From jsrose@ix.netcom.com Thu Mar 13 10:42:15 1997
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From: "Jeffrey S. Rose" <jsrose@ix.netcom.com>
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Subject: TG: New U Chapter 5 of ?(repost)
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'lo All,
Here's the latest chapter for New U. Please tell me what you think. This is
the longest chapter I've written so far and I'd like some opinions.
In short , does this read well at all?
As some of you may have noticed, the title of this chapter is also the
title of a very good novel by Gerg Bear.
Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblence to anyone living or dead is purely coincedental.
Please feel free to post or archive with notification. Otherwise, this work
should be considered copyright 1997 Jeffrey S. Rose and no part should be
published in printed form except for review/critical analysis, or offered
for sale without consent of the author. "Time & tide melts the snowman!"
Take Care,
Jeff
--
Jeffrey S Rose
(jeffrose1@juno.com)
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of.
But doit in private, and wash yourhands afterward."
- Woodrow W. Smith
"All humans, without exception, want love. No organic
or emotional, or psychological damage can remove
that need. Humans can survive, albeit in pain,
without being loved - but lock a man in a dungeon
and he will find an ant to love, or try to. The sociopath,
who feels no emotions, wishes he could love, and
is driven mad by his impotence."
- Michael Finn
"Callahan's Secret"
New U
Ch 5: Blood Music
By Jeff Rose 1997 (with apologies to Greg Bear)
So, in answer to the prayer, the one you want is there,
The one you feel inside of you
- "Shock to the System"
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Johnathan Elias
"You did what!?", Jamie cracked at the three women arrayed before
him. They were on the way down to the lab. Chris had met Jamie, Anne and
Beth halfway there. Jamie had to stop and turn up the bottom of his jeans
after nearly tripping down the stairs.
Anne steadied Jamie while he was bent over, "You said, and I quote,
'..until I absolutely have to have that kind of support, I'll do the best I
can without.', unquote. A couple of months ago, I got back the results of
some of the lab tests we ran for your physical. I can now categorically
state that there is no trace of cancer in your body.... I couldn't have
said that then." There were tears welling up in her eyes." Dammit! I've
seen what this stuff does to people and nodular Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma is
only responsive to traditional therapies 50% of the time. Even then,
temporary remission, not cure is the best anyone else could offer you."
Beth and Chris had taken either side of the pair and were looking
concerned. Cancer? Jamie bit his tongue before he could say anything he'd
regret. Reaching up, He took Anne's face and looked into her troubled,
eyes. He felt he'd had just been mortally offended by this woman, but right
now they both needed her strength and he also felt as much to blame as
anyone. "I know, I'm just a little upset right now. You did what you
thought was right", was all he could think of to say.
Tilting her head down, Jamie kissed Anne's forehead. There were tears
from both of them as they hugged each other tightly. A couple of seconds
later, Chris and Beth (!) joined the support group and Jamie knew he'd done
the right thing.
"Sometimes, " Jamie thought, I'm too "clever" for my own good." When
he was twelve, Jamie worked on the Christmas pageant for the Mars Hill
Baptist Church, where his Mom was Music Director and Dad was a Deacon. This
would, like as not, be Jamie's last year in the "Children's Choir" and he
figured one last fling in the back row of the "Heavenly Choir" wouldn't
kill him. Besides, his Mom practically begged him.
(My voice had dropped the year before and I found myself to be the
closest thing they had to a bass. Conversely, because I had a three octave
range, in highschool, I wound up with the 1st Tenor slot. Shocked the other
guys, when I managed a fairly rich Baritone during the fall Musical as Sir
Evelyn Oakleigh in "Anything Goes". Even made 2nd tenor (barely) in All
State Choir in my senior year. But I digress. - Jamie)
Jamie was standing there cracking wise with the boys in the choir
before rehearsal started when Mrs. Patterson came running in. Little Donnie
hadn't shown up and now they were short an Angel to tell Joseph that Mary
wasn't the immoral woman he thought. She whooped and hollered so that Jamie
was getting a little concerned. She wasn't a young woman and seemed to be
doing a rather high impact aerobics routine. He caught his mother looking
at him to do something since the other kids seemed content to watch Mrs.
