The Seventh Stone
Darrel Bird and Barbara Yoder
Copyright 2011 by Darrel Bird
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Additional copyright holder ©Barbara Yoder2011
Isabelle did not know when her ancestors were brought here to their world under the dome. Her mother had told her they had been brought here by Ellen, and to watch the sky for the Prince to return to take them to his home world.
Each day Isabelle would watch the sky for the Prince to return, as she was instructed. They were told to put one white stone on the post in front of the house, one for each day, until seven stones were lined up. On the day of the sixth stone, they were to prepare to spend the day of the seventh stone in the house, doing nothing except tending the seventh stone. All the cooking and the cleaning had to be done by a certain time on the day of the sixth stone in preparation for the next day of the seventh stone.
On the day of the seventh stone, they were to gather around the seventh stone to polish that stone. Isabelle’s hands and arms grew tired on the day of the polishing of the seventh stone.
Her clan kept to themselves, mostly. She knew there were other clans on this world, and she had been warned the evil clans would someday come to kill them or torture them and take the seventh stone away. There was a fence wall that kept the evils separated from the stone clans, but you could see them through the fence. They didn’t appear to be doing anything. There were no stone posts in front of their house; they did not mark the days with stones as the stone clans did.
Usually Isabelle’s mind would skitter away from the idea of approaching the fence wall. Her best of best of friends, Jackie, didn’t seem afraid of anything, but Isabelle was afraid. Some days she ventured near the fence that kept the evils separated from them, and one day she came to her favorite tree; from there she could see the kids on the other side of the fence playing and laughing.
It was almost time for preparation. The sixth stone had been placed on the post already, but she lingered, watching the children of the evils playing. The grups tended their gardens and paid no attention to Isabelle even though she was in plain sight.
They didn’t seem all that evil, but she knew she had to be obedient and stay away. She felt bad that she longed to eat cookies and play like those children; they seemed so carefree. Their grups would work in their gardens and sometimes just stand to watch their children at play. They would wave to one another and smile at their children, but in the stone clan everyone was stern, and the grups wore a worried look as they worked in their gardens that grew the weed pods.
One day Isabelle was caught off guard. She had forgotten that it was the day of the seventh stone. As she ran by the fence on her way home and saw the children of the evils playing, laughing, and singing, she wondered why they had no stone. The red books of Ellen said that if they had no seventh stone they would not be taken to the Prince’s home world; yet they seemed not to be aware or care.
When she got home her family was gathered around the seventh stone, rubbing and polishing it until it gleamed. Her father warned her to never, ever forget the stone because the Prince would not come for those who ignored the seventh stone and were not able to follow the rules. The rules were stringent and hard to follow, especially on the day of the seventh stone, and she was always relieved when the day of the seventh stone was over.
One night she dreamed that the clouds in the sky began to move, and the birds that were in the sky began to flap their wings and fly. There was a hole in the moving clouds, and the sky was the deepest blue of blues she had ever seen. It was not like the washed out gray sky above their world, which never moved, and not like the birds that never moved. She awoke with such a longing in her heart to be free under her dream sky.
She remembered the water on the lake in the dream; it moved too, and caught the colors of the puffy white clouds and the deep blue sky as the little waves danced and leaped for joy under a bright sun that moved across the sky. It was nothing like the stagnant water in their pond. The water in their pond had a thin film over it and it never moved. They had to push back the film on the water to get water to drink, and always the water tasted like a mixture of things, dead things and half dead things. Sometimes her stomach churned; she longed to see what the water was like in the evil’s lake, but it was too far away.
After the first dream, the dreams came with regularity, until she would no more than get to sleep and be lost in a dream of a world of incomprehensible beauty.
Jackie had always been her very best friend, the best of friends, but Jackie was also a little mischievous. Her mother had warned her that Ellen had said the Prince did not love mischievous children, and would not take them to the Prince’s home world. Jackie was always getting into trouble because she ran and played and was always late for the placement of the seventh stone, and when her family rubbed the stone on the day of the seventh stone she wanted to play instead of tending the stone.
It wasn’t that Jackie was a rebellious girl; it was that life held so many mysteries to her that she could not keep track of herself. She was all wiggles and squiggles, and time to her was meaningless. But in spite of this, Isabelle loved Jackie, so she would try to keep Jackie out of trouble. After all, Jackie was a whole year younger than she was.
One day, on the day of the third stone, Jackie came to the door to call for Isabelle.
“Hi Isabelle, want to go somewhere and play?”
“Sure,” said Isabelle. “Mom, can I go play with Jackie?”
“Is your work done, child?” Her mother’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Yes, I have it all done; we’ll be back later.”
