The Golden Rules 35

Chapter 35 – The Return

A man in his mid forties who wore an incredibly ugly khaki jacket walked into the office and looked over reading glasses across the scene before him. Behind him was a rather confused Joschi who looked anything but happy. 
  "So this is the room of the abbot," asked the stranger, and a derogatory tone in his voice was not hard to hear. 
  "Y- yes." Stammered the boy, who apparently had trouble to stop his voice from trembling. 

Father Eberhard turned hastily to his desk lamp to bring back enough light to the room and stood up to face the unwanted visitor . 
  "Don't mind me! What gives you the right to simply barge in here?", thundered the abbot. 
The bespectacled man did not respond to the question, but only said coldly: 
  "I suppose you are the head of this...institution." 
  "Yes, that I am. And that's why I would like an explanation for your unsolicited commitment." Eberhard said. 
  "My name is Lohmeier. I am an agent of the building authorities, and I never announce my comings, so I am aware that you are probably quite surprised. 
But anyway: I'm here to inspect this... Temple. "he said, and now the derogatory tone could be heard clearly in his voice. 
  "I told your colleague a week ago that all buildings have been investigated a year ago. The report is available at your authority." ,confirmed Father Eberhard. 
  "And I will bring again the statement that the company that has made the inspection, does not meet quality requirements of the new Government. After all, you house c children in these walls, right? I do not think anyone has interest in the little ones get in danger due to faulty construction, don't you see it the same way? ", the official stated in a sharp voice.

Sophie did not quite understand what was going on. But she was pretty sure that this man did not bode well. The tone of the man seemed quite as if he blackmailed the abbot. 
And she did not like that at all. As far as she could tell, everyone here acted in her favor. She was only here for a few hours, but in this short time she had made to such great progress. She could talk  and Thomas had finally started to listen to her. 
It frustrated her that she could not do anything at the moment. Nervously she shifted in her chair and listened as the conversation went on. 

  "In one week, an expert will stop by. In the meantime, I order you to close the temple. Until the carrying capacity of the wooden roof beams is not yet clarified, you can not accommodate any children. Keep yourself and your... pets here on at your own risk. ",Mr. Lohmeier said coldly and looked plenty disgusted at Sophie. 
  "But ... but that is not possible. The parents of the children are dependent on the fact that their children can stay here during the week. And an orphan lives here. I can't just throw him out of here." Protested the abbot.


  "This is not my area of responsibility. You will have to find a way to solve this problem. Otherwise, you have to expect severe penalties. I take my leave now. I have other appointments. All you need to know about the case, is on this information sheet." ,the official said coolly, throwing a piece of paper on the desk and turned on his heel before he left the room stiffly. 

For a few seconds everyone was silent. Sophie was just forced to be. She wanted to know what was up now. What would happen to Joschi if he could not stay here? 
  "The community brings out the heavy artillery. The last time they were in power, they had been more restrained. Something must be making them nervous." Eberhard said with great concern in his voice. 
Joschi stood a little lost at the door and did not quite know what to say. 
  "What we do now?" The boy asked. 
  "Also I hate saying this: I think we have to bow to the conditions. If we defend ourselves now, they will intensify their harassment against us and right now we have nothing we can oppose them with." ,said the old man. 
Sophie was still confused. What was actually said here? What was this community that they talked aboutt? 
  "But we must not give in completely. They stop at nothing. After all, they are also responsible for making me lose my job. As long as they get involved in government, everything will be very difficult." Thomas said seriously.

Now she coughed twice as loud as she could, which worked, because fortunately all turned to her. She made a helpless face and hoped they would finally fill her in. 
  "Oh yes ... you know nothing about this... Let's see how I best explain it.Well.. In our country there are many different religions, but there is one that has a very large number of followers and also a very considerable asset. They call themselves 'The community of salvation`. Normally they do not represent a real danger, because their beliefs are not aggressive in any way. And usually they have no power over the law. In this country, state and religion are seperated . But a week before a new parliament and a new head of government was chosen to which the community of salvation, it is very close, and this gives it a lot of power. No one speaks officially, but since the change of power, members of other religions are systematically harassed. Many have already lost their jobs and now they probably want to bring down this temple. " 
The girl listened attentively, nodding from time to time, to show that she understood this. Then she looked at the ground, pondering. 
  
The temple was really in trouble, and as it seemed, Joschi would lose his home. In addition, Tom was now unemployed. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. How could she  expect, that they would have time to solve her problems while all this chaos was happening here? Lost in thought, she stared at the paper that the unfriendly official had left on the table. Of course, she could still not read the scripture, but there was something on the sheet, that drew the attention: a symbol in the letterhead. 
It was an octagon that was surrounded by a circle  and in the center was a squiggly character. She knew it! Just this symbol had been on all the cabinets and on the door that she could not open when she was in this strange transition between worlds. 
She quickly turned her gaze to Tom and then quickly pointed to the sign, as best as she could from her current position. 
Curious, he bent down to follow her pointing hand, and she had to pull herself together again to remain calm. It was still unpleasant to see how someone that huge moved close to you. 