Patterson work herself into a heart attack. Sighing, he stepped forward.
" Umm... Miz Patterson? I could uh, you know, stand in for you til you
find someone else for the Angel."
What he proposed seemed perfectly clear to him. He was willing to act
as a marker and reader so the rehearsal could go on. Just to work out the
blocking and give "Joseph" someone to bounce lines off of. It couldn't be
that hard to find another little kid to do the angel, right?
The old bitch never bothered. She had her warm body, and because it
would cause Jamie's parents embarrassment if he made a fuss, she knew she
could control Jamie easier than any five year old. All he could do was ask
politely if she had found a new angel.
So it went and Jamie's error ended with him being put into a white
satin baptismal gown that was tied at the waist with gold rope, fluffy
wings and a gold headband, that had a doofy tinfoil halo attached to it.
This combo was completed by the addition of black tights (At 12, Jamie's
legs were already covered in curly blond hair and he steadfastly refused to
shave them.) and a pair of white satin slippers... and a trumpet. No one
had a horn.
(Let me make something clear now. I did not look "cute". I'd always
been a "big" kid and for the first time in my life I was thin. At 5' 10",
I was 150 lbs and carried it well on 40" shoulders and a 24" waist. I had a
"credible" mustache and long sideburns with collar length, somewhat unruly
thick blonde hair. I looked like an inverted triangle with a fuzzy yellow
knob on top. I was a little mollified when one of the guys in the choir
told me that he heard Colleen Jansen giggle and say she'd like to "Scoop"
me. Later, that turned to mortification, when I found out "Scoop" was the
local slang for .. Well, lets just say she wanted to do something that
broke, or at least bent, several comandments and I wasn't equipped for in
the first place. So sue me. I had a sheltered childhood. - Jamie)
Walking down the aisle, Jamie knew it was his own fault he looked like
a Monty Hall reject. He had dictated the rules. He'd told Mrs. Patterson
that he was willing to be the angel until she found a suitable replacement.
She'd followed those rules. She just didn't tell Jamie that he was, in
fact, what she considered a suitable replacement. He had made a similar
mistake with Anne, Beth and Chris by implying that it was ok to treat him
if he "needed" it.
"If I'd told them the real reason, the girls might have thought I was
a nut," he thought "but, I probably wouldn't have eyes that that'd do some
anime characters proud."
As the circle broke Anne and Jamie composed themselves and started
back down the hall holding hands. Chris held Beth back to whisper something
in her ear. Beth's jaw firmed as she nodded, and went to her room while
Jamie laid his palm against the scanplate that controlled the lock on the
lab.
Anne looked at Jamie as the plate commenced an unprecedented third run
across his palm.
"Well don't look at me, it worked fine the last time I tried it." Jamie
said as he pulled his palm back and stared at it as if trying to see the
differences that had been made in his palm print. Anne placed her palm on
the plate and with a familiar sound of bolts sliding back Jamie said, "Oh
sure, for you it works."
"It'll be alright Jamie. Chris said , "Let's get your measurements
first. Now strip for the nice doctor."
"Where's Beth gone to?", Anne asked as she began gathering the tools
of her trade and pulled up Jamie's file, "We'll need her for Bloods."
"The home office called." Chris stated from behind Jamie on the scale.
The petite Asian shook her head slowly at Anne. Adjusting the scale she
began calling out figures. "Weight: 165.34 lb, Height: 5'8.5".
"Wait a minute. I'm 5' 10", and I was only down to 185 lbs last week."
Jamie stated as Chris pulled out a measuring tape.
"Jamie, your eyes should not have changed color either. We don't
fiddle around with reconstructing DNA. Chris explained while calling out
the fact that Jamie's waist was down to 25" while his shoulder had shrunk
to 38". "And this stuff." She added, reaching up to scruff his hair., "We
have no idea how you got this from a straight New U Treatment." The poking
and prodding continued. He was then handed two cups and a magazine. When he
came back (Anne had to open the lab door for him.)
Anne took the samples.
"When we brought you back up to your room two days ago, your
dimensions had not significantly altered, you had standard male pattern
baldness and you weighed 180 lbs." Anne said, reading from the computer
screen. "Frankly, I'm at a loss."
