LeOmi's Solitude (25 page)

LeOmi nodded as she was prompted to do.

“We have some issues with Slone’s way of
doing things. What about you, do you agree with his methods of–let
us say –revenge?”

“She was confused when she first came to the
school…”

“Miss McGraw, I believe I was speaking to
Miss Jones.”

“Now Leo, there is no reason to be overly
official, after all that is why we are here and not in the Council
Chambers.”

He nodded and took in a deep breath before
continuing. “Only you and God know your heart. We can ask, is
daughter like mother—love of things or love of God?”

“Get to the point Leo,” said Mrs.
Shadowitz.

“Spy for us.”

“What?” Bekka said.

Mrs. Shadowitz’s hand slightly raised and
Bekka resumed the hands folded in lap position.

“Well, you already know what happened with
the blanket at the moat. There was another incident just recently
where Mark Young, Chenoa Day, Jamal Terfa and Nick Poparov were
accosted by Voif’s gang. They stuffed them in trash cans while they
were in the mall area.”

“Despicable actions from Magi students.” Mrs.
Shadowitz shook her head and took another sip of her tea.

Gunnison looked at Mrs. Shadowitz.

“Please continue Leo.”

“We know that Slone has shown some attraction
to you.”

LeOmi and Bekka both fidgeted in their seats
at this remark.

“She can’t help it if he is attracted to
her.”

Mr. Diefenderfer spoke up for the first time,
“People are not…evil by nature…but rather…that they have…many
inborn capacities…some for good…and some others…for evil…We must
look…to see if…there is good.”

LeOmi got to her feet and faced Gunnison.

“What are you asking me to do?”

“Spy for us. There is no one better for this
job than you.”

“NO! You can get somebody else.” At this she
turned towards the door and her pace increased the closer she got
to the door way.

“Remember you’re on probation…” Gunnison
stood as well.

“She has…the right…to choose.”

Bekka stopped Gunnison before he could follow
LeOmi.

“Why wasn’t I approached with any of
this?”

“We all know how close you are to LeOmi. You
demonstrated that at the last Council of Elders.”

“You know that there will be ramifications
for her, her father and possibly the rest of her family too.”

* * *

Bekka knew where to find her.

“It seems that whenever you are angry, you go
to a tree. I guess only those as close to you as I am would notice
that, but that may be something you want to consciously change as
soon as you can. Never allow yourself to be tracked by your
habits.”

“What is that, rule number 45,589?”

“Something like that.” Bekka giggled and
abruptly stopped.

“There seems to be a connection with being
calm—and nature, I guess it’s because nature just listens. I feel
that way too. I have loved this tree since I was a child.”

The coneys were perched in their favorite
spots in the Olive Tree. Low enough so that they could see
everything, yet high enough to stay out of easy reach. They had
paths that they followed up and down certain branches almost as if
it were a raceway track.

“Actually, an olive tree is a symbol of the
ability to be a dutiful, loving and caring person.” Bekka picked up
a few olives that had fallen to the ground. “This Olive Tree has a
history. It is said to be a cutting from the olive grove that Caleb
started when he was awarded Hebron, a share of the Promised Land in
Israel.” “As you can see, they had to bring in a swimming pool of
soil with it.”

They both couldn’t help but touch the trunk
of the tree.

“Do you miss the oak tree back home?”

“Sometimes…The trunk was so big; I couldn’t
put my arms around it.” She hugged the Olive Tree and looked up
into the canopy.

“There was an old hornet’s nest up high in
the branches of the old oak. I guess the salt air ran the hornets
away.” She looked at the exposed roots. “My sister and I would walk
around the tree, over and over again. There was no grass and we had
exposed the roots in our path in the soil.” She moved her hand
delicately feeling the texture of the wood, the life of the tree.
“Lightening would strike it, wind would knock out branches, but it
still stood tall and strong, as if to say, ‘I can take it, what
else do you have?’”

