Giddeon (Silver Strand Series) (8 page)

So long…

I’ve been all by myself.

So long…

Is there anybody else?

And, then I saw you,

Over there.

Just a disturbance,

In the air.

Now, I feel you,

I feel you,

Everywhere.

And, I knew.

I just knew.

I’m your ‘her’.

You’re my ‘him’.

We are ‘us’,

We are ‘them’.

I am yours.

You are mine.

Dust to dust.

For all time.

I am yours.

So long…

I’ve been all by myself.

So long…

Now, there’s somebody else.

And, I see you,

Over here.

Gentle disturbance,

Calm my fear.

Now, I feel you,

I feel you

Oh, so near.

Oh, so near.

And, I knew.

I just knew.

I’m your ‘her’.

You’re my ‘him’.

We are ‘us’,

We are ‘them’.

I am yours.

You are mine.

Dust to dust.

For all time.

I am yours.

Hold my hand,

Hold my heart,

Hold me close

No apart…

There’s no apart.

Hold my hand,

Hold my heart,

I understand,

There’s no apart…

There’s no apart…

At all.

*****

I had never written a song, before.
 
That day was full of firsts.
 
The first time to hit a golf ball, the first time to hold hands, the first kiss…

*****

After having observed Giddeon and Greg for so long… oh, I didn’t tell you that, did I?
 
I knew about Giddeon and Greg sharing one reality.
 
I got to where I could see them both, even during the coma.
 
I followed them home to their boat that day after
Seaport
Village
.
 
I saw Greg get hit by the golf ball the next day.
 
I was at the hospital when they both came to visit and Father
McCreeley
was there in the room.

That was how I knew Greg was ‘awake’ and Giddeon was communicating with him.
 
I could feel them there… almost see them, there.
 
And, if I listened closely, I could even hear them.

I went to the boat after the hospital and sat there and waited.
 
I saw the door opening and closing of its own accord, and, over time I figured it out.
 
The thing that made the difference… the quantum leap, if you will… was when I got inside of Boris and looked out through his eyes.
 
I don’t know what made me do that… it was just one of those rare moments of inspiration.
 
I could tell the cat was aware of them by the way he acted… sort of like Samantha with me.
 
I just did it, and it worked.

I could see them and hear them as plain as day.
 
Of course, they were in black and white, because cats don’t have color vision, and their voices were a bit too loud… cats have excellent hearing, by the way… but, it was amazing.
 
I could take it all in.

I saw Giddeon for the first time.
 

Oh, my!

Of course, I wouldn’t have cared if he looked like a turtle.
 
I knew it was just a construct… but, still… let’s just say he’s easy on the eyes.

So, you see, I saw almost everything that happened when Greg was in the coma.
 
After a while, I got to where I didn’t need Boris, and I could visualize and hear them on my own.
 
Still, sometimes I would get back in the cat, especially when he rubbed up against Giddeon and let him pet him.
 
That cat belongs to Greg, though.
 
They are funny that way, aren’t they?
 
Cats, I mean.
 
Even the ones that like everybody… there is one special person with whom they are always bonded.

I guess I know what that’s like, now, don’t I?

Kind of nice… well, you know what I mean, don’t you? Look who I’m talking too.
 
Me, I suppose.
 
Funny, isn’t it?
 
We’re in love with the same person, but different aspects of him.

 
The same with your husband.
 
Makes my head spin when I think about it too hard… so I just keep things separate, because it’s easier that way.

So, where was I?
 
Oh, yes… it was a day of firsts.
 
I had been playing around on your keyboard for quite some time.
 
Later, I sat in on most of Greg’s lessons from Giddeon… he’s an excellent teacher, by the way… and grew to love the instrument even more.
 
You should pay more attention to your music, Melody.
 
I know it’s frustrating, but after you reach a certain level of proficiency, a whole new world opens up.
 
If I can do it, so can you ; )

Anyway, the words just came.
 
I’ve heard they do that.
 
It’s almost like they’re already there, just waiting to be plucked from the atmosphere.
 
Like fresh fruit on a limb, or berries on a bush.

*****

I finally sang my song for Giddeon the other day.
 
He just sat there for a long time afterwards, not saying anything.
 
