Homecoming

A warm tropical breeze tussled Maggie’s hair as she stepped out of the twin propeller plane. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty ocean air… the smell of home. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Randy waving at her from his truck. She gathered her luggage and hurried toward him. He took her suit cases and tossed them in the back of the truck, then gave her a warm hug. “Hi Mags, it’s good to see you!” he said. “It’s been a long time!”

“Too long,” Maggie replied, smiling back at him.

Maggie’s family had lived on the island for three generations. Her grandfather came here first. He was a doctor and decided the island would be a nice place to semi-retire, while still practicing medicine part time. The island had a total population of about 800 permanent residents, many of whom were his patients. The rest of Maggie’s family had gradually moved there too. Cousin Randy was nearly the same age as Maggie and they had grown up together on the island.

Randy opened the door to the truck. “Hop in and I’ll take you home.”

“Okay,” Maggie replied, “but can we stop by the cliff on the way?”

Randy looked at her questioningly. “I want to clear my head,” she explained.

Randy nodded. He did not enjoy the two hour flight on the small propeller plane either. He figured she wanted to gather herself before the excitement of seeing her parents again. But that was not what Maggie had meant. She had been suffering through an intense mid-life crisis, complete with panic and anxiety attacks for the last couple of months. She had come to the comfort of home to try and recenter herself. It had been a long time since she had been home and she was overwhelmed with emotion. She hadn’t realized how much she missed this place.

The cliff was Maggie’s favorite vantage point. She and Randy had spent many hours here while they were growing up, looking out over the ocean and talking about their dreams. Well, it was mainly Maggie who did the talking. She would go on about how exciting it would be to travel and to live in the busy excitement of the city. Randy did not share her sense of adventure. He was happy to go fishing and to make things with his hands. He was quite a skilled carpenter, making furniture and housewares from raw materials found on the island. Now he had a thriving business. He would travel to the mainland once a year to sell his wares, but that was enough adventure for him!

It was a short climb to the top of the cliff. Maggie sat down and leaned back on her elbows. The sun was high and the ocean glistened. Maggie stared at the silver thread that separated the blue of the water from the blue of the sky. Randy sat next to her, watching her, trying to gauge her mood.

“So, how is city life treating you?” he broke the silence.

“Honestly? Not too good,” Maggie admitted. “I thought the city was where I wanted to be. But, it has taken something from me.”

Randy waited for her to continue, but he grew impatient. “What?”

“This,” Maggie started to cry. “I don’t know Randy. I just feel so empty right now, starved for something, but I don’t know what.”

Randy reached down and placed his hand over hers. “Gee Mags, I had no idea,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Maggie sniffed and pulled a tissue from her pocket. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess!” she laughed a little. Randy didn’t know what else to say, so they sat silently for awhile staring at the sea. “I’m glad you’re home,” he offered. “Me too,” she replied.

“So, what’s new around here?” Maggie asked, trying to lighten the mood. The island was so small and remote, nothing ever changed. Maggie wasn’t expecting much.

Randy thought for a moment. “Hmmm… well, someone bought the old Inn. Turned it into some kind of spiritual retreat center or something. They just opened the place last month.”

“Really?” Maggie looked directly at him. “Well that’s interesting!” She felt a small wave of excitement run through her body and wondered if it might be fate. “I’ll have to check it out.”

“I probably better get you home,” Randy said, “your parents will be worried, wondering where you are!”

After a warm bath in Epsom salts, a hearty home-cooked meal, and some time catching up with her parents, Maggie was feeling much better. She slept more soundly that night than she had in months! The little cottage was cozy and close enough to the beach that Maggie could hear the sound of the waves. She woke to sun rays streaming through the window and found her parents already eating breakfast. She joined them and then the three took a walk on the beach. After that Maggie excused herself, saying that she would be going into town for awhile. She was still curious about the spiritual retreat center and wanted to check it out.

The old Inn had been completely remodeled and was almost unrecognizable. Maggie was impressed. It was still a small building, but now it looked more like a Tibetan temple than a lodging place. Maggie noticed how the bright colors complemented the island. She opened the heavy front door and quietly stepped inside. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that she was in a big open circular room.

At the opposite end from the door, she saw a man sitting cross-legged. He looked to be about 60 years old. His hands were folded in front of him and his eyes were closed. He seemed to be swaying somewhat back and forth and as Maggie looked closer, she saw that he was levitating several inches off the floor! For some reason, this frightened her and she quickly turned for the door.

