{"id":173,"date":"2016-09-04T15:19:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T19:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.herbheineman.com\/?page_id=173"},"modified":"2024-07-25T16:24:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T20:24:03","slug":"chapter-11","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/edensgarden\/chapter-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 11: Best Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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PART II<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Eden had missed the spring term because of her long illness. Remembering the inauspicious beginning of that school year, the Averys decided to have her repeat. So she re-entered sixth grade, not as last year\u2019s failure but as a celebrity, imbued with the aura of one returned from the dead. A better example of making a virtue out of necessity would have been hard to find.<\/p>

What pleased her most, though, was being allowed unrestricted activity, for it returned her to the skating rink and the companionship of Debbie Rabin despite their no longer being classmates. She had no idea how important those ties to Debbie would eventually be.<\/p>

The girls continued going to the home of one or the other after school.\u00a0 Only now they did their separate work. One day, Eden was introduced to another of nature\u2019s works of art.<\/p>

Josh stood on a chair, pencil in hand, looking intently at an object they couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>

\u201cMom said not to write on the ceiling,\u201d Debbie said.<\/p>

\u201cI know. I\u2019m waiting for your big behind to come in range.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat are<\/em> you doing?\u201d Eden asked.<\/p>

\u201cAh! At last someone with intellectual curiosity,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cPoor Edie. She should use it more wisely.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019ll be sorry,\u201d he said, holding the pencil ominously close to Debbie\u2019s face.<\/p>

\u201cThis is all very entertaining,\u201d said Eden, \u201cbut I still want to know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOK, come over here, but be careful.\u201d<\/p>

The girls came closer. \u201cLook just beyond my finger, but don\u2019t touch.\u201d<\/p>

Eden was the first to see the tiny spider, its legs busily engaged in some invisible project.<\/p>

\u201cWhat\u2019s he doing?\u201d she asked.<\/p>

\u201cSpinning, I guess,\u201d Josh said. \u201cThat\u2019s what spiders do, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut I don\u2019t see a web.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNeither do I, but something has to be holding it up there, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>

Demonstrating the correctness of Josh\u2019s observation, the spider descended a few inches.<\/p>

\u201cWatch this,\u201d Josh said, \u201cand don\u2019t touch.\u201d<\/p>

He poised the pencil.<\/p>

\u201cKeep your eyes on the spider.\u201d<\/p>

Six eyes focused on the spider. Slowly it moved horizontally, then returned to its former position. Then in the opposite direction and back again. Eden stole a look upward to make sure that Josh wasn\u2019t blowing at the spider.\u00a0 She saw the pencil moving slowly side to side.<\/p>

\u201cGet it?\u201d he asked, seeing her upturned face. \u201cIt\u2019s hanging from a thread.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAnyone could have told you there has to be one. But I can\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI can\u2019t either.\u201d He moved the pencil again. \u201cAmazing, it must be a hundred times longer than its body.\u00a0 Probably took a few minutes to spin. So thin you can\u2019t see it, yet strong enough to hang from. Isn\u2019t that a work of art?\u201d<\/p>

~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>

Two years passed. The Rabins were standing at one of the many overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Looking at their maps, Josh and Debbie estimated their location, in North Carolina seventy miles south of the Virginia line, just inside Pisgah National Forest. Years earlier, hearing the question \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d once too often, Max and Esther had decided road maps were the answer. At fifteen and thirteen, the children were reliable navigators.<\/p>

~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>

The Rabins\u2019 was one of those blessed homes in which nothing significant ever went wrong. Both parents were happy in what they were doing, happy with each other, and happy with their children. Esther had no misgivings about suspending her job as a statistician to raise the children. On Max\u2019s income as a biochemist, they made their home in West Mount Airy, a liberal Philadelphia community, and numbered the Averys among their friends.<\/p>

~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>

Mid-October was not a typical vacation time for families with children in school.\u00a0 Still, traffic on the parkway was heavy, drawn by the renowned fall foliage. The lateness of the Jewish High Holidays that year gave the Rabins only a small window for the trip. To make it, right after Yom Kippur, the children had had to bargain for four days off. Their deal was for each to present a report to their science classes.<\/p>

For several minutes the children debated how far they could see across the valley below. According to the map, their line of sight passed through the northeast corner of Tennessee into the southwest corner of Virginia.<\/p>

\u201cI say Virginia,\u201d Josh said.<\/p>

\u201cYou can\u2019t see that far. It\u2019s miles away.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLook, dummy, don\u2019t you see that line?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWho\u2019re you calling dummy? What line?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThere, on the other side of that tree.\u201d<\/p>

Debbie searched the trees for a few seconds before realizing she\u2019d been had.<\/p>

\u201cMom!\u00a0 Do something about Josh.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOK, you two, time to go.\u201d Esther adopted a mildly reproachful tone only because it seemed the right thing to do.<\/p>

She was seated in the car before she realized that Josh had not moved from the overlook.<\/p>

