The Great Goddess Tree Tale

XXVI - The Final Encounter

It was late night when Mat got out of the Buddhist meeting and he took his wagon, which he always left parked in the hospital, then going back home. It was a beautiful and pleasant night. Fall has finally come, but the weather was mild still, inviting to a nice walk by the beach. However, in South Coast Village, there were no beaches proper to swimming, as there were in the rest of the Isle. All the sand gravel has been removed and a large wall of stones was raised, forming the central sidewalk. The wall covered the whole extension of South Village's coast, the waves hit it directly and in times of low tide, it was possible to see the remains of the old beach. When villagers wanted to swim in the ocean, they would go to the east for hotter waters.

He drove slowly with his wagon, without a hurry, admiring the night above him. His heart was serene, something rare in the last few weeks. He was smiling alone, he enjoyed the Buddhist meeting and the topic, Karma, a lot:

"Yes...! Is it that I can change my Karma? Reciting such Mystic Law, according to the explanation given?"

He got back home and Holver was asleep. Kalima greeted him, tired:

"Wow...! If I had known that children would drain my forces, I'd have them earlier. Or wouldn't... It's exhausting... He wakes up every three hours to be breastfed. This boy is taking all the calcium of my body out."

"Yes... My love... I think everyone has their own Karma for sure, as the Buddhist said."

They talked for a while about the Buddhist meeting and Kalima was also interested in the subject. This religion had a lot in common to what she imagined about life.

Later, they went for dinner and Holver woke up. He was hungry and Kalima fed the thirsty boy. When it was time to belch, Mat took him. He liked to feel him by his chest. His tiny, fragile body would be like a tree sprout that was soon to grow up exponentially. One day, he'd be strong and robust. Maybe determined or perhaps more introverted; his son Holver had his whole life ahead. What fate or Karma had reserved for him? Would he be a strong man, of great deeds? Would he be a conqueror, an adventurer, or a more peaceful person? These things come to Mat's mind sometimes, mainly when the boy was in his arms.

After that, they both went to bed and the three of them stayed together in a beautiful familiar moment. Mat and Kalima were lying down and Holver was between them, trying to stay sitting. His body was still not firm enough and soon would fall again.

Mat made him stay set in front of him and the boy's back was held by the father's chest. They stayed like this for a while and Mat fell asleep.

He had a serene and calm rest, light, but he woke up a few hours later. His Karma has arrived.

They were in their bedroom when Kalima, with Holver on her lap, looked through the window and saw something quite intriguing. A great and bonny Tree had arisen in front of her house, spreading its long roots through the grass. She got scared. She left Holver in the crib and went out to watch that haunting closely. What was that? She made sure it was a Tree; enormous but also divinely beautiful, sculpted by the gods. When full moon rose, behind the cliffs, the color of its branches acquired a light-blue color. The silver leaves were also sparkling by the moon and Kalima could not find any explanation for that phenomenon. And moreover, it has never been on their backyard; it simply surged now.

Kalima held herself in the door observing the curious creature and soon returned to the room. The maid, who also awoke, was astonished by the living room window.

She went back to bed scared and woke Mat up. When he looked through the window and saw the "Goddess Tree" in "his house backyard," he jumped scared, and all the hair in his body bristled, even the last ingrown hair:

"!...! For all the Gods...! It is not possible...!"

"Kalima, take Holver and hide! Now! I will go out and don't come after me!"

He dressed up quickly and ran to the back of the house where he had hidden the trap. He dug the hole and took the heavy trap. It was intact and ready for use. He carried it to the front of his house. There were matches with him and would promptly light it up. He stood before the great apparition.

The Tree was there, serene and calm. Its superior branches trembled softly by the tiny delicate breeze that was flowing. If a stranger were to come there at that instant, it would solely seem as a majestic tree anchored to his garden. But it wasn't a simple tree. It was the Goddess Tree which finally appeared in Mat's garden for their final clearing.

Moving closer, he gazed around looking for the goddesses. Could not find anything, not even in the most hidden branches. He could not waste time any longer.

Without delay, he stuck the trap in the superior part of the roots, lighted the match and flared the wick.

The fire began to consume the cord and soon there would be a huge explosion.

Kalima, with Holver in her arms, and the maid, were watching the preparation of the bomb through the window when the unexpected surged suddenly.

Some small creatures suddenly jumped from a branch of medium height. They were not the goddesses. Mat who was by them, got scared by what would come next.

First came one, then two more, and finally the fourth child came!

They were coming towards Mat and he collapsed on the ground from the brutal shock caused by what he was watching. They were god children. Children from the Tree that Mat had never met. Maybe they were new sprouts that had now bloomed; as happens to the fruits and flowers; thought Mat quickly.

Astonished and petrified, he watched the tiny goddesses come and suddenly he noticed the boy and the three girls had his traces, blended with the paranormal beauty of their mothers.

They were his children! The sons of Mat with the goddesses! The sprouts he fertilized were now people's seedlings!

The goddess children now were coming towards Mat, with their respective flexible trunks in their backs. In this instant, the four goddesses went down and land by Mat side and fire continued to consume the string of the explosives...

He sat, took a breath... Gazed inside the beautiful and colorful eyes of his paranormal children. They were really his. They had his face lines and even his human imperfections, he could not deny. The tiny boy came closer, craving for the human father's touch. He took the hand of the girl and saw the green veins. The boy looked for his lap. They were beautiful, divine, and each one of them had the color of their paranormal "mothers."

It was an odd moment, unique, obtuse. With the tiny beings in his arms, Mat recognized his children; even with the deformation of the species, as they were paranormal, with the fact that they came from an obscure love with the Goddesses and finally even with that not being natural, not being human, not being acceptable. All of that was true, but they were his children. His blood mixed with the supernatural blood of the goddesses, or the Tree, which had brought the children.

He looked at each one of them and began to cry. He cried a lot; the fire was finishing its way to the bomb.

The tears were falling while he was hugging his children. He stood up and looked behind for Kalima. She was there, stunned, in the room's window with Holver in her arms. He tried to wave or even scream, but he couldn't do it. His heart was mute and lost in the trance of that beyond-human experience.

The last crack of fire hissed and Mat, looking at the bomb, hugged his children stronger and kissed them; the sweat was blending with tears, which were falling more and more through the physician's face.

And in the final moments that went through, his mind wandered through all the time he had been in the Isle, since the first day to that final moment. In that span, he remembered of all the joy he lived with Kalima and with the goddesses as well. He remembered of Holver, his beloved son; he would always be in his heart and nothing would be able to erase him. And in the last second, he looked at his small children and kept them gently in his arms.

"... Come, my children...! ... This ain't our world..."