At the same time
Book1
Meeting
On a road that was traveling in only two directions, a girl was pulling her red wagon. And from the opposite direction, a boy walking towards her was pulling his green wagon.
When they met in the middle, the boy said “oh, hello”.
“Hello” answered the girl with a small wave.
“Where you going?” asked the boy.
“I am going to fix my wagon” answered the girl.
“Oh! I am going to fix my wagon too!” exclaimed the boy.
“What’s wrong with your wagon?” asked the girl.
“It is pulling me in the wrong direction. It doesn’t want to go straight” explained the boy. “What’s wrong with yours?”
“Mine became so heavy that it is hard to pull. Even though, as you see, there is nothing in it” complained the girl. “But why are you going in this direction?” she inquired, pointing to the way she had just come?
“Oh” said the boy, ” because I heard about an old man who fixes crooked wagons and he lives in this direction” he replied.
“That’s funny. I heard about an old woman who fixes heavy wagons and she lives in that direction” replied the girl, pointing to the road ahead of her.
“Oh, really?” said the boy. “How far do you have to go?”
“I don’t know, and you?” asked the girl.
“I don’t know... what if we will get lost?” asked the boy with concern.
“That’s silly” responded the girl. This road only travels in two directions. Whether we find them or not, we‘ll come back. I will meet you again very soon & this time with your wagon pulling straight, you’ll see”.
“OK. See you soon” said the boy and he began walking in this direction.
“See you soon” waved the girl and she started walking in that direction.
No sooner had they disappeared from each other’s sight did the girl and the boy arrive exactly the same time to their destinations!
When the old woman, who fixes heavy wagons and lives in that direction, opened the door and looked at the girl and her red wagon, the old man, who lives in this direction and fixes crooked wagons opened his door and looked at the boy and his green wagon.
“There you are” said the man and the old woman at the same time.
“Oh hello”, said the boy, as usual to an old man. And “Hello” said the girl to an old woman. “Do you fix wagons?” the girl and the boy asked at the same time.
“It depends what’s wrong with them” the old woman, and the old man answered to their visitors also at exactly same time.
“My wagon is getting very heavy and I don’t know why? Perhaps you can fix it“ inquired the girl with a curious look.
“Let’s bring it in” said the old woman. “Fixing heavy wagons is my specialty”.
“That’s what I heard” the girl nodded and they both pulled the wagon to the house.
“You have no tools here” noticed the girl, glancing around.
“They are like your load, invisible” answered the old woman.
“I don’t understand” thought the girl to herself, but she said “I understand”.
“You see! There it is!”
“What?” asked the girl, confused.
“The load! You thought to yourself, “I don’t understand”, but you said to me “I understand”.”
“What does that have to do with my load?” questioned the girl.
“You see, explained the woman, “the wagon is not getting heavier, you are getting weaker”.
“I am?”
“Yes, if you won’t speak your truth, you will get very weak” said the old woman; “So weak that it will become hard to pull your own weight”.
“Really? And that’s from not speaking my truth?”
“Yes, “continued the woman, when you don’t speak the truth, you get lost in the world where all is heavy.”
“And then I will sigh and say that the life is hard, like Mrs. Ramsey” the girl replied, pensively.
“Exactly! With time, when you don’t speak the truth you will not be able to think truth and then… you won’t see the difference between a truth and a falsehood in the world around you.”
“I see the difference!” answered the girl indignantly.
“Yes. You do” nodded the old woman “because you are nine. You have not yet forgotten what the truth looks like”
“I will never forget!”
“Good, now you can check your wagon. Pull it outside and see”.
“Wow! Exclaimed the girl excitedly, “It is much lighter! Thank you! I will remember to look for the truth everywhere” and she ran off in this direction with her light wagon, waving good bye to the old woman.
At precisely the time the girl was greeted by the old woman, the boy said: “Oh hello” to the old man and asked him “Do you fix wagons?”
“It depends on what’s wrong with them” answered the old man.
“It is pulling me in the wrong direction. The boy explained in frustration. “It doesn’t want to go straight”.
“Yes, I can fix your wagon”. The old man replied encouragingly. “I can see that you think you will get lost a lot. You get scared and you can get swayed easily because you think you don’t know your direction”.
“But I don’t!” retorted the boy crossly.
“Oh, but you do…”whispered the old man with a knowing smile, and the boy moved closer to hear him better. “Just because you were told to listen to grownups doesn’t mean you don’t know your direction”.
“So why do I have to listen to grownups if I know my direction?” questioned the boy, not cross any longer.
The old man thought for a moment and continued: ”Because there are two kinds of directions. The first one is inside of you, the other is outside you”
“I have a road inside me?!” Boy looked scared.
“Now you are scared again” noticed the old man. “Yes, there are many roads inside you. All, at first are invisible. We come to this world hoping to travel them all and when we travel them, they become visible.”
“I have invisible roads and I will travel them to make them visible? I am lost… (ups), sorry”
“Yes, you have invisible roads and you will travel them to make them visible, and yes you get lost a lot” The old man smiled, and the boy looked more curious than lost at that moment.
The old man continued assuredly, “It’s like with your visit here. You knew you wanted to have your wagon fixed, that’s your direction. You also had to ask grownups if they knew who fixed crooked wagons and where he could be found. That was their knowing of direction. They knew where to send you, but you knew why you wanted to come here” The old man was still smiling and the boy began to smile with understanding.
“I heard about an old man who fixes crooked wagons, who lives in this direction, because I knew that my wagon needed to be fixed. They didn’t even know this. Mr. Ramsey said “wagons get like that when you use them a lot”, but I knew it could be fixed!” The boy looked very satisfied.
“That’s right!” encouraged the old man “You knew what you wanted as a result, but you don’t always know where to get it. You know what you want to achieve, but you don’t know how to do it and that is why you need to ask, search, and sometimes wait for the direction to be shown to you.”
“I understand!” the boy jumped up off his chair enthusiastically “When I don’t know what I want and what can I accomplish the road moves in all directions… I get confused and scared.”
“Yes, yes,” beamed the old man. “You think you don’t know what you want to accomplish, but really - you do, deep inside you - you do”.
“I know!” “I know!” “My wagon will go straight now!”
“You might come again for a tune-up in the future” offered the old man
“Oh yes, I will know for certain now when my wagon needs a tune up and I know where to go to fix it. Now I know of both directions!
The boy smiled knowingly and ran off in that direction with his wagon following straight behind him, waving good bye to the old man.
The End (book 1 of 12)
Edited by Jasmine Jessen
Copyright: Yaga Bialski Oct. 15 2012