- 

Although Tom had actually plenty of other problems, he had promised to help Sophie, so he responded without hesitation to her nervous gesture. He looked at the location on the paper on which she pointed. In spite of her obvious intelligence he did not suspect that she could read, he quickly realized that she was referring to the symbol. 
  "That one? This is the seal of the high priest of the community of salvation ... Well, that shows even more that the community is meddling in this case." He said. But then the little girl gestured very impatiently at the blue lamp on the ceiling. 
  "You want to say something, right?" 
Sophie nodded vigorously. 
  "Father can we turn on the lamp again?" 
  "I only had quickly turned it off from the outside, before the man from the authority came in ... I thought it would be safer." Joschi said then. 
  "This was a clever move of you, my boy ... Now maybe we should take care of  calling the parents of the children and to describe the situation. And for you we also find a solution Joschi. Let the two alone for now. "said the abbot, and led the boy outside, where he operated a hidden switch that could flare up the blue light again. 
When the door had closed, it burst out from Sophie: 
  "This character, I know it!" 
  "Well, would not be surprising, as it appears on posters and all sorts of things." Tom said a little dryly. 
  "No, no not there. But I just told how I got here, and that one door was locked." 
  "Yes? So? " 
  "This sign was burned in all the things I could not open. But it was missing on the old door there, and that led me straight into the hands of this catcher." 
The young man let sink in, what she had just said. If that was true, it was very likely that the community had a large share in the fate of Twimps here. 
  "And I'm sure that this guy had been waiting for me. As if he had known that I was appearing there .. And he took me immediately to this shop. Perhaps the other from my world experienced the same ... and if so ... " 
  "... Then the community of salvation makes sure that you all will be sold as pets ...", Tom continued the sentence. 
  "And maybe they've also set up certain rules, so you see us as such." She added.
Tom had to sit down now. 
  "This is not good, that's really not good." He stammered. 
  "What, what do you mean?" 
  "Think about it. If the responsibles for the golden rules are so powerful and now a government-sponsored organization ... then it's almost impossible for us to take action against them," he said bitterly. 
Sophie looked at him a little shocked at first, and probably wanted to say something. But then she suddenly hung her shoulders and turned her gaze. 
  "Yes ... maybe you're right. Now is almost certainly the worst time to align anything against them ... at the moment there are indeed more important things. We should rather help Father Eberhard, to preserve the temple." she said sadly, but tried a little smile. 
It was really not nice to see her that way. Now that he had talked with her, he knew how eagerly she wished to return home. And it was more than understandable for him. He would also feel horrible in a land of giants, without being able to talk at all. But he was also pleasantly surprised that she now put her own needs behind those of the temple. 
  "Hey, I did not say that we will not try anything, after all, I made a promise to you. And I'm not going to break it.. Maybe the rescue of the temple indeed a step in the direction that leads to your return. And who knows? Perhaps you speaking with Rinas little friend could help you as welll. "he tried to cheer her up. 
She said nothing at first, but gave him a grateful, sensible nod. 




Father Eberhard had spent the rest of the day to inform the parents of his novices about the fact that the temple would be closed for now. He was not in too much hope that they could defend themselves against the community of salvation. 
He had sought for years after the cause of the golden rules, but now that Sophie and Tom had found their very probable origin, the courage had left him. The community was a very powerful institution. Even if they had less influence on the government, its influence reached into almost all areas of Tuskland. For years they had repeatedly tried to suppress other religions and their places of worship. But only now they used their full powers. He could never understand this. 
The cult of the souls that has been practiced here in the temple, had never had very many followers. So the little cult was no competition at all. What plans did they have? And why do they run such an effort to conceal the true nature of the little souls? 
When the abbot had finished the last phone call, he decided to do some research. Now that he had new information, he would perhaps encounter useful things in the writings of the ancient temple. A little breathless, he rose from the chair by the telephone table in the hallway and went into the cellar under the main building. 

