The Word Of The Gypsy

Western, West Virginia – 1969:

           It was at the base of Spruce mountain, the highest peak of all of the Allegheny Mountains where Sara and her boyfriend, Jason, had met her for the first time; the old gypsy woman named Madam Foresta. She was said to have foresight beyond all understanding.

           Sara was three-months pregnant with Jason’s child, and although she was excited about having a baby, she wasn’t sure how her family would feel about Jason being the father. You see, Sara’s family, The Stanfields and Jason’s family, The Jacobsons had been feuding for decades, so a relationship between the two families would be unheard of, let alone a child born with a mixture of their bloodlines. They didn’t know what they should do, so they sought the help of Madam Foresta.

           As they approached the caravan, they were directed toward a red and yellow horse-drawn covered wagon near the back. The large black stallion at the front of the wagon whinnied as they neared. A voice called from inside, “Enter. I have been expecting you.”

           Jason helped Sara up the narrow steps into the back of the wagon and then followed. A grey-haired woman sat behind a small round table at the front of the wagon. Her hair was wrapped in a silk bandana, her clothes were loosely fit and also made of silk. Several necklaces dangled from her neck.

           “Please, have a seat, my children.” The gypsy woman stated.

           “What we want…”, Sara began to speak but was cut off.

           “Madam Foresta knows all. You do not need to tell me. Come closer so I can feel your energy. It is not your future that you wish to know, but that of your unborn child. Am I correct?”

           “Yes, Madam, that’s right. Me and Jason wanna know that our child is going to be okay.”

           The gypsy placed a crystal ball upon the table and began to wave her hands around it in various directions. She then placed one hand upon the pregnant belly of Sara and gazed into the glass orb.

           “Yes, I see it. You will be given a healthy son. He will do more for your families then what you ever thought possible. Later in life, he will marry and become quite successful. His future shows a great many things for not only him but for many others as well.”

           Sara and Jason looked at each other and smiled, though they each had their doubts about her prediction.

           “Oh, thank you so much, Madam Foresta. You have made us very happy. We don’t have a lot of money, but we will give you all that we do have.”

           “That will not be necessary, but one day in the distant future, I will ask a favor of your son. If your son helps me in my time of need, you can consider your payment fulfilled. If however, he chooses not to help me in my time of need, I will be forced to curse your family. This is the price of knowing your future.”

           Sara and Jason looked at one another with concern on their faces but eventually agreed to the gypsy’s terms.

One Month Later:

           As Sara entered her second trimester, she began to show signs of her pregnancy. Morning sickness had been frequent, but now she was also beginning to show a bit of a paunch in her belly. Sara tried to convince her family that it was all of her mama’s good cooking, but her mother knew that it was something more.

           Sara’s mother waited until her father and brothers were outside working on some of the chores, then she pulled her to the side to talk to her.

           “How far along are you child, and who’s the daddy?”

           Sara gave her mother a confused look as if she had no idea what her mother was talking about.

           “You can’t fool me, child. You are my blood and I know about woman stuff, especially having babies. Now, fess-up!”

           Sara hesitated. This was the hardest discussion she had ever had to have with her mother, or anyone else. Eventually, she gave in and told her mother about Jason. Her mother stood up and walked across the room at the first mention of her daughter getting pregnant by one of the Jacobson boys, but then she returned to her chair and let Sara finish. Sara told her about the gypsy woman and her prediction. Her mother had heard of Madam Foresta before and had heard that all of her predictions for others had come true, so instead of scolding Sara for her actions, she decided to help her.

           “The truth is, Sara, I am so sick and tired of all of this feuding that our families have been doing. That’s all I ever hear about. The Jacobsons did this and the Jacobsons did that. It’s kinda refreshing to hear some positive news coming out of all this. Truth be told before I met your daddy, I almost ended up with Hank Jacobson. I was eighteen-years-old and full of fire. I was always getting into trouble. One day, I met the boy, just a little older than me, down by the creek. We ended up skinny dipping together and when he found out I was a Stanfield, he took off running. He didn’t even grab all of his clothes. The dang fool ran half-way across town in nothing but his britches.”

           Sara was shocked at her mother’s confession. She didn’t believe her mother was ever like that. She then began to see this as an opportunity to gain an ally. If she could win over her mother’s support for her and Jason to be together, then maybe others would cave in too.