"We got problems back west too. "Jamie, put these on and pull our
back-ups. " Beth said as she walked into the lab. She stopped in front of
Anne, "Harry's missing,"she said and then in a quieter voice, " and the
Angstrom case has blue eyes."
* * *
"Well," Dani said to no one in particular, "I may look like my old
self, but I'll be a few months before I can get back to my old pace." She
stepped off the stair master with wobbly legs. Still, being able to do five
minutes on the thing was a big achievement compared to having to be carried
up stairs as had been the norm for the month preceding the treatment.
Satisfied and sweaty, she walked back to her room, picked up some
fresh clothes and made her way to the bathroom. Closing the door, she
stripped out of her exercise outfit and started the tub. Waiting for the
water to come to temperature, she looked at the figure in the mirror.
This couldn't be Danielle Bridget Angstrom. She was 17 years old, 5'
9" and practically bedridden. Her hands and legs had been mottled red from
poor circulation; a common side effect of red cell destroying chemo and
radiation treatments. Only a few wisps of baby fine hair adorned her head,
when it wasn't covered.
The girl in the mirror was five years younger ("At least!", she
thought remembering how loose her old bras had felt this morning.), 5' 7" ,
and had flawless skin and hair!
"A little too much of that last." she said to herself, seeing her
legs. "Crap, I just shaved yesterday. Dr. Howe said It'd grow back fast til
I filled back out to my true age, but I didn't think she meant everywhere."
and so, mumbling about the curly blonde hair on her legs, Dani grabbed some
shaving cream from the medicine cabinet, and a Lady Bic before climbing
into the warm tub.
* * *
Harry waited in his hotel room for the Michael to come and pick up
what he paid for. By now the office would have made calls to his house and
the lodge in Aspen he said he was going to. He took along pull on the beer
in his and got up when he heard someone knock.
"No maid service today!", He called in what didn't sound like a
natural voice even to him.
"Ah, but this is opportunity calling. I do not think you should wait
for it to knock twice."
Harry opened the door quickly and ushered the thin man in the dark
business suit in..
"Let me introduce you to my associate, Leonard.", another much larger
man Carrying a briefcase stepped in. Leonard had been squeezed into a suit
of similar quality to the Michael's, but where Michael looks ready for a
nice tea, Leonard looks like a gorilla stuffed in a suit. Leonard closed
the door as he entered, put the briefcase on the small table in the room.
He carefully helped Michael get seated then took up a position at the door.
"You enjoyed your stay here?" Michael asked cordially.
"The service is fine, but frankly, I've been too nervous to see so
much as the main street parade. Beer?"
Michael shook his head with a smile. "Too bad. This will likely be the
last time you will be able to see Disneyland. Your double called yesterday
to let me know the arrangements you made for him in Colorado were most
enjoyable. I trust you had no problems registering here"
"No, the ID and credit cards you gave me are impeccable."
"Excellent. You have ..?"
Harry opened the drawer of his dresser and pulled out a large
loose-leaf binder and a small CD hardcase. Opening the case he displayed
four gold CDs, "Here it is, The basic construction guidelines for the
nanites and my own program for defining DNA. I even threw a copy of the
matrixes I redefined as an example. Uhm, your people are going to need a
copy of the HGP data to do anything though."
Michael glanced at the gold CDs with their hand written labels, then
leafed through the binder. "Yes, that should be no problem." He opened the
briefcase, which was filled with cash and bearer bonds and turned it to
face Harry. " Two million I believe was the agreed amount."
Harry licked his lips and reached to inspect his prize. Before his
slightly shaking hands could to pick up the top bundle of bills, Michael
slammed the lid violently down. "Before we complete this transaction, our
employers have some questions about the methods used to disrupt operations
at New U."
Harry now pulled the rooms other chair out and sat. He had expected
Michael's bosses (and his now from the sound of it) would not be completely
happy with his solution to their request.
"Did you not understand what you were contracted to do?"
"Your bosses wanted me to disrupt New U's operations long enough for
them to be able to take advantage of the information I'm delivering now. I
have honored that contract to the letter.",
"Too defensive, Harry thought, "Back it down a bit."
