0947 hours. Julius Caesar was assassinated today.
**
**
Julius Caesar: Historical Background
- VRoma
102/100
BCE: Gaius Julius Caesar was born (by Caesarean
section according to an unlikely legend) of Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar, a
praetor. His family had noble, patrician roots, although they were neither rich
nor influential in this period. His aunt Julia was the wife of Gaius Marius,
leader of the Popular faction.
c.
85 BCE: His father died, and a few years later he was
betrothed and possibly married to a wealthy young woman, Cossutia. This
betrothal/marriage was soon broken off, and at age 18 he married Cornelia, the
daughter of a prominent member of the Popular faction; she later bore him his
only legitimate child, a daughter, Julia. When the Optimate dictator, Sulla,
was in power, he ordered Caesar to divorce her; when Caesar refused, Sulla
proscribed him (listed him among those to be executed), and Caesar went into
hiding. Caesar's influential friends and relatives eventually got him a pardon.
c. 79 BCE:
Caesar, on the staff of a military legate, was awarded the civic crown (oak
leaves) for saving the life of a citizen in battle. His general sent him on an
embassy to Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, to obtain a fleet of ships; Caesar
was successful, but subsequently he became the butt of gossip that he had
persuaded the king (a homosexual) only by agreeing to sleep with him. When
Sulla died in 78, Caesar returned to Rome and began a career as a orator/lawyer
(throughout his life he was known as an eloquent speaker) and a life as an
elegant man-about-town.
75 BCE: While sailing to Greece
for further study, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held for
ransom. When informed that they intended to ask for 20 talents, he is supposed
to have insisted that he was worth at least 50. He maintained a friendly,
joking relationship with the pirates while the money was being raised, but
warned them that he would track them down and have them crucified after he was
released. He did just that, with the help of volunteers, as a warning to other
pirates, but he first cut their throats to lessen their suffering because they
had treated him well.
72 BCE: Caesar was elected
military tribune. (Note that Pompey and Crassus were the consuls for 70 BCE.)
69 BCE: He spoke at the funerals
of both his aunt, Julia, and his wife, Cornelia. On both occasions, he
emphasized his connections with Marius and the ancient nobility of his family,
descended from the first kings on his mother's side and from the gods on his
father's (revealing a notable talent for self-dramatization and a conception
that there was something exceptional about him).
68/67 BCE: Caesar was elected
quaestor and obtained a seat in the Senate; he married Pompeia, a granddaughter
of Sulla. Caesar supported Gnaeus Pompey and helped him get an extraordinary
generalship against the Mediterranean pirates, later extended to command of the
war against King Mithridates in Asia Minor.
65 BCE: He was elected curule
aedile and spent lavishly on games to win popular favor; large loans from
Crassus made these expenditures possible. There were rumors that Caesar was
having an affair with Gnaeus Pompey's wife, Mucia, as well as with the wives of
other prominent men.
63 BCE: Caesar spent heavily in a
successful effort to get elected pontifex maximus (chief priest); in 62
he was elected praetor. He divorced Pompeia because of her involvement in a
scandal with another man, although the man had been acquitted in the law
courts; Caesar is reported to have said, “The wife of Caesar must be above
suspicion,” suggesting that he was so exceptional that anyone associated with
him had to be free of any hint of scandal. In 61 he was sent to the province of
Further Spain as propraetor.
60 BCE: He returned from Spain
and joined with Pompey and Crassus in a loose coalition called by modern
historians “The First Triumvirate” and by his enemies at the time “the
three-headed monster.” In 62, Pompey had returned victorious from Asia, but had
been unable to get the Senate to ratify his arrangements and to grant land to
his veteran soldiers because he had disbanded his army on his return and
Crassus was blocking his efforts. Caesar persuaded the two men to work together
and promised to support their interests if they helped him get elected to the
consulship.
59 BCE: Caesar was elected consul
against heavy Optimate opposition led by Marcus Porcius Cato, a shrewd and
extremely conservative politician. Caesar married his only daughter, Julia, to
Pompey to consolidate their alliance; he himself married Calpurnia, the
daughter of a leading member of the Popular faction. Caesar pushed Pompey's
measures through, helped Crassus' proposals, and got for himself a five-year
term as proconsul of Gaul after his consulship was over. However, he used some
strong-arm methods in the Assembly and completely cowed his Optimate colleague
in the consulship, Bibulus, so that jokers referred to the year as “the
consulship of Julius and Caesar” (instead of “the consulship of Caesar and
Bibulus”). Caesar was safe from prosecution for such actions as long as he held
office, but once he became a private citizen again he could be prosecuted by
his enemies in the Senate.
