million years of evolution-well, I guess we was just human after all. ‘Least in my case. But you get the point.”
“The only thing I did was bring you back together. The biggest mistake you made was cutting the mind loose from the heart. Once we patched that up…”
“Yessir, that was one hell of a left turn, wasn’t it?”
“No,” Trevor corrected and admitted as he controlled a wobble in his voice: “I felt sure it would come. I had faith in y ou. I just-I just had to be strong enough to let you go.”
A glint flickered in the Old Man’s eye.
“Now Trevy, what’s that you got hiding up your sleeve?”
“I’ve figured it out. I figured out exactly who you are.”
The fire crackled. Trevor took a step closer. His eyes blinked twice and he sniffled while trying to fight off tears.
“It’s good to see you again- my son.”
The Old Man stood and walked away from the fire. As he did, the facade faded away and Jorgie Benjamin Stone-the little boy born to Trevor and Ashley-walked to his dad.
Trevor knelt. JB hugged hard and Trevor hugged him back with the love of a father.
“I’m sorry,” Jorgie said. “I’m sorry for what I put you through.”
“You didn’t know,” Trevor spoke to the part of the entity that had been born his son. “You couldn’t have known while you were growing up with me. You were split in two. Two different beings made from what had once been one.”
“Father-I…”
Trevor held Jorgie by his shoulders and gazed into his eyes. As great a being as those eyes belonged to, they still were of his blood. One part comprised of the energy and intellect of a greatly evolved entity; another part the body sent to be reborn as both a marker and an observer; a collector of data.
A surrogate for a god.
In the end, it had been the body of the child-his love for his mother-his innocence-his understanding of what it meant to be human-the very chain on which Trevor had been a link-that won the day.
Trevor told his boy, “I have been proud of you since the day you were born. And I don’t blame you. No son could be blamed for loving his mother; for wanting his father and mother to be together. If I had to do it all over again, I would. For you.”
Jorgie smiled and backed away, giving Nina a glance before the child gave way to the Old Man again. But of course he was not an old man; and neither was he a child. He was something much more but in the end he had been human.
The Old Man sat on his slab of red rock and held his hands out to either side and up; waiting for them to take hold.
“Now don’t just be standing there gawking,” he berated. “You two know the drill.”
Trevor and Nina shared an unsure glance.
“Oh, now, I told you that I had a fourth gift for Trev. It’s also for you, missy. Think of it as payment on a debt I owe you.”
Trevor and Nina cautiously walked around the fire and sat next to him. Trevor took his hand, Nina grabbed the other.
“Now, Trev has been through something like this before. Funny how I always use to say that it was irrelevant. Now I’m starting to think it might just be the most precious thing in the whole universe. Guess that joke was on me, right? But, Trev, last time you went for this type of ride it wasn’t so much fun. This time, well, I think you’ll see it in a different light.”
Nina said, “What was irrelevant? I don’t understand. What is it you’re giving us?”
“The one thing I took from you,” he answered. “Time.”
Trevor and Nina took the Old Man’s hands much like they had taken his hands in that cottage in the wilderness when Nina went searching for her Emperor and found the lost hole in her heart.
“Now, listen up. Trev, you know how this trick works. What do you think, an hour or two before you got to get back to business around here? Vacations are nice and all, but…”
“An hour or two should do,” Trevor smiled at Nina seemed both puzzled and amused.
“Now close your eyes and relax. Just-relax…”
A horn honked and startled Nina’s eyes wide open. A bright sun replaced the dark forest. A blend of smells assaulted her nose; she could taste smoky exhaust fumes from traffic on a wide city street and the aroma of sizzling steak floating from a nearby stand.
Trevor squeezed her hand as he surveyed the surroundings. They stood in the shadow of tall buildings with throngs of pedestrians who wore the clothes of a busy work day walking around them in either direction. The sounds of cars driving, feet drumming, a distant siren, and a melody crooning from a nearby radio bombarded their ears.
“W-what is this?” Nina gasped as her head snapped side to side.
Trevor understood.
“You tell me. Where are we?”
Nina licked her lips, steadied herself as if on the verge of falling over from confusion, and searched the area a little more methodically. She saw landmarks immediately; landmarks she had not seen in years but they remained familiar.
“Broad Street,” she mumbled. Then louder: “We’re on Broad Street. In Philadelphia.”
Trevor smiled and repeated what she had said to him one sad night, the last night before her memories were taken. “You said this would be the best place to live. Lots to do around here, I guess.”
She did not hear him. She stared at the bronze statue of William Penn atop City Hall.
“But Trevor, that statue fell when City Hall burned back on the first day of the invasion. We never rebuilt it.”
“Nina-I think-I think this is going to take some explaining.”
She stepped closer to him and he gazed into those beautiful blue eyes.
“How did we-why is this-I’m just saying, this isn’t right.”
“It’s exactly right,” Trevor assured. “Just the two of us. No responsibilities except to each other. We can stay here for a while and catch up on lost time. Stolen time.”
“So this…” she gazed around at the traffic, the crowds, a passenger jet flying overhead far above the downtown skyscrapers. “…this isn’t real?”
Trevor pointed to the image of a blue sky and told her, “Out there an hour or two will pass. In here? Maybe a week or so. Think of it as a vacation. Besides, time is really all in our heads anyway. I went through this once before-not as pleasant, of course. Trust me-our memories will make it real.”
Something distracted Trevor. He turned around and yelled to the cheese steak vender while pointing toward the radio just inside the service window.
“Hey, buddy, you mind turning that up?”
Like everything else in the dream, the man accommodated.
The melody drifted above the commotion of gridlocked cars and shuffling people.
“I go out walkin’ after midnight, Out in the moonlight, Just like we used to do, I’m always walkin’ after midnight searchin’ for you…”
Nina recognized the voice of Patsy Cline. The music Trevor had played for her that first night at her apartment; that first night of being in love. So many more nights lay ahead.
Trevor extended a hand to her in invitation.
“May I have this dance, miss?”
She accepted.
Trevor glanced around at the crowd of phantasms. He recalled her fear that first time and warned lightheartedly, “I’m afraid a lot of people are watching.”
Nina smiled and answered, “As long as you’re watching.”
She stepped close, wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his shoulder. It felt nice. Comfortable. Familiar.
Trevor cleared his mind of the troubles of the world that waited outside the dream, and took her in his arms.
