Seven Point Eight (29 page)

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A few days later, Max let himself in the apartment and placed his keys on the coffee table as usual. Hanging his coat and loosening his shirt, he looked around for Tahra and noticed how untidy the place seemed. Plates still had uneaten food on them, and everywhere appeared neglected. Puzzled, he called out.

“Tahra?”

Silence greeted him, and he began to search the apartment, finding the whole thing disconcerting.
 
With few rooms in the place, he quickly reached the bedroom and opened the door.

Tahra lay huddled on the bed with the blankets wrapped tight around her. When she heard him enter the room, she sat up and he saw how red her eyes were, and how dishevelled she appeared. Max lingered in the doorway, confused.

“What’s wrong?”

She answered his question by picking up a shoe from the floor and hurling it at him. On instinct, he raised his arms, although it narrowly missed his head and struck the door frame. As he lowered his arms again, another incoming missile struck him on the chest.

“What…Tahra!”

She bombarded him with a brush, a can of hairspray, and a bottle of perfume which smashed on the wall, filling the room with the odour of Chanel No.5.
 
Max was stunned to see this virago of a girl vent her incomprehensible fury at him, eyes brimming with tears again.

“How could you?” she screamed.

“I – I don’t understand…”

“Liar!”

A book came hurtling towards him and he batted it away with his hands.

“Cheat!”

This time the alarm clock headed straight for his head, causing him to duck.

“Gigolo!”

He approached her, dodging the bedroom flotsam and as he neared the bed, she launched herself at him. Striking his chest with her hands, she seemed unable to control herself. Max hated to see her like this and rather than lose his cool, he took hold of her wrists.

“Tahra, please tell me what’s wrong.”

She allowed him to hold her wrists, but turned her head away from him in disdain.

“What’s happened?” he asked her, determined to unravel the mystery.

Tahra glared at him through her tears.

“I can’t marry you.”

Now Max’s stomach lurched with her unexpected statement.

“Why the hell not?”

“You know why! Stop trying to play innocent! How often has it happened?”

He looked at her with an accusing, yet helpless stare.

“How often has what happened?”

“How often have you had sex with other women at parties?!”

Max froze, relaxing his grip on Tahra’s wrists. She must have remote viewed him. Jesus Christ, how could he crawl out of this one? For a long moment, he looked at her with regret while she cried. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but he’d been exposed. In this situation, he could lie or tell the truth. Instead of continuing the deception, he treated it as an opportunity to clear the air.

“Tahra, what you must have seen... Look, my whole life revolved around easy sex, and lots of it. I’ve been part of that scene for years, and for years it gave me great satisfaction, but do you really think I’ll continue this after we were married?”

His calming voice began to soothe her anger, although the tears still flowed.

 
“But why did you do this knowing we’re getting married?”

Max sighed and decided to be completely honest.

“Tahra, you’ve point blank refused to have sex with me until we’re married. I’m just a man at the end of the day. Do you know how fucking sexually frustrated I’ve felt ever since you walked into my life? You’re the only woman I really want to make love to and yet you’ve refused. Being celibate to respect your principles is impossible. Sometimes Tahra, you’re impossible.”

She frowned at him, and he detected a snarl of disgust on her face.

“Couldn’t you just… wait?”

Max tried to hug her to console her, but she pulled away so he continued to explain.

“Oh Tahra, you need to live in the real world. A man needs sex…physical sex on a regular basis.
I
need sex. If you’d have had sex with me, I wouldn’t have been to any of those parties.”

“So now it’s my fault?”

She looked incredulous and in his frustration, he tried to justify himself.

“Would you rather I force myself on you to gratify myself, or me lose my frustration at a party? It was the only way I could respect your wishes, if that makes any sense.”

“You’re about to be married, and you’ve had sex with other women?”

Max began to get exasperated.

“You’re thinking like a woman. For a man, sex and…love are separate. Men can fuck women but not have emotions, whereas women cannot separate the two. You’re the woman I chose to marry, doesn’t that mean anything to you? I don’t want to party anymore, I want a wife. I want you.”

He tried to put his arms around her, to take the pain away and demonstrate his attachment to her but she refused him. In frustration, he placed his fingers under her chin and tried to kiss her, but she jerked her body away from his grip, threw herself on the bed and wrapped the blankets around her.

Max stood there, helpless and afraid. How could he remedy this mess?
 
However, Tahra provided the conclusion to this matter.

“I want to go back to
London
, to The Institute,” she said, between sobs.

