Parallel - Weekly Drop #06

Three's a Crowd

Recap:

Colton meets Kara. There are so many questions. First up, how did they get here? There is strength in numbers, so they are both feeling more confident about stepping out on a quest to find the answer to this question. Kara notices that the number 48 keeps appearing in Colton’s story, perhaps there is something to that… Together, they search for other transients.

Onward to Drop #06…

They passed 47 Hill Street which had no activity. Then they happened on 46 Hill Street. While they were scouting the property, a giant majestic phoenix sliced through the air just above their heads. The bird flew so close, they could feel the sheer power and force from each wing, generating the necessary lift allowing the bird to soar through the sky in an effortless manner. The wingspan was two Colton’s and the center mass was one Colton. Wondrous sorcery that an animal that size can cut through the sky with such grace.

If Colton didn’t hate it here so much, he just might have loved it. Nothing about this place made sense and it was really quite liberating.

“Wow, that was incredible,” Kara said.

“Unbelievable,” Colton corrected her.

They were both staring at 46 Hill Street, turned to each other, nodded and began to trek up the hill to the front of the house.

Colton’s hill had a moat, Kara’s had a swing and this hill had farm animals. A section of the hill was a terrace with wood fencing that housed an entire petting zoo complete with goats, pigs, and chickens. Before going to the front door, the pair couldn’t resist entering the gate of the miniature farm, like big children. Only seconds had passed before they heard a voice call out from the second story window of the house.

“Well now, most people would introduce themselves to a fella before they go noseying through his farm I reckon,” it was a man's voice with a deep southern drawl.

Immediately they stopped, and ran off to the front door, knocking slowly, quietly and politely for they knew he was inside. Rather pointless actually, but it was standard societal protocol to knock before entering.

The gregarious man answered the door and very calmly welcomed them in. He showed them to the kitchen table of his outdated, yet stunning farm house and they sat down. On the front porch was a duet of rocking chairs that continued to rock forward and back in unison despite the fact that they were vacant. The front door had a screen that separated the humidity and annoying bugs in any midwestern or southern climate from entering the home from April to November on a yearly basis. Once in the home, they noticed the original wood flooring and farmhouse appeal to the kitchen. Something about floorboards that creaked made them feel comfortable, like an instant sign of southern hospitality.

After sitting down in the kitchen together, the man asked Colton and Kara, “Now, just what in the blazes is going on here?”

“We’re sorry for dropping by unannounced sir, but something crazy is going on that involves all of us and we just had to get to the bottom of it, we were just trying to see if there were any others,” Kara responded.

“Well, I guess there is then. I was beginning to wonder the same thing. My name is Collin, it’s a pleasure,” Collin said as he extended out his hand, first to Kara and then to Colton.

“Ya’ll look like you could use a drink. That true?” Collin posed to the group.

“However you serve it is how I’ll have it,” Colton stated excitedly.

“Good choice, bourbon only comes one way anyhow. Neat,” Collin said confidently.

“Fair enough,” Colton responded.

“Anything for you ma’am,”

“Water would be great,” Kara said with a smile.

Over a few glasses of bourbon and water, Collin shared his story and both Kara and Colton were reduced to tears. He was an older gentleman, perhaps in his late 50s who had retired to spend more time with his kids and grandkids. He was a biologist and farmer who married a veterinarian and when they retired, they began adopting sick animals and nursing them back to health.

“Folks are quick to sell off their sick or injured animals, rather than take on the financial burden required to nurse them back to good health. That’s where we came in. It wasn’t a profitable business by any means, and we were scraping pennies together to make things work. It was a gamble, but we did it our way,” Collin clarified.

Word about the farm traveled fast. Soon, their grandchildren’s fellow students begged their parents to see the farm. People from all over flocked to watch the animals progress toward recovery. Collin’s wife Darlene reached out to the local children’s hospitals and they would bus children in from town to the country to see the farm. Children with autism, blindness, leukemia, and all kinds of unique battles were taken away from all of that the minute they saw the animals. Once they felt the touch of these beautiful horses and cows, goats and pigs, they were transported to a world where they were no longer suffering, but thriving.

