The Days of Summer Past

[Noahide]

‘The Days of Summer Past’

 

Chapter One

 

14,300 ROE

 

 New Terra was approaching.  New life was approaching.  New beginnings were approaching.  But for Melanie, 34th born of the Female Cherubim of the Realm of Eternity, most of her focus was on the days of summer past.  She sat in her rocking chair in her small abode near one of the larger keeps at the edge of the Terraphoran Rim, near the south of Terraphora.  She sat in her rocking chair, reflecting over days gone by.  She sat there thinking over one special Summer past, just a few thousand years ago.  One special summer in which her twin, Laquenta, had grown close to her.  A special summer in which she had known true love.

 

 

 

11,176 ROE

 

 

 

‘So you want to hit the beach, then?’  Melanie could tell by the tone in Laquenta’s voice that he was being quite serious.  ‘But it is barely Spring, Laqy.  The beach will still be freezing.’  ‘I know.  But I don’t mind the cold.  Besides, we haven’t been swimming together for years.’  ‘I know.  Perhaps when summer comes around, okay.’  ‘I’ll hold you to that.’ ‘Consider me held,’ she responded smiling at him.

 

 

 

As Spring passed and summer began Melanie looked forward to her time with Laquenta.  For she had grown somewhat close to him now.  Somewhat close and, in the love she desired to have in her heart, Laquenta her twin seemed by the standards of the realm, a thoroughly good choice.  And so she looked forward anxiously to the return of her twin that Summer.

 

 

 

She was out in the front garden, digging down into the dirt, occasionally taking a sip of lemonade from a glass that still had ice in it, when someone hailed her.  She looked up, ever so pleased.  It was him – he had returned.

 

 

 

He came up to her, grabbed her in his arms, and gave her a hug.  And then, taking flowers from behind his back were they had been hidden, he gave them to her, his face beaming.  ‘The car is out the front.  Why don’t you go and change inside and we will head to Lake Sharday.  The weather is awesome today so the beach should be perfect.’  Melanie nodded, smelling the roses.  They were perfect, just like her twin Laquenta.  She went inside to change and choosing the swimming garments she had already had placed beside her bed, put them on and put on a coat over the top.  She quickly prepared a small basket of fruit and some chicken which she had left over, and buttering some bread rolls, grabbed her hat and made it out to the front to join him.

 

 

 

He looked at her, smiling.  ‘Ready sweetie?’  ‘As ready as I will ever be?’  The car took off and, soon coming to a major road, began the trip to Lake Sharday, an hours driving distance from were Melanie lived.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

 

11,706 ROE

 

 

 

She looked at the large shell intently.  ‘Here, put it to your ear,’ said Laquenta, and placed the shell next to Melanie’s ear.  ‘Can you hear the sound of the lake?’ She nodded.  ‘Its wonderful,’ she said, and he smiled.  They had swum for a while and then laid down to bake in the sun.  And now he was playing with sand making sandcastles and putting shells to her ear.  She looked at him, smiling.  It was a wonderful day and she really wished it would never end.  Soon they sat down on their beach blanket, looking around the beach noting around fifty or so angels scattered here and there.  Eating there lunch Melanie thought on the relationship which appeared to be developing with her twin.  He was certainly handsome, was Laquenta.  And of good moral character.  He was not overly wealthy, maintaining a basic farming position in the rostered work and doing not much else, but he had told her he’d had a lot saved.  That would be good, she thought to herself.

 

 

 

‘Here.  Take a strawberry.’  He put it to her mouth and she opened up, swallowing and chewing on it.  ‘That was yum,’ she said.  ‘How about another?’  He proceeded to place four more to her mouth and she delighted in the taste.  Some thoughts came to her as she was sitting there.  Thoughts about her future and just what Laquenta could possibly mean to her.  And so deciding to take a risk she asked him an important question.  ‘Laqy.  I know you have a steady job and it pays ok.  But do you ever dream of more?  Do you ever wish to make something of your life?  You are one of the older Cherubim, so you could take a risk, you know.’  Laqy continued eating his chicken roll and chewing it, looked at her.  ‘You know, Mel.  For us Cherubim after the first 20 or so, it matters less and less were you are on the list.  I mean, in truth, the first half a dozen of us get noticed, but then it is just one of the pack.  One cherubim out of 1,400,000, you know.  Just another commoner in a sense.’  Melanie nodded, understanding instantly what he was saying.  ‘I know, Laqy.  I know.  But a lot of angels read our Cherubim Torah now and your name is well known because of it.  You are right near the top, just like myself, and many know who you are because of it.  Surely with that fame you might be able to make something of your life.’  Laquenta considered her words.  In a way they sounded true.  Yes, because of his birthright in the Cherubim community and especially because many got to know his name, being high on the list of Cherubim Torah, he did have a small amount of fame.  Certainly nothing to be compared to a Michael or a Saruviel of the Seraphim.  But he had a small degree of it.  ‘And do what with my fame, exactly?’ asked Laquenta, curiousity aroused.  She looked at him, considering his point.  ‘Oh, I don’t know.  Something.  Anything, I guess.  I mean life is there for the taking as Torah says.  We make of it what we will.  Surely there is something you are good at and which you can become successful at.  You just need to apply yourself a little bit.  He looked at her seriously and after a while nodded.  ‘You could be right, Mel.  You could be right.’  She smiled.  He was listening – that was good.  Maybe it would bring forth some action.  She liked to think so anyway.

