~~ 70 years later ~~

I stand on the balcony that over-looks the royal courtyards, and look down at my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They�re playing the game of baseball, the game I taught them when I was still young. It�s one of their favorite games I taught them from planet Earth. Earth. I can hardly remember that world. So young was I when we left for Antar. Only Joshuah and Mother can tell me stories of that distant planet. My father passed away 10 years ago due to a deadly sickness that plagued our planet for a short time. He had traveled around the planet healing everyone and eventually, it became too much and it killed him. Mother is still alive and I believe she�ll be with us for many more years to come. Life here on Antar long surpasses life on Earth. Joshua became King of Antar when father died. Although there was much grieving through out the world, we celebrated that long awaited moment when Joshuah was finally announced King. Mother was so proud of him for taking on the responsibility of King, and she still is.
Mother walks onto the balcony and I turn around. "Hello Mother." I say. "Good evening, dear Esther. It�s a beautiful day today." She replies and I nod in agreement. "How are you feeling today?" I ask in concern, like I do every day. "Perfect, as usual. You don�t have to worry Esther. I have a long life to live and I won�t waste any of it. You will know when I am not well." She comes up to me and gives me a warm hug. "Do you remember when I would take you and your brothers out to the desert to watch the sunset?" She asks me. "No, I don�t." I say sadly. "I�d take you out to the desert, to the pod chamber, and we�d sit on the hot ground and stare at the sun all evening. You and Josh would ask me questions about this strange world we came from and I�d try to answer you. But I could never tell you everything. I couldn�t remember much." She says. I respond, "And now it�s the other way around. Now I can�t remember where I came from." We stand in silence for a while before I start to speak again. "Mother, do you miss Earth?" "Sometimes. I often miss the smell of the freshness of the air in the desert and the feeling of the sun beating down on my face. It�s not the same here with the three moons. I often wonder what the people are like there now. It�s been 84 years since we last seen Earth. Do you remember Uncle Kyle and Aunt Maria?" She asks me. "Yes, they were my favorite grownups to be with." I say. "I�d like to know what happened to them and how their lives ended up. I�m pretty sure they�ve died already." "How do you know?" I ask. "Well, very few people live to be older than 80 years old and our friends would be older than 100 years old by now." "Oh." "And also that Liz Parker. The year we left, she was dating a man from Las Cruces. I think she might have ended up with him. But, I guess we�ll never know for sure, will we?" "No, mother, we won�t. I�m just thankful we�re here, where we�re supposed to be, with our people� I love you mother." "I love you too." She wraps her arms around me as we stand at the edge of the balcony and watch as the three moons set beyond the horizon.

THE END
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