Madeline
“I know it is here somewhere,” the librarian called out from the top of the wooden ladder. “No one has requested this book for as long as I have worked here. But it’s in our database, so I know it must be here somewhere. We are quite good at keeping meticulous records. Efficiency is key when you have this many books in a library before computers. Found it!”
The librarian retreated from the top of the ladder with care and grace. She then held out a blue hardcover book covered in dust and handed it to Dalton. Dalton’s blue eyes grew large, but I still was not sure what the big deal was.
I could read the words written on the front cover written in gold, “The Recipes For Everyday Things.”
Dalton thanked the librarian, dismissing her, and made his way to the nearest table. I followed him in curiosity. I knew this book was a big deal for him. I would not have come all the way to Rhode Island if it wasn’t. According to legend, and Dalton, this book contained the recipe for eternal life.
He cracked the spine to a page in the middle of the book, causing dust to cover the oak wood.
“Let’s see,” Dalton said, scanning the first page he landed on and then flipping to the next page. “This makes little sense.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, brushing a stray hair behind my ear.
“This is a book of what looks like poetry. I’m looking for recipes for an elixir,” said Dalton before reading out loud. “Stardust and beams. Whispers in the night in tranquil streams. Constellations with a silver spoon, slumber until dreams bloom.”
“Let me see that,” I said, reaching out for the book and Dalton slid it over to me.
“Where are the eggs? Where is the butter?” Dalton crossed his arms in front of himself.
The page that Dalton had read from had numbers next to each line that appeared to be counting the lines: 1, 2, 3.
I flipped to another page at random and it was clear as day. “Look, these numbers are measurements.” I read out loud, “Resilience. Faith’s gentle hold. Optimism, and a story unfolds. Strength of hearts that cope, Serve all inside a ring of rope. And the numbers by each line are reading 3, 2, 3, 1. It looks like the numbers are equal parts.”
“How do we find Faith’s gentle hold? And how do we find the recipe for eternal life? I don’t see a table of contents or an index” Dalton asked, taking the book back. He scanned the book, hoping to find the recipe for eternal life with sugar and vegetable oil.
“Are you sure we want to find a recipe for eternal life?” I asked. Living past everyone I loved and the long past the end of humanity sounded lonely.
“Its eternal life. Why wouldn’t we want to find that?” He said.
I had my doubts ever since Dalton first told me he had found the book at this library the day before. It was something his grandmother had told him. Ivery time he saw a library or a bookstore, he would poke his head inside to look for this book, just in case. He was on a business trip in Rhode Island and learned that one of the oldest libraries in the United States was in the same town. Dalton figured that if anyone had the book, this library would.
He had asked the librarian for the book by title, not giving it much thought, when she replied they had it and asked him if he wanted her to retrieve it. Not believing what he was hearing, he choked on his own response before replying, “I’ll be back.” And leaving the library as swiftly as he entered.
He called me immediately. Being his best friend for almost his entire twenty-six years of life, I had seen him go through so much. I was the only person on earth who knew about his secret search for the book.
When he called me I answered the phone like I always did when I saw his name on my caller id, “What do you want?”
“How fast can you get to Rhode Island?” He asked me on that phone call in a breathy voice.
“I can’t go to Rhode Island. I am at work. I have a tennis match in the morning. Why do you need me, anyway?”
“I found the book,” he said, taking in breaths as he spoke.
“I’ll be there,” I looked down at my Swatch, “in three hours.”
“The library will be closed in three hours,” he said.
“When does the library open tomorrow? I can be there first thing in the morning.”
And that brings us to sitting at this wood table, at this ancient library, the very next morning.
“What if the recipe works?”
“That is the point,” he said, eyebrows raised. He looked back down at the book and exclaimed, “this looks like the recipe. They titled this poem ‘The Elixir of Eternity.’” Then he read aloud. “In a chalice of starlight, begin this rite(3). Blend timeless dreams(2) and celestial light(1). Stir in memories of ages gone by(5). Let wisdom(4) and youth(2) harmoniously tie.
Add a dash of wonder(1), a sprinkle of grace(1). Mix in the courage(2) to divulge in time’s embrace. Infuse with the essence of love’s gentle kiss(5). Sip the elixir of eternity, eternal bliss.”
Dalton looked up at me with enormous eyes full of hope. Where was he going to get timeless dreams and celestial light? Where was he going to get any of the ingredients of the recipe? I knew that eternal life was a horrible idea but this recipe gave me hope he would never reach it, anyway. I had nothing to worry about. I tried to hide my doubt.
“Where are you going to get two parts of youth?” I elbowed Dalton in the side.
“Have you seen me,” Dalton joked walking toward the checkout desk near the enormous front doors of the library.
Dalton borrowed the book, signing up for a new library card and fibbing a bit on application with the pretense that he was visiting his grandmother.
I returned home, and he returned to the trip he was in Rhode Island for to begin with.
A week later, Dalton called me. I had not heard from Dalton but periodically through the week wondered what had become of the cryptic library book.
“I did it!” He exclaimed into the phone.
“You did what?” I asked, being doubtful he was referring to the poem.
“I did it! I have the ingredients for the elixir for eternal life,” he said.
I was speechless. “Where did you get courage and time’s embrace?”
“It took some research, but I found it all. The number of shops around the city that have these ingredients would surprise you. Unfortunately, almost no one carries them all, so I had to do some hunting. But after visiting a few dozen of them. I have all the ingredients I need.”
“You found them all?” I asked, raising my eyebrows along with my voice.
“Yes. Yes, anyway. Will you take the elixir with me?”
“I… I’ll be right over,” I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door. I didn’t know what I was planning to do, but drinking memories of ages gone by was not how I intended to spend my evening.
When I got to Dalton’s apartment he was shaking a cocktail mixer which I assumed contained the elixir.
He pulled out two martini glasses from the cupboard.
“Oh, none for me, thank you,” I said sitting on the kitchen island stool and plopping my oversized purse next to me and holding up the bottle that was closest to my reach.
“More for me, then! Down the hatch,” he tipped the mixer back and finished it in one gulp. He ran a shirtsleeve across his mouth and gave a wet burp.
“Four parts? I thought youth only had two parts,” I said with a chuckle putting the bottle for youth back on the island.
And that is when he dropped to the floor. I checked for a heartbeat but couldn’t find one.
“So, you see, Mr. Policeman, I didn’t poison my friend. He poisoned himself with youth,” I finished my story hoping that the policeman would believe me. But before I could show him the evidence, he hauled me away in handcuffs.