Collin loved animals with his entire being. He had always wanted to be a farmer and a rancher. In order to become the best that he possibly could, he took classes at his local community college—which was a two hour drive from the country-- in human and animal biology. Collin was desperate to find what made animals tick, and to draw parallels between animals and humans. In Collin’s eyes, humans, animals and crops were all just products of God’s plan, and he wanted to do his best to honor that. He was so happy when he finally opened the gates to what would become his family’s ranch. He quickly learned that the feeling of sharing your passion, especially with those less fortunate, brought a whole new meaning to the word fulfillment. The farm was named Opportunity Farm because it provided the opportunity for kids and animals alike to find solace in their connectedness despite their past or current struggles.

Colton loved that. For the first time since waking up here, he had an aching sense of regret. He wanted to see Opportunity Farm, he wanted to see the look of wonder upon each child’s face and the equal appreciation and comfort the animals must feel when surrounded by so much genuine kindness and positivity. As a high schooler, Colton loved working with his peers and younger students in his school who suffered from anxiety, depression and autism. He joined a program that was created by the Special Education Department called Connections. The point of this program was to provide a platform for students in the special education department to communicate with students that weren’t. Since its inception, Colton was very active in the program and found that through talking with these students and spending time with them, he appreciated just how easy his life was. People never stared at him or made fun of him for the way he looked, and he didn’t have to fight tooth and nail just to be accepted into the public school system. He had it easy, and the kids he met with knew that, and made it a point to remind him of that daily.

Experiencing life through this point of view changed a lot for Colton. For one, he learned to appreciate everything he had. Second, he realized that everyone is gifted. Some talents are more obvious, and some require a little patience and hard work before they can be unveiled. Everyone, however, has a magical gift of their own. Each student that he worked with surprised him by their sharpness, creativity and talent. It only took him sitting down with them and spending time with them to understand this. He had just recently watched the show, Ted Lasso on Apple TV. The feeling he felt then reminded him of a Walt Whitman quotation that was popularized by its appearance in the Ted Lasso show, “Be curious, not judgmental.” That phrase perfectly encapsulated Colton’s newfound mindset after his experiences as a member of the Connections program. He carried this mentality with him everywhere from high school to college and from college to the Army. Even when he felt that he had been chewed up and spit out, Colton never judged someone without inquiring about their whole story. He found that after doing so, he could ascertain why they were the way they were. This made it a lot more manageable dealing with difficult people and it made him more effective in properly motivating Soldiers and people under his charge.

Colton gravitated toward Collin. He thought to himself, “How great it is that this man is out there doing what he does while the rest of us are selfishly thinking about the hand we’ve been dealt, he’s out there doing something every day that makes people's lives just a little bit better. Maybe even a hell of a lot better.”

Kara and Collin got along swimmingly as well. Although their interests differed, their passions were similar: sharing their love for life with the world. Kara liked Collin because he was kind, but not a pushover. He was smart, but not pedantic or condescending. The night went on and they shared quite a few more bourbons and Kara nearly drained the tap of all the water.

“So just us three then?” Collin asked.

“As far as we know it, but there are two more vacant houses,” Colton answered.

“Well what are we doing here?” Collin asked in a bit of slurred speech from too much bourbon, as his belly grazed the edge of the table during his ascent.

“Let’s see if we can find the others, I’ll grab my floods,” he demanded, as if they were starting a search party when in actuality they knew exactly where to look.

“Fine by me,” Colton retorted. With that, the trio got up and made towards the front door, Kara leading the pack while the buzzed gentlemen followed close behind. They found Collin at 46 Hill Street, he found Kara at 48 Hill Street, and he lived at 44 Hill Street. He really couldn’t believe that he just admitted he lived on 44 Hill Street, but he was adjusting to life in this world rather quickly. However, what that meant now was that 45 and 47 Hill Street were unchartered territory. Next in the chute from their current location was 47 Hill Street, so they marched on.