The Farmer
Thomas was a spritely young lad with enough strength and energy to quickly outmatch his father in life.
Due to his stable nature Tom was very settled. He met Molly, a beautiful local woman and agreed to take over the family farm so his folks could go on a long pilgrimage like they had always dreamed. He quickly proposed and married his sweetheart.
Tom kept the crops well for years without a hitch. Just as he was really beginning to think life was just one big cake walk the darkness came.
Molly who had just recently had her first child saw it first. She wanted to move, she felt they belonged elsewhere. Thomas had none of it and refused to leave his home.
She begged to find a new place to raise their child.
“I was born here and I’ve had such a fantastic life. This is a good place for our little Sam, we don’t know where we’ll end up or if we’ll ever make it somewhere as safe and as comfortable as here. This is what’s best for us Molly”
So they stayed.
One day Thomas was out in the fields that he noticed a problem. He was making his way inside when he noticed a lump of fluffy white mould on the ground. When he knelt to inspect it and realised it was one of his crops he felt an uneasy feeling creep into his gut.
Quickly word started up around the town that the disease that was affecting all the local crops was affecting as far north as Dublin and Galway, probably further.
It wasn’t long that the desperate feeling began to take hold, the feeling that you are in the centre of a very large ocean in a very small boat.
People began to leave, hoping to find somewhere better in their travels. Nothing green seemed to grow anymore, the land was all but baron.
Word travelled that it was better to head for the cities and coastlines looking for help. As the ability to stay in this ever grim town with any chance of survival diminished Tom went to Molly with a terribly heavy heart.
“Molly” He said softly “I can see now that you were right, we should have left. I’m so sorry my love, I’m responsible for this”
Molly gave her be sorrowed husband a warm hug. When she pulled away there were tears in her eyes “I haven’t told you everything” She fought to remain composed and clear “I saw our deaths long ago and I knew that there was nothing I could have done to change it. I’m so sorry my love. I know I shouldn’t have kept this side of myself from you. I can offer one small comfort…” She added slowly as she tried to gauge her husbands reaction “…I can promise you that even though this situation seems to be the end, we will make it through okay”
There was silence as she finished her sentence. Thomas was frozen solid as he stared at this woman who he had lived with for so long. ‘What in gods name is going on?’ He thought ‘She saw our deaths…?’
All of the pent of trauma inflicted upon Thomas by the iron fist of his parents religion surfaced with a vengeance and he was bombarded by searing twisting images of dark demons and witches wielding power mortals could only dream of.
“Speak to me Tom, please” Molly whispered.
Tom took a rigid step back his eyes suddenly shrouded in suspicion and fear he did his best to hide. He turned and left the room.
For days all Tom could do was shake with anger. He had blamed himself for the passing of their starving son but now he was confronted with this darkness. A punishment surely, since he had dared to think life had nothing that he couldn’t handle. He was so angry, so scared but still he could not bring himself to leave the place he once loved and called home. If he did he would have nothing left.
There was little to no communication between him and his wife after that. Tom couldn’t even bare to look her in the eyes anymore.
With each passing day he would look out upon his once lush and life giving land, and with each baron day his small heart would shrink a little more.
The days were becoming so painfully long and sluggish mixed in with the biting cold whose teethmarks would leave one numb and shaking.
Tom slowly opened his eyes one grey afternoon and immediately he knew this was the day, he could feel the difference in the air. Death was fast approaching.
It was like breathing in a large echoing underwater cavern despite him lying in his bedroom. He moved his head to the side to see the woman he once believed was his sweet Molly.
She lay on the couch on the other side of the room almost completely lifeless except for her clutching onto what was once her sons favourite blanket.
With painfully slow movements and a tremendous effort Tom lifted himself to sitting. He slowly got onto his feet and shuffled over to the filthy window squinting to see out. Reaching up to turn the latch Tom opened the window, letting a blast of freezing air to swirl into the room. The air didn’t bother him as he leaned on the window cill and took a deep breath. He took a quiet moment to prepare to climb out and end this sad life once and for all. He ran his eyes over the landscape offering a final goodbye to his long lasting love.
