What Happened In Paradise?

Second Visit: Another Dream?

Maxwell is on the edge of the plantation; where the cane piece meets the road, it’s not the road he remembers.

Wind dances through the cane before meeting him by this new road; he hugs himself, trying to ward off the chill. The sky is mostly a deep shade of violet; the edges of the clouds surrounding the full moon are of a different hue. They, along with the moon, glow with a bright blue light that shines, like a spotlight, onto the path to the plantation house.

“I am glad you came.”

Maxwell spins, faces the voice. “You. It was you.”

Patricia nods.

“And…And. And you’re here. But how?”

Patricia nods again. “Yes.” Patricia smiles. “I have a lot to show you.”

“Is this another dream?”

“Is a dream truly ever just a dream?”

“More riddles,” Maxwell says. This time he isn’t annoyed by Patricia’s convoluted words; he’s happy to hear them, grateful that she’s here to utter them. He reaches out to his mother, pulls her in for a hug. He breathes her in. She smells as he remembers. He releases her, examines her face. She’s radiant; he’s a boy again; before Maxwell Senior had died - when there was more heaven than hell. “You feel real,” he says. “All of this feels so real.”

“All our experiences are real, Maxwell.”

Maxwell considers his mother’s words, trying to understand more and dismiss less. “Why am I here?”

“Because you came to me.”

“What?”

“You could not have come if you did not want to.”

Maxwell sighs. “I’m trying to understand you…all of this. Help me to understand.”

“You will. You will understand all of it, Max.” Patricia reaches for his hand, pats the back of it, then gives it a kiss. “My Max.” She nuzzles his hand, rubs her nose across the back of it; Maxwell remembers when he’d allow his mother to give him butterfly kisses. “I am sorry I left the way I did. I had to come back, and I did not want you to be a part of this. I have never wanted you to be a part of this.” Patricia leans her wet cheek against Maxwell’s hand. “But we are here. Neither of us can cheat destiny.”

“Tell me, mom. Tell me everything.” Maxwell’s voice is barely above a whisper.

“It is best if I show you. Come. Let us go. It is about time.”