Subj: THE BOX Part Four
Date: 5/19/00 7:42:31 AM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

Edith Collins rode in a covered carriage with her grand daughter Judith as they returned from the funereal services that had just been held for her companion and the former governess, Angela Stone. Edward, Quentin, and Evan had been in attendance as well as a local clergyman who read the rites. Laura Collins was still bedridden after her ordeal earlier in the week of her last birthing. Jamison was too young to be in attendance and was with a nurse who had been hired. Carl Collins was under the supervision of Virginia Semple. They had also been excused from attending the service.

Afterwards, Quentin and Evan had disappeared probably to the nearest pub, and Edward had gone on into town to attend to some family business at the cannery. Edith and Judith rode home together in silence from Eagle Hill Cemetary. Edith's thoughts were not of the moment. She could not face the loss of Angela Stone. Now she had no one in whom she could confide. She did not trust the children. The children. Her thoughts strayed to her own children. Her dead children.

Her eldest boy, Harrison, had run off to join the army and battle the Confederate soldiers against her wishes. He was presumed to be missing in action although his remains were never recovered for a proper burial. And there was her youngest son, Jonathan. He had taken off for parts unknown and had not been heard from since. It was not known whether he was living or dead. Edith felt sure he was dead. He had always been close to his mother, but he also longed for independence. If he could have contacted her he would have she felt sure. Then there was the middle son, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel had married Eleanor Simmons against her wishes. They were the late parents of her four current grand-children. Edith's mind strayed back to that fateful day in Philidelphia when she was at the train station to meet the ill-fated couple upon their return from Europe. The train pulled into the station as it had so many times before. All seemed well. The Collins family had a private car that was joined unto to the regular train. It was the next to last car in the linkage next to the caboose. Nothing had seemed to be the least wrong.

When suddenly, the private car was flung from the track! It crashed on it's side, the sound of glass shattering and metal twisting was horrible! Nathaniel and Eleanor were not the only casualities. The lone man in the caboose was killed as well, and there were other minor injuries sustained by those in the two cars ahead. The railroad authorities released the statement that the track had simply given way unexpectedly and that there would have been no way that it could have been forseen.

Edith remembered seeing the car thrown from the tracks. It put her in the mind of some large unseen hand flinging the vehicle as a child would a toy in the frustration of play. It did not make sense to her why the tracks would have given way at the exact moment that her family's car crossed them. She sadly looked out the window of the moving carriage and she watched the thin line of curling smoke as it lazily escaped the confines of the forest below. Thin line of curling smoke? What, her mind leapt!

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The man with black curly hair and a dark olive complexion gathered sticks for the campfire. He wore a golden earring and several necklaces and bracelets to adorn his colorful and loose fitting costume. The horses that were hitched to a nearby tree neighed a warning right as Judith Collins, with her driver in attendance, sprang from the forest!

"What are you doing on our private land?" she demanded angrily.

The man dropped his gathered twigs and dashed behing the safety of the flap of a nearby tent stucture. Almost immediately a woman's hand overly adorned with rings threw back the flap! Out stepped a woman who was as dark skinned as the man who had fled. Her hair was raven black, long and luxurious as it flowed about her shoulders and down her backside. Her outfit was as outlandish as his was colorful. But her manner was defiant as was emphasized by the dramatic swing of her skirts as she purposely strode forward and proclaimed, "The land is our MOTHER! She is owned by no one!" Her accent was heavy!

Judith was taken slightly aback! "Such impertinence! Who are you?"

The woman gave her a proud gaze back as she boldly stated, "I am Magda! Magda Rokosi!" With that she stepped forward three steps placing her hands firmly on her hips. She smiled menacingly as she rocked back on her heels and then forward on her toes. "And WHO are YOU!"

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.