"Still when I reported your accomplishment, creative as it is, the
whole board was upset. Arranged placements at the coroner's office had to
be paid off without their having to do anything. Never a good precedent to
set, and of course without the ability to leak reports from an official
channel, publicizing this tragedy without exposing us needlessly, is
virtually out of our hands. "
"More to the point, some of our employers felt that, at best the
'disruption' you've arranged will not give us the time we need to
completely replicate New U's results unassisted. Some even suggested that
these," He gestured at the discs and binder, "may not even be usable
product."
Harry swallowed, "You're not suggesting ...?" He started as he felt
two massive hands grip his shoulders lightly from behind.
Michael smiled again. "Me? No I have every confidence in you. We just
need your assistance to get our R&D people up to speed. We're even willing
to offer an additional million for your inconvenience ... Should the
board's fears prove unfounded, as I'm sure they will."
Michael rose and put the discs and binder in his briefcase and started
for the door. "I'll just carry these for you. Leonard, please help Mr.
Selznick check out. I'll wait in the car."
* * *
Jamie was a little disgruntled about the jeans Beth had lent them.
They were tight around the waist, but nowhere near as tight as he thought
they should be, and loose (thank goodness) in the hips. Collecting the CDs
Beth requested from the storage locker, he went up stairs, rubbing his
chest.
".. and then it hit me that Chris had been saying all along that
Jamie's Blood Music was different."
"Beg pardon, Beth?", Jamie interrupted, handing over the discs.
"Listen to this." she said and Jamie huddled in with the girls
gathered at the terminal to hear the strains of his DNA turned to music via
the program Chris had written. After a few seconds Jamie turned to Chris.
He was familiar with the Blood Music of all four of them. Chris and he were
working on combining his, Chis', Beth's and Anne's theme into a single
piece of music for Anne's Christmas present under the title "The Harmony of
One".
"Have you been tweaking the program? Sounds like it's in a different
register and the theme has changed I think."
Chris shook her head, "I was beginning to think I should ask you the
after your treatment. Beth is tone deaf and I couldn't mention it to Anne
and the computer swears it's the right file."
"Now, let's put your ears to the test.", Beth said, placing one of the
CDs in the machine. She scanned the files, "Ok, here it is."
The tune was similar, but to Jamie's and Chris' ears but definitely
not the same. Anne nodded and said, "Right, do we have all Jamie's files to
run a complete analysis?"
"Looks like it .", Beth said, "I've got Pam and Jerry combing through
the system at New U to see if Harry's left any more little surprises.
We'll need the mini-cray to get a complete breakdown on what's been done to
Jamie .. and Dani. Her files show 'fixes' similar to Jamie's." Beth
continued to stare at the files she was pulling up from the backups to
compare with the altered In the meantime, Chris , what's the chances of us
cooking some SOUP just in case? I don't know about the rest of you, but I
want to keep this as far away from the home office as possible."
"Look I'll admit I could eat a horse," Jamie said , "but doesn't
feeding our faces come second to .."
"Not soup you eat Jamie, S-O-U-P, 'Super Oxygenated Umber Plasm'."
Chris explained then to Beth. "Beth came up with the name. Mixing the base
compounds in the cooker shouldn't be any problem, but we'll have to
improvise a tank."
"Anne, Chris and I will be a while processing all these samples from
Jamie and he did have a point. It's nearly twelve and while I've got the
munchies, he hasn't had anything but IVs for the past few days. Why don't
the two of you fix us all some lunch?"
* * *
"Well that settles that."Anne said returning to the kitchen. "Mr.
Angstrom will be flying over this weekend with Dani."
"Who's Dani?", Jamie asked around the a bite of his third sandwich.
Despite everything going on he certainly hadn't lost his appetite. He
suppressed a small belch and leaned back as his full stomach radiated a
warm lethargy through his body.
Anne started putting cold cuts back on the platter since Jamie seemed
finished demolishing it as quickly as she could lay them down. "She had
cancer like you, only she was much further along. Her father used to be a
big financier until he retired after his second marriage. By the time he
came to us, Dani was so far along that all the CDS could do was prolong her
pain."
