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Ricky couldn’t keep his mind on his work. It was on Jennifer.
Is this love? At first sight?? he wondered. He wanted to believe it to be so, but to happen to him? Until now, he wouldn’t have believed it possible.
She captivated him – innocently feminine, direct, and guileless. He was lost in her green eyes.
He believed she liked him, maybe even loved him.
How did she know him? It wasn’t the first time she had seen him. She told him so. They will marry and raise a family?? How does she know this?
And what of the weird goings on of their first encounter? What, and why all of that? Her powder blue Lexus turned candy apple green sports car, the undersea city, flying machines, Mr. Weiser?
Ricky went around in circles in his mind.
*
The day dragged by and finally he was home. All day long he thought of calling her but now he had to muster the courage to do so. As if on making the call it would prove other than what he wanted to believe.
Jennifer answered, “Hi, Richard! I’m glad you called. How was work?”
“It was a long day. I couldn’t stop thinking of what happened this morning. You, I can believe, I want to believe. But what of what we saw? It just doesn’t compute.”
“Believe in me, Richard. Believe in me separate from what we saw. I want to be with you,” Jennifer answered. “Believe also what you saw. It is real. And we can live our life together separate from that purpose.”
“I was unbelieving in Mr. Weiser’s suggestion that we would be a match, a special match, beyond the reason of our joined DNA. I see he was right. I have never felt more at ease, or at home, than in being with you. I think and hope you feel the same.”
Time stopped as Ricky took in what Jennifer said.
“Jennifer. - I want us to be together always.” It was all Ricky could come up with at the moment.
Then he continued, “When you smiled at me when you came up and said hello, my world changed. There were bells ringing, and fireworks. I thought I had discovered what I had been looking for, without knowing for what I was looking.”
“Where are you from? How did you come to be part of all you showed me this morning?”
“Richard, I'm a country girl from Mississippi,” she said smiling. “My family is still there. We’ll have to go for a visit. They will like you! We'll can see your family in Louisiana, too.” Ricky was no longer surprised at what Jennifer knew of him.
“As for what we saw this morning, it began with Mr. Weiser.”
“I had an aptitude for math and science early on and eventually won a full scholarship to LSU. You went to LSU, also. Mr. Weiser was my counselor there. He also suggested I major in physics. I began working with a group of students on a time and space continuum project. One thing led to another and, well, here we are.”
Jennifer hesitated, sensing Ricky’s wrinkled brow.
“The theories of time and space are valid. What is also true is warp and shear. These two exist between time and space. The alignment of these four elements, in any configuration, results in just another aspect of Infinity. Absolute alignment results in + - O - +, or Zero Sum, the Unifier. Sages and mystics have called this - Heaven.”
“To access these dimensions, what is needed is belief, the complete and total deeply subconscious belief of all involved. One person can imagine other worlds and be only a dreamer, but to collectively believe in an idea, en masse, it is made real.”
“These worlds have their uniquely real features. Just as we on Earth accept as real ‘little green apples, and rain in Indianapolis in the summertime’, as Mr. Weiser would say.”
“Okay,” said Ricky. “I’ll have to take your word for it. I just write code.” They both laughed.
Their conversation went effortlessly into the night.
“Jennifer, you want to meet for breakfast at True Grits? 6:00 am should give us time to talk before work.”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” she answered.
“Jennifer - I love you.” In saying so, Ricky surprised himself.
“I love you, too, Richard.” Jennifer answered. Ricky had not known such a high before.
*
Ricky took a seat at the same booth Jennifer was in the previous morning when their eyes first met.
Jennifer pulled into the parking lot in her powder blue Lexus and found a spot near Ricky’s SUV.
As she entered the café, Ricky beckoned her from the booth. They embraced each other with a brief kiss, their first, and Ricky ushered her into the booth beside him.
After greetings and small talk, Ricky asked, “Jennifer, what happened in your condo? I don’t remember a thing.”
“Well, - I must confess, Richard. Initially it was a setup for what I was certain would be a mutually agreed upon act of love. The purpose of which was to procure our essence, our DNA, for ourselves, and for future projects. But - in the short time we were together before we got to the condo, I realized much deeper feelings for you than I had imagined. I couldn’t do this on my say-so alone.”
“So, I brewed some coffee and we talked about our past and the future. I talked about the projects I’m working on with Mr. Weiser. You listened and looked at me occasionally while staring out the wall window at the bustling activities outside. I know you don’t remember now, but you will have dreamlike memories as time goes on and you come to understand.”
“Our city is affectionately known as In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Mr. Weiser named it.”
Ricky looked at Jennifer and smiled.
