Chapter 60
"The CIA believes Maggie and I are together but has no clue where we are," said Victor. "There's no connection to you and Laura. Yet."
Jackson leaned over the moss covered deck with moldy cheese in hand, calling for his favorite old seagull Charlie. He cast a gaze over one of Earth's idyllic Pacific Ocean settings. "Do you think they'll get close one day? Do you think Maggie will be found?"
"Yes, all thirteen will."
"Why do you say that Victor?"
"Because it's why they are here." Victor locked eyes with Jackson. "You just got back from Mexico after finding the first of twelve kids. Eventually you will find them all. And when they come together in one place, they will be caught, because that is what it will take for the planet to evolve. I know this is hard for you Jackson. You and Maggie finally find each other and she will leave again. I don't know the outcome. I don't know if they'll be set free or not. But I do know one thing. We will all be part of an event that will have an impact unlike any Earth has ever known."
"Ever?" asked Jackson.
"I speak only truth," said Victor.
"Does Maggie know this?"
"She was born knowing this. She came here on purpose and has always followed it. Everyone comes to the planet knowing their purpose. It's inside of every living creature and human, and soon they all will connect to it."
"I am glad we can speak openly," said Jackson. "We'll have to slowly let her mother get comfortable with everything. She struggles most of the time. She has yet to truly understand that just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
Victor stood across from Jackson, holding the gaze they had refused to abandon. "Many mystics are just ordinary folk you pass on the street. They often come in packages you would never suspect. Look carefully at the tiny girl sitting there. She has no intention of creating more chaos."
"But chaos will be part of the healing," said Maggie.
Jackson remembered how Diane and Great Grandmother spoke of a future when the world he knew would be gone, even though neither one prepared him for it. And he was comfortable with it.
Victor looked over to Maggie, silently asking her to withhold her words. "There are many events that lie in front of us. Maggie will connect with all twelve children by 2016. She will learn a great deal of subjects: don't be surprised if she masters all of them. You and I were given the opportunity to assist and guide their journey. I only know how grateful I am to witness it."
Victor walked back to the kitchen. "But right now, I'm on planet Earth and I'm hungry! It's time to eat."
Jackson walked over to the couch where Maggie and Annok were spooning. "You've been quiet since we got back home. What's up?"
Maggie fidgeted. "It's hard to assimilate sometimes. I find it difficult to bounce from ego to spirit. Being in body form on Earth is a challenging existence. I often go quiet to re-member my purpose."
Jackson reflected as Maggie's words struck a chord. "I think your mom is dealing with the same thing."
"Don't worry about Mom. She has great intuition and will trust and follow it."
"I know. I just feel for her, trying to make sense of her scientific mind while searching for something she knows can't be proven."
"But that is the beauty of her dilemma," said Maggie. "Eventually she will come to understand the things she cannot see and reason with, and she will have a conventional background to balance and change the omissions and failures of science. The planet will be desperate for such wisdom."
Victor could be heard slicing and dicing vegetables that would soon be the bed for numerous herbs and spices. Annok got up and sat next to him, begging for a floor casualty.
"Papa, you need to spend time with Great Grandmother."
"I was thinking we could go up north for a visit."
"No Papa, not us. Just you." Maggie watched Jackson's expressions as he toyed with the idea. "She can speak to you in ways you will understand."
"I'll call and see if she's available," said Jackson.
Victor stopped chopping. "She already knows. Just go."
The next morning Jackson jumped in the truck and waved to Victor and Maggie from the ferry dock. The air was dry and portentous, blowing in one window and out the other as he made his eight hour journey to the reserve. One of his cousins came running up as Jackson rolled in.
"Grandmother wants to speak to us. Everyone is saying there are signs of big changes around the planet." The young man was agitated and grabbed Jackson's bag and arm. "It is said that you know what is to happen. It is said that your daughter is responsible."
Jackson tore his arm from Jacob. "I'm not sure what Maggie has to do with anything."
"It is a little suspicious when you show up after many years with a young daughter," said Jacob. "No one knew Laura was pregnant. Did you think no one would question that?"
"I think we had better let Great Grandmother speak to this. Come on Jacob, let's go in. We both have questions that need answering."
"No Jackson, you need to speak to this." said Jacob.
Jackson was stunned to find everyone in the long house waiting impatiently for him. The room went silent when he walked up to greet Great Grandmother. He bent down, took her hand and held it gently as he acknowledged her, then stood up to address the crowd.
"My daughter suggests I spend time with Great Grandmother and my people." He looked around the room of faces, blank of expression, sitting stone cold in their chairs as they waited for something to make sense. "She is wise beyond her years. Her story is ready to be told."
"And what of her story?" shouted Jacob as he stood up defiantly.
"It is unique indeed," said Great Grandmother. "But it is not frightening nor should it weigh heavy on anyone here. The child has come to help us. Let Jackson speak."
He walked into the center of the crowd, and began to describe the events that led to the day he first saw Maggie. Jackson spoke of the white light and its purpose, and how he found Laura. There were many questions to answer and hearts to lighten. He had come to realize in all the years he had spoken to large crowds, never had he come across one so difficult to satisfy. They wanted to know what the future would look like, what would happen. When the questions turned to anger, Great Grandmother stood up for the first time in years.
"My grandson is good at talking about events. He excels at speaking for all of us, and of nature and the world we see every day, but he is not good at combat. Your questions carry anger, and that is fair, but Jackson has told you what you wanted to know. He cannot tell you what you need to know because no one has that story offered to them yet. Events have led us here, and foreshadowing will give us insight, but you are asking the wrong questions. I will speak to my grandson now, and we will meet here again in two hours."
