The Wind Rose Read Free

countless hours exploring weather systems, having animated debates on religious and mythical symbolism as they relate to world weather conditions, and revel in a passion they both share: music.
    But they don't just discuss the natural laws of music and how they parallel the natural laws of the Universe. David and Dr. Ramirez also jam a lot on Ramirez's triple bank of keyboards. With his new wireless hearing aid David can hear the higher frequencies of music, and the pulsing of the beat. And with a new computer program that he designed, he can actually see the notes and sound waves in living color on his computer screen.
    “This is when I miss being able to hear the most,” David confesses. “I so much want to hear all the music, the highs, the lows – all the subtleties.”
    “You hear
inner music
, David,” Dr. Ramirez tells him. “It's probably more sublime than anything the human ear can experience.” The miraculous invention of verbal texting allows David to read on a small monitor what Dr. Ramirez is saying as he speaks into his computer's mic.
    “Do you think that musical vibrations can create life?” David asks.
    Ramirez nods, used to such questions from David. “Create it, and destroy it.”
    “I remember you said that all life forms vibrate to a certain musical note. Even a blade of grass has its own frequency.”
    “Yes,” Dr. Ramirez replies. He begins to play Chopin's
Eb Nocturne
providing a meditative background to his monologue. “Everything that moves, lives and breathes has its own frequency, its unique musical tone. As you recall, it was the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras who established the relationship between numbers and all universal manifestations – the circling of the planets, the lunar cycle, the rhythm of the tides, the growth cycles of plant and animal life. His geometric formulas formed the basis for the seven- and twelve-note scales and tonic systems that are the foundation of the music of the Great Masters.”
    “Beethoven, Mozart, Bach…”
    “To name a few,” Dr. Ramirez says. “Pythagoras believed if these numerical formulas were used in the composition of music, the sound vibrations would resonate in harmony with universal forces and enhance life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He believed that music had divine properties. If its formulas were used unwisely or incorrectly, chaos would result in the universe.”
    “Chaos?” David ponders.
    “Chaos in the soul, in society, and in the forces of nature.”
    David is dying to ask Dr. Ramirez if he knows anything about the Wind Rose compass and its ability to cause catastrophic damage in the environment, but he dares not even mention it. He must never mention it to anyone, ever, as Bianca had made him promise.
    Nor does David want to reveal that the only reason he founded Beach Watch was in the hope that he would somehow be able to summon up the clipper ship Moon Singer with the Wind Rose, or miraculously find the Singer crystal washed up on the shore. Instead he keeps the conversation focused on the ecological conditions that affect Port Avalon.
    Later, when David leaves Dr. Ramirez's observatory studio, he does not see the message on the computer screen that pops ups again: “12 is 7 is 5 is 3.”

Four
    “Let me tell you, good people, and hear me, hear me. Our eternity with God is going to be awesome, so awesome I can't even describe it.” The Reverend Jedediah Holmsby is 45 minutes into his sermon, working up a sweat proselytizing on the imminent coming of Christ. “And it's going to happen soon.”
    The congregation of the Holy Converted Church of Port Avalon needs no convincing. Heads nod. Several people call out, “Amen!”
    Reverend Holmsby pulls a white linen handkerchief from the pocket of his dark blue suit and dabs his forehead. He waves his Bible in the air.
    “There's no need to call the psychic hot line, or cruise the web. God has revealed it, the end of the planet Earth,