"We made it Gabe!" Jonas said excitedly, "We finally made it!" Jonas pulled
Gabriel out of the child seat and carried him over to the house that was
full of love and happiness, feelings that Gabe would soon understand. Jonas
had no idea what to expect, and he was frightened of the new life he was
about to discover. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought. He was apprehensive.
Jonas smiled, thinking of his Ceremony of Twelve, when he became the
Receiver of Memory. But he no longer received memories. Now he experienced
them.
He walked up the front steps to the door. The middle of the door was
decorated with glass cut into the most ornate pattern Jonas had ever seen.
The house was decorated all over with bright lights. It was wonderful. He
lifted his hand to knock on the door, to meet the people that would later
become his family for the rest of his life. He was shaking, partly from the
cold air and partly from nervousness. A female who looked like about a Ten
answered the door.
"More guests! Merry Christmas," she said, "My name is Lily. And who
are you?"
"I'm Jonas, and this is Gabriel. But I really should tell you that we
weren't inv--"
But Lily wasn't listening. "Come in, come in! There's some candy over
there, and egg nog over here and ." Jonas didn't even hear her. He was in
awe. It was just like in the memories. There were decorations everywhere.
People were eating and drinking and talking as if they had nothing better
to do than to go to a Christmas party and have a good time with their
friends and family. Then Jonas laughed to himself, realizing that this was
probably true. And of course, there was that delightful sound called music.
He began to listen to the music more closely and he could tell where it was
coming from. Jonas walked toward the music, and in the next room he saw
something totally unfamiliar. There were people moving in a way that was
unlike anything he knew. After watching for a few minutes, he saw that it
followed a pattern, a rhythm. He saw that the strange new movement matched
up with the music, flowed with it. And he saw that the people loved to move
in this strange way and it made them very happy.
From behind Jonas a female voice said, "Hey, you! Want to dance?"
Jonas said the new word aloud: "Dance, dance, dance."
"Uh, yeah. Dance. So, do you want to? Yes or no?" Jonas turned around to
find himself face to face with a very good-looking girl with red hair. He
knew without a doubt, this was Fiona. The same Fiona he knew as an Eleven,
two years before. How could this be, Jonas thought. And what about the Lily
he met at the door? Was she Lily, his sister from the Community? Come to
think of it, she did look familiar, but it couldn't be true. It was
absolutely impossible.
"Well, I don't really know how to dance," he told Fiona, "But I think I
could learn. Yes!"
And as he danced, he realized what had happened. When the memories returned
to the Community, they couldn't continue living in Sameness. It would have
been impossible, because they truly did understand love, color, pain,
family, and all the other things that were eliminated when they made the
switch to Sameness. Somehow, Jonas' journey brought him back to his own
Community, but by the time he got there, the Sameness was completely gone.
It vanished into the past, just as Jonas and the Giver had planned. Now the
Sameness was nothing more than a memory.
Somebody saw Jonas and called to him. "Jonas? It's really you. I'm so happy
to see you." It was an old man, who looked worried. "Why did you come back?
You made it to Elsewhere, didn't you? Please don't tell me that you
couldn't make it and were forced to turn back."
"No, Giver," Jonas said, "I made it. And you're wrong. I didn't turn back.
I can't possibly do that now, and besides, life is much more enjoyable this
way."