March

Issue 30

“Come Eranta, come,” the call rang from outside.

“What is it?” Eranta Magalinda asked.

Outside, her neighbour Gemima stood waving her hand in excitement.

“The star showers are coming tonight, Eranta.  If you wish your child to be born blessed, you better come with us to Starcatcher’s Meadow.”

“Why?”


“Because...don’t they teach you about this on earth, Eranta?”  

“Teach us what?”

“Children whose mothers catch brilliance of stars during pregnancy are born blessed and wise. Sure and confident of their place in the universe and of the path the great I Am has set for them.”

Eranta laughed.

“Surely you don’t believe that Gemima. Not an educated woman like you.”

But Gemima was shaking her head, and looking at Eranta very seriously.

“Don’t laugh,” she said.  “The radiance from those stars imbues mothers with strengths passed on to babies in the womb.”

Eranta bit her tongue before blurting out that her nieghbour’s belief was nonsense.  She was a newcomer to B543 and it wasn’t her place to criticize customs that existed here long before her arrival.

“You go ahead, Gemima,” she said.  “Go to the fields.  I’ll see if I can catch up later.  But if I don’t, it’s okay.”

Eranta saw the look of doubt on Gemima’s face.

“Go,” she repeated, “I’ll catch up with you later.”