by Curtis, Gene
Laughter flowed from everywhere except for the first three students in line.
Slone said, “I can’t believe it. I knew you would figure out a way to weasel your way in front of me.”
“Slone, stop it. Can’t you see that he is just as surprised as we are?”
LeOmi leaned in towards Mark and whispered, “Congratulations.”
“I wandered how you’d feel.”
LeOmi shrugged, “I’m just glad it wasn’t Slone that tagged Tim.”
“Me too!”
Mrs. Shadowitz continued, “That puts Mark Young at a good two thousand points above any other student this year. By unanimous vote of the Council of Elders, he is the school champion. All accolades have already been presented. They will not be recalled, however, he will be acknowledged as the school champion.”
Mrs. Shadowitz clapped and motioned for the audience to stand, “Please stand as I present to you the Six Thousand, Four Hundred and Fiftieth Seventh Mountain Student Body.”
Mark and every student behind him raised their flags. As they approached the stands Mrs. Shadowitz shouted, “Salute.”
All the teachers, faculty and staff drew their swords and held them high as the procession passed by.
LeOmi saw her father and Jesse in the stands, just where she had left them. They were clapping and then Jesse whistled through his fingers and everyone around him covered their ears. He apologetically looked around and pointed towards LeOmi and started clapping again.
LeOmi smiled and waved. Well I’m not number one Henry, but I can live with that.
Slone had his sword drawn and held it over his head along with all the other members of his gang, whether in the procession or in the stands. It was amazing to see how many had joined his little group throughout the year.
Albert was at the end of the line where the students dismounted.
Mark and LeOmi greeted him and Slone said, “What are you doing here? Have you come to blow your horn again?”
“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind. H.G. Wells.”
“What?”
“Leave him alone Slone.” LeOmi jumped down off Fireball and stood next to Albert. Mark jumped down off The General and stood beside Albert too.
Slone gave a disgusted look, turned and rode off towards Ricky and Ralph and the rest of his followers.
Albert had cleaned-up for the day’s celebrations. “I just wanted to say goodbye and to make sure you knew that I will look after Adicus, Scout and Jym.”
“I knew you would Albert. Thank you.”
* * *
The coneys were more than willing to go anywhere other than being cooped up in the Nightingale Floors. They didn’t care that they had to share space in the book bag with bags of fruits and vegetables; they just hung their heads and half of their bodies over the side.
“One more stop guys.”
Mrs. Shadowitz had been surrounded by people all day and now that the Graduation Day was almost over, she had found a quiet spot in The Oasis that students could come to speak to her before summer vacation.
LeOmi had to stand in line, but it was short and everyone was quick.
“I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?”
“I don’t know if I will be returning next year, and I wanted to make sure and say goodbye.”
“LeOmi, I can’t imagine the Council turning down your enrollment for next year.”
“Great! But just in case, I wonder if it is okay if I leave the Journal and the Ruby Knife in the care of The Seventh Mountain?”
LeOmi took out a case from Aaron’s Grasp. The coneys circled and hid as best they could.
“Certainly. They will be in the museum when or if you are ready for them again.”
“Thank you.”
She stood and hugged LeOmi; she smoothed her hair and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Leo himself visited you during the summer.”
LeOmi looked a little leery.
“In a good way.” She sat back down and LeOmi moved on for the next student in line.
Bekka was waiting for her as she exited The Oasis.
“You ready to go home?”
She brought her book bag and the coneys in front and hugged them close, “Yep.”
* * *
Gunnison arrived not long after Bekka and LeOmi went into the house at the naval base in Virginia.
“Our scientists have found the location of the Ziggurat. The Tell has a whole community built on top of it.
If the Neo-Phylum find it, they will likely leave a big path of destruction trying to uncover it.”
LeOmi asked, “What do they want to do with it anyway?”
“We don’t know.”
“Maybe they don’t intend to uncover it.”
“All things will be revealed in their own time.”
Bekka, LeOmi and her dad all nodded their agreement.
Then Gunnison asked, “Did it bother you that it wasn’t announced that you were pre-chosen?”
“You mean the trophy at the assembly? Not at all.”
“Mr. Diefenderfer is the one who suggested to not make that known to the Magi community. It was because of the song he sang to you. Unlike Lydia Humphries’ song, which has been mostly revealed during the school year, Mr. Diefenderfer is much more-so far reaching. Don’t you agree?”
LeOmi nodded, but she seemed unsure.
Bekka flipped through her notebook. “Use the Signet as a plummet. Stretch it out upon the Line of Confusion. Desolation can be void and without form, and represent the Stones of Emptiness or if left untilled they lay waste.”
Bekka closed her notebook and said, “Has Mr. Diefenderfer had any additional insight into the song. What is the Desolation?”
“Once again, all things in their own time.” He turned to leave and then he stopped.
“By the way Miss Jones, do you plan to keep me busy again next year?”
“Is that another way of saying that she has been accepted for enrollment for her second year at The Seventh Mountain?”
“How insightful of you, Ms. McGraw.”
* * *
Her dad had built an entire wall of Nightingale Floors in her room. There were coney food stations, play areas, tunnels and secret passages and a large crated section on the bottom that had doors that could be opened to retrieve occasionally stubborn coneys. It was siesta time and LeOmi was keeping watch at the windowsill. It was still her favorite thinking place. In the past three years, the camellia bush had grown so much that it obstructed her view of the driveway and most of the street, if it could only cover the memories too.
Her dad stopped at the door.
She looked at him and said, “Why did she leave?”
He came into the room and sat on the old naval locker that had been a coney home.
“I think that your Mother tried to protect us, in her own way, but she was wrong in thinking that her way was the right way, the only way, and also by trying to do it all herself.”
“She failed didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“She failed by dying.”
Her dad said, “Yes, and with Ruby, but we can’t know the secret depths of her heart. Perhaps there was some other reason that we don’t know about.”
“She left us making me feel useless to her, and unloved.”
“Somebody famous once said ‘All that you can take with you is that which you have given away’.”
LeOmi nodded, “Grandmother and Hannah told me to remember and forgive.”
“Good advice, but sometimes it is easier to forgive others than yourself.”
“I know. I run everyone away, or I stay so far away that…I have to know if it was my fault.”
“Why? It wouldn’t make it any easier if it were my fault or Jesse’s fault or Ruby’s?”
“You’re right.”
More things to pile in that basket, Henry. Only you can decide
whether to close the basket or leave it open.
Her forehead wrinkled and she said, “The last of Lydia’s song said, ‘In the end, invasion is unavoidable. Success isn’t sure, in fact failure is likely. Time is running out’.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I think it has something to do with Mark Young.”
“The boy with the staff?”
She nodded, “When he took the number one spot for the school year, I realized that I am to follow him. I may not always like it, but I will be his friend and he will be mine. We will work together for a purpose. I must trust him.”
“You have learned a lot since that little girl throwing her hair into the wind.”
“The short time that I was with Ruby, she asked me ‘What was my heart’s desire?’ I told her that I wanted to be a family again. I didn’t know how much I had missed that until that day.”
“You have always had your family, as whole as it can be. Your mother always tried to make sure of that–more than we knew at the time. The parts make up the whole, the bad with the good. Don’t you want blue skies without storm clouds Omi?”
LeOmi smiled, her eyes shining brightly, and then she said, “Omi? No one has called me that since I was a small child.”
“Well, let’s make that a habit again, shall we?”