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Chapter 37
Gus had started a campfire
and made coffee to go with Mrs. Mead's contributions. The group visited
for a while and then Mrs. Mead gathered up her dishes to go home, saying,
"One exciting day like this will last me a few years."
From his house, Gus
had gathered some blankets for Sally and Ream. Returning, he said,
"The highway patrol left a message on the answering machine saying they
straightened things out with Snake. He is entering an alcohol rehab program
if you don't press charges. Bet I could guess your answer to that."
"You're right," Ream
smiled.
Gus changed the subject,
"Sally, I never did find out why you came to see me today, but I'm sure
glad you did, Biffer might have been a goner otherwise."
Sally's hand crept
into Ream's. "There were two reasons I came. I wanted to meet the man who
rode Biff in the parade, and the other was to ask you to teach me about
horses. I've been terrified about them since I was a little girl when I
fell off. I want to get a horse, a white Arabian."
"I'd be honored," said
Gus. There was a pause. Then he said, "Right now I need a few hours of
shut eye. Call me if you need anything."
Ream and Sally checked
on Biff who was feeding in his stall which was a good sign. They returned
to the fire and sat on the ground both leaning back against the log.
"Finally," she said,
"it's beginning to soak in. When you said our relationship was over, I
tried to let go, and believe I didn't care, but I guess something deep
inside me never really gave up."
"I know I must have
sounded pretty abrupt, Sally. But listen, do you realize if this works
out for us, I'll always need help and you may have to lead me across streets
like a little kid?"
"I bet we could learn
how to do it without even noticing it." Sally hesitated, a soft frown creased
her lovely face, then she asked softly, "How do you feel about a woman
without breasts? Does it bother you?"
"It's the quality
of our connection that's important, not your limitations. All along I was
listening behind your words. I needed to know if you were ready to
pull out all the stops, if you could be the other half of an "us".
As you know, I will
never see you. All I can know about you is what I touch with my fingers,
feel in my arms, and a perfect calm pulling us together. Strangely, that's
enough for me, because underneath it's what really connects two people
anyway."
Momentarily Sally detected
a deeper quiet seeping through the background. Soon the silence enveloped
everything. She sensed an extraordinary metamorphosis in progress. The
mysterious thing had appeared.
She asked, "Did you
notice how quiet it got all of a sudden?"
"Yes," replied Ream.
What do you think has happened?"
"I'd say everything
has fallen into place so completely that we are absolutely still inside.
It's that stillness we talked about."
"Yes," he said. "It
feels so complete being encased in it right here, right now. Yesterday,
tomorrow, what we had for breakfast this morning, doesn't matter, nothing
matters except this and us."
Sally touched the palm
of Ream's hand very lightly with her finger tips. "Does that feel different
to you?" she asked.
"Yes. Touching anyone
else would feel like they were on the other side of a veil."
They both sighed,
one following the other, as they wound down deeper into the silence. They
felt the world shrinking around them, first to the campfire, then to the
log, then into their embrace, and finally into the sweet surrender of their
soul-giving in a cathedral of stars.
Their surrender contained
all the living which had brought them to that moment. All of their mistakes
and stumblings had been necessary to make their connection complete and
know its meaning. Again a deeper breath, bringing them closer.
Together, they listened
to the stillness in their touch as they soaked further into each others'
arms. The embrace was not to hold on, but to let go. Their arms circled
the universe and all of time. All there. All now. All long ago. Breathing
the still gravity between them, not air. As with wings, they soared skyward,
while their center stuck to earth.
A tiny pebble at the
center of the earth moved into place. The world shifted slightly under
them, barely noticeable, as a new forever emerged in reverie. In the next
moment there was the smallest embryonic fusion, as together, each soul
inside the other, they passed through the center of God. Each was no longer
alone.
They flowed together
as two great oceans. Unrestrained parts of them journeyed deep inside the
other, past the defenses, past the reason, past the secrets, past the hurt.
Back to the beginning, beneath the source of tears. It became a symphony
between souls. Twin beacons encrypted, find me, hold me, the codes, the
path, always closer. A union of secret truths even to them.
Together, they had
become a new flower born in the universe. They had made their connection,
and at last, they were free, and going home.
Their souls were
complete. Lying side by side, each knew they had yet to make love, but
in a truer sense they already had.
It didn't matter. What
was meant to be, had arrived, and a shared eternity was on its way toward
them. They drifted into sleep and into each other, knowing they would awake
together in a different world, where the dream was real. They recognized
it. They let it happen.
It was a Golden
Moment. |
