Brook - Gen 6 Ch 9

There, stepping out of the time machine, was a tiny barefoot girl who couldn't be much more than five years old.

"Papa?" She waved hesitantly at me as she called to me in an accent identical to the ancient shaman's whose island we had so recently left.

"Papa!" More sure of herself now, she ran and threw her arms around me. Still shocked and confused, I returned her exuberant embrace.

"How did you get here, little one? What's your name?"

"Don't you know me, papa? I'm Oleander. Auntie Hyacinth said it was time, that I was old enough now. She sent me through the portal on the island. She said you were waiting for me."

As I gazed down at her, for a second my softly glowing pendant caught my eye, and I instantly realized the truth of her words.

"Of course, sweetheart. I've been waiting for you for a long time."

My heart still filled with the wonder of it all, I led her into the house to meet Brann.

She charmed him instantly, the same way she had with me. Neither one of us were sure how exactly it had happened, but she was ours now, and we were overjoyed.

We enrolled her in school, and I was amazed at how fast she caught on to modern life. Her quick mind made homework a breeze, and she also appeared to have the old Greenbow artistic talent that had  eluded both my father and me.

Cindy was excited to have a little sister to hang out with, talking about art, and boys, and clothes. She tried her best to convince our little Andee to wear a modern dress and shoes, but she would have none of it.

"Auntie Hyacinth made me this dress, I like it. And I hate shoes! They hurt my feet!"

What Andee liked to do best of all was to wander. At first we tried to restrict her to the area close to the house, but she would invariably forget, and we'd find her way off in the hills, chasing butterflies or searching for rocks.

Eventually we gave up, and bought her a cell phone so we could keep track of her, and made her promise to be home before dark.

Even that was not always successful. Occasionally the sun would dip down below the horizon, and still no Andee. One evening even the cell phone went unanswered, and Brann and I began to worry.  It was starting to get dark in earnest, so Brann, Cindy and I spread out, searching all Andee's favorite haunts for any sign of her.

It was Brann who found her, at the graveyard, calmly sitting on the grass working on homework.

"Andee! We were so worried! Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I"m sorry, Papa Brann. It was bothering Margi. I had to turn it off."

"Margi? Who is Margi?"

"Oh, you know," Andee pointed to one of the tombstones. "My great-great-grandmother Margi. She was helping me with my homework."

Now if I know Brann, and I'm pretty sure I do, standing in the graveyard at night talking about ghosts is probably near the top of his 'least favorite things to do' list.

"Stop it, Andee. Stop it right now. It's time to go home."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Aw, Andee. I'm not mad. I just - I was just worried, that all."

"Come on, I'll race you to the car!"

Later that night I had a long talk with Andee again about her wandering.

"We love you so much sweetheart. We worry about you when you don't come home at night."

I'm not sure she heard, though, as she was staring off into space with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Sweetheart? Did you hear what I just said?"

Obviously she hadn't, as she abruptly changed the subject.

"Papa, how did you get Auntie Hyacinth's necklace?"

"What? This?" I held out my pendant. "Hyacinth had a pendant like this?"

"Not 'like this', papa. It's the same one. With the tiny flower in it. How did you get it?"

My eyes went wide with amazement. Was it possible? Andee needed to hear the pendant story as I knew it, but it was way past her bedtime.

"It's a long story, Sweetie, and it's getting late. It's Saturday tomorrow, I'll tell you in the morning, okay. Now off to bed with you."

The next morning, I began the tale of the pendant out at Sunflower's Pond.

"Sunflower settled here with the pendant many generations ago."

"But that was a long time after Hyacinth, wasn't it, papa."

"Indeed it was, you are so smart."

"She passed it on to her daughter, Rose. This is her rose garden."

"Mmm, they smell so good. The nectary is named after her, isn't it?"

"That's right, sweetheart."

"Marguerite was next to get the pendant. Brann says you've met her at the graveyard?"

"Uh huh. She helped me with my homework. Papa, why doesn't the ice melt?"

"No one knows. Marguerite took her secret with her when she died."

"This is the biggest olive tree I've ever seen!"

"It's huge, isn't it. Your grandpa Ren planted it for his mother Olivia. Marguerite passed on the pendant to her, and she gave it to my father, Ren. And now I have it."

"Where is Ren's garden?"

"Hmm?"

There is a garden for everyone else who had the pendant. Why doesn't Grandpa Ren have one?"

I was slightly chagrined at the question. Why indeed.

"I guess because I never made him one. I'm not really good with gardens."

"Well, when I get bigger, I'm gonna make him one, okay papa?"

"I think that's a great idea, sweetheart. I think he would like that."

Andee never ceases to amaze me. Today she found the old box that I had fished up from the pond at our estate in Champs Les Sims.
"Oh, papa. Its him! It's Lao Hu! Where did you find him?"

"Wha..? Have you seen this before?"

"Oh, yes! I thought he was lost forever! But you found him! I wasn't allowed to play with him. He was a special toy, from 'before'. But one day I sneaked  him out to play with him, and when I tried to open his box, it fell down the bank and into the pond. Auntie Hyacinth was so angry."

I was speechless for a minute. Then my mind zoomed in on one phrase.

"Before? Before what?"

"Before we came to Champs Les Sims, of course."

Andee continued to amuse, and bemuse, and wander, and worry us, until she was ready to begin her teenage years. Her dress was bothering her that day, I think it was getting too small. So she stripped it off for the party, in typical Andee style.

It's hard to believe the tiny waif that stepped through the time machine door is becoming a beautiful young woman.

My brother Colt and Jia Li, and all the cousins - Shawn, Paul, and Louis -  came for the celebration. Andee stayed to listen to Colt's playing for a little while, but soon I noticed her slip silently out the door. 

"What are you doing out here in the dark, sweetheart? Everyone else is inside."

"Oh, papa. Look. Aren't they beautiful? I had to come say hello to the garden. And I have an idea for Grandpa Ren's garden."

"That's wonderful. And yes, they are beautiful. Happy Birthday, sweetheart."