58 BCE: Caesar left Rome for
Gaul; he would not return for 9 years, in the course of which he would conquer
most of what is now central Europe, opening up these lands to Mediterranean
civilization—a decisive act in world history. However, much of the conquest was
an act of aggression prompted by personal ambition (not unlike the conquests of
Alexander the Great). Fighting in the summers, he would return to Cisalpine
Gaul (northern Italy) in the winters and manipulate Roman politics through his
supporters.
56 BCE: Caesar, Pompey, and
Crassus met in Caesar's province to renew their coalition, since Pompey had
been increasingly moving toward the Optimate faction. Pompey and Crassus were
to be consuls again, and Caesar's command in Gaul was extended until 49 BCE.
54 BCE: Caesar led a three-month
expedition to Britain (the was the first Roman crossing of the English Channel),
but he did not establish a permanent base there. Meanwhile, Caesar's coalition
with Pompey was increasingly strained, especially after Julia died in
childbirth in 54. In the following year, Crassus received command of the armies
of the East but was defeated and killed by the Parthians.
52 BCE: Rioting in Rome led to
Pompey's extra-legal election as “consul without a colleague.” Without Julia
and Crassus, there was little to bond Caesar and Pompey together, and Pompey
moved to the Optimate faction, since he had always been eager for the favor of
the aristocrats.
51 BCE: The conquest of Gaul
effectively completed, Caesar set up an efficient provincial administration to
govern the vast territories; he published his history The Gallic Wars.
The Optimates in Rome attempted to cut short Caesar's term as governor of Gaul
and made it clear that he would be immediately prosecuted if he returned to
Rome as a private citizen (Caesar wanted to run for the consulship in
absentia so that he could not be prosecuted). Pompey and Caesar were
maneuvered into a public split; neither could yield to the other without a loss
of honor, dignity, and power.
49 BCE: Caesar tried to maintain
his position legally, but when he was pushed to the limit he led his armies
across the Rubicon River (the border of his province), which was automatic
civil war. Pompey's legions were in Spain, so he and the Senate retreated to
Brundisium and from there sailed to the East. Caesar quickly advanced to Rome,
set up a rump Senate and had himself declared dictator. Throughout his
campaign, Caesar practiced—and widely publicized—his policy of clemency
(he would put no one to death and confiscate no property). In a bold,
unexpected move, Caesar led his legions to Spain, to prevent Pompey's forces
from joining him in the East; he allegedly declared, “I am off to meet an army
without a leader; when I return, I shall meet a leader without an army.” After
a remarkably short campaign, he returned to Rome and was elected consul, thus
(relatively) legalizing his position.
48 BCE: Pompey and the Optimate
faction had established a strong position in Greece by this time, and Caesar,
in Brundisium, did not have sufficient ships to transport all his legions. He
crossed with only about 20,000 men, leaving his chief legate, Mark Antony, in
Brundisium to try to bring across the rest of the soldiers. After some rather
desperate situations for Caesar, the rest of his forces finally landed, though
they were greatly outnumbered by Pompey's men. In the final battle, on the plains
of Pharsalus, it is estimated that Pompey had 46,000 men to Caesar's 21,000. By
brilliant generalship, Caesar was victorious, though the toll was great on both
sides; Caesar pardoned all Roman citizens who were captured, including Brutus,
but Pompey escaped, fleeing to Egypt.
October 2, 48 BCE:
Caesar, with no more than 4,000 legionaries, landed in Alexandria; he was
presented, to his professed horror, with the head of Pompey, who had been
betrayed by the Egyptians. Caesar demanded that the Egyptians pay him the 40
million sesterces he was owed because of his military support some years
earlier for the previous ruler, Ptolemy XII (“The Flute Player”), who had put
down a revolt against his rule with Caesar's help. After Ptolemy XII's death,
the throne had passed to his oldest children, Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII,
as joint heirs. When Caesar landed, the eunuch Pothinus and the Egyptian
general Achillas, acting on behalf of Ptolemy XIII (at this time about 12 years
old), had recently driven Cleopatra (at this time about 20-21 years old) out of
Alexandria. Cleopatra had herself smuggled into the palace in Alexandria
wrapped in a rug (purportedly a gift for Caesar) and enlisted his help in her
struggle to control the Egyptian throne. Like all the Ptolemies, Cleopatra was
of Macedonian Greek descent; she was highly intelligent and well-educated.
Caesar saw her as a useful ally as well as a captivating female, and he
supported her right to the throne. Through the treachery of Pothinus and the
hostility of the Egyptian people to the Romans, Achillas and an army of 20,000
besieged the palace. Caesar managed to hold the palace itself and the harbor;
he had Pothinus executed as a traitor but allowed the young Ptolemy to join the
army of Achillas. When he ordered the Egyptian fleet burnt, the great Library
of Alexandria was accidently consumed in the flames.
