Chapter 5 The Book
The book made it seem so simple to find this power. It said that, “This power lives inside of us.” “So why didn't Bob, and people like him contemplating suicide, just look inside of themselves for the power?” The old woman wondered.
She was sure it was there because the book had said so. She couldn't be too hard on Bob though, as she remembered a time when she herself thought to commit suicide. It was the day she received word that both her parents had perished in a Hurricane back home in EL Salvador.
Shortly after she had come to America she started working on the dock, selling beautiful jewelry made of Sea Shells she had brought with her from San Miguel. Her parents had given her all the money they had to come to America ahead of them, so she started saving money to send for them.
As if on cue, as soon as she had saved enough money for her elderly parents to make the trip, she received word that they had both been killed. Then, just a young woman, she didn't know how she could go on. She felt so alone.
As the feeling of despair began to grip her she remembered what the elder had said about her special book that day in the court yard of San Miguel as she made her way to school. It had always managed to cheer her when she was sad so she pulled the little ragged book out of her bag and it opened to a page that said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Power.”
She turned to another page that said, “When the power is come those who sleep shall rise first.” And another page said, “The power consists of many mansions, if it were not so I would have told You. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place I will come again and receive you, so that where I am you can be also.”
She had never seen a mansion before but she knew if anyone deserved one it was her parents. And having read about the power often in her special book, she didn't quite understand what it was but it seemed to be very good so she was glad that her parents would get to see it first.
At that, she took heart and put the little book back into her bag. She thought of her parents often over the years, but mostly of their new life with the power. That is how she was able to move on past a grief that could very easily have killed her and at times even seemed to be attempting to.
By this time the hustle and bustle of the day had begun on the dock at the ship yard. The old woman could see ships out in the distance. They were still afar off but would surely arrive and so workers were running back and forth with rope and supplies preparing to unload the cargo when the vessels docked. The old woman put Bob's letter back down into the bottle and re-corked it.
“You may very well be the last of poor Bob's belongings”, she said looking at it. “I'd better hold on to you for him”, and she tucked the bottle down into her bag.
“Bob's was a sad and senseless death,” she thought to herself as she made her way over to a bench on the dock. Thinking of him she just kept shaking her head. She pulled her special book out of her bag and thumbed through its pages.
Staring lovingly at it she said, “If only You were available to everyone in the world. Then in times of despair they too could find solace in the words of your pages and feel better.”
As she turned the book about and looked at it she thought to herself, “You are at least 100 years old by now. Possibly even double that. No doubt, you're very valuable even with your covers torn off. You've been with me for over 70 years now, and there's no telling how long you had been with the elder before he passed you on to me in the court yard that day in San Miguel.”
“And why had he passed you on to me that day? Did you long to be my friend? Did you watch me daily on my way to school, running about with the other girls my age?”
“Did you speak to him in some language that only the two of you understood, that he should pass you along to young Isabel before I left for America?”
“I've read many books over my 80+ years. But I've never read a book that made me feel like You do. You're very possibly the only one of your kind...but if I could, I would have a copy of you printed for everyone in the world to be given to them at birth, so that you could shine your light on their path as they journeyed through life which would make the trip much easier for them.”
“You're really quite a magical little book. Anytime I have ever read from your pages it seemed as though you were speaking directly to me, as if you were somehow...alive.”
The old woman put the book back down into her bag. Then she felt around in her pocket for the scarlet ribbon with the little golden trinket attached that she had taken off of Bob's letter. She tied the ribbon in a neat little bow and then taking a safety pin from her bag; she pierced the ribbon through and then fastened it to her dress over her heart. She looked out over the ocean and made a vow to Bob that day down at the dock, that she would wear the ribbon every day in remembrance of him.
“You may be gone Bob”, she yelled out on the wind. “But you are not forgotten!”
“As often as I wear your ribbon over my heart, I wear it in remembrance of you.”
Just then a sudden wave of emotion swept over her and tears began to run down her face. The old woman felt as if she had known Bob. As if they had been friends and like she should have been able to do something to help him.
Maybe if she had just met him somewhere and had read to him a few pages from her special book, maybe the words of the book would have quenched his worries and shined a light on his path so that he might have more clearly seen his way. Wiping her face she smiled to herself hoping that Bob was finally somewhere happy, enjoying the power and laughing at himself for how silly he had been to end his life. She hoped her parents were enjoying the power as well. They had to be, because the book said it, so it was true.
All of a sudden the old woman smelled something on the wind that she had not smelled in quite a long time, but that was still very familiar to her. She looked left down the dock and saw nothing out of the ordinary. But when she looked to her right she could see a man dressed in native EL Salvadoran garb standing next to a food cart.
Very excitedly, she made her way down the dock to the food cart and to her amazement the man had many of her favorite foods on his cart.
“Hola!” the old woman said. “Como estas?'”
“Hola! Me llamo Carlos”, the man replied.
“Mucho gusto!” She said.
“El gusto es mio!” Carlos replied.
They laughed. The old woman could hardly believe her eyes. There was, “La Banderita” San Salvador Sausages, “Tortillas”, “Fried Sweet Plantains”, “Tacos with chicken and tomatoes”, “Corn tamale with cream” “Pupusa with meat, cheese, beans and curtido”, and to drink he had “Horchata” and “Cebada”!
The old woman was so excited! She said, “Give me a little of each!”
Laughing, the man began to make her a container of food.
“It seems you have been away from home for a long time”, the man said.
“Yes, too long”, the old woman replied. “I've never seen you here at the dock before, are you just arriving to America?” she asked him.
“Yes, actually I just arrived today. I'm just trying to make enough money so that I can send for my elderly parents back home”, he said.
The old woman began to feel sad. She thought of her own parents and how she had wished her plans of bringing them to America had been successful. She hoped that her new friend would have better luck than she had.
A line began to form behind her as the workers began to smell the delicious food. The old lady didn't want to be in the way so she paid for her food, bid her new friend, “Good Day”, and she walked down the dock until she found a little table with an umbrella where she sat down to eat. The food was so good. Some of which she hadn't tasted since she was a small child.
“This is turning out to be a great day after all”, she thought. The old woman sat and ate as she watched the workers hurrying this way and that as usual.
“To each man his own fun I suppose”, she said as you looked out over t
he dock.
Everyone seemed to be just so busy. She wondered if they had even realized what a beautiful day it was. The old woman was just finishing up her meal when she saw a younger woman who looked lost.