LeOmi was silent for a moment. Then she asked
Bekka, “Are you going to try to persuade me to do what they want me
to do?”

“Nope. You have to make your own
decisions.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to make sense. It
almost feels like it’s a trick and my decision is a test.”

“Gunnison has a different way about him
doesn’t he?”

LeOmi nodded. She picked-up her book bag and
called the coneys with a cluck of her tongue. They came immediately
to the trunk of the tree and waited for her to jiggle the opening
of the bag a little.

Sunset fast approaching persuaded them to
leave the abundant food and shelter for the love and warmth of the
bag which LeOmi quickly nestled onto her back.

“What will happen?”

“They can’t force you into doing something
you do not want to do.”

LeOmi nodded and headed inside. Bekka stood
and watched her go. The sunset closing the day.

As Bekka pulled out her notebook she said,
“Or can they?”

* * *

Bekka surprised LeOmi when she met her at the
rain forest as she had finished her tour for the day. Bekka was
doing a little dance as LeOmi came around the corner.

“Well, you’ve got mail! Not from your father
but from New Orleans, Dorcus Avenue. It is from your grandmother?”
Bekka handed LeOmi an envelope that had been addressed to her
father’s home in Virginia.

“I thought that you would like to read this
in private, so I’ll see you later at the museum.”

LeOmi didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. She
took the letter and went inside the shack at the rain forest. It
was empty, like most of the time, so she let the coneys roam and
opened the letter:

Child,

I have told you that one day we would discuss
the things that pertain to your family history. Today is the day
that we will begin. If you look for these answers on your own, my
petit Yvonne, be cautious. When a person does things excessively
wrong, like your mother has done, they are always looking behind,
to see who has almost caught them. She loved the thrill of it,
always fascinated with the forbidden unknown places. I do not want
you to always wonder who is fast approaching.

Your query was about the crest, whether I
recognized it. Yes I did and you will notice the family crest as
the letterhead has the same likeness in the second quadrant on the
shield. This crest has been in the family for hundreds of years. A
crossed scimitar and quill; the crest of the Neo-Phylum or that has
been known recently as the New Order.

In the past I have asked, “What has brought
you to me” in New Orleans in the first place. Still it is not
clear. It has something to do with your mother, of this I am sure.
Perhaps it is because you can only find your answers through me!
You shouldn’t ask anyone else, and don’t tell anyone else of your
questions. Not your father or your siblings. Not anyone.

There are those who play the role of
pretender–those who pretend to love and enjoy their life. They
cannot do it well if their heart isn’t in it, they cannot play the
role flawlessly: dutiful daughter, loving mother –or both or
neither. Whichever role your mother was playing, she played it,
sometimes quite well, other times not.

I know that all things happen for a
reason.

LeOmi, don’t be like your mother. Don’t
lie—don’t ever lie. Don’t be like me and evade the truth, and the
future. The pretender’s heart soon cannot be recognized by its
owner.

Bonjour,

Your Grand-Mère

PS: I have been visited by someone who
claimed to know your mother very well. He is a man of much
authority here in New Orleans and other places as well. He has
asked questions and made accusations that I find to be insulting
and without basis. I have dealt with these things in my own
way.

Since the Flags Match and the all night out
episode, LeOmi had made it a point to learn more about Bekka. That
included spending time with Bekka and…some of Bekka’s other
charges, who were apparently nowhere near the amount of trouble
that she was.

Sundays are rest days for all of The Seventh
Mountain, students as well as teachers and counselors and every
Sunday, Bekka and her father, Mr. McGraw, would spend as much time
together as was possible. Generally the time was spent in the
museum, where Mr. McGraw was also the curator, the Keeper of
Artifacts.