"So what, 'daddy' bribed you into doing a full treatment?" Jamie asked
and realized just how much sarcasm he'd allowed to slip through. He pumped
his t-shirt like a bellows to increase the air flow around his chest.
"He tried to, but the cancer was so well distributed through her body,
we were afraid to use it." Anne was slipping into a lecturing mode,
distancing herself from the tone of Jamie's inquiry and observing him
curiously.
"You see, the full treatment attacks foreign cells and uses them to
build more nanites. That gave us two problems. Dani didn't have a lot of
body mass to spare at that point. Also, nanites, like any animate thing
generate heat. Not a lot individually, but the billions that would be
working on her could've pushed her temperature beyond her ability to
withstand. "
"We had a rat in similar condition that we tried it out on. In two
hours we had a dead rat that was perfectly cooked from the inside out. Then
Beth was watching 'The Abyss' on HBO and found the solution. The oxygenated
emulsion that Ed Harris used for deep diving."
Jaime's mind clicked and he giggled. "What she needed was some home
made SOUP?"
Anne nodded, "Yep, Beth got together with an old friend at MIT who
worked on the stuff in real life and together they came up with a formula
that could not only be used to regulate Dani's temperature, but gave the
her and the nanites enough building materials to keep her alive. Hypnotism
allowed her to relax enough to accept breathing the fluid instead of air."
"Jamie, are you feeling alright? You look flushed, you're squirming in
your chair and that's the fourth time in as many minutes I've seen you
playing with your t-shirt."
Jamie looked at Anne sleepily. "I guess I could use a nap after eating
all that.", he said, getting up and yawning. "Why don't you take the tray
down to Chris and Beth. I'll just grab 40 on the couch. Its not like you
need me for anything other more tests, right?"
Anne was half tempted to suggest he rest on the exam table in the lab,
but knew he would refuse. Instead, she guided him to his room and told him
to keep the baby monitor on in case he needed anything. She could send
Chris up to keep an eye on him and she could use his computer to set up a
SOUP tank as easily as down there.
"Yes, mommy," Jamie teased as Anne turned to go back down. He was too
tired to change the sheets on his bed and didn't think he could take the
heat anyway so he drew the covers up over the bed. He'd just laid down when
he noticed his skin was glistening and his shirt and Beth's jeans were
starting to soak through. Running his hand across his arm revealed the
"sweat" to be sticky. Alarms began going off in his head as he lifted the
arm to his nose. The faint rancid smell, reminiscent of the gagging stench
that engulfed his shower earlier, caused the alarms to scream shrilly.
Jamie tried to scream himself, but the best his pumping lungs could
produce was a softly whispered "Help! It's happening again!", and even that
came in fits and starts as the nanites in Jamie's system shut down his
vocal cords for reconstruction. His attempt to jump out of bed and run to
the lab was cut short by grinding pain emanating from his hips, shoulders,
then every joint in his body.
He collapsed wetly back into his bed. Unable even to whimper in pain,
Jamie lay there as the creeping lethargy that had been pushing Jamie to
sleep began wiping his senses out. It started as a loss of sensation in the
tips of his toes and fingers. It spread with a slothful pace inward,
leaving only a warmth that held those parts in a gentle floating state of
forgetfulness. Jamie's logical side thought briefly of experiments with
sensory deprivation (Then the emotional side began beating it fiercely
about the head and shoulders with a live halibut and it quieted down.) as
the roaring in his ears quieted and a dim film enclosed his vision. Just
when he thought the darkness and silence would last forever and maybe he'd
died after all, the dreams started.
Jamie embraced the dreams with open arms. In every one of them the
same music played, if only in the distance. Jamie McGowan slept to the soft
strains of his blood's music.
* * *
"Damn, Harry's good.", Beth said staring into the screen. "Resetting
the treatment sequences to be practically identical is one thing, but he
rewrote both their genetic codes from the ground up.
"I don't think we're going to get much from Jamie's blood samples.
Chris said handing over the printouts to Beth. "His HCTs, neophyles
,everything checks normal on the cell counts, but his hormone levels are
all over the chart. Which, if I remember correctly is fairly standard. At
least it was for us. Maybe Anne could see somthing... And what makes you so
sure Harry did this?"