As he looked his eyes picked out a tiny almost neon green dot on the floor. Frowning he leaned forward trying to get a better view to see what it was. His body seemed almost to gasp of its own volition as he realised what it was, a little budding plant shoot poking out of the dirt.
It was so vibrantly green it was almost painful. He peered closer wondering why? Or how?
Just then he noticed a crack of sunlight split through the impenetrable grey sky and land directly upon the plant bud, as if some higher force was smiling and urging the little life to survive.
Thomas felt his heart beating for the first time in ages, he hadn’t seen sunlight in so long and it was soo beautiful.
He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to go to the plant bud. Of course in his condition that seemed like a daunting task. Also there was a feeling coming over him that there wasn’t much time, death was so close now he could feel its spacious coldness in his lungs.
In a hurry he pushed his old form from the window ledge and he turned.
As he did the demon shaped like Molly opened her eyes and for the first time since she had revealed her dark secret they looked at each other. Tom immediately felt cold again like what little energy he had she had drained it. The beauty of the flower remained like a tiny voice urging him onward. He glared at the demon with determination to show her that he would not stop until he was actually dead. At least that’s what he had intended to convey with his look, however for some reason he just found himself frowning. He looked into those eyes but was somewhat surprised when there were no floods of black magic or terror coming to meet him.
Suddenly an inner turmoil rose in him ‘What if he’d been wrong. Or perhaps this was just another one of her sadistic tricks’.
Tom let out a long breath he’d been holding tense and made up his mind. Wether is was dark magic covering her true nature or not he knew he could not meet death without having tried to save this soul.
“Molly…” His old voice croaked, breaking the age old silence “…there’s a small green bud in a ray of sunshine outside. Come and see it, it may be the last beautiful thing we will ever have the privilege to witness”
“I can’t move” She whispered back as her eyes flashed many different emotions at once, he own stiff hatred and anger mixed with sadness and pain all giving way to a guarded curiosity.
Tom grunted with effort as he made his way across the room to her “I can help” He offered out a hand.
She just lay there, staring at him for several agonising minutes. Tom could feel his time on earth like a backpack full of sand slipping quickly out of a slit near the bottom. He wanted to leave her if she was going to be indecisive but once again he knew he needed to do his best to help if these really were his final moments, he would never again get the chance.
“Alight then” The small voice sounded as she nodded and ever so slowly began to shift and crack into movement. As fast as he could Tom reached down and grasped her hands. She had to drop her sons blanket. Toms mind had been jumbled and messy recently, a mind atrophying that had a hard time thinking straight. However right now in this moment, he felt like a live electric wire with full charge and completely clear. He pulled Molly to her feet extracting many grunts and gasps of wheezing air form both of them. With teeth gritting slowness they headed for the door.
Tom noticed curiously that the colours in his vision seemed to pulse with a long forgotten brightness and sharpness.
The hallway outside the room was long and dark and the stairway and the end steep and treacherous. They edged their way through the hallway using every available bit of wall and/or handrail to steady themselves on one side, while leaning on each other to steady themselves on the other side. They made it to the stairs and had to simply inch down one careful step at a time. Tom could feel his bag of sand getting empty with each thud and step they took. They eventually made it safely to the bottom, both breathing ragged and weak. Tom reached up and opened the front door. He staggered back as the door swung open nearly knocking him off his feet. Molly recoiled as the wind from outside rushed in, mercilessly snatching whatever warmth it could find. Making a huge effort Tom grabbed her sleeve just about saving her from collapsing.
With nothing to support them as they left through the front door Tom cursed as he felt the weight of gravity clawing at his shoulders trying to take him down, not to mention holding up Molly’s feeble form. The promise of getting close to something so green and bright and alive however did seem to offer him some strength. He shouldered the weight and took one step after another as he guided the two of them through the moaning elements. The bitter cold wind snatched at his eyes making them water as he tried to keep peering forward looking for the patch green. He cursed his weak body as his knees began to knock together only barely keeping him going. But he refused to stop.
It felt like walking over a glacier as they trudged over the cracked frozen dirt. The wind howled in his ears carrying bizarre sounds he couldn’t recognise. Molly kept looking left and right with a kind of weary curiosity about her.
