A year has passed, it was the beginning of spring in their region. The snow has not yet ebbed and patches of fluffy white snow hung on the needles of the pine trees and the various bushes that followed. The villagers stayed inside drinking warm tea and warming themselves by the hot embers of the fireplace.
Today was the day for weeding the garden properly. Benedikt and Verisha was preparing their tools and putting on their warmest clothes when their boss came out. He told him that he needed some fresh air and requested Verisha to check on the kids in the mansion while he offered Benedikt to join him for a walk and also to weed the gardens with him. Verisha had no choice but to obey his masters orders and left in a huff leaving them both alone.
"Well it seems Verisha doesn't like the kids that much as I hoped he would!" Benedikt chuckled as he hauled the two boxes
"He was very grumpy from the start there is nothing I can actually do to change that face of his!" Igor laughed as they headed towards the garden with tools at hand.
Speaking of the garden being humongous was an understatement. It was GINORMOUS! Bigger than multiple convention halls. It was considered to be a living maze as paths snaked around into numerous corridors with never ending arch's, tiny open spaced huts with benches covered with vines, random couple swings at another spot and fountains with endless water. Different varieties of flowers littered on its surface all melded into one fine landscape. Those who entered this labyrinth without being aware of their surroundings are literally doomed to stay there!
Both of them didn't carry any ropes and continued to move forward weeding stray grass and exterminating malicious soul sucking, plant eating 'plants.'
Hours passed by, Benedikt's hand started to ache since he was gripping the cutter a little too hard. Only half of the garden was done and he was really tired so he unceremoniously slumped down to the patches of really soft grass and proceeded to just gazing at the sky which was right above him. His boss on the other hand was admiring a fully bloomed rose which was really soft, like cotton candy and very fragrant (BTW good for distillation plus for making very fragrant perfumes) he snipped it right of its stalk and buzzed over to Benedikt's direction feeling quite elated.
Seeing his master jogging over in such a hurry made his five senses go on high alert. He sprang up from where he was sitting and started checking his boss for any external injuries, except for a small cut on his fingers while pruning the roses there wasn't anything life-threatening for the moment seeing that, he visibly relaxed and sank down back to the grass and motioned his master to sit beside him who after a beat of a minute sat down with the rose in hand quietly enjoying the scenery in perfect solitude.
"You know when I die......I don't want to be reborn as another human being, rather I would like to be a rose perfectly formed, like this one who doesn't work by rules and doesn't have a care for this world." He said abruptly toying with its petals.
It was a rather surprising thing to say since he never have explicitly said about the concept of 'dying' per se or never even mentioned it as a joke, even once! Then why would he want to say it out loud in a huge garden on a busy spring morning while weeding the garden?
Benedikt was stunned into silence. He didn't have a definitive answer to any of this so he wasn't sure how to create a constructive criticism about somebody's belief regarding whatever rebirth was and only give an advice or rather something along the lines of the said advice and answer him according to set doctrine his parents, forefathers plus the country had wheedled and screwed into his brain from his early childhood.
"We can die only once, none of us can be reborn, everything that is created will return to dust. All humans regardless of race, sex gender and other things combined are biological beings created by matter evolved over a billion years. God is a figment of one's own imagination to instill fear of unknown things or events that is happening to us. It was a creation out of man's predicament. God cannot grant us our wishes, neither will he take anything or give any, everything depends on our decision alone…and the most likely belief we can get is by 'sheer coincidence or luck'. once a person dies, however the process is irreversible. They cannot really come back even if you wish for them, they just really can't!" Benedikt said a little wistful.
Igor sighed...He knew that in this country, religion was non-existent and the concept of god was taken out of the citizens after the revolution. Books indoctrinating religion was banned then burned as big bonfires in the space reserved for the 'traitors' who abandoned the nation for religious activities and misleading the common man with the slogan of god being the all-seeing and the one the people should have faith in. selected songs and dictation of appropriate hairstyles for men and women were the norm. Children are taught from the beginning of absolute obedience, recognizing equality among their peers, only males mind that females are strangely not included in that list, complying with respective authorities (for example the leader of the nation) and to believe that only what the leader says its right, it is the universal truth and nobody can question it. But it's not like anybody cared anyway as long as they don't preach the bible in the public square they wouldn't be executed even if the books were banned.