The Big Day:

           Several months had passed and when the pregnancy became more obvious, Sara’s father started asking questions. At first, the news of her pregnancy excited him. He looked forward to having a grandbaby in the house, but when he found out the father was a Jacobson, he became enraged, throwing things across the room and just barely missing Sara’s head with his worn-out work boots.

           It took some time to calm him down, but eventually, with Sara’s mother’s help, they were able to convince him to meet with Jason before passing judgment.

           Sara arranged a rendezvous with Jason at an old barn on the outskirts of town. She did not mention to him that she was bringing her folks along though. As Jason entered the barn, Sara was waiting by a hayloft. He ran up to her, lifted her off of the ground in his arms, and spun her around in a circle. That was when he saw movement coming from the horse stalls and he set Sara back on the ground. Jason stepped between Sara and her parents and called out…

           “You folks can do what you want to me, just leave my girl alone,” Jason expressed.

           Sara’s parents looked at each other and her mother began to smile. Sara’s father tried to keep his face looking sternly, but Sara could see that Jason’s actions proved the kind of man he truly was and gained her father’s respect for the time being.

           Sara stepped forward and linked her arms around Jason’s.

           “Jason, I want you to meet my folks. This is my dad, Kenny, and my mom, Willow. I told them about us and the baby. They wanted to meet you. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know sooner, but I was afraid you wouldn’t have come if I did.”

           Jason stood speechless at first, then he wiped his now-sweaty hands onto his pants, stepped forward, and held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said.

           Sara’s dad, still trying to keep on his tough-guy act, did not extend his hand in response, so her mother stepped forward and took Jason’s hand instead. “Pleased to meet you too, Jason,” she exclaimed.

           Realizing that he was outnumbered, Sara’s dad decided to ask Jason a few questions before accepting him as a suitable match for his daughter.

           “Jason,” he began, “how do you expect to support my daughter and a baby? What do you do for a living?”

           “I’m an automobile mechanic, sir. That is, I’m training to be one, but my boss at the garage pays me a fair wage for the work I do on vehicles when the other mechanic isn’t available. I should be able to get my ticket to be a full mechanic in about a year.”

           Sara’s dad was pleased with that answer.

           “Have you told your family about Sara yet?”

           Jason looked back at Sara, then again at her dad, and hesitated to answer. This made her dad antsy. Sara spoke up in his place.

           “I told him not to tell them, daddy. At least, not yet. I wasn’t sure how they or even you would react and I got scared…We got scared.”

           “I’ll tell you what, we will do it together,” Sara’s dad suggested. “You get them to meet you here this evening and we will all be here to help you through it, okay?”

           Jason agreed and met them a few hours later back at the barn with his parents by his side.

           “What did you drag us all of the way out here for, son? Don’t you know we’ve got chores to get done back at the house?” his father inquired.

           “I want you to meet someone.” He turned towards the shadows of the barn and called for Sara.

           “Mom and Dad, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Sara.”

           They were respectful and truthfully happy to meet her. Then Jason told them about Sara being pregnant and their faces turned to disappointment.

           “You need to do right by this girl, Jason. You need to marry her, but soon. You hear me, son?”

           Jason agreed, then paused before saying, “There’s something else you need to know…”

           “Well, spit it out, son! Whatcha trying to tell us?”

           That is when a deep voice came bellowing out of the shadows.

           “What your boy is trying to say, Chuck is that the girl you want him to marry is my daughter.” Kenny and Willow walked out into the moonlit barn.

           “Stanfield!” Jason’s dad shouted. “You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here…”

           “Hush-up, Chuck. This ain’t about you and me; it’s about our kids. They are in love and are going to have a baby. If you want to be the cause of breaking up two people in love and leaving a baby without a daddy, then that’s on you, but I’m here because I think your son, Jason is a fine, upstanding young man and I would be proud to have him marry my girl.”

           Tears of joy started running down the faces of both mothers and Sara.

           “You see, Chuck, we got us an opportunity here to bring an end to this damn feud that we’d been fighting all these years. Tell me something, do you even know what this feud is about?”

           Chuck thought for a moment. “Ya, it started when…no, that’s not it. Well, then it must have been…no, not that either. I guess I don’t recall.”

           “Neither do I and neither did my daddy when I asked him twenty years ago. Why don’t we let this blessing of our future grandbaby, be the turning point in our lives? Let’s end this feud here and now. What do you say?” Sara’s dad held out his hand and Chuck took it. The feud was over and the plans for a wedding were beginning.

