*************
"It was not always like it is now, “Joseph began, "and it is a bit hard to pinpoint where it really started. However, I am pretty certain that my grandfather was the first, based on the stories he told me. You see, that is how it is supposed to be, passed down through the generations, explained when a boy is about to turn 15 so there are no surprises and it does not just happen leaving you all scared and confused."
"Sounds like the wolves in Twilight," Jacob mused.
"In a way, yes; but infinitely less complex and yet more all at the same time. You see, one night when he was a young man, maybe 14 or 15 years old, my grandfather, Jackson, had a very strange dream. In his dream a beautiful woman came to him and told him that it was time he fulfilled his purpose. That his ancestors had called in a lot of favors and now it was time to repay the debt."
"Wait, a wh-"
"Jacob, please, let me finish and I will try to answer all your questions when I am through but this is very complicated and hard for me to tell. I need to do it without interruption."
And so, Joseph launched on a monologue that left Jacob confused and awed, all at the same time.
"The beautiful woman was a faery. The reality is faeries are very different than the stories we read to our children would have us believe. They don't all have glowing skin and glistening wings. The reality is they look very much like the rest of us, with one notable exception. They are always, always exquisitely beautiful and inspiring. When you meet one, you will know because you will not be able to look away. You will feel drawn to her as though by a force of magnetism. There is an unending compulsion to follow wherever they lead, to get lost in their beauty, and do whatever it is they ask of you.
But sometimes, that is a dangerous thing and that is precisely where this story really begins. Apparently, long ago, our ancestors made a deal with a very powerful faery in order to assure their wealth and prosperity. Back then, these things were measured by how many children you had and how much land you owned. If your farm land was small and produced very little, if you had few children, or only girls you were judged to be unlucky and of poor standing.
So somewhere down the line, one of our ancestors crossed paths with a faery and bargained with her. I believe it was Jonas. Jonas had 4 children, however all were girls. He had no son to carry on the family name, help with the work in the fields, or pass on the skills and histories of the family to. You see, back then, these were things reserved exclusively for the young men of the family. A girl could not carry the family name as they would take the name of their husband when they married. And that was their responsibility. To marry and begin a new family, a new line.
But Jonas desperately ached for a son. So, not knowing the dangers of doing so, he bargained with the faery. He asked her to help him to have a son to carry on his line and be prosperous. The faery said she would do so but that there would be a favor that would be called in. . He would have to fulfill the request without question. Jonas agreed. He was nearing his later years and did not know how much more time he had. Knowing he was running out of options, he agreed to the terms the faery had set out. He really should not have done so but he was naïve, selfish, and greedy." Joseph's eyes held a fire Jacob had never seen before. You could almost feel the anger rolling off of him.
"That Spring, Jonas' wife delivered a strapping baby boy. And the following winter, a set of twin boys. The labor was difficult but she was beaming at her babies when she held them in her arms. When the boys were just old enough to start working the fields, I believe they were 9 and 10, Jonas passed on.
And you would think that was the end of the story. But the faery left out a crucial piece of information. When you are indebted to the fae, that obligation is carried down the line. There is no escaping it. But in the same regard, the benefits of the bargain carry down, as well, and for many, many generations now there have been no girls born to our line. Every Baxter has born only strong, healthy, strapping young men.
Anyway, so, this faery woman comes to Jackson in a dream and tells him all about the bargain. Apparently, the favor the faery had wanted in return was for our family to be gifted with the ability to See. Sight comes with great responsibility because, from time to time, what we see will need to be effected, altered. So we get visions in our dreams, of events and occurrences effecting those around us and sometimes that path needs to be changed to avoid disaster of some sort. That’s the bulk of the story, anyway, as I have come to understand it."
"I think I understand but what does this have to do with Gram?"
"Well, evidently, ours was not the only family to make a similar misguided bargain. Your grams' ancestors had made a bargain as well, although I never got the full details from Gram before I passed. Your grandmother also had Sight. It was most likely what had drawn us together and bonded us for the lifetime that we shared.
