The Cost of a Cure

Hello, reader! Last week, we looked at a fairy tale from Java called The Legend of Water Lily. This week, I'll be putting a modern spin on this tragedy.

Who knows what magic has happened here?

When I was much younger than I am now, I gained the power to peer into the aether and see useful things. What I soon learned was that I would not see the consequences of these visions until it was too late. I made a comfortable living and retired from my work and I did my best to retire from magic. But sometimes the need was too great and I would do what I could to soften the consequences of following my visions.

I settled in a medium sized town in a part of the country many disregarded. The town was big enough that not everyone knew their neighbors, but small enough not to attract outsiders' attention. I lived here for several years without having to do anything out of the ordinary. It was lovely. Then the sickness started.

It started out small, as these things do. It seemed to be a cold, or a very strong flu in the middle of the summer. Then it got worse. People started dying, horribly. Our hospital began filling up. Specialists came in to help, but they were just as baffled as our doctors. It seemed modern medicine had met its match. Finally, I gave in.

I settled on the floor, not an easy thing at my age, and cast my mind into the aether. The vision came to me quickly. I saw people taken by the illness, then the face of a young woman, then a flower, floating on a lake. With the certainty that came from these visions, I knew that was Clinton Lake and only this young woman could get the flower. I brought myself back into my body with a wrench. I sat for awhile before getting myself upright and into my computer chair. I opened my laptop and looked through my internet history. I'd seen that girl before.

After looking back a ways, I found her picture in an article talking about home town heroes. She was working on getting her PhD and her concentration was in using plants to treat human illnesses. This was too perfect. I closed my laptop with a sigh. There was something else going on here. Maybe a curse put on the family generations ago. I would learn nothing if I tried to ask the aether and I was still exhausted from my last vision. Maybe the doctors could solve this one after all. I found the young woman's address online and wrote it down. Then I put the paper in a drawer and tried to forget I had it.

I waited three days, but nothing new came up and I realized this illness might take the town if I didn't do something. Surely it couldn't be too bad for this young woman, Clarissa

I was out of options. I would have to go see her and try to find that flower. I would do my best to protect her. Not able to wait another minute, I grabbed Clarissa's address out of the drawer and walked to my car.

She was on the other side of town, which gave me plenty of time to debate about turning my GPS off and going home. But no one else could save those dying people. Finally, I made it to her house. I tried to walk confidentially up to the door and rang the doorbell.

She answered right away. "You're late," she told me. She smiled as she said it. She must have thought I was someone she knew well to tease me like that.

"Exucse me?" I asked.

"I was expecting you ten minutes ago. Did you bring your paperwork?"

"I'm not sure who you think I am," I replied, puzzled.

"Aren't you here to consult about potential plants to use to treat this illness?"

She must have been talking to a doctor. Someone who had earned a medical degree in this world of science. I suddenly felt very old, turning up to tell her about a magical flower. "I think I know of a flower that will cure it," I said. I wasn't going to lie to her, but if she thought I was someone else, well, it might not hurt.

"Perfect! Come inside and we'll talk about it."

"Actually, I was hoping we could go get it. It's supposed to be growing in Clinton Lake."

"Really?"

I could see why she was studying to get her PhD. She was so excited about this field. I resolved that I would do my best to bring her back unharmed. I nodded.

"Great! Let me grab my waders and we can head out!"

"Do you need to leave a note about where you're going?" I asked. We might need saving, after all.

A few expressions crossed Clarissa's face. "Probably," she replied. "Come inside. I'll be just a minute."

I stepped over the threshold and she closed the door behind me. It was a nice house. I noticed several coats on the hooks near the door. Some of the coats were men's coats. There were small touches of plant life, either in pictures or embellishments, around the foyer. I saw a plant sitting on the table in what I assumed as the dining room just to the right of the door. It was in excellent health. I started to wonder if Clarissa had a druid in her heritage somewhere.

Soon enough, she came back in clothes stained with mud, holding a pair of enormous boots, and grinning hugely. "Let's go!"

I nodded and we left the house. She locked the door behind us and headed to her car. "I'll meet you out there!" Clarissa said. "My car's a mess."

"See you there," I replied, getting in my car. I wondered if that was true, or if Clarissa just wasn't in the habit of riding in a car with a man she didn't know.

It was a decently long drive out to Clinton Lake, and by the time we got there, the sun was beginning to set. She was following my car, so I drove around until I found the spot from my vision. This was all coming together too well. I was waiting for the rug to get pulled out from under us.

Clarissa got out of her car and started pulling on her giant boots. "You said the flower was in the lake, right?" she asked

"Yes," I replied. "It's like a water lily."

Clarissa nodded. She gave me a once over. "I'll wade out in the lake and you can tell me what you see from shore. Sometimes it's hard to see with the glare on the water."

I wasn't sure if she was being considerate of my age or my clothing, but either way I was glad. I was not planning on wading in the lake.

Smiling, Clarissa headed out in the lake, asking me questions about this flower as she looked. I told her what I knew, which wasn't much, and she kept looking. It started to get dark and I began to worry we wouldn't find this flower. I wasn't sure if she would come out here again once she realized that I wasn't who she thought I was.

Then I saw another pair of headlights coming around the bend. I edged back toward my car. I had a cane in there. I only needed it sometimes, but it was solid and would make a good weapon if I needed one.

The car pulled into the parking lot and a man got out. "Clarissa!" he yelled.

"I'm here, Dad," she replied, testily. She began wading back to shore, but stopped still in the water.

"Thank God you're still in one piece! Why didn't you text me? It took me twenty minutes to find your note."

"I thought I might be back by the time you got back," Clarissa replied. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"You've got to stop running out of the house to look after plants like this," he continued. I had seen a father torn between exasperation and relief before. I began to relax. Maybe nothing bad was going to happen.

"But this will cure everyone!" Clarissa replied. "Don't you think that's a little important?"

"Of course it is, but you've got to-"

"Look, Dad. I'm fine and we're wasting daylight. I want to find this flower before it night time."

"Clarissa!" the dad snapped.

I could feel something building. Something bad. "Wait!" I yelled.

"You like plants so much, I wish you would turn into one!"

I was too late. There, floating on the water where Clarissa had been standing was the flower from my vision that would cure everyone. And Clarissa was gone.