Restitution

We looked in horror at his little chest, completely covered with a sickly red rash. Mary knelt to take a closer look. “If we were on Earth,” she said. “I would say that this is a very bad case of Measles.” “Measles?” queried Abata and Emulto together. “A childhood viral disease in human children,” explained Mary. “Unsightly, contagious, and unpleasant for the child. Most children recovered quickly. The numbers it killed were very few in the years before we left the Earth. But you say he’s been like this for a long time, and that’s not the same.” She leant forward as if to stroke the boy’s chest, pondering what to do. Just before her hand touched the child there was a flash of blue light. A spark jumped between the boy and Mary. Mary jumped back afraid she had killed Chanto. Before she had regained her seat and composure, and before Abata and Emulto had recovered from the shock, Chanto opened his eyes. He looked straight at his mother and said, “I had the strangest of dreams; there was this gold dragon – and there aren’t any gold dragons are there?” Scooping Chanto into her arms, Abata turned him so that he could see both Mary and myself. Hugging him tightly, she told him, “While you’ve been asleep two gold dragons have appeared among us.” “Oh, where are they?” He looked around the room as if expecting a mighty beast to be there. “We’re here,” said Mary gently. “I hope I didn’t hurt you?” He hid within his mother’s arms. Emulto was staring first at his son, and then at Mary, his mouth hung open in shock, and he was speechless. “I’m hungry,” stated Chanto. “I’m not surprised. You’ve been asleep a long time,” said his mother. “How long?” “Twelve moons.” “Twelve moons! I’ve missed my birthday and, and. What else have I missed?” “We’ll tell you later, when we get you home. But first let’s get you dressed. Look,” Abata said to Mary. “That rash has gone, you’ve healed him. We are your slaves forever.” “No,” I said. “We are just so thrilled to have helped you, and learnt something more about ourselves. Go home and be a family again. You owe us nothing.” “But,” protested Emulto, “it is dire punishment not to pay a gold for healing.” We all stood, Chanto too. Mary’s healing power must have been considerable for him to be able to stand and walk so soon. We made our way back towards the front door with some difficulty, as Abata and Emulto insisted on bowing to us at every step. Nothing we could say would make them stop. As we passed a door to a room with a picture window looking out to the front of the house, I saw a large crowd gathered outside. If they all wanted healing this was going to be a problem. I stopped before opening the door. “There are lots of people out there,” I said. “Can you tell them that healing Chanto has made us very tired? We can’t do any more today. If they come to the square tomorrow, we will begin to try and help those in need.” I opened the door to let our guests out, but before they could escape, Mary took Abata in a hug and said, “I’m so glad I could help. Come and visit us when Chanto has fully recovered.” The shocked look on Abata’s face was echoed on the faces of those outside, and by the gasps that came from the crowd. As Mary let Abata go she briefly brushed Abata’s cheek. A small spark flashed between them. Abata looked up at Mary with wonder this time. “Thank you,” she whispered, then vanished, with Emulto and Chanto, into the crowd at the bottom of our steps. Moments later they had all gone, except for one small boy, who looked up at us sadly, then started to slowly limp away. Something clearly wrong with his legs. My immediate thought was that if we could heal, we shouldn’t let that child limp away. A brief look at Mary showed that she too was looking at the boy, and a tear threatened in one eye. “Wait,” I called to the boy. He turned to look with both fear and hope in his eyes. “Will you let us try to heal you?” Sadly he shook his head, and made to turn away but Mary reached him before he took a single step. “You’re injured,” she said. ”Let us help you.” He tried to pull away. “You can’t help,” he said. “I’ve always been like this, and anyway I can’t pay you.” “Have we asked for payment?” said Mary gently. “Wouldn’t you like to be whole?” The boy hung his head. “I just want to be like the others,” he said sadly. Mary placed her hand on his shoulder. “Come inside,” she said. “We can’t promise, but let us try.” The boy turned big blue eyes full of tears up at her. “You won’t eat me?” he asked.