Motivated By Spirit

T The child’s presence had caused only a time ripple in the patterns Evelyn and Aama had formed around the household functions. He was ever sensitive to the child’s needs; almost as responsive as she herself. They had name the baby Aiyana, and both took care of her. Evelyn felt Aiyana stir and knew she was about to waken. This time she did not pat the child or hum, but rocked ever so slightly easing herself to the edge of the rocking chair in preparation for getting up. The child came fully awake but did not whimper or cry out. She is wet Evelyn thought, gripping the arms of the chair firmly, stilled the motion and rose. She took another reassuring look around her grandmother’s front yard and walked into the house, and the room just off the verandah in which her child slept. She took the baby into her arms and hugged her tightly.

The voice had told her the time of the birthing so she was prepared. Because of the care she had taken, she had come very close to a painless child birth without drugs. Her daughter was born in her grandmother’s bed. The midwife was a recently trained neighbor and had been nervous. But Evelyn had calmed her. She chuckled softly as she remembered the woman telling her that it appeared their positions were reversed and that Evelyn was attending her. Aama had stayed in the room and directed both Evelyn and the midwife without the other woman protesting, or crying interference even once. The child came out smiling and her cry after being slapped was very strong. The child was beautiful. Evelyn could not restrain the tears as they flowed over the rims of her eyes and down the plane of her face. The midwife had earned her fee then, cleaning and garbing the infant, while Aama tended to Evelyn. Evelyn rocked slowly as her mind lingered at the birthing. She snatched at smells, sound

When the pregnancy came she was not frightened. After living with the horror stories told by most of the older women she had known as a girl; she had expected pregnancy to be a frightening time. But instead there had been an anticipatory peace that made the waiting a joy. The nine months of the bearing Evelyn remembered living as a learning growing situation. She watched her breast grow larger, her nails and hair grow into a luster they never before had. She blossomed. Her external glow reflected the transformation she was experiencing internally. The conversations had started in the third month of the bearing. At first she had not been sure. It seemed a thought would swim into her mind in a voice she had not recognized as her own thought voice. The very first thought was unformed and vague; like a soft substance floating around the edges of her consciousness. It had left her with appositive feelings. Nothing tangible was its cause; it was simply a warm and comforting feeling

This man who had walked into her yard and life less than two hours previously suggested he would leave and the thought saddened her. Now though she had progressed and although he would be missed should he go, she would not be sad. He had stayed and within days became a part of the household and its functions. Aama talked with Evelyn daily, telling her all she needed to know and answering her questions. Her garden flourished under his careful tending. The tomatoes were the reddest Evelyn had ever seen; the peas were sturdy and inviting with leaves so brilliantly green as to defy description. Every day Evelyn read from the book, sometimes rereading for the sake of understanding. In the evenings they would sit, he on the floor and she in the rocking chair and discuss everything. The baby girl stirred; Evelyn again reached out and patted her back to sleep. How peaceful, the thought words again formed in her mind.   Their physical love and come later and whet it did Evelyn was