Storytelling Week 6: Cross-Dimensioned

Cross-Dimensioned

(The Alamo in San Antonio. Source)

Once there was a business man returning home to Virginia from California on a business trip. While in flight from Los Angeles, a terrible storm brewed and the flight had to make an unscheduled landing in San Antonio, Texas to wait for the gruesome weather to subside. It was late when the plane landed and the businessman did not want to sleep in the airport for the night, so went out into the city to find a hotel.

The man came across a Holiday Inn not too far from the airport and went inside out of the storm to see if there was a vacancy for him. There was a lot of resistance from the guests of the inn to allow the man to stay, but an elderly woman took pity on him and said that there was a little room available down the hall for him to spend the night. She had just finished preparing a meal for a troop of soldiers that had returned from a battle and she would not be able to feed the business man. The man, as exhausted as he was, accepted the offer and followed the woman to his room, not worrying about his empty stomach just yet.

The night went on and the man's stomach grew louder and hungrier. He tried to sleep it off, but the hunger was too intense, the storm outside was still in full effect, and there was an abnormally large amount of ruckus going on out in the hotel lobby. This trifecta was what brought the man from his bed and to the door to peek out into the hallway.

Through the crack in the door, the man was able to see that the brightly lit lobby was packed with soldiers eating food and drinking wine and discussing the war efforts that they had just completed, none of which the man had heard of.

After a while of watching and listening to the men, there grew shouts from the soldiers that the general was coming. The business man thought this odd because generals don't usually visit directly with the infantry. He watched as a parade of uniformed men marched through the automatic doors with flags and lanterns and the soldiers grew silent. The lanterns stumped him for no one used those anymore, he assumed they were for traditional effect and let his eyes fall on the general who was sporting a very long beard. This the business man could not get past for facial hair was not allowed in the military these days. In fact, as he thought about this, he saw that many of the soldiers around the room had beards. His curiosity and bewilderment allowed him to open the door a little wider.

The general's guards were at attention at the door while the leader feasted with his men and conversed quietly with his officers. Celebratory singing and intoxicated, slurred songs reverberated across the marble floor. The business man grew slightly irritated at the blatant lack of respect the troop was having for the guests of the hotel, but it was him against the possible 100 soldiers present and he knew he'd lose that battle.

Upon the completion of his feasting, the general stood up and the room silenced immediately. He looked at his officers and told them to return to their rooms for some well deserved rest and that he himself was going to lie down a while they waited for further instructions on advancement from President Jackson. This name drop astounded the business man. Barack Obama was president...Jackson had been president almost 200 years ago.

This discovery made the man slip completely out of his room and follow discretely behind the general to his room down the hall. The general's guards neglected to close the door entirely which gave the business man the opportunity to gaze inside.

 By the light of just the lanterns, the man watched as the general's guards helped remove his head and place it on the empty bed before him. The arms and legs came next, then finally the torso was laid to rest in the middle of all the appendages. A guard turned and looked directly at the business man in the door and the lantern blew out.

Terrified to death, the man fell back into the wall and scurried back to his room where he slammed the door and locked it tight. The fear that overtook him made him suffer in shakes and sweat all night. At last he saw the streaks of light that signal daybreak and sat up. After the adjustment of his eyes to the light, he saw that he was in the middle of a park. No hotel, no people, just trees and grass.

This realization resulting in yet more panic, the man sprinted down a street to another hotel where he burst in and clamped onto the receptionist's desk. The woman standing there asked if he was alright and what brought him to the hotel so early in the morning. The business man told the woman of his experiences of the night and inquired into what sort of place he had encountered. The woman looked at the man with a knowing face and said, "Sir, this is San Antonio! The battles for Texas independence came to a point here. Many of the Texan ghosts reside here and come out to play at night. They got you good." And the man's face turned as white as the ghosts themselves.
   
Author's Note: This story is based off of the Chinese Fairy Tale Unit's story of The Night on the Battlefield. I love ghost stories and therefore loved this fairy tale! I decided to change the time period from when it was told in older China and also change the setting to Texas since that's my home land! Ghost stories happen in the past and the present, so it works really well in both time periods I believe. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bibliography: R. Wilhelm, Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, 1921.