Testament of Time
by David Peralty
Children are born every day, with so much potential. They someday become doctors, lawyers, police officers, and other roles that contribute to society. What they don’t realize though is that they are just keeping the world running. Being just one person, with one life to live means that their choices, no matter how great, really don’t matter much on a world wide scale. Even the inventors of the greatest technologies thus far, are really nothing more than a blip in history. How many people can remember who created various revolutionary technologies that we use today?
We trick ourselves into believing that we will make a difference, but instead we are just in a race to provide our DNA and thus our children the best opportunity as possible to procreate and continue on the cycle of life.
Jason Stein was born without such human limitations, and this is his story.
Chapter One: Birth
Lilian and Marshall Stein lived in a small community just outside Stonehyve. A fishing village, Stonehyve, was not the best place that the Stein family had ever lived, but they were happy to be far from their home land. Marshall was a metal worker, and while not respected very much in the community, he was able to feed his wife with their business and was able to have a reasonable parcel of land, which he worked on growing various vegetables and grains as the weather allowed. It was a good and simple life, but not one of great importance or uniqueness.
Lilian organized the home the best she could. It was not built out of the best materials, but it kept the elements from causing them any discomfort, and her husband was a good provider. They had hoped to start a family, but had been unsuccessful. Lilian had gone through three miscarriages, and was ready to give up. She would have, if her husband had not wanted a child so badly. She could see it in his eyes that it was important for him, and she held her emotions in check as best she could when he was around. It wasn’t like she did not want to be a mother, and give her husband a son or daughter, but the thought of the three children she almost had brought tears to her eyes, and left her feeling empty.
One day on his way home from another day at the small shop that Marshall kept in town, he noticed that the local healer was doing rounds in the town. He had never spoken to the man, as his distinct accent had been a problem in communicating, not that the residents of Stonehyve made it any easier. Their thick Scottish drawl was hard to understand.
Marshall swallowed his pride and went over to the man. The healer was a small, lean man, and Marshall towered over him.
“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Marshall said grabbing the healers attention.
Turning and looking up, the healer smiled widely. His orange hair fell from his cloak, and his emerald eyes peered at Marshall. “Aye, that is what I am here for, now isn’t it. What be your ailment?”
Marshall explained the problems that he and his wife had been having conceiving a child, and how there must be something that can be done about it. He tried not to sound resentful towards his wife as he explained the situation. The healer just nodded, listening to the whole story. This was not something that he had to deal with often, and never had someone approached him in the street to discuss such a private, and no doubt uncomfortable problem.
He took Marshall aside and told him how there were many things that could be tried, but many would be little more than limited success. The healer handed some powder to Marshall, gave him some instructions and wished him the best of luck. The conversation did not leave him feeling any better about the whole situation, but he was desperate.
Lilian greeted Marshall at the door, and they quickly ate some supper together. A form of flat bread and some stew were all they had eaten over the course of the last few days, and even that was quickly running out. There was little conversation over the dinner table. Marshall knew he had to get out to the field soon if he wanted to make sure they would have crops that would help them last the winter. His wife had done some work around the hovel the lived in, and set up much of what Marshall would need for working in the evening. She would no doubt get her hands dirty again, as they were between trying to have a child and were told by some medicine practitioners that physical labour was counter-productive to a successful pregnancy.
Marshall looked at his wife. She was slender, and of average height and appearance, but when he looked at her, his pain, problems, and sadness melted away. She had an air about her that made him feel powerful and rejuvenated. She had always been an exemplary wife and he felt blessed to have her in his life.
As Marshall finished his meal, Lilian stood up to clear the table, and clean up the remnants of their meal. Marshall grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. She looked at him and smiled. Her hands were slightly dirty, and rough, but her eyes were soft as silk. The blue sparkled even in the dim, dank hole they lived in. He could see the love and sadness in her, as Lilian’s eyes spoke to him. He could see the trauma that she had endured, and felt that somehow he was letting her down.
Standing up and taking her into his arms, Marshall pressed his body into hers. She only came up to the top of his shoulders, and so he had to bend down slightly to wrap his arms around her. He calmly explained his encounter with the healer in town. He couldn’t tell if the discussion had made her feel any better, or worse, but at least then she knew that he wanted to try one more time.
“Things will be better this time,” Marshall said to his wife. He was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to comfort and console her. He knew neither of them could make it better, and that there could be a chance they were just not meant to have a child. The idea bothered Marshall to his core, and no matter how hard he tried to push it out of his mind and just be happy, he knew that he was meant to be a father.