"Thanks," Beth glanced at the numbers and flicked the sheets with her
finger. "Besides the fact he never reported back to work after his
vacation, these. There are no indications of anything but benign mutations.
Chris, the treatment programs for Dani were very different in application,
yet the changed programs take advantage of that ", she began scanning the
sheets in a more determined manner, "Where are nanite counts?"
"Third page."
"Uh-huh, right. There are S-XII groomers still active Jamie's system.
Our version of his treatment had them at dormant levels unless triggered by
an abnormal DNA sequence. We can't do a full DNA reconstruction until Pam
and Jerry clear the mini-cray for use. It'd take our machine a month of
sundays to crunch. What about the skin samples, do we have the chromosome
scans yet?"
"Should be done in a sec". Chris said and got on the elevator. "I'll
check on them ok?"
"I'd be kind of surprised if the only major change he made was to
shrink Jamie and change his eye color." Beth said to herself as the lab
door opened and Anne walked in with the baby monitor, a tray of cold cuts
and sodas. "Where's Jamie?" she asked, glancing over.
"He ate three sandwiches and gulped down two Pepsis before deciding he
needed to sleep it off. I figured to send Chris up to keep an eye on him
and work on the computer."
"Cool Beans!" Chris said jumping off the elevator. She tossed some
papers at Beth and headed for the door. "I haven't babysat for .. God! 44
years! I hope the rates have gone up since then."
"Sorry, just room and board for now." Anne said. "Give a holler when
you get there, I left the monitor on."
Beth listened to the last with only half an ear. She was looking at
Jamie's chromosome pairs and a very obvious anomaly was staring back at
her. She shuffled through several similar (but note quite the same) samples
and issued a low whistle. "Now I know what the S-XII's are up to."
"Those are from Jamie?", Anne asked.
"Yipper. Did you call Angstrom?" Beth asked handing the collection of
reports to Anne. She purposefully placed the chromosome scans on the
bottom.
Anne sat down at the counter and began looking them over. "Oh yes,
I've arranged for them to arrive 8:30 Saturday night, United Airlines
flight 675, gate 2."
Beth's green eyes narrowed as she sat thinking. Anne was still making
her way methodically through the stack of papers. Harry's version of the
Jamie's treatment patched several safety subroutines from Dani's program
into the S-XIIs. She thought, then her eyes widened as Anne reached the
Chromosome Scans and muttered , "What have we done."
The scans were of the most basic sort. They simply showed the
chromosomes in order for each cell dissected. Jamie had several samples
that looked absolutely normal, but several came out with final groupings of
"XX" or even "XXY".
Chris' voice came over the monitor. "Guys, grab everything you might
need for samples. STAT!" She didn't sound at all well.
Anne and Beth burst through the door to Jamie's room to find Chris
bent over, patiently wiping Jamie's face, but it was obvious that as fast
as she could clear one section of the stinking reddish brown substance.
Jamie was laying covered from head to toe in the stuff, his clothes
clinging wetly to his body. It was clear the change was progressing much
more quickly than previously.
"He's in REM sleep, but I can't wake him up.", Chris said continuing
to work on his face. "This stuff looks and smells like SOUP. It evaporates
quickly but he's sweating so much of it."
"He must be using it to dissipate excess waste and heat." Beth had
already begun cutting away at Jamie's clothes, revealing the extent of what
was in progress. Pealing away his shirt, she heard Anne gasp at the sight
of his rapidly thinning arms and shoulders. Under the damp gel surrounding
Jamie's chest she could see his nipples had grown and the plum-sized
swelling beneath them. Anne began sobbing and Beth knew she was going to be
no help for a while. Beth sighed and started on the jeans she'd lent Jamie
earlier.
* * *
Jamie stepped into the great ballroom, studying the Rococo
architecture with interest. The orchestra played a melody that hung at the
back of his head and drew his gaze down to the mass of humanity below. The
ball had already started and he knew he was expected to make an appearance.
"Sooner begun, sooner done.", He said, though why he was here in this
monkey suit escaped him. Large crowds of people in social settings always
made him nervous. He made his way slowly to the floor which was awash with
all the people he'd ever met. Matt and Sue reeled by him with the ease and
grace that came from truly knowing your partner. It was something he'd
hoped to experience, knowing he never would and envying those who had. He
nodded to them and their course across the floor shifted to intersect him.
