I thought about it for a minute and didn't think that sounded so good. It might be good at first, but after a while, you'd probably get sick of butterscotch this and butterscotch that . . . everything sticky, and then you'd be stuck in a place made of butterscotch for eternity and . . .
Xander's voice, which had been droning on, interrupted my thoughts as I continued to use the stick to sketch in the dirt. ". . . butterscotch clouds, and butterscotch flowers, and butterscotch houses, and butterscotch furniture . . ."
Suddenly we heard what sounded like a soft childish giggle and swiveled our heads back and upward and caught sight of a blonde head leaning quickly away from the window, likely a council member's kid. I looked back at Xander who had a confused look on his face and suddenly we heard a woman's voice calling, "Who's out there?" and the window above came slamming down.
Xander and I stared at each other for a second with wide eyes and then we jumped up and ran.
**********
The large wooden Temple was already crowded just like we had known it would be. As workers, Xander and I had to sit in the back, and we grumbled about the bad luck of getting caught outside the lodge. Now we wouldn't have the close-up view of the princess before we made our way to the over-stuffed building. In order to see the platform at the front where the council sat and Hector preached from, we’d have to crane our necks.
For the most part, the worker groups stood together in Temple: the crop and water keepers, the animal tenders, and the watchers (those who looked after our security) on the left side, and the teachers, weavers, sewers, and builders on the right side. Between our groups, we kept our four-hundred-acre community fed, safe, outfitted, educated, and sheltered.
Hector had named it Acadia, which meant "Place of Plenty." And it was true, because we had everything we needed, well, other than Coca-Cola. But I supposed that wasn't technically a need, and it wasn't like I could talk about that anyway.
My mom smiled at me when she saw me enter the Temple and waved me over. I nodded at Xander as he went over to where his family stood a little bit to the right of mine. My dad pulled me in front of him and put his arms around my shoulders so his hands were clasped in front of my chest and we took up as little room as possible. I inhaled the smell of soap coming from my dad's skin and leaned back into him, feeling safe. I glanced next to us at my mom, who stood with my sister, Maya, in the same position. Maya had been born with a leg that didn't work quite right, and so even though she was a member of our family and would naturally help with the duties surrounding the watering of the land and making sure our people always had a supply of clean drinking water, because of her birth defect, she couldn't do physical labor. Instead, she helped the women who sewed the clothing and the bedding and, well, I wasn't quite sure what else needed to be sewed. I guessed if I looked around, there were plenty of things, but I didn't give all that a whole lot of thought. Maya was a year older than me, but she was a whole lot smaller and mentally younger because of something called Down syndrome. My parents told me it meant Maya had been born with an extra chromosome. I looked down at her and she grinned up at me, wrinkling her nose. I grinned back down at her and grabbed her hand in mine and squeezed it three times, and her grin grew larger as she squeezed my hand back three times, too.
A couple months back, after she yelled after me as I was leaving the house, "I love you, Calder!" in front of all my friends, and they started laughing, I had walked back to her and told her I was too old for that, and so was she as a matter of fact. I had told her to give it a rest. She had looked crushed and I immediately felt guilty, so later I'd told her we could still say it, it just needed to be more covert. From then on, we'd squeeze the other's hand three times to mean, "I love you." It was our own secret code.
The thing about Maya was it was like that extra chromosome was filled to bursting with love. So filled up, it was constantly leaking out of her in some shouty way, and she just couldn't keep it inside her. It had to come out in some way, shape or form. But I guessed when you love someone, you put up with all their faults, even the especially loud ones.
A hush fell over the crowd as the doors right behind us swung open, and Hector Bias started walking purposefully down the center aisle with the council behind him. Hector was a tall, strong-looking man who held himself like the leader he was. He had a head of golden hair that he wore long and sometimes put in a ponytail at the back of his neck. His eyes were a bright, crystal blue that seemed to be able to see straight through you. The few times he had spoken directly to me, I had had to force myself to hold eye contact with him. Something about those eyes made you feel unworthy—like you weren't good enough to look too long at something so beautiful.
