The Jewel Casket

The Jewel Casket
The Kitchen Maid
The Lady of Shalott
the night watch by rembrandt
Luke's mind was as muddy as a pond laced with petroleum. Unanchored, histhoughts and eyes turned for stability to the quiet figure seated nearby. The old man. The crazy wizard. The desert bum and all-around characterswhom his uncle and everyone else had known of for as long as Luke could recall. If the breathless, anxiety-ridden message the unknown woman had just spokeninto the cool air of the cave had affected Kenobi in any way he gave no hint of it.Instead, he leaned back against the rock wall and tugged thoughtfully at his beard,puffing slowly on a water pipe of free-form tarnished chrome. Luke visualized that simple yet lovely portrait. "She's so—so—" His farmingbackground didn't provide him with the requisite words. Suddenly something in themessage caused him to stare disbelievingly at the oldster. "General Kenobi, youfought in the Clone Wars? But…that was so long ago." "Um, yes," Kenobi acknowledged, as casually as he might have discussed therecipe for shang stew. "I guess it was a while back. I was a Jedi knight once.Like," he added, watching the youth appraisingly, "your father." "A Jedi knight," Luke echoed. Then he looked confused. "But my fatherdidn't fight in the Clone Wars. He was no knight—just a navigator on a spacefreighter." Kenobi's smile enfolded the pipe's mouthpiece. "Or so your uncle has toldyou." His attention was suddenly focused elsewhere. "Owen Lars didn't agreewith your father's ideas, opinions, or with his philosophy of life. He believed thatyour father should have stayed here on Tatooine and not gotten involved in…"Again the seemingly indifferent shrug. "Well, he thought he should have remainedhere and minded his farming." Luke said nothing, his body tense as the old man related bits and pieces of apersonal history Luke had viewed only through his uncle's distortions. "Owen was always afraid that your father's adventurous life might influence you,might pull you away from Anchorhead." He shook his head slowly, regretfully atthe remembrance. "I'm afraid there wasn't much of the farmer in your father."