The museum was located on the first floor
sub-level of the school. The artifacts were there for study and
they had come to The Seventh Mountain Museum from a number of
places. Historic finds, personal collections on loan, recovered
through war or by legal means. Some of it had been passed down to
the museum since before documented history began. The museum was
huge and there were glass-covered display cases everywhere. Each
case held some type of artifact. Mr. McGraw was meticulous at what,
when, where, how and why each item was stored at the museum and if
any new information had been noted on the check-out sheet, it was
to be dully recorded and documented on the item’s information page.
Updates were made on a regular basis, and LeOmi was very surprised
to see that many artifacts were checked out and used quite
often.

The museum was also the location of the
labyrinth. Twenty feet along the wall, a velvet rope held by two
stands marked an area where the wall vanished once a day. No one
had ever returned from it, so it was a mystery all in itself.

* * *

LeOmi handed Bekka the letter when she
arrived at the museum. She read it in silence. She looked closely
at the crest and then she handed the letter back to LeOmi.

They were both silent for a moment. Bekka put
her hands together as in a short silent prayer. Then she said,
“When I was young, my parents worked all the time, the same place
that my father is working now, cloistered back in that office,
their desks just across from one another. It’s a good cause and
they were wonderful and so dedicated, he still is but I was an only
child with workaholic parents. If I had known that I would lose my
mother from a stupid accident, then I certainly would have spent
more time with her. I suppose that is one of the main reasons that
I hate to see you leaving your dad out of everything that you
do.”

LeOmi turned her head, as if it were a
physical blow.

“Don’t get upset. I won’t pressure you or say
anything more about it unless you want me to. But anyway, I used to
watch movies. I especially loved the Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne
movies. There were others too, but they were my favorite actors.
They always overcame overwhelming odds for the good of all—or at
least those who deserved it. Do you know what I am talking
about?”

LeOmi shook her head. “I suppose, but we had
books.”

“Yes exactly, and you felt like you could
take their place and be that person, even through their
heartache.”

LeOmi didn’t say anything, but she was
thinking about how sad she had been when she found out that her
mother had wished that she had a different life.

“Oh, I can see that you aren’t thinking about
it the same way that I did. It wasn’t that I wanted to trade in my
life for another one; it was that I shared their heartbreaks and
joy during the two hours or so that I watched the movie. I wish
that you could have learned from those actors like I did.”

Bekka turned LeOmi to face her, “I was sad
and lonely. I felt unloved. I know that you can relate to that. But
if you could have anything—anything at all, what would it be?”

“I would like to know why.”

“Exactly, and this is what your grandmother
is dangling before your face. You have been through the heartache
and now you want the joy.”

“Joy?”

“Yes joy. You have been through more
heartache than most people and…that joy part must be looking very
irresistible. Just make sure and weigh the cost and see if it is an
amount that you are willing to pay.”

Tears dripped from LeOmi’s eyes. “It seems
like every time I get closer to an answer, there are more
questions.”

“I have been thinking for a while, that we
need to take you to an oracle, a seer, a person who can relay
things that will happen in the future.”

“Mr. Diefenderfer is a seer.”

“Yes, but he has already sung to you. Mrs.
Shadowitz can suggest someone, if you agree.”

“I do need some answers.”

“It is my experience that things may be just
as plain as you please but it takes a perfect stranger to convince
you that it is true. Do you ever wonder why that is?”

Chapter 13

If Trapped, Resourcefulness is
Required

LeOmi didn’t know what to expect. This gift
was something that she didn’t understand. Bekka reminded LeOmi of
Debra from back in the Old Testament. Debra was a seer that judged
her people giving divine knowledge from under a tree. But there was
also the witch of Endor who used methods that were not divine, as
in speaking to the dead.

Leah Jefferies was no witch and no judge, but
she was gifted, after they spent time talking over tea and scones,
Bekka left them alone.

“Now let me set you straight. I don’t read
tea leaves or feel your aura, I listen. Do you understand?”

LeOmi nodded and set down her tea cup.

“I can see that you are an Anti-Empath. Do
you know what that means?”

LeOmi again shook her head.

“Other people feel what you are feeling. Have
you experienced that?”