Max closed his eyes in an attempt to shut out the impending sense of collapse. All those hopes and dreams, their wedding plans…shattered. The joy of their upcoming union had been torn asunder, and he felt empty.

Therefore, in late February of 1964, they arrived back in
London
, because the dream seemed to be over. What lay in store for them both now?

12

The Egg

Max sat in his office at The Institute, toying with a pen and trying to motivate himself to catch up on the paperwork. What a confusing, tumultuous blur the past year had been, driven by the need to please a woman half his age.
 
He hadn’t bargained on an emotional connection with this strong minded female, one who insisted on no sex before marriage.

Was she a master manipulator or a hopeless romantic? Max wished he knew the answer, because she’d taken his feelings on a rollercoaster ride and driven him insane. Her abilities both repelled and fascinated him, as she could take him to the heights of euphoria and the depths of depression.

Had he opened Pandora’s Box by seeking out Tahra? Did Grace know this would happen, or did she just see a talented psychic? He missed Tahra beyond any doubt, but the collapse of his carefully laid marriage plans was a result of her inability to accept what he’d done.

In the twilight of his love life, he’d returned to sense stagnation at The Institute. He needed a new direction, an innovative impetus and Tahra had to be the key, but how could she unlock its potential? Max wished his mother was still here, because she always pointed him in the right direction.

At that point, it occurred to him that in many ways, her presence hadn’t left The Institute. Beth…she could contact Grace. Max summoned his best medium and she entered the office, so he gestured to her to take a seat. She sensed the dark cloud hanging over him. At first, he struggled to initiate the conversation, although Beth took a deep breath, as if making contact with the spirit world.

“Grace’s here,” she said. “She wants to know why you’re so insecure.”

Max breathed a sigh of relief as he didn’t need to request Grace’s presence himself, but he also felt overwhelmed at the thought of talking to his mother again, even if it was through a medium.

After what seemed like a long silence, he finally decided to open up.

“Life has taken…an unexpected detour,” he revealed.

“Yes, yes it has rather,” Beth relayed. “I see you managed to find Tahra.”

Max felt a dichotomy, as he wanted to talk about Tahra but then again, he didn’t.

“Yes, she’s truly gifted.”

“You love her, don’t you?”

He toyed with the pen again, wrestling with his need to discuss her and his desire to protect his reputation. Beth kept her eyes closed, as if maintaining a professional detachment.

“My…emotional involvement was something I didn’t expect.”

“Is that the reason you so desperately wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes,” Max said, without thinking then added, “No. I wanted to ask why you wanted me to bring Tahra to The Institute.”

Beth remained silent for a moment, as if listening to instructions then she summarised the internal conversation.

“To be the shining star, there is a clear purpose for her on this Earth, and you and this facility are a large part of that.”

“Can you explain, please?”

“Max, you have your destiny to work through and your own karmic lessons to address, but you’ll find this will overlap with Tahra’s purpose. At some point in the future, you’ll need to find your sister and heal the wounds too. There’ll come a time when you’ll need her.”

He tapped his pen on the desk at that point.

“Where do I take The Institute?”

“You pulled Beth aside to ask me that? You already know what the step is. Once you take it, everything will fall into place.”

Dropping the pen, he continued with exasperation.

“Am I wasting my time with Tahra?” he asked, fearful of the answer.

Beth listened quietly, and relayed a summary.

“It’s difficult to tell where two strong minds are concerned. She is the more powerful one in many ways and you have to be able to live with that. Nothing is truly predestined though, for we all have free will. You will do what you do, and so will she.”

Max sighed, feeling none the wiser and he attempted to draw a conclusion.

“So, you’re telling me I have all the answers. Once I carry out the step I had in mind, the way forward will become clear?”

“Did you ever put a foot wrong, Max?”

Hearing those words, he felt a fool for doubting himself and setting up this consultation. Max made a resolution to keep Tahra at arms length, for sanity’s sake.

However, Grace made one request of her own.

“Please ensure there’s a regular supply of flowers at Robert’s grave, we mustn’t forget.”

He closed his eyes and muttered, “It’s impossible to forget.”

They both opened their eyes now and Beth gave him a sympathetic smile, while he avoided her gaze. As she stood to leave, sensing a conclusion to the meeting, Max spoke.

“I’d really appreciate it if you said nothing of this meeting to anyone.”

Beth gave a little nod of respect and closed the door behind her. Alone once more, Max made a decision what step he’d take next. The talents of Dr. Paul Eldridge called once more.

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