February, 47 BCE:
After some months under siege, Caesar tried unsuccessfully to capture Pharos, a
great lighthouse on an island in the harbor; at one point when cut off from his
men he had to jump in the water and swim to safety. Plutarch says that he swam
with one hand, using the other to hold some important papers above the water;
Suetonius adds that he also towed his purple general's cloak by holding it in
his teeth so that it would not be captured by the Egyptians.
March, 47 BCE:
Caesar had sent for reinforcements, two Roman legions and the army of an ally,
King Mithridates; when they arrived outside Alexandria he marched out to join
them and on March 26 defeated the Egyptian army (Ptolemy XIII died in this
battle). Although he had been trapped in the palace for nearly six months and
had been unable to exert a major influence on the conduct of the civil war,
which was going rather badly without him, Caesar nevertheless remained in Egypt
until June, even cruising on the Nile with Cleopatra to the southern boundary
of her kingdom.
June 23, 47 BCE:
Caesar left Alexandria, having established Cleopatra as a client ruler in
alliance with Rome; he left three legions under the command of Rufio, as
legate, in support of her rule. Either immediately before or soon after he left
Egypt, Cleopatra bore a son, whom she named Caesarion, claiming that he was the
son of Caesar.
August, 47 BCE:
After leaving Alexandria, Caesar swept through Asia Minor to settle the
disturbances there. On August 1, he met and immediately overcame Pharnaces, a
rebellious king; he later publicized the rapidity of this victory with the
slogan veni, vidi, vici (“I came, I saw, I overcame”).
October, 47 BCE:
Caesar arrived back in Rome and settled the problems caused by the
mismanagement of Antony. When he attempted to sail for Africa to face the
Optimates (who had regrouped under Cato and allied with King Juba of Numidia),
his legions mutinied and refused to sail. In a brilliant speech, Caesar brought
them around totally, and after some difficult battles decisively defeated the
Optimates at Thapsus, after which Cato committed suicide rather than be
pardoned by Caesar.
July 25, 46 BCE:
The victorious and now unchallenged Caesar arrived back in Rome and celebrated
four splendid triumphs (over the Gauls, Egyptians, Pharnaces, and Juba); he
sent for Cleopatra and the year-old Caesarion and established them in a
luxurious villa across the Tiber from Rome. In a letter at this time he listed
his political aims as “tranquility for Italy, peace for the provinces, and
security for the Empire.” His program for accomplishing these goals—both what
he actually achieved and what he planned but did not have time to complete—was
sound and farsighted (e.g., resolution of the worst of the debt crisis,
resettlement of veterans abroad without dispossessing others, reform of the
Roman calendar, regulation of the grain dole, strengthening of the middle
class, enlargement of the Senate to 900), but his methods alienated many of the
nobles. Holding the position of dictator, Caesar governed
autocratically, more in the manner of a general than a politician. Although he
nominally used the political structure, he often simply announced his decisions
to the Senate and had them entered on the record as senatorial decrees without
debate or vote.
April, 45 BCE:
The two sons of Pompey, Gnaeus and Sextus, led a revolt in Spain; since
Caesar's legates were unable to quell the revolt, Caesar had to go himself,
winning a decisive but difficult victory at Munda. Gnaeus Pompey was killed in
the battle, but Sextus escaped to become, later, the leader of the
Mediterranean pirates.
October,
45 BCE: Caesar, back in Rome, celebrated a triumph over
Gnaeus Pompey, arousing discontent because triumphs were reserved for foreign
enemies. By this time Caesar was virtually appointing all major magistrates;
for example, when the consul for 45 died on the morning of his last day of
office, Caesar appointed a new consul to serve out the term—from 1:00 p.m. to
sundown! Caesar was also borrowing some of the customs of the ruler cults of
the eastern Hellenistic monarchies; for example, he issued coins with his
likeness and allowed his statues, especially in the provinces, to be adorned
like the statues of the gods. Furthermore, the Senate was constantly voting him
new honors—the right to wear the laurel wreath and purple and gold toga and sit
in a gilded chair at all public functions, inscriptions such as “to the unconquerable
god,” etc. When two tribunes, Gaius Marullus and Lucius Flavius, opposed these
measures, Caesar had them removed from office and from the Senate.
February,
44 BCE: Caesar was named dictator perpetuus. On
February 15, at the feast of Lupercalia, Caesar wore his purple garb for the
first time in public. At the public festival, Antony offered him a diadem
(symbol of the Hellenistic monarchs), but Caesar refused it, saying Jupiter
alone is king of the Romans (possibly because he saw the people did not want
him to accept the diadem, or possibly because he wanted to end once and for all
the speculation that he was trying to become a king). Caesar was preparing to
lead a military campaign against the Parthians, who had treacherously killed
Crassus and taken the legionary eagles; he was due to leave on March 18.
