“Do you remember when you stumbled upon the stream and you came rushing home all covered in mess. And you asked me where does it go. So we followed it the next day, just the two of us, through the woods until it was nothing but a trickle. You asked me why it did not reach the sea.”

“And then I asked if it doesn’t reach the sea where does it go and you said back into the ground where it came from. Everything goes back into the ground you said. And then you said those who don’t reach the sea get to try again.”

“It is a shame it had been drying up from before you were born.”

She pulled her mother’s hand onto her lap and rest them gently as she watched her lay on the bed adjacent. Her mother breathed heavily and so did she as she watched her mother close her eyes for what seemed too long awhile.

Her mother spoke gently now as a sly smile moved slowly across a face that could tell a thousand stories.

“Do you remember the stream.”

“I remember the stream, ma. Breathe easy now.”