“Maggie? Ah, yes… I’ve been expecting you.” Her head snapped around and she stared directly at the man. His eyes were open now and he was smiling warmly at her. He had a bald head and round red cheeks. She noticed that he was now seated firmly on a round cushion and she wondered if she had just imagined that he was levitating before.

“How do you know my name?” she asked quietly. “And what do you mean, you’ve been expecting me?”

“Yes, well, we have much to discuss,” he said, getting up from the floor. “My name is Humbold.” Now standing, Maggie could see that he was a short man, probably even shorter than her. He wore a robe and bare feet. “Please come with me,” he said, gesturing. Maggie was hesitant, but curiosity got the better of her and she followed him into the next room, the kitchen. There was a small table set with tea and biscuits and fruit. They sat down and Humbold poured the tea. Maggie waited patiently and quietly for him to speak.

“You have been feeling something recently, no? A stirring in your soul?”

Maggie looked at him quizzically. “I guess you could call it that,” she offered.

“Yes.” Humbold stared at her hard as she nervously took a sip of tea.

“You see Maggie, you have a gift. With that gift comes a responsibility to use it. Up until now, that gift was dormant within you. But now it is awakening. It is time for you to complete your… mission.”

“My mission? What is my mission? What is my gift?”

“Yes,” Humbold replied again. Maggie was getting annoyed by this answer that told her nothing.

“Are you familiar with the island of Tahlana?” he asked.

“Yes. I wrote a report on it in grade school.”

Humbold stared at her expectantly, so she continued.

“It is a sizeable island about 200 nautical miles from here, with a vast array of plant and animal life, and fresh water. It would be a good candidate for colonization but the island is protected and no one is allowed to go there.” Maggie thought for a moment. “I was never able to figure out why it is protected. I always assumed it was for environmental reasons,” she finished.

“The island is protected for spiritual reasons,” Humbold said. “An ancient temple exists on Tahlana, a sacred site. A secret site.” Humbold looked as if he would say more, then changed his mind. “Anyway, there is only one man on the island, Petro, he is the caretaker of the temple. He has been on the island alone for many years now and he needs a vacation.” Humbold chuckled. “Funny. Most people want to go away to a deserted island for vacation. Petro needs to come back to civilization to get a vacation.” He chuckled again.

“What does this have to do with me?” Maggie asked.

“Oh, right.” Humbold brought his gaze back to Maggie. “Someone needs to stay on the island to care for the temple while Petro is gone. That someone, is you.”

“Me? Why me?” Maggie was stunned.

“That is your mission,” Humbold replied smiling.

Maggie stirred her tea and thought for awhile. It did sound interesting. She had always been curious about Tahlana. It was mysterious. Now she had a chance to see it for herself, and the ancient temple too.

“How long would I be there?” she asked.

“Well, the ship passes Tahlana once every four months. You would ship out in two weeks, stay with Petro for four months. He will teach you all about the island and the temple. Then, when the ship returns, Petro will leave for his four-month respite. So, you would be alone then… for four months. What do you think?”

Maggie’s thoughts were racing. This was so weird. She couldn’t think straight, so she decided to analyze her feelings instead. What was her heart saying? She was surprised to find that her heart was calm. She felt as if this mission would be good for her, that it was what she needed to really clear her head. It still bothered her that Humbold had not answered her questions. She looked at him with a piercing gaze to see if he was trustworthy. He stared back at her in earnest.

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, I’ll go.”

…

Two weeks wasn’t a lot of time to prepare. Maggie sublet her apartment in the city and had her things shipped to her parent’s house. Luckily, being a freelance writer gave her a lot of freedom to move around. She had a steady passive income stream from her writing, and she wouldn’t be spending any money on Tahlana, so that was not an issue. Plus, she figured the remote island would be fertile ground for writing, even if she couldn’t publish anything until she got back. She tried several times to see Humbold. She had a lot of questions, but he never seemed to be around. It felt like hardly any time had passed when she found herself boarding the ship that would take her to Tahlana. She was surprised when Humbold showed up to see her off. He handed her a letter. “Please deliver this to Petro for me, would you?” Maggie nodded. He smiled, “Have an enlightening journey, my dear.”

