Finding Hope (19 page)

The
salty seawater burned her eyes as she carefully worked the line. Her hands and fingers moved swiftly tracking lines, pulling cord, and loosening the knots. It was as if Hope was designed for this task. Her dexterity and ability to untangle proved critical for the task she needed to accomplish. The calluses from the guitar on her fingers and hands were custom made for manipulating the net in the chilled water. Her focus and patience as a seamstress were indispensable for loosening and untangling the complicated knots. With salt stinging her eyes, Hope closed her lids and blocked out the light. She slipped away into her work. Feeling the multiple cords weave and bend, she pictured in her mind what her eyes couldn’t see. One by one, she untangled the impossible knots until the baby porpoise was freed.

Once the small animal was released, it swam away quickly. Completely exhausted, Hope let out her final breath and slipped below the sur
face ready to join Isaac. The water rushed in with painful spasms which Hope didn’t try to fight. Everything went black. She floated alone in the icy space with currents slipping across her skin. Shimmers of color burnt her eyes as she floated in the emptiness.

She felt jerks of motion, tugging her soul, as she drifted along in the cold dark place. Weightless and without feeling, she slid through the silence. Then splashes o
f crimson fluttered in her mind as her skin felt the warmth of eternal light. Gritty scratches dug at her body as brilliant white light filled everything around her. Intense pain pushed outward as she heaved from her core. The dazzling whiteness jolted her from unconsciousness while deafening white noise filled her awareness. She opened her eyes to find herself lying in the sand.

Down around her feet, in the shallowest of water, the two
porpoises laid looking out from inside the sea. Hope sat up and rubbed the baby’s head softly. She then looked into the purest green eyes of the quiet, resting mother. She exhaled gently vibrating the water around her snout, creating bubbles and shimmers all along the surface. Hope’s spirit smiled. The mammals slowly pushed away moving back into the depths, feeling the connections they shared. Hope watched them glide away from the coastline and into the sea swimming to the horizon that was painted in brilliant orange and turquoise.

Hope thought of Isaac, but the bitterness wa
s dull. The memories were there but were softened somehow. She also thought of Julian and her time in that town. She realized that pain was also drifting from a distance. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten about the love and moments shared with her children. It was just that she’d taken those memories and pulled them in close. She felt pain deeply but was able to accept it as her own. It was part of her story and made her who she was. She’d always carried them with her through everything she did, and that thought brought her solace.

She thought about New Providence, and the wonders they’d accomplished. Even though they stumbled on a secret, they missed the point of being human. She knew it was the Law that allowed for so many great things, yet it didn’t consider human connections. It was created by man to provide justice for the few. Their obsession with structure and repair of their surroundings left them vulnerable to corruption and abuse.

“Understanding our connections isn’t enough either,” she thought to herself remembering the Mystics. Without rules and a compass, one inevitably becomes lost. The focus on self-improvement can quickly become selfish, and then we lose our connections to the people we love. Chapel Hill understood about community with their structure and guidelines. But leaving things to chance is a dangerous path. Building a foundation based on nothing but faith can leave us alone at the mercy of fate.

Hope sat on the beach
watching the colors in the sky deepen as the saturation of dusk approached from the east. She felt her body stiffen as a realization crept into her mind. Life is about who we are and where we live. Like the rabbit, we need to know our surroundings and not get distracted from life. It’s about community where we live, not some far-away place. Helping each other with mutual respect allows us to stay humble while making us strong. When we lose sight of what’s important and become distracted by far away things, we not only lose our neighbors but also a piece of ourselves. Local community, local resources, and local leadership are the ways we bind ourselves together. Without these things, we lose our humanity and forever wander, alone.