“Ok, you kids have fun, but don’t get into anything, and don’t go near the evils!” she called from the kitchen where she was preparing a dinner of the weed pods.
“Ok, Mom. Let’s go, Jackie.”
“Race you to the pond!”
Isabelle could never outrun Jackie, and she knew today would be no different, but in favor of her love for Jackie, she ran, arriving at the pond out of breath.
They strolled on along hand in hand, and eventually got out of sight of the houses. The last garden was in the distance, and eventually they came to the very edge of the dome. Jackie picked up a stick and hit the dome, but it did not move, a dull ‘thunk’ was all they heard.
Jackie’s face lit up in that mischievous smile of hers. Uh,oh, now I’ll have to keep her from getting into trouble again, Isabelle thought as she looked into the face of her best friend.
“I got a little black book to dig with, see?”
“Let me see it! That looks like something grups use, and how would you dig with a book? That is so silly, Jackie; it is soft and has thick edges!”
“Yes, but I was trying something the other day; I repeated some words, and they made the sand move at the edge of the dome!”
“What words did you repeat?”
“It goes like this: Prince come and save me, Prince come and save me, I love you,” and I just said them over and over, and the sand started to move right over there!” She pointed at a little recession right at the edge of the dome.
Isabelle looked at where she was pointing and sure enough there was a little dip in the ground there and the sand was loose around the hole.
“Will we get in trouble for saying those words? Who told you the words?”
“I was playing by the fence of the evil ones, and I heard the children and the grups repeating the words and holding their hands up to the sky.”
“Oh Jackie, then we must not say them.”
“Well, I like to say them; they make me feel good, and not so afraid all the time of the Prince not returning for me.”
“Yes, I am afraid all the time too, and I want to see the sand move. Let’s do it, but just this one time, ok?”
“Ok!”
Isabelle pursed her lips as she looked at her best friend and knew in her heart, though, that there was never a ‘just this one time’ with Jackie.
“Let’s hold hands while we say them, Isabelle.”
They walked over to the low spot, “Here, give me your hand.” Jackie held out her hand to Isabelle.
As they held hands, Isabelle could feel the great love she had for her friend and for the Prince. She had never felt anything like it, and tears began to roll down her cheeks as they said the words.
When they began to say the words, the sand began to move in a little whirl wind and the whirlwind began to dig the ground out from the edge of the dome a little bit at a time. The sand swirled up in front of them in tiny golden particles that glittered, but it didn’t bother their eyes.
Finally they stopped, and there was a much larger hole in the ground. Isabelle was afraid someone would see the hole in the ground.
“Here, we better drag some weeds over and cover this up so no one will know.”
Darkness had begun to fall over the land of the dim sky under the dome; the painted sun under the painted sky did not change, it just grew dimmer and dimmer. The darkness seemed to reach out with clutching hands to stifle out their very lives.
“Ok, weeds we got plenty of. My dad says he fights weeds all week, and it wears him out.”
They pulled weeds and put them over the hole, “Its time for us to go, Jackie. We can come back tomorrow.”
“Ok.” They ran swiftly back through the village until they came to Isabelle’s house.
“See you later, Jackie. I love you.”
“Love you, bye.”
She ran into the kitchen where her mother was preparing supper, “What did you two do today?” her mother asked.
“Oh, just walked around.”
“Ok, wash up for supper.”
Isabelle felt bad because she didn’t tell her mother all of it, but she was afraid her mother would not let them return to the edge of the dome.
That night she dreamed again that the sky moved and the birds flew around in it, not like the sky and birds of this world that never moved an inch. The dream sky was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
When she awoke, she ran out of the house to look to look up at the sky, but was disappointed as the same old sky she had seen all her life just sat there looking all gray and washed out. The birds did not flap their wings, the clouds in the sky did not move, and her heart felt oppressed with the disappointment.
The next day, as she carried the heavy stone to the post, she decided to confide in her parents about her dream, so when they sat down to their supper of weed pods, she told them the dream.
“Ellen says we should not be dreamers, but to work hard for the Prince to return.” Her father told her and instructed her to read the red books of the old tribe that contained the words of Ellen.
“But how will we know when we have worked hard enough for the Prince to return, Dad?”
“I don’t know, child, but we must try harder every day. Look, the seventh stone grows heavier and heavier each time we place it on the post; the time grows near.”
“I’m tired of carrying that old stone, Dad. How come the people on the other side of the fence wall have no stone?”
“Hush, child; Ellen says we must not complain. The people on the other side will not be taken to the home world of the Prince because they have no stone. Ellen says we must always be especially mindful of the day of the seventh stone.”
The day after the fourth stone had been placed, Jackie came rushing in. “Isabelle, let’s go.”
