Epilogue to The Giver

Epilogue

As the sled skidded to a stop on the icy slope, Jonas noticed something odd about the people in the windows of the houses. Their faces were waxy, their bodies stationary. He heaved himself up and staggered over to a window, clutching Gabriel to his chest. The fires that he had received from the Giver flickered, constantly changing, and there were many colors within the flame. The fire in these houses seemed to be still, frozen. They reminded Jonas of the pictures in books that the Giver had shown him. The music seemed to come from metal boxes set by the fires, voices came from the box, making Jonas wonder if these strange inhabitants kept tiny people in the metal rectangles.

       Gabriel began to cry, and Jonas felt close to tears himself. To have come all this way, only to find a village filled with fake people and odd music seemed too cruel. Jonas walked around to the other houses. Each held a similar scene as the first; a fake family with their fake flames. As he neared the farthest home, he again noticed something different. The windows of this house were blackened, and beyond the house, the trees did not move with the breeze. He cautiously lifted a hand to touch the space beside the house, but drew back upon contact. It was solid. He felt again, and realized that instead of empty air, there was a wall. Gabriel had gone quiet, and Jonas thought he could hear the snowflakes land. Then he heard a voice—voices! They seemed to come from behind the wall. He rushed to the door and turned the cool metal handle. The door swung in, and Jonas stepped through into a warm, well lighted room.

    As he entered he heard a female voice say “fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. None of the Experimentals have made it this far. The stamina!”

    “What… Who are you?” he croaked.

 

“SBWs. Scientists for a Better World. We have set up many unique examples of life, in order to see which the Experimentals survive better in.”

Jonas began to feel very dizzy. He stumbled forward, causing Gabriel to resume crying. As he stumbled again, hands shot out to take Gabriel. He only resisted for a moment, thinking it better for Gabe to be held by strange people the smushed against the floor.

“Easy now. I know it’s a lot to take in. You need food and some warmth.”

“I’m so tired…. I feel dizzy. I-“ At that point Jonas collapsed.

  When he blinked open his eyes, he thought for a moment that he was lying in his own bed in his family unit, but as he glanced up at the cement block ceiling, it all came rushing back. The Giver. The plan and escape. Wandering for days through strange land. And then the Scientists for a Better World. Suddenly Jonas sat up, looking around for Gabriel. The last thing he remembered before he collapsed was Gabe being taken from him.

“Hello?”  he cried out tentatively.

“Ah. Finally awake I see.” A man came in from the doorway, walking over to Jonas. “Do you remember everything?”

“Yes. I’m full of memories. But not full of food. Could I have something to eat?”

 

“Very well. Food first.” The man turned to the door. “Bring something for the boy.”

 

“Thank you, um, I’m afraid I don’t know your name.”

 

“How silly of me. I apologize—“

“I accept your apology” Jonas replied automatically.

 

The man looked at him curiously. “I never liked your section. Too wordy. My name is Max. I’m the head of SBW. What do you want to know first?”

A thousand things rushed through Jonas’ mind. A woman came in and set a tray of food down. Jonas took a bite of toast before replying. “Was my world real? Did anyone know we were ‘Experimentals’? Did the Giver know?”

“No. No one knew. It would have ruined the experiment. We observed each town from afar. Some SBW’s were hidden in the community occasionally, making sure life moved as normal.”

        “You allowed babies to be killed! You—you took away color and music!”

“The ‘Release’ as your section called it was rather nicer than some traditions in others. As for color and music, no one missed it.”

“They didn’t know what they WERE missing!”

“Don’t excite yourself. It had to be done for all of the other people. Some early sections lost hearing or sight, but that didn’t work.” Max laughed at Jonas’ look of shock. “I think it’s time I showed you the Outside World. We’ll drive around for a while. You don’t have to talk to anyone, but you can see what you’ve been missing.”

 

Jonas nodded mutely, but his mind was still seething with unanswered questions. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that he had spent his entire life as part of some experiment. That he’d been watched. That outside of his community, being Receiver seemed laughable.

 

“Come on boy! We haven’t got all day.” Max’s voice snapped his train of thought, and Jonas rose and trailed after him.

As he walked through the halls of whatever this was, he felt dirty and out of place. He was the only one except for Gabriel from his Community…. Gabriel! Jonas felt guilty for not having thought of it earlier. “Max? Max!”

  

“Yes Jonas?”

 

“Where’s Gabriel?”

“The baby you brought with you is being cared for very carefully. You did a pretty good job keeping him alive given the circumstances. We can see him after we return.”

Jonas felt relieved. He looked around them, noticing that they were in a windowless, musty room. Max walked over to a car, opening the door and gesturing for Jonas to join him.

As Max and Jonas drove out into the sunlight, Jonas felt what little he knew about life fall away. There were so many people! Males wearing tight pants, not wearing tunics, and the females! All different sorts of hair, pants (!), circles hanging out of their ears. It was all too strange. Males and females were touching each other, holding hands, touching their mouths together, Jonas was overwhelmed. He jumped out of the car, wanting to walk around and explore.

“Jonas! Jonas get out of the street!!” Max was yelling frantically.

Jonas turned in time to see a large vehicle hurtling towards him, the shocked expression on the drivers face, and the screech of tires followed by a deafening crunch, then nothing. He heard nothing, felt nothing, but as if through a tunnel, Jonas saw light. A bright, shining light. And quiet voices, growing louder. Jonas heard music, real beautiful music. It was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.

The End