Page 84 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Ben, should I continue for a bit?’ Orla asks, and I notice Ben is looking a little weary. Adam is right. So much of what he’s saying isn’t quite adding up and I’m beginning to wonder again if he’s getting a little mixed up with his memories.
I’m also wondering just what Orla has to do with all this. But her steadying influence does create a sense of calm, when so much of what we’re hearing right now seems like utter nonsense.
Ben nods his agreement.
‘Our portal,’ Orla says, taking up the story again – ‘if we can go back to that – has always been guarded by someone who is close to this area. Someone who can be trusted with the secret. Before this was Clockmaker Court, there would have been a person who had a dwelling nearby, who would act as the protector. It was never something that anyone chose to do – they were the chosen ones. It’s not known exactly when the carvings on the two doorsyou now have in your possession appeared, but what was immediately clear was what they both meant. The symbol for the planet Mars, and the symbol for the planet Venus, either side of a tree. It was quickly interpreted that these two symbols meant man and woman, and this over time understandably evolved into the story of Adam and Eve, and the tree in the middle of them was said to be the tree of knowledge, often known as the tree of life in Celtic folklore. Once these rumours began, it was of course hard to stop them and, through the following generations, whoever was the keeper of the portal passed this information down to the next in succession and so on, until it became widely known that on a particular date a boy and a girl would be born, who were to be called Adam and Eve.’
I turn to Adam to get his reaction to this news.
He simply shakes his head disbelievingly. ‘Come on, Orla. Are you telling us that it’s been predicted for hundreds or maybe thousands of years that Eve and I would both be born on this particular date? I know you believe in all this –’ he waves his hands in the air – ‘spiritual, airy-fairy nonsense, but even for you this is taking it a bit far, isn’t it?’
‘I didn’t say I necessarily believed in the hearsay, I am simply telling you how this particular myth began. All myths and legends have to begin somewhere, with the smallest grains of truth. How they evolve usually depend on how much people believe in them.’
‘Orla, what was the date?’ I ask quietly. While Adam has been doing all the questioning for both of us, I’ve been thinking. ‘You said this boy and girl were to be born on a certain date?’
Orla turns to me. ‘That’s correct. On each side of the doors you found, hidden within the tree trunk are carved two dates in Roman numerals. They both read the twenty-ninth of February – which of course is an unusual date in itself. How much do you both know about leap days?’
‘They only come around every four years,’ I reply.
‘Exactly. Leap days are so much more than simply odd blips in our calendars,’ Orla says. ‘They serve a vital purpose in harmonising our earthly rhythms with vast celestial movements. They are a cosmic recalibration to ensure our calendars stay in perfect harmony with the cosmos.’
‘If you say so,’ Adam says, raising his eyebrows again.
‘But what were theexactdates?’ I ask again. ‘Including the years.’
Orla nods. ‘On the woman’s side, it’s twenty-ninth of February 1988 and on the man’s, twenty-ninth of February 1984. And in the middle of the trunk is carved the date twenty-ninth of February 2024. The day the woman and the man would first meet.’
‘And you’re saying that these dates are carved into the bark of the tree on the two doors we have?’ I ask, while both Adam and Barney can only stare wide-eyed at Orla as they register the significance of these three particular dates.
‘Yes, but not only the doors,’ Orla says. ‘Those dates were added much later to the tree carvings – by who, we don’t know. But the originals are carved into the trunk of the tree that stands in the centre of Clockmaker Court. This tree is where the wood for the two doors was originally sourced.’
Adam and I both look towards the window at the end of Adam’s lounge.
‘Why don’t the two of you go and take a look?’ Orla says. ‘You’ll find the carvings hidden around the back of the tree. The side that doesn’t face out towards the majority of the court. They’re very small, so they’re barely noticeable, but if you look hard, you’ll find them.’
‘Would you like to, Eve?’ Adam asks.
‘I suppose we should.’
Leaving the others in Adam’s flat, we both go downstairs in silence as we try to comprehend everything both Orla and Ben have told us so far.
The cool of the clear night air is just what I need right now as we emerge outside into Clockmaker Court, and I pause for a moment to take a few deep breaths.
‘Phew,’ Adam says, after he’s done the same. ‘That’s crazy what’s being said up there. I need a moment just to try to get my head around it all.’
‘Me too. What’s going on, Adam? None of it makes any sense, and yet so much of it does?’
‘I know, I feel exactly the same. My rational mind is just not believing any of it. But my gut is saying what they’re telling us is true.’
I look across the court towards the oak tree.
‘I don’t know why we’re looking, really,’ Adam says, taking my hand. ‘You know those carvings are going to be there, don’t you?’
‘Yes. But at least we’ll be able to see how old the carvings appear. Which, with everything else we’re being asked to believe right now, seems quite important.’
We walk across into the little garden at the centre of Clockmaker Court and then around to the back of the oak tree.
‘Here,’ I say, spotting the carvings after we’ve searched for a few moments.