Ricky asked, “Where are these city/stations?”
Jennifer said, “Would you like to see one?”
“Yes, I would,” he responded.
Jennifer brought her index and middle fingers to her lips, kissed them, reached over and touched Ricky lips.
*
They were in Jennifer’s candy apple green machine with Ricky behind the wheel. Jennifer tapped at the display. They were transported to the outer reaches of the Solar System.
“See Earth there among the planets?” to which Ricky nodded.
“We’ll go to another system much like our own. Like our Solar System, these systems in which we have constructed our city/stations, are in a ‘quiet’ part of its galaxy. There, they are relatively stable, away from the inherent, violent nature of most galaxies and away from the disruptive gravitational pull of other systems within those galaxies.”
“It can exist in its own nature, being able to adapt to conditions neither overwhelmingly hot nor cold. In this carbon-based environment, like our own, life can grow.”
“We’ll go to Pearl Astria in the Necklace System of the Baby Ruth Galaxy. Mr. Weiser named these places, also. He has a whimsical side.” Jennifer smiled at that and input data on the display.
*
They slowly glided through what Jennifer called “a seasonal curtain of an all-encompassing fog”, into the landing terminal designed much like the one at In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and stepped out onto the dry tarmac.
The stations were similar in structure. They walked through the station and Jennifer gave Ricky a rundown of the projects taking place. They stopped in one of the plaza cafes for coffee.
“The ‘people’ look the same. They have a glow.” said Ricky.
Jennifer answered, “The native atmosphere needs minor tweaking in most cases. Generally, the levels of CO2, Neon, and Hydrogen are elevated. This provides optimum efficiency, and ‘the glow’. In fact, the reduction of this glow functions like a coal mine’s canary, alerting us to imbalances in the air. The glow can also stay with us for a while as it does with me after I have visited one of our stations.”
As if on cue, Mr. Weiser strode across the plaza to their table. Ricky stood up and shook his hand. “Please sit down and join us.” he said, pulling a nearby chair to their table; a quizzical smiling look on his face.
“I can stay a few moments. Jennifer tells me you two have a rich relationship developing.”
“Well, that is so. I am deeply enamored of her.” Ricky replied. “I’m curious, how did you know we were here?”
“I know every time Jennifer is in that sports car of hers. It’s wired.” He smiled. ”I wish you both the best and think you’ll be very happy.”
“Has Jennifer told you about our projects?”
“She is trying to. I find it difficult to wrap my head around it.”
“You’ll get up to speed as we go along.”
Ricky said, “You know, I’m expecting to see characters like in the Star Wars bar scene. But everyone looks to be ‘normal’.”
“That appears to be so,” said Mr. Weiser. “We have not seen any ’creatures’, as it were, in our travels. What we call ’humanoid’, is the basic shape of cognizant life. It is the most adaptable form in the universe suitable for the rigors of life. There are minor differences but none that take away from the physiology of the being.”
”Mentally, the brain’s capacity for understanding is the same. It is a matter of awareness that keeps us worlds apart - from communicating. The lifeforms we have seen cover the spectrum of awareness. And that is where we come in. We have seen we can bridge the gaps.”
Jennifer added, “I was about to tell Richard that we have four of these stations up and running with three more in development. It is an exciting time for us.”
“Yes, we’ve been busy.”
Mr. Weiser stood up, saying, “I must go. - Richard, it is good to see you again. Jennifer, I will keep in touch. Take care of yourselves.” Mr. Weiser bowed farewell and returned in the direction he had come.
Jennifer added, “Mr. Weiser, our benevolent Head Honcho, keeps a close eye on the development of the stations; the construction and the projects he’s initiated. He says it is an easy job as those involved here were hand-picked by him as those who were both capable and aware of the opportunities presented. Good money and purpose make for happy campers.”
They finished their coffee and returned to the tarmac for the trip home. It was time for them to go to work.
*
Back at the True Grits Café, Jennifer lowered her fingers from Ricky’s lips.
“You are very sweet,” Ricky said. “You have a glow about you!”
“So do you! How about that?!” she smiled.
Ricky stared deep into Jennifer’s green eyes -- “Jennifer - will you marry me?”
“Yes, I would love to, Richard.”
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From my CD - GONE COWBOY - my cover of Wiley and the Wild West’s “Equus Caballus”
For my newer Subscribers! Here is an earlier post from 1/7/2023 -
Thank you for reading Before I Forget . . See you next week, my friends. : )
Wow! That is quite a story James. What an imagination you have! Sounds like "happily ever after" to me... but not the Hallmark variety that's for sure!
Crazy good James! Still trying to wrap my mind around this brave new world you've created!
Nice work.