Franklin Finds a Way

“Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages” boomed in his head and woke him from sleep.  A choir of voices immediately followed with “Amen”.  

He sat up in the dark cave-like space and looked to where light was coming in from what appeared to be its entrance.  He found he was wearing a white garment which extended to his ankles and contrasted sharply with his black skin.  He could not remember putting it on.  In fact, he could not remember anything prior to the point of waking up to the chanting and singing that now wafted in with the light.

The floor was bumpy with bits of rocks that poked into his hands and the ceiling above him met at a point like the top of a tent.  He reached out to feel its surface and found it to be semi-smooth and rock-like with a reddish hue. 

The alternating of chanting and singing continued unabated so that he felt he must be dreaming.  It was telling a story that he tried to follow but his mind kept falling back into some in between place.  He laid back down, closed his eyes, and let it wash over him.

***

His eyes were  closed but there was light everywhere.  A pulsing of presence and movement pulled him along like a leaf floating on a sparkling river.  Shapes danced and whirled through the warm glow of his eyelids reminding him of tree branches shadowed and swaying in the wind as the sun winked through them.

With the sound of bells jingling it transformed into the fluttering of an impossibly large eyelash above a swirling circle of blue that suddenly dilated and then burst into numberless smaller eyes.  They surrounded him like coruscating sparks intent on obliterating any shadows and he was afraid.

***

He forced his eyes open and noticed the singing had stopped.  Now it was just the sounds of murmuring which drew him to what looked to be the lip of his small cave to investigate.

What he saw as he crawled towards the opening on hands and knees was a blur of colors expanding in all directions which disoriented him and made him feel slightly nauseous.  He closed his eyes once again to compose himself and breathed in and out slowly three times before attempting to look out again.

This time things came into focus, but oh that they hadn’t!  What he saw were giants moving about below him such that he was seeing them slightly from above which meant he was very high up off the ground in his small cave.  They appeared to be moving slowly and talking to one another in low booming voices he could not understand.

He pulled back slightly in order to not be seen but it quickly became obvious that he was too small for anyone to notice.  Curiosity brought him forward once again to gaze out on what lay before him.  It was a cavernous room with old brick walls dotted with paintings of people.  Hanging before each one was a small golden bowl suspended on chains that held a burning taper floating in oil.  The flickering flames created an effect that gave the images depth and movement like looking through windows, but into another world.

His wonder at what he was seeing suddenly turned into terror when he sensed someone standing between two of the images on the far wall was staring straight at him.  Her eyes fixed him in his spot and he felt he could not move.  Her face tilted left and then right in an inquisitive manner, but her eyes never left his spot.  His paralysis was broken by a queer smile that broke out on her face and a little wave she directed at him high up in his hole.  

He saw that she was different from the other giants.  Her hair was dark and matted in places and her dress ill-fitting, too tight around her ample midriff.  She stood there rocking forward and backward at the hips with her hands just behind them, like she was stretching out her lower back continuously.  No one else seemed to notice her or her peculiar stare and stance.  He got the peculiar feeling that she knew him.

The giants eventually filed out of what he now understood was a church and the woman followed them but not without a final glance and wink in his direction.  He found himself growing sleepy and laid down once again in the back of the cave.

***

His time cycled in this way with services followed by the darkness of sleep.  The first time he awakened again it was nighttime and church was dark except for the candles and oil lamps burning.  There were less people this time but the woman was there again standing in the same spot and staring up at his darkened hole.  No one seemed to think this was strange even as she rocked front and back and sometimes spoke to no one in particular.  

She wore a hat that was too small for her head and large wooden beads around her neck.  A group of people stood in the back singing together which the woman sometimes tried to follow but ended up coming in too soon or singing past the time the others had stopped.  He considered them people now and not giants after an epiphany that had struck him just as the lights had brightened in the church.  They were singing “O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father in heaven…” when he realized he was the small one, tiny even, maybe the size of an embryo or a peanut.

When the service ended the people lined up to kiss one of the painted persons on a stand in the middle of the church.  The woman came and gave a little bow when it was her turn before kissing it.  She then turned toward the wall and gave him a bow as well.  A teenaged boy behind her snickered.

***

His waking and dreaming times became intertwined and almost indistinguishable as the days passed.  During the services he continued to see his friend swaying and talking to someone or something that others were not seemingly privy to.  He felt most lucid at the third and then the ninth day of his shortened memory due to the prayers that spoke most directly to his dreams.  But on the fortieth day something changed. 

She was dressed all in white and her hair looked like it had been tended to.  Something in her eyes was more intent, focused.  He realized that before her demeanor had been like someone who is pleasantly confused but today there was a clarity in her gaze.  He felt she was seeing him fully for the first time though others continued to ignore her.  The prayers being chanted by the priest mentioned a name that created a resonance in him that grew each time he repeated it, “For You are the Resurrection, the Life, and the Repose of Your servant Franklin, O Christ our God and to You do we send up Glory, as to Your Eternal Father and Your All-Holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages…”

He was startled to find himself suddenly becoming painfully bright as light poured from his crack in the wall and a translucent stairway suddenly shimmered into the air below him.  He stepped out onto it and as he descended he grew in size until he reached the woman across the room and greeted her face to face.

“Rosemary.”

“Franklin, my friend” she said as tears glistened in her eyes.  

They embraced as the priest finished the prayer with “Amen” and Rosemary found she was now hugging herself.  Franklin was no longer there.

***