 

 

 

The finished off their meal and returned to Melanie’s home.  Asking him if he would like to stay the night, Laquenta agreed and she made up the bed in the spare bedroom.  It would be nice, she thought to herself, having a man stay the night.  It would make quite a nice change she thought, as she started placing the new sheets on his bed.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

 

‘I guess, yes Mel.  I have given it a lot of thought, your words.  And this past summer has been great for me.  Great for us.  I have drawn closer to yourself, closer than ever before.  And what you said at the beginning of this summer has been on my mind.  On my mind constantly.  So I decided if I was going to do something I may as well start by writing something.  Some sort of piece of literature.  And I decided on a poem.  A poem which, perhaps, expresses the feelings both of us have on this very topic.  And it is a poem which, I think, says what it really needs to say.  It is called ‘Stuck’’ Laquenta handed his twin the poem.  She looked at him, a nervous smile on her face, and sat down at the table to read the poem.

 

 

 

Stuck

 

By Cherubim Laquenta

 

 

 

Stuck

 

Trying to be someone I’m not

 

Jealous of those at the top

 

Wishing that I had a lot

 

Stuck – Stuck in this life

 

 

 

Fear

 

Is that what is holding me down

 

Denying me life’s greatest crown

 

Keeping me stuck in this town

 

Fear – Holding me down

 

 

 

Fame

 

Something that all of us desire

 

To set this world on fire

 

To build our own empire

 

Fame – We all want to get higher

 

 

 

Yet

 

 

 

Love

 

In patience what I need comes to be

 

As the love of God is towards me

 

In the prison of life I’ll be free

 

Love – the gift we all need

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melanie left off reading the poem.  It was short, succinct, and really to the point.  And, ever so slightly embarrassed, she nodded at her twin.  He had spoken well.  So well.  It was as if he already knew the desires of the heart.  To be someone.  To be great.  To be all that he could be.  But then it was as if he already knew the answer to those desires.  And those desires were answered in the one who alone could truly give you what you need.  She smiled at him, nodded, and gave him a hug.  ‘Thank you Laquenta.  That was perfect.’  And then she giggled a little.  ‘I will take it to Terraphon, ok.  See if I can get it put into a poetry anthology by someone.’  Laquenta just shook his head.  She didn’t give up that easily.  ‘As you wish, Mel.  As you wish.’  And they both chuckled a little.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

 

 

That summer drifted to a lazy conclusion and, as Autumn began, Laquenta had headed back to Terraphora to resume his work duties.  He promised another visit next summer, and Melanie promised to wait for him anxiously.  That summer came and went, as did a number the two spent together.  But, unfortunately in a way, after a few hundred years, they again drifted somewhat.  But that happens.  That inevitably happens it seemed between many of the twins and many of the relationships you made in life.  And sitting on her rocking chair, over 3,000 years later, Melanie reflected on the reality of such a long life and the relationships which came and went.

 

 

 

14,300 ROE

 

 

 

She often thought that throughout eternity she was destined to gain friendships with all the angels of the realm – that perhaps that was the whole point as to why relationships usually had a spurt to them, but dwindled after time.  Perhaps they just needed a good refreshing period.  A time apart.  Even thousands of years apart, just to make new friends and live a new life.  But Laquenta, in the last few years, had been visiting her again.  And he promised that this summer and, if she didn’t mind, for a number of decades, they would resume their strong friendship.  It was almost like the coming and the going of the seasons.  Friends for a while, but you moved on.  But in the cycles or the seasons of life old friends came around again.  Almost renewed.  And the love and trust you had once built had been restored and things took on new meaning and growing meaning.  Perhaps this was just a secret to life – to life eternal.  Ever-changing in many ways, but ever the same as well.  And perhaps that was just the wisdom of her eternal father at work.  She liked to think so anyway.

 

 

 

She got up from her rocking chair late that day and went inside.  The webnet was still on and she took another look at some of the plans for the new creation of Terra.  It was exciting news – very exciting.  And from what the articles said mankind’s number was intended to go on perpetually.  In a way that daunted her.  She could never really meet all the children of men, then.  It would take time unlimited.  But perhaps that was simply the way it was meant to be for mankind.  Still, she had her angelic family and in them she knew she could take eternal consolation.  There would, she guessed, always be days of summer past to reflect upon in the long life she would live.  And even now days of summer present to enjoy, once again, life with her friend Laquenta.  And by the grace of her eternal father, unlimited days of summer future.  But that was life, wasn’t it.  That was life.  With an eternal father who had given them the gift of eternal life before all of them were endless days of summer future and endless days of summer past to reflect upon.  And that gave a cheerful smile to Melanie the Cherubim, 34th born of the female Cherubim of the Realm of Eternity.

 

 

 

THE END