After confirming the time and place, Gabriel set to look somewhat presentable. His hair looks a bit disheveled from not keeping it neatly cut since the whole situation started, but it’s not completely tragic, just needs more combing – except he forgot his comb at Kevin’s and Michael has a dandruff problem…Maggie won’t mind if he borrows her comb. Probably. Maybe.
As Gabriel looked through what to wear for tomorrow, he hears Michael and Janice returning, as the two talked, “Four. Each. That will take some time getting used to.”
“It’s almost a month right? So a month left to figure things out.” Janice pointed out.
“What do kittens even need?”
“Google is free and I’m pretty sure Mrs. Prescott is still alive.”
“Why-oh, right, cat lady. She gotta know some cat things.”
“Better question is,” Janice teased, “What are you gonna name them all?”
“Did I hear that right? Four kittens each?”
Michael nearly jumped to the ceiling (like a startled cat in a cartoon, hah) and looked at his younger brother, “Hello, Gabriel. I can see why they became cats now…and, yes, you heard right. 8 siblings from mom and dad…why do I feel that tops the current title holder of the weirdest sentence said?”
Janice shrugs at that with Gabriel shaking his head in a ‘no clue’.
++++
The next day, Gabriel was waiting at the bus stop, anxiously checking the clock seemingly every minute for the time and each bus for the number.
“Gabriel! Oh my goodness! You grew so tall!” Dana ran up to hug him.
With an enthusiastic hug back, Gabriel also shot back, “Nah, looks like you just stopped growing.”
Laughing together, they went to a small café that had an outdoor deck when it was still warm out, grabbed a coffee and some rather delicious looking pastries and took up a spot on the deck to talk. Gabriel learned that Dana had left home after one too many complaints about ‘not being able to find the right church to join’ – even though they scoffed at a number of good churches that actually did their communities charity work and passed them by – and set on the road to find her place. Dana had joined a group of equally ambitious girls on a trip and – through series of what can be best described as comedy shenanigans – ended up meeting the budding commune.
“So, what exactly is the commune you’re part of about?” That was the one major question that had been itching Gabriel, but he had felt it wasn’t a conversation to have through a messenger app.
Dana perked up instantly at that and pulled out a book that had clearly been handed around, “Oh, do I got something good, take a look!”
Gabriel carefully took the book and started to thumb through. He had assumed it was a type of bible at first, but this seemed more like somebody rewrote a person’s memoirs with a more fantasy feel to it. Gabriel looked at Dana, “Well, you probably remember my grades in Lit, so, cliff notes?”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Dana took the book, scooted closer and started talking, “The head of the commune, Clarice, discovered her late grand-uncles treasure chest – he had been an adventurer in his day – which housed a number of interesting objects, like statuettes, fragments of a carved wall, some scrolls in a language long dead and a more readable and intact stone tablet that tells the story of a goddess and her mission of balance.”
“So…a myth of sorts?”
Dana looked at him deadpan, “Why is everything not with the god with the big g instantly labelled as myth? Those were all religions of the people!”
Gabriel raised his hands in surrender, “I…can’t answer that, but what exactly does this goddess have to do with the commune?”
“Well, for one, it adds another creation legend, but this one…seems to match what had been going on via evolution.”
“Meaning…?”
Dana opened a different page and showed a passage there, “That life came from a fish that decided to walk on land and such – it all seemed to be the work of a higher being who was more than curious and had the power to make it all real. While it doesn’t mean she is behind everything, the major cause of what pushed this or that to happen seemed to have been her handy work.”
“So, the world was her sandbox.” Gabriel concluded, “And she got tired of the dinosaurs and probably ended them to give herself a fresh start.”
“Bit crude, but that is the idea of what happened.” Dana shrugged, “Either that or she just saw the meteorite ram into the planet and started making things happen afterwards.”
“I’m guessing she had some worshippers.” Noting the designs of statues on the page edges.
“You would be right,” New page opened and a design of a temple was drawn on the page, “She definitely hung around and made an impression on the early civilizations. Except,” Next page showed a photo what looks like a lot of rubble and remnants of the walls, “Problem with early civilizations is that after the last one dies, nobody has memory of you.”
“So…what happened to her?”
“Best guess? A: She got bored and left, B: she thought humans could take care of themselves or C: she had to leave for some only known to her reason.”
“Is that what you guys do there then? Theorize about the lost goddess?” There wasn’t any snark or malice in Gabriel’s words – only curiosity. While he may have doubts about yet another creator deity, his life had taken a strange turn recently, so there may be something at work there.
“Well, yes and no,” Dana began to explain, “Clarice and her more experienced friends go to possible locations of where could the temples have been or are taking a thorough look through temples that have no known deity attached to it to find the clues. And they have found something. The rest of us girls can just chill and enjoy the farm life, with some translating work to do on occasion, so everyone is on the same page of what we know.”
“So, like a school project, but with nobody to disappoint you.” Dana snorted at that comparison.
“Yes, but, some of us also get missions to do nearby. It’s why I was coming here in the first place.”
“You think there is a temple hidden here?” He may give the benefit of the doubt on the magic and myths, but that was ludicrous even to Gabriel’s ears.
“Not a temple,” Dana shook her head, “We think, the goddess has returned.”
“What?”
“We have theories, the leading ones are that the goddess returned and is working on one problem at a time with the care it needs or…she chose an avatar to fulfill her mission. Tiffany is banking on that the goddess lived a life or a few as a human to understand the problem, but that seems more tedious, so my votes on the avatar.”
“And you think this avatar is here?” Gabriel looked around, trying to see if he can spot whoever this person could be – and wondering how anybody could even tell such a person apart from others.
“There are changes across the world,” Dana agrees, “But it’s mostly wars being stopped and famine giving way to unseen quantities of crop. But here? There is a major change in the balance. People are coming out, realising who they are, love is growing in unseen numbers, people who lost connections decades ago due to time or bad choices, enemies become friends and lovers…honestly? I think the avatar of the goddess is here, somewhere.”
Gabriel considers that bit of information, pondering on what this could mean for the world – clearly, it’s not a terrible thing, especially if the pattern persists, but who’s to say if something were to change for the worse? All the comic books keep saying it takes one bad day and the hero can turn into a villain.
Then a thought occurs, “Wait, my parents…has any other Reverend or their wife been changed so far?”
“Umm,” Dana looks through her notes, eyes moving like minnows for the data, “If it has, we haven’t gotten new of it. Why?”
“If this avatar exists…why would they even think to start with my parents…”
Understanding dawns in her eyes, “Unless it’s someone close to your family. But who?”