Chapter 2: An Ordinary Day
"What are you doing in my garden?!?!"
Harmonia could not believe her luck. She had picked her furthest garden, and had gotten up earlier than ever before, rising before even the sun. It had been the biggest vegetable plantation she had grown that year. But as she looked around at the half eaten carrots, savagely torn cabbages, and one lonely tomato picked off to the side, the sad realization dawned upon her: the trip had been for nothing.
All of her hard work had been ruined, but it did not take her long to find the culprits who had stolen her due reward. Two boys stood as the responsible party. The first, fatter than even Willie, remained simply laying on his back annoyingly groaning. While the second, a skinny boy, was still busy tearing through a patch of Harmonia's tomatoes. Before she exploded with anger she noticed that both were wearing matching uniforms, but not just any uniforms, these were the dim military brownish-reds of the Corporations.
These two boys were Privateers, a group of children that volunteered for the Corporations before they turned sixteen. For their services, they were each promised a better place amongst the military ranks when it was their time to enlist. Their main job was to keep track of who turned sixteen and when. Even if they were wrong, which they often were, they would report their findings back to their superiors within the Corporations. But some had been corrupted by power, despite their youth, and took whatever they pleased. If anyone stood in their way, they would simply report them, or falsify their age, so the Corporations would come and simply take them away.
"Excuse me!" yelled Harmonia.
Neither moved from their spot.
She tried again, "Hey you! Excuse me!"
This time the fat boy had heard her as he struggled to lift his head to see above his large belly. A trail of drool, and stains of green coloured Silly Juice - or vomit for all Harmonia could tell - covered his cheeks. The boy could hardly keep his eyes open as he stared at her without so much as saying a word. Then, as if the weight of his head had been too much to bare, the fat boy simply fell back in his place and returned to staring at the sky.
Harmonia was in no mood for two meddling Privateers. So she tried yelling again as she marched towards them, "Excuse me! Why are you in my garden?"
This time the skinny boy had heard her as he frantically leaped up with wide eyes filled with surprise, "Who goes there? What do you want? This is our garden. You hear me! Get away!"
"No...actually...this is my garden and you've eaten all of my vegetables! What do you have to say for yourselves?"
The boy was already confused, a nearby open bottle of Silly Juice stood as the most likely culprit, "No way. How can this be your garden if we were here first?"
Harmonia could feel the anger rising up, just as magma waiting to burst out and shower a destructive cloud of furry over whoever was unfortunate enough to stand in its path. There was little she could do but bite her tongue to hold back the rising anger. With little left to do, she knew the last thing she had wanted was a debate with a foolish boy, yet the words came out all the same.
"It's my garden because I planted it. Do you see how that works? I traded scrap for seeds, I planted the seeds in the mountains, I watered the seeds, I nourished the seeds, then the seeds turned into vegetables. Now tell me, if I owned the seeds that became the vegetables, doesn't that mean I own the vegetables too?"
The skinny boy looked at his fat friend, who had clearly not heard a single word, before answering, "Sure...I guess? If you put it that way, it sure sounds like you'd own the vegetables if you owned the seeds."
An all too assured smile crept along her lips, "Then you have committed a crime! What a terrible thing to do for someone of your position. Two boys serving as Privateers for the Corporations, caught red handed stealing from a citizen of Sky. Imagine the report back at headquarters?"
The Skinny boy was seized by a fit of hysteria. He then began frantically spilling out any excuse that came to mind, "Um...um...it was Private Tubs! Yeah, that's it! I always tell him he has too big of an appetite, but you can't blame him. I mean, look at the size of that belly he has to fill. But yes, yes, it was Private Tubs who did most of the thieving."
Harmonia marched up to the fat boy and released her fury, kicking him in his giant gut, "What do you have to say for yourself? And you!" turning back towards the skinny boy, "I just saw you digging up my tomatoes."
"Na-ah. You're lying!"
"Then why are your fingers all red?"
"Because I was trying to tear them away from Private Tubs. I told him it was thievery, I swears I did, but he just has too big of a belly."
"Don't blame him, you've both been drinking Silly Juice. You hardly know what you did an hour ago, let alone the time it took you two to eat up my garden."
"Well I may have indulged...here and there...."
"Aha! That's it! I have my confession. Its time to report you back to the...."
Before Harmonia could finish her threat, Private Tubs raised his voice from upon his bed of dirt, "Law 567: no citizen shall hoard nor hold private stocks of food, cattle, or liquids, without consent from the Corporations. All goods must therefore be seized for reprocessing by a sanctioned Corporate Food Distribution Officer so that everything will be divided evenly amongst the citizens of Sky."
