Walk With Me

by Annie Wald

  THROUGH ECHO GAP

  As they walked through the flourishing woodlands of the Low Country, they tried out their new kingly gifts. At first, Peter found it uncomfortable to use the kindling of affection and the hourglass of today, but Celeste showed him how they could make drinking from the chalice even more enjoyable. They weren’t walking as fast as they had before, but Peter found himself appreciating the journey more.

  The path through the woodland soon brought them to a tall rock gap with high ridges on either side. As they approached the entrance, they were met by two guides, Leave and Cleave.

  “Welcome to Echo Gap,” said Leave.

  Celeste turned to Peter. “This is the place Lord Will and Lady Sophia told us about. They said couples can get separated going through it.”

  “Yes, it can be a tricky journey,” Cleave said. “The rock walls have an echo effect. If you’re not careful, one of you might get pulled off the path. But I’m afraid there’s really no way around the gap.”

  “Good echoes or bad ones?” Celeste asked.

  “Could be either, could be both,” Leave said. “It depends on what your families were like. In the gap, travelers hear echoes and whispers of everyone who ever cared for them, and told them where they should go and what they should do.”

  “Sometimes parents miss their grown-up children so much, they come right down into the gap and follow alongside the partners, giving them advice,” Cleave said. “The couple can become thoroughly confused with four parents talking to them, along with the echoes and the whispers. They don’t know who to listen to, and if they let themselves become pulled every which way, they don’t learn properly how to walk together. But if your parents stay above on the ridge road, they can help cheer you on and warn you of dangers ahead on the path. You can have a much easier time going through the gap because of their encouragement and advice.”

  At that moment, a couple came running out of the gap with their hands over their ears.

  “Oh dear,” Leave said. “Echo Gap has done it again.”

  The couple went straight to Leave and Cleave. “It was so awful, we turned around and came back here,” the wife said. “We have to find a way to get through the gap without being tormented by all the echoes. They were so loud and insistent, we thought we would go crazy.”

  “At first it didn’t bother me,” the man said. “But one morning we were packing our bags and she put the food in first, rather than putting it on top. I never did it that way when I was growing up. Without thinking, I started criticizing her. The strange thing was, it sounded so much like my father, I stopped and looked to see if he was there. It was uncanny how I used the exact words and the same tone, even the same pauses.”

  “The same thing happened to me,” the wife said. “I started saying, ‘Dinner at 7, dinner at 7’ all the time—even at breakfast.”

  “When I asked her what she was talking about, she’d say she hadn’t said anything. Then a little while later, she’d start up again, saying it louder and more insistently, until she was almost screaming at me.”

  “Finally I realized that was what my mother always said to my father, ‘Dinner at 7, we have to have dinner at 7.’ I don’t think I would have minded that so much, but after that I started hearing accusing whispers.”

  “I could tell something was wrong,” the husband said, “because she started looking so sad and saying to herself, ‘You’ll never amount to anything, you’ll never amount to anything.’ And then she began to hit herself. So we came back here to find out what to do. We just couldn’t go on anymore.”

  “The secret,” Leave said, “is to whisper in your wife’s other ear.”

  “Sweet, loving phrases,” Cleave said.

  “Yes, that might work.” The man nodded. “I did that once, and a little smile came on her face.”

  “It may take some time,” Leave said.

  “But eventually,” Cleave said, “she’ll barely be able to hear the whispers in her other ear.”

  Peter and Celeste started through the gap, determined not to be pulled off course by the echoes. But they quickly discovered it was not just the echoes that made the journey difficult. The echoes Peter heard always contradicted the ones that Celeste heard, and before long they were disagreeing about everything. Celeste liked to take a long rest for lunch like her family always did. But in Upright Village there was never time for leisurely meals, so Peter liked to eat as they went. Celeste wanted to buy new walking shoes every season, as she had done in Slouching City. But Peter wanted to repair his and save the money, as his parents had taught him.

  Celeste became homesick listening to the echoes. It wasn’t that she didn’t like walking with Peter, but he didn’t pay attention to her like he had when they were first walking in the grove or under the moon of honey. She remembered how her mother and father were always eager to listen to her; they never yawned when she talked. She started nagging Peter to visit her family, but Peter insisted they keep going on. After a while they gave up arguing and started to slowly drift apart. They might not have noticed except their new cords were very sensitive. The farther away from each other they got, the tighter the cords squeezed their wrists.

  “Wait a minute,” Peter finally yelled to Celeste. “This is no good. We can’t go in two directions—my cords are hurting too much.”

  Celeste rubbed her wrists. “Can’t we just loosen them?”

