Storytime Trysts: Where The Heart Is Pt 1

Flipping through the paper, the headlines shouting;

World News: The end is near, Mayan calendar to expire 12/21/2012.

Finance: The left and right stalemate, Fiscal cliff looms closer.

Local: Former police officer convicted in death of seven year old. 1955 cold case solved.

Sports: Freshman makes history winning Heisman trophy, dating model.

Sav slammed the paper down reeling from the onslaught. Every section announced with less than significant and certainly not positive news. “Why do I buy this crap? What is the world coming to?” The house was quiet; no one was listening. No one was home. The cats never answered anyway. The returning silence did little to placate her mood. She’d taken the day off to prepare and celebrate the Solstice and her mood would need to improve to do that.

It was Yule. Once upon a time it would have been just another day. Not anymore. Solstice night had come again and with it time to welcome back the light half of the year. A time for celebration and alignment within and without, it should be a time of renewal. Tomorrow was the twenty-first – doomsday to some as the paper was wont to remind her. To her, and others like her though it was a special time. Baden was stuck overseas, which deepened the dour mood exponentially. They had promised to talk at the turning of the clock there and here, but it wouldn’t be the same. Sabbats were special and should be time spent together.

They’d done all of the prep together, making duplicates of everything so though the phone bill would be astronomical they could do the little things together, sort of. Candles had been anointed, herbs bundled, petitions written, even their garb had been prepared together. His sealed in plastic for the transatlantic flight, hers laid out in the spare room. The only difference would be the log which he had convinced her probably wouldn’t make it through customs, nor he if he had to try to explain it to the agents at the gate. She’d made a small one for symbolism and wrapped it carefully before he left. The lone candle would not be the same as the piece they had prepared for their home that she would light without him, but it would have to do. Watching the flames dance as the piece from last year lit the new years’ had been a favorite part of the celebration for her and would be somber without him by her side setting the bark to flame, but she would do it. His small model with the lone candle that wouldn’t set off the fire alarms would be a hollow comparison, but she hoped he would appreciate the symbolism and effort she’d made. Sav busied herself with the day, all the while growing more melancholy. They had never been apart on a Sabbat and she found she liked it less than not one bit. His call came early, hours before she herself would be ready, but the country and the Atlantic put him well ahead of her in time. The verbal celebration falling short of the live, but what choice did they have?

She had not always celebrated the Sabbats. She had not always known them. Having been raised in a Christian home she’d been Santa’d and Christmas’d all her life. Solstice was a new adventure when she was in grade school, but really just another door on the Advent calendar hiding a chocolate in her parents’ home. Baden had changed that. Not overtly. No, meeting him had woken her up to new realities and perspectives. He hadn’t proselytized his beliefs or condemned hers, he had only ever asked, ‘Why?’ Initially, she had liked the banter and felt the depth of her faith in her replies. Being fantastically intelligent though that was short-lived and she began to be angry with herself for not being able to answer some things, or answer them to her satisfaction and logic. The things she had always taken on faith came back in new ways that made her dive deeper looking for understanding of the world she’d always known. Her quest began at a time that she couldn’t pinpoint and looking back didn’t try, the journey had begun. What she found and came to understand and believe accounted for the change. Baden had just been the catalyst and she would never have the words to thank him or the ability to show him how deeply she loved him for it. He had charged her to learn and to think, to use the brain and intelligence she had been gifted with. With an IQ in the 170’s she was rather assured of herself and her knowledge until she wasn’t. He was a cold slap of reality and reason to an already logical person, but only ever with kisses. She learned herself through new eyes and then turned them on the world around her. It was enlightening, liberating, and empowering.

Sitting at the table, hours since his call but not yet time for her Yule celebration rituals to begin, she thought about how far she had come, how far she had to go, and how far apart they were. It had only been three hours since their call and she uttered the same three letters that continued to shape her life, ‘Why?’ Pining for him, blinking back tears, glancing at the Yule log in the fireplace waiting for them it was all she could say, “Why?’

Today's story is from Abyrne Mostyn. His book Swingers was featured on our blog, and is still in archives. The completed book is available at Amazon.