Youth Transformed

Chapter 34

Pann

Considering the drama that unfolded the day before, I awoke very rested. And, for once, my child decided to let me keep my breakfast. Maybe the little dickens has finally realized, that if I keep my food, then his or her belly is filled too.

Joven is quiet, reflective, and I give him lots of space. Knowing today, we go to sacrifice our lives in Dewstone, so that others may continue dwelling there. The sacrifice that Christopher O'Malley made, most assuredly brought him low. To walk away, from all you've known, to know the only path is forward, away from family and friends, to never go back.

Joven and his father had spent some time last night discussing the moving of our stuff to UpAbove. We can live in this house, till we locate another one. He promised me, there would be no returning to the troll!  Potential jobs in the area were discussed and then many, many tears were shed and even some talk of his parents joining us. But, in the end, all agreed that only Joven and I would leave, but stay close by.

I have a small surprise planned for Joven. We enter the Central Control Room, but we are delayed while Joven hugs Stan, Hank, and even Jay with all their wives. I'm going to need a ton of tissues all day long. Even though Joven knows he will see the men again, it won't be down here, but in UpAbove.

"We had some great times huh?" Hank says.

"A lot of hours logged in looking at your Mystery Girl," says Stan, but then Hank elbows him, and hear a humph! So, Joven named me Mystery Girl, that's cute, and I grin at Joven.

Hugs complete we leave Central Control, and Joven starts to turn to walk to the Cara tunnel to our home, but I pull him to the left to the furniture store.

"Who is this Mystery Girl?" I ask, wanting him to smile.

"I'll tell you all about her one day," he teases back and squeezes my arm, "where are we going?"

"I asked Hank and Stan for a personal favor," I tug his arm and we enter the furniture store, and I pull him to the back of the store. They had cleared the rear entrance, and now you can open the door. Entering the rear room, I'm very happy to see it's been cleaned, and smells MUCH better.

"You want to show me the room is clean? Housekeeping is your big concern today?"

"No, Husband, give me your hand, and close your eyes," and I pull him to the original cave entrance. Slowly, I run his hands over the arrows facing the many directions, then one by one run his hand over each of the three Ancients Mark.

"Oh wow!" Joven says, opening his eyes and looking at the markings on the side of the cave, "they really were the best of friends, weren't they?"

"Yes, I believe so. My dad would tell me make-believe stories, or I thought they were at the time, and he told me one of three boys finding a cave of treasures and they carved their mark into the wall, on the right side, so that a part of them would always remember." I shrug my shoulders, "they must've felt like boys when they found this cavern."

"And when the fountain was constructed many, many years later, our forefathers made sure all three symbols were in the fountain floor, along with the original cave dwellers, the Indian symbol for Unity. They truly never forgot their friend, but I guess they never knew how to find him."

We spend a few more minutes just staring at a part of both of our histories, and then onto our house before going to the Reflection Room.

We end up walking through our house, talking about all the firsts that happened there, and then swung by his parent's home, just for one last look.

Hand and hand, we walk back to downtown and Joven stops, turning in circles, like he's trying to take a million mental pictures. He did, actually, take a lot of pictures and videos with his phone. Taking me to the old bridge in the middle of the cavern he kneels before me, I'm surprised!