  “Celeste, don’t you want to walk with me?”

  “Peter, what a silly question. Of course I want to walk with you; I’m your partner. But I don’t think it will hurt to go our own ways for a little bit, especially since you won’t come to visit my family.”

  Peter sat down on his side of the path and got out the guidebook Lord Will and Lady Sophia had given them. “I think they underlined some instructions about this. Yes, here it is: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one.’”

  Celeste grew quiet and Peter decided it might be wise not to press his point.

  “It’s true,” Celeste finally said from her side of the path. “I left my parents and chose to make the journey with you.”

  Peter suggested they put cotton in their ears to block out the echoes, and they agreed to work harder at walking together. Peter tried to play with Celeste more, and Celeste tried to listen more attentively when Peter talked about the different paths they could take once they had gone through the gap. But one day Celeste heard such a loud echo, she asked Peter to stop so they could find where it was coming from. They followed the sound down a small side canyon and discovered Celeste’s entire family camped at the end.

  “How did you get here?” Celeste asked.

  “We all missed you so much,” Celeste’s father said, “we left Slouching City and found you.”

  Her mother waved a sack. “We didn’t want you to go off without your childhood treasures.”

  “Oh Peter, isn’t this wonderful? There’s no harm stopping now, since they came all this way just to see us.”

  Peter knew it would be rude not to stop. “All right, we’ll stay for a day.”

  Celeste was so happy to be with her parents again, she convinced Peter they should spend at least a week visiting. Her mother cooked all of Celeste’s favorite meals, and her father took her aside and asked her if she was having enough fun. “Not to criticize Peter, but he has always struck me as a bit of a stuffed shirt. And look at your shoes—I don’t think he’s been providing properly for you. But don’t worry, we’ll get you some nice new things.”

  Every night Celeste stayed up late with her brothers and sisters, telling family stories and playing games. Peter joined in as best he could, but he felt like a stranger, even with Celeste. She seemed a different person around her family. And whenever he mentioned resuming their journey, Celeste pretended not to hear. By the end of the week he worried that if they stayed much longer, Celeste would never want to return to th
e King’s path. It seemed as if her family was tying strings over her Cords of Commitment. But when he told Celeste this, she laughed.

  The next day Celeste’s parents put on a big party for Peter and Celeste. They gave Celeste a complete new wardrobe and gave Peter a set of woodworking tools. “For your new place,” Celeste’s father said with a wink.

  “You see,” Celeste’s mother said, “we’ve been discussing it, and we’ve decided it’s time to stop your silly journey.”

  “We’ve got everything all set,” Celeste’s father said. “We’ve built you a house right next to us in Slouching City. Big enough for all the children you’ll have.”

  “You don’t want your children growing up with strange ideas about some mythical King,” her mother said. “They’ll become poorly adjusted.”

  Celeste frowned. It was one thing to stay with her family for a visit, but it was quite another thing to give up her journey.

  “Of course, you can always head out on this path later,” Celeste’s father said, “but for now it would be better for you to come back home.”

  Peter and Celeste had no chance to talk by themselves until everyone was asleep. They took a little stroll through the side canyon, and Peter asked Celeste what she thought about her parents’ offer.

  “Think? There’s nothing to think about,” Celeste said. “Of course we are going to keep going. I want to see more vistas; I want to get to the King’s City. Besides, the idea of raising a little traveler where people laugh if you talk about the Servant—no, that’s not the life I want.”

  “Oh, good.” Peter sighed.

  “Did you think I wanted to go with my family?”

  “You seem so happy with them. And I admire how generous they are with both of us—I know they can give you everything you want.”

  “That’s true, but walking with you I’ve begun to realize I don’t really need all those things. I want to store up my treasures in the King’s City.”

  In the morning, Celeste told her parents that she and Peter were going their own way. She pointed to the path that led back to the gap.

  “But we don’t want to go that way,” her mother said. “Won’t you be lonely without us?”

  “Peter and I will take good care of each other.” Celeste looked at her parents. “Besides, as wonderful as Slouching City is, the King’s City is a hundred times nicer. Won’t you come with us?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” her father said. “We can’t leave Slouching City. How would we survive without all our comforts?”

  “Your father is right, Celeste. And I’ve never understood why you allow yourself to take orders from this King.”

  “But I gave up my citizenship to the Slouching City. I’m an alien now.”

  “Don’t worry,” her father said. “With my connections, it will be easy to get your residency back.”

  “No, we’re going to the King’s City.” Celeste was glad Peter was right next to her, for she was very sad to leave her family behind. She might not have had the courage to go on without him.

