The Book of Sight (7 page)

Now the Gylf, who had stepped out of the way while Adam was being pulled out of the hole and for the last several minutes had been holding a huddled conference in low voices, approached them.

Terra spoke for the group. “We have been discussing our situation and what is appropriate to do next. It seems to us that the reason no Gylf come here may be greater than we realized. We do not know what this place is, but it is clearly not a natural part of the forest. We will ask the grandfathers, but we who are here are agreed that it would be better to leave this place alone in the future. For now, our most important concern is healing your injuries. Unfortunately, we do not have any skill at nursing humans. Perhaps you can tell us what is best to be done.”

“I’m okay,” said Adam. “Don’t worry about me.”

“You should get those cuts cleaned,” said Eve. “There was a lot of rust on that stuff. You could get infected.”

Adam was about to object, but Alex said, “She’s right. You’re a mess. I have antibiotic stuff at my house if you want to clean up so your mom doesn’t see you like that. She didn’t seem like the type who would want you bleeding on her carpet.”

Having just said he’d always listen to Alex’s advice, Adam could hardly argue.

Logan felt disappointed that they weren’t going to see the Gylf’s home. He knew that they could come back another day, but he hated to head back to the ordinary world after so short a time here. The thought of going home to the dirty trailer park where he lived was repugnant.

Still, he could tell by Adam’s expression as he stood up that he was in more pain than he let on, so Logan tried not to be selfish and shouldered his backpack along with the others.

Terra accompanied the children to the edge of the woods. As she gracefully stepped along a branch near him, Logan was amazed at the incredible way that she fit into the loveliness of the forest. Each branch and leaf and fern was pulsating with life, and this little woman was the walking expression of that life.

Finally, after the fifth time she caught him staring, Terra laughed lightly and said, “I can see why sight was given to you. Your eyes speak of their joy in the beauty around them.”

Logan hesitated but then asked, “What exactly is this… sight?”

She stopped and tilted her head a bit. “You see, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And most humans do not.”

He thought he knew what she meant, but he felt the need to have it put into words for him. “But it’s not like people are blind. They can see. They read. They write. They walk around without bumping into things.”

“True,” she laid one slender hand on the tree trunk next to her. “But when they see this, what do they see?”

“A tree.”

“Yes. And when you see it, what do you see?”

Logan looked at the tree. He wanted desperately to say something profound, but he didn’t know how. “A tree, but…”

But what
? he thought. There weren’t words for what he felt as he touched the tough, knobbly skin, as he felt the life pulsing through that strong trunk, as he looked up at the graceful branches stretching out to embrace the sky in an ecstasy of green.

Terra smiled. “Exactly. A tree, but… That is sight.”

The others had stopped and were waiting, so Logan turned and continued walking silently.

As the kids said goodbye to Terra and promised to come back soon to visit, Logan found his reluctance to leave settling into depression. Then he felt Terra press something into his hand. He looked down. It was the wreath of berries that she had been wearing in her hair.

“A gift for the quiet one with the talking eyes,” she said.

“Oh, uh, thank you,” he stuttered. “You didn’t have to…”

“It increases my joy to see your pleasure in them,” she smiled. “Now they bring joy to more than myself.”

Strangely, as he followed the others back to the road, Logan did feel a sense of joy. This wasn’t just one of his daydreams. This was real, and it would keep being real. Even if most of the world was boring and ugly, there were still truly beautiful places. Now he had seen one with his own eyes, and he had only to look down at the berries in his hand to remember it.

T
he following day found the kids tripping across the abandoned lot behind the trailer park where Logan lived. Eve looked around and laughed to herself. If her friends could see where she was and who she was with, they would have a few things to say about it. For some reason, that didn’t bother her. In fact, it sort of added to her sense of excitement about this new adventure. You could bet that none of them were doing anything half so interesting right now. She tried to imagine her essay on “What I did this summer” and chuckled out loud.

These last couple of days had been like nothing she could have imagined. She had never read the kinds of books that would have made her picture herself meeting miniature people living in the woods or discovering secret hieroglyphics in the clouds or sharing mysterious headaches with a group of weird kids she’d never met before.

