The Long Way Home
By: Sydney Weber
(Based loosely on the story of Odysseus)
“Can you tell us a story?” Hershey’s small voice piped up from underneath the covers.
Terra smiled, having known this was coming. Davy and Hershey always asked for a story before bedtime.
“Of course, my loves. What shall it be tonight?”
Davy looked up at his mother with wide eyes. “Tell us a story about Grandpa, please.”
Terra’s eyebrows rose. She hadn’t known her father until her late teens, but it was a good story to tell, and her kids were finally old enough to understand.
“Well,” she started, the light of a faraway time already in her eyes, “that story begins a long time ago, on an island very far away from here.
“It starts with a man and his wife, who were very happy together. They loved each other very much, and were looking forward to the birth of their first child. It might have all gone easily, and happily, but the man was an agent of the kingdom and had pledged to serve it faithfully. The time came when the kingdom was at war, and he was called upon to spy on the other side.
He didn’t want to go, of course, but a higher calling like this has a way of making up your mind. So he kissed his wife Penelope, whom he called a queen among women, goodbye, and set off to war. She promised to wait for him faithfully, even if it took twenty years, all the while knowing he may not return at all.
So it went that he fought in the war of spies, gathering critical information that helped his kingdom defeat the enemy. But in the process, he offended his commander. I don’t know how, but nonetheless it came to be that when he should have been on his way home, he was captured by the retreating enemy forces.
In those days, he might have been tortured for information, but the enemy army did something much worse. They gave him a drug that erased his memories, and left him to wander the city streets, alone and confused.”
Here Hershey gasped, and Terra nodded. “What happened next?” her daughter asked anxiously.
Terra closed her eyes, remembering the tale. “A kind stranger took him in, giving him room and board in exchange for helping her out on the farm. He labored there for many years, always feeling like there was something he was missing, trying to catch a fragment of a memory that refused to be held. The longer he tried, the more he remembered, but it would be a long while before it all came back.
In the meanwhile, his queen raised their daughter, reminding her always that her father loved her and would come back as soon as he could. The queen wasn’t as young as she had been when her love had set out to help win the kingdom’s war, but she was as beautiful as ever and had many suitors. They were after her beauty and wealth, and spent many evenings trying to woo her. But she would not be swayed. She remained as faithful as ever to her husband, trusting his word that he would return.
Eventually the spy’s memories resurfaced, and he thanked his hostess for the years of kindness and left as fast as he could. It took several more years to return home, for the enemy army had left him further abroad than where the war had taken him, and he was waylaid by bandits several times.
The day he staggered in through the front gate, he was an older, more worn man. His queen recognized him at once, though, seeing the same man she had loved all the while, and she and her daughter drove the queen’s suitors out of the house. The queen embraced her king, and their daughter met her father for the first time. She’d never truly known him before, of course, but he was just as kind and noble as she’d been told, and she loved him quickly. The family spent their time together always, until it was time for the daughter to find a prince of her own. She did, and would teach her kids that their grandfather never gave up in the face of difficulty, so neither should they.”
Terra finished her story and tapped Davy and Hershey on the nose, adding, “Grandpa can tell you more if you want, next time we see him.”
Her children looked back at her with wide eyes. “Did he really spend twenty years away from Grandma?”
Terra nodded. Hershey said thoughtfully, “He took the long way home. Like, the really long way home.”
Terra smiled. “I suppose he did. But, just like he said he would, he came home in the end.”
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