Quarkopolis
I remember being born. It was the most exhilarating experience I’ve ever had in my young life. Radiating with endless energy, warmth, and light, I was thrust forth from the Sun by command of Boss. Twirling joyfully, I rocketed to my destination, Quarkopolis of the Zeroth Dimension.
That wasn’t too long ago, in fact, a very short while ago. Being a Quarkkid is very interesting, to say the least. One would think that a kid would grow bigger in size, but it isn’t so with Quarkkids. We stay the same size for all our lives, which will be forever, by the way. Our sun-given energy and light can not be extinguished (I just learned that word yesterday) and it’s complete at birth so that’s why we don’t grow bigger. Apparently, as we experience new things our wisdom grows and we eventually become adults. I’m not sure how that happens yet because I'm still a kid.
Beautiful, wondrous home! Jumping through the Butterfly Portal, Robith breathed a sigh of relief as he transformed back into energy. That third dimension was brutal and unforgiving, draining him as nothing else could. But he was only too willing to transform, time and again for the sake of the spark. After all, he was the head of the Spark Team and their mission was to put a spark into humans everywhere. He’d been at this a while and knew that he needed to recharge, so shaking himself off vigorously, he started toward his favorite recharging place, the lush peaceful forests of Quarkopolis.
After my meaningless inane wall climbing was done for the day, I decided to try to go back through the tunnels to the forbidden secret rooms and see what I could find there. The last time I went there was the last time that I thought I’d ever go there again because it shook me up so badly. But time has a way of changing things (I never knew that, where did that saying come from?) and I now wanted to get back there as soon as possible. Urgency, that’s what I felt. How did I know that word? I never heard it before but it just seemed like the exact right word. What was happening to me? There are things in my mind that were never there before. Thoughts, swirling, chaotic, abundant. Understanding, revelation, knowledge suddenly just there in my mind, like the time I flew around the corner of the forest path and there was the most beautiful waterfall I’d ever seen. It was like that now, I was seeing things I’d never seen before. Maybe this was what it was like to start becoming an adult.
Rested, energized, Robith sat still and listened intently for his next assignment from Boss. He didn’t have to wait long at all, there was instantaneous understanding and joy at hearing that beloved voice.
“Robith, my son, I want you to find the child Lizo and begin to mentor him into adulthood. Teach him what you know and take him with you everywhere from now on. I have prepared him for this transition and he is ready. Listen now for your first assignment…”
Earth
Howard stared at the blank wall that used to have framed pictures hanging. There were no thoughts in his mind about the wall or the absent pictures, he was just staring thoughtlessly wherever his eyes landed. Melancholy and apathy were his constant companions now that he had nothing to live for. Seemed like forever but in actuality, it had been just 4 months since his Doris had died of cancer. Howard was feeling every lonely minute pass by with agonizing slowness as he dozed off at the old wooden kitchen table.
He was awakened by the sound of flapping. Bleary-eyed and barely coherent, he looked around and tried to find out where the noise was coming from. Flapping? Why would he hear that inside his house? Then, as he started to wake up even more, he saw the briefest flicker of movement pass before his eyes. There it was again. What was that? It looked like a tiny eagle. Impossible! A bird couldn’t get into his fortified house and besides, there was no such thing as miniature eagles. He had to be hallucinating along with finally losing his mind. Sighing, Howard laid his head on the table and went back to sleep.
As Robith observed Howard from his lofty position as a miniature eagle, I waited in the dullness of the open air. It was smoky and smelly and threatened to snuff the light out of my energy-light-filled body. I had been told that I wouldn’t be transforming to anything animated on this, my first mission. So I remained invisible in Zeroth dimension form, aware and alert.
It wasn’t long before the mini animated eagle that was Robith came flying back to my position, almost breathless in the toxic atmosphere. “Come on,” Robith managed to say between breaths, “we gotta get back there right now, before he wakes up. No talking, just observe closely and learn.” I didn’t like it one bit, but knew that Robith meant business. So I got ready to just be seen and not heard, you know, just like a kid.
Returning to Howard’s humble ranch home on the hill, Robith flew back into the kitchen and began to fly and flap, intending to wake Howard up and try to put a spark back in his heart.
Howard woke with a start, wide awake, thinking that he had heard the flapping again. Crazy. The next thing that happened was also crazy, for all of a sudden, Howard had a thought about something that he had stuffed up on the highest shelf of the walk-in closet. He hadn’t thought about that for months, years, maybe even decades. Where did that thought come from? Now he was insatiably curious as to if it was still there in that same dusty spot where he had put it so many years ago. Getting up from the kitchen chair, he shuffled first to the garage to get the step stool. Lugging it into the house and down the hall, he finally came to the closet. Breathless, he rested for a minute on the bed, then set up the footstool and began the slow climb up the three steps. He reached up amidst the dust and his fingers eagerly closed upon the once-prized box.
Robith continued to buzz around Howard, whispering encouragement into his mind and heart.
Slowly, he descended the steps, carefully clutching the precious box in his gnarled hands. He mindfully went back to the old kitchen table and tenderly placed the box in the place where he always ate his meals. The picture on the outside of the box was rich with color, cartoon-like, and beautifully done by the artist. It was the exact picture of the place where he grew up, happy and contented years. There was an old filling station with a store and welcoming diner. He used to hang out at that diner and old Ralph would sneak free candy to him once in a while. He remembered so much about that place. It used to be so precious to him. And then, unexpectedly, suddenly, he missed being there and regretted staying away for so very long.
As the memories started to flood back into Howard’s soul, he began to cry softly and tenderly. He wept for the happiness of his childhood, his marriage to Doris all those years, the loss that he was feeling recently, the pain of having no children, no grandchildren. And as the healing tears flowed, the pain began to subside, slowly, surely, completely. Finally, after several hours, when the tears started to dry up, Howard had made a decision. He was now determined to go back and reconnect with family and friends. He would do it! He would forgive and hope that they had forgiven him. And he was filled with anticipation and hope for the first time in four months.
Encouraged and excited about his decision to reconcile, he opened the box, poured out the contents into a big bowl and began to sort the pieces into colors. And as he started finding and putting together the edge pieces, his plan became solid and his heart started to fill up with spark and life again.
Mission accomplished!
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