I'll See You In Your Dreams (10 page)

“Okay, I’m tracking with you.”

“What was that?” Anne furrowed her brow.

“Oh, I’m sorry, tracking with you means, that I understand what you are saying, and to continue.”

“Oh, I see. Well, anyway, it seems that someone’s thoughts are more real than the
real
universe.”

Charlie looked puzzled as he contemplated what she said. “So, if I have this right, it is the thought universe that everything else depends on? You are even saying the thought universe is more real than the physical universe?”

“Yes,” Anne said.

“Wow, that’s hard to believe. The physical universe seems so much more real.”

“And yet, Charlie, anything I could point to in this room is only a copy of the original, like that lamp. It seems authentic, but the original is a thought in some designer’s head. Everything seems to have a thought preceding it.”

“How about trees and rocks and things not manufactured by man?” Charlie cocked an eyebrow and continued. “That is the ultimate question. Whose mind contains those originals?”

Charlie turned to Stanley. “Do you have any questions, Stanley?”

“Only one, Anne. When you say the thinker can control the thought universe, does that mean capable of, as opposed to actually aware of how to control the thought universe?”

“That’s right, Stanley. It takes some understanding of the laws of the thought universe. It has taken a lot of investigation for me to do a few of the things I can do.”

“I’m impressed,” said Stanley truthfully.

“I need a favor from both of you,” Anne said, suddenly serious.

Both nodded. “Sure, anything, Anne,” said Charlie.

“Whatever we can do,” added Stanley.

“Could you both please stand up for me?”

Charlie and Stanley looked at each other and complied.

“Hold your hands out as though you wanted me to kiss them.”

They both smiled and held out their hands.

“Now this is important. I want you to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you to, okay?”

“Sure,” They both replied simultaneously, now riveted.

“It’s important not to open your eyes, no matter what, until I say so, and don’t be startled by anything. Just listen to my voice and do what I say, deal?”

“Deal!” said Charlie.

“Deal!” said Stanley.

“Now close your eyes and hold your hands back out.” They raised their hands palms down; fingers curled, and closed their eyes.

They’d stood there for a good sixty seconds when they started to feel a sensation in their fingers. They both honed in their awareness on their fingers and strained to feel it. Then it increased, and they each felt a bit of pressure and started to realize it was Anne’s hands holding their fingers as if to lead them blindly.

“Now, step forward!” she commanded. They each took a step, although it seemed to each of them that nothing happened as they stepped forward. “Now keep your eyes close until I say to open them, and don’t be confused by anything you see when I do tell you to open them.” They both nodded.

<><><>

“Now, open your eyes.” They opened their eyes and were still in Anne’s room; only now they faced the opposite direction, and it was daylight. They both looked at Anne, who stood between two sets of windows. She was completely solid. They could feel the warmth and softness of her hands. Charlie looked to his left and realized her room was furnished completely differently. He turned back to gauge Stanley’s reaction, and his breath caught in his throat.

Anne’s voice caught his attention. “Don’t be startled. Just give it a moment. It will come to you.”

<><><>

Charlie was staring at a black man.

“Stanley?” he inquired.

Memories started to flood in on him, and he paused as they started to sort themselves out. He looked at Anne, as she smiled and continued to hold his hands. Charlie looked back at the black man who was smiling as well.

“Sam, my god, what’s happening?” Charlie began to smile, too.

“Colton?” Sam moved forward and pulled him into a hug.

“You always were a bit slow, Colton, and you didn’t get any faster as Charlie!” They all laughed.

“Shush, my mother’s napping, and I need to get you both out of my room, so go out the window, tip toe across the roof to the elm tree and climb down. I’ll meet you in the carriage house.”

Anne tip toed down the staircase, keeping her feet to the outside edge of the steps to avoid the squeaks. She slowly opened the servants’ door at the back of the house, farthest from the master bedroom where her mother slept, and eased herself out. She arrived at the carriage house and quickly entered.

“I know I promised not to be confused, Anne, but I don’t seem to be able to help myself. So which of you geniuses want to explain who, what, when, where, and most important, why?” Colton cocked an eyebrow again.

Anne looked at Sam, and he gestured go ahead.

“No, wait!” interrupted Colton/Charlie.

“I want to hear Sam explain it. I know you know, Anne, because you got us here, but I want to hear good old Sam/Stanley explain it. Otherwise he will just say he knew it all along.”

“Worm holes. Simple as that, as postulated by Einstein and other top physicists. There are time warps, and the doors to them are called worm holes. Black holes are postulated to possibly be worm holes or portals to another time or universe. So I think that there are two universes next to each other that are creating negative energy. Anne has discovered a worm hole right in her bedroom, or more likely has inadvertently created one. It is exciting and, as bizarre as it seems, I truly believe it’s the future of space travel. It has been postulated that time machines are truly possible. I read it in Scientific American, January 2000. I think the article was Negative Energy, Wormholes, and Warp Drive.”

“Well, that was quite a soapbox.” Colton turned to Anne. “What did he just say?”

“My word, I have no idea!”

“Worm hole seems like such an ugly name,” Anne replied with a laugh.

“Besides, it’s not a fixed hole like a door. It’s sort of like waking from a dream. It starts with a slight awareness of an area, like when you are dreaming and slowly you start to realize you’re dreaming and you become aware of the bedroom and the area of the dream starts to fade. It’s like that both ways.”

“Wow, I can almost see that,” replied Colton.

“Then how did we get here, Anne?” added Sam.

