{"id":4003,"date":"2020-10-28T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4003"},"modified":"2020-10-28T03:11:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T03:11:57","slug":"bubers-basque-story-part-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2020\/10\/28\/bubers-basque-story-part-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Buber’s Basque Story: Part 25"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWow,\u201d whispered Kepa as he reached his hand out, his finger extended, moving to touch one of the zatiak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHold on!\u201d exclaimed Maite as she grabbed Kepa\u2019s hand and pulled him away. \u201cWe\u2019ll be right back, don\u2019t go anywhere,\u201d she said to Marina as she pulled Kepa down the path to talk in private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d she asked, exasperated. \u201cYou don\u2019t believe her, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shrugged. \u201cDidn\u2019t you see what de Lancre did with the cave? And how Marina pulled us through the stone? Something is going on here that I can\u2019t explain, and I don\u2019t think you can either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buber’s Basque Story is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Maite sighed as she sat down on a rock. \u201cNo,\u201d she said, sounding defeated. \u201cI can\u2019t explain any of it.\u201d Kepa knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. \u201cBut, still,\u201d she continued, \u201chelping her? What about our plans? What about Berkeley?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBerkeley will still be there,\u201d replied Kepa. \u201cIf this is really time travel, then we will always be back in time for whatever we need to do here. We won\u2019t miss anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI supposed, theoretically,\u201d said Maite. \u201cBut, still, why would we do this? Why us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook,\u201d said Kepa as he looked into Maite\u2019s eyes. \u201cAll my life, I\u2019ve felt like I was drifting, like I was some sort of shadow that was there, but never really made any impression. No one ever notices me, no one ever remembers I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI notice you,\u201d interrupted Maite in a whisper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa\u2019s eyes welled up with tears. \u201cBai, you notice me,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the world doesn\u2019t. The world doesn\u2019t know I exist. What difference have I made in the world? The world would be the same if I hadn\u2019t been born. I want to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou make a difference to me,\u201d replied Maite, returning Kepa\u2019s gaze. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know,\u201d said Kepa. \u201cAnd I\u2019m so glad that I do. But, I want the world to care that I exist, I want to stop drifting through life, being a shadow. I want to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite reached up and wiped away a tear from Kepa\u2019s cheek. \u201cI know what you mean,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the reasons I am going into science is to make an impact, to make a difference. It\u2019s not the only one, of course, I really do want to just understand how things work, but I understand the need to feel relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d added Kepa, \u201cthink about it! If anything Marina said is true, there is so much to learn, about how this magic stuff works, how the time travel thing works. What better opportunity to learn fantastic new things about how the universe works?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite smiled. \u201cYou were saving that, weren\u2019t you? You knew I wouldn\u2019t be able to resist that temptation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa smiled back at her. \u201cI\u2019m not nearly so clever,\u201d he said with a wink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite pulled him closer into an embrace. \u201cYou are so much more clever than you give yourself credit for,\u201d she whispered into his ear. After what felt like an eternity, they broke their embrace. Maite stood up and reached out her hand to Kepa. \u201cAre you ready to do this?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWow,\u201d whispered Kepa as he reached his hand out, his finger extended, moving to touch one of the zatiak. \u201cHold on!\u201d exclaimed Maite as she grabbed Kepa\u2019s hand and pulled him away. \u201cWe\u2019ll be right back, don\u2019t go anywhere,\u201d she said to Marina as she pulled Kepa down the path to talk in private. \u201cWhat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Artboard-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-12z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4003\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}