Fortunately, the leader loved science very much so he made sure to state facts from a more…. scientific angle for events that are not under their control.
The black market earned quite a huge profit from illicit sales of religious texts smuggled in the disguise of normal looking books approved by the government with the extra baggage of clothes, cheap liquor and weed. Igor got a hold of it, read everything from beginning to end wrote some parts down for reference then burned the books due to fear. Being caught holding religious books could land him in serious trouble, from going to jail for very long periods of time or being killed on the spot for being a so-called traitor towards his country and countrymen. He wouldn't want to be caught dead with that thing they call the 'bible'
"Katyosha...He coughed on his fist before continuing. Even if science can tell how the world had been born. We have not witnessed it first-hand as to how it happened, the safer side is to believe that a higher entity or force is present to make us process the wonders of the world a little easier. When man was first created he emerged from the ground as a figure without life. He couldn't speak, couldn't laugh like we can and could do nothing but stand there motionless like a statue. God came down from the heavens after creating everything else for the period of six days breathed life into that clay figure and he moved for the very first time in his life, took his first breath of the world the god itself created and witnessed his glory. science can only explain so much, they dehumanize it to matter and particles, atoms and a nucleus.
It's true when a person dies he may not be physically present with us all the time. But if we go back to a certain rule in science it clearly says that 'matter cannot be destroyed completely they transfer to others instead' just like that when a person has 'expired' he returns to dust. The dust slowly mixes with the soil to create fertilizer and the so-called fertilizer nourishes the soil and became the nurturer of life around them. From the death of one species another one sprouts from the ashes of the previous owner so life goes on and on and the dead are being reborn day by day." Igor shook his shoulders then gave the rose to the flabbergasted (and still processing the huge entire debacle on the topic of resurrection and rebirth) Benedikt who looked at it, blushed like crazy then accepted it after sometime, smiling shyly like a maiden on her first date.
The lord had an inkling that he shouldn't have gone astray from his so-called morals of an uptight citizen who abhorred religion to the extreme. He couldn't help himself as he was morbidly curious after reading every single religious texts and extra theological essays about the attainment of nirvana and life after death.
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If she had known karma was going to be quite a bitch then she wouldn't have rattled on and on about reconcilement between husband and wife ever so often. Yelena crumpled to her knees at the edge of cupids fountain (an exclusive item gifted by her parents on their wedding day) rested her head on it and earthshattering wails left from her mouth from the realization of an impending doom of a disintegrating marriage. She saw and heard everything and based on her conclusion they could very well be coddling with each other. Her entire self, trembled due to the extreme heartbreak she had to endure.
Screw it! She isn't going to be rattled by something this trivial! hell they may or may not have slept with each other and she is just making it all up like a drama queen she was. Opting for a drama career is much much better than being a housewife of a jerk husband. She wiped her tears and stood up straight like a lady she was and walked back to her house not speaking a word about that days event.
If opting for an acting career was a better alternative than whatever she was doing then she should better brush up her acting skills and pretend her way through it all like a good damn wife she is even though it is going to be quite a pain in the fucking ass!
"SMILE THROUGH IT ALL ACT LIKE NOTHINGS EVER HAPPENED ISNT THAT A GREAT WAY TO KEEP THE FAMILY GOING?"
Yelena smiled bitterly as she took care of the remaining affairs and being silent. Confronting them both is not a liable solution she felt that her husband will either snitch or keep silent to save his own skin and Benedikt will be facing the entire shot of bullets straight to his face.
'HOLY SHIT!!!! BENEDIKT!' her entire face lit up with horror all her newfound resentment towards him was quickly extinguished. She knew how much of a damn jerk her man was plus he never ever treated his servants right even if he had changed there are core aspects of him that cannot change even given to circumstances. He always had ulterior motives when he became really kind and loving to others.
What if....?
She thought again and again, if it is like that then it's her responsibility as a friend to protect him from her own husband lest it breaks up her marriage with him.
Well, it was already flushed down the drain the minute they started fighting with each other over the span of about ten years. She didn't know where she got the urge to protect anyone but this was a definitive first for her.
Now, who to look for help for these kinds of situations? Hmmm.......
AHA! GOT IT! Yelena rushed towards the manor with enough speed to find a now very sour and grumpy faced valet who had little to no business dealing with love affairs of his coworkers.