“How did I get here?”
“You won’t understand this easily, but I have the ability to travel through time. I haven’t used that ability in almost thirty years; the last time was when I rescued you from death and placed you on this beach. We’ve been waiting all these years to meet you.”
“I feel different,” she said as she noticed how much her figure had changed since her last night in the camp.
“You were very weak when we left. After I brought you here, I stopped by from time to time to nurse you back to health.”
“You mean I’ve been on this beach for thirty years?”
“Not at all. You’ve been quietly resting here for the last few weeks. But every day, I came here to make sure you had something to eat.”
Content with her answer, Jadzia’s mind raced back to the night she was about to die, and she thought of the other women, killed for no apparent reason. Only one question mattered to her. “Why me?”
Genesis sighed. “Perhaps even harder for you to believe is that you and I were once as close as sisters – in another life. You were my dearest friend, and I couldn’t wait to see you again.”
Jadzia was confused by her answers and then the disorientation of her surroundings set in. “Where am I?”
“You’re on a remote island in the South Pacific.” Genesis looked up and down the beach and breathed a sigh of deep contentment. “We come here every year.”
“Who were those men with you?”
“Would you like to meet them?” she asked.
Jadzia folded her arms to cover her breasts and drew her knees together. “Is there anything I can wear?”
Genesis smiled. “No, my dear, I’m afraid there isn’t. But don’t worry: my husband and son will think nothing of it.” She extended a hand which Jadzia promptly took.
She helped her to her feet and walked hand-in-hand with her friend back to the campsite to introduce her family. James and their son stood and smiled as Jadzia and Genesis approached.
The older man, James, reached out and shook Jadzia’s hand. She was still embarrassed by her nakedness and smiled sheepishly. “I’m so happy to finally meet you,” he said in Polish.
Jadzia nodded and said: “Thank you.”
“Jadzia?” Genesis said. “This is our son, Jacob.”
The young man inched closer and extended his hand, which was shaking ever so slightly. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said in very sloppy and broken Polish.
Genesis frowned. “I taught you better than that.”
“You didn’t tell me she was so beautiful, Mom!” he answered in English.
“That shouldn’t matter,” she said.
James and Jacob sat around the fire and warmed themselves by the flames as the sun started to set over the ocean. Genesis offered a place for Jadzia to sit before she cuddled next to James. Jadzia sat along the sand and said nothing, her thoughts racing.
“What is she thinking?” James whispered to his wife.
“I’m not going to tell you that!” she said. Then in French, a language their son did not know, she said: “But she did notice him.” James smiled.
“Would you like something to eat?” she said to Jadzia.
Jadzia took a piece of passion fruit and ate. Jacob sat across the fire from her and took a piece of passion fruit as well. Nervous and still self-conscious, Jadzia struggled with something to say. “So,” she began, “are there other people on the beach?”
Genesis and James exchanged a worried look and talked privately how best to answer. Jacob sat by and said nothing. Genesis inched closer to Jadzia and smiled. “A long time ago, there was a disaster that affected everyone in the world. My husband and I were the only ones who survived – and now our son with us.” She paused to gauge Jadzia’s reaction. Although her face was expressionless, Genesis waited a moment for the shock to set in.
Jadzia no longer needed to ask any questions; she now knew why Genesis rescued her from certain death. She looked up at Jacob, who sat quietly across the fire and smiled. She smiled back and ate the rest of her fruit.
“Would you like to walk along the beach?” Genesis asked. “We still have lots to talk about. And there are two more people I want you to meet.””
“Sure,” she said.
Genesis stood and took Jadzia by the hand. Over the dunes, beyond the jetty, Jadzia saw a man and woman walking hand-in-hand. As they approached and the sun’s rays reached across the ocean and touched their skin, Jadzia knew right away who they were: her parents – as naked as everyone else –walked towards her. She let go of Genesis’s hand and raced down the beach and into the arms of her waiting mother. Her father threw his arms around his wife and daughter as the family wept with joy.
“How did you survive?” Jadzia finally asked.
Her mother caught a glance from Genesis and answered: “We were rescued a few months ago. Genesis told us everything – and that we could see you today. We couldn’t wait another minute.”
Genesis approached and shook hands with Jadzia’s parents. “You’re timing is perfect. I’m sorry you had to wait so long to see her; I wanted to make sure she was healthy again.”
“I made the most of the time,” Jadzia’s father said as he patted his fattened stomach.
His wife laughed. “We both did.” She patted her slightly pregnant belly.
James and Jacob raced down the beach and greeted Jadzia’s parents. “It’s good to see you again,” James said. “Can you stay for dinner?”
“Of course,” Jadzia’s mother said, she still not letting go of her daughter.
The reunited family returned to the campfire and enjoyed their first family meal together in almost a century. Genesis and James regaled them with tales of their adventures and answered the myriad of questions Jadzia had.
Jacob, meanwhile, sat by quietly, still shy and intimidated by Jadzia’s beauty to speak up. Even her parents wondered to themselves what was wrong.
“Excuse us,” Genesis said to Jadzia and her parents. Then, in English, she said to Jacob: “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what to say,” he said.
James cleared his throat. “I think I can help with this.” He took Genesis by the hand and deftly picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder as he raced off for the water; Genesis giggled the whole way.
Jacob laughed at the sight of his parents playing and set his food aside. He wiped the sand from his legs and extended a hand and friendly smile to Jadzia. She took it, smiled back, and headed off down the distant shore with her future husband.
Genesis and James returned from their swim and embraced as they and Jadzia’s parents watched their children walk along the water, the first stirrings of love in their hearts.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Genesis asked. “I knew just the girl for him.” She reached up and tenderly kissed her husband.
“But what about their child?” he wondered.
Genesis leaned into his chest and whispered: “Jadzia had a friend in another life called Kamila. She’s already waiting to meet her future husband – twenty years from now.” She laughed.
As the sun’s final rays cast their light across the beach, the moon steadily rose over the top of the mountain, illuminating the beach below, where the Grant and Konik families rejoiced and embraced the peace and unity around them. After the fear that remained in Jadzia’s heart faded from memory, no one on earth had reason to be afraid ever again.
The Great Altruist Page 34