Somewhere in Time

The magnifcant Obsession

If you find me not within you , you will never find me.
                                                                          For , I have been with you , from the beginning of me.    Rumi

 
            Richard was drawn back to the portrait, forgetting his growling stomach.

      Now he had a new hunger . The more he gazed at her face , the  more insatiable his appetite for her became.

      He knew she was no longer alive , but something kept  haunting him about her face.

           Her eyes . They seemed to look right into his soul.  And that smile, God,  it completely undid him.

             Richard did manage to eat a little and settled in his room for the evening.

        But try as he might , sleep was impossible.  Every time he closed his eyes her face appeared.  

          He tossed and flopped on the mattress , punching the pillows into a more comfortable  position.   Comfort was optional the way he felt at the moment.
            He switched on the bed side lamp , squinting in the light. He opened his antique watch to see the time.   Lord almighty , he's been  fussing until three in the morning!

                    Fed up with his insomnia, he knew instinctively where he really  wanted to be.

        He tip toed back downstairs and into the Hall of History.  As if in a daze he stared at Elise Mc Kenna.

            Maybe if he stared long enough , she'd begin talking to him.  He could almost hear her laugh .  He could imagine what her voice sounded like.  Something between the air under  angles wings and  tinkling crystal chandeliers in a soft breeze.

                 All to soon the morning came and Richard was faced with another issue.  It took him all of thirty seconds to make up his mind. He was staying. 

             He dashed downstairs and jumped the last three steps to where his car was parked in the loading zone.
    Arthur was just about to put the luggage into the trunk before Richard stoped him.

       "Hey, Arthur, listen, can you put my luggage back in my room?"

        "Ah, yes sir."  Arthur was hard wired to please everyone.

      "And can you tell me if there's a library near by?" 

    "Oh yes, there's one in town , right next to the church."

        Richard repeated the directions under his breath then jumped over the door and into the seat of his convertible.

      " Thanks a lot! See you around Arthur!"
***********

         With piles of books surrounding him , he felt like he was wasting his time. Books on the local theater were worthless.
      They didn't go back as far as nineteen twelve. Nor did they mention any actresses specifically .
             He was about to give up his fruitless search when he realized he was looking in the wrong place. He berated himself for being so ignorant.

He needed to look up actresses of the early Nineteen hundreds.

He searched again, his determination becoming even stronger.

              His search brought up a gold mine of  information. A thin book of  American actress of the early to mid  1900's . The volume hadn't been open for a very long time and it protested when Richard pried it open.

                  He traced his finger down the index of names : 

              Billie Burke
            Liane de Pougy
            Gilda Grey.........

    He quickly scanned further  down to the 'M's.

       Elise McKenna
      Gertie Millar

 
      His eyes finally fell on the name he'd been searching for. It had taken hours but in a matter of seconds he had found her.

           A two page biography of Elise McKenna was now before him. He sat back , rubbing his hand through his hair and down his face, then sat forward and  devoured the information about this elusive woman.

      There were pictures of her as a young girl , taken with a old dagerotype  camera. She was holding a posy of dried flowers , looking sweet and dainty.
       Another was when she had begun her acting career. She had her hair in a thick braid that snaked down her shoulders and into her lap. The lacey white blouse was just sheer enough to hint at a ample bosom. She had a melodramatic expression on her lovely face that Richard had a hard time pulling his eyes from.

       After about ten minutes just drinking in her photographs he read the text.

    " One of the most revered actresses on the American stage ......... For many years she was one of the theaters largest box office draws.
               Under the guidance of her manager William Facett  Robinson , she was the first to create a mystic in the public's eye.......

             Never to be seen in her later years , she withdrew from society. She lived the rest of her life in seclusion.'

            There had to be more!    It couldn't end here!
He had been at the library all day,  but just before closing he approached a librarian , hoping he could just get a little more information about her.
      "Hi, do you have any theater biographies or magazines that aren't on the racks?"   He asked her as politely as possible, even though he really wanted to shake her shoulders and beg on his knees.

    Looking at her wrist watch she sighed.

    "Yes, but there in the back and we are just about to close."

Richard flashed one of his disarming smiles and she relented under his grin.

     Ten minutes later Richard had gold and diamonds at his fingertips.

         Why had he not thought to ask for this before?

As he flipped magazine after magazine onto the table , quickly scanning the pages for her name, his pulse began to reverberate in his skull and his fingers to grow cold.
         Finally her name.

       He again flipped to the correct page and he felt his heart  contract and  squeeze as he stared incomprehensibly at the very same elderly woman who gave him his antique pocket watch all those years ago.
       Under the picture of the elderly woman dressed in an old Edwardian dress, there was a caption saying . 'Elise McKenna...... This was the last photograph taken of her.'

        He sat back and muttered 'Oh my God,' under his breath.
He couldn't believe it.  This wasn't making any sense!
How could this make any sense when he still had to find the missing piece to this crazy, nonsensical , whirlwind of an obsession he'd fallen into.
The librarian cautiously approached him and gently whispered that she had to lock the doors and leave.

"You can check out that magazine of you'd like?" She added , smiling at his apparent anxiety of leaving the magazine behind.

"Can I buy it?" He asked hopefully. She smiled indulgently at him . "That's ok , just keep it."