THE THREE LIVES OF CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (#45)

As Told by the Holy Woman in Her Own Words
A Hundred or So Years after the End of the World

The Duke stood up quickly when I told him this. “Jonathan,” he said to the boy, “Are you loyal to me?” Jonathan stood straighter and said, “I’m loyal to the principles you swore to uphold. I’m not loyal to–” He named his brothers. “That means I’m loyal to you.”
It was a strangely nuanced reply. “That’s not the answer I wanted to hear,” his father barked. “But for now I order you to stay in this room with this woman and this animal until further notice. Lock the door and don’t speak to anyone. Will you do this?”
He will, the bear told me.
“Yes,” Jonathan said.
After the Duke left, the three of us—woman, boy, bear— exchanged glances. Finally Jonathan said to me, “How did you know that?”
“It was the bear who knew,” I said.
You could know everything that goes on here too, the bear said crossly, if you’d make the effort.
How?
Just concentrate! And while you’re at it, why don’t you remember the future? Remembering the future is a lot more helpful than remembering the past.
Remember the future! Before I could question him further, Jonathan had reached into his pocket for a big piece of dried salmon jerky, which he gave to the bear. Shutting me out of his mind, the bear sat down heavily and began chewing, holding the jerky clumsily in his claws.
“The Duke is your father?” I asked Jonathan.
He nodded.
“Where is your mother?”
Jonathan grimaced. “Dead.”
“By the Duke’s hand?”
“No!” Outrage filled his voice. “He does bad things in anger, but he’d never do that. She died of tumors in her breast when I was five. My father loved her more than any other woman. That’s what he told me.”
I said nothing.
“But what he did to you—that was wrong,” he said after a short silence.
“Your father did nothing to me. He wasn’t able to.”
We were both silent. Then I said, “What’s the bear’s name?”
“Chickie.”
At the sound of his name the bear, who was now dozing in the corner, looked up briefly at both of us. Then he lowered his head and went back to sleep.

(to be continued tomorrow)