***
Maverick suddenly jerked forward, gasping and coughing. He noticed Nicole and Iván kneeling beside him.
“What…what happened?” he asked between coughs.
“What happened?” Nicole repeated. “What happened!? What happened is you drank from the fountain like a fool is what happened, sir. You collapsed right after drinking from it and we had to drag you over here, sir. THAT is what happened!”
“You almost sound concerned, with all that yelling,” he joked, rubbing his eyes and blinking as he regained his composure. “How long was I out for?”
“Only about 15 minutes. But I must admit Mr. Maverick, that they were the longest 15 minutes of my life… I honestly thought you were gone for a moment. I suppose this is the part where you say that that’s the difference between a ‘strong, brave man’ and a ‘typical, weak, worrisome woman,’ right?”
Maverick stared at her quizzically.
“Why on earth would I say a ridiculous thing like that?” he said. “That literally makes no sense. I imagine that both men and women experience the same range of emotions in tense situations. One isn’t braver than the other. Come, you and the lad there - Iván - come help me up please.”
Nicole and Iván helped Maverick to his feet. She stared at her mentor suspiciously as he gave Iván an appreciative pat on the back.
“Mr. Maverick, are you feeling ok? You seem a bit…different.”
“I feel fine actually. If anything, that’s the problem. I don’t feel any younger than I did before I drank from the fountain. Did it not work? Did I not drink enough? Maybe it simply helps you health-wise? Maybe I won’t get sick ever again…”
“Maybe…” she said skeptically as she watched him playfully rub his hand in Iván’s curly hair to the boy’s delight. Something was different about her mentor. The fountain did something to him, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on yet.
Nicole’s finite understanding of youth is what blocked her from seeing the true effects of the fountain. She expected the grey in his beard to return to its chestnut brown shade of years gone, the wrinkles in his brow to straighten. But no, its waters did not reverse such trivial things as the effects of time on an individual. Nor did it cure any physical ailments as Maverick hypothesized.
In those 15 minutes of unconsciousness, Maverick came face to face with every irrational bias his mind constructed him to accept as truth throughout his life. The fountain’s waters cleansed him of them and returned to Maverick that which is lost once childhood ends - the innocence of youth. The innocence that is slowly eroded by age and experience; the innocence that is replaced with the jaded truths of society. It cleansed him of every conscious and unconscious prejudice he possessed. He no longer thought about race, gender, or any other classification when it came to others. It gave him enlightenment he never possessed. He would still retain his old memories, but his former way of thinking was now illogical and undesirable to him - the way he once thought and viewed the world and those in it made no sense to him now. Fountain of Youth? Maybe. Fountain of Purity might be more accurate.
“So now what, Mr. Maverick?” Nicole asked after they finally exited the cave as the sun was beginning to set. “Which media outlet shall we contact first with this historic discovery?”
“None,” he said, after thinking for a minute. “The natives here, they would get ran out of here if word of this ever got out, and this place would turn into a zoo. I hate to even think about it. No, let’s just keep the lid on this Pandora’s Box for now.”
Nicole was stunned.
“Sir, this is your golden fleece! You’ve been ridiculed for years about its very existence! This would vault you past legendary status if you were to—”
“I’m not the same person I was before finding that fountain Nicole,” he said as he stared thoughtfully at Iván. “Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your own desires for the greater good.” Nicole smiled.
“Look at who’s waxing philosophical now,” she joked. “That fountain really did change you… But seriously sir, are you sure about this?”
Maverick walked over to Iván and gave the grinning boy an affectionate hug.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life.”
###
About Kyle Taylor
Kyle Taylor has always had a passion for writing. As a child, he wrote imaginary stories on an old typewriter, using his favorite cartoon characters as the stars. A Baltimore native, Kyle graduated from Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, MD in 2001, and received his B.A. in English/Journalism from Morgan State University in 2005. Kyle has a professional background in journalism and communications, and has had numerous articles published in newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, The Baltimore Business Journal, The Afro-American Newspapers, The Daily Record, The Catholic Review, and The Baltimore Times. He currently works at the Social Security Administration, and spent a year on the speechwriting staff of Carolyn W. Colvin, former Acting Commissioner of the Agency. Kyle self-published his first novel, Fate’s Destiny, in 2015.
Aside from writing, Kyle enjoys going out to eat, working out, travelling at every opportunity, and watching football.
If you enjoyed this story, you would also enjoy In Search of…, a collection of similar short stories written by Kyle. Be sure to also check out Kyle’s novel Fate’s Destiny. Click here to learn more about both!
Connect with Kyle Taylor
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The Water of Life Page 2