It took a moment for the surprise to fade. The fat boy was more than just a dumb rock. Harmonia knew she had to think fast, "Well, why do you think you are exempt from that law? If you two ate everything that was meant to go back to the population that still means its hoarding. Only now its all in your bellies."
"It is a good thing the law is meant for citizens, and it is especially satisfying to know we are not citizens," and with that, Private Tubs shut his eyes, and fell asleep.
The skinny boy only smiled, "There you go. You see. We're innocent!"
Harmonia could already feel the tears welling in the corner of her eyes. As she watched the silly boy pull apart her perfect tomatoes she knew there was nothing she could do without there being consequences. With defeat in her hand she turned away and walked back towards the path home.
A mechanical instinct kicked in as she began salvaging what few scraps remained on her way down. The reward for her long and arduous labours were nothing save two carrots and a half eaten head of cabbage. That would have to suffice alongside the potatoes from the day before. All she could do to persist in her hope was to keep telling herself there were other gardens, and that they were still safely hidden from thieves and the like. Besides that single hope, the journey home offered no comfort for the defeated young Harmonia
• • • •
The trail home took nearly half a day's worth of walking before she began recognizing the landscape. For some reason, the trip back felt much longer than the trip there. Maybe it had been the familiarity of passing the same place more than once in the same day, or the fact that her vented anger had transformed into a sadness that pressed a heavy unseen weight upon her shoulders. Whatever the reason, it was something she had to ignore and just keep walking.
There was still a ways to go, dinner to cook once she got home, and she would have to make sure there were still enough supplies left for the days to follow. It felt as if there was never enough time for doing anything, let alone doing it right. That reminded Harmonia of something silly her grandfather had always told her growing up: As age grows, so does time. One slows, while the other gains speed. So forever they spin, round and round, never able to catch up to one another.
There was no noise on her trip home, only the sound of the trees and the few leaves that still held tight to their branches. Each was dancing to their own unique song in the midday breeze. It was not until just outside of town that a much harsher song emerged from around the bend. Echoing across the surrounding mountains, its rough notes rose up only to fade away into the empty sky. Harmonia could not see who was singing, but by the sounds of the three voices that chanted in unison, and judging by the way her day was going, there could only be one choir for such an ugly tune.
"Ohhhhhh!
Who took the man's head while lying in bed!
Must have lost his mind, then fallen behind.
Drank himself to the grave, he did misbehave.
Living fast and free, none to stop you but thee,
Now that is the life for me!"
The Little Fools now came into sight, thankfully there were only three of them instead of their entire poor excuse of a gang. Skipping around the bend she found Butt Kicker, Willie, and the smallest one they simply called Smalls. Suddenly she realized that the two large carrots she had collected from her garden were sticking blatantly out of the side of her pack. The plan had been to avoid the town in hopes of evading such nonsense, yet it had somehow found its way to her instead.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mother Harmony," declared Butt Kicker somewhat more coherent than on most occasions. "Very clever of you to steal our potat'rs last time. You are lucky you live with your old grandpa or else we'd just come get the potat'rs ourselves. Right boys?"
"Yeah, you got it boss. You got it," snickered Smalls, who resembled more a rat than a boy at all.
"You mean my 'potatoes', the ones I grew and then picked with my bare hands. The one's that belong to me. A lot of people seem to be confused about that one today."
"Those potat'rs were bad anyways. They made my stomach hurt," sighed Butt Kicker rubbing his belly.
Harmonia could not control her annoyance, "That's because you ate it raw you silly boy! Most things you eat will take a toll on your stomach if you eat them unprepared."
"Well, well, as usual Mother Harmony has all the answers. Too bad there is stuff you don't know, like why the trees are white, or why the sky changes colours sometimes. Isn't that right boys?"
Willie simply stood by with a blank look across his face, Smalls was the only one to respond to their silly leader, "Ha, ha, I didn't even know the sky changed colours."
"Ugh! I can't believe I have to actually explain this to you. The sky changes colours because of different particles and chemicals in the atmosphere. Depending on where Helia is above our heads, the light hits different areas and then shines through with different colours."
"What's an 'at-moss-peer', is that a type of cloud?" asked Willie scratching his head.
"Really?" Harmonia shook her head. "The atmosphere is everything between down here and space. You really didn't know that?"
Butt Kicker was angry, "Shut up! Get out of here! I'm tired of you and your smart-fancy-words and...stuff."