Petro met them on the beach to help unload supplies. He knew the captain of the ship well, as this supply run happened regularly. He was however, surprised to see Maggie. She handed him the letter and he looked at her quizzically. “From Humbold,” she said. Maggie watched him as he read the letter carefully. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes that glistened like the ocean. He folded the letter and looked directly at Maggie. “Well, it seems I am going on a long over-due vacation. And you are my replacement.” He smiled at her. “Welcome to Tahlana,” he said brightly. Maggie could not help noticing that he appeared to be quite young, no more than 30 years old. From what Humbold had said, she was expecting someone much older. The two of them saw the captain off and began unpacking the supplies. “Come on,” Petro said. “I’ll show you where you will be staying.”

The temple was a short walk from the beach. It was smaller than Maggie expected, but magnificent and charming in it’s own way. Petro lived in the temple. He had learned to eat the wild food growing on the island, moving some of it to make a small garden next to the temple. There was a large spring-fed pool not far away for drinking water and bathing. Right behind that, a steep mountain arose, Mount Morah. Maggie hoped it was not actually a volcano. She was afraid to ask.

Over the next four months, Petro taught her all about the island. What she could eat, what she shouldn’t touch. She learned her way around and cared for the temple. The place grew on her and she enjoyed Petro’s company. He told her stories of the ancient people who built the temple. She wondered how he knew so much about them or if he was just making stuff up. Petro was never around in the morning when she woke up. She figured perhaps he was just an early riser, or left to give her some privacy. He always came back mid-morning, fresh and ready to start the day. In the evenings, he would carve little animals out of smooth stones while Maggie wrote in her journal.

Those four months passed very quickly for Maggie. She was busy learning all she could and documenting everything. She wanted to make sure all of her questions were answered before Petro left her alone on the island. Thankfully, he was better at answering her than Humbold was! It never really occurred to her to ask Petro about her mission, she was too focused on matters of survival and housekeeping at that time.

All too soon, it was time for Petro’s vacation. He reassured her that she had learned well and that she would be fine. Part of her felt nervous about being alone and part of her hungered for it. Petro said that he never felt alone on the island. “The island will keep you company,” he said. Maggie stood in the sun, her bare feet buried in the sand, a bracelet she had made draped around her ankle. She watched Petro board the ship and stayed on the beach until the ship disappeared on the horizon. Now she was truly alone… or was she? The island had become a part of her by this point and somehow she felt that she was not alone at all.

Maggie busied herself with chores and prepared a meal. That evening she settled in bed and opened her journal. She had brought paper journals to the island, instead of a laptop. It had been a long time since she had hand written her journal entries and found she enjoyed putting pen to paper. She especially liked doodling on the edges of the page while she thought about what to write next. She was in her cozy place and deep into her creative headspace when she heard a peculiar voice.

“Hi Maggie.”

Maggie was surprisingly not startled by the voice, it seemed calming, comforting. She looked around the room and saw no one.

“My name is Magnus.”

Maggie realized that this voice did not echo. In the temple, everything echoed. This voice did not seem to be in the room, but in her head. Maggie was used to being alone with her own thoughts in her head and she was unsure what to think about this intrusion into her sacred space. She tried to decide what to do, but in the end, only one thing made sense.

“Hello, who are you?” Maggie spoke aloud.

“As I said, I am Magnus. I am one of the ancients of Tahlana. I represent the Tahlanin people.”

“What do you want with me?” Maggie asked, becoming a bit alarmed. “Have I done something wrong? Intruded on your sacred space? I didn’t mean to.”

“No, no,” Magnus said, trying to comfort her. “You have done nothing wrong. I am sorry if I frightened you. But it is time for us to talk about your mission.”

“My mission? You mean caring for the temple?”

“Well no, not exactly. Your mission goes beyond caring for the temple. You have been chosen to write the history of the Tahlanin people. Our history was lost and no one knows of us. We have a message we would like to send to the world at this time and we need you to deliver it.”

“Why was I chosen?” Maggie wondered aloud.

“You were chosen because of your gift. Not just your gift for writing, but your gift of hearing. You are able to hear my voice and therefore you can translate this message to the world.”

“What about Petro? Was he able to hear you? He seemed to know a lot about your people.”

“Yes, Petro could hear, but not as well as you can and he lacked the writing skill that you possess. Plus, Petro has been on this island for so long, he is out of touch with society in this day and age.”

