“It’s common for a man to leave his belongings to his favorite. Some spread it out, but Henry chose me and it surprised me as much as everyone else.”
“Are you’re saying that the Northlands still run on a monetary system and you have poor and rich people.”
“Yes.”
I thought that terribly old-fashioned and primitive but didn’t tell him that.
“What about you?” he asked. “You have a mother, right?”
“I do. We all do, but to be honest my mother is…” I hesitated, unsure how to describe Louise. “Flighty.”
“Flighty?”
“Yes. She’s a traveler, always on the move with some new intriguing idea to explore. It’s a wonder she stayed for twelve years in the parenting unit to raise me. I don’t think she’s stayed in one place for more than a year since then. Right now she’s down somewhere south restoring chorales, and last year she mentored youth on the east coast, and before that…” I sighed. “The list is so long.”
Boulder scratched his nose. “How often do you see her?”
“It’s been three years – no, actually four, I think.” I shrugged. “It’s fine. My mom is a wonderful person and I love her. She’s sweet, and hugs and kisses me constantly when we’re together, but she’s just a restless spirit who wants to make the most of her life.”
“But if you were only twelve when she left who took care of you?”
“Oh, we all grow up in parenting units so there were always other parents I could go to. There were twelve adults and twenty-two children in my unit when I left, but a parenting unit is an organic thing where people move in and out as the children grow up. Although, Ketti joined when she was twenty and was still living there at seventy-five.”
“How many kids did this Ketti have?” Boulder asked and cleared his throat.
“Ketti had seven; she was a peacekeeper, so she only got to keep the girls.”
“A peace keeper?”
“Yes, the women who carry and raise the boys that come here. Your mother was a peacekeeper. It’s considered a great sacrifice and they are honored among us.”
“Wow – my mom was a peacekeeper.” Boulder tasted the word. “I like that.”
“Yeah, well, anyway, Ketti stayed in the parenting unit even after her own children moved out and she took care of me and other children as well. It’s good for kids to be surrounded by adults of all ages.”
“Okay.” Boulder lifted his shoulders in a shrug signaling that he wouldn’t know.
“And in a parenting unit there’s always someone who has time for you.”
“That’s nice. So do you see any of the other parents?”
I drew in a deep breath. “No. I want to, but the thing is that the parenting unit I grew up in is located in a small area of old South Africa. There’s a pocket of land still habitable but the quality of life is low, and I couldn’t study to be an archeologist there, so I moved a long time ago.”
“Have you been back?”
“Once.” I looked away.
“And?”
“And I told you: people move in and out of the parenting units, and most of the adults I knew were gone.”
“Was Ketti gone?”
“Ketti was there.” A lovely memory of her embracing me filled my heart and I laughed. “She tried to convince me to stay and have children of my own.”
“And?”
I waved my hands. “I was twenty-four and nowhere near ready, and if I’m ever to have children I would want to have them somewhere else. You know, closer to where my work and my friends are.”