Harmonia did not protest the invitation to pass. There was no part of her that felt sorry for the Little Fools. They were just like most of the other children who lived in Ralph's Castle, they did not want to think. Most enjoyed just giving in to their impulses even if they did not know what it was they were doing. Harmonia had witnessed children jumping from the top of different stacks of houses only to break their legs. Girls who tried to put on makeup the grown-ups had left behind, but they would just end up painting pictures across their face. There was little hope for them without a proper teacher. Every time she had tried helping the other children they had only thrown the lesson back in her face. Instead, each chose to play their senseless games, or preferred to drink Silly Juice all day long.
As she pondered on the dread of having to return to Ralph's Castle she had let the carrots slip her mind, that was when she heard Willie yell to the others, "Look, she's got carrots! Real carrots!"
"What?" Butt Kicker's eyes widened. "What have you got this time Harmony? Carrots? Where do you keep all of these little goodies...maybe you've got a secret garden?"
The words sent her into a panic as she felt her heart quickening within her chest. Her feet took flight without need for a reply. She had to get away before Butt Kicker thought things through any more than he already had. The other children had been oblivious, but in the few moments when he was sensible, Butt Kicker did nothing other than whisper rumours across town. That meant soon all of the children of Ralph's Castle would be begging Harmonia for food.
The Little Fools tried to follow her the best they could. Willie was the first to stop, making it no more than a few feet before collapsing on the path. Smalls and Butt Kicker had made it a little further, but soon they too keeled over barely managing to catch their breath. Before Harmonia rounded the bend and disappeared out of sight, she heard their last words echo through the chasms between the surrounding mountains.
"You better run Harmony, and enjoy your garden while you can! Just you wait! I will report this to the Privateers, soon all them Corporation peoples will know about it, and then you won't have anything! You'll be scraping for food just like the rest of us! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Just you wait Mother Harmony! Just you wait!"
It did not take long to reach the outskirts of Ralph's Castle, but she did not want a repeat of what had just happened with the Little Fools. She did her best to avoid the others, sticking to the outside of the jumbled stacks of houses that surrounded the market. Without so much as a glance from any of the others in town, she managed to slip by and reach the door of her home. She eagerly turned the door handle, trying to keep the carrots behind her just in case someone chanced to see. But Harmonia had not managed to keep her balance as she went tumbling inside.
From upon the floor she could only laugh at how miserably her day had taken shape, "Oh what a cruel joke someone is playing on me today."
She had half expected Grandpa George to hear her complaints and ask how things had gone, just as each day before. Yet to her dismay, there were no words save her own. Perhaps he was fast asleep, tucked away and far off in the folds of a dream all too elaborate for Harmonia's imaginations. But that was how little she truly knew.
"Oh..."moaned Grandpa George from upon the stone floor. "Harmony...."
Harmonia turned in shock immediately rushing to his aid, she could already feel fresh tears adding to those from earlier, "No, not today. No, no, no! Grandpa, are you alright? Please say you're okay!"
"It seems I've fallen...and I can't get up..." laughed Grandpa George before a splitting pain left him groaning.
"What are you doing on the floor? What happened?" Harmonia was hysterical.
"I..." before the words came out he began violently coughing, "...I fell out of bed. I don't know when it happened, I just...."
The fit came on as an uncontrollable force. Grandpa George could do nothing more than seize up into a ball and grip his chest from the reeling pain. Harmonia placed her hand on his arms, nearly recoiling as she felt them wildly shake. It felt as if they had been dipped in freezing water. Above all else, what had worried her was the blood that was smeared across his hand. The little girl inside of her was scared, no matter how strong she thought she had been. In that moment she remembered she was still a child.
"Why are you bleeding?" cried Harmonia between the tears. "Today has not been a good day and I really need you to be okay. Please?"
"Oh Harmonia..." were the only words he could forward before he began coughing once more.
She shook the dust from her mind, pressing the sadness back from the whirlwind of emotions that had consumed her. No matter how great the fear, she had to help her grandfather in any way she could. So Harmonia wrapped her arms under his and used all of her strength to bring him back up onto his bed. From there it was easier moving Grandpa George under the blankets where he would be warm. It was all she could do to stop the ceaseless shaking that had gripped his entire body.
The child in her still remembered when her grandfather had warmed a towel for her forehead whenever she was sick. Although Harmonia had no idea what was wrong, it was worth a shot with the state he was in. To make matters worse, there was no doctor in town that she could fetch, the Corporations had needed them most of all. It was up to her to break whatever sickness had gripped him.
