Virtual Eternity (the Serialized Novel) Episode 30 - The Great Disappointment: Ending Mike’s secret

This is Episode 30 of the serialized version of the novel, Virtual Eternity: An Epic 90s Retro Florida Techo-Pro-Life Love Story and Conversion Journey. These 52 episodes are presented here free for you every Friday. You can buy the paperback version from Mike Church’s Crusade Channel Store or at Amazon. 

Or you can start reading at the Table of Contents: here

The Great Disappointment: Ending Mike’s secret

Several hours later, in her bedroom, I pressed her hand as she napped.

In this moment, I grasped that creating is, by definition, only for someone who loves the creator, and whom the creator loves; part of that creation is revealing that love.

I wrote.

The next time she woke, she moved the hair from her eyes and looked up at me. I read, slowly:

“Some Beauty’s captured by the youth,

Nude in his bed she’s lain,

But aspect, curls, and body leave,

When their impressions wane.

And all that Being clears away,

All elegant, all base,

All dissipates as foggy air,

Floats upward without grace.

‘Expose your Beauty, maidens all!’

Near death he does declare,

Their flesh unveil’d so will create,

Life in new man aware.

Elusive Beauty still escapes,

Without essential form,

Young man finds mere vulgarity,

Impermanence, and scorn.

What is the recompense he sought?

The lover follows this:

The notions that did honor him,

That earned a lovely kiss.

For those conceptions shared with all,

Will ripen some young soul,

But lover, the pursuer, grieves,

‘Til love finds woman whole.

That Beauty locates dainty earth,

She treads on open path,

She leaps beyond the jagged lane,

To kindness, over wrath.

The lover too must walk soft roads,

To suffer with those kind,

And there is she where Beauty dwells:

A face and soul and mind.

His will and motion redirect:

To Goodness hers now go,

As she accepts his abstract gifts,

His Beauty too she’ll know.

He then beholds man’s endless quest:

For God, His glory all!

And if he should despair in chase,

On only her he’ll call.”

I brushed a tear from her soft pink cheek.

She reached her arms up around my face and smiled. “I guess I’ll be out again tomorrow.”

“I’m glad.”

“Would you sleep here tonight?” she asked.

“On one condition.”

I leaned down to kiss her. She tilted her chin up. I tasted her lips for the first time. She matched my responses to her movements with more vigor. When I leaned back, she stopped and moved differently. She directed us. She found our preferences. She demanded cautiousness yet progressed us to pleasure and then excess. She withdrew.

“That was wonderful,” she said. “You earned a lovely kiss.”

My arms engulfed her.

“I’m sorry, Jonathan. We need to stop there.”

“I know. I’ll use Winnie’s sofa. Those nineteen pillows should be enough for me.” I stroked her face again. “Good night.”

She smiled. I turned off the light as I left her.

“Jonathan?” she said from the dark. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You do believe there’s more?”

“More what?”

“More than your poem said. More than the beauty in bodies and minds. More than the beauty in nature. More than love between two people.”

“All that’s the easiest to express. Because that’s all we seem to have, in front of our faces, if we’re lucky.”

“That’s it then? What about the divine reality and purpose, God?”

“It’s so hard to express. But love, now that’s a good life. What about you? Do you think there’s more?”

“Yes,” she said. “You’ll keep trying?”

“To know all that? Yes. Right now, I want to find you. Your love.”

She sighed. “Hmm. You seem to be good at expressing that.”

“I want to marry you, Maureen.”

“Jonathan, that’s kinda impulsive. You’re lovely, handsome, poetic. But I still need to get over some things.”

“You still love Winnie?”

“I don’t know about that. But I worry about you.”

I looked down.

“Yes,” she said.

“Yes?”

“I’ll agree to marry you. Maybe. It’s way too soon for an acceptance. Besides, I’ll only marry in my Church. And they need us to prepare for a few months in advance. At least two months. During all that, I’ll be listening to what I’m shown. I’ll be finding out what’s right for both of us.”

I assumed she meant how I would treat her, whether I would stray to others, whether I would demand she surrender.

