by Ian Newton
Chapter 19
Unexpected Gifts
Far away in the village, Kaya’s grandmother awoke from her dream and sat up. She flipped off her covers and literally jumped out of bed. Her heart was beating faster than it had in years and tears of joy were streaming down her face.
She walked with a hop in her step to her bedroom door, trying not to scream the whole time. As soon as she opened it, the message came out.
“She did it! She did it!! She did it!!!” Grandmother began shouting at the top of her lungs.
She started banging on doors, yelling, “She did it! She did it!” the whole time.
It was all she could do to not run out into the village and announce it to the world, but she knew she needed to tell the family first.
Excitement and panic exploded in the house as everyone came out of their bedrooms and quickly made their way downstairs.
Grandmother pushed the table in the middle of the great room over on its side and started dancing around the room. With her hands to her mouth, she skipped around the room singing, “She did it, she did it, our little Kaya did it. She did it, she did it, our little Kaya did it.”
The entire family quickly gathered around the room and watched the unprecedented display in astonishment. Kaya’s mother was at the bottom of the stairs looking on in disbelief when Grandmother danced over and took both of her hands. Skipping about the room and singing, she led Erynn around in a circle, but Erynn was more concerned about Grandmother than the song she was singing.
Stepping forward, Marco grabbed his mother by the shoulders. She let go of Erynn, but her feet didn’t stop dancing, and she had a half-crazy look on her tear stained face.
“Mother! What are you talking about? What’s happened?”
Grandmother stepped back and did a pirouette. Then she stepped forward again, grabbing Marco by the shoulders. She raised her head, looked directly into his eyes, and clapped her hands on either side of his face, saying, “She did it, Marco! She did it!”
Letting go of Marco’s face, she danced over to Erynn and grabbed her by the shoulders. They locked eyes as Erynn looked for signs of madness, but all she could see were tears of joy, and Grandmother said, “She did it, Erynn! Our little Wanderer did it!”
Grandmother did another lap around the room, and as she passed Marco, she held out her hand. When she came around again, Marco hesitantly reached out, and she latched on. The two started around the room and by the time they made a third lap Erynn had taken ahold of Marco’s hand, and they were all skipping around the room. Finally, Grandmother stopped, and they all turned to face each other in the center of the room as the rest of the family looked on in disbelief.
“She did it?” Marco asked.
“She did it!” Grandmother responded.
“She did it?” Erynn asked.
“She did it! It’s happening right this very second. She sent me the Light, and it wasn’t a dream.”
Grandmother raised her hands and touched both of their cheeks.
“It’s over. We all get to go home. The Wanderer’s Promise is fulfilled, and we’re all going home!”
The doubting looks on Marco and Erynn’s faces softened as they hugged Grandmother, and the whole family joined them as they sang, “She did it, she did it, our little Kaya did it!”
They all stopped singing when everything started to vibrate, and the objects around the room began to dance in place. The little clay figures on the mantel chattered and glided around in circles. The candleholders drifted sideways and the tinkling sound they made against the wood chimed in with the little figures dancing on the mantel. Even the furniture was wandering about on its own.
“Mother, what’s happening?!” Marco asked in surprise.
Grandmother smiled and in a giddy voice, she said, “It’s beginning.” Looking around the room, she said, “We’ve waited almost two thousand years for this, and now it is our precious Kaya who bears the gift.”
Looking over at her two grandsons, she said, “Go wake the village! Tell them the Promise is fulfilled. Everyone must witness what is about to happen, everyone must know it is time to go home!”
With a loud cheer of excitement, the entire family went running outside to see what they could see.
Kaya’s brothers started pounding on doors as the rest of the family stood out in front of the house they had lived in for hundreds of years. They all turned toward the mountain and looked up into a gust of wind that shouldn’t have been there.
The tiny sliver of a moon had already retreated below the horizon, and the family struggled to see the surge of water racing down the mountain. The ground below them vibrated, and they all held hands as they sank lower into the warm sand.
One of Grandmother’s great-grandchildren was being held and looking over his mother’s shoulder when, she said, “Look, Mama, stars.”
Everyone turned to look at the six white dots, when they heard, “Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” and in front of Kaya’s family stood three very surprised looking Wanderers and three very startled looking horses.