The towel had seemed to have some effect, he instantly relaxed and did not waste time to speak, "My sweet child. You are too good to me. I'm afraid you are going to have to be strong for whatever comes next."
"What do you mean? Strong for what? Don't you start talking any nonsense about dying. You're still a strong young man. Don't you remember Timmy's grandma? She lived until ninety before she died, or something like that."
"Ha, ha, ninety...now that is a thought my darling," coughed Grandpa George. "I wouldn't even know what to do with myself in such a feeble state. Nonsense my dear, there is no reason to deny my mortality. And besides, the greatest adventure of all awaits me."
"No, no, no!" shouted Harmonia. "How can you say that? How can you just....give up? What about me! What am I supposed to do?"
"Be free my child," he whispered. "Follow your heart wherever it takes you. You have far too much curiosity to stay in a place like this. For you see, curiosity is a creature of its own sort, it has an appetite that appears insatiable. It tastes whatever it finds only to realize there is still more out there, until finally it wishes to taste it all. No my darling, soon enough your curiosity will have made itself too large to fit inside this small town."
It was all too much, too fast. Harmonia could hardly comprehend any of it. One moment she was thinking about what she would make with the carrots and cabbage she had brought home, and now, now she was faced with the hardest truth of all: Grandpa George was dying. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many emotions pressing forward at the same time. Waves of sadness crashed upon pleasant memories that broke upon dismay. Harmonia had no control as she broke down into tears.
"Don't cry child. Shhhh," he tenderly spoke as he stroked her hair. "Think about yourself now. Think about what it is that comes next in the book of your life. You cannot go to war. You have too soft a heart. If nothing else...you must leave."
"But where will I go?" cried Harmonia. "How will I get there? Ralph's Castle has been my home for most of my life."
"You know where you must go," declared Grandpa George.
There was hope behind his words, enough to raise his granddaughter up from her sulking, "What do you mean?"
Grandpa George took on the most serious demeanour Harmonia had ever seen cross his soft features, "The fourth world Harmony...Eidos...you must go to Eidos."
It had not been the clear cut answer she had expected, "What do you mean? Eidos was just a story, like all the rest Grandpa. There is no such place in real life."
"Nonsense. Quite the contrary in fact. Surely you do not think all of my stories are so hollow in substance. My darling child, I know for a fact that Eidos is a real place. I have seen it for myself..." the coughing consumed him as he struggled to finish his sentence.
"No, no, no, please don't Grandpa," Harmonia grabbed him by the hand as he rolled onto his side. "Tell me what I should do?"
"You still do not understand? After everything I have told you...if nothing else...you must remember there is more to this world than meets the eye," answered Grandpa George, struggling to hold back the pain. "You must look with more than the reach of your senses to find it, but Eidos is real Harmony, and is it ever beautiful."
"There is no way something like that is real. How could you have seen it if no one else has ever even heard of it?" asked Harmonia. But Grandpa George could not answer, the end was drawing near as she saw the blood, "No, no, no! Please no Grandpa...just...just lay down and save your stories for another day. We can get through this together!"
"Listen to me Harmonia," the words were rough and coarse. "No matter how much you disbelieve them...heed my words...." His arms were shaking as he dearly clung on to his granddaughter, "Eidos is real...you must remember the story of Athos to see... to see it for yourself...find your parents...and live in peace...."
Harmonia could feel the taste of salt on her lips as she further released the torrent of tears, "But how Grandpa? How can I reach somewhere I can't even see!"
"You'll need a ship...a good crew...a map to guide you...and above all else...hope Harmonia...have hope...and believe...."
With the final words Grandpa George's eyes finally shut from the heavy weight of his sickness. What strength he had used to keep his hands within the folds of her own now began to fade. It was not long before his hands tumbled out from her loving embrace only to lifelessly fall back onto the bed. The spark that had signalled the existence of life, and the undying spirit in his eyes, had faded. All that was left was a blankness that remained filled with nothing that could be called life.
There was no sound, nor sign of struggle. He merely closed his eyes and let his breathing come to a halt. Finally, he was left in solace to drift away towards whatever world awaited him next. For if anything else, Grandpa George knew that a place greater than any he had ever dreamed waited beyond the mortal horizon.
Harmonia could find no comfort in the peace of his passing. The last person in the world she had genuinely cared for was gone, and now, now she was truly alone. All that remained was to let the tears have their way with her and sit in silence to await the lashings of her sadness. She did not care what happened anymore. Harmonia just wanted her grandpa back.