In my panic I was only to be greeted by another jolt, stopping me in my tracks. My eyes darted around the room, taking stock of everything new standing in it.
Mom was sitting at the kitchen table and a man had his arms wrapped around her, kissing her head. He pushed back and stood up. He was tall and fit with soft features, yet rugged, like a man’s man. Dark hair sat neat on his head along with dark eyes under his long eyelashes and he stood about six foot four. I noted how handsome he was.
“Saydi!” Mom yelled, springing from her chair. We hugged each other while I scrutinized the scene.
“Mom?” I half answered, half asked. The tall guy smiled while I remained cautious, especially with the three standing behind him.
She let me go and I was finally able to look at her. There were dark circles under her puffy red eyes and her face was blotchy. She’d been crying.
“Come on, honey, I want you to meet some people.” She took my hand and pulled me further into the room.
The tall one took a step forward. “Saydi.” He smiled, and it was a very beautiful smile to boot. “I’m John.”
Okay, the mysterious John. I flipped my view from her to him, back and forth. Wavering, I said, “Hi.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said kindly.
“I’m sorry I can’t say the same.”
“Saydi!” Mom scolded.
Her tone surprised me. “Sorry! That’s not what I meant...” Looking again from him to Mom, I said, “I’m sorry, I only mean...”
He continued smiling. “Don’t concern yourself with it. I understood what you meant. How could it be nice to finally meet me, when you didn’t even know about me?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
A very uncomfortable silence ensued. They were watching me like I was the one to start the conversation.
Hello! Me kid. You adults.
John kept his distance. “Why don’t we sit down?”
Though I didn’t want to sit, something prompted me to. “Okay.”
“I understand you read the book
The Two Thousandth Year War of the Spirit Light
?” he half asked, half told.
Monitoring the other people, I responded, “Yeah.”
He leaned back. “Isn’t it fascinating?”
“Yeah.” My attention still drawn to behind him.
Then the whole room elaborated in the sense that even though John was in my peripheral vision, I could see him as if I were looking directly at him. It was like miniature TV’s showing me what everyone was doing without me moving my eyes—it was starting to freak me out. But I was able to get hold of myself for Mom’s sake, in case she needed help punching someone out or something along those lines.
John stood again. “Well, let’s introduce everyone.”
The three stepped forward. Mom grabbed my hand.
John held his hand out to the first woman. “Saydi, this is Mora.”
A woman about five seven with a beautiful figure and long curly jet black hair, moved toward me with a huge smile on her face. “Hi Saydi. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she gushed, but kept her distance. Somehow, though she was looking at me, she hid her eyes.
I pushed away from the table and got to my feet. “Hi.”
She stepped back and the next stepped forward.
“This is Pearle,” John said, patting her hand.
She was about five nine, bleached white hair, dark eyes, and her skin was almost as white as her hair...but she was still beautiful. “Hello Saydi,” she breezed, taking my hand. “You have grown so much.” She turned to the other man. “Hasn’t she, Andre’?”
The man who had yet to be introduced nodded with a huge grin on his face.
Then she continued. “We’ve all been looking forward to this for many years, not the battle, but to teach you. It was an honor to be chosen.”
I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Mom. She shrugged and smiled with wide eyes.
John cleared his throat.
Pearle quickly looked at him, then said, “Oh, don’t listen to an old woman babble. It is finally nice to meet you.”
John shook his head and went on. “This is André.”
He was a small man about my height, thin with very little meat on his bones. “Hello Saydi, it’s nice to finally meet you.”
The back door flew open and a huge man rushed in with the wind, his biceps as thick as my thighs, dark skinned and about six four. He was out of breath when he spoke in his incredibly deep voice. “He’s back!” Then he stopped and looked around the room.
John smiled at him, then turned to me. “And this is Zachariah, otherwise known as Zack.”
“Miss Saydi.” He smiled, walking toward me.
There was a little apprehension with such a huge man overshadowing the whole room. Mom patted my hand. John smiled and so did the rest. Me, I wondered if running was a good idea. The man was massive! “H...hi.”
Grabbing my hand, he shook and almost dislocated my shoulder. “It’s finally nice to meet you.” He let go and got into position behind John, like the rest of them.
Scanning the bunch of them, my eyes rested on John. “I’m assuming you’re the leader of the pack?”
Everyone broke out laughing, including Mom.
When his laughter died down some, John spoke, “No, I’m not the leader of the pack...” A few chuckles could be heard. “I’m...” He looked at Mom, then back to me. “Well, we have a lot to talk about.”
Mom stood up in such a way that it demanded everyone’s attention, and she got it. “I’m just going to say it, John...”
“No, Adina, there is no need right now.”
“Yes, there is.” She turned to me. “Saydi, John is your father.”
Okay, why not! Just hit me over the head with a baseball bat; it would fit right in with the rest of the night.
The burn was working its way behind my eyes. Mom had been lying to me my whole life.
“Why?” It was barely a whisper.
She bundled me in her arms. “Honey, it was for good reasons, honest.”
I pushed her away, but she held tight onto my hands, crying with me.
So many times through my life I wished for a dad, one that would play baseball with me, come to my basketball games, or just be there at the supper table. Father’s Day was the worst for me; I had no one to make a present for. So Mom got two Mother’s Days every year.
I remember crying myself to sleep many times, wishing he had lived, wishing I could watch his face light up when I gave him a macaroni picture, wishing he were there to read me a bedtime story and give me a kiss goodnight.