Not that these kids were at all bad or anything. They’d actually been really nice. They were smart and fun, a combination she didn’t previously know existed. Eve was relieved to be with other people who understood what was happening to her, even though she still couldn’t shake the desire to laugh sometimes at how seriously they were taking everything.

This morning had been one of those times.

They had all met at the circle of trees again, and Adam had started in right away. He wanted to name the circle of trees. If it was going to be their main meeting spot, it should have a name, he said. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, but coming up with a name was harder than it sounded.

Alex suggested the Circle of Seeing or the Ring of Renown. But those both seemed a bit long and heavy. Eve thought maybe something simple like The Aspens would be better, but Adam said that sounded like the name of a golf club.

“The Gylf would probably just call it Home,” said Logan.

“Yeah, but we don’t actually live here,” Eve pointed out, “so that might get a little confusing.”

They all fell silent.

“The Redoubt,” said Adam under his breath.

“What?” asked Eve.

Adam shrugged. “The Redoubt. I read this book once where this army was defending its home city against an enemy with way more soldiers, and they had a place, like a tower but hidden in the forest, where they could go to rest and they wouldn’t be found, and it was called a redoubt. I only remember it because it was a word I’d never heard before.”

“The Redoubt,” said Alex. “I like it.”

So it was decided, and Eve had to admit she liked the feel of the word. It stood out in her mind in all capitals: REDOUBT, sounding strong and safe.

There is something about naming a place that makes it seem so much more friendly, and the kids had felt quite at home in the breezy circle of trees as they whiled away the morning comparing their books and watching the cloud pictures and waiting to see if anyone else would turn up. No one had, though, and they decided after lunch to go and check out Logan’s Dund.

Eve could see Logan now, pointing to something on the opposite end of the field. It looked like a burned out tree trunk, still standing, but with no branches or leaves. On closer view, this impression held true. She could even see the gnarled roots and a few scorch marks on the bark. It was so ordinary looking that if she hadn’t just met a bunch of miniature people the day before, she would have thought that Logan had imagined the whole thing. Even as it was, she wasn’t sure.

They all gathered around as Logan said tentatively, “Excuse me.”

There was no movement or sound.

“Excuse me,” he said a little louder.

When there was still no response, he looked a little ashamedly at the others.

“How did it talk to you before?” asked Alex.

Logan pointed out what could possibly be taken for a mouth and eyes. Of course, it could also be taken for random patterns in the bark, thought Eve.

Alex stepped up close and said firmly, “We know you can hear us. And we know you can talk. So stop pretending. We’d like to talk to you.”

Again Eve pictured what people would think if they could see her right now. But then she gave a little jump. She had seen an eye crack open. It closed again, but she was sure of what she’d seen.

“We saw that,” said Adam.

This time both eyes opened, darker brown than the rest of the bark and completely unreadable.

“Bless me, there are more of them this time!” the creature said.

Its voice was high pitched and nasal and so out of keeping with its appearance that Eve struggled to suppress a laugh.

“We’d like to ask you a few questions,” Adam said.

“Ask me a few questions?” it repeated. “‘Ask and you shall receive,’ is my motto, so ask away. Answers can be tough, though. Some things are ‘easier said than done.’ Still, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’ is my motto, so we’ll give it a try.”

Eve traded a bemused look with Alex. Even Adam was momentarily at a loss.

“Um, did you say your name was Dund?” asked Logan, who obviously felt responsible for this weird conversation.

“My name? No. Not my name. Dund is what I am. ‘I think therefore I am.’ And what I am is Dund. I don’t have what you would call a name.” For just a moment he looked sad about this. “But then, ‘What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’” This seemed to cheer him up again. “I have no name, but I do have very nice skin. Perhaps you noticed? ‘Make the most of what you’ve got’ is my motto, and I make the most of my skin. No other Dund has skin quite as nice. Not that I let that go to my head. Oh, no. ‘Handsome is as handsome does’ is my motto, and I always try to live up to my skin. ‘Beauty is only skin deep,’ but I think that…”

“So there are other Dunds?” interrupted Adam eagerly.