“How long has Petro been on the island? He doesn’t seem to be more than 30 years old.”

“Petro has been here for, let me see… 802 years now.”

“What?!” Maggie was astonished. “How can that be?”

“There are things on the island that greatly improve one’s health and longevity. The spring that you bathe in at the bottom of Mount Morah is one of them. The other, I will show you tomorrow, if you will meet me there.”

“Sure, where?”

“Follow the path to the back of Mount Morah. At the foot of the backside of the mountain, you will see a small creek. Cross the creek and you will find another path. Follow this path to the end and that is where we will meet. Until then, I bid you good night.”

Maggie didn’t know how, but she could tell that Magnus was gone and she was alone in her head once again. Now her thoughts were racing as she processed what had happened. She no longer felt calm and comforted as she had when Magnus spoke to her. Now she was a bit frightened and anxious about tomorrow. If Magnus could penetrate her thoughts, who else could? It took awhile, but eventually Maggie fell asleep.

She woke early and quickly bathed, ate, and did her chores at the temple. The sun was barely over the ridge when she set out on the path. She knew her way around pretty well and had walked the trail that led to the back of Mount Morah many times. She knew the creek Magnus spoke of, but she had never noticed a trail on the other side of it. When she reached the creek, she was surprised to see stepping stones leading across the water. How had she not noticed them before? She easily hopped across and found the path that would take her to the meeting place. This trail ended in a little clearing. There was a seating area, a fire pit, and a small shelter made of palm fronds. The seats faced the smooth rock wall that was Mount Morah. Part of the wall had been hollowed out to house a beautiful emerald green stone. The stone was about the size of a coconut and glowed a bit as if lit from within. Maggie wasn’t sure if this was actually an emerald, or just looked like one. It was beautiful and she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. There was a little ledge of rock under and around the stone. She noticed several of Petro’s small carvings on the ledge, so she figured he must have been here too.

After Maggie had taken in her surroundings, she sat down and wondered how Magnus would show up. She didn’t know if he could or would show himself to her visibly, or just intrude on her thoughts again. She waited for a long time and was growing impatient, so she decided to journal until he came. She wanted to document this place and the emerald stone. As Maggie settled into her seat and got caught up in the journaling process, she relaxed and forgot about Magnus for the moment. Then he spoke.

“Hello. I am glad you found your way to me. It is necessary for you to relax and get into your creative space. When your mind is busy, you can’t hear me.”

“Oh,” said Maggie thoughtfully, that made sense. “This is a beautiful place. What is that stone?”

“That stone is the other thing that improves longevity. It also helps me connect with you. Even the Tahlanins are not sure what it is, but they valued it above all else.”

“It looks like Petro knew about this place.”

“Yes, he visited me here every morning. He would come to watch the sun rise, to meditate, and to spend time near the stone. That is what I wish for you to do. Visit me here every day and I will tell you about my people and give you the message we wish to deliver to the world. Will you do that?”

“Yes, I’d love to! I have so many questions. What do you, or your people, look like?”

Maggie felt a stirring near her feet. She looked down to see the sand rising and swirling until it took the form of a man’s face.

“This is an accurate representation, near as I can come,” said Magnus.

Maggie bent down and touched the sand figure. “Wow! That’s amazing!” she said, reaching for her journal. She was not the best artist, but could sketch something close to what she saw in the sand. Magnus seemed pleased with the drawing.

The next four months went by like a dream as Maggie fell into the routine of meeting with Magnus in the mornings and busying herself with chores the rest of the day. Magnus was respectful and only spoke with her at those designated times, unless she asked him a question at some other time of day. Maggie was grateful for Magnus’ company, and for her quiet time, but she found herself missing Petro. She didn’t realize how fond of him she had become in their four months together. Missing turned into longing as she waited for him to return. But when he did return, would it be time for Maggie to leave the island? She need to go back to the mainland to publish her book on Tahlana. Would she be allowed to return?

What Maggie did not know was that while she was missing Petro, he was finding that he missed her also. Petro was confused. He had been happy alone on the island for over 800 years. He was content being on his own with only Magnus for company. Why did he feel so discontent now? Being away from Maggie, he felt as if a piece of him was missing. If he had been whole without her, how could he be less than whole now? In addition to missing Maggie, Petro felt very out of place among society. He longed to return to the island. But when he returned, would she leave?