74 Richard Leonard

After much agitation and discomfort caused by the harsh talking, baby lay amongst the warm comforting folds of a great source of love. The calm soothing voice and the stroking of his head and back produced an intense feeling of peace and tranquility in him. No place felt safer. This was Mamma.

Sleeping, he dreamed of lovely colors, beautiful shapes and calming sounds, still meaningless in his young mind. Yet he knew he felt peaceful and secure, far more so than earlier that day while awake.

His dream suddenly changed. The shapes became edgier, the colors brighter, blindingly so. Sounds were higher pitched, sharp and painful. Yet he could not scream. But Mamma would protect him, he knew this instinctively. He was safe with Mamma. There was something not safe nearby. It wasn’t just his dream. He knew this too, somehow.

He felt himself being torn from Mamma, a great force was pulling him away. It was the coldness he noticed first. Mamma’s warmth and touch vanished and he was enveloped in a stiff cold breeze as some unknown force moved him quickly yet carefully away from her. Again he tried to scream but could not. Many random incoherent thoughts rushed through his immature little mind. He could not make sense of them. Fear encased him. He recognized fear. It was inherent. His Mamma was gone and he was traveling somewhere again. He knew this much. Traveling fast through the air.

Then there was darkness. He was alone. Suddenly he felt a great power. His own power. But is mind was too feeble to understand what it was for and how he should use it.