No one in the room moved.
"We want to know about the others. Why are there thirteen?" asked Jacob.
"I would like to speak to my grandson. Alone." Great Grandmother's voice became stronger. The room vacated.
"I would like to sit down now," she said. "It's good to know I can still stand up on my own two feet when I need to."
Jackson took her hand and helped her into the large buffalo hide chair. He noticed how frail her hand was, yet her grip was solid. She eased into a comfortable position and smiled. Every line on her face was created from a life of fulfillment, and for the first time he saw Diane's eyes staring back at him.
"She speaks to me often," said Great Grandmother. "She is proud of you."
"I remember someone said to me just after she died, that one day I would be tired of grieving. It made me mad. Why would someone say that? But they were right. The anger and emptiness has been replaced with gratitude. I feel as though I now get to talk to her any time of the day and night. She is never gone."
"That sounds exactly like your mother." Great Grandmother smiled.
"How old are you Grandmother? No one really knows."
"I hardly know, except it is very old, and I think, soon, it will be three digits, if it isn't already. I was young when I first met a white person. We were isolated, living high up in the north. This lovely woman came to write about us. We did not understand what was so unusual about our lives, but apparently she did. She and my mother spent many days talking in sign language, but she learned enough to speak to us by the time she left before winter. We never saw the book she wrote but I've heard her name over the years. She died not long ago. I knew she would live a long life."
"I can only imagine the wisdom of the years that lives within you," said Jackson. "I can only hope to be similar as the years go by."
"I have seen a great deal over a hundred years. I have watched the explosion of the world population and industry and possessions, yet how slow were we to understand the implications? You do not need hope to achieve wisdom. You are already living an extraordinary life. One day someone will want to write your story. You'll see."
"I don't think my life is unusual at all," said Jackson.
"Let me recap it for you. You leave University early to start a million dollar jewelry business. You speak to thousands that follow you around the country. You meet a woman that has permeated your dreams, and you marry her. Events lead up to you both creating a child someone else gives birth to, and she's raised in what most would call an extreme form of child abuse, yet she has no scars. In fact, it served her. You both know intuitively she exists and eventually find her. She moves into your lives seamlessly. She has a great purpose of which none of you know the events of but can feel it's the largest that will ever be recorded in the history of mankind. And you don't see anything unusual?" Great Grandmother's eyes went large.
"Those are just events. They do not describe who I am," said Jackson.
"Indeed they don't. But one word comes to mind. Humble."
Jackson had never had anyone lay out his life in front of him. There is was, spread out like a thin layer of butter on hot bread. They sat in silence for a few minutes while he soaked the message. Then it hit him.
"You're right. You're always right. I feel as though I don't know where any of this is going sometimes. It feels like I'm in a book and someone is writing it chapter by chapter, only I don't have any say in it."
"Then I would consider that lucky," said Great Grandmother. "How many people have the luxury of living a life in the moment? I'm sure most would fall apart without the security of a job and routine, but you didn't have to break to renounce your supports. You willingly built your foundation, one brick at a time, instead of building a wall. I see Diane in there. Her wisdom shines in you."
"Maybe I don't know what normal is. Maybe I should find some normal."
"You will find a small piece of normal for a few years, but do not be fooled. It will change again. There is a destiny here to play out."
"Maggie keeps saying 2016 will be the year. For what?"
Great Grandmother shifted in her chair. "No one can know 'what' will happen. We can only feel the possibilities. Here's one key piece of knowledge." She signaled Jackson to move in closer. "There has never been a time on Earth where the amount of people was as large as it is today. Every civilization from the past has come and gone. Some have been highly advanced while others died trying. We are living the grand experiment, but keep in mind, no one has survived the advancement of technology and control. Physical bodies struggle to adapt to rapid changes in foods while our minds struggle with social cultures. Earth sits at a crossroad, begging for a little slack so wisdom can catch up to knowledge, but it's hard for her to get the right audience. So we become polarized, split into fragments of where we came from. We fight to be heard. We fight to be right. We fight for our religions, our water and futures. Something has to break or no one will survive, and we're so close to getting it right that it would be a shame to lose at this juncture."
"But what could be traumatic or distinct enough to shift an entire planet?" asked Jackson. There are events happening at this moment that forty years ago would have millions pouring onto streets, yet no one says a word anymore."
Great Grandmother looked at Jackson as if he already knew the answer. "Think bigger. Go beyond your boundaries. It is not about events. It's about changing your mind on how you perceive what is beyond the physical planet."
You could hear the wheels turning in Jackson's head as he stared at his grandmother. All the words Maggie and Victor had ever spoken were coming together.
"How is it that Victor and Maggie seem to know what you are thinking and doing?"
"You are asking me if I'm a four strand?"
"Yes."
"I have a deep faith in intuition, and it has never failed me."
"Promise me grandmother, that our words here today will not leave this room. Can you make sure the others know not to speak of any of this off the reservation? Great harm could come to us if the wrong people find out."
"You have my word Jackson." Great Grandmother watched him drive off the reserve. For the first time in many years, she realized the planet would come back to balance, only it would not look or feel like anything anyone could ever imagine.
THE END
April K. Reeves, Author. Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved. Visit us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/April-K-Reeves/390530011143987?fref=ts or our website: https://aprilkreevesauthor.wordpress.com/