“If there are, I’ve never seen them,” the Dund responded, unfazed by the interruption. “‘Seeing is believing,’ so I suppose I don’t believe in other Dunds. But ‘Birds of a feather flock together,’ so if I am here I suppose other Dunds are, too.”

“But you said no other Dund has skin as nice as yours,” protested Adam, while Eve wondered if the Dund had any idea what it was talking about.

“And so they haven’t. Have you ever seen a Dund with skin so nice and brown and wrinkly?” the Dund asked.

Adam seemed unable to answer this question, and the Dund began to look offended. Alex giggled.

“Your skin is lovely,” said Eve. After all, someone had to say something. “It’s my very favorite shade of brown.”

The Dund fairly beamed. “So I’ve often thought myself. I do a lot of thinking, you know. ‘Think before you speak’ is my motto, though I must say it is so much nicer to have someone to talk with than I thought it would be. ‘Silence is golden’ and ‘children should be seen and not heard.’ But ‘it takes two to tango’ and ‘two heads are better than one,’ and I have been alone a very long time. It is very nice to meet you all. What are your names?”

Eve introduced them all.

“So how long have you been here?” asked Logan curiously.

“Oh dear, that’s hard to say. ‘Time flies,’ you know. But I guess you would say I’ve been here forever. From ‘time immemorial.’ I’ve never not been here. I’ve never been anywhere else but here. Once I thought of trying someplace else. “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,’ you know. But ‘the first step is always the hardest.’ Especially for me because I can’t exactly move. So here I am. And I like it. ‘There’s no place like home’ is my motto.”

“So you…were born here,” said Adam. “Or, um, I mean, you grew here.”

“Did I?” the Dund seemed legitimately puzzled. “I really don’t remember. ‘The mind is the first to go,’ you know. If I grew or was born the memory is gone. The first day I remember was just like today, standing and listening and listening. Except today I am talking to you. Hmm… ‘Wonders never cease,’ as they say. ‘Live and learn’ is my motto. ‘Each new day brings its own surprises.’”

“So you never spoke to anyone before?” Alex asked.

“’Speak when you are spoken to’ is my motto,” intoned the Dund in his ridiculously high voice. “And no one ever spoke to me. Lots of talking… ‘every bird loves to hear himself sing’…but never to me. I suppose no one knew I was listening. But ‘walls have ears,’ you know. And I am just like a wall in that respect. I never thought an occasion for talking to anyone other than myself would come, you know, but today it has. ‘There is a time and a place for everything,’ you know.”

“Do you have any idea why we are able to notice you listening when no one else did?” asked Logan.

“None at all. I was hoping you would tell me. Still, ‘patience is a virtue,’ they say, and I don’t like to pry. ‘Mind your own business’ is my motto.”

“You can ask us anything you like,” said Eve smiling. She found herself liking this Dund creature, in spite of its ridiculous way of talking. “After all, we’re asking you lots of questions. But the truth is we were hoping you would know something about it that we don’t.”

“Show him the book,” Alex suggested.

Eve dug her copy of the book out of her bag. “We all had this book delivered to us, and since we read it we’ve been able to see stuff we never saw before. We think maybe that’s why we could recognize you. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

“Well now, let’s see. I’d need to know a little more. ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ is my motto. ‘Appearances are deceptive.’ But ‘the proof of the pudding is in the tasting.’ Could you read me a bit of the book?”

For a second, it occurred to Eve that she was going to sound ridiculous reading all those nonsense words out loud in front of other people. It was one thing in the privacy of her own room, but outside it was downright embarrassing. No one else was volunteering to read it, either, she noticed. Finally she realized that it would be even more awkward to refuse, so she shrugged and, opening to the first page, began to read.

At the end of the opening paragraph, she paused and glanced up. A startling change had come over the Dund’s face. Whereas before his expression had been somewhat blank and his eyes unreadable, now he had the look of dawning discovery and a little flicker of memory in the brown depths of his eyes. Glancing around, Eve saw that Alex had gotten out her own book and was apparently reading along, Adam was staring at the ground, but Logan was studying the Dund’s face intently, watching the same transformation that Eve had noticed.