to try to find a way west. When I find one I'll come back for you. I won't be gone long."

Anne wasn't happy but Thad was clearly not taking "no" for an answer, so Thad set off down the road.

Before long he came to a fork in the road. To the left was a path with a sign saying "Aldersgate" and to the right was a path with a sign saying "Canterbury." Thad looked at this for a while with uncertainty. He was tempted by the road to Canterbury. but he distinctly remembered the angel saying he was to go to Aldersgate. He made his decision and took the left fork to Aldersgate.

No sooner had he decided to head up that path when a dark figure appeared on the road ahead of him. As he approached the figure raised a hand in a position unmistakably meaning "stop."

"Who are you? and why do you stand in my way?" asked Thad.
"I am called Reverend Cotton." said a voice emitting from the dark figure.
The voice continued "The road to Aldersgate is closed to you now."
"Why?" asked Thad.
"You have dwelt away from the shining city for too long. You are no longer welcome on the road to Aldersgate."

At this the figure disappeared and was replaced by massive thorn bushes. Thad decided to turn back and think things over back at the cottage. As he was getting close to home, he saw Anne running toward him in tears.

"What is the matter, Anne?" Thad asked.
"They came. Dark figures came out of the woods! They came into the house!"
"What?!? What dark figures?"
"They said they were from Aldersgate and that they owned the cottage and that we had to leave!"
"Damn them!" muttered Thad. "Come on Anne, we've got to go now."

They walked back up the path this time taking the right fork to Canterbury. At the end of the day they found a cave not too far off the path. It was no cottage but it was comfortable enough for now. They decided to stay in the cave until they could figure out what to do next. For one night anyway, Anne did not kiss Thad's neck.

Turn the Page.
Turn back a Page.
To Table of Contents
To Book Cover

© 2003 - Jonathan Gardner