“In a minute, Jackie, as soon as I finish the chores, then we’ll go. I have to fold the clothes.”
As Isabelle folded clothes, Jackie sat on the bed and swung her legs impatiently.
“Ellen says we should not be impatient, you know,” Isabelle reminded her.
“Oh, what does that old Ellen know? I want to do exciting things like sing.”
“Sing?”
“Yes,
this time I want to sing to the sands, I think it will move faster.”
Isabelle looked around her fearfully and closed the door. “Shhhh…someone will hear you.”
“I don’t care, I want to go and sing!” Jackie pouted and swung her legs even faster.
Isabelle’s mother had heard part of the conversation as she passed by their door, doing housework.
“You children can sing at the setting of the seventh stone, but today you must do your work.”
“Ok Mom, but after I’ve finished can we out to play?”
“Yes, but only if you have finished your work, child,” her mother said sternly.
Jackie’s excitement was catching as she thought of singing the words.
“I’m just about done, Jackie. Then we will go and sing to the sand,” she whispered.
At length Isabelle folded the last piece of clothing. “Ok, let’s go.” As they raced out of the house, her mother called behind them, “Don’t be late for supper or your father will tan your hide, girl!”
She giggled; after all, how could her father tan her hide? He did not even work with the hides of animals, much less humans! Soon they were out of sight of the last house, and they came swiftly to the hole. They pulled the weeds back and the hole was just as they had left it.
“Ok, let’s hold hands and sing the words,” Isabelle entreated.
“But I have new words I want to sing!” Jackie said as she looked at her.
”And what would those be, miss smarty pants?”
“Oh come, Lord Prince, and free us from this place.”
“Oh come, Lord Prince, bestow upon us your grace.”
“Oh come, Lord Prince; let us sing to thee,”
“Our souls to lift; oh how we love thee.”
“But those are not the words we chanted the day of the third stone. How did you come up with that?”
“I read the little black book, and the words came to me.”
Isabelle looked into the eyes of her friend, and besides the eyes of the impatient child, she saw the eyes of a much older and wiser person. Her eyes reminded her of those of her grandmother before she went into the world of the dead.
Her grandmother had said something like, “I have found the Prince!” Then she had closed her eyes and stopped moving and they had put her in the ground.
It had been a sad time for Isabelle, but slowly her sadness had faded with the settings of the stones; her grandmother had grown dim in her mind until now, when she looked into the eyes of her friend.
“Hold my hand and let’s sing,” Jackie said gently.
They held hands and began to sing the words, and as they sang the words, Isabelle began to relax; their voices sounded so sweet together.
As they sang, the hole began to deepen, and the glasslike substance of the dome began to melt and run down into the hole. The sands flew faster and faster until the hole was deep and it went under the dome. Isabelle and Jackie looked in wonder at the golden sands that covered their face and arms and glittered like fire.
Jackie’s voice trailed off as she saw the cut under the dome, “Let’s crawl down and see what is on the other side,” she said excitedly.
“But there is nothing on the other side; Ellen says…”
“Oh poo, I don’t care what old Ellen says. I’m going; are you coming with me or not?”
“Not! I’m afraid.”
“Ok fraidy cat, I’ll go all by myself then!” She pouted and she crawled down into the hole and wiggled her body under the edge of the dome.
Isabelle started to ask her just what a ‘fraidy cat’ was when Jackie called out excitedly.
“Oh Isabelle, come and see, the sky is moving! Hurry!”
Her voice sounded weak on the other side of the dome even though she could still see her shoe.
“Oh Isabelle, come quick. It’s so beautiful!” she called again.
“I think you are going to get us both into trouble!” Isabelle called back doubtfully, but lowered herself down and crawled toward Jackie. “Move your foot, Jackie; I can’t get through with you in the way!”
Jackie moved her foot, giving Isabelle enough room to crawl through; then on the other side, she was able to stand up. Isabelle looked up, and sure enough, the clouds were moving through the sky, and birds wheeled and dove on the air currents. The sky was so blue it hurt her eyes, and everywhere there were people carrying fruit baskets laden with delicious looking fruit.
Unlike the gray mass of the weed pods, the fruit was all colors and shapes. There was a large lake where the waters were moving and leaping and rushing about in waves, as if they were shouting to the wind.
“Is this where the Prince lives, do you think?” Isabelle stared in awe.
“Yes, I think it is, but I think he lives in the people. Can’t you feel him here?” Jackie raised her hand to her chest.
“Yes, I think I do, now that you mention it. I thought it was the songs we sang.”
“It was the songs we sang, Isabelle. It is called faith; I read it in the little black book.”
