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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Miracles / Wonders
- Published: 03/22/2019
Derek and Maria.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States.jpeg)
Derek and Maria stood (as they often did) holding hands while they stood on the Edge of Time and looked down at the Earth. They knew that someday, like everyone else, they would have to enter that strange world of ignorance, illness, and matter. Maria leaned into Derek’s side - Derek leaned back. A posture that was part hug, part cuddle, and all bonding. Neither said a word.
Soon, they turned and walked towards the Hall. They wouldn’t see the Edge of Time again for however long their tour on Earth lasted. Their steps were uncertain. Derek clenched Maria’s hand a little tighter. She squeezed back. They had each other. They will be fine. They hoped.
*****
Author’s Note: All descriptions of Derek and Maria, their conversations, postures, and actions- are metaphors. They have no bodies, at least as we know them. Just assume that their “presences” coalesce into feelings that holding hands, smiling, or leaning into each other for support; resembling those physical actions. There is no way to explain to a being trapped in a physical body (like those on Earth) what it is like to be truly armed with all the senses and dimensions of People (and, Dear Reader, they are People- despite their enormous range of Being).
*****
The Hall stood in front of them. A simple entrance way decorated by bits and pieces of quantum foam, not quite real, not quite unreal, sparkled around an ordinary looking door. A door that led into the Hall. A door that led into the biggest Moment of all the Moments that had gone by since the Beginning of Time. It was their time to go in that door. Still holding hands, Derek and Maria turned towards each other, their eyes were full of wonder, a touch of fear, a dash of the unknown, and…hope.
Would they be lucky and get to do their Tour on Earth-together? They had heard that many were “sent down” alone. Discussing that possibility had reduced them both to tears. (See Author’s Note) No one who had been to Earth - especially those chosen to become Humans; rather than a tree, flower, bug, bacteria, bird, fish or animal of some sort…or even a rock- ever talked about their experiences when they rejoined the real world of the Quantum Universe.
All of them were changed by the experience, but not a single one would tell you about it. Unless…you had also come back into the Foam.
With one last hug, a quick meaningful kiss, Derek and Maria squared their shoulders and Marched into the Hall. The Foam sparkled as they went through the door, a quick flicker of something moving in condensed SpaceTime just inches from their own Universe, seemed to follow them through the Door.
The Hall narrowed.
*****
It was a bizarre feeling. Really bizarre. Both Derek and Maria could feel themselves being squeezed into a tighter and tighter ball of…of…of…of whatever. They knew they were shedding senses as dimension after dimension was pressed out of them. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Derek yelled at the same time as Maria. For the first time in their existence, they made sounds…words…ideas to big for the words that had to hold them from now until they returned. Maria spoke hers first.
“Derek. Are you still there?”
Derek voice quivered in reply.
“I think so, but I feel weird. Heavy, dull, strange.”
“Me too!”
Out of nowhere came the most calming Voice they had ever heard. Of course, that wasn’t a long “ever” as they had only a moment ago heard each other’s voices for the first time. Being limited to sound to transmit a thought was enough to make any sound welcome.
“Don’t worry. Don’t fret. It will all be okay. You only have to get one more “sense” squeezed out of you. Five is all you need when you get to Earth. “
The Voice said that with the certainty of conviction.
“Just Five?” Popped out of the mouths (quickly followed by the thought: “We have mouths?”)from Derek and Maria at almost the exact same time. So close together were their words that Derek blurted out:
“You owe me a coke!”
It was their first laugh in their new bodies. Er…uh…huh…their first bodies, and their last. Laughter though, that would stick with them forever.
The Calming Voice joined in the Laughter.
“No wonder they chose you two to be together on Earth.”
Derek and Maria could feel the smile in those words. Even though they could not see who uttered them. They had been squeezed into these tiny five sensed shells…there wasn’t room for a lot of the perception they had just moments ago. “Seeing” as they knew it was a forgotten skill. They had to depend on light now. Light reflected from some object or another, like sky, skin, or surface. Shiny now meant something to them.