But the night she died, she had had a vision. It was what had woken her up so early in the morning. Gram was never an early riser; she enjoyed her sleep far too much for that. But she had a very compelling vision and it was one that required a course to be altered. Gram had run into a young woman at work who was very depressed. She had been kind to the girl whenever possible although few others were. Gram had a vision that the young woman was going to kill herself. She was racing out to the woman’s home that morning. The young woman had already set her plan into motion. She had consumed large quantities of alcohol and gotten into her car. It was she whose car struck your grandmother that fateful morning"
"So gram did not do what she needed to do."
"Oh, but she did. That young woman has completely turned her life around and found a purpose. That day saved her life. I hesitate to tell you this but you know her. She is one of your therapists. I will not say which, because that is your first vision to carry out. You have to figure out who she is and tell her she is forgiven. You will know her when you look at her. If you are really looking. And you must. So many lives depend on it. You will know when the time is right because your life is going to change. It is going to be considered a result of her work with you. It could be when you wake this morning. That is hard to say. I do not control these things. But I will be here to guide you for a time."
"The, the woman who killed my grandmother has been in my house, has been close to me? How dare–"
"Stop, Jacob," Joseph pleaded.
"This is as it should be. It is the way the Universe intended. Your grandmother knew what she was running off to but she did it for you. She could see what this woman would become if she had a second chance. If only she could see she could have a purpose. Your grandmother knew it could cost her life but she had to do it to help you."
Jacob put his head in his hands, trying to process everything his grandfather had told him. How could any of this be real? This was just a crazy dream, wasn't it? It had to be. When he woke in the morning, he would not remember any of this and it would not haunt him the way he felt it was at this moment.
He thought about the therapists he had over the years. He had gotten close to each of them, as much as a boy with autism could make connections, but over the last couple of years it had seemed different. He was really starting to feel like he could connect with people, like he understood. He felt like his life was changing. He felt, well…he felt almost normal, whatever that really meant.
But this was surely too much for him. Had he really just snapped, completely gone crazy? Was he going to wake up to find that he was in a padded room in a straightjacket? Or was there even the glimmer of the possibility that any of this could be real?
"No, I don't get it," came the words from Jacob's mouth and he stopped. He had only thought he had thought the words. They were not intended for anyone else to hear.
"Jacob, don't you think it is strange that you are able to speak and understand, when you have never spoken aloud before?" Joseph posed.
"I, I don't
know, " Jacob stammered.
"And with each time you do speak, the stutter eases and the words flow more easily?"
Jacob’s mouth popped open in an "o". He had been wondering all of this himself and he still did not understand it.
"Things are changing, Jakey. You are changing. When you wake in the morning, you will not be the same timid boy who went to sleep. You are going to find your voice. It will be almost as if you were never afflicted with the autism. Remember what I said earlier? That the Baxter family had nothing but strong, strapping young men who were the picture of health? You have been the one exception to that rule. And the error is going to be set to rights."
Jacob stared intently at his grandfather, a look of disbelief coloring his features.
"Oh, don't look at me so incredulously. Everyone will consider it a miracle. They will say that the therapies have worked, you have made a marvelous turn, and are finally improving after your parents have poured hundreds upon thousands of dollars into experimental therapies. I wish I could say it was coincidence but it was most probably by design. There needed to be a logical explanation. There needed to be a reason for this young woman to come into your life or everything that happened to your grandmother would have been for naught."
Jacob stood and started pacing the clearing. Joseph let him. He knew that his grandson needed time to process everything that was happening. If he tried to interrupt or intervene now, the situation could become volatile and everything would fail.
What he never explained to the boy was who all of these other people were in the clearing. And that would have to be an explanation for another time. The sky was darkening. In the dream world, things are the opposite. Night is day and day is night. The darkening of the sky meant that the boy would have to wake soon and their conversation would have to come to an end.
As Jacob paced, he picked at the seams on his pajamas, slowly unraveling the thin thread in his clothing. This was typical for Jacob, one of his coping mechanisms when he was overwhelmed. It was possibly more habit than anything else at this stage of the game but in his mind it helped him to focus, to think. And he needed to focus now. He needed to wrap his mind around all that was happening.
The bottom line is he could choose to accept what he was being told or he could choose to ignore it, blow it off as just a crazy dream. It would not change the outcome much but the latter option would ultimately drive him mad. Joseph knew this because he had tried to fight the gift he had been given for so many years, until it nearly destroyed him at 18, and he had no choice but to accept it. He could not make these decisions for his grandson, as much as it pained him to see him suffering through this right now.