\u201cCome on, Josh,\u201d she shouted to him.<\/p>

\u201cHe\u2019s still looking at lines,\u201d came a voice from the back seat, \u201call the way to California.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAll right, Debbie, I heard you the first time,\u201d Esther said. \u201cMax, toot your horn. My voice doesn\u2019t seem to carry.\u201d Max did as asked, but without effect. Finally, Esther got out and walked to the parapet, expecting to find Josh reading the marker about the panorama. Instead, he was gazing absently into the distance. Instinctively, she kept her distance and said nothing. Although he must have heard her footsteps and her sudden stop, he did not turn. His face, which she saw in profile, displayed an intensity and wonder like she had never seen before.<\/p>

A minute later Max got out of the car. \u201cStay here, Debbie,\u201d he said, fearing trouble.<\/p>

He could hardly believe his eyes. Someone\u2019s crazy here, he thought, either the two of them or me. Their expressions were identical, but they weren\u2019t looking at the same view. Josh\u2019s gaze was on some point far away, Esther\u2019s on Josh\u2019s face.<\/p>

\u201cAm I interrupting?\u201d Max asked after a discreet pause.<\/p>

Esther turned to him with a finger on her mouth. \u201cShall we go, Josh?\u201d she asked softly.<\/p>

Josh spun around, shook his head a few times, and said: \u201cWow!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI must have been in a trance or something.\u201d<\/p>

Esther squeezed Max\u2019s hand.\u00a0 Max took the cue.\u00a0 He had no idea what was going on.<\/p>

\u201cWhat was that all about?\u201d asked Debbie as they drove off.<\/p>

\u201cNothing,\u201d Esther said casually, \u201cjust enjoying the view. But we\u2019d better move along.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cGood,\u201d Debbie answered, \u201cfor a moment I thought he had you<\/em> staring at his state lines.\u201d<\/p>

The expected comeback did not materialize. Josh was looking out the window.<\/p>

\u201cA work of art,\u201d he said absently.<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d Debbie asked.<\/p>

\u201cThe view. I was hypnotized. Lucky you weren\u2019t there. You could have pushed me over.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI may never get another chance.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI mean,\u201d he continued, \u201cI\u2019ve seen so many landscape paintings, in the museum, and the ones we have at home. None of them are anything like that!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe colors are<\/em> spectacular,\u201d Esther said.<\/p>

His enthusiasm validated, Josh went on: \u201cYou know, paintings have frames, they\u2019re in rooms with walls and ceilings, they have titles and explanations, and they\u2019re all so, well, two- dimensional. But this was all around me, to the left, to the right, over my head, up close, and as far away as I could see. And I felt right inside it, you know, not just looking at<\/em> it.\u201d<\/p>

Something told Debbie to smother the wisecrack on the tip of her tongue.<\/p>

After a minute of silence, Esther said: \u201cThat sounds like a beautiful experience, and I\u2019m not being the least bit facetious.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt was. I still see it in front of me.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNot to the left or right?\u201d asked Debbie, unable to restrain herself any longer.<\/p>

\u201cYou know something, Miss Debo<\/em>ra<\/em>h, you have no soul and you\u2019re incredibly dull.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAhem,\u201d said Max, \u201ctalking about soul makes me think of body, and mine\u2019s crying out for food. Anyone with me?\u201d Luckily they all were.<\/p>

That night Josh dreamed he was in a planetarium. The dome was a panoply of chemical formulas in shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple. He awoke in a mood of elation.<\/p>

With the help of a botany text and Max\u2019s explanations, Josh wrote his science report on chlorophyll, its structure and function, and how its decay leads to the autumnal color changes. Green plants absorb carbon dioxide, use solar energy to synthesize complex chemicals, and release oxygen into the air. Animals eat these chemicals and breathe the oxygen, derive energy from their reaction, and exhale carbon dioxide for the plants to use again. What an amazing interactive system! What a glorious cycle of energy and life. Truly a work of art!<\/p>

On the long drive home he daydreamed. He recalled the maggots in the garbage can, to which he too had instinctively reacted with disgust, until he gave them a second thought. No, a first thought; his initial reaction had been altogether without thought. Then they fascinated him. Fall foliage and maggots. So different, yet so alike. Both proclaimed life. You had to be a real clod not to appreciate the foliage, but didn\u2019t the maggots, too, have a claim to beauty? Not that flies were anything to get ecstatic about, but the beauty lay in the concept, the design of process by transformation. Ah! Sometime he would write about that \u2015 his own work of art.<\/p>

\u201cWake up, Josh! That must be some<\/em> dream, judging by your face.\u201d<\/p>

It was Debbie\u2019s voice. Naturally, she wouldn\u2019t let him enjoy his dream in peace, but that was OK. Even his pesky little sister was beautiful \u2015 conceptually, of course \u2015 in the way she added spice to his life. When they were older, maybe he\u2019d share those thoughts with her.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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<< Chapter 10<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Chapter 12 >><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART II Eden had missed the spring term because of her long illness. Remembering the inauspicious beginning of that school year, the Averys decided to have her repeat. So she re-entered sixth grade, not as last year\u2019s failure but as a celebrity, imbued with the aura of one returned from the dead. A better example […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-173","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions\/759"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}