These next two chapters hint that even though Amelia and Pearl have strong plans to make everything work out the way that they would like, there is a strong possibility that their plans will both fail. Amelia’s plan depends on the reliability of others who are absent minded, and not particularly strong. Pearl’s plan depends on her being able to follow the strict rules of Christmas Eve that children throughout much of the world know by heart and often find difficult to follow.
One day, The Raven With Blue Eyes visited Amelia at The Circus. This was dangerous, but she had important information to share and remained cautious.
“Amelia, there have been meetings called by The Head Librarian for the region that includes Nate and Gracie’s garden. My granddaughter told me about it. She is a young raven with blue eyes like me, and she is also a Page for The Living Library who studies things which are Living Treasures. The Healing Tree in your garden home and Emily are both Living Treasures.
“First of all, as a Sentinel, your mission to help protect Emily from herself while she finds her special unique gift has been accomplished. Secondly, as a true friend, your mission to keep her alive and safe from the evil influence of The Absence of Love has been accomplished.
“You, Amelia, are a warm and welcome spring breeze in the world of birds.”
“You aren’t going to tell me you think I am the Key to the Living Library, are you? Or be angry with me for not calling your name aloud as soon as I saw a raven named Elise playing a piano as one of the captive performers in that terrible Circus. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to her and verify that she really is your sister.”
“No, I am simply here to tell you that you only need to call my name, and all the powers and forces I have will be at your use for the great kindness you have been preparing for the captive birds in this circus. We can’t trust The Starlings to help you. They have a history of being absent-minded and letting others down.”
“But there was a time when you did not trust me or think I was good enough to join your group to help you. Now you want to help me?”
“When you do not hear the feet of the Starlings on the circus tent above you, call my name—Susanne. Next, call for The Spirit of Christmas.
“The Barn Owls who have helped Mayflower will help you too, and I think Mayflower will as well. Their section of the forest would make a perfect sanctuary for the freed circus birds. Mayflower is a Sentinel like you, and she will love and care for them, just like you would. I know it would make a perfect healing place for my sister, Elise, and the others.
“My granddaughter also told me of the plan you have worked on with the Starlings to free the birds from this Circus who cannot fly any longer because of their age and health or because their wings have been clipped. My granddaughter and the Chief Local Librarian are doubtful that it will work with weak Starlings, but she is more confident with the assistance of Mayflower and the Barn Owls.
“She told me the Librarians no longer believe that Gracie is the Key to The Living Library as they once did. They now believe the Key is Emily because of what happens when she draws. That is why my granddaughter has visited here and observed what is going on and learned of your plans.
“Amelia, you were not part of The Garden then, but it was on just such a dark night as this that I visited Gracie to tell her that her life and her Sewer Rat Eradicator plan was only a small part of a much bigger plan. That plan is The Plan of The Great Gardener. We can trust him to make sure his plan is successful.”
“Why haven’t I ever heard of this Great Gardener?” asked Amelia.
“The Great Gardener needs no telling or showing to be known. The Great Gardener has brought you here to teach you to trust others, like Emily and like me. All of these months without you there, The Great Gardener has been teaching Emily to trust herself and the gift she has been given. She showed that she has learned to trust herself when she flew up to the roof by herself just like you once did. But you sensed that she would long ago, didn’t you?”
“I did. I most surely did.”
“That is because you are a Sentinel. You help and protect others—not just chickens but people too—from themselves.”
“People?” asked Amelia.
“You understand the deepest flaw found in people. You have experienced that flaw for yourself here.”
“And what is that deepest flaw? Give it words, and then I can understand and identify it and hopefully be free of it—or at least not hurt by it.”
“When people cannot control themselves. They seek to control those who are weaker than themselves.”
“That’s right,” said Amelia. “I have seen that here in The Circus, but never in The Garden. Professor Accipiter controls the people who works for the circus and the birds who perform for the circus, and he is often very cruel about it.”
