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Chapter Sixty-Two: Deep Waters
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Taberah closed his eyes for a while and said, "Nathella, you said there was a story behind your Dad wanting to make a pond. What was the story?"
Nathella said, "When I was little, I had a fantasy, an image -- of being surrounded by a gathering of many warm people, of a place where I belonged. One of my brothers, when he was little, imagined exploring a mansion, and had a very vivid image of a doorway opening, light spilling out from behind. My father had a dream like this, too. He envisioned a deep pool of water, a pool he could swim in and dive deep and meet mermaids. He liked to reminisce, and he talked about that dream from time to time. He had a better memory than most.
"One of the things that happens when you get older is that you get practical, and one of the things I accepted after a blunt remark from a young man is that 'practical' is not about getting things done; it's about letting dreams die. It means settling for less -- being happy, to be sure, but... I have come to accept my age, but I know I lost something when I gave up the bright energy of being young.
"One of my father's friends asked him, 'Why not make your dream a reality? You may be too old to swim into a pool and meet mermaids, but there are children around town who are not. They don't have a place to swim. To be sure, you'd have to put a fence around it and require parents to be around, buy one of those floating rings, but why not? Why not make a place where children can dive and meet mermaids?' He told me that a spark lit in my father's eyes -- my father said, 'I've got some stumps to blast, and I've got a field I don't use any more. I can make a pond as well.' That friend felt very guilty when he found out what happened, but when I look back -- I think my father died well. It left on me an impression, and I've managed to keep a little more of my young openness to dreams than I might have otherwise.
"And I'm glad to have met you. You help me dream, as well. You're Heavenly minded enough to be of earthly good -- you've already changed my life for the better."
Taberah said nothing. He felt at the same time honored and slightly uncomfortable -- why was she putting him on a pedestal? Taberah now dreamed mostly of Heaven, and he was sure he would receive it. Why -- Taberah thought, and he could not think of any appropriate questions to ask. He let the matter rest.
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Chapter Sixty-Two: Deep Waters
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