Tom felt his numb fingers slip and suddenly the change in weight sent him sprawling on the floor. He gasped as incredibly sharp and real waves of pain rippled up and down his body.
He cursed in despair.
His little old voice barely carried beyond his mouth. It seemed that it was over, he was unable to operate his body and the pain was like standing under a -30 degree waterfall.
Tom was about to give up everything and die right there, when he lifted his gaze to see the little green bud only inches in front of him. The little spot of sunlight was still shining, its warmth felt like a warm blanket. Despite his awful state and the constant buzz of pain in his probably broken shoulder he smiled.
Suddenly he saw Molly come into view. She knelt down beside him looking as vibrant and healthy as the day they first met. Beside her little Samuel was standing looking at the scene with a wide cheeky grin etched onto his face young healthy face. The flower was like it’s own light source and its light seemed to pierce straight through Toms cluttered mind. His eyes brightened as he felt weights dropping off him, like he had been holding a mountain together simply because he had thought he was supposed to, but now he could let it all go. He finally felt a lightness wash through the pain and bring his weary mind to a calm comfortable stillness.
“Well done my love” Molly rested a hand on his shoulder “You know you gave us all a real scare there” She laughed lightly her perfectly delicate voice like the sound of raindrops.
“I…” Tom spasmed as he tried to move his body “…I don’t understand”
“Oh Thomas you can come out of there now” She offered “It looks painful”
He tried again to move his body, his expression twisting in confusion as it completely refused to listen.
Molly shook her head in amusement “Here” She said in a hushed voice then she leaned down and gave him a soft kiss.
The warmth of her lips felt like electric water flooding through his body. He gasped again but this time his muscles responded appropriately and he arched his back in a big stretch. This seemed to be just enough yet too much for his old body and immediately he felt like someone who’d been incased in a suit of iron and all the clasps had just been undone.
He stood up feeling not just at ease, but stronger and more alive than he ever had. He looked at the form of his wife and understanding swept through him, not unlike the wind that had only recently been a formidable foe. He still had no idea what was going on but he could feel its correctness. He looked down and was mildly surprised to see his old body still lying there. It looked like a crumpled broken mess, except for the big smile spread across his face. Molly’s body was just behind him also with a slight upturn at the corner of her lips.
“We are dead?!” He half asked half announced
Molly smiled at him coyly and winked. Tom looked into his sons face and felt himself beam at the little being who grinned radiating love back. Samuel suddenly clapped happily and squeaked with excitement as a big bright light spilled over the land. Thomas squinted up to see the source, all he could make out was the entire sky becoming brighter and brighter as if they were being approached by a sun. He was about to ask what this was when memories funnelled through his mind.
He remembered looking out over large Shepard herds for many lifetimes, he could remember living on landscapes of all kinds. From frozen cold to dry hot flatlands and different mountain regions constantly observing the beautiful horizons of this lively little earth. He remembered making his way across glaciers and deserts always patient, and always with this deep feeling of belonging to the land and the land belonging to him. The land was his first and last love. The energy he connected to, through it, came rushing to the surface of this dismal rotting area he had recently been inhabiting. Tom looked up and watched a shining spherical shape, barley visible through the intense wall of light getting ever brighter and closer. Though the intensity of the atmosphere was incredibly charged Tom calmly took his wife’s hand in his right and his Sons in his left.
The intensity reached a peak where suddenly there was nothing but that pure brilliant white glittering all around them. It was incredible, like standing at the centre of an exploding sun without the slightest bother. Then like a balloon that reaches the end of its elasticity, it all erupted outward. The pure white popped away to reveal a huge variety of incredible colours coating this once grey land.
Everything from the tiniest piece of dirt to the wind itself shone with a hard to place but very much there, breathing, shining beauty. Thomas’s entire being seemed to have entered a dimension of pure orgasm and he shuddered with energy.
He looked around at the now vividly colourful land and pursed his lips. With an excited burst of energy he let out a long achingly lovely soft sound. The whistle echoed through the atmosphere, sounding like whales do as they call and sing to each other.
From every inch of space around them they got a response. A beautiful melodious voice rang out.
“To all of the family that can hear me. We have come for you. We have been on a very long arduous journey but we now know my true name. I am here to help you find yours”.