“The deepest flaw found in people leads to slavery, war, and destruction of this world that Our Great Gardener has made for all of us.”
“Are there some people who are not like that?”
“There are some, but fewer as the years pass by. They are the ones who are grounded by the earth, who protect it and the birds who love it. They are those who nurture The Healing Trees.”
“But what about Nate, the Gardener? Can we trust him?”
“You can indeed,” said The Young Raven. “His life and happiness are tied together with your own. And the same is true for your new friend here, Big Willie.
“Amelia, tomorrow night marks when The Great Gardener did something quite wondrously curious and exceedingly unexpected. It took The Absence Of Love completely by surprise, just as your aerial rescue plan surely will.
“Do you remember the story of The Tuxedo Cat and how Nate felt when Bessie was hurt? The Great Gardener felt like that when he saw the pain throughout the whole world, The Great Garden, had been infiltrated by a host of unseen predators that hurt people and turned them against each other.
Just like Nate could not know how Bessie and the chickens felt because he was not a chicken, The Great Gardener could not know how the first people felt because he was not a person. To remedy that, The Great Gardener became a person and came into The Garden as little baby person, just like all people must.
“The songbirds of that day observed and recorded it all. They were the first Pages of the Living Library. They are the ones who gave chickens the word “Kö-qÅq-öK!” to say whenever they laid their first egg. Very few other words are like it—a palindrome within a palindrome. It’s why that word’s foremost meaning is that something altogether wonderful is going to happen, is happening now, and is going to happen!
“You see, Amelia, as the people and the chickens of that time would have said it, The One Who Was, And Is, And Is To Come, The Great Gardener, Our Forever came into the world to destroy the power of The Absence of Love. He also came to wipe away every tear and to heal every wound. In fact, The Great Gardener died on A Healing Tree, but he could not remain dead. And he will come again for every chicken or other animal with breath who has been named by a person, and he will make them new, just as he has promised to make all things new.
He will even come for those who have been given and even taken on hurtful names such as Useless and Idiot and Failure. He will come especially for those named Not Good Enough because he can make them Good Enough his own way. That is what this whole great plan is about.”
“Thank you,” said Amelia, “I am going to study all these things you have told me. If any bird can figure out how chickens fit into this plan to destroy the power of the Absence of Love and the pictures being placed in the minds of people so strongly that they feel they have no other choice but to follow after them, it may likely be a Sentinel like me. I will solve the mystery of what still needs to be done. Chickens make good partners in projects, and I am good at putting maps and puzzles together. If one of us is The Key that the Head Librarian is seeking, then that one will need protecting from the consequences that come with that gift. That may be where you or your mysterious Guardian come in, my dear friend—my dear Kö-ÏHÏ-öK.”
And with that, Amelia had created a new word, as chickens so often do. This was a palindrome within a palindrome, the most special kind of word to all chickens. And she did so without knowing the great power it would one day hold over The Absence of Love.
“Chickens do make good partners in projects,” said The Raven With Blue Eyes. “The Guardian who I report to began as exactly that—a good partner in projects.”
“Lefty is The Guardian, and you are his Messenger, aren’t you?” asked Amelia.
“That is yet another successful solution to an all-encompassing puzzle, Amelia,” said The Raven With Blue Eyes.
The Big Boy and The Little Boy from the end of the street were fun to write about. They will appear later in this book and perhaps in another book. Their dialogue style is based on characters from “Leave It To Beaver” with The Big Boy being similar to Eddie Haskell and The Little Boy being similar to Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver. That television show had such great dialogue and perfectly captured a unique view of the world and the adults who were in charge of it.
Early one morning, Pearl listened as The Big Boy from the end of the street explained Christmas to The Little Boy from the end of the street. The Big Boy had a Big Blue Hippopotamus in his yard, so he must know a lot about Christmas too.
“Don’t be stupid. It’s almost Christmas Eve night. Then Santa Claus will bring my new go-cart and fill my stocking with candy. If you haven’t made your list, you’d better do it now, right now.