Although Caesar was apparently warned of some personal danger, he nevertheless
refused a bodyguard.
March
15, 44 BCE: Caesar attended the last meeting of the Senate
before his departure, held at its temporary quarters in the portico of the
theater built by Pompey the Great. The sixty conspirators, led by Marcus Junius
Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Brutus Albinus, and Gaius Trebonius,
came to the meeting with daggers concealed in their togas and struck Caesar at
least 23 times as he stood at the base of Pompey's statue. Legend has it that
Caesar said in Greek to Brutus, “You, too, my child?” After his death, all the
senators fled, and three slaves carried his body home to Calpurnia several
hours later. For several days there was a political vacuum, for the
conspirators apparently had no long-range plan and, in a major blunder, did not
immediately kill Mark Antony (apparently by the decision of Brutus). The
conspirators had only a band of gladiators to back them up, while Antony had a
whole legion, the keys to Caesar's money boxes, and Caesar's will.
Selected
and edited from -- http://www - dot - vroma.org/~bmcmanus/caesar.html
**
**
1013
hours. Caesar was one of my earliest heroes. Such a life he had; he was
murdered by his friends; stabbed numerous times with only one fatal wound.
That’s how the story goes.
You would like to write more here but more
is not needed. The day makes you sad at heart and you can find them in the
short history above. The point, like the rest of you he was a human being.
Hypothetically, when asked – “Who are you, and what is your story?” You have
only your imagination and a few facts to guide you. – Amorella
1022
hours. I think it is the same for each of us, hypothetically. I cannot imagine
one would know what she or he was going to say – she or he would look the Angel
in the eye and begin.
You
did your regular exercises for fifty-five minutes the first time since the
operations. You did use weights but only three pounders. – Amorella
1159
hours. At least I did them, longer to make up for the loss of weight. I feel
better. Earlier I did take one of the new pain pills and though I ache it is
not so much as it was. No more walking in the park until I can use the cane
better because it throws my balance off and my legs become prone to the Charlie
horse afterwards. In a week or two I’ll be back to normal and maybe better than
I was before. I am still numb though in the thumb and first three fingers, particularly
in the right hand. I use them mainly to poke keys though so it makes little
difference. My hands feel ‘big’ again after the exercise, ‘heavy’ but they
don’t look swollen. My skin under my forearms is still black and blue, well,
mostly a deeper brown. The left forearm looks worse than the right.
The dermatologist’s assistant called
yesterday and said the wart you had removed was indeed abnormal, but that he
had successfully removed all of it so there is no need of further treatment. For
this you are thankful. Tuesday you have a post operation morning office visit
with Dr. Dan on Montgomery Road in Kenwood. Then no more doctor office visits
for a while. – Amorella
1211
hours. I am feeling more like working on the chapters today. Yesterday I wasn’t
into it.
The spirit didn’t move you, huh? – Amorella
I
knew I should have taken that line out of that note.
You were just being yourself orndorff. Humor
and sarcasm go hand in hand, so to speak. – Amorella
It
is so odd to think that I love words and grammar and such but I feel so
uncomfortable talking (communicating with) to people. All those years of
teaching – those notes were with me in the beginning. Many were in the margins
of my lit books. (I rarely looked at the teacher manual text books because they
didn’t do what I thought was important.) Notes ended up lectures. They were in
front of me so I would have something to say to get through the class periods.
Those first few years were terrifying in that sense. Every day I felt like I
was on the stage. After four or five years though, particularly teaching the
same classes, I was on a roll for the next thirty-two or three years.
You ate at Max and Erma's in Sharonville, returned home and you have been working some time on
Dead Four and one of the phrases you dropped in is “the quick and the dead”
because it sounds better than “the Living and the Dead”.
**
**
The Quick and the Dead (idiom)
The Quick and the Dead is an English phrase originating in the Christian Bible and
popularized by the Apostles’ Creed, one of the earliest statements of faith in
the Christian religion and still one of the most widely used in worship.
The phrase is found in two
passages in the King James version of the Bible: in the Acts of the Apostles,
(Acts 10:42) and also in the First Epistle of Peter, which reads
For the time
past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings,
and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with
them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account
to him that is ready to judge 'the quick and the
dead.
1 Peter
4:3-5
This passage advises the reader
of the perils of following outsiders in not obeying God’s will. Specifically it
warns that those who sin, both the quick and the dead, will be judged by
Jesus Christ. In other words, it implies that God is able to act on the sins of
a person whether that person is alive (quick) or has passed into the
afterlife (dead).
