Children of the Source (13 page)

    “How’ d you know it’s a boy?”

    “Ever gotten a first impression and had it be right?”

    “Yeah.”

    “It’s like that.  Do it enough, you get good at it.”

    “Wizard stuff.”

    I smiled.  Something didn’t add up with this guy, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Okay, Grandpa.  Let’s go see your new grandson.”

    We reached the clinic and went in.
  A festive air ruled, mother and child together in bed, the boy fastened securely on a plump breast.

    “Hi, grandpa,” Elaine greeted her father, radiant.

    Ren smiled and bent to kiss her forehead.  The child opened an eye, and Ren backed up startled.  “Hey, there’s someone in there.”  Everyone laughed.

    “No. I mean a real fully aware person.
  Like a big person in a small body.”  He looked around for someone to confirm this.

    “Anyone you recognize?” Laith asked, coming into the room.

    “Talk about first impressions, I swear it was my brother Lance.” He waved a hand in disbelief.  “Ahh, that’s impossible,” he said.

    “Why?” Laith asked.

    “Reincarnation?” Ren said, surprised.  “That’s nonsense.” Then with artificial brightness he began, “You only go around once in life ... ”  The baby howled.

    “Look again,” Laith invited.

    Ren bent.  “Damn.  That runty cuss died in ninety-eight.  I don’t know.  Seen a dog behave exactly like another dog who died earlier.  People.  I don’t know.”  He rubbed a running nose.

    “Daddy?
  I did dream of Lance once or twice while I was pregnant.  Never did think much of it at the time.”

    “What was he doing?” Helen
asked.

    “Packing a suitcase in one dream. Next dream, a couple of weeks ago, he arrived at a new home.”

    “Good symbolism,”  Evan said, his ruddy features looked pleased.

    “Good symbolism?”  Ren looked from Evan to Laith.

    “He’s come home.  A new home,”  Evan said.

    “Well, maybe,” he began grudgingly, and the baby howled.
  Ren raised a hand defensively.  “Okay. Okay.  I’ll keep an open mind.”  The baby went contentedly back to the nipple.  The people laughed.

    “Where do we go from here?”
  Elaine asked her father.

    Laith spoke up.
  “Babies and new mothers require special attention.  Why don’t you stay here a while.  You’re welcome, and we can give you and the baby the care you need until you’re on your feet.”

    “Sure it won’t be an imposition?”
  Ren asked.

    “No problem,” I said.
  “We have extra places to live.  All we ask  ... ”

    “Is be good to yourself, each other, and the earth,”
  Ren finished genteelly.  Right then he reminded me of an enterprising frog.  I knew this guy somehow, but where?  His familiar essence awakened a warning within me.  Not someone to be trusted.  Dangerous, but in ways unknown.  It’s unsettling inviting a known problem into your home.  Someone you can’t trust, and someone who is willing to hurt other people to entertain and satisfy themselves.

    A little later outside, Helen pulled me aside.
  “You don’t trust Elaine and Ren.”

    “Elaine’s fine.
  Ren’s been on the loose an awful long time.  He doesn’t trust anyone, sees any organization or group of people as a threat to his freedom.  He’s used to doing what he wants when he wants without constraints of any kind.  Scary guy.”

    Helen stared at me.
  “You know this man.”

    “Yep.
  But I can’t place him.  He’s already looking for weapons and planning to leave.”

    “He’s welcome to leave any time,” she said.
  “He’s not a healthy man.”

    I nodded. “What surprised you so much about Laith and the baby?”

    “What I wanted to talk to you about,” she said, taking my knowledge in stride.  She did the same thing, and indeed had taught me how. “You didn’t see it?”

    “No.
  Just the surprise on your face.”

    “The child’s left leg was twisted almost completely around.
  Laith simply touched it and the leg remolded itself to a normal state.  Never seen that before.  What’s going on?”

    “Walk with me a moment,” I said.
  We strolled toward the bathhouse.

    Finally I said, “You’ve known Laith is very special, but haven’t known how to define it, half worried your suspicions are true, and this might ruin your future life together.”