“If you don’t, you get leftovers nobody else wants. And if you’re not in bed and asleep, you get nothing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“What do I put on my list?”
“How should I know, you little goof!”
“I’d like a puppy. That’s what I’d really like.”
“Don’t put that on your list,” said the Big Boy.
“Put a new bicycle. You can always get a puppy. People are giving them away all the time. You don’t see anybody giving away free bicycles, do you?”
“No, I guess you’re right.”
“I know I’m right. Only Santa does that.”
They went off to throw rocks in the little creek across from our house. Pearl felt lucky to have learned so much so quickly about Christmas.
You make a list of what you want most. But it has to have only special things, not everyday free things. You must be home on Christmas Eve, and you must be asleep when Santa Claus comes. When you wake up on Christmas morning, you have everything on your list. This was the best plan ever!
Pearl took out her favorite drawing. It showed Blanche and herself smiling happily together. This was what Pearl wanted more than anything. Having Blanche back home was much more special to her than a go-cart or a bicycle. And what would a chicken do with either one of those anyway? Pearl tried to imagine herself riding a bicycle and laughed.
She decided to send her treasured drawing to Santa, and he would know exactly what she wanted for Christmas. She just needed to add some words.
Pearl made some red ink from her breakfast pomegranate pips and used one of her old feathers as a pen. Then she made marks on her paper like when she was drawing pictures. She loved making marks. These marks would give her a wonderful new life when Santa brought Blanche back home.
She decided it would be best to use as few words as possible. Word marks were not as easy to make as picture marks.
Dear Santa,
Please. Blanche. Pumpkin Seeds.
Love, Pearl.
She rolled up the paper until it would fit through the fencing and called the songbirds to come and get it for delivery. They would take it as far north as they could, and then the snowy owls would take it the rest of the way to Santa Claus.
She looked especially content when I sat down with her to read the newspaper.
“What are you so happy about today, Pearl?” I asked.
“Secrets and presents,” she simply said.
“I see. Did you finally figure out what The Big Blue Hippopotamus and the other decorations are about?”
Pearl nodded happily, but provided no details.
“Well, listen. You don’t need to give me a gift. I will be happy watching you enjoy a gift I’ve made for you with a little help from Emily, especially on the wrapping paper.
Pearl looked at me questioningly. I thought it was because she was trying to figure out what my present for her would be, but she was actually wondering about the giving of gifts.
The Big Boy had not said anything about giving gifts, only getting them. Maybe every time somebody gets a gift, there has to be a different somebody who gives a gift.
Pearl decided she would give The Bottle Cap Lady a gift. She could not imagine anyone else giving her a gift. Her only friends were Christmas lights.
People could have always picked on her and told her, “Why can’t you just be a good, normal Bottle Cap Lady?”
Pearl knew what that was like.
And even if The Bottle Cap Lady didn’t have a gift for Pearl, it would be fine. Pearl’s best gift was coming from Santa Claus. He would be bringing Blanche back home along with piles of roasted pumpkin seeds. She could think of no other gift from The Bottle Cap Lady or anyone else that could be any better.
Pearl would make a new angel halo for The Bottle Cap Lady’s big plastic angel, and then it could be put it back up on the stable roof. If only Pearl had a way to get the angel back up on top of the stable with the Angel Halo Hat Pearl would make, it would be The Best Gift Ever for The Bottle Cap Lady, and she would be completely surprised.
Until next time…
Our best advice to you this week comes from Gracie: Sometimes things can be difficult to understand, but thinking about the BIG plan is often helpful, especially when you rely on friends! (And maybe, just maybe, you’re never too old—or too early in the year—to write a letter to Santa!)
John, Gracie, Bessie, Blanche, Pearl, Emily, and Amelia
"Leave It To Beaver" as an influence-wow. A lot of people today have never heard of that show (besides television historians like yours truly) and those alive who remember seeing it tend to think of it as very unrealistic. It was, but what you're drawing from it was the most authentic part.