Epilogue

Plan On Forever

28 February

I was going home tomorrow, so was Colin. It was a nice enough day so we'd decided to take a walk; which inevitably wound up at the stream. We could have elected to do anything today, but had chosen this. Yes, we could have spent the whole day in bed but we weren't in our twenties. We'd likely have spent more time doing nothing as opposed to getting it on. This had turned out to be the wiser choice. Just spending time being together, talking, and even if we still were doing a lot of doing nothing it was better than wasting the day away. We did have later this evening and tonight for anything that may end up in mutual physical gratification. Somehow, at this moment, that felt so much less important than what we were doing..... just being together, being happy. We would not see one another until July now and we hadn't the luxury of squandering seconds.

I relaxed by lying back and looking up into a semi-cloudy sky; watching the puffs of white and gray vie for the honor of covering the sun to keep my eyes safe. Colin turned sideways, leaning on one straightened arm, and kept his eyes on me. I wasn't sure whether it was scrutiny or just to have a good look, but he had a pleased, small smile set on his countenance.

"What is it about this place, Colin?"

"That's a rather broad question. What exactly are you asking?"

"I'm not sure."

He leaned down further on his elbow, I got up on mine.

"I... I mean why here? Why did I come here and drag all of you with me?"

"That dream."

"Colin, that's the problem. Maybe it all was just a dream, wishful thinking. Maybe I am off my nut and I'm just writing my own back story; or one for us."

"That would have you employing a very impressive imagination."

"Are you saying I don't have one?"

"Of course you do, so, what parts, in particular, have you waxing nostalgic?"

"All of it. I've hauled all of you into this world that may or may not have existed. You haven't really grasped all this shit I've put out there, so it must be me. I've made all sorts of characters up. All sorts of events... it's crazy and you know it."

"Would you... make this all up? And if you had, why would you?"

"To keep you?"

He sat up and stared across the stream. The sun came out and he started to squint. I wasn't sure whether it was the light piercing his pupils or if he was thinking how to answer me.

"These people did exist, didn't they? Your genealogy files are accurate?"

"More than. I spent years."

"I do descend from this Alexander fellow then, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you, from Johannah Foulkes."

"Yes."

"William was born, if I assume I do not know the story and one is looking at the wedding date and his date of birth, prematurely? As if he was an early birth or conceived out of wedlock?"

"Well....."

"Then what is the issue? It would only be logical that some part of both of them has ended in both of us. It's inevitable, even if it is just a tinge of their blood coursing through us. Perhaps she was creative, or he was, or both. We'll, ultimately, never know these things but something has to carry down, don't you think?"

"This doesn't answer my original question of why here."

"It's the water. It connects us. The 'all of us,' that have been and will be. You are drawn to water. Johannah may have been. Whomever we, or you, may have been were all attracted to the seas, rivers, lakes, streams... and perhaps the next you, or I, will also."

I got up and stretched, then turned and set a hand on his shoulder, staring into him.

"That's the thing. I want to know. I want to know if.. were they the first? Was there a couple before them? Who was after them and before us and who will be next?"

"I thought you had said this was all an intrigue, conceived from your vivid fantasies."

I squatted down in front of him and placed my other hand on his other shoulder as I tried to study his face and, essentially, get a feel for what he was thinking and what, of any of this, he truly believed as fact. Did he really take any of this to heart as valid and right and... accurate?

"Diane, keep it, keep all of it. Try to hold on to a small piece of it, to pass on. Something from Jo stayed with you. It may have taken a good while to come out, but it did. Plan on something because you and I both know this is forever."