To Come Home

Chapter 5: Grandfather's Secrets

*Nineyears ago in Muskoka, Ontario*

There was a bedtime story that Bucky's grandfather used to read to him when he was a kid. He had told Bucky that he found this particular story ripped out from a very old book, during one of his expeditions to Egypt; it was tucked away, deep under the golden sands in a dark and maze-like tunnel. This was the story:

The Mighty Mother and her Children

Long ago, there lived a mighty Mother,

And she was nothing like any other.

She wrote her daughters into the world with something much like a pen,

Although much more powerful, every now and then. (OR time and time again).

She gave birth to many children,

Each to be a kind of pilgrim.

One day their separate ways they'd go,

And in the winds Her influence would blow.

Scattered around the worlds she sent them,

Her hope was for each to grow, to rise like a gem.

She wanted them to evolve, as all things should,

Because to evolve was to become better, as all things could.

She never expected them to come home,

Forever on different worlds they were to roam.

Though she knew she'd miss her darlings,

She could always see them through the starlings.

This Mother had a dream you see,

She had dreams for what the worlds could be.

She hoped for Her influence to grow like the largest tree,

With every aging ring, Her knowledge was to set all free.

Expansion was to be the key,

For every new generation to completely be.

A new Mother each life to always grow,

For there is always One that must fully know.

Bucky knew this story, or rather story-poem, by heart; he still thought about it sometimes when he was feeling stressed or lost, it gave him comfort because it reminded him of his grandfather. Back when he was little, Bucky was always so excited to come to his grandfather's lakeside cottage in Muskoka for the holidays. Not even for the beautiful views or the always-accessible natural swimming pool available to him, but to listen to his grandfather's stories about his research and his journeys throughout his life, and of course to have his grandfather read his favorite story to him, The Mighty Mother and Her Children. Sometimes he would have his grandfather reread the story to him over ten times, until his father would come up and force him to go to bed.

Bucky actually used to think the story was really sad when he first heard it.

"Grandpa Harv," young 6-year-old Bucky would say to his grandpa after hearing the story for the first time, "why would you read me such a sad story?"

"Oh my dear boy, now why would you think it's sad?" his grandpa would answer warmly.

"The mommy sends her babies away, why doesn't she want them?" Bucky would ask, tears welling up in his big, bright aqua eyes.