I was afraid that he didn’t like it.
 
Then, I saw him brush a tear from his eye, which is something he never really does… cry, that is.
 
I went over and jumped in his lap and buried my face in his neck and told him ‘Thank you.’
 
That little motion was better than a standing ovation at
Madison
Square
Gardens
!

He laughed and we went over to The Hotel Del to have supper and watch the sunset.

I try not to think about the asteroid, because I’m so happy.

*****

During those first few weeks after
Hawaii
was when we collected most of our material from Giddeon and Mia.
 
I had a standing appointment with Dr. Evans, twice a week, where I was hypnotized and videotaped.
 
I always carried a flash drive with me to keep a copy of each session for myself.
 
Melody would write left handed in her journal most nights before bed.
 
It was odd reading over my experiences from the other side from a third point of view.

Mia is quite observant.

Let this be a lesson to you… be careful what you do, because you never know who’s watching : )

As the hours ticked by, slowly forming days, my wife got more and more frustrated.
 
Sometimes I would see her looking at Giddy with concern on her face.
 
I knew what she was thinking… but, I didn’t dwell on it.
 
Talking about it didn’t really seem to help.
 
And, no matter how I racked my brain, I couldn’t come up with much in the way of a solution.

After all, I couldn’t build a rocket or a nuclear bomb or a gigantic laser.

*****

Melody put in a request to NASA under the Freedom of Information Act.
 
She wanted to find out more about the data that had been collected on the coordinates of the asteroid.
 
I wasn’t sure about this course of action, but, when I found out several dozen requests for the same information had been made, I felt better.
 
Our interest wouldn’t tip our hand as to our involvement in the discovery.
 

It took a while, but we got the information.
 
By that time, two months had passed and the data was pretty scant as it only covered the beginning of the observations.
 
Later on, all requests for information by citizens were stonewalled, so we were lucky to get what we got.

*****

Immediately after getting the information from the government, my wife sat down at the computer and went to work.
 
She had me do the calculations, and after two days, she was done with her writing.
 
My better half had me sit down with our camcorder and video her as she made a pitch into the camera.
 
She looked lovely in the viewfinder… the camera loves her almost as much as I do.
 
Melody then submitted her project to the people who would make a decision on her request.

Unbelievably, it was approved…

*****

A
Kickstarter
campaign for 1 billion dollars… a campaign to paint an asteroid.

*****

In case you don’t know,
Kickstarter
is a crowd-funding site where projects by artists and entrepreneurs can be financed by the general population.
 
Donors generally give small pledges towards projects of their choice, and if the target goal for a particular project is reached, then the money is transferred from escrow to the project head.
 
If the goal is not met, no money changes hands.
 
There are different categories such as music, art, publishing and technology.
 
Obviously, Melody’s project fell squarely into the technology category.

It set the record for the highest amount ever requested.

*****

The first week the campaign was up, I was shocked to find that it received over 50,000 dollars in pledges.
 
That brought it a fair amount of attention.
 
Melody’s video got a lot of hits due to the fact that people still remembered her from the YouTube of her interrupted wedding.

I’m sure most people thought it was a publicity stunt, and that we were maybe coming out with another song since that one single did so well years before.
 
One thing the campaign did accomplish, early on, was to focus more attention on the asteroid, which at the time still had only a couple of serious news stories dedicated to it.

*****

For those so inclined, the mathematics presented by my wife on the video was a source of interest to the
nerdier
viewers.
 
The probabilities derived from the limited set of coordinates were pretty much indisputable, however.

I guess it’s a good thing I finally got around to calculus.

The message board for the comment section began to get overloaded with projections and conjectures, which took in all kinds of factors such as cosmic wind, solar flares and optical distortion.
 
I didn’t realize there were so many smart people in the world.

By the second week, the total pledged was up to 175,000.
 
Obviously, quite a ways from 1 billion.
 
We both realized the odds were enormously against us… that is, until a voicemail was left on our telephone.

*****

“Hello… this is Raymond Bradford.
 
Could you please give me a call?
 
I’d like to discuss your
Kickstarter
campaign.
 
The number here is...

*****

Raymond Bradford.
 

A billionaire that had recently spent a good portion of his fortune developing technology for privately funded space exploration.

*****