“Merlin taught me that.”

“Oh man, I’m afraid to ask. Who’s Merlin?” interrupted Colton.

Anne laughed and continued, “Not the famous magician, silly. At least, I don’t think so. He’s wise like a magician and has helped me answer some of my questions, so I call him Merlin. He is like no one else here. I can’t see any of his mental pictures or read any of his thoughts. He just appears in my mind when I need him.”

“He?” asked Sam.

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“That seems a contradiction, I know, since there’s no physical form, but there are male and female points of view. Whether it is male or female, both points of view exist, and it’s good.”

“So Merlin showed you how to get Charlie and me here?”

“Yes, Merlin taught me the aditus, as he called it, and compared it to an entrance to a play. He described it as an actor going from the wings to the life of the play.
He also helped me snare Charlie’s foot so I would have time to talk to him.”

“Do we have any free will here or are we just here to serve you and Merlin?”

“Oh, no, no, it must all be free will. If you or Colton ever decides that you don’t wish to help, then it is Merlin and I who must abide by your will.”

Sam replied, “I’m not certain what we’re here to help you with? I am here as an explorer and investigator. I believe Charlie or Colton is in love with you, or wishes to resolve that issue with you.  Something like that.”

“It’s exactly like that, I need help resolving my love for Colton and just as important, I need to resolve the guilt I feel at what my indecision and blindness caused. It involved you too!” She suddenly sobbed, turned away from Sam, and stared out the barn door.

Colton and Sam stepped up behind her, and Colton touched her shoulder. “Anne, what are we missing here? There seems to be a more serious conflict than us.”

“There is.” She turned to face Colton, then looked at Sam. “Something horrible happened and the memory haunts me. You both will not have a memory of it at the moment, even though it happened to you, too. It hasn’t occurred yet, but it did in our last time here and will again unless we stop it.”

“Please start at the beginning, Anne,” Colton gently requested.

“Well, you asked who you are. Hmmm, you are Colton to me. You are also Charlie. They are just names. So, you are you, simple as that, just different times and universes.”

“You and Sam do have something in common,” Colton interjected.

“What’s that?” Anne asked.

“You have a completely different definition of simple.”

“It is simple. The one who thinks and dreams and loves, that’s who you are. Your name and how you look are temporary. You, the dreamer, go on. So that is what you are; a thinker, dreamer and lover.

“Oh, yes, and when? Well, that’s easy. Now, is all that exists. The ancient ones are making a philosopher out of me, don’t you think?” Anne laughed.

Colton loved the sparkle and flash in Anne’s eyes as she spoke.

“Okay, Anne, so for the big one, why?”

“The why is complicated, so let’s sit on the bench over there. What time is it?”

Colton looked at his watch. “Eleven o’clock by my, uh other universe watch. Anne stepped to the carriage house door and looked out.

“By the shadows I would say two o’clock in the afternoon. We have time before father comes home or mother starts to worry.”

“The why, I almost hate to remind you. It’s what haunts me.” Anne sighed.

“I will start by explaining a bit about this universe. It looks like the universe I lived my life in. Actually, it’s the universe I grew up in, but I’m different. I know things I didn’t know before. It is like you and Sam. It’s the same Colton and Sam and the same universe, but we’re different. We have future experience in the present moment. At this moment and in this universe we are not like others. We’ve moved back in time, I have lived this life once and got stuck in the biggest and cruelest of mental traps, indecision, which resulted in my losing what I wanted most.”

Anne looked down. Colton took her hand and asked her gently, “What did you lose, Anne?” She raised her head. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

“I lost you, Colton!” She sobbed slightly. “So, anyway, here I am with another chance,” she said now more brightly.

“I wanted you, too, Anne, but my social standing wouldn’t allow …” Anne put her fingers to his lips.

“I know, but that was then, and this is then, too!” They laughed.

Sam spoke up. “I hate to break this up, but I have some questions.” Anne and Colton looked at him. “I think I know, but explain why you seem to know something about our future, or that is, our past future as Colton and Sam, that you know, but we don’t.”

“Yes, that’s right, Sam. I only know because of my time in the resolution zone.”

“The resolution zone?” they both blurted out.

“That’s just what I call it. I call it that because when I first passed away in 1970, after living alone so many years, I was actually surprised that I didn’t die mentally, but was in a sort of dream where I had lots of company. Suddenly I was able to see everyone’s mental pictures and thoughts and dreams, everyone but Merlin’s.”

“At first I was embarrassed that all could see my every thought and dream, but I soon realized it was wonderful to have nothing to hide and to be completely free to mentally create anything I wanted. These other thinkers and I were in a universe of pure thought. We seemed to have one thing in common-we all had unresolved issues of some sort. We were stuck in indecision.”

“Some would pass away and be here only a flash and were gone. Where they go, I do not know, but we are all aware that another universe exists. I often wondered if it was heaven or hell or nirvana of some sort. Some think they take up a new life as a baby and try it again until they get it right and resolve all their issues. Others think it is the escape to un-existence. I just don’t know.

“I do know that it is indecision and resulting inaction and unfinished plans that keep the thinkers in the resolution zone. And I’ve found a way to get back into the physical universe and try to resolve some issues, make some decisions, right some wrongs, and complete what I started.”

“This brings us to the subject I hate to bring up-Paul.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Oh yes, Paul, your boyfriend, fiancé?” asked Colton. Colton frowned and looked confused as he continued. “Why am I so foggy on these memories when you seem to remember so clearly?”