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| Desert Diary |
Desert Diary
Owen and I were brought a baby today; Ben has asked us to raise him. He is the only family left to me now, as we are to him. My only sister's child. A tiny, fair-haired boy with his dead mother's wide, blue eyes.
Owen is acting strangely toward Ben. I can hear them shouting at each other in the courtyard. Their differences go back a long way; but they agree, at least,that this baby must be protected.
As happy as I am to have a child at last, I cannot help but think of the tragedy that brings him to us, and what hardship lies before him still!
We have a meager life here. Nothing comes easily for us on this barren wasteland of a farm.
Ben believes this to be the best and safest place for this child; so we will do our best to give him a happy life - although a poor one.
And we will love him.
So much is being said about times and people long gone.
There is talk of what is coming; not speculation, but serious foretelling. It frightens me.
This baby belongs to some plan Ben has; belongs to a place in the future that waits for him. How can our love and protection mean everything for this child - and nothing?
They speak in hushed tones now, about destiny and time; as though something evil were listening, not just me. I can only imagine what weight already rests upon the shoulders of this sky-eyed baby.
It is Ben's hope that a hard and honest life will strengthen -not defeat-him. It is mine that he grow to be strong of will and kind of spirit.
I can see many things in this child's eyes-things I cannot decipher-but one thing is not in him. Defeat.
When he is older it will be hard to let go; even harder to keep so much truth from him. Promises have been made, and I have the feeling we have set foot upon a path we dare not stray from.
It is a feeling I cannot escape as easily as I move from the angry voices beyond the door. It is a heart-stopping realization that we have clasped the unyielding hand of fate in the tiny fingers of this beautiful baby.
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