In the Apostles' Creed the
phrase appears in the following passage (taken from the Book of Common Prayer).
He ascended
into heaven,
And sitteth
on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence
he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Language
The use of the word quick
in this context is an archaic usage because of the publication of the King
James Bible in 1611. In this context the word specifically means living
or alive (a meaning still retained in the "quick" of the
fingernails). It is derived from the Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, which in
turn was from a variant of the Proto-Indo-European form *gwih3wos - "lively, alive", from the root *gweih3- "(to) live" (from which also comes the Latin vivere
and later the Italian and Spanish viva). Its English meaning in later
centuries shifted to "fast", "rapid", "moving, or able
to move, with speed".
Secular Usage
The phrase has been commonly used throughout English-speaking
history since its first publication in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. In
particular it has been as a title for novels, films and other popular culture
entities, in some cases to describe the act of gunfighting. The usage of the
phrase in many such secular contexts uses the modern English meaning of the
word quick meaning fast or smart rather than alive,
either as the result of a misunderstanding or for the purposes of creating a
double entendre (e.g. quick vs. dead in the context of gun
battles can play on the fact that the being fast is generally a
prerequisite for winning, and by implication, staying alive).
Selected from – Wikipedia Offline
**
**
You have been sitting in the car at Pine
Hill Lakes Park while Carol was cleaning up areas above the dam. Now that you
have fully read the Wikipedia article above you know where you know the idiom
comes from in your head – the Apostles’ Creed. With you “the Quick and the
Dead” has passion and rebellion built into the mix of words. Do you see where
you are orndorff? Do you see why you mixed your fictional story to an angel
after death is set up as it is? This is the psychological/spiritual non-fiction
that drives the setting of the Merlyn books. The truth, your truth in this
story is in the spiritual passion and rebellion, this is a truth when told to
an angel real or imaginary. That’s the way I look at it orndorff. – Post. -
Amorella
1708 hours. Amazing. I cannot deny this -- back to joining the First Presbyterian Church in Westerville. I lied before God taking the oath. I did not believe the Creed then or now. I am still angry about it -- to be twelve years old and to be put in such a 'social' position. I agreed and sat down with the others. I joined the church but it was a lie and at twelve I felt I had no choice. If angels were real it could read my heartansoulanmind and know the truth. I am expressing this in the books. In that sense the books have a truth to them, the anger and passion are still there. They will be there when I die whether there is an afterlife or not, that is, I will die with the anger and passion of that day.
Now post. - Amorella
You watched ABC and NBC News, had
leftover meatloaf and veggies for supper, watched the first of the season
“Suits” from a couple of weeks ago and then Carol read while you watched last
night’s “Grimm”.
2225
hours. I completed the final of Chapter Four. I am beginning to see I will
still be checking this over once again before I send it in for ebook
publication.
Add and post. – Amorella
***
Chapter Four
Crème de la Crème
The
Supervisor has a little saying:
Ring-a-ring
o'rosies
A
pocket full of posies
"A-tishoo!
A-tishoo!"
We
all fall down!
We
rise from clay
On
Judgment Day
Be
we dead or still alive.
I,
Merlyn, have this little ditty above memorized to the point it sets stemmed in
letters out of which each four-leafed chapter dreams grow to clover size. I
knead the dreams into a word stream of music for the heart and soul and mind
with hope that when read, these stories cast a light into those living with an
imagination that casts no shadow.
The Dead 4
Wearing
a linen Doric chiton, a violet linen cloth draped over her left shoulder
dropping in folds around the blouse and over the hips to the ankles, Sophia
steps off the stage in Merlyn’s sanctuary. Merlyn smiles, speculating how the
style in the twenty-first century might be considered of a beautiful woman in a
delightfully intimately, suggestively setting to crawl into bed with her best
friend.
Merlyn
spirit reaches out a bit more younger handed than the moment before, clasps her
right hand with both of his and says, “My Sophia, I am honored, you are always
a welcome sight.”
Sophia
comments in a voice melodically soft and honest, “I understand our Mother was
recently here. What a beautiful meadow you commend yourself to be, Merlyn.”
“This
place is where I touch the living,” responds Merlyn. “I think the Dead who are
fit will find this a challenge.” He pauses, “Mother Glevema stopped by asking
for you.” Merlyn continues with a confident smile and points to the northeast.
“On the other side of the cemetery stone one can touch the present Living.”
“Can
you show me beyond that granite one day, Merlyn?” To be alive again races in
wonderment from Sophia's heartansoul into mind alone.
