I love you.
Now thats a thing no self-respecting twelve-year-old
padawan would say to a girl.
Well, you couldn't really, could you? Not when she was
the most beautiful girl in the class. In the school.
On Courasant. In the Galaxy. In those days I would
have said the whole Universe.
A skinny, dorky kid like me couldn't have said that to
her. Here I am a grown man. Twenty-one years old and
my stomach still gets the wobbles when i think about
Teneal. Maybe it's because I might see her again. In
five minutes or so.
See, we buried a time capsule in the wall of the old
temple. And Master Windu made us promise to come back
exactly nine years later. When all us padawans would
be twenty-one years old. I feel a bit stupid really.
Probably no one else will turn up. THey will have
forgotten. I'll be the only idiot there. And i've
flown all the way out from Corellia. I turn my speader
into Santle Road. Soon I'll be at the school.
Everything looks different. Where did all those office
blocks come from?
The old park where we practiced our saber handling is
gone. And the Diner where we went for lunch once a
week is closed down. And the small pond where i used
to catch frog spawn. Oh, oh, oh. No. It isn't. It
can't be. It must be a mistake. Look what they've
done. No,no,no.
The Temple is not there.
Theres a dirty big Shopping Mall. With Car parks and
thousands of speeders, hover cars and speeder bikes.
Signposts. Balloons. Loud Speakers. Holovids.
Turbolifts. Security Guards.
They've pulled down the Temple and the trees and the
speeder bike shed. They've pulled down my dreams and
built a nightmare.
I park my speeder and wander in the doors. Jaws, more
like it. I ride the turbo-lift to the top of the Mall
and look down at the fountain far below. There are
hundreds of shoppers. People sipping coffee, staring
in windows, pushing trolleys, dragging children,
carrying parcels.
There is no one digging out a time capsule from a
Temple wall. There is no one from class 7A Jedi
Temple. And even if there was, I would not recognise
them.
All I have left are memories.
I think back and remember what I wrote when I was
twelve. The letter I put in the time capsule. The
letter that has gone forever. That no one will read.
The letter I wrote to a girl I will never see again.

Dear Teneal,
My Master and I are moving to Courasant. So it looks
like I will never see you again. Not till I'm
twenty-one, anyway. And that's ancient. Anyway, thats
how old you will be when you get this letter. If you
are there. When they dig up the time capsule, I mean.
I will be there for sure.
I feel stupid writing this. But no one will know. If
Tyson Jenkins knew, he'd give me heaps. So would his
nerdy friends. They pick on me. Just because I'm
better looking then any of them. I hate them. I hate
them. I hate them. No. I shouldn't say that.
My first day at this Temple was awful. I knew I would
cop it. I'm not like you. See, you are a champion
sabergirl. You are good at everything. You get top
marks and lots of praise from the Masters. They always
pick you to do jobs. They brag about how good you are.
You are good looking. No- scrub that. You are better
than that. I'll tell you what I think about you. It
will be all right because no one will read this until
the time capsule is opened.
You are gorgeous. If I was the cat, you would be the
cream. If I was the dog, you would be the bone. If I
were a rock, you would be the waterfall running over
me.
YOu are the top and I am the bottom. I'm not good at
anything. Except drawing. Master Qui-Gon says I'm good
at drawing.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. I want to tell you
about my first day. There I was standing out in front
of the class with no where to sit.In the end, I had to
use Master Windu's chair. He said "You can sit here
for the present."
Everyone gawked at me. You were the only one who
smiled. When the bell went I stayed in my seat. Master
Windu said " what are you waiting for Obi-Wan?"
I said " I'm waiting for the present."
Everyone packed up. They all laughed like mad. Except
you. My face was burning, I can tell you that. Talk
about embarrassing.
After that my problems just got bigger and bigger. I
couldn't get out what I was thinking. When they picked
on me, I couldn't say a thing.
I would like you to be my friend. But you are popular
and I'm not.
You sit at the desk in front of me. Your pony-tail
hangs down and swishes across my books. It's gold like
the tail of an angels horse. I would like to touch it
but of course I never would.
My stomach goes all wobbly when I look at you.
I wanted to give you something. But I didn't have any
money. Master Qui-Gon says that only a fool is a big
spender. He only uses it to buy nessicities. " Make
something" he said. " It's the thought that counts. If
you want to give her a present, make one yourself."
Well, it was coming up to Easter so I decided to draw
on an egg. Seeing as I'm good at drawing and all.
I got an egg and put a little hole in each end and
blew out the insides and started painting.
Three weeks. That's how long it took. I sat up every
night until Master Qui-Gon went crook at me and made
me turn off the light. It was going to be the best egg
ever in the history of the galaxy. I painted rabbits.
And a gnome with a fishing rod. And a heart with your
initials on it. All covered in flowers.
Master Qui-Gon thought it was a little ripper.
"Obi-Wan," he said. "That is beautiful. It is the most
lovely egg I've ever seen."
So I wrapped it up in cotton wool and packed it into a
box. Then I got scared. What if you didn't like it?
What if you showed your friends and they laughed? What
if you laughed?
Oh geez. I'm scared, Teneal. I'm glad you won't get
this till I'm twenty-one.
It turned out worse than I thought.
As soon as I walked in the door I was in trouble.
Tyson Jenkins grabbed the box. " Look at this," he
yelled. "Obi Wan has a cute little egg for Teneal. I
wonder why?"
All the kids gave me heaps. They really rubbished me.
"Give it back." I whispered. My face was burning like
an oven.
Tyson Jenkins threw the box on the ground. " This is
an egg," he said. "So we'll hatch it." He sat down on
the box and clucked like a hen. The egg was smashed to
bits. I turned around and went for it. I just ran and
ran. I didn't about wagging. I didn't care what Master
Windu would say to Master Qui-Gon. I didn't care about
anything. Except a present for you.
I ran into the kitchen and grabbed another egg. There
was no time to blow it out. There was no time to paint
rabbits and gnomes and things. I put some boiling
water on to hard boil an egg. Then I tipped in some
dye.
And that's when it happened. I was angry and rushing
around. I slipped over with the saucepan in my hands.
The water sloshed all over my cheeks. Oh, the pain.
Oh, my face was burning. Oh, it hurt. I'm not a sook.
But I screamed and sceamed and screamed.

