The boy cried again, and the woman turned back toward him.
"Can you help him, Lord?" she asked. "he's just a child, just a baby. Must he suffer so?"
The Ancient One pulled himself up on a barrel that blocked off the construction and shook his head. "My energy," he said, "is all used up. Can't help him, but those gathered here feel as you do, that he deserves a second chance. Go ahead....fix him! You have the Power. Just draw the energy from them. Reach out to him. Picture him well and sound, and he will be."
"I couldn't!" the woman said.
"You can!" The Ancient One said. "if you truly want to, if you turn the emotion, the desire inside of you into action. Go ahead. Do it! Hold out your hand but be careful. Don't try to hold that energy. Let it flow through you. That which heals can also burn. Be the instrument. Be the guide for it. Just let it flow."
The woman obeyed, and a faint blue glow appeared around the boy. His twisted leg straightened, and the bone protruding through his loins disappeared. Inside his body ripped organs pulled back together, and blood flowed back through the wounds from which it had escaped, and the wounds sealed themselves.
"Good!" said The Ancient One, "Good! You've got it! Don't heal him completely, leave a few minor injuries or they'll aks too many questions...like I did with the others."
The woman lowered her hand. "I did it!" she cried, "I did it!"
"Of course you did!" The Ancient One smiled. "You're just as capable as I am. You just haven't learned to use those powers you've evolved over time. You'll get there."
The boy sat up and looked terrified. "What in the hell are you?" he blurted out, "You ain't human!"
"He sees us!" the woman said.
"Of course he sees us!" The Ancient One said. "He's aware of everything that's happened."
"Daddy!" the boy said, looking towards the physical form that had been his father. "No," he said, "you're not my daddy! What happened to my daddy?"
The Spirit in his father's body spread his arms. "What'll I do?" he asked. The Ancient One answered. "A man that could inspire his troops to such bravery and lead them in one of history's most gallant charges can lead one young boy out of The Darkness! Now you'll have to excuse us. Those they were chasing are coming back with aid and we really must be on our way."
The Southern Officers saluted, as The Ancient One and his companion soared skyward. Moments later the colored family followed by a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance, rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt.
"My God!" the black father exclaimed, as he climbed from the car, "They're alive! Merciful God in Heaven, they're alive!"
The body now containing Robert E. Lee approached him. "Thank you, son, for summoning aid," he said, "and returning. It was a true Christian gesture." He extended his hand and the other man took it.
"Did He not say," the black father remarked, "'Love thy enemies?'"
"He also said," the white man replied, "'Love you one another.'" Somehow the black minister knew a different man stood before him than the one who had been chasing him. He had no idea HOW different!
As The Ancient One and his companion neared the home of her physical form, The Ancient One remarked, "You called me Lord back there. In all these nights that's the first time you've called me your teacher. Do you understand now the things I have been teaching you?"
"I do," the Spirit said, "but my physical form is still afraid of you. I want to follow you. I want to go with you, but she does not want to be dominated. She is afraid, afraid you, your physical form, will control her. That when she actually gets near you she'll surrender to you completely in every way. She's afraid of that."
"I understand," The Ancient One said, "her desire for independance. but when one chooses a path, one can't go halfway. She would still have her freedom of choice. Only those follow us who are willing to do so, in one way or another. We all surrender to some authority. Even I am bound by laws. I am not a god. She must choose herself, as my physical form chose. Now he is open.....dangerously open, and few understand.
We are not one, him and I. His physical form supplies the energy I need, while I supply the spiritual energy he needs. We will only be one when death merges our consciousness into one. Then, he will be added to the sum total that I am, just as she will be added to the sum total that you are."
"I understand," the woman said. "Thank you for your patience. 'Til we fly again!"
"'Til we fly again!" The Ancient One answered.
On weary wings he sped home. All was knitting together, he thought, strand by strand, stitch by stitch a tapestry was taking shape. What a story that tapestry would tell, what a story, indeed!"

The preceeding story is fiction. Any resemblence it bears to true persons or places is coincidental, and not the intent of the writer.

(SORRY THIS ISSUE OF VOICES IS LATE!) As some of you know, The Forces Of Darkness did all they could to prevent our trip north. Nine miles out of Orlando, Florida, our oil pump gave out and we lost our pick-up truck. The U-Haul we hired was a disaster, and cost us over $700, so right now we are struggling. But things are looking a little bit better. I am in hopes of having a second job, soon, with which to earn the funds to pay off our debts and keep VOICES going. So if there are delays, do forgive us. We are trying our best. The Polleys.

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