The doors behind him swung shut and I frowned in disappointment. Would we not meet his new wife today?
I looked forward as Hector took his place behind the podium at the front as the council, all four of them, took their seats behind him. He looked around at us with an expression on his face that made me stand up taller in pride. I felt my dad behind me do the same. One day, I was going to sit up on that podium behind Hector and take the place of one of the council members. I felt purpose flowing through me.
Hector raised his arms, as if in slow motion, and his voice boomed, "Behold the blessed one. My bride and your mother. Eden!"
Two of the council members stood and walked back up the long center aisle and each opened one of the large wooden doors, stepping to the side as they held them wide open. The crowd seemed to hush even more as we turned in unison, and a feeling I couldn't explain swept through me—something that felt like a mixture of fear and happiness.
Everything was utterly still.
Suddenly, a breeze blew in, bringing with it swirling dried leaves that danced down the aisle and came to rest on the floor. At the same time, the wind chimes that hung in front of the Temple started tinkling as if, until that very moment, the entire world had been holding its breath. I craned my neck to see what everyone was looking at and that's when I saw her—a little girl, even smaller than Maya, walking slowly down the aisle, a look of terror on her face. My eyes widened as I took her in. She was wearing a white, lace dress—like a tiny bride—and her pale blonde hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. And her face . . . I felt my heart lurch in my chest at the beauty of that small face. Her lips were full and pink, and I could see they were quivering slightly as her eyes darted around. Suddenly, they fell on me and my breath hitched as our gazes met and held, her blinking and me staring. I couldn't see the color of her eyes from where I was standing, but something in them held me captive. And then she looked away and the spell was broken. I let out a big exhale of breath as she moved farther down the aisle, and I could only see her small back.
Some strange instinct told me to run after her and take her hand. I suddenly realized I was still holding Maya's and my grip had tightened so much she was glaring at me. I loosened it and smiled apologetically at her and then looked back at the girl who now stood next to Hector at the podium.
"My beloveds," Hector said, beaming at us and raising his arms again. "Today is a magnificent day. Today is a day filled with the glory of the gods." He looked around at each of us again. "Today is the day you all meet Eden." He put his hands on the small shoulders of the girl next to him and moved behind her.
I frowned in confusion and looked up and back at my dad and then over at my mom's faces and they both had matching looks of pure pleasantness. I mimicked their small, accepting smiles and turned back around to where Hector and the little girl, the blessed one, Eden, stood. Evidently, I was the only one in my family thinking this was an interesting turn of events.
Hector continued, "I know you're probably surprised to see your mother is so small, so young. As was I when I first laid my eyes upon her and saw she had the mark." He turned Eden, who was looking around the Temple with wide eyes, and directed her to a chair in the center of the council’s seating arrangement. She sat down primly, her hands clasped in her lap—perhaps shaking slightly, although it was hard to see from where I was standing—her lace dress pooling on the floor.
When Hector turned back to us and began speaking again, I moved my eyes away from Eden with effort. Hector moved back behind his podium, looking thoughtful. "The ways of the gods are not always clear to us—are not always predictable, or easily understood. And yet, the gods always know best, do they not?"
"Yes, Father," we said in unison.
Hector nodded and leaned forward casually, resting his forearms on the podium and lacing his fingers together. "Yes, the gods always know best, and the gods always provide. And so the day I saw Eden and recognized the mark on her shoulder that foretold the identity of the blessed one—my perfect balance and harmony—I went back to the home where I was staying and prayed to the gods. How could this be? How could the blessed one, my bride, my wife, the one to lead us into Elysium, how could she be nothing more than a child? My beloveds, I had the same questions I'm sure you have as well."