I didn't remember anything else until I woke up in the
Jedi Healer Temple. My face still burned. But I
couldn't touch it. I was wearing a mask. Bandages. I
looked like a burglar. There were little holes for my
mouth, eyes and nose. " Your face will be okay," said
Master Qui-Gon. " But you will have to wear the mask
for a long time while it heals. Even the Healers
themselves can't fix burns this severe."
So I walk into the classroom late. Looking like a
burglar. With my mask on.
No one laughed.
Because someone else was just like me.
You.
Not burned. But just sitting there with a mask around
your face.
Where'd you get it? I don't know. And you kept it on
for weeks.
And I never said thanlyou. And tomorrow Master Qui-Gon
and I are moving to Corellia. I want you to know that
I... No scrub that.
You will get this when they dig up the time capsule. I
want you to know that I.. No I just can't get it out.
Yours scincerly...No scrub that.
Yours with thanks...No scrub that.
Aw, what the heck...
Love,
Obi Wan Kenobi.

Well, that's what I wrote all those years ago.
Something like that anyway. And here I am exactly nine
years later. In a shopping mall. The Temple has gone.
THere is no Master Windu and his grown up class, here
to open the time capsule.
There's just me and a million other shoppers. I can't
even tell where the Temple was. It would take half an
hour to walk from one end of the Mall to the other.
My face healed up long ago. I don't even have any
scars. I should feel happy happy but the Temple has
been knocked down. And there is no time capsule with
my letter in it. I guess builders uncovered it. Or
maybe it's still burried deep under the shops and
fountains and car parks. Maybe some of the letters
kids wrote were sent back to the owner. Who knows? No
one would have been able to contact me - on the other
side of the world.
One of the kids might be here in the shopping centre.
Maybe, like me, they have come because they didn't
know the Temple had been knocked down. But I would
never recognise them. Not after all these years. Not
now we are grown.
I make my way sadly throught the happy shoppers. I
don't notice the shouting and jostling and laughing. I
reach the door.
And for a moment my heart misses a beat.
For standing there I see something that takes me back
in time. Silently standing by the door is a person
wearing a burns bandage on her face. Children are
staring at her. They shouldn't do that. Neither should
I. But my heart is beating fast and I don't know what
i am doing.
The woman's eyes meet mine and slowly she starts to
take off the bandage. The children gasp. And so do I
as her hair like the golden tail of an angel's horse.
Just for a moment I am twelve again. I catch my
breath. My stomach wobbles.
I stare at the woman in front of me.
I know that my life is going to be happy. Because she
is smiling the biggest smile.
Just like me.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@