Joanne’s Cabin – Part 11

“I hadn’t visited the lake until the summer after we were married. I’ve often teased your dad about this because I’m sure he worried it would’ve been a deal breaker if he had, knowing how much I hate bugs and small critters. I knew who he was though. He didn’t hide that from me. I was ready for nature and all that entailed because I wanted to be with him,” Liz’s mom explains flashing a weak smile.

“That very first summer I met Joanne. Your grandma took me picking blueberries while the men worked on the path behind the cabin. It was a nice day with enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes off us so I agreed to the hike. We were in the patch where you were picking with Kath and Allie. It’s always filled with berries because only your dad’s family will go the extra climb to get there. Your grandma was a quiet lady so we were picking in silence. Music drifted in on the wind and your grandma didn’t seem to notice. That was the first strange thing. The second was that it was my singing voice. I told your grandma I needed to stretch my legs and followed my voice up the cliff. It got louder and louder as I climbed. I got to one tough spot and was feeling along the top edge for something to anchor my weight on and a girl appeared and gave me her hand. I’m not sure why but I didn’t feel jarred. I took her hand and she helped pull me up.”

“Joanne?” Liz asks.

Her mom nods.

“We were immediate friends. I visited her often after that. I think your dad thought I was crazy because all of a sudden I took up hiking and would disappear daily for a walk alone in the woods. I couldn’t tell him where I was going. I was visiting a possible make-believe friend in some other world.”

“You went to her world?”

“Yes, but don’t get any ideas of trying to find her. She’s been gone for a long time and we are better for it.”

“What happened?”

“Are you sure you don’t think I’m nuts?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. First off, Joanne was my doppelganger. She had my voice and had very similar looks. Not exactly my twin but like the movie version of me.”

How could this be? Joanne looked like twelve year old Liz. Her mom would’ve been twenty-one when she met Joanne if it was the first summer she was married.

“What’s wrong, Liz?” her mom asks. She’s a bloodhound, always able to sniff out Liz’s secrets like she has some magical 6th sense. It’s amazing she doesn’t already know that Liz has met Joanne.

“Oh, nothing. Just trying to take in what you’re saying.”

“It’s a lot isn’t it?”

“No, it’s fine. I want to know. Go on.”

Her mom takes a sharp breath in.

“Were you hoping I’d say stop?” Liz asks with a smile.

“Am I that easy to read?” She flashes a grin at Liz. “Sometimes I think you are a mind-reader.”

Liz the mind-reader?

“Go on, mom.”

“Well then. Where was I?”

“You are still at the beginning.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You said she looked like you and you visited her often.”

“Okay. I spent most of the summer sneaking away visiting Joanne. She has a cabin in the woods but it’s usually hidden. I was the first one able to see it for a very long time. She realized pretty quickly that I was out of my element. I didn’t like sitting in the moss covered in bugs. She invited me into her cabin. That’s when I realized there was another world on the other side of her cabin. It was a middle place between worlds.”

Her mom pauses and her eyes search Liz’s.

“It’s fine, mom. You don’t have to stop every time you say something outrageous.” She takes her mom’s hands again. “I believe you.”

Her mom nods but her face tightens. Her eyes drop to her lap and Liz gives her hands a squeeze.

“Okay, Liz. Get ready for the nitty gritty. I started stepping through Joanne’s cabin and touring around the other world with her. It was pretty amazing. Right out of a fairytale or one of your fantasy books. I don’t want to encourage you with the fun times. I want to share why I ended our friendship because you need to know why you shouldn’t look for her cabin. Joanne started changing, just in little ways at first. She’d want to lengthen my stay and get jealous when I had to leave. She questioned my relationship with your dad and tried to put thoughts in my head that he wasn’t good for me. I’ve never had any self confidence issues so could see what she was doing but her world was so amazing that I couldn’t just walk away from her. By the end of summer she began taking me further and further into her world. I’d find it hard to get back in time so your dad wouldn’t worry. One day, I told her I couldn’t visit anymore because your dad was beginning to worry. She was very understanding and we decided that we’d have one more visit and then we’d have to just meet on our side of the cabin from now on. We had a great day in Joanne’s world. We were exploring these crystal caves underneath a waterfall. It was time to return to her cabin. I turned to tell Joanne and she was gone. She was not in the cave and I couldn’t find her.” Mom’s voice cracks. Her eyes lock on mine again and they are dark with fear. “She’d abandoned me in a world that she warned me was too dangerous to explore without her.”

“Oh, no. What did you do?”

Her mom drops her hands. “Right now, I need to pause and organize my thoughts.”

“Okay. Sure. Do you want me to make some tea?”

“Yes, please.”