I inspected this John person, doing a comparison analysis. We had the same round dark brown eyes, the same hair, although his was very short. His chin was a little square, so I had Mom’s round chin, but he and I had the same nose, a little pointy, but small. His cheeks were low and mine were high—my whole life everyone asked how I got such dark features when Mom was so fair. The answer, for the first time, was standing right in front of me and it was exactly what I had been told—my looks came from my dad.
He sauntered over with a smile and sat down across from me.
“Are you okay?” Mom asked.
“She’s all right, Adina, she just taking it all in,” he advised.
Looking from one to the other, I asked, “I have a dad?”
Mom was studying my face, still not sure if she should smile or duck. “Yes honey, you do.”
With what was coming, ducking might have been a good idea.
I finally broke. “Why Mom! Why did you tell me he was dead?” I threw my hands up to my face, hiding behind them.
She wrapped me up in her arms.
“Shhh, honey, I’m sorry, but it was really for a good reason. I knew there would never be a good enough explanation for the loss of a dad your whole life, but it was the best out of any. Will you let us explain?”
John handed me some Kleenex. I wanted to be mad and scream at them, say nasty things that would sting, but instead agreed reluctantly.
She wiped a tear from my cheek. “Thank you.”
John reached over and took my hand, kissing it. “Okay, let’s begin at the beginning.”
I nodded again.
“We know this is a lot to take in, but I want you to know your mother and I love you very much. That it is why I couldn’t be with you.”
It made no sense, but I agreed to listen. “Okay.”
He began. “Saydi, you believe in God, correct?”
“Mm-hm.” I wiped my eyes.
In a thoughtful way, he said, “Well, in reality there are many Tovs and many Pyre. They do exist and they live among you.”
Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I recognized the words from the book. “Tovs? Pyre?”
Chuckling, he responded, “Shamar Tov: gods; Pyre Nefarious: demons.”
“I know what they are!” I snipped.
Getting to his feet, he looked to Mom. “Sweetheart, can we change places?”
She agreed, and as they passed each other, they had a little hand touching thing going on. Mom looked at him with such love; it wasn’t something I was used to seeing. In fact, it was quite cute even though I was mad.
As for John’s comment about gods and demons, it made me somewhat cautious as to the stability in his upstairs department.
“Can I have your hand, Saydi?” he asked, extending his out for me to take.
“Yeah.”
“Thank you. Don’t worry, all of this is in direct correlation to why I couldn’t be with you. Just bear with me, okay?” John watched me with a small smile.
I nodded.
“The reason I asked about the book earlier is because it’s not fiction. It is real. It did happen. There are many realms in the universe and beyond.”
Blinking. I sat there blinking.
As soon as he’s done, I’m calling in the white coats.
“As you read, at the time of that war, mortals didn’t exist. However, we knew for certain you’d be coming soon.”
I slowly looked at Mom, then back at him, then Mom again. “We? Mom, he said, ‘we’.”
He nodded. “Yes I did. My father was part of that war.”
The only thing left for me to say was, “You’re nuts!” Though I wanted to believe my own words, something in his eyes told me he was being truthful.
A chuckle came from his chest.
Why did he think I was kidding?
And off he went. “Now, as time passed, humans covered the earth and for years we watched in fascination as they progressed through life. Eventually, some of us got up enough courage to walk amongst them...” Pausing, he waited to see if I had anything to say.
Nothing from me. I was just biding my time until I could sprint for the phone and dial 911.
“Humans are beautiful beings.” He beamed at Mom. “And being a Tov, when we fall in love, it is for eternity.” Looking down at his hands, he continued. “Unfortunately, when we fall in love with a mortal, we lose them quickly...well, quickly to us.”
They were supposed to be telling me why they lied, yet all that was coming out was talk about loving a mortal.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m a Tov.”
I darted my glare around the room to gauge the others reaction to his statement—a statement that, by rights, should have had a drum roll sounding off in the background, or at the least, the sky should have lit up with a boom...but nah! It was presented casually, like a normal, everyday revelation.
Right, normal if you’re a loon!
Hopefully it wasn’t hereditary.
“Alrighty then, I’m off to bed,” I pronounced, getting up.
“Saydi, please!” Mom pleaded.
“What, Mom? You’re going to have me sit here and listen to some crazy man tell me he’s a god?”
Her eyes teared up as she begged me with them. When I turned to look at John, he was watching her with such sadness on his face, truly worried about her.
Taking a deep breath, I plunked down in the chair.
“Thank you, honey,” Mom said.
John took my hand again. “When I met your mother, it was love at first sight. I had to be around her. She made me feel whole.” Again he gazed in Mom’s eyes.
I observed the other people to see if they were watching it. Yup, they were, lost in Mom and John’s gazing. I shook my head.
John advanced forward with his little story. “Of course, we got married and lived as husband and wife. It was the happiest day of our lives when we discovered we were pregnant. It was a healthy pregnancy, and when you were born, the Tovs threw a party the likes of which no one had seen. Everyone was so excited to meet our Half Light.” He was getting excited just recalling it.
It made me smile, getting caught up in it too. “Half Light?”
Mom patted my hand, giving me a loving smile. “That’s what we call our children who are half human, half Tov.”
“Oh.” Then I asked John. “Why such a big party?” For a second I thought it would be cool to be half god, half human, but then I remembered John was crazy.