The Mender

Clea Starts Talking

"A Mender?"

"You and I are Menders, Esri. And I'm your Guide for the beginning of your Mending Years. When I was a little older than you, I also began to have vivid dreams and shortly after, I met my Guide who stayed close to me for many years."

"I . . . I really don't get what you're saying. What's a Mender?"

"Esri, I know this will be hard for you to accept right away," Clea leaned forward, looked intently at Esri. "As Menders, we get sent back in time to fix things. Things that are hurting the rhythm of life."

Esri pulled back and sputtered, "What?? No. No. That's not possible."

"You are already going back in time. Those are not dreams you're having." Clea waited for Esri to take in what she was saying. "You're actually there, living in that time."

Esri shook her head. "No, Clea. That's too crazy. I don't believe that." Willa jumped on Esri's lap and settled in.

"I know. I felt the same when my Guide first told me what was happening. But, it's true. Over time you'll understand more and grow used to the idea." Clea spoke calmly.

"Stuff like this doesn't happen. But just say this is true, then explain to me how does it work?" Esri demanded. "How come I was picked to be a Mender? Who decided? And what's the deal with the cave-people? What am I supposed to be changing? And, anyway, if you change stuff back a long time ago, that messes up everything."

"I don't have answers for all of that. What I know is mostly from my Guide, and from my dreams. There is a life spirit that is the heartbeat of our planet and beyond. We see it in the great cycles of birth, growth, death, and regeneration that are all around us, though it's not so obvious to many these days. As humans evolved, an evil force came into being that threatens the steady rhythm that drives these cycles. As Menders, we've tried to control the evil. But it's getting more aggressive, like a cancer that we can't contain."

"Soooo, this life spirit decides who is a Mender and what they should do?"

"The life spirit is not an entity with a physical shape, and there's no specific god or goddess. It's more a feeling or pulse. My dreams told me that I needed to wait for you and find you."

"And how was I chosen? How were you chosen?"

"It's who we are from birth and who we become. Like everyone, you were born with basic human goodness. We all start with that but it needs to be fostered and stoked as we grow up until, hopefully, it sort of takes on a life of its own. Unfortunately, sometimes it gets smothered."

"I know a few of those types."

"And then each of us has something extra, our gift, what's special about us. And what you need to be a Mender is courage."

Esri stared at Clea. "Well, that counts me out. I'm an insecure mess most of the time."

"Ah but Esri, courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about knowing your fears and making your way through them. I'll bet you're someone who sort of plows ahead, right?"

"Blunders is more like it. Are there lots of Menders? Are you and I related?"

"We might be related far back in time. I don't know. The only Menders I've known are my Guide and he had a Guide, and me and now you. I don't know if there is more than one of us that does Mending at a time, or how far back the Mending goes. But I do know it goes back a long time. My Guide told me."

"Still, why me? I'm a pretty ordinary kid. In fact, I think I'm sort of sub-par in many ways." Willa stood up, circled around Esri's lap and lay back down, purring.

"You're anything but ordinary. You're still discovering who you are. What you've been doing in your dreams and how you've been balancing that with your life here shows that you're more than up to the task." Clea topped up Esri's tea.

"And what is my task? If you change something back in time, it would have a huge ripple effect on everything that happened since then. It would be chaos."

"The ripples don't start appearing until the present time you're living, and they start small."

"And my task? Why am I with cave-people? Why them and why that time?"

"None of that is clear to me yet, nor what it is you need to mend, which is why I want to keep going over your dreams in detail. Having you find the Huti stone in the museum was a clever way to give us a time marker. We need to learn whatever we can about what was happening then."

"I did a bunch of reading for my school project, but there isn't a lot that's known. It was so long ago and long before there were any written records."

"Where did you do research? What about the big reference library downtown? They have lots of rare resources in their stacks," asked Clea.

"No, I've never been there. I mainly read stuff on-line and from the school library and the library by the park. I like reading about that kind of stuff."

"Well then, you'll definitely love the reference library. Since it seems I can still leave my house, why don't we go there on Saturday and see what more we can find out about your cave-people? We might find something useful in the stacks. We'll bring something to keep Jilly occupied and quiet, hopefully - at least for a little while!" Clea smiled.

"Dad said he's not working on Saturday. He was planning on being with Jilly anyway, so she'll be with him. That sounds great, Clea. I'd love to learn more about cave-people and whatever helps explain my dreams. But what do you mean about leaving your house? I've noticed you don't go out much, do you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It's . . . ah, it's not a big issue - yet. We'll talk about it another day. Really, I'm fine. But now it is getting late. You don't want to be late picking up Jilly. "

"You know this all still seems pretty crazy and unbelievable," Esri stroked Willa.

"I know, it's a lot to take in, but we'll keep talking. It will make more sense over time."

"One thing I do know is that the dreams are not normal, not at all. They feel so so real. I could almost believe you that I'm actually back there living with Zura and Dagan and everyone at Flat Rocks. And the Huti stone. That was totally freaky. And the way I felt when I was doing the flint-knapping. I knew exactly what to do." Esri said. "Next time, I want to hear about what you went to mend and when, was it also with cave-people?"

"No, it wasn't with cave-people. Someday I'll tell you all about it. But right now we need to concentrate on your Mending and there is much to do and learn."