Calmly,
Merlyn suggested, “We have forgotten much of what Life is in the moment. I see
and feel through Richard Greystone, a spirit already partially ensnared with
his identical twin Robert's spirit and now a region of my own. One day you may
walk with me among the living.” Merlyn watched Sophia's features suddenly
dissolve.
Heart's
memory cocks the trigger, the soul rises as the sun, the mind re-forms the
billiard table and Merlyn sees the solids and stripes scatter about on the
slate's green field. Refocusing, Merlyn notes the purple striped 12 ball
resting on the cue mark. Sophia clothing is violet dyed linen, he appraises,
and surmises, she is the 12 ball on my mind.
The
12 ball disappears to a shade from the mark, from in his mind. I have seen this
before, considers Merlyn, once in ancient Elysium. Panagiotakis, the shaman who
had said, “We are from There, to Here,” is standing below me.
We
are on this side of the Styx where no earthly tremors exist. The Prophet,
Ezekiel, is alongside Panagiotakis and two others. I sit cross-legged high in
the tree behind the shamans on the shoreline of the River. Their souls, each
alone, dances in the center of a shaded circle on the riverbank. The shades
flow into the bank of the Styx.
Takis,
Ezekiel and the two others formed four billiard balls in Merlyn’s mind. He
continues, I see those souls William Blake-like and fiery flamed and dancing.
The Rebellion of the First Ten Thousand Greek Dead had begun not soon before.
This Rebellion of the Dead, pulled human will into the gravity of the Grave,
into the twelve major cultures of the World of the Human Dead in those days
eight hundred or so years before the Common Era of the twenty-first century.
Human
spirits became less-minded, common letters in any human alphabet spoken or
signed. Each spirit scooted about no better than the common letter until with
personal will it rose to a capital letter height.
With
this thought, reflects Merlyn, the question rises to the left side of the
capital letter and the question mark on its right. Length and width had risen
straight up adding an undiscovered third dimension to the Dead height, which
had before only been experienced while living and captive by time and distance.
In
wonder, Merlyn returned to his rock, his thinking throne. In Earth’s modern
day, since the more recent in Richard and Robert’s time, Second Rebellion of
the Dead, has more perspective, a sun in the sky and earth below. Before the
first Rebellion during the time of Homer the Storyteller, the sky of the dead
was blue and dotted with periodic white clouds. Collectively within the spirit,
the heartansoulanmind, we continue to have a place of solitude, a suit to
disguise our nakedness, clothing, opened to human and human-like spirits
visitors in free choice. Many Dead huddle together in a patchwork quilt, afraid
of strangers, or worse, afraid of themselves. No one else with any sense of
deadanliving can return to the living experience in any manner but memory, no
one but I, Merlyn, can feel the present-past-future what it is to be a bridge,
a Betweener of higher consciousness, a human spirit-in the-physics. The Living,
the reader, has a sense of this spirit-in-the-physics but most make themselves
too busy to contemplate what this truly means to be among the quick and the
dead both at once.
The
Brothers 4
Richard
awakes to hear their grown daughter Julie chattering from downstairs in the
kitchen. He surmises Julie and Jenni are here with their kids, Ronda and David.
No doubt Rob will be popping in wondering why I am not up.
In
a tone of melodiously forced politeness, Cyndi shouts, “Are you up, Richard?
Ronda is bringing David.”
Richard
rolls over feigning sleep. Noisy feet on the steps give way at the door’s slightly
creaked from the bottom hinge he had promised to lubricate a month earlier. I
hear my favorite four and two year olds on the steps, he reasons. Do I feign a
deep sleep or rise up from the sheet with a lion's 'I-m-going-to-get-you' roar?
*
Later
in the day, after a large family meal at a nearby Longhorn Steak House, Robert
and Richard return to sit in the living room, each in a high back chair, with
Julie on the left side of the living room couch followed by four year old Ronda
and two year old David and his mother, Robert and Connie’s daughter, Jennifer.
Robert mentions on how good the kids were at lunch when David scooted off and
under the gray marble topped coffee table looking for his blue Thomas the train
engine. Ronda remarks, “I'm going to the kitchen to see Grandma.” Julie being
older speaks first, “Thank you for lunch, Uncle Richard. We always have a good
time coming over.”
“We
have a good time,” mimicked Jennifer. “Dad, you and Uncle Rob are going to
babysit while we girls go shopping?”
In
a quiet demeanor like her mother’s Julie quickly adds, “Mom said it was okay.
We are so glad you are retired and can take care of the kids once in a while.
We appreciate it.”
Looking
directly at Richard, Cyndi comments, “We could not imagine living so far away,
like your parents Jennifer.”
In
the bond of family togetherness, Jennifer remarks, “It is good what with my
Calvin out of town at a conference, and Julie’s Allen working six days a week.”