    “True,” she said, the pain and worry barely hidden.

    “Your suspicions are accurate, but not your worries.”

    She stopped and looked at me. “The Messiah?”

    “No, not exactly,” I said and grinned.
  “May I tell you a story?”

    She laughed. “Okay.”

    “There are Beings, Entities if you like, who created the Earth.  This is a staggering idea.  The Earth is a living Entity in its own right.  Conscious and supremely aware of Itself.  But this you already know.  You often lead us in communicating with the Earth.  Laith is part of an ancient Being that helped create the Earth.  One that has devoted Its self to helping the Earth through its many eons and years.” 

    “And the Messiah idea?”

    “Simply that.  A powerful idea birthed in myth and hope.  Some people yearn for a Super Being, a benevolent God, that will take all their troubles away, right all wrongs, and make the world a paradise.  There are Super Beings capable of this, but they would never take your free will away, nor would they create a mindless heaven on Earth.  The Earth is built deliberately to create contrast, which in turn provides the extremes for learning.  It has nothing to do with our versions of justice, morality, or good and evil.  This, I’m afraid, would outrage our Mr. Hensley’s of the world.

    “Laith is part of an ancient Being, as are you, an Order of Beings, who act as Custodians
fo
r the Earth.  Notice I said for the Earth not
of
the Earth.  There is a very great difference.  They act in concert with the very heart and mind of the Earth Entity to help accomplish Its needs and goals.  The Earth has been host to a great many species, man being just one of them.  Does this help you?”  I took a deep breath.  “Now, ask yourself some questions.  Why do I feel I’ve known Laith forever?  Where does that place me in the scheme of things?  Why do I feel so connected to the Earth?”

    She stared at me.
  “Thank you, Jamie.  It’s making sense now.”

    “More will follow.
  It, like many things, comes with impeccable timing.”

    “Got to get back to Elaine and the baby.”
  I bowed.  She left.

    “You look like someone grabbed you by the unmentionables and won’t let go,”
   Greg Lopez  said, coming up to me.  Always one to get at the heart of things.  “‘Brooding darkly’, I read in a romance novel once.”      

    “Crap,”
  I said.

    He laughed.
  “I usually don’t have that effect on people.”

    “Not you, Greg.
  Just something is up and I can’t define it.”

    “Maybe you’re not supposed to, Jamie.”
  We walked up to the animal barns, pens, and corrals.  Always enjoyed the beasties.  Goats and mules.  Baldy was there, he looked at us, eyes wide and ears up.  I smiled.  I see them as equals - personalities in different bodies. 

    “Every moment is the luck of the draw.
  Got to trust the moment,” he said. “Oh, there’s the Boss.  Gotta go.”  He waved at Alice, his wife, and left.

    Laith met me as I walked up to the clinic.
  “The birthing went well.  We gave Elaine some Fennell tea to bring in her milk.  Fortunately the uterus tightened up so it won’t bleed.  Good in her run-down condition.  Tonight we’ll see about getting her to walk to the Dining Hall.  Do her good.”   He stopped.  “Got it figured  out?”

    “Nope.”

    “It will come to you one way or another.”  He grinned that impish grin of his.

    “That’s what I’m worried about.
  The
another
way.” 

    Later that evening Elaine walked to the
Dining Hall holding her baby.  Ren tagged along, plainly excited about the wee creature and his daughter.  He brushed his grey brown hair out of his eyes, and rubbed a rough hand over his new denim shirt.  “You’ve changed,” he told her.

    “I’m a mother now, Dad.”
  Elaine gave him a huge smile and cuddled her new baby.  Ren looked away, bland smile around darting eyes.  They ate a hearty meal, probably the best they’d had in years.  Our food is prepared with love and caring.  That makes it much more nutritious.  The same way we raise it, creating a fantastic abundance by communicating with the Earth, its many energies and those that support them. 

