The Magic Mirror

by Michael Gemignani

room in which I had slept, but a room that was never really mine.

  Robin returned after looking around. AYou=ve still got my room exactly the way it was when I went away. It feels like I never left.@

  ABut you=re back now,@ Samuel said grinning broadly. ATomorrow I=ll take you around and show you what we=ve done to the farm. We=ve tried to make taking care of the crops and animals a little easier now that your mother and I are not as spry as we used to be.@

  AWhy didn=t you hire someone to help you?@ asked Robin.

  Samuel paused for a moment. AWe kept hoping that you would come back and we wouldn=t need outside help. Then Adam came and stayed for awhile. He was a big help, but, to be honest, we all knew that he could never take your place. Now that you=re back, your mother and I hope you=ll take charge of the farm. Martha and I can take care of the house and help out a little.

  ABut the truth is, son, that I don=t think I have much time left That mirror that Adam had showed the future. When I looked into the mirror, I could not see my reflection. I took that to mean that my time on earth was limited.@

  Adam looked down at the floor. AAll of our time is limited, dad. You may live a lot longer than you think you will. The mirror showed me my future, but I would not accept it. When I defied the mirror, it broke. Maybe when it broke your future changed for the better too.@

  This exchange was making Martha uncomfortable. ANow Samuel and Robin, don=t talk about such sad things. We hope Samuel=s going to be with us for many more years. Anyway, we shouldn=t be talking about sad things. Now is the time to have a coming home party for Robin. We=ll have lunch now, and then I=ll fix the best dinner you all ever had. I=ll even fix one of my special cherry pies that won a prize at the county fair.@

  David and I conferred together briefly. AMartha,@ I said, Athat=s the most tempting offer David and I have had in long time. But we know that you want to be with Robin, and there=s not enough room here for David and I to stay tonight. We need to move on. I have to go back to my own parents, and David needs to go back to his family. But we promise we=ll visit you again soon to see how things are going.. We=ll stay for lunch, and then David and I will be on our way.@

  ACan=t we pay you for what you=ve done?@ Samuel asked. AYou spent a lot of time and money looking for Robin.@

  AWe did,@ agreed David, Abut we also learned a lot on the way. We=ll just count our expenses as the cost of our education. When we look at the experience we gained, we might wind up owing you money.@

  Samuel disappeared down the hall and returned with several bills in his hand. AThis is all I have stashed at home. I want you to take it. Use it however you wish.@

  ANo,@ I replied, Ayou use it however you wish. I did not try to find Robin so you would pay me.@

  AThen why did you try to find Robin?@ Samuel asked.

  I looked at him and wondered if he understood that his question hurt me. AI looked for Robin because you and Martha showed me love, and I wanted to return that love. Even though you welcomed me into your home, I knew your heart longed for you son. I did not want to stay, unless you accepted me as you son, and you could never accept me as your son unless you found out what happened to Robin.

  AI suppose I could have made a pretense of looking for Robin. I could have spent some time away and returned with a story that Robin was dead. Then I could have become your son. But I could not live such a lie.

  AAnd I knew from what happened to me in the forest and from what the mirror told me that I had to learn what love means. I sacrificed becoming your son by returning your true son back to you. That is, I think, what love means. It is the greatest love that I could show you.

  AAnd now I must go back to my own parents. I don=t know what awaits me there, but I cannot stay here. But I promise I will return later to learn what happened after Robin came home.

  ANow let=s have lunch.@

  Robin was beaming as if he was truly glad to be back. Perhaps he would stay here after all. But that was something David and I would have to learn later. In the meantime, we had our own homecomings to attend to.

  A Second Homecoming

  I had found Martha and Samuel=s house by walking through the forest, but there was no road through the forest on which David could drive me home, so we asked Samuel for the best route around the forest to find the road on which my old home was located. Once Samuel gave us the directions, we set out to find my parents.

  Samuel=s directions were clear and easy to follow. The road on which his house stood wound around the edge of the forest until it intersected the road I on which I used to live. We turned right. I estimated that my old home was now only about two miles away.

  Two miles remaining in a journey that spanned hundreds of miles, many adventures, and, now, the closer we came to my old home, the more anxious I became about what I might find there.

  I told David to slow down as we approached closer to my home. The area looked familiar, but I walked down the road less often than I ventured into the forest. AThere it is,@ I shouted. AThat=s where I used to live.@

  David slowed and pulled to a stop on the shoulder of the road in front of my house. The yard looked exactly as I remembered it. But why not? I had not been gone that long, less than four months in all. How rapidly could my yard change in such a relatively short time?

  We could see no one in the yard, and no one came out of the house to see who was stopping. Behind the house lay the forest. It seemed closer now than before I had left. There was always a danger that the forest would creep ever farther into our yard until it threatened our house itself. A forest is a living thing. If I was not certain of it before that, my time in the forest after I ran away had completely convinced me.

