I know I have said that we would just be following Jason. We are, from a certain point of view, but I cannot tell you only about those things and have this make any sense for those of you that are challenged by time. I will have to go back and explain a few things for your benefit.
The movement of that butterfly closed a billion doors!
It also opened just as many!
Before, when Jason has intervened to alter things, I observed that there were in fact fewer possible outcomes to follow. The butterfly was always a possibility but the likelihood of it taking place was so small, the act so insignificant that I never bothered to follow it before. Once it happened the world you, dear reader, take for granted came into being.
David is the key it turns out.
Oh, what a life this man led! I won’t go through it all in detail but some of the highlights are inadvertently modeling for Michaelangelo, which in turn saved him from being killed in the quarry accident. That meant that Leonardo di Vinci stayed in the North when he otherwise would have died in Rome! David then went on to become a traveling merchant visiting all the courts of many lands. He also became quite the cade, fathering children with married ladies of courts throughout Europe and the near East. You, as you read this, will have no knowledge of David. He was not deemed important by those that wrote the history you know. Yet, without David and his many offspring filling the halls of power throughout much of Western Europe and the change of the Ottoman Empire that they brought at just the right time, well, the diversity of the world as you know it would not exist!
When the butterfly first moved and the idea sprang into the head of the that merchant messenger, all of those possibilities suddenly slamming shut and so many more suddenly springing into very clear focus was astounding! Perhaps I will tell you in detail all that occurred with David when Jason’s destination has been reached. It is amazing to think that those two artist remaining alive, somehow, gave the right impetus, to the right people, at just the right moment, in order to hold off the Ottoman conquest. That allowed these children of David scattered throughout the world to grow up and make the Western world as you know it today.
Now, back to Jason.
He did not make another move until one of the distant offspring of Sura, by way of David, had blundered his way to Australia curtesy of the English crown that saw fit to have him removed from sight this way, instead of his head removed in a different way. As the lineage tends to do, he survived, married, and started a family. He had acquired a small sheep farm two years before his son was born. He was over joyed at becoming a father, setting about industriously to prepare a prosperous future for him. It was in the middle of the boy’s 16th year in 1840, (for those of you interested in timelines and dates), that the father lost his joy with his son, his wife and his life, all thanks to Jason stepping in and pulling the ear of a dog!
I was simultaneously keeping track of all of the possibilities of all of the descendants of David in order to watch for the next appearance of my only friend, as illusive as he may be. When the possibilities for this one, in far off Australia went to zero, I knew it was him. Tracing it to the exact moment was stranger than you might think. Jason did not even have anything to do with the father. He just pulled on the ear of the son’s dog and ran toward the small lake with the dog chasing him. The son called for his arrant dog to return but the normally obedient creature would not refused. Coming within view of the small lake he stopped as what was also in view was a perfectly formed young woman that had been bathing and washing her clothes. She had come out of the water to chase away the dog that was in the process of soiling her freshly washed garments that were laying in the sun. Jason of course was already long gone at this point, apparently satisfied in his handiwork. The young woman upon seeing the young man retreated back into the water much to the young mans delight. He whistled and his once again loyal obedient companion returned to his side. The young man then proceeded directly toward the young woman stranded naked in the water.
I found this behavior suspect so attempted to see what it was the young man was thinking, and it happened again! I was not in the mind of this young man behaving in such a peculiar manner.
It so odd this feeling, this not knowing. I really do admire all of you, all the more, for continuing on in your lives this way. I have discovered a little not knowing is all I can take. How you all do it every moment of your awareness is impressive, or sad, or both, but not something I would wish for myself.
Sorry, back to the story, yes? I had to just accept this not knowing in any case.
The young man walked to the shoreline where the now dirty clothes lay trodden in the mud, then stopped. There, in the water, was the naked young lady. They each were staring at the other waiting for the other to speak. The mind of the young lady, (that thankfully I was still inside), was racing. Part of her wanted to scream, another part of her wanted to boldly walk back out of the water and kiss this handsome young man.
She knew him as the son of the owner of the farm next to the farm she and her family worked. She had no standing in the world being a half-caste. She was acutely aware of that fact as well when she dropped her hazel eyes from the young man to her soiled clothes on the ground. Still in what seemed like shock, (I have no way of knowing exactly), the young man reached down and picked up her things.
“Looks like you will need to get this stuff clean again. I don’t know what made him do that.” He said gesturing to the dog now perfectly still at his heel. He then handed her the garments and sat down on a nearby stump.
“What’s your name if I may ask?” He asked.
Not really knowing what to do in her state. The lovely young lady had taken her clothes and gone a little deeper into the water for some degree of modesty before replying, “Lily” she said shyly.
“Lily, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” He blurted out with an earnestness that was endearing and absurd in equal measure.
Lily, giggled in the most charming way one can imagine. It is a sound only a young lady falling in love can make. She then turned and slipped on undergarments and proceeded to wash the newly soiled dress.
This started the secret love affair that lasted until it was no longer a secret. Lily was discovered first, by her mother. Her mother warned her of the consequences of such an affair and pleaded with her to “walk off”, or she would surly be killed. This is what Lily did though not as far as her mother would have wished. After hiding for a few days, surviving on love and fresh water, she and her lover had all the plans in place. They were to escape on a boat bound for America and the Gold that the young man was sure would be there. A place where she could pass with her hazel eyes and light skin. A place where they could love and be free.
I could see that this was not a likely plan, possible of course, but not likely. The young man's mother was gravely ill, his father highly suspicious of his son's activities. Enter Jason yet again to steer the course on the line only he seemed to understand.
I caught Jason digging a hole on the morning the young mans mother passed, setting the course about to transpire.
The moment his mother passed, the young lover stormed out of the house, ran into the barn and got onto his horse with a pack already prepared for a journey. His father yelled at him but got no response. The father, at first, dismissed the behavior thinking that it was on account of the passing of the boy's mother. All too soon the suspicion rose up in the father along with his anger. He proceeded to leave his newly departed wife, mother of his only child, lying upon the bed. Rushing to the barn he readied his horse, and at a run, went after his son.
What do you think the chances are that the fathers horse found the hole in the ground Jason had dug?
That’s right the poor animal, as soon as Jason began digging, had no other course available to him. He made a straight line directly to that hole breaking a leg and launching the poor man to his death, his part to play now concluded.
I know what you may be thinking, “Jason, how could you!” Please don’t think too poorly of my friend.
You see before he started digging that hole and creating this one straight line, another possibility was that he found his son with the half caste girl and in a fit of rage mixed with his grief, killed them both. Another, possibility was that the boy was quicker to his rifle and killed his father in self defense never to recover. So, from a different perspective, perhaps, Jason did them all a kindness, and that does not include the horrors that were instore for Lily had Jason not pulled the ear of the dog!
The young couples plan was now perfectly set in place. The young man sold all he could, took all the money he had and his beloved Lily off to Sydney and onto a boat bound for San Francisco. It was five days into this journey that I was once again inside the young man. He lay sleeping at that moment, but, abruptly sat up in a start, this shocked the naked beauty Lily who lay beside him. He was at once confused and mesmerized. They found their way in the end, after Lily slowly explained all that had happened. The voyage became once again like a honeymoon.
Patterns, seem to emerge if you look hard enough, for my part, I am enjoying trying to discern what they might mean!
Comments