  For a good while after Celeste left her family, accusing whispers tormented her for being so selfish and abandoning her family. Peter and Celeste both began to look up to the ridge, hoping they would see Peter’s parents encouraging them on. But one day, to their surprise, they bumped into his parents sitting right in the middle of the path.

  “What are you doing here?” Peter said.

  “We thought we would come and see how you are doing,” his father said.

  “And I brought all your cleaning supplies.” Peter’s mother handed him a bag. “Spot remover, a dustpan and brush, and a strong disinfectant.”

  The four of them spent a quiet day together. Peter told his parents how much they were enjoying their journey and what they had seen along the way. Peter’s father argued with him, saying the way to the King’s City was too hard. If Peter and Celeste ever had little travelers, they would have to come back right away to Upright Village, where they could be protected from the storms and thieves and all the other dangers they would encounter.

  While Peter’s father badgered him, Peter’s mother cornered Celeste. She began pointing out what Celeste needed to change: her clothes were too fancy, her hair was too long, the songs she sang were too sprightly. Poor Celeste stood listening, too polite to plug her ears. When Peter came in and found his mother lecturing Celeste, he stepped in front of Celeste. “Mother, when you criticize Celeste, you are criticizing me.”

  “I don’t know where you learned to be so unkind,” his mother said. “You should be more respectful. I’m your mother.”

  “Yes, you are my mother, but Celeste is my wife. We are going to leave if you keep scolding her.”

  “I see. Well, if that’s the way you want it …”

  “No, I would prefer that you would honor my choice and accept Celeste for who she is. You might even compliment her. But if you refuse to care for her—”

  “Oh, I do care about her, very much. That is why I am pointing out her errors. How else will she be corrected?”

  “The logs, dear mother, the logs,” Peter said.

  “What logs?”

  “The ones in your eyes.”

  At that his mother went off in a huff.

  That night, Peter and Celeste talked about what to do. “It’s too bad,” Celeste said. “Your parents are so conscientious about following the King’s rule. I’m sure they’re only acting this way because they miss you so much.”

  “Telling me to stop going to the King’s City? Criticizing you for the way you sing? If we stay here any longer, I’m afraid it will harm us. I can’t put their happiness above our partnership. We’ll have to leave tomorrow.”

  In the morning, they packed their bags. Peter’s parents wept, for they were convinced Peter and Celeste would be killed before they reached the King’s City.

  As they started on the path, Peter took Celeste by the hand. “Will you walk on with me?”

  “Certainly,” she said, smiling.

  And they traveled on through Echo Gap, listening carefully for each other’s whispers until they came out on the other side.

  IN THE BURR PATCH OF UNKIND WORDS

  The path became smooth and grassy as it had been at the beginning of their journey together. They collected things for their basket of remembrance, and every morning before they set off, they read the guidebook together. They stopped whenever they met other travelers, so Celeste could talk with them and find out their news. Peter didn’t mind because they were making such good progress. But one night Celeste stayed up quite late talking with some travelers. In the morning Peter woke her up early, as he always did, then set out on their usual brisk pace. Celeste started to fall behind, but Peter just kept hiking. Celeste started to feel cross that he never looked back to see if she was all right. Finally she ran and caught up with him.

  “Please stop,” she said, sounding a little more cross than she intended. “You got so far ahead I couldn’t see you anymore.”

  “Sometimes I think you just want to play all the time.” Peter sounded just as cross. “We have a journey to make.”

  “Do you always have to go so fast?”

  “Why don’t you ever keep up? Why do you always drag behind? Sometimes I wonder if you really want to walk with me. If you did you’d go faster, instead of being so lazy.”

  A patch of burr bushes began to border the path.

  “You’re always in such a hurry.”

  “If you were more disciplined and focused, you could keep up,” Peter said.

  “If you weren’t so rigid about reaching a certain spot,” Celeste said, “you would slow down.”

  As their voices grew heated, the burr bushes started to crowd them on both sides of the path.

  “We’d never get to the nice campsites.”

  “When we keep your pace, I’m too tired to enjoy them when we get there.”

  By then, the burr bushes had surrounded them completely. Each time one of them said s
omething unkind, a burr jumped and stuck to their clothes.

  “If you didn’t talk so much, you could concentrate on keeping up.”

  “If you would slow down, I could sing better.”

  They kept throwing barbs at each other.

  “You’re too slow.”

  “You don’t know how to enjoy life.”

  “You dawdle.”

  “You’re sour.”

  Soon they were covered with burrs from head to toe.

  “Stop it!” Celeste said. “You’re pinching me.”