The Last Night

IV.

Z:

Hic

Hic

Hic

Me:

Good morning! Oh, you’ve got the hiccups again—I’m sorry!

Z:

Hic

Morning.

Hic

Sigh.

Me:

That must be so uncomfortable.

Z:

It’s Hic kind of okay, I guess. Hic. It’s pretty distracting.

Me:

For me too. Feels like a muscle tic.

Z:

Hic

Me:

So what happens on the mountain?

Z:

What?

Me:

On the mountain. When the young adventurers make it to the top. You were starting to tell me, when—

Z:

Hic What mountain?

Me:

The mountain in Rupania. Where you come from.

Z:

Huh. I don’t remember where I come from.

Me:

But you’re a king there!

Z:

A king, huh? So how’d I end up in this cramped little womb? I mean, no offense…

Me:

No…none taken. You won’t be there much longer. But…

Z:

Really? Is it time yet?

Me:

No, not yet. Almost, little one. Three more weeks.

Z:

Three weeks is forever!

Me:

Tell me about it.

Z:

Can’t I come out in two?

Me:

Only if you’re a very good boy and finish all your physical and neurological development first.

Z:

Okaaaaaaay. [sigh] I better get busy, then.

Me:

But wait. You were telling me a story last time we talked. About a land full of light, called Rupania, where you were a king, and I was a queen a long time ago. And you told me about the jungle, and the young boys and girls who enter it only when they are old enough, to prove their worth as grown young men and women. And they walk their path despite the scary beasts, and they learn to trust gifts from the jungle, and they learn to be okay with the rain, and they learn to be polite to well-meaning beings and they learn to climb difficult slippery mountains without giving up even when it seems like they don’t have any energy left.

Z:

Sounds like a wonderful story.

Me:

It is! But you haven’t told me the end yet!

Z:

Hmm…what was the last thing I told you?

Me:

You told me they reach the tippy tippy top of the mountain, and sit down to wait for the payoff, for “the final understanding of all the toil, the beautiful epiphany he’s been promised in order to fully enter adulthood as an aware participant.” Then you said he watches the sun set.

Z:

Yes…that all sounds right.

Me:

So what is it??! What’s the epiphany?

Z:

I don’t remember.

Me:

Oh.

Z:

But I would like to hear the end of the story.

Me:

Me TOO!

Z:

Maybe you should tell it to me.

Me:

Me? But I don’t know the story! I just know what you told me so far!

Z:
Well, didn’t you say you came from Rupania too?

Me:

I guess so…but that was a long time ago.

Z:

Me too; it was a very long time ago. I bet you remember as well as I do.

Hic

Tell me the story, please! Please? I want to know the end!

Hic

Infernal hiccups!

Hic

Pleeeeeaaase?

Me:

Well…um.

I’m not sure how the story ends. Let me think.

If it was me sitting on that mountain…

Z:

As you did, once, a whole lifetime and a half ago…

Me:

I would be sitting there on the top. And enjoying the sunset, and the jungle, and the lengthening shadows, and the sounds of all the beasties settling in for the night.

And I would be concentrating as hard as I could, waiting for the big message, the big thing that was going to make adulthood easy and everything all right. The big permission slip from the sky that would tell me it was now okay to take charge, that now I know enough to be a grownup and run the world for a change, instead of getting run.

Z:

And…?

Me:

And so I would think about all that I had come through in the last three days, how I had kept moving forward, how I had needed help from others to make it this far, how I had ways to give back to them, how I had continued when it seemed hard or impossible or uncomfortable and made it to the top of this friggin’ mountain. And I think…

I might…

just enjoy the sunset.

Z:

What else do you need than that?

Me:

I honestly can’t think of anything. On top of a mountain, I’ve already used all the tools.

Z:

Except maybe a way to get down.

Me:

There is that.

Z:

So on that last night in the jungle, what happens after the sun sets?

Me:

Our adventurer wraps up in her blanket and spends the night with the wind whistling in her ears. It’s cool up there, but not too cold. She wakes up early the next morning, packs her things, and slides down the mountain (a little too fast for comfort, but she’s young.) She books it out of the jungle, waving to all the beasties, who wave back at her and watch her go. And when she comes back out of the jungle, all her family and friends are waiting. And the adults look at her for new wisdom, and the children look at her for battle scars, and she tells the story of her journey around a morning fire with some hot chocolate, and she goes to sleep in the middle of the day because sleeping on a mountain top, after all, is not very restful.

Z:

It does seem cold.

Me:

And the next day, she wakes up and looks around and starts her day, and does what needs to be done, and enjoys the light playing off the leaves of the gold and silver trees, and tries to make Rupania a little bit better of a place for everyone.

Z:

That all sounds nice, but you got a little bit political at the end there.

Me:

Did I? Sorry. It’s election season out here on Earth.

Z:

Does that come before or after Autumn?

Me:

In the middle…

Z:

Your seasons don’t make any sense.

Me:

I know, little one. You’ll learn to navigate them after you get out of there.

Z:

Is it almost time?

Me:

Almost. I can hardly wait.

Z:

[sigh]

Me:

Ok in there, Z?

Z:

[snore]