She then smiles graciously while commenting, “I am not complaining at least the
kids' fathers both have jobs.”
“We've
been there,” respond Rob and Rich almost simultaneously. The two sets of
grandparents laughed light heartedly and began chatting about how each was in
the process of redecorating one room or another.
Rob
and Rich could both hear the strain of
'we-wish-we-had-the-time-and-energy-to-think-on-such-things' in their voices.
The twin grandfathers thought back on how it was with each of their children,
who were affectionately called ‘rug rats’ in the late seventies. Life and the
business that ensues in one's thirties, forties, and into the fifties -- work,
home, errands, chores and parenting; more parenting, errands, chores, home and
work, all crammed in and on life's familiar rotating stages of such philosophical
and practical goals of ‘We do whatever works best for the family first.
Everything else is second’.
Both
brothers conclude their silent high back chair conversation in the general
theme of 'the fifties were a much better time for growing up than today'.
Fortunately, both sets of grandparents had some money saved and invested.
Neither had debts beyond monthly credit cards paid in full. Every generation,
from time to time, helped their children and grandchildren survive better. This
generation is no different.
Hard
economic times and then there was a great world war to resolve. The parents of
Rob and Connie and Richard and Cyndi grew older through the administrations of
FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and
Clinton none had lived passed the tenure of George W. Not a one, as young
children, would have dreamed a Negro would have become President of the United
States shortly after their demise.
The
events in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have subtly and not so
subtly changed the social and cultural dynamics of people in every country of
the world. Families resided in the genes of thousands upon thousands of the
ancestors and the youngsters will reside in descendants of the brothers Robert
Greystone, his spouse, Connie Bleacher and Richard Greystone and his spouse
Cyndi Bleacher. Who, like the rest of humanity feels and share a common genetic
link. We are all fifty-second cousins, or so thinks Richard as he reflects on
his personal and universal family in the species, Homo sapiens. Richard falls
asleep that evening after an exhausting and fun day with family. Merlyn stirs
in the wake of Richard’s dreams as does Grandma.
Grandma’s Story 4
This
is Grandma. I once caught the passion
leak away on this particularly contrary human spirit named Wexer. He has since
disappeared among the Dead and no one who notices knows what happened to him.
When his once special woman's friend discerned his utter lack of spiritual
being she was surprised to find herself more at peace with Wexer gone.
Wexer
enjoyed debating most people, his spirit thrilled on a confrontation like a
pyromaniac's eyes bored into a roaring blaze. Once dead, and finding but one
friend (she never disagreed) among the Dead he became profoundly bored. His
whiplash-and-biting-spirit-of-a-tongue fell into great desperation. Wexer
finally decided it was time to have a singular great internal debate between
his heart and mind, something he would have never thought to do in the
commotion provided in life. Wexer knew the in's and out's of grammar and logic
in his native language. He believed himself sharper and cleverer than anyone he
ever chose to know. His slippery and restless spirit concluded, 'I have never
lost a debate and there is no way I can lose this one as heart and mind are
both my own.'
The
debate between his heart and mind focused on his singular woman friend who had
always agreed with him. Wexer's mind had become convinced that his friend was
pretending to agree, that she could not possibly agree with all his arguments
for or against one passion or another. Wexer's heart, on the other hand,
debated that the woman friend, his only friend, did not disagree with him
because she loved him so terribly much. The deeper Wexer's spirit whipped its
arguments the less resolve Wexer discovered he had in coming to a conclusion as
to which was the winner, his heart or his mind.
Grandma
sashays in doing a little calypso dance in her bare feet, throws her hands over
her head, twirls, and claps three times. She smiles like the glow of a tropical
sunset and whispered a secret, “I just love these little freedom stories.” Who won, Wexer's mind or heart? Why did
he disappear even among the Dead? Why did his woman friend become more at peace
with herself after Wexer's spirit, his heartansoulanmind, disappeared from the
scene? What do you think happens when heart and mind battle to a stalemate?
Hint: you can only answer this with your heartansoulanmind, your holistic human
spirit.
I
have one more dead man's short story here. This one balances out the first
story. Another ancestor, a shaman of about seven thousand years ago in the area
of the Black Sea, stood by the fire one cloudy dark night in summer and said,
“I have a new story. This is about a man who can be in two places at once while
he is still alive. He can be standing here like me, telling a story, and,” he
pointed to his north, “be in the nearby woods telling a story at the same time.
How do you think he accomplishes this?”
The
shaman discovered he could be enormously entertaining while being instructive
in giving an unsolvable mystery no one could decipher to everyone’s
satisfaction. Here is the question: how is it possible for a person to be
telling the same story in more than one place at the same time?”