  Would I go deep into the forest again? Would I again find a house and a man inside who looked exactly like my father; and, if I did, would he again give me a magic mirror? And would the house vanish as mysteriously as it appeared?

  But here was a real house, a house in which I had lived as I grew into young manhood, a house that did not conjure up sweet memories for me, but demons that I now had to confront.

  How I wish I had the mirror once more so that I could look into it and see what lay ahead for me here. How I wish that Robin had not caused the mirror to shatter.

  I felt a surge of anger toward Robin and his defiance of what the mirror foretold. But I knew my anger and my fears are irrational. They bubble up within unbidden, and if they make me fearful, I must overcome that fear. My journey was to teach me how to love, even love those I love only because I freely choose to love them, and for no other reason.

  David and I got out of the car and walked toward the house. The front yard was not as cluttered with junk as was the back yard. At least my parents wanted to present as good an appearance to passing motorists as their poverty would permit. But even a yard empty of litter could not disguise the forlorn nature of the house that sat in it: siding badly in need of paint, a shutter askew, hanging by one bracket; shingles missing from the roof.

  We approached the front door and knocked. We waited a minute or so, and knocked again. I peered through a small window in the door. The house was dark inside and I could see no sign that anyone was home.

  AWell, what shall we do?@ I asked David, almost hoping he would suggest we move on to another destination.

  AWe haven=t gone out back yet,@ he replied. AYour parents may be there, and, if they aren=t, they may have gone out for just a short time. We=re in no hurry. We can wait for them.

  ALet=s go in back. They may be outside.@

  We walked around the house to the back. The junk was scattered about just as I remembered it. An item or two might have been added or subtracted. I could not tell. But I was not interested in discarded washing machines. I wanted to find my parents.

  Just then I saw two people, a man and a woman, walking in the forest towards us. I could see them clearly until they had reached the yard. Yes, it was my pa
rents. At first, they did not see David or me because their eyes were downcast. It was my father who first looked up and saw us.

  For a moment, he stared directly at me without moving. Then he grabbed my mother=s arm and excitedly pointed in my direction. AGood Lord, Adam=s back,@ my mother shouted.

  My parents walked quickly around the broken washing machine towards me. My mother=s arms were outstretched, waiting to embrace me, which she did as soon as they had reached me.

  AWell,@ my father said with a snort, Awe were wondering where you went. Your mother and I were worried sick about you. You just disappeared. We didn=t know if you were alive or dead.@

  So they did care about me after all. AI went into the forest because I thought you didn=t love me.@

  I wanted to blurt out how many adventures I had to have and how many lessons I needed to learn before I could return, but there would time for such stories later. For the moment, I felt warm and safe in my mother=s arms. She clung to me as if she never wanted to turn me loose again.

  AHow could you think we didn=t love you, son?@ my father asked softly.

  AWell,@ I replied, stammering a bit, Ayou never showed me much affection. You never much told me that you loved me. And you never gave me much to show your love.@

  My mother started to cry, still clinging to me. ABut we never had much to give. Your father and I were ashamed we=re poor and could not provide you with what we knew many other children had. In our shame, we stood off from more than we should have, I guess, because we knew that you were disappointed in us.@

  Then I remembered my terrible vision my first night in the forest. ABut when I was lying in the forest, I saw you coming toward me, as if you were looking for me. And you looked down at me and laughed. I heard you say that I was not the one you were looking for, and you turned your backs on me and walked away, still laughing@

  David came closer to us. AMother and father, I am so sorry that I didn=t introduce you to my dear friend David. Without David=s help, I wouldn=t be back home now.@

  My father stretched out his hand and took David=s hand. AWe are forever grateful to you, young man, for your help in bringing our son back to us.@

  My father then turned back to me. AI don=t understand what you=re telling us about what you thought you saw in the forest. We went out to look for you. But the truth is that we didn=t see you. Then we came back home fearing some wild animal might have killed you. Every day we returned to the forest, hoping that someday we would find you, or at least find out what had become of you. That=s what we were doing when you came back to us.@

  David spoke. AAdam, remember that you found your father, too, in the house in the forest. That father was a kind and gentle man.

  AWhat you saw in the forest was both sides of your parents, the good and the evil. Each of us, I fear, have both good and evil inside of us, and we are free to choose between them. The evil in your parents rejected you, but the good in your parents gave you the mirror that led us on our journey, not only to find Robin, but to learn what love means.

  AYou, I, Robin, everyone has a side to themselves of which they are ashamed. If we allow that self to gain control of our lives, we will become like the parents who rejected you. But if we try our best to obey our better selves, we will learn what love means. But more than what it means. We will become loving people.

  AYour parents loved you all the time, but their shame of not being able to love you as they thought they should led them to act toward you as if they did not really love you. Does this make sense?@

  AI don=t know anything about a house in the forest,@ my father stammered, Aor any strange mirror. I do know that we love Adam, and we missed him when he ran away. And we