Day One

(excerpt from Win A Whistle)

I turned away from the lectern, finished. Gaily started to take me by the arm, and as I looked at her I saw that she had been told at least a bit of what had, and what was now to happen. I could only touch her cheek, brush her forehead with a kiss, and whisper low and soft, wordless, that I loved her.
The tears were coming freely now, held back while I had talked. It was certainly time for them. Like the caress of a velvet glove in the center of my mind, *i love you.*
I looked to my left, at my Joy, holding young Freddy by the hand and resting her head on the chest of the stranger, Zeb. *i have to go now, my darling girl. you are ready, huh?*
*yes, Daddy, quickly, please. the whole place is going to start raining tears, you know?*
Summer, always at my side during times of ceremony, silently shared a quick image, flashing fast and complete, leaving me breathless as always. *my baby, thank you. thank you for my life. i love you best, of course.*
Summer laughed low at this old joke; she always did.
*Paul, it’s time.* This was loud, turning me around as if a pair of strong hands had grabbed me, rough and irresistible.
I had believed in the last few days that I would certainly be ready when it happened. I was tired, I was finished, I was complete.
I was old, dammit.
I’d thought that at this moment I’d rip the concorder off, that damn clip I’d been wearing for so long.
*no, leave it on.*
Again far too loud. "Uh, can you take the volume down just a bit?" I said to the empty space just in front of me.
*it’s Angel, you old fart. c’mere.*
And, in a shimmering, dust-like silver and gold cascade that instantly reminded me of that old "Star Trek" transporter effect on 2-d half a century ago or more, Angel stood before me.
"Oh, my," came out of me as I gazed at my eternal partner, recognizing her at once. "So that was you, at the party, thirty or forty years ago..."
Raising her arms, covered, as was the rest of her, with something that looked like intricately varied chain-mail, she said out loud, "No more talk, no more speeches, old man. Come to me. You’re mine now, now and forever."
I walked forward, into her arms, and....

(The foregoing is taken in part from a transcript of the constant-recorder of Paul Arthur Macintosh. Written and released by Gaily Pauline Mann for publication in book form only, in memory of her great grand-father. Available as part of Gaea and Me - A Final Look, copyright 2050, Gaily Pauline Mann and Peter Macintosh; Mindale Publishing, Morden, Nova Scotia, CanAmerica. All proceeds from sales to UniNet SysTech Est., a non-profit organization.)