Susan keeps her feet down on the lush grass of the courtyard. She must remain grounded, and present. No time for unseen scenery, or any of that.
Today is all Teresa’s.
They walk, mother and daughter, taking in the sights offered by the bustling campus. Castle is a small but prestigious school which exists on an island-city of the same name. They do not talk much, but then again they never really needed to. Looks are exchanged with other woman such as herself, most of them with their husbands. Susan knows every parent must feel the raging sea of hormones she sees, and the waves of force they deliver. Despite and through all of this, however, she sees potential. Teresa you will be so great. This thought soothes the mother-of-one.
Susan spots another young girl about her daughter’s age. She is wrapped in a flowery dress which gives her a sort of elemental nature. A biology, or chemistry student perhaps? Susan peers into the smiling young lady, taking a look at her soul -- it reminds her of the old alchemists she used to know. (If only she could peg Teresa so easily.) The girl is looking upwards. Susan follows her gaze to the top of the building they approach. It is a bell tower of considerable height styled in a sort of medieval architecture, though quite obviously brand new. This bell tolls for you, Susan. This is confirmed as they walk closer. She spots a small plaque on the wall near the entrance. The building is sponsored by the Bell mobile service provider.
“Can you hear that, honey?”
“Hear what?” Teresa asks, the annoyance in her voice equalled by her general excitement with the big day. She wears an unassuming purple dress. “I can’t believe this little mini-river they have through campus,” she says, brushing off the question with an almost feigned wonder at the small stream which runs down from the overlooking Mount Ajour, and though the campus. “It’s all so natural.”
“It’s sort of a buzzing sound. Do you hear it?”
Teresa shrugs as another question slows her down from the great race that is life. Her hair settles. “Kind of.”
“It’s...kind of loud.”
Teresa walks on, ignoring her mother and Susan grins to herself, trying her best to let these things go. Today is the day, after all. Still, a mother worries. Her daughter’s dress whispers praises to Teresa’s form, enthused to be closer at any given opportunity. So would many of the young men here. Susan has lost count of the number of males she has caught staring at her daughter. She will meet a young man? The one that she saw? Of course, and what will happen then?
Keep walking, Susan.
Her daughter stops, looking back at her delayed mother. “What is it? Do you see something?” Teresa nods knowingly. “...Something, something?”
“No, not... ...it’s not important right now.” Susan shakes her head, more to herself than anyone. “What is important is that my little girl is finally going to college.” The distracted mother continues walking, contemplating on her own scholastic endeavors, or lack thereof.
Susan did not go to a post-secondary school, in fact she did not gone to any school. She grew up in a nomadic carnival, performing as a psychic until the age of twenty-seven. Over six thousand professional aura scans to her name. She is very good at what she does, and would have continued to do if had she not been surprised one day to find, what she perceived to be utter perfection glowing around her future husband. The whitest light in the cosmic black: a soulmate. He saw her instantly -- truly saw her, as she would find out. Susan left the carnival with him for the suburban kingdom where he claims to have originated. In the beginning everything was perfectly aligned, just like their white picket fences. Then fate grew cruel. Michael had taken them both so far, but then he himself was taken, and not by the order of things, but rather the just ‘the order.’ If only he could be here for this.
You’d be so proud.
While Susan is confident with her PhD in the esoteric, and all that remains unsaid, college is completely unfamiliar to the single mother. She wipes away the beginning of a tear covertly.
Their walk around campus eventually leads them back to Teresa’s residence. They stand there at the front door in a visual embrace only the two of them know. Teresa is wearing Susan’s favorite purple dress, it is contrasted now by the by the shades of ivory which grow around them. Concern and worry invade Susan’s face as she prepares to say goodbye to her baby.
The little angel smiles, gently defining beauty. “Don’t worry, mom. I’ll be fine.”
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