“Then, ask me again.” She paused. “You should listen, too.”

I knew she meant I should listen to God. I nodded in reflex, and in joy, but confusion washed over me.

“All the things you told me before,” she said. “About reality and purpose, eternal perfection and creation, are true. But that’s only part of the Truth. The rest only God can tell us. And He has.”

“I see that now. It’s part of how He loves us, right? When I said something led me to you, it was Him telling me.”

“Possibly. Jonathan, can you try to become a member of the Church?”

“What?”

“Can you go through the formation process?” she asked. “Just think about it. I don’t want to force you, because if, if, I discern it’s right to spend the rest of my life with you, you don’t need to be Catholic. Or maybe you do. I’m not sure. But I need to know what you think about it.”

“Formation? I suppose.”

“That means to be open to His gifts, what He’s revealed to us. I knew it once, and need to learn it again. I can’t go with you, but you can tell me about it.”

She explained about the weekly meetings, starting likely in the next few weeks, culminating in a Mass the evening before Easter.

“Then there’s marriage preparation too,” she said.

“Whoa, whoa. So, you are saying yes?”

“Nope.”

***

The next day we took a vacation day again. We stayed inside. We went outside. We walked on trails. In the afternoon, we stopped at a used record store, an antique store, and a used book store – all such previously-owned bits of the past - in a village to the north.

We learned one another. She questioned me as if she feared my deception. She delved into my decisions and my fortunes. She investigated my ends and my destinies. I told her about Meredith, and the baby.

“Jonathan, I’m so sorry.” Tears pooled in her eyes, then in mine.

She sighed. “Did you love her?”

“Yes, but not in the same way as with you.”

“Can you possibly explain that?” she asked.

“Probably not. It sounds phony, but I’ll need to show you. I loved her, desired her, but it’s very abstract. Yes, I’m going to take weeks to explain that.”

“You’ve got a tough road ahead with me, Jonathan.”

“I know.”

Later that day, we went to Santiago’s. We sat inside because of the chilly air caused by the sun leaving us so early.

“What were you gonna tell me about your access to the games?” she asked.

I explained my story: the Phase 3 access I won from Lana, the loyalty pledge under the Business Technology Information Secrecy Act, the switch with Kevin, Kevin’s decline under the spell of the games, Mike’s extortion, and my expected downfall.

“My plan was to submit the ads and wait for the project to die. Since that’s not working, I need another plan. I’m gonna be asked to do more.”

“Asked? By who?”

“I’m not sure. But I have this feeling I’m gonna be called away, to help fix this problem.”

“What do you mean, ‘fix’?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘called away’? You’re going away? Soon?”

“Maybe. People are gonna do something, and it seems like they want me to help. Last week, I talked to this guy who sounded very desperate, like he wanted to plot a murder.”

“What?” Maureen said. She creased her brow. “Not good, Jonathan. Besides, you might not be able to help much longer.”

“Why not?”

“Jonathan, did you know that Kevin was a key engineer on the recognition firmware?”

“The smart card reader? Yeah.”

“He was in my bosses’ department,” she said. “I heard that a month before he died, he’d nearly completed the retinal scanner recognition firmware. Then, suddenly, progress stopped. They had all types of bugs in the code, and Kevin was absent half the time. That must’ve been when he was playing.”

“Yeah.”

“Jonathan, I heard they’ve finally finished the software for the retinal scanner. They started it in the helmets last week.”

“Really? The helmets were pre-configured?”

“Yes,” she said. “All they needed was Kevin’s software downloaded. They automatically ID the user when the helmet turns on.”

“Maureen, are you sure?

“I’m sure. The Minnesota hardware researchers would call my boss three times a week, wondering when the code would be ready. They’ve been pulling in user data since last Thursday.”

“Do you know what this means? It’s over. I’ve got to find Mike.”

That night, after we returned to my apartment, I pressed the button on my answering machine: “Jonathan, this is Lana. It would be best if you came to work tomorrow. Please be at my office at 7:30.”

Next week: Episode 31 - The Holidays: Courting Maureen

Copyright © 2022 Christopher Rogers.

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