Giddeon (Silver Strand Series) (24 page)

The first time Greg and I went to the movie theatre of the future, I had no idea that Mia was a tag-along.
 
Back then, I had no idea there even was a Mia… she was very quiet in those days.
 
She still can be quiet, although sometimes she’s pretty much inclined to talk your ear of now that we’ve gotten to where we can hear each other just a bit.
 
I don’t mind.
 
I love to listen to her chattering on about something, even if I’m preoccupied.

Do you know how much better those sounds coming out of her are than silence?

It’s like music to ears that have never heard music.

Like taste buds suddenly coming to life in a five-star restaurant.

Like opening your eyes for the first time in the Sistine Chapel.

You’ll never hear me complain about too many words from those pouty lips, when for the better part of a quarter century I could only speak to myself.
 
I tell Greg to not only count his lucky stars, but to count his lucky words… the ones that emanate from his wife and child.

Do you know how precious a child’s first word is?
 

How it’s remembered in a special place, just for such memories, by proud parents?
 
Every word that comes from her is like that to me.
 
I mark them down in my heart, and I can retrieve them anytime I wish.
 
Having access to my neural network helps, but, I think even without such ability I would still treasure far more of the little buggers than most.
 

I horde them, along with her images.

I think it’s also a miracle that I can see her, now, when so many sub-conscious minds across the planet probably don’t have similar opportunities.
 
How many
Giddeons
and
Mias
are out there, alone, just wishing they could find each other?
 
Probably millions… or billions.
 
Maybe even trillions if you count all of the futures and the pasts.

Yes, I’m lucky to see her, but, I don’t think I was the first one to do so.

*****

Do you remember the cat that came out when Greg and I were in that futuristic room?
 
The white one that was a carbon copy of Samantha?
 
I suspected at the time that they were using the animal in some way to verify our presence.
 
Back then, I didn’t think they were linked to the animal… as a matter of a fact, it didn’t even occur to me.
 
Sometimes I’m a little S-L-O upside down M, if you know what I mean.
 

Couldn’t see the forest for the trees… maybe having my head up my butt, was a factor, too.

Anyway, I guess I was just too overwhelmed at the time to catch it.
 
If they could link with our brains, certainly they could do the same with animals.

‘So,’ you might ask, ‘why would they use Melody’s cat, and not Boris?’
 

I thought it was to send us a message, and maybe it was.

But, mainly, it was to send another message, entirely.

A message to Mia.

*****

 
Mia told me, later, that she stayed behind when we left that room.
 
She no longer feared being stuck in other times and places, because she knew that all she had to do was fall asleep and she would wake up the next morning in Melody’s bed.
 
That had happened several times to her, accidentally, because sometimes I’m a little A.D.D. and switch realities quite quickly.
 
She’s gotten the hang of following the silver strands to other dimensions of her choosing, but getting back by herself always seems to require relaxation and sleep.
 
Don’t know why to this day.

 
Anyway, she climbed into the cat, to see what she could see.
 
The hologram reappeared, and changed to Samantha’s point of view… at least I think it was Samantha.
 
I don’t know if they brought her there, or cloned her, or just got a look-a-like.
 
At any rate, I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
 
She was inside of the cat and the hologram changed.
 
That meant they knew about her, and most probably they knew that she belonged to Melody, or Melody belonged to her… or, whatever.
 
They knew the two were a pair.
 

The four people smiled, and then faded away, leaving only a room with a soft, Japanese style mattress on the floor.
 
Where it came from, Mia didn’t know.
 
She said she realized that she was very tired, and got out of Samantha and curled up on the cushion.

The cat snuggled in close, and they both fell asleep.
 
Before drifting off, Mia could have sworn she saw an image of herself reflected on the wall she was facing.

*****

When I woke up, I wasn’t in Melody’s bed.
 
I was on Alternate Dad’s futon in his small living room.
 
It was early morning and he had obviously already gone to work.
 
I looked around, a bit disoriented, because nothing like that had ever happened, before.
 
I went to the window and gazed out to ascertain that it was indeed morning by the position of the sun.
 

It was.

I ran my fingers through my tangled hair and thought about taking a dip in the pool instead of a shower to help wake me up.
 
I conjured myself a hot pink bikini and a fluffy beach towel and was just about to walk out the door when something caught my eye.
 

His laptop computer, there on the coffee table.

*****

I flipped up the screen and turned it on.
 
A word document came to life, there on the monitor.
 
I scrolled back to where he had last left off less than a week, before.

There was page after page of writing… way more than he normally produced in such a short time.
 
I forgot about the pool and sat down to read.