It was both delightful and scary to see the beauty in something stripped of all its existence down to a reality restricted by matter. The wonder in a rainbow was new to them, as was touch. Now that they had hands, in this tiny slice of reality, a reality with physical limits, laws, and location - they held each other hands as tight as they could. Later they would hold those same hands in front of their eyes for weeks, as they tried to get them to do what they wanted them too.
But that was for later…because in this tiny part of the Universe and Time, where Earth was currently, there was a past, a present, and a future. It started with a single moment. In about five or so “Years” both Derek and Maria would know that moment was called: “Birth.” Ten years after those first five years had passed (in Local time) Derek and Maria would meet. Sixty five years after that meeting, they would join the People back here.
And like everyone else who made the Journey, they wouldn’t tell anyone who hadn’t been “born” what it was like. Their stories would be told only to People who had: “been there, done that, got the T-shirt.” A slogan that brought back a smile every time.
*****
The Calming Voice spoke one more time. It was getting more and more difficult to understand words. Feelings, emotions, at least strong ones, those seemed to grow more important that words. Derek and Maria were both experienced their first pangs of hunger, but couldn’t find the words to say so. That was normal said the Calming Voice. Don’t worry about it. In just a year or so (of local time) you will be able to tell folks you are hungry. It will come back to you.
It seemed their bodies were so small, tiny, scrunched up, that they couldn’t even uncoil, just kind of curved into a ball surrounded by what tasted like sea water. The Hall was almost done processing them. Derek had been placed in a womb in Wisconsin. Maria in a womb St. Petersburg, Russia. A narrow filament from their existence before they went into the Hall- ran in a thread between the two wombs. Fifteen years after they were born on Earth, they would meet. That filament would make sure of that.
Just before both of their thumbs reached slowly through the fluid to push gently into their mouths, with a soft suckling sound, they had one final shared thought:
“I love you.”
*****
Maria was Fifteen. She was nervous. She knew her English was better than most of her peers back in St. Petersburg, she attributed that to being able to sing English songs when she was just a little girl. By the time she was twelves she could rap in both English and Russian. This wasn’t Russia. This was a tiny town in Wisconsin. In the United States. Everyone here spoke English. American English. Maria hoped her accent wasn’t to thick. She hoped she could make some friends. She had heard (in Russia) that a lot of Americans didn’t like Russians. She knew quite a few of her friends in Russia who didn’t like Americans either.
Eugenia (her best friend) warned her that last night in St. Petersburg:
“Don’t you go eating cheeseburgers until you get all chubby and weak like American girls. And don’t date some flashy fancy car guy and get pregnant either!”
It made them both laughed.
Maria stood looking at the steps leading up into the High School. She looked at the letters carved into the stone lentil above the doors: Appleton Senior High School.
It made her smile. She was a Freshman, going to a Senior High. She was going to have to get used to some new words. She heard a voice beside her. It didn’t startle her as much as she would have thought.
“ I never saw anybody smile like that from reading the name of a High School. What made it so funny to you?”
The voice as masculine, safe, filled with a crinkling curiosity. A genuine question uttered in genuine curiosity.
“It is my first day of School here in America. I am from Russia. I thought it was funny to be a Freshman, but going to a Senior High School.”
His reaction surprised Maria. He laughed out loud.
“Welcome to America! Where “sick” is a good thing. Dope can be bad or good. And you can be a Freshman in a Senior High School. “
Maria couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud with him. She got a little tingle, like a tickle in her soul, when he grabbed her hand to pull her up the steps.
“Come on. We are both Freshman, and if we want to be Seniors, we better not be late for Class!”
Maria laughed. His hand felt warm, soft, comfortable. She squeezed his palm in hers and said:
“My name is Maria. What’s yours?”
“Derek. But you can call me your True Love.”
Maria dimpled with laughter.
“Okay. You are my True Love.”
And he was.
*****
Standing on the Edge of Time, taking a break from her demanding schedule in the Hall, stood an elegant woman with a Calming voice. She was watching two young people meet on the steps of a small town High School. When they ran into the building, hand in hand, with peals of laughter pouring out behind them…the Calming Voice spoke out loud:
“My. My. My.”
She smiled.