“Oh…Let’s go back and tell the people right now. We must let them know!”
“Ok, let’s!”
They crawled back under the dome and then looked up at the roof of the dome and saw it for what it was: a sky that had been painted on. What she thought was a bird was only an outline of a bird, a painted sky under a painted dome that was destitute of color.
They rushed back toward the village as fast as they could run until they saw some workers in the field.
“Hey, we found the home of the Prince!” They shouted to workers in the fields, but the workers never raised their eyes. “Ellen says we have to do the work of the Prince,” said one man as he gathered the weed pods and put them in his sack. “If we do not do the work and line up the stones, we will starve. Go away, little girls.”
“But sir, we can show you the way to the home of the Prince. He will come and live inside you.”
“Don’t be silly, little girl. Now get out of my way and don’t bend the weeds that hold the Ellen pods we must eat! Now off with you!”
The girls saw that it was useless, so they rushed on home to tell their parents.
“Mom, Mom, we found the home of the Prince!” Isabelle screamed as she entered the living quarters of the house. “The sky moves and everything!”
Her father looked at her sternly, “Young lady, where have you been?”
“We were outside the sky!”
“There’s no such thing as outside the sky. Now we must read from the books of Ellen. Go wash up and forget your foolishness.”
“But won’t you believe me?”
“Yes, child. I believe you are a child and have the mind of a child, but when you are older, you will see that we have to read the red books of Ellen and gather the pods from the weeds to eat, then place the seven stones on the post. That is all there is.”
Her father had a hint of sadness in his voice as he spoke sternly but gently to his daughter. He loved her very much, but she must forget the foolishness.
That night she dreamed of the Prince’s world once again, only this time the Prince himself came to her in the dream and said, “Do not be disheartened when they do not believe you, my child. I will send you to many. Some will believe and some will not, but do not be afraid; I will be with you here,” he said, and laid his hand on her chest. She felt warmth go all through her, and she felt such peace as the living Prince faded from her dream, but remained inside.
The next day Jackie found her by the old stagnant pond, crying. “They did not believe you, did they?”
“No, my friend; they did not.”
“We must go from this place. We cannot stay here under this painted sky. We do not belong here anymore, now that we have seen the sky that moves. You know that, don’t you, Isabelle?”
“Yes, I know it, but I am so sad to leave my family. It makes my heart hurt so much.”
“I know, I am the same way, but we must hurry to get through under the dome before the sands close off the other world from us. Come, let us be going. Hurry!”
They rushed through the streets with its plastic like trees. The weeds grew wildly everywhere, and they tore at the girls’ clothing as they passed. The weeds sprang up taller before them, and groped at their hands, feet, and legs.
They passed the stagnant water of the lake, and it stank so bad their stomachs revolted against the smell. The foul water moved out from the shore to grope at them to hold them in that land. The air had turned foul, but the workers did not even notice as they tended their gardens of weeds, and gathered the weed pods that did not give sustenance.
“Hurry, Isabelle; we must escape from this place!” Jackie called back as she ran wildly on toward the hole at the edge of the dome. The painted sky looked down on them mercilessly as they ran. The painted clouds refused to move, the painted sun refused to light their way, and it grew darker and darker.
They arrived at the hole, and already it had grown smaller; there was just enough room to squeeze through. They came out on the other side and the sweet wind kissed their cheeks as they stood looking back at the dome that was round. They realized that it was really a prison created by that Ellen person. The sands began to fall back and cover the hole under the dome.
An elderly gentleman came by with a basket and said, “Have faith my children. Here have some faith fruit.”
“What is your name, sir?” Jackie asked of the elderly gentleman.
“They call me Methuselah, my child.”
“Why do they call you by such a funny name?”
“Because I have been here such a long time. I wait for the people that make it through the dome to offer those fruit just as I did you.”
“How long is long?” asked the ever curious Jackie.
“Long is long enough.” The old man said with a twinkle in his eye as he handed them each a fruit to try.
“But where do you grow the fruit? I don’t see any weeds.”
“Jackie, be quiet and don’t ask so many questions of the man,” Isabelle said with a frown.
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, my child. There are no weeds here; the fruit grows there in your heart,” he said as he pointed to Jackie’s chest.
“Oh, that seems silly, how can fruit grow in here?”
“Yes, I guess it does sound silly to the ones who come through the dome. I must be going. There will be others who come through the dome.” The old man walked on.
They tasted the fruit, and the delicious juice ran down their throat. They walked on alone, hand in hand, survivors of the great dome of Ellen.
Over the years they would meet more survivors, and they prayed that it would not be too late for the many who remained behind, under the lifeless dome of the painted sky.
The End