V

Prof Anne and family depart.

Prof Bolo and Petunia take some time/space to themselves.

Petunia gets a large bowl and scissors from her kitchen and heads to her vegetable patch. She walks meditatively, with a soft gaze along the path between ornamental and native plant beds, and it seems to her that she is seeing flower fairies playing in the corners of her vision. I wonder if resonating with little Stephanie has stimulated some opening in my vision sight, Petunia reflects, remembering the graceful little girl and the flow of energy between their hands even as Petunia talked about her gardens with the adults. Petunia gets a picture of herself as the mother of a child. What a wonderful place to birth children into she thinks, seeing a flash of what is now her family group, knowing that May and Martha would be the perfect auntie and grandmother. Someday, she thinks, and returns her attention to the present moment.

She becomes aware of the presence beside her and opens her awareness to Mick, who tells her that that was quite some little lassie who came, how excited some of the flower spirits were by her presence and attention. So, Petunia directs her thought at the mind of the Ancestral Spirit, could Stephanie perceive all of the spirit worlds or did you choose to show yourself to her. But she did see some fairies then, good.

"Oh jah, the fairies had a good time showing off to her. But yes, lets just say she saw more than most." Mick departs from her presence and the plants and her garden capture her attention. She spends a delightful while harvesting greens, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and herbs for her salad contribution to the potluck supper.

Prof Bolo and Petunia are just meeting on the deck, opening a bottle of blueberry wine, when Martha and May arrive. After hugs and greetings and putting their casserole in the oven, the four of them settle on the deck chairs.

May pulls a large bag into her lap. She removes a handful and passes it to Petunia. Petunia looks at the keys and lable in her hand. The lable reads R & P House. There are keys of various shapes and ages attatched to the solid chain.

The two sisters laugh mirthfully at Petunia's puzzled look. Martha explains. "Those are the keys to all the locked doors of your new home. Rob has asked us to clean out the guesthouse so that it would be ready for the two of you to arrange as you like, for Thanksgiving. We have moved everything out now except for the king sized bed, and it's chest of sheets and blankets, which you'll be wanting anyway, and it's too awkward to move easily. The painters are coming next week, so I need you to choose the colours you would like. Rob says he'll live with whatever you choose, he must trust your taste."

May produces a ring of paint colour swatches and a floor plan of the four bedroom guesthouse and art studio. "You can look at them later. But tell us now how is he really doing? Besides making practical arrangements, he doesn't say much to his old mother these days." May beams a special smile at Petunia. She and Martha could not be more delighted with their son's choice of a partner and they look forward to having another generation of young people arrive into their lives.

Petunia smiles back. She and Rob e-mail each other several times a day. He had hinted about living arrangements, but she had not expected things to start happening so quickly. Oh well, I am ready for this, she thinks steadily.

"Rob is well. Seems he is acing all his classes, being away from the distractions of the loving females in his life, that's his focus." Petunia relates some anecdotes about his school life while Prof Bolo moves off the deck to stir the fire, in the fire pit. This draws the women out of their chairs, to set the picknick table, for when the shish-ka bobs Prof Bolo is putting on the grill are ready for eating.

The sun is setting as they settle in to eat the wonderful casserole, salad, shish-kabobs,and cranberry walnut apple cake. They share a moment of gratitude for the abundance of the plant worlds in their life, that nourish body mind and spirit.

Martha and May, having satisfied their priority concerns and curiosity about their son, turn their attention to Prof Bolo and Petunia, asking them about their day.

Petunia regales them with the story of her first class. They all laugh and laugh.

Prof Bolo has had Sage in some of his other classes. She goes on his field trips with him. "Seems she has an affinity for animal minds. Perhaps we could try to engage her with some of the porcupine, racoon, sqirrel, deer and vole management. Encourage the birds to eat more of the non-native insects, that sort of a thing." 

Petunia makes a mental note to have a conversation with Sage.

Martha wonders whether they should look for a workhorse to adopt. "We have the stable and mostly someone is around, since we have chickens and cats." All four of them think this is a wonderful idea and designate the sisters, who are after all lifelong residents of the area, to find the horse and bill the university for its maintenance and upkeep; c.o. endowment for gardens. 

Talk turns to the new Proffessor, Anne, her visit and her family.

Petunia tells of her conversations with Stephanie.  

Prof Bolo had not "seen" anything with either ordinary nor psychic sight, however, he could somehow sense, he knew something was going on. He had talked to Anne in general about spirit worlds during their interview and yes she was comfortable with the information that spirit worlds exist but no, this was not a high priority for how she spent her time and attention.

Petunia wonders whether it will be more interesting to her as her child's ability evolves. Or the child will blunder on without spoken expression of what is so innate to her, special. Oh well, if she hangs out with the university's plant people, she'll be in good company. Petunia brings her attention back to her present scene, thinking fondly, that she likes this little bubble of intimate people, as she realizes that Prof Bolo is gazing quizzically at her.

"A penny for your thoughts?" He asks her.

Petunia grins, noway she is in the mood for sharing those. However, while she has his full attention, she retrieves a memory note of a conversational tidbit she had been saving for just such a moment. 

"I've been thinking, how it is that when you introduce a new species of plant, their seed or roots, branches, leaves, put out the micro-organisms to attract what it is they need for their growth and comfort. They create their own place in the soil. How it is the same for a person. I mean, here I moved with nothing more than a carload of stuff, knowing nobody outside the university that hired me. Those first three years of resonating with the land, clandestine meetings with Rob...  

"Oh, I think we knew what was happening, the two of you were none too secretive about it," interjects Martha. Petunia grins. 

"Anyway, I meditated a lot, pretending I was an oak tree, imagining the branches above my head and the roots below. I got the feeling that I was attracting to myself, without moving at all, all of those nutrients that I need to grow and be happy. Like satisfying work, like family and community. The energy we put out with our thoughts and intentions becomes the micro-organisms of the air, similar in function for air spaces, as what the soil or animal body ones do for their organisms. It's as if we create the need for ourselves in our chosen community."

Blessed be, Martha says, contentedly. 

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