Derek and Maria.(Kevin Hughes)
Derek and Maria stood (as they often did) holding hands while they stood on the Edge of Time and looked down at the Earth. They knew that someday, like everyone else, they would have to enter that strange world of ignorance, illness, and matter. Maria leaned into Derek’s side - Derek leaned back. A posture that was part hug, part cuddle, and all bonding. Neither said a word.
Soon, they turned and walked towards the Hall. They wouldn’t see the Edge of Time again for however long their tour on Earth lasted. Their steps were uncertain. Derek clenched Maria’s hand a little tighter. She squeezed back. They had each other. They will be fine. They hoped.
*****
Author’s Note: All descriptions of Derek and Maria, their conversations, postures, and actions- are metaphors. They have no bodies, at least as we know them. Just assume that their “presences” coalesce into feelings that holding hands, smiling, or leaning into each other for support; resembling those physical actions. There is no way to explain to a being trapped in a physical body (like those on Earth) what it is like to be truly armed with all the senses and dimensions of People (and, Dear Reader, they are People- despite their enormous range of Being).
*****
The Hall stood in front of them. A simple entrance way decorated by bits and pieces of quantum foam, not quite real, not quite unreal, sparkled around an ordinary looking door. A door that led into the Hall. A door that led into the biggest Moment of all the Moments that had gone by since the Beginning of Time. It was their time to go in that door. Still holding hands, Derek and Maria turned towards each other, their eyes were full of wonder, a touch of fear, a dash of the unknown, and…hope.
Would they be lucky and get to do their Tour on Earth-together? They had heard that many were “sent down” alone. Discussing that possibility had reduced them both to tears. (See Author’s Note) No one who had been to Earth - especially those chosen to become Humans; rather than a tree, flower, bug, bacteria, bird, fish or animal of some sort…or even a rock- ever talked about their experiences when they rejoined the real world of the Quantum Universe.
All of them were changed by the experience, but not a single one would tell you about it. Unless…you had also come back into the Foam.
With one last hug, a quick meaningful kiss, Derek and Maria squared their shoulders and Marched into the Hall. The Foam sparkled as they went through the door, a quick flicker of something moving in condensed SpaceTime just inches from their own Universe, seemed to follow them through the Door.
The Hall narrowed.
*****
It was a bizarre feeling. Really bizarre. Both Derek and Maria could feel themselves being squeezed into a tighter and tighter ball of…of…of…of whatever. They knew they were shedding senses as dimension after dimension was pressed out of them. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Derek yelled at the same time as Maria. For the first time in their existence, they made sounds…words…ideas to big for the words that had to hold them from now until they returned. Maria spoke hers first.
“Derek. Are you still there?”
Derek voice quivered in reply.
“I think so, but I feel weird. Heavy, dull, strange.”
“Me too!”
Out of nowhere came the most calming Voice they had ever heard. Of course, that wasn’t a long “ever” as they had only a moment ago heard each other’s voices for the first time. Being limited to sound to transmit a thought was enough to make any sound welcome.
“Don’t worry. Don’t fret. It will all be okay. You only have to get one more “sense” squeezed out of you. Five is all you need when you get to Earth. “
The Voice said that with the certainty of conviction.
“Just Five?” Popped out of the mouths (quickly followed by the thought: “We have mouths?”)from Derek and Maria at almost the exact same time. So close together were their words that Derek blurted out:
“You owe me a coke!”
It was their first laugh in their new bodies. Er…uh…huh…their first bodies, and their last. Laughter though, that would stick with them forever.
The Calming Voice joined in the Laughter.
“No wonder they chose you two to be together on Earth.”
Derek and Maria could feel the smile in those words. Even though they could not see who uttered them. They had been squeezed into these tiny five sensed shells…there wasn’t room for a lot of the perception they had just moments ago. “Seeing” as they knew it was a forgotten skill. They had to depend on light now. Light reflected from some object or another, like sky, skin, or surface. Shiny now meant something to them.
It was both delightful and scary to see the beauty in something stripped of all its existence down to a reality restricted by matter. The wonder in a rainbow was new to them, as was touch. Now that they had hands, in this tiny slice of reality, a reality with physical limits, laws, and location - they held each other hands as tight as they could. Later they would hold those same hands in front of their eyes for weeks, as they tried to get them to do what they wanted them too.