Going out to the field, he started to work on pulling out weeds and vines that continually popped up, as well as checking the plants for harvesting, a few things were close to ripe, and it looked like the harvest would be smaller this year than last year.
‘At least the bugs haven’t been so bad this year,’ Marshall thought to himself as he recalled having to cut off large sections of the previous years harvest to make sure the ripe, and untouched sections of the food did not rot faster. The infestation hit everyone hard last year, making getting supplies an expensive and work intensive duty. Everyone in the town had to raise their fees to make sure they could afford enough high quality food to make it through the winter.
After half an hour, the sun was starting to set. Marshall always loved the sunsets on the island. They just seemed different than he had experiences on the mainland when he was a boy. Lilian came out to help him finish up, and they stood looking at the horizon as the sun disappeared behind it. Breathing in the fresh evening air, he looked at his wife, and she looked at him.
“Tomorrow is going to be a great day,” she said smiling at him. Understanding what she meant, they went back into their home to lie down together.
In the morning Marshall got up and began to get ready for work. Lilian had already been up for thirty minutes preparing his breakfast. She had laid out some oats, some semi-stale flat bread as well as some smoked sheep meat that had been smoked over a month ago. Other than the smoked meat, there was really nothing that Marshall was interested in eating, but that was how things had been for quite some time. He smiled and nodded at his attentive wife, and once finished, he took his leave.
The walk to work was over half an hour, and by the time he got there, the market was already open. He watched as fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat were laid out for people to purchase. The prices were all too steep for him, and they would not be able to afford another chicken until the spring time.
Opening his shop, he started hard at work on clients that were to come sometime during the day to pick up what they had ordered done less than a week ago. The work was hard, and very unforgiving, but it was what Marshall’s father had done, and so it was what Marshall was trained to do. He was the one of the best in the county at what he did, but not the best paid by far.
A few days passed, the same as any other, working, eating, sleeping, and working some more. The harvest happened, and Marshall started making an assessment of what they had, and what they would need to purchase to survive the winter. Lilian came to her husband one morning after preparing his breakfast, and told him how she had not had her menstrual cycle in some time, and she had been feeling a little under the weather lately. Marshall’s spirit immediately picked up. Could this be the pregnancy that would deliver him a child?
“Don’t get too excited yet, dear.” Lilian exclaimed. She felt dread and sadness. Could this be just another roller coaster ride that would end with her in tears and the resentment of her husband? Would he finally leave her because she was unable to produce him a son or daughter.
With a perplexed face, Marshall spoke softly to her, “I understand how you feel, but this has to be the one. We will be careful, we will do everything for the child.” Grabbing her hand and holding it softly in his own he looked deep into her eyes. “This is the right time, and we are ready. The crop is out, and so other than keeping the house, you will relax, and we will have this child.”
Marshall sounded confident and that helped comfort Lilian, but she was not going to fool herself. Nothing was set in stone, and problems could still happen. They had tried before, and without success, it made her feel like this pregnancy was doomed from the start.
Months passed, and their lives continued without incident, as the baby continued to develop, Marshall made sure he was home more often. He had grown accustomed to making his own meals, as well as making sure the clothing he had was mended and stored properly. Lilian grew fairly weak from the pregnancy as it hit the final weeks before the baby was to be born. Their hopes and dreams sat in her bulging belly, and there was nothing they could do but hope and pray that everything would turn out alright.
The local healer had been by a few times during the pregnancy, but only as weather would allow. He had visited more and more as spring came and things warmed up. It was a very fitting time for them to have their child as the hills were glowing green, and the blossoms opened to show their beautiful red, purple and blue blooms.
Marshall had always liked the spring and fall the best, the temperate days made working over his smelt much easier.
He had noticed a horse tied to a peg outside his home one day after work, and wondered what it meant. His heart started beating rapidly, and thoughts of doubt and dread filled his mind. Rushing inside he was greeted with the cries of a baby.
The town healer looked at Marshall and smiled brightly before speaking the words that the metal worker had been waiting his whole adult life to hear: “it be a boy!”
His wife looked at him, her eyes tired, sweat on her brow. The main area of their house was a mess, but nothing other than the beautiful little boy in his wife’s arms mattered. “Thank you so much,” Marshall said to everyone, but at the same time directing it at no one. He looked at his son with awe and wonderment. Could it really be here? Did he really have a son?
With a tired mind and body, Lilian spoke, “His name is Jason.” She smiled at her husband and watched as he nodded in approval. The local healer took his leave and let the happy couple celebrate their newfound bundle of joy.