           With all former disputes resolved and the happy couple now married, the preparations for the baby were in set fast gear. Sara’s parent’s had a garage on the side of the house that Kenny and Chuck had renovated and made into a two-room apartment for the newlyweds and their baby-to-be. On the day that the last coat of paint was laid, the big day had arrived. Sara went into labor while they shopped for groceries and they rushed to the doctor’s office nearby. The doctor on duty successfully delivered a healthy baby boy that Sara and Jason named Justice Kenneth Jacobson. Justice because he brought peace to an unsettling feud, Kenneth after Sara’s dad, and of course he would carry on the Jacobson name into the future.

           Several years passed, and each year showed more prominently how gifted Justice truly was. By the age of three, he had already learned the alphabet and could count up to the number one-hundred without help.

           At the age of sixteen, he had graduated high school with honors and had been offered scholarships at several prestigious colleges across the country and abroad.

           By the time he finished his second year at the University of Oxford, he had already helped develop a serum for curing two forms of Cancer without the use of chemotherapy. His findings were withheld, however, and never released into the public. It was believed that the pharmaceutical companies feared that they would lose too much money if such a serum was available, so with deep pockets, they bought their way into having his discovery disappear.

           By the time Justice had turned twenty-one years of age and was in his final year at Oxford, he had made several breakthroughs, but after his experience during his first discovery, he decided to keep those a secret.

           On the day of his graduation, Justice was given the role of valedictorian and spoke of his family growing up in the mountains of West Virginia with barely enough food to get by from day-to-day. He then spoke of how through love and a good upbringing, he was able to get a scholarship at one of the most recognized universities in the world.

           “Just because you come from nothing, doesn’t make you nothing. You can be anyone you choose to be as long as you have the emotional support to help you get through the hard times.”

           His classmates stood and cheered then threw their caps into the air.

           In the years to follow, Justice married his sweetheart from Oxford, Destiny Elizabeth Devonshire. Destiny was born in London, England to a lower-class family and she too worked her way out from the depths of poverty and into university with just her intelligence and hard work.

           Justice and Destiny eventually moved into a Victorian-style home in Surrey, England, and combined their knowledge to open a laboratory of their own where they were free to develop anything that they chose to. Using the revenue from previous discoveries that he had patented, Justice was able to hire on assistants. They brought in former classmates who they felt had exemplary skills and who would be integral in their research.

           The laboratory became a great success and the inventions and discoveries that were created eventually saved the lives of hundreds-of-thousands of people in need. None of this would have been possible if not for his parents believing in the word of the gypsy.

           One evening, while visiting with his parents in West Virginia, Justice and Destiny took a drive down the same mountain road that led his parents to the gypsy caravan, and to their surprise, a red and yellow wagon, now deteriorating with age and horseless, sat by the roadside. Justice pulled the car over and they got out and approached the wagon.

           “Come in, my children,” a voice cried out. “I’ve been expecting you. I have waited many years for your return young man.”

           “Return?” Justice asked. “but, I’ve never been here before.”

           “Oh, but you have, my child. Your mother and father brought you here when you were still in her womb. I had foreseen your return on that day. Madam Foresta now must ask you to repay a debt that was asked of your parents many years ago. Madam Foresta is very old and weak these days. Cancer has taken over much of my body and you have the cure for me. All I ask from you is to drink this serum so that I may live to see my next birthday. I will be one-hundred-years old in four months.”

           Justice pondered the gypsy’s request.

           “What you are asking of me could destroy my career…Our careers! The serum I have was not approved by the FDA thanks to greedy pharmaceutical companies. If I give you a drug that is not approved, it could end all that we have worked toward.”

           “The decision is ultimately yours. I am just asking you to look into your heart and make the best decision,” the gypsy said.

           Justice took Destiny to the side and discussed it with her.

           “What do you think, sweetheart?”

           “Justice, honey, your mother told us the story of their meeting with the gypsy and how everything she predicted came true. She also said that you were the reason that their two families were finally at peace with each other after more than thirty years. I understand how this could affect our future if word got out that you allowed this woman to drink your serum, but she has no future if we don’t help. I am willing to take the risk, are you?”

           Justice embraced his beautiful bride then turned back to the gypsy.

           “Madam Foresta, I would be honored to give you the serum. I have it in storage back at the house. We will return shortly with it. I promise.”

           Justice and Destiny rushed back to the home of his parents and grabbed the vial that held the cure for Cancer. Then they raced back as quickly as possible on the dirt-covered mountain roads until they reached the wagon.

           Inside laid the body of Madam Foresta…smiling.