"Glad to see you made it .", Matt said as his face spun by. The couple
broke briefly to gather Jamie into their embrace. Sue looked him over,
"Jamie, you look marvelous! Have you lost weight?"
"A bit.", Sue, as always had a casual glow of life that was only
enhanced by the stunning gown she wore. "Matt, you better keep an eye on
her."
" 'A Nod's as good as a wink.' At least I don't have to worry about
you Jamie."
"Oh?"
Sue turned his face up (?) to hers. "Of course silly, everyone knows
you're taken for the evening. She's waiting for you."
"But you've got to find her.", Matt added, disengaging from Jamie as
he and Sue continued the dance leaving him to continue the search.
He saw a lot of people in that timeless place. Some he remembered
fondly, Like Miss Barbara, who used to babysit him (she made the most
wonderful "gillcheese" sandwiches) and her husband Mr. Barry. Joy Hubbard,
who was the fixation of his first crush on an older woman. She was still
17, and gave Jamie one dance before bending over to give him a kiss on the
cheek and send him on his way. There was Kevin Rath, who played with him in
kindergarten. Jamie was bemused to watch the five year old waltzing with
his first steady girlfriend, Heather Kinnison.
Other's were distant memories of people. His Great Grandpa McGown had
died before Jamie was even five. The kid who smashed the macaroni necklace
he made for his mother in kindergarten was there, carrying drinks. The
little girl at Camp Wo-Me-To who pinkie-swore with him to write was also
there.
The Orchestra was led by (oddly enough, considering she's
tone-deaf)Beth. Her red hair swayed in a seductive manner as she kept time
that reminded Jamie he was dreaming.
Anne and Chris were represented as well. Chris pirouetted wildly about the
room in the throes of some tune heard only by her. Anne made a game of his
finding her flickering visage though and when Jamie finally caught hold of
her she only hugged him in a maternal way, blushed and told him how proud
she was of him and that SHE was waiting at the refreshment table.
The only constant in all the meetings were that he automatically
assumed the age and manner of the person he was at the time, growing or
shrinking as required. Finally, Jamie made his way through the crowd on the
floor having failed to meet only one person that stood out in his life.
"Hello Jamie."
"Rose?", Jamie turned from the punch bowel and looked down at the pixy
face and just enough overweight frame of the woman who taught him his
ability to judge women sucked righteously. "Are you ..?" he started while
thinking desperately, "God please, I can't live through this again!"
Her dark eyes twinkled merrily and she smiled at the misunderstanding.
"No, I didn't want you remember?", Rose said taking the cup from Jamie's
hand and placing it on the table. "But I can introduce you to her if you
like." Rose took his hand and began to lead him to the end of the table
where a young girl in a very pretty party dress stood delicately. Jamie's
heart leapt to his throat in an agony of longing as Rose placed his hand
around the little girl's.
"Jamie McGowan, meet your daughter.", Rose said, smiling that huge
smile that haunted his worst nightmares and backed away, melting into the
dance behind them.
Jamie glanced back down as the little girl changed. She grew from age
five to fourteen and as she did her chestnut hair became blonde, pulled
back into a french braid that he knew ran down to the middle of her back.
Her dark brown eyes turned a deep sea green as her face lengthened, pushing
cheekbones up and dress became an appropriately mature, yet innocent thing
of silk and velvet that hinted at the woman ready to come into her own.
Jamie could feel himself changing as he had for the other meetings
he'd made here, but he ignored it steadfastly and instead, feasted on the
sight of his daughter. "Jen- Jennifer. ..?"
"I've waited so long to do this!", She cried and hugged Jamie. His own
tears sprang unbidden and he clutched the girl to his bosom. Then they
talked of the future and danced and shared what seemed an eternal moment.
It ended all too quickly.
"Remember, I'm waiting for you." She whispered as the ballroom began
to break up around them and the darkness drew on Jamie. "I will be yours.
Just believe in others. Believe in Daddy. I love you Mommy!
As the darkness claimed Jaime again he realized he'd spent the entire
time with his daughter to be as a woman.
End Ch 5 Jeff Rose