*****

I caught up to where Giddeon and Greg had transported to the room in the future that I had just left.
 
The scene was described in detail, coinciding with exactly what had transpired.
 
Even the language between our two fellows was exact.

I read about how Giddeon would try to access that room in the future, but would be unable to do it.

There was more writing, but before I continued reading I checked the ‘date modified’ on the file, and was quite shocked.

The last time he had been on the computer was two days prior… almost 48 hours, before that morning.
 
Sometimes he awoke and wrote early… around 5 A.M..

I arrowed down to the next page, mesmerized by the words before me, knowing they had been written before any of the actual events had occurred.
 
It was the first sentence in chapter 63 that really got my attention, though…

“She has cancer.”

*****

I was quite shaken up by those words.

I read with concern the next few pages.
 
I hoped maybe he was wrong, but judging by the accuracy of the previous chapter, I suspected that he wasn’t.
 
I finished reading the twenty-five pages that he had written and decided I didn’t really need to go for a swim, after all, because I was quite awake.

I detangled my hair, put it into a pony-tail and changed into tennis shoes, shorts and an old t-shirt.
 
Then, I went to visit you to see if I could detect any disease.

*****

I sniffed and sniffed, but, you still smelled the same to me.
 
Not like lemons and mangos from my perspective… just, you.
 
I suppose Giddeon has a more finely tuned olfactory system than me.
 
Kind of backwards from the way it’s supposed to be, isn’t it?
 
Women are the ones that are supposed to have the best sense of smell.
 
He’s full of surprises, that’s for sure.

*****

I thought back to the time I followed GG to Eden, and all of the advances that humanity had made in the centuries between now and that distant future.
 
Giddeon had spoken of resonant frequencies, and how they were used by the
Edenites
to destroy cancers and infections without harming surrounding tissues.

I went back there, time and again, but I’m afraid that their technologies were much too technological for me to fully grasp.
 
Plus there was a language barrier… something else I’ve never had a knack for, learning foreign tongues, that is.
 
Yet, another thing Giddeon excels at.
 
I wish I could have taken him with me, but in the end, I guess everything worked out.

*****

Anyway, that night Alternate Dad added quite a bit to the story that was then unfolding without my direction and ahead of my time frame.
 
It was fascinating to watch, and I waited for each word to make its way onto the virtual paper of the Word file.
 

I read about the struggle to change Greg’s blood and tissue type.
 
It was so odd sitting there beside him and watching the story unfold… kind of like that old television series where the guy got tomorrow’s headlines in today’s newspaper.
 
Remember that one?

*****

Where was I?
 
Oh, yes… Alternate Dad finally put down the computer and picked up a guitar.
 
At the rate he was going, I knew he was going to finish the book, soon.
 
I wondered if I would have enough time to follow our boys around and compare how things came to pass, in real life, before he did.

Things did come to pass… but, not quite the way I expected.

*****

I listened to Alternate Dad sing a sweet, sad little song he had been working on:

All alone on a Friday night, in my little place.

With a bottle of Wicked Ale in my hand.

Things never turn out, just the way you thought they would.

Things never turn out like you planned.

So, I walk to the corner bar, on Orange and First, again.

I can hear the guitars playing there.

I wish I had the nerve to do what those guys do.

They sing to the drunk ones, and they sing to the sober ones too.

And, they’re cruising… just cruising through their night.

And, I’m losing… just a little bit, but that’s alright.

Southern California
, it ain’t so bad.

They all try to warn you, but, it’s the best time I ever had.

Just cruising.

It’s Saturday morning, on the Interstate 5.

I can feel the wind blowing in my hair.

I turn on the radio… it’s 91-X.

I think I’ll ride to
Oceanside
, and see what I’m gonna do next.

And, I’m cruising… just cruising through my life.

And, I’m losing… just a little bit but that’s alright.

Southern California
… it’s a good place to go insane.

They all try to warn you, but I really don’t miss the rain.

When I’m cruising.

And, they said
California
… it’s where you oughta be.

So, I loaded up the truck, and, I moved to
Beverly
.

Didn’t stay there too long… I went down by the sea.

Coronado
… that’s for me.

And, I’m cruising… just cruising through my life.

And, I’m losing… just a little bit but that’s alright.

Southern California
… it’s a good place to go insane.

They all try to warn you, but I really don’t miss the rain.

I’m just cruising.

*****

He finished the last of his beer that was there beside the computer, and then hit the power button to turn it off.
 
I gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked with him to the bar where a local band was playing.
 
I stood outside the door as he went inside and had a seat, by himself, at a table for two.

Then, I went to spend the night with Giddeon at the Hotel Del.

*****