Part 5
Joe fell into a fevered, frenzied state and started talking in his delirium. Rueb stayed with him the whole time. Joe didn’t realize that when he rescued Rueb, he was saving his family as well. Rueb was from Joe’s island. His technology was far more advanced than Joe could remember from his childhood.
Joe talked about his port a craft and his fiancee, and how much he missed his father and even his annoying older brothers. Three days later they landed on the same beach that Joe had started his journey. Rueb had changed his name when he started to travel. His name was Michael and he was Joe’s next oldest brother. When Joe started talking is when Rueb realized who he was.
Rueb had grown up to be a scientist and his speciality was artificial limbs. Leg’s were his particular area of expertise. Rueb told the men where his lab was and the men carried Joe to it. Rueb told the men to go back to the ship and he would send word when he knew what the outcome would be. Rueb turned on the nano powered machines and placed one in particular on Joe’s leg. The machine destroyed the decayed flesh and started to replace the damage limb with nanites. Little by little Joe’s leg returned to normal. When the machines were done Rueb removed the machine and waited for Joe to wake up naturally.
The next morning Joe awoke and knew Rueb was sitting at his side. Joe expected to be dead or at least his leg missing. Neither were the case. Rueb had tears running down his face and grabbed Joe into an enormous hug. Rueb knew the time had come to come clean about the past.
Rueb began by telling Joe his real name and who he was and told him of the day they left him at the cave. Rueb left nothing out and told how the brother’s were jealous of him and wanted him to die. He explained how everyone went back a few days later. The family was never the same again. Each brother would have gladly given his life to see Joe restored to his father. As far as Rueb knew their father was still alive and asked Joe to go to him.
Joe wanted to see his brothers first to find out a few things. Rueb ran and got the brothers not telling them the surprise awaiting them. They walked in and asked who the stranger was. Rueb told them and the other brothers gawked and then ran to embrace Joe. They wanted to hear everything that Joe wanted to say expecting the worst. Joe told them how he originally didn’t know of their plot and explained how he was taken by the marauders. He explained his excruciating pain at being yanked away from his family and facing death. He told of the horrors he had seen and how he had to make a choice to either become like the marauders or to learn to become stronger because of what happened. Joe told them how he had saved everything from the day he started looting and that he hadn’t killed one person since the day his journey began. Joe not only survived but he overcame. All six brothers had felt pain and remorse for their past actions. Now it was time for the two biggest questions that Joe had to face. Was his father still alive and what happened to Mennesa.
The brothers explained that their father was old but constantly told the other brothers that Joe would return, he just knew it. Mennesa had not married but moved into the house they were about to buy. The brothers had bought it for her. She also knew that Joe would return for her. Joe asked the men to send someone to get a message to his ship and crew. It was done immediately.
Joe went home and walked into the house. At first he was introduced as a stranger. After several minutes the father stopped and asked, “Joe is that you. I know it’s you, come here so that I can hold you before I die.” They embraced, cried, and all of the brothers related the past to their father. He forgave his other sons, though he was really angry at their confession. All was forgiven and restored.
Joe went to the house that Mennesa lived at. She was in the front yard and heard Joe’s step. She turned around and Joe immediately knew that something was wrong. Mennesa grinned ear to ear, but she couldn’t see Joe. She had gone blind after they parted. Joe kissed Mennesa as if his heart would break all over again. They talked through the night snuggled in each other’s arms. In the morning he took Mennesa to his father’s house and prepared a quick wedding. Later that day they were married. Now Joe had one more thing to complete. He had to pass his captaincy onto another man, but who?
Michael told Joe that he was returning to the sea. He will keep his lab intact, but he loved the voyaging. Everyone talked for hours and it was decided that Michael would take Joe’s place and keep teaching the men the things that Joe had started out with all of those years before. Hopefully one day the crew would disband and stop the marauding. Michael even took on the task of returning everything that Joe had taken in his earlier years.
They all walked to the beach and embraced. Michael rowed out to his ship and saluted from the deck. Michael would change the name to “Redemption”, because the ship had touched and changed so many lives. As the ship sailed into the horizon, Mennesa and Joe watched until the ship was out of sight. Joe sighed, then smiled at this new wife. Arm in arm they started back to begin their new life together.
My concluding thoughts will be posted on Monday
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment