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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Inspirational
- Subject: Inspirational / Uplifting
- Published: 08/22/2024
M08 - What The Future Shall Bring
Born 1950, U, from Arlington, TX, United StatesShe just knew that it was going to be a bad day. She had not needed the horoscope to tell her that.
Ruby McGill had been on the streets for over 10 of her 33 years. It showed on her face and in her attitude. Her 5'3", 110 lb. body was not going to instill fear in any would be attackers, so she had substituted fierceness during the early years of her period of being 'residentially challenged' to keep her safe. Everyone knew not to mess with Ruby. She could go ballistic in a heartbeat! It also helped that she and her group of friends all looked out for each other. The years had taken their toll on her once lush bright red hair, which was now a ratty halo of not quite ripe strawberry frizz. Her skin was sun kissed to a leathery creased brown. Her thin body showed her bones more than it should, but also belied a wiry strength.
This morning found Ruby sitting on a bench in Tanner Springs Park in the heart of Portland, Oregon. Here she was, sitting on the mildly chilly, overcast spring day, in a downtown park in the upper West Coast, all her belongings in a liberated shopping cart behind her, reading her horoscope in a discarded newspaper. If she was lucky enough that someone had dropped the correct section of the paper, she always checked the horoscope when she could. She never expected much, but it was comforting to see what the universe had in store for her.
She just knew that this day it would not be positive. The entire morning had not been positive, so how could the horoscope be. The morning had been rainy, so all her stuff was more than a bit damp, the moisture bringing out the smell from not being washed in recent memory. She had also been splashed by a motorist while crossing Marshall Street to get to the park. The paper had been a wet mess that she had to pry apart carefully to find the proper section. Nothing had been easy this day. So, it was no surprise when the daily Scorpio horoscope started off with a question about whether she really wanted to keep running the current race she was involved in. Her metaphorical finish line was probably going to be too far, the days' prediction continued. That's all she needed! It was bad enough that her life was going nowhere, but now she was being told she would not get there anyway.
Ruby was not aware of the invisible Infidels, beings of pure energy, which hovered around her feeding her depression with comments such as ‘You are doomed to misery!’ and ‘Life is a box of crap, sticky, smelly and no place worth being.’
* * *
Meanwhile, at a place that has no actual location, but does exist, and which has no actual name but is called The Academy by those who have been trained there, a signal was detected. It was not heard because there was no atmosphere to transmit sound waves. It was not seen because neither the place nor the signal existed in the physical plane. It was detected nevertheless by an acolyte Messenger, who hastened to notify those that should know.
Messengers, like Infidels, were ethereal. They existed on a plane of energy with no physical presence but could and frequently did interact with the human physical plane on a regular basis.
The Messenger whose task it was to review such signals, did so and determined that the need for assistance was great enough to warrant intervention, but no corresponding desire to improve could be detected at this time. The Acolyte was instructed to continue to monitor and to report any further anomalies.
* * *
Stuffing the soggy newspaper into a nearby trash bin, Ruby got behind her cart full of possessions and started down the street with no particular destination in mind. She had nowhere to go and nothing needed to be done. It was going to be just another day in a long list of such days. After going only a couple of blocks, she decided that she would make a stop at the shelter on Burnside Street. The Portland Rescue Mission provided much needed services to the large homeless community in and around Portland. They did the best they could, trying to keep up with the needs of so many. Portland was a magnet for the disadvantaged.
As Ruby pushed her belongings through the door, there were two Messengers nearby discussing the situation.
‘The Mission does the best that they can with the limited resources that they have,’ Messenger Ambrose said to his companion in that soundless thought communication that Messengers employed between themselves.
Messenger Cuthbert agreed, ‘That, they do.’
‘It is sad that the effort is misguided,’ Messenger Ambrose continued.
‘I think that misguided would not be the correct assessment. The basic needs of food and shelter must be met before others can be addressed,’ Cuthbert countered.
‘True enough, but do you not think that these people are dependent on the assistance that they receive?’ Ambrose added.
‘It goes without saying that they are dependent,’ Messenger Cuthbert replied before continuing, ‘They have needs which they cannot meet themselves.’
‘And so, the problem is defined,’ Ambrose concluded, as if that was his goal all along.
‘The problem was not at question!’ Cuthbert thought, with as close to testiness as a Messenger might get. ‘Yes, the people do become attached to the ease of the assistance and lose the desire to seek to better their lot because of it, but their needs must be addressed.’
‘True,’ Ambrose said blithely. ‘But the solution then, what of that?’
Messenger Cuthbert looked at his companion rather than respond.
‘You know I’m correct,’ Ambrose filled the void. ‘If the misdirected resources of the many were funneled a bit more accurately, then it would be possible not only to feed fish to the needy, but also to teach them how to catch their own fish, thus solving both issues!’ He added triumphantly.
‘Yes, the fishing analogy again,’ Cuthbert said, almost with a hint of a groan. This was clearly not the first time that the two had discussed the topic.
‘If only those who made such decisions would follow your advice,’ he continued.
‘How then to get some of the resources given freely to be given with conditions,’ Messenger Cuthbert concluded.
‘That is the real problem,’ Ambrose agreed. ‘Not a popular policy choice.’
Ruby was not at all aware of this battle of wits. She was focused on getting her cup of coffee and getting into a warm, dry place for a spell.
* * *
She left the shelter before dark, not liking the structure imposed on those who spent the night there. Ruby preferred the open sky to the regimentation of rules.
Reaching her favorite nest in a clump of brush near the Willamette River, where the sound of the water passing by lulled her to sleep, Ruby made a tent out of her not yet dry blanket and hunkered down for the evening. As the spring temperature began to fall toward its seasonal low of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Mother Nature compounded her discomfort with a resumption of the morning’s drizzle. The blanket tent did little to keep out either aggravation.
The Infidels who shared Ruby’s shelter did not sense any of this discomfort, but their mischievous comments were intended to add some.
‘Such is life,’ they directed into Ruby’s mind. ‘Your future is sealed. Why try to keep going?’ ‘Each day is the same or worse.’
‘Why can a girl not catch a break?’ she thought. ‘Can anyone turn off this spigot! Am I doomed to freeze and drown forever!’
The sensors in The Academy went off again. It was decided that the desire was finally closer to the need, and Messenger James was dispatched to see what could be done.
In an instant, James was hovering in the makeshift tent near Ruby. His arrival caused the Infidels to flee, at least momentarily.
‘Yesterday’s mistakes do not have to be tomorrow’s problems,’ James whispered in Ruby’s ear.
This thought occurred to Ruby, but she did not know why. She had tried before to quit the life, but something always happened to drag her back. It was her fate, she supposed.
“I don’t know what I can do,” Ruby said out loud. “There is nothing that works for me.”
That was enough for Messenger James to decide. He reached out with his essence and bonded with Ruby. This selfless act of assistance, which a Messenger undertakes for the lifetime of a human, is not done lightly, but is done with love and compassion. Ruby felt a moment of lightheadedness, followed by a pervading sense of wonder and joy.
The process completed, James glowed into existence, filling the confines of the little tent with warmth and light. Ruby blinked in surprise.
“What is happening?” She blurted out in a horse whisper. “What is this?”
“I am Messenger James,” he told her. “I am here to answer your question.”
James continued into the silence, “You are not doomed to the path that you have trodden.”
Ruby was not sure if this apparition was real, or a figment of her imagination, but she argued anyway, “Nothing I have tried has made a difference. Even my horoscope agreed today that I was doomed.”
“Astrology is not real,” Messenger James responded. “Coincidence happens. But when combined with vague comments, it can seem more like fate than it really is.”
“But my fate?” Ruby countered. “I’ve tried to change it.”
“Fate does not exist. No one has their future set. Life is about choices and the future always starts right now with your next choice,” James said with conviction. "Yesterday's mistakes do not have to be tomorrow's problems."
He continued, “Not everyone’s path is easy, but you can decide your path, and if you have the strength to pursue it, you can achieve it.”
Ruby started her future that night. She gathered her belongings and went back to the shelter. She availed herself of the warm shower and some clean clothing and followed the rules for spending the night.
The following day, she went to the address that they gave her and applied for a dishwasher post. It was a start. In the years that followed, she worked her way through successively more demanding but more lucrative jobs as she continued to show her willingness to work for a fair wage and to seek training and opportunities to better her place in life. Ruby occasionally stopped at the shelter to share her history on the street and how she had worked her way off.
She did find it interesting that she had developed such a strong preference for fish and other seafood for dinner.
M08 - What The Future Shall Bring(Denise Arnault)
She just knew that it was going to be a bad day. She had not needed the horoscope to tell her that.
Ruby McGill had been on the streets for over 10 of her 33 years. It showed on her face and in her attitude. Her 5'3", 110 lb. body was not going to instill fear in any would be attackers, so she had substituted fierceness during the early years of her period of being 'residentially challenged' to keep her safe. Everyone knew not to mess with Ruby. She could go ballistic in a heartbeat! It also helped that she and her group of friends all looked out for each other. The years had taken their toll on her once lush bright red hair, which was now a ratty halo of not quite ripe strawberry frizz. Her skin was sun kissed to a leathery creased brown. Her thin body showed her bones more than it should, but also belied a wiry strength.
This morning found Ruby sitting on a bench in Tanner Springs Park in the heart of Portland, Oregon. Here she was, sitting on the mildly chilly, overcast spring day, in a downtown park in the upper West Coast, all her belongings in a liberated shopping cart behind her, reading her horoscope in a discarded newspaper. If she was lucky enough that someone had dropped the correct section of the paper, she always checked the horoscope when she could. She never expected much, but it was comforting to see what the universe had in store for her.
She just knew that this day it would not be positive. The entire morning had not been positive, so how could the horoscope be. The morning had been rainy, so all her stuff was more than a bit damp, the moisture bringing out the smell from not being washed in recent memory. She had also been splashed by a motorist while crossing Marshall Street to get to the park. The paper had been a wet mess that she had to pry apart carefully to find the proper section. Nothing had been easy this day. So, it was no surprise when the daily Scorpio horoscope started off with a question about whether she really wanted to keep running the current race she was involved in. Her metaphorical finish line was probably going to be too far, the days' prediction continued. That's all she needed! It was bad enough that her life was going nowhere, but now she was being told she would not get there anyway.
Ruby was not aware of the invisible Infidels, beings of pure energy, which hovered around her feeding her depression with comments such as ‘You are doomed to misery!’ and ‘Life is a box of crap, sticky, smelly and no place worth being.’
* * *
Meanwhile, at a place that has no actual location, but does exist, and which has no actual name but is called The Academy by those who have been trained there, a signal was detected. It was not heard because there was no atmosphere to transmit sound waves. It was not seen because neither the place nor the signal existed in the physical plane. It was detected nevertheless by an acolyte Messenger, who hastened to notify those that should know.
Messengers, like Infidels, were ethereal. They existed on a plane of energy with no physical presence but could and frequently did interact with the human physical plane on a regular basis.
The Messenger whose task it was to review such signals, did so and determined that the need for assistance was great enough to warrant intervention, but no corresponding desire to improve could be detected at this time. The Acolyte was instructed to continue to monitor and to report any further anomalies.
* * *
Stuffing the soggy newspaper into a nearby trash bin, Ruby got behind her cart full of possessions and started down the street with no particular destination in mind. She had nowhere to go and nothing needed to be done. It was going to be just another day in a long list of such days. After going only a couple of blocks, she decided that she would make a stop at the shelter on Burnside Street. The Portland Rescue Mission provided much needed services to the large homeless community in and around Portland. They did the best they could, trying to keep up with the needs of so many. Portland was a magnet for the disadvantaged.
As Ruby pushed her belongings through the door, there were two Messengers nearby discussing the situation.
‘The Mission does the best that they can with the limited resources that they have,’ Messenger Ambrose said to his companion in that soundless thought communication that Messengers employed between themselves.
Messenger Cuthbert agreed, ‘That, they do.’
‘It is sad that the effort is misguided,’ Messenger Ambrose continued.
‘I think that misguided would not be the correct assessment. The basic needs of food and shelter must be met before others can be addressed,’ Cuthbert countered.
‘True enough, but do you not think that these people are dependent on the assistance that they receive?’ Ambrose added.
‘It goes without saying that they are dependent,’ Messenger Cuthbert replied before continuing, ‘They have needs which they cannot meet themselves.’
‘And so, the problem is defined,’ Ambrose concluded, as if that was his goal all along.
‘The problem was not at question!’ Cuthbert thought, with as close to testiness as a Messenger might get. ‘Yes, the people do become attached to the ease of the assistance and lose the desire to seek to better their lot because of it, but their needs must be addressed.’
‘True,’ Ambrose said blithely. ‘But the solution then, what of that?’
Messenger Cuthbert looked at his companion rather than respond.
‘You know I’m correct,’ Ambrose filled the void. ‘If the misdirected resources of the many were funneled a bit more accurately, then it would be possible not only to feed fish to the needy, but also to teach them how to catch their own fish, thus solving both issues!’ He added triumphantly.
‘Yes, the fishing analogy again,’ Cuthbert said, almost with a hint of a groan. This was clearly not the first time that the two had discussed the topic.
‘If only those who made such decisions would follow your advice,’ he continued.
‘How then to get some of the resources given freely to be given with conditions,’ Messenger Cuthbert concluded.
‘That is the real problem,’ Ambrose agreed. ‘Not a popular policy choice.’
Ruby was not at all aware of this battle of wits. She was focused on getting her cup of coffee and getting into a warm, dry place for a spell.
* * *
She left the shelter before dark, not liking the structure imposed on those who spent the night there. Ruby preferred the open sky to the regimentation of rules.
Reaching her favorite nest in a clump of brush near the Willamette River, where the sound of the water passing by lulled her to sleep, Ruby made a tent out of her not yet dry blanket and hunkered down for the evening. As the spring temperature began to fall toward its seasonal low of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Mother Nature compounded her discomfort with a resumption of the morning’s drizzle. The blanket tent did little to keep out either aggravation.
The Infidels who shared Ruby’s shelter did not sense any of this discomfort, but their mischievous comments were intended to add some.
‘Such is life,’ they directed into Ruby’s mind. ‘Your future is sealed. Why try to keep going?’ ‘Each day is the same or worse.’
‘Why can a girl not catch a break?’ she thought. ‘Can anyone turn off this spigot! Am I doomed to freeze and drown forever!’
The sensors in The Academy went off again. It was decided that the desire was finally closer to the need, and Messenger James was dispatched to see what could be done.
In an instant, James was hovering in the makeshift tent near Ruby. His arrival caused the Infidels to flee, at least momentarily.
‘Yesterday’s mistakes do not have to be tomorrow’s problems,’ James whispered in Ruby’s ear.
This thought occurred to Ruby, but she did not know why. She had tried before to quit the life, but something always happened to drag her back. It was her fate, she supposed.
“I don’t know what I can do,” Ruby said out loud. “There is nothing that works for me.”
That was enough for Messenger James to decide. He reached out with his essence and bonded with Ruby. This selfless act of assistance, which a Messenger undertakes for the lifetime of a human, is not done lightly, but is done with love and compassion. Ruby felt a moment of lightheadedness, followed by a pervading sense of wonder and joy.
The process completed, James glowed into existence, filling the confines of the little tent with warmth and light. Ruby blinked in surprise.
“What is happening?” She blurted out in a horse whisper. “What is this?”
“I am Messenger James,” he told her. “I am here to answer your question.”
James continued into the silence, “You are not doomed to the path that you have trodden.”
Ruby was not sure if this apparition was real, or a figment of her imagination, but she argued anyway, “Nothing I have tried has made a difference. Even my horoscope agreed today that I was doomed.”
“Astrology is not real,” Messenger James responded. “Coincidence happens. But when combined with vague comments, it can seem more like fate than it really is.”
“But my fate?” Ruby countered. “I’ve tried to change it.”
“Fate does not exist. No one has their future set. Life is about choices and the future always starts right now with your next choice,” James said with conviction. "Yesterday's mistakes do not have to be tomorrow's problems."
He continued, “Not everyone’s path is easy, but you can decide your path, and if you have the strength to pursue it, you can achieve it.”
Ruby started her future that night. She gathered her belongings and went back to the shelter. She availed herself of the warm shower and some clean clothing and followed the rules for spending the night.
The following day, she went to the address that they gave her and applied for a dishwasher post. It was a start. In the years that followed, she worked her way through successively more demanding but more lucrative jobs as she continued to show her willingness to work for a fair wage and to seek training and opportunities to better her place in life. Ruby occasionally stopped at the shelter to share her history on the street and how she had worked her way off.
She did find it interesting that she had developed such a strong preference for fish and other seafood for dinner.
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