Sheri S. Tepper by Raising the Stones

Author:Raising the Stones [Stones, Raising the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

TWO

"We're going tomorrow, " said Sam to Theseus in the night hours, as they stood in the Temple of Poseidon, upon a shining hill, watching phantom horses grazing in the meadows. "The thing is, I want to talk to him. To Phaed. To my father."

"What do you want to say?" asked the hero.

"I don't know. I mean, I figure it out, but then it doesn't seem to be the right thing."

Theseus tossed his sword in the air, spinning, and caught it by the hilt. "I'll pretend to be him, and you can practice. How would that be?"

Sam was doubtful. "You don't look like him at all."

"Oh, I can be him," said Theseus, sitting down on the hillside and compressing himself, becoming squattier and bulkier. A moment later he looked up at Sam, slantwise, with Phaed's remembered face, exactly, even to the big cap hiding most of his hair. "Well, hello, boy! And where'd you drop in from?"

Sam was silent, shocked. It was the voice he remembered, too, and the very words.

"Hello, Dad," said Sam after a moment. "I've come all the way from Hobbs Land to see you."

"That's a long way to come. I always hoped you would, though, no matter how far it is."

"Well, if you missed me, you could have come to me, Dad."

"Not really, boy. I mean, when your mam went away, it was because she wanted to be rid of me, wasn't it? So what kind of man would I have been to go invading her privacy, showing up in her town?"

"You were thinking of her?"

"Well, of course, boy. She's my wife. Mother of my children. I always think of her."

"So you love her still, do you?"

"We're man and wife, Sammy. We made vows … " The man looked off into the distance, sadness in his eyes.

"Dad."

"Yes, Sammy."

"I need you to explain something. About when Maechy died."

"Oh, sad, sad, that was."

"Mam said you didn't grieve. She said you just cursed the man for not shooting straight."

The huddled figure shook with sobs. "Oh, I grieved, Sammy. By the Almighty, I grieved. I cursed at the fool who killed him, and I grieved. He was my son, too. Not my eldest, not you, Sam, only a tiny boy, but he was my son, too. The pain was so deep I couldn't weep, boy. I thought I'd die with the sorrow of it. All I could do was curse or I'd have died … "

"Then they weren't your men who killed him?"

"My men? What men is that, Sammy? I have no men who would do such a thing. Your poor mam always thought I was involved in things like that, but I was only a farmer, only a man seeing to flocks and fields, as you do, lad. We farmer kings are the true heroes, don't you think? It makes me proud to see you, following in my footsteps so to speak."

Sam turned away, tears in his eyes. It would be something like that. When he really came to it, it would be like that.

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