- 

The day was slowly but surely to a close and Sophie, Thomas and Joschi sat together in the common room of the residential tract. 
Joschi sipped a cup of hot cocoa and looked anything but happy. 
  "They can not kick me out of my home. I won't leave."  ,the boy said defiantly. 
  "I can understand you. The temple for me also was a place of refuge for a long time. But if you stay here, the father gets very big trouble. I hate to be blackmailed either, but for now we should play it safe . If we now go to the barricades, they may be suspicious and found out that we know about the origin of the golden rules. ", Thomas tried to appease him. 
Sophie was sitting on a nice soft pillow that was on a rather worn brown leather chair. She had a good look at the two giants, who were sitting opposite each other on two small sofas. 
  "Maybe I can sleep in the house of silence, until everything is in order. Then I can at least take good care that no one damages it." Joschi said, sipping on his cocoa with a serious look. 
  "That's totally out of the question. The house is not heated, and it is not intended as an emergency shelter. You're welcome to stay with me. My house is not far from here, so you'll have to make no long way to school." protested Thomas. 
  "Honestly? I can stay with you? I really don't want to be a burden ..." 
  "You won't be. The house is large enough. If you like, you can pack up your things and we're on our way. 
  "Thank you Thomas. Thank you." Joschi said excitedly, getting up to prepare his things. 

When the boy had left the room, Thomas turned to Sophie. 
  "If you want to, you can come too, of course." 
The girl looked away. That was all so fast. Even to this morning she had lived all on her own and had not done a bad job in it. If the rain wouldn't have come, she would have certainly made it much longer. But on the other hand, alone and without the help of the temple, she would have never gotten that far. And the conversation with Thomas had given her confidence that he would treat her a lot better in the future.. 
Obviously, he noticed concerns and added: 
  "Of course you would stay as a family member, not as a pet." 
After a sigh, she nodded in agreement. Remaining alone would not get her far and Joschi would also be around. Even if she knew the boy shortly, she suspected that he would protect her in case of an emergency. 
She would have expected that Thomas would now show a spirited response, but he stayed calm and said: 
  "Thank you for your trust Sophie. We will soon find out what the community is up to. And then we are likely to find a path that brings you back home." 
She smiled at him very gratefully. Finally she had the feeling that he was really serious . She still was not quite clear how much she wanted to confide in Thomas. If he would act just as respectful as now, she could imagine to trust him at last. But should it work out  as before, she would have to refer to someone else. All alone she would not move forward, but now she realized that there were many people that were willing to help. 
After a few minutes Joschi went back to them with a big backpack on his shoulder. 
  "I have informed father Eberhard. He looks  through some old documents for clues and will contact you as soon as he found out something." ,said the boy. 
  "Good, then we can get moving. All of this was enough excitement for one day already. Is it okay if I carry you, Sophie?" He asked and she nodded, very happy that he previously asked. Nevertheless, she was a bit nervous as his hands moved towards her. She had a little concern that he would act clumsy again and would touch her injured leg more then necessary . 
  "I'll be careful, I promise." He tried to calm her down and picked the girl  up very gently, without moving her leg much.  He carefully held his hands against his chest so she would not drop and almost unconsciously she sought support in the fabric of his sweater. 
  "It's not far away, just four minutes to walk.", He added quietly, nodding to Joschi that they were ready to go. The boy followed him and kept looking back to the temple a little worried. Sure, he was much concerned about his home. 

When they entered Thomas' housed, Sophie was surprised, in a positive way. On the sideboard in the living room was no sign of the plastic cage to see where she had to eke out her first days here. 
  "Joschi, I can unfortunately only offer you the sofa to sleep, but it is quite large and comfortable." He said to the boy who put his backback in a corner with an insecure look."And now I'll sho you your place to sleep, Sophie, and then we'll eat something.", He added, and carefully carried her to his bedroom. 
At first she had thought he would out her back in the hammock chair, but  she had been mistaken. Next to the large glass door to the garden was a folded blanket with a pillow and a soft cloth on it. Right next to it was an old acquaintance: the washing chamber with the toilet from her former cage. It was only when Thomas knelt carefully, she saw something that made her eyes light up: her backpack! She never would have believed that she would see it again once more. She wanted  to throw Thomas a grateful look, but something caught her eye first: The glass door was open. 
  "Maybe it sounds a little weird ... but I have all along hoped that you come back ... and I thought, I'll leave the door open for you." he said a bit embarrassed. 
Though she had never intended to return to him on her own, she found that it was a friendly gesture. Apparently he had really been hoping for her return ... Slowly, he blossomed into a very decent person. 
  "I hope it does not bother you to sleep here with me. But at the moment there are no more free rooms." He said, and she just waved. She was quite happy with her sleeping place. She could not fall down and was not imprisoned. So Sophie had little reason to complain. 
  "Good. Then you can have a little rest while Joschi and I prepare the food." He finally said, and placed her carefully on the pillow. 
"I'll pick you up when we're done." 
He left the room and let her alone. Sighing, she slumped a bit. Now she was back here, but circumstances had turned to herr advantage. Who would have thought that this would happen? 
She sank into the pillow and closed her eyes for a moment. Somehow it was now very warm, almost too warm. And she was very tired. Today, far too much had happened. Maybe she should sleep a little until it was dinner time. 
A few seconds later, she had dozed off.