CHAPTER 24
911 Words
CHAPTER 24Twisting in the booth across from Ping at Burgerville so she could glance at the menu board across the room, Mara held her phone to her ear with one hand and stuffed a french fry in her mouth with the other. Once she had finished chewing, she rolled her eyes at Ping and said, “Sam, I don’t know if they have the Walla Walla onion rings and the fresh berry shakes. It’s the middle of November. Is that when berries and onions are in season? How do you even know about their seasonal menu? You’ve only been in this realm for like two months.”
She grabbed a napkin, rubbed it on her fingertips and switched the phone to the other ear. “How about a burger and fries? A half-pound colossal cheeseburger. Is that a real thing?” She spotted it on the board. “Oh, I see it. Yes, I’ll get the largest fries. And a Coke.” She lowered the phone and tapped the screen. “The boy knows his food.”
Ping smiled and absentmindedly shook his head in amazement.
“If he keeps eating like that, he’s going to outgrow this realm by the time he’s fifteen. He says he’s going to play for another half hour, then run by the bakery and catch the bus over to the warehouse.”
“Sounds good.” Ping crumpled up a napkin and made a push-back motion from the table even though the booth was mounted to the floor. He was done eating. “So, tell me. How do you feel about your reading with Melanie Proctor?”
Mara looked annoyed, made a point of taking a sip from her drink and then said, “Why are you so obsessed with that? I told you. It was creepy.”
“There was nothing about your experience that you found informative or interesting at all? She mentioned you were a progenitor. Called you, what was the phrase? The maker of reality and—”
“Yeah, yeah, mother of consequence, maker of reality. I was there, remember?” Mara lifted another fry and then dropped it. “Those were variations of the same theme that I’ve heard from you. Maybe she picked up that stuff from the reading with you.”
“Mara, it makes no sense to say Melanie could intuit information from reading me and not get anything from reading you. Why are you being so resistant to this?”
“I can’t say I’m completely comfortable with all this progenitor stuff, but I think I’ve resigned myself to it. I understand on some level I’m stuck with it,” she said. “But, I told you when all of this began, I want to get my life back. I don’t want to make a career out of this stuff. I don’t want to be the headliner in this cosmic metaphysical freak show for the rest of my life.”
“Given the understanding of the metaphysical concepts you demonstrated earlier, I’m surprised that you persist in this attitude. How can you understand the nature of existence to the degree that you do and still be so insistent on denying the obvious? Frankly it’s a little irrational.”
“In case you have forgotten, I’m still a teenager. I’m entitled to be a little irrational. And what’s so obvious?”
“These experiences you’ve been having aren’t just happenstance. They are not occurrences that could happen to another person given different circumstances. They are unique to who and what you are. These people and events are drawn to you because you are a progenitor.”
“Everyone keeps saying that. Even my mother said it the other night, when we were meditating. I want to be left alone.”
“What you want is irrelevant. Your choice is to face up to what is coming or to suffer the consequences of your denial.”
“What do you mean, ‘what is coming’? What is coming?”
“Like you said, you were there. You heard what Melanie said. The Battle for Existence shall be engaged.”
Mara pointed the straw sticking from the top of her drink by tilting her cup at Ping. “That was a rhetorical flourish, a metaphor. There are not going to be any battles—at least not involving me. No battles, no fighting. It was meaningless, right?”
“She said you were being stalked by an adversary, a nemesis. Then that voice came out of her. I’m coming. You can’t ignore these warnings. They have profound implications for you as a progenitor.”
“What are you talking about? Who would want to be my nemesis? I’m a likeable person.”
“You need to take this seriously. I’m concerned about this Battle for Existence she said is being engaged. Your role, metaphysically speaking, is a creative one. With your abilities, you help to shape reality, to help bring about existence.”
“Yeah, so?”
“What if this adversary does the opposite? What if he brings about destruction, chaos?”
“Ping, please don’t tell me that you’re about to say there’s a metaphysical devil out there somewhere.”
“Not a devil, but there are always opposing forces in reality.”
“Yin and yang, good and evil?”
“More like creative and destructive, I would say.”
“You’re reading a lot into what Melanie said. You think this child’s voice coming out of the radio is a New Age boogeyman threatening me? I’m coming to kick your butt, Mar-ree?”
“These opposing forces are referenced in the literature I studied. They were not emphasized, but they were there.”
“Great. What am I supposed to do about it? Grab some crystals and have an exorcism?”
“Somehow I don’t think it will be that simple. The best course of action for you is to resist your natural skepticism and consider these things—events like your reading with Melanie Proctor. They may help you be more prepared if, in the future, you encounter this adversary she mentioned.”
“So you’re saying to keep my eyes open.”
Ping nodded and added, “And your mind.”
“I will try, but that’s not a lot of comfort if there really is something hinky lurking out there.”
“Perhaps we are focusing too much on the negative. Melanie did mention you were being stalked by both misery and joy. There’s at least something positive in that.”
“Great. I’m going to get the plague but survive. That’s something to look forward to.”
- Writer