    Elaine stayed at the clinic that night with Helen, Laith and Evan.
  We left Ren at a guest house.  Mike Rosen stayed with him.  Always good to have Mike keeping an eye on things.  A no-nonsense man with a suspicious mind, his restless energy based itself on a near disaster that almost wiped us out when a band of jay hawkers infiltrated our community.  We turned the tide, but lost three people.  Most of the jay hawkers died.  Ten in house-to-house fighting, and the seven we captured Carson hung on his great scaffold at the fort.  Six others escaped to parts unknown.  Carson’s soldiers found three of these dead of wounds.  We played for keeps.  It’s the only way when defending our own.  We took no chances.

    Judith found me in the dark before our house on North Roberta.
  Her warm hands found my shoulders.  “This Ren  ... ”  I ran my hand through my hair, grabbing it by the roots.  “Something ... something terrible is going to happen.  It’s there, but not there.  The specifics, I mean.  I have to stop it, but I don’t know what to stop.  God Almighty, why am I blind?”  Someone close.  Someone close, part of my Being in a way.  The grief welled.  I felt my breath shake and I shuddered.

    Judith faced me.
  I could see her fine chiseled features in the moonlight.  “I understand,  but this is a fear energy which can cloud and destroy any chance of understanding even parts of what might happen.  You, of all people, can’t afford this.  You have to keep your energies clear so you can keep all your options open and prevent this disaster.  You can’t wallow in probability.”  She took a deep breath.  “Let’s go in and have some tea and cookies.  Get out of the probability business, and let your mind go into neutral.  There you have the opportunity to let information in.  Ask your helpers and guides to send you things.  Right now you’re blocking anything useful.”

    We did, but nothing came.
  During the night I dreamed repeatedly of a leaky hot water heater and trying to call someone to fix it, but the calls never got completed, always something happened to prevent the calls from going through.  I woke in the morning.  Judith said the dream reflected the frustration of how I felt.  We went to breakfast at the Dining Hall, and met Victoria who was headed to the animal barn with a girl friend.  She gave us a hug.  Ren nodded leaving  as we went in.  Elaine sat at a table with Helen and Laith and the baby.  Elaine gazed at the wee baby.  “Astonishing that something like this could grow in your body.”  The baby looked up at Elaine and coughed, mother’s milk on his lips       

    “Burp the lad,” Evan said.
  “Put him on your shoulder and ... ”

    Dick Clayton ripped open the Dining Hall door.
  “That new guy broke into the Arms Shack, and has one of the high-powered rifles.  Threatening to shoot if we don’t bring him Elaine, the baby, and some supplies.”

    I felt a strange calm take control of me, and raced after Dick.
  When I got there Ren was waving the rifle, shouting.  Then he saw me and stopped, pointing the rifle at me.  “Yeah, you’re the one.  Get me my daughter and some supplies.  We’re getting outta here.”

    “She can’t easily travel with the baby, Ren,”
  I said. 

    “You need some persuasion.”
  He turned quickly and fired.  A shocked scream pierced the air.  Victoria.

    I looked to Ren and then to Victoria and felt myself aware of focusing on both of them at the same time.
  I made the Sound Language split, making two separate streams of tonal complexes.  Ren shook, eyes rolling back in his head, and collapsed.  The rifle sagged, metal and wood twisting, falling to the ground.  Victoria lay, in deep shock, the rifle bullet had collapsed her left lung and nicked her heart.  My tonal complexes built a stable calming wall in her energy body while I used other tonal complexes to repair the damage.  I could see inside her body.  Everything lay plain, I knew what to do. 

   Victoria stood off to one side out of her body.
  I smiled reassuringly to her and sent sounds to stabilize her shocked spirit.  Then a larger entity surrounded her, wrapping Victoria in a calming energy.  I turned back to focus on my daughter’s body.  The tonal complexes literally altered her physical tissue, rearranging them to return to normal.  Victoria’s color went from pale white to normal pink.  Slowly she eased back into her body and opened her eyes, and smiled at me.  “Beloved soul,”  I said. “Blessed be.”  I thanked the Entity for its help.