Legacy of Ages: The Colony

Chapter 16

Widget opens his eyes beside the spring and stares at the clouds high in the sky above the trees. "Is there a whole new land above the clouds or is it just a dream?" What isn't a dream is the way he feels as he lays there. His body is stiff, and he can only move with a lot of effort. He manages to sit up and lean over to the spring, scooping up some of the water to drink and moisten his mouth and throat.

In time, he can stand and move stiffly away from the spring in the direction of his mother's cottage at the edge of the trees. He gets there as she is preparing the evening meal for them. She looks up. "Where have you been? You didn't come home last night."

"I was in a dream; the small eyes were coming to visit our land."

Wipit shakes her head and scoops out some supper for them from the big pot hanging over the fire and sits the bowls on the table. "Tell me all about it as we eat."

Widget gets half of his stew down before he stops and takes a breath, so he can tell his mother all about his dream by the spring. Wipit eats and listens to her son, soon getting lost in all the strange things he is talking about, and the noises she does not understand.

Widget has two full bowls of his mother's stew before stopping and pulling his stool over to the fire. Wipit follows him and they sit silently, watching the flames. Widget thinks about all he has learned from his dreams, wondering if it is real or not. He does not come to any conclusions, so he gets up and goes to his room for the night.

The next morning Widget is woken by a pounding on the door of their cottage. He gets up and enters the common room, just as his mother exits her room, trying to smooth her sleep ravaged clothes. "Who is it?" she calls out.

"Ed, from the fields. I am short a brown to pull weeds from the ground, and Wil from the general store said you have a boy that is good and strong."

Wipit opens the door and smiles at Ed. "Do you need some clothes mended instead?"

"No, I would love to, but I have a crop getting ripe and the weeds have to be pulled before they get too big," smiles Ed. "Although tomorrow afternoon would work for me."

"OK," responds Wipit, before closing the door on Ed.

Widget would laugh at his mother if it was not such an important and scary day for him. Ed re-knocks on the door, so Wipit turns back and opens it again. "Weren't you just here? Why did you come back?"

Ed smiles at her, as he shakes his head slightly. "Wipit you are the sweetest female I know, but I need to take your son with me to the fields."

"I thought that was tomorrow."

"No. I take Widget today, and come see you for some mending tomorrow."

Wipit looks to her son. "Go with him Widget, he is a gentle man."

Widget follows Ed out the door and down the road to the fields. He leads him around to the bunkhouse where all the Browns sleep, and gets him some bedding from the closet, before taking him to his bunk at the end of the long row on the right. "This will be your bunk, it is your responsibility to keep it clean and neat," informs Ed, as he throws the bedding down and heads for the door at the other end.

Widget knows he is supposed to follow him but remembers what his mother said to him about not being too smart, so he stands beside his bunk and reaches down to smooth out the bedding. Ed comes back and takes his arm. "You can do that later; first you have to work in the fields... what was your name again?"

"Widget, sir."

"OK, Widget, I will hand you over to old Dim. He will show you what to do," as he takes Widget to the edge of the field beside the bunkhouse. Dim is an old man that walks with a slight limp and looks Widget over closely.

Widget can sense Dim in his mind and nods to the old man when it is obvious that he can sense him also. "Well, this one will do good, look at the size of that chest, I bet he could lift both of us together."

"Well, just see that he does what he is supposed to do and be quick about it, we harvest this field after the break," snaps Ed, as he turns and walks away, heading for the main house.

Dim turns to Widget. "Did you have any breakfast, boy? I suspect that Ed pulled you from your mat before you had a chance to have any."

"No, sir, and yes, sir," replies Widget, almost too quickly.

Dim looks around to make sure they are alone. "You don't need to worry about me, son, but I would not be letting on that you are that smart around the Blue Eyes. They don't like us to be too smart, and I think you are one of the smartest I have seen in a long time; not since that Brown came through here looking for a special woman a number of cycles ago."

Widget sniffs the air, as Dim does the same. "Yes, breakfast. There should be something left in the cook house. Come on, lets go see."

Dim goes around the side of the bunkhouse to the cookhouse attached to the cliff side of the building. He enters and goes right to the pot on the hook over the now cold fire. "We're in luck my boy, there is still some left." He gets a bowl from the side counter and scoops some out for Widget. "Eat quick son, Ed will be watching to see if we are in the fields or not. He is a good man, but he has a job to do."

Widget gets a spoon from the table nearest him and digs right into the porridge. Dim keeps talking as he eats. "You have four days left before the break, then you will be able to go home for break day. The only condition is that you return on time the day after the break, or you spend your next break right here in the bunkhouse with the rest of us who have nowhere to go."

Widget scoops the last of the porridge from his bowl into his mouth and gets up from the table. Dim takes him to the tool shed and gets him the longest hoe available. "You are a tall one, unfortunately this is going to be hard on your back, because we don't have one long enough for you to use comfortably."

Widget turns to him. "My mother always said that my father wanted a fully developed son, and that my mother would be able to make one for him."

"Did he now, and who was your father, son?"

"I don't know, he left before I was born. Mother said he traveled a lot."

"Well, we will be your family now. We will look after you and do what needs to be done," smiles Dim.

Widget takes the hoe from him. "Thank you, Dim"

They leave the shed and walk to the fields, where Dim quickly shows Widget what to do and has him start down the rows of root plants that are the staple food for the people of the area.

He spends the next few days weeding the fields. The work is hot, and he spends most of his time thinking about his dreams and what they could mean. He knows that he is smarter now because of them but has no idea why or how it happened. Old Dim has everybody treating him fairly, almost going out of their way to help him at times.

The days pass by and the rows of root plants are even and clean of bristly weeds. Break day arrives, and it is time for him to head home again. He can leave just before dark the day before, so he runs from the bunkhouse to the cottage by the trees and is about to enter when he feels the tug on his mind from the spring. He turns to the trees thinking, "I will just go for a short time, then I will come back to see Mother again."

Widget gets to the spring just as darkness fills the clearing between the trees. He lays down and thinks of his friend Ela, and dreams.