But that was for later…because in this tiny part of the Universe and Time, where Earth was currently, there was a past, a present, and a future. It started with a single moment. In about five or so “Years” both Derek and Maria would know that moment was called: “Birth.” Ten years after those first five years had passed (in Local time) Derek and Maria would meet. Sixty five years after that meeting, they would join the People back here.
And like everyone else who made the Journey, they wouldn’t tell anyone who hadn’t been “born” what it was like. Their stories would be told only to People who had: “been there, done that, got the T-shirt.” A slogan that brought back a smile every time.
*****
The Calming Voice spoke one more time. It was getting more and more difficult to understand words. Feelings, emotions, at least strong ones, those seemed to grow more important that words. Derek and Maria were both experienced their first pangs of hunger, but couldn’t find the words to say so. That was normal said the Calming Voice. Don’t worry about it. In just a year or so (of local time) you will be able to tell folks you are hungry. It will come back to you.
It seemed their bodies were so small, tiny, scrunched up, that they couldn’t even uncoil, just kind of curved into a ball surrounded by what tasted like sea water. The Hall was almost done processing them. Derek had been placed in a womb in Wisconsin. Maria in a womb St. Petersburg, Russia. A narrow filament from their existence before they went into the Hall- ran in a thread between the two wombs. Fifteen years after they were born on Earth, they would meet. That filament would make sure of that.
Just before both of their thumbs reached slowly through the fluid to push gently into their mouths, with a soft suckling sound, they had one final shared thought:
“I love you.”
*****
Maria was Fifteen. She was nervous. She knew her English was better than most of her peers back in St. Petersburg, she attributed that to being able to sing English songs when she was just a little girl. By the time she was twelves she could rap in both English and Russian. This wasn’t Russia. This was a tiny town in Wisconsin. In the United States. Everyone here spoke English. American English. Maria hoped her accent wasn’t to thick. She hoped she could make some friends. She had heard (in Russia) that a lot of Americans didn’t like Russians. She knew quite a few of her friends in Russia who didn’t like Americans either.
Eugenia (her best friend) warned her that last night in St. Petersburg:
“Don’t you go eating cheeseburgers until you get all chubby and weak like American girls. And don’t date some flashy fancy car guy and get pregnant either!”
It made them both laughed.
Maria stood looking at the steps leading up into the High School. She looked at the letters carved into the stone lentil above the doors: Appleton Senior High School.
It made her smile. She was a Freshman, going to a Senior High. She was going to have to get used to some new words. She heard a voice beside her. It didn’t startle her as much as she would have thought.
“ I never saw anybody smile like that from reading the name of a High School. What made it so funny to you?”
The voice as masculine, safe, filled with a crinkling curiosity. A genuine question uttered in genuine curiosity.
“It is my first day of School here in America. I am from Russia. I thought it was funny to be a Freshman, but going to a Senior High School.”
His reaction surprised Maria. He laughed out loud.
“Welcome to America! Where “sick” is a good thing. Dope can be bad or good. And you can be a Freshman in a Senior High School. “
Maria couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud with him. She got a little tingle, like a tickle in her soul, when he grabbed her hand to pull her up the steps.
“Come on. We are both Freshman, and if we want to be Seniors, we better not be late for Class!”
Maria laughed. His hand felt warm, soft, comfortable. She squeezed his palm in hers and said:
“My name is Maria. What’s yours?”
“Derek. But you can call me your True Love.”
Maria dimpled with laughter.
“Okay. You are my True Love.”
And he was.
*****
Standing on the Edge of Time, taking a break from her demanding schedule in the Hall, stood an elegant woman with a Calming voice. She was watching two young people meet on the steps of a small town High School. When they ran into the building, hand in hand, with peals of laughter pouring out behind them…the Calming Voice spoke out loud:
“My. My. My.”
She smiled.
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Okechukwu chidoluo vitus
03/22/2019Thank you... Love is for every one... Pray it last a lifetime... It is O.C. Vitus.
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Kevin Hughes
03/22/2019Thanks O.C. Vitus,
I hope everyone finds love, and if lost, find it again!
Smiles, Kevin
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