This
story was so popular that shamans throughout the world were soon asking the
question to their neighbors along the major world trade routes had been set
into motion because people wanted goods from far away places. People wanted
something valuable to keep for security, for peace of mind, and for the
pleasure of having material goods they did not already have. Storytelling
helped pass the time on the journeys from Asia to Europe and Europe to Africa
and from Africa to Asia. Some of the stories even migrated to the Americas.
This
particular storyteller created a mysterious set of written characters that
allowed the carving of the story line onto a tree. Other tribe members were
taught to read the runes, so it was possible for someone to be reading the
story in one place while it was being told at the same time in another place
entirely. Few could believe such a marvelous invention, but they soon
discovered belief wasn’t a part of the equation. Below is a representative translation
of what the shaman wrote.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
Now the characters
you can see
H, I, J, K, L, M, N,
O, P
Each as individual as
you or me
Q, R, S, T, U, and V
Allow each us to
remain free
W, X, Y, and Z
The beginning and the
end carved on a tree.
You see, from
Grandma’s tongue, tooth and gum
Some unfamiliar runes
this way come.
Diplomatic Pouch 4
By
late mid-morning the next day Justin watches as Blake inspects the slightly
damaged Rolls-Royce turboprop Cessna P210N Silver Eagle. Pyl waits at the
entrance to the Burke Lakefront terminal for Fran and her companion to arrive.
Shortly
after introductions and a walk to the east side of the terminal Justin stands
next to the wire fence watching as Blake answering the women’s questions and
pointing out various aspects of the Silver Eagle. Justin feels it odd that they
would bring their U.S. passports to prove of identity when a driver’s license
would do; and why do they want to buy this plane? Why are they willing to give
so much for a refurbished old plane? I don't feel any safer flying in it. I'd
feel better if it were a brand new Cessna, not so fancy, just newer. A thought
crossed. Here it is, another sunny and relatively warm day in January, no wind,
it feels like early April. I wonder if we are going to fly. He continued his
observations and private thoughts while leaning back on the fence with he arms
crossed as if he were an airport inspector.
Within
an hour Justin felt some pangs for lunch and was ready for a soda at the terminal
when Pyl waved from down and across from the row of planes he had casually
checked over as if they were a string of used cars.
Pyl
smiles profusely as he draws closer. "Blake won’t sell for a million and a
half. Hart says she wants to take a ride anyway and she talked it up with Fran,
so Fran asked Blake for a ride over to Put-in-Bay saying she'd give us a
thousand dollars for the ride there and back because she loved flying in a
Silver Eagle similar to the one her uncle had when she was a child. We are all
going. It ought to be fun. Maybe we’ll have a picnic in the park. In January,
can you believe this weather Justin?"
He
sighed. "I guess; but I could use a drink."
Pyl
hardly contained her excitement while saying, "Go get something and get me
a candy bar and one for you too. We’ll get the plane checked out and
ready." Memory flew her to the time Grandpa took Grandma and Blake and
herself over to Put-in-Bay for an afternoon of fun and a plane ride too.
Sometimes we stop at Port Clinton and take a cab to Cedar Point, as kids we
always have good times in the plane.
Justin
turns and rather pensively asks, "Pyl, what about the damaged
wingtip?"
She
smiles reassuringly, "It'll be okay, Justin. Blake wrote out a report. We
are getting it repaired next week. The plane is safe to fly." Why is
Justin on edge when we are contemplating a flight; even when we were first
dating he had an issue with safety issues. I wanted him to take lessons but he
would have none of it. He’s just a conservative old soul in a young body,
that’s what he says, but he never knows why.
Within
the next hour the five flew from Burke Lakefront on the secondary runway,
6R/24L on their way to the South Bass Island. Blake turns from the controls at
ten thousand feet commenting, "The 3W2 Put-in-Bay airport is open for
light traffic this time of year. It'll be fine, it's a nice strip."
From
the co-pilot seat Pyl spontaneously adds, "This will be fun. We’ll see
Perry's Monument and the town. We can rent a golf cart and take a quick tour,
get something to eat then be on our way."
Blake
glances back, "Our treat, ladies, you are quite generous with your
payment. I’m glad you’re not too upset that I don’t want to sell the old girl –
she’s been in the family too long."
"We
are glad to have you all along with us," replies Fran. "It is always
nice to make new friends, even if we could not come to a deal. It is a delight
to be flying in this
days
flying with our Uncle Jack."
"And
you can fly us back, Fran, but if you don't mind, I'll sit co-pilot,” says
Blake comfortably.
"Fine
with me," she said, and she looked at Hart with an excited smile,
mimicking, "Won't this be fun."
Hart
responded to the private sarcasm with her eyes and accented raised right
eyebrow.
***
