Voynich Shift - Pars Duorum (COMPLETED)

Part II - Cornucaprae, 1:1, 2:14 - Missing The Point

"Junior, that service was absolutely beautiful," Claire said with a pleasant smile.

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Yes ma'am, Pastor Dean did a wonderful job. Very eloquent."

"That he was. I really felt the spirit moving the congregation," Claire said as she walked around the dinner table to pick up Arthur's completely clean plate. She paused for a moment to examine the dish. "Hold up now, boy, you nearly licked the flowers from my China. I swear, you really do need to get yourself a woman. Apparently you ain't eatin' right."

"Here, let me help with the dishes," the blushing Arthur said, looking up at the older woman wearing a faded yellow floral dress. He began to stand.

Claire placed a weathered hand on Arthur's shoulder to keep him in his seat. "No, sit your rear right down. You're our guest, young man. Now, I'm going to go in the kitchen to get you two some pie."

"Oh, wow! Thanks!"

"I'm not doin' it for you, Junior," Claire said with a slanted grin. "It's so I can go listen to my stories on the radio without bein' bothered by you menfolk. Now, talk on, I'll be right back."

Arthur laughed. "Thank you, Mrs. Westfield!" He turned his head toward Bernie as the older man began to speak.

"Well, did you make any heads or tails out of that thing-a-ma-bob I brought you?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, not really, Bernie. I mean, it does have these Roman numeral marks all around it like any regular timepiece and I did manage to repair the broken hands on it with some from an old clock. Although, the gold does add a nice touch to it, it still didn't do a whole lotta good."

"What do you mean?"

Arthur shrugged. "I don't think it's a watch."

"Sure looks like one," Bernie said as he sat forward with a raised eyebrow, fork in hand in anticipation of the pie's arrival. "Well, if it ain't a pocket watch, what do you think it is, then?"

Arthur mirrored the old man's actions and placed his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together, sans fork. He stared at Bernie intently as he spoke. "Honestly, I haven't the foggiest, Bernie, because it doesn't even have a winder. At first, I thought I had it figured out, because I did find a cover on the back and underneath was four metal rollers with numbers on them."

"Rollers, you say?"

"Yeah, like you roll them with your finger to set them in combination for some reason, you know, like a lock. They were set to 2079, if I remember right," Arthur said. "I spun them around thinking maybe they were the winders or somethin', but they didn't do anything so I put the cover back. Then, I noticed something even weirder right above it...there was this other thing. I couldn't see it at first because it was covered in dirt, but it's a round window with only eleven horoscope symbols that change when you touch the center. One's missing."

"Only eleven?"

"Yeah."

"Which one?"

Arthur scratched his head. "I can't remember exactly. I just noticed things were off when I was messin' around with it."

The two men sat back as Claire presented them each with a slice of apple pie.

"Thank you, darlin'," Bernie said with a smile before quickly returning his attention to Arthur. He looked down momentarily, stuck his fork in the pie and took a bite. "Horoscope symbols, huh? So, you thinkin' it might be some kind of voodoo thing, then, Junior?"

"Never thought of that," Arthur replied, lustfully looking down at the pie. He reached for his fork. "Maybe?"

Claire placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Voodoo? I walk away for two seconds and when I come back, you two are talkin' about black magic. I swear it's a good thing you all ain't drinkers, 'cause you men-folk come up with some nutty things to talk about when us women ain't around, dontcha?" she said and then removed the remaining dishes from the dining table. "Makes me wonder."