Hector raised his arms slightly and banged them back down on the podium, startling us. Raising his voice he continued, "That night I prayed to the gods. Please guide me! Don't let me let my people down! My beloveds, they're the reason for my very existence!" He dropped his head slightly, looking wracked with emotion. When he brought his head back up, his eyes were shining.
"I cried and prayed all night long. And finally . . . finally in the early hours of dawn, the gods spoke to me in a whisper." Hector looked around the room and I held my breath, waiting to hear what the gods had said to him. It had to be good.
"‘She is the one,’ they said. ‘Her name is Eden, and she is the one.’"
He paused and looked around again and then turned and held out one arm to Eden, as if presenting her one more time before turning back to us.
"And so she has come to live with us, a child who before was an orphan, alone in the world. And when she reaches her eighteenth year, she will become my beloved, my one and only bride. And as the foretelling has said, we will live together as man and wife for two months and six days before the mighty flood comes and destroys the earth and all the people and animals, and we, the blessed people of the gods, will be escorted to the glorious fields of Elysium where there is no more pain, no more struggles, and never, never any tears."
I felt a chill run through me, just as it always did when Hector spoke of the great flood and our journey to Elysium. Only now, we had a timeframe and now, we knew that the great flood was years and years away—for Eden couldn't be older than eight . . . probably closer to seven. She was so small. I felt my shoulders relax.
"Eden will sit in her place of honor during every Temple meeting, and she will be looked upon with honor and love. Please welcome her with the adoration she deserves."
We all dropped down to our knees and bowed our heads, my mother taking Maya onto her lap, as Maya couldn’t bend her leg. We kneeled like this for several minutes until Hector said, "Rise," and we did. I looked back up at Eden and she was looking around, a more curious look on her face now as she took us all in.
I wondered what it had been like where she came from. I wondered if she had lived in a house, or maybe an apartment. I wondered if she had eaten sugar cubes and drunk Coca-Cola. I wished I could talk to her and ask her all sorts of questions. But, of course, that wasn't possible.
I realized Hector had started speaking again as my mind had drifted away to sugar cubes and Coca-Cola. "As if Eden's presence isn't enough of a surprise, I have one more for you on this glorious day." He paused. "On my travels, I also came across Teresa. Teresa, beloved, will you come up here, please?"
A skinny woman with brown hair and hollow cheeks stood up and started making her way to the front where Hector stood, larger than life itself. Teresa joined him and looked around at the crowd embarrassed-like, finally bowing her head and staring at the floor.
"Before she came here, Teresa led a wicked life," Hector said, shaking his head with what looked to be unbearable sadness. "I found her in an alleyway, offering to do depraved sexual acts for money." Teresa seemed to shrink in front of us even further as several people made disapproving sounds and others gasped and shook their heads. "She had been prostituting herself for drugs since she was sixteen years old. She's thirty-six now."
Hector came up behind her, towering over her as he grasped one of her bony shoulders in a fatherly way. Then he let go and walked past her to the side of the stage where several vases of flowers stood on pedestals. He carefully plucked a perfect, white lily out of a bouquet and walked back toward Teresa with it.
My eyes moved to Eden to see her following Hector's every move. Her hands still rested prettily in her lap and her shaking seemed to have stopped.
Hector stood in front of us all looking at the perfection of the lily before bringing it carefully to his nose and inhaling deeply. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
He simply stood this way for several beats before opening his eyes again and walking forward to Jeffrey Parker in the front row where he handed the lily to him and nodded. Jeffrey nodded back and then passed the lily to another man right behind him.
We were all quiet as we watched the lily be passed around the Temple, from one man to another and then finally back toward the front where Hector walked to Boris Friedman in the front row to retrieve it.
Hector looked down at the lily sadly. It was now bent and bruised, one of its petals hung down, ready to fall at any moment, a truly sad sight to behold. He brought it to his nose again and inhaled and then frowned down at the lily as if the sweet scent was no longer there.