Chapter - 20.

Chapter – 20.

Jonas is so devastated that he does not want to get back home. He is exasperated at the utter lack of feelings in their community. The Giver then informs his family through the Speaker that he will stay with him that night for additional training.

Jonas is particularly angry with his father for lying to him. He asks the Giver if he lies to him as well. The Giver tries to comfort Jonas by telling him that people do what they do in their community due to their ignorance and as per the instructions. He goes on to tell Jonas then that after the meal, they will sit together and make a plan.

Jonas is not impressed as he feels that there is nothing they can do to change. The Giver tells him there was a time long back when people did have emotions like pride, love, sorrow and pain. He also tells Jonas that the worst part of keeping the memories is the feeling of loneliness one gets without sharing them with anyone. Memories, he tells Jonas, need to be shared and having Jonas in his room in the last one year or so has helped the Giver to figure out a way to change things in their community.

The Giver and Jonas spend the rest of the night hatching the plan in great detail. If it fails, Jonas will be killed (but to Jonas, it matters little). He requests the Giver to accompany him in his escapade. The Giver has to stay back for if both of them are gone; the people in their community will suffer from the protection of the memories. When Rosemary, who was trained for only five weeks and had mostly pleasurable memories, was lost, the memories came back to torture the people of the community and they panicked. Even Jonas had a tough time at the start of his training. So the Giver will have to stay back to help the people cope with the loss of Jonas.

Jonas wonders if they will find a new Receiver, once he is gone. But that will take years as there is only one girl aged six, Katharine, with the qualities of a Receiver. He asks the Giver to come along with him without bothering about the rest of the community people. But then Jonas feels guilty as he realizes that it is important for the Giver to stay back. The Giver informs him that now Jonas has the colors and courage, he will give him strength through music, due to his ability of hearing-beyond, something he has kept hidden from everyone else secretly..

Back in his dwelling, Jonas lies to his parents like they do to him. At school, he goes over the plan in his mind. For the next two weeks, the Giver will give him memories of strength and courage to prepare him for his journey to Elsewhere. The night before the December Ceremony, he will slip away, in defiance of an important rule for the citizens not to leave their dwellings at night.  Making sure to avoid getting caught by anyone including the Food Collectors and the Path-Maintenance Crews, he will go to the riverbank and leave his bicycle and clothing in bushes. Then he will proceed to the Giver’s annex for the last time.

Next morning the Giver will ask for a vehicle and a driver. On their arrival, he will send the driver on an errand and help Jonas hide in the dickey (storage area) of the car along with some food. Next, they will be on their way to the bridge. It is nothing unusual, considering the fact that the Giver’s responsibility includes meeting the elders of the other communities.

Jonas’s parents, in the meantime, will be irritated with the note he has left on bed. They will still wait for him with increasing anger and finally leave for the Ceremony without him. They cannot share anything about Jonas with anyone in the hall as it will reflect badly on their parenting. But as the day progresses, people will be concerned and eventually Searchers will be sent out.

The Giver will be back by then. Finding the people in confusion and chaos, he  will go to the auditorium and inform them that Jonas has been lost in the river. He himself will then preside over the Ceremony of Loss, chanting Jonas’ name loudly at first, and then doing it slower and slower till the memory of Jonas is removed from their minds.

That night (the night they made the plan) at the annex, the Giver finally informed Jonas of his intention of changing the people and making them whole once again. Once his job was done, he would like to reunite with his daughter. To Jonas’ utter surprise, the Giver then informed him (Jonas) that his daughter was none other than Rosemary.

To be continued …….