|
|
“Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”, Jonathan asked.
He and Jennifer had just had a nice dinner at home and were cuddling up on the couch in the living room. It was dark and windy outside with snow clouds looming over town. Orion, one of their cats, an orange tabby, was sleeping on the other end of the couch.
“I think you already know everything about me. Well… let’s see…”
Jonathan had wrapped his arm around her and waited while she was thinking of something. He was tired, it had been a long day so he really appreciated the time he could spend with the woman he loved more than anything.
“Okay, this is probably gonna be a little embarrassing.”, she said after a few minutes.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“So when I was a teenager I used to write Star Trek fan fiction. I didn’t want my parents or my friends to know so I did it in secret.”
“That’s not embarrassing. Which Star Trek was it?”
“All of them. I wrote crossovers and time-travel, I used all the characters.”, she chuckled, “my favorite story was a long story about Tom Paris traveling through time, visiting all the Captains, saving the universe.”
“That sounds fun. I love stories like that. And man, Tom Paris, I had such a crush on him, he was hot.” Jonathan remembered how he watched Star Trek to escape reality a little. It was such a different world where everything was going to be okay in the end, it was comforting. Then he remembered something else.
“You know… I actually used to read Star Trek fan fiction.”, he admitted.
Jennifer was surprised. “Really? Why did we never talk about it?”
“I don’t know, I guess it just never came up? Oh, I even had a favorite author…what was the name? WarpCoreBreach47 or something. Their stories were really good, I wonder where they are now.”
Jennifer turned to look at him. “You’re kidding, oh my gosh, that was me.”
“No way!”
They laughed. They had knows each other since they were teenagers and that is something they never knew about each other. It was like they were just meant to be together…
Jennifer loved coming home. She loved the house and everything about it. It was warm and spacious and truly felt like home.
They had moved in a little less than 2 years ago after big make over. When they bought the house it was not in a very good condition but they fell in love with it, with the neighborhood, with that small town and the ocean. They basically had a beach in their backyard and how could they say no to that?
Before that they had lived in a small apartment in Portland, close to their work. It had a small bathroom, a bedroom, a kitchen and living area and that was it. It was not enough space for them. Not after so many years. It was their first apartment after they first came to Portland as students. But their lives had changed since then, they started working and settling down. Both of them loved to read so they had so many books that they didn’t know where to put them anymore. They had just needed more space not only for themselves but also for their cats. And sometimes they needed time for themselves. The loved each other but there were times when each of them needed some time and space. Especially Jonathan who was an introvert and a thinker and loved some quiet time.
Jennifer couldn’t say why they hadn’t moved out sooner but it was probably because they had been so busy and sometimes too comfortable to change something. But once they had decided to get a bigger place they were determined to find the perfect home which of course was not easy. They had tried everything, looked at apartments and houses and none of them made them feel at home. One of Jennifer’s patients was a real estate agent and had tried to help them find something, they had tried the internet and just drove around looking for houses for sale. They talked about lowering their expectations, about compromises, about their budget, even considered building a house. But still they hadn’t been able to find what they wanted.
Then one afternoon Jennifer, Jonathan and Anne drove up the coast to a little town called Winchester to try a new restaurant that someone had recommended and they got lost. Their GPS showed them the wrong way so they ended up in this quiet, beautiful neighborhood right by the ocean and then they saw it. It was an older house and it looked uninhabited and a little damaged and there was an old weathered sign that said “For sale”.
And that was it, they contacted the agent, made an appointment to see the house and it was perfect. It did need a lot of renovations, new wallpapers, now floors, new paint. But that wasn’t a problem.
And once they had moved in it was theirs, it was home…
It’s been a hard day at work so Jennifer was glad to be back home. She and Anne were in the kitchen making coffee, both of them needed it today.
“The weekend can’t come soon enough”, Jennifer said and sighed.
“Yeah, and it’s only Tuesday.”, Anne reminded her of this unpleasant fact.
“I could use a nice long vacation someplace warm.” Their last vacation was years ago when they visited Jonathan’s parents in Vancouver. She loved the city but it wasn’t the Caribbean. She started daydreaming about white sand beaches and palm trees and swimming in the warm ocean. She decided to talk to her husband about it later.
“That sounds romantic, I’d just need a boyfriend.” Anne looked sad for a second.
“You’ll find someone.” Jennifer reassured her friend who didn’t have a lot of luck with men.
She heard Jonathan’s car in the garage. He was late today because he had to work overtime, he and Glenn had some problems with their project. He’d probably be tired, too.
When he entered through the door he didn’t look like it though. He actually looked excited.
He came into the kitchen.
“Hi honey, guess what?!”, he said.
Jennifer was confused. “I don’t know, did you win the Nobel Prize?”
“No. Better.”, he smiled and opened the fridge to take out a bottle of ginger ale.
“What’s better than the Nobel Prize?”, Anne wanted to know.
Jennifer got very curious, she didn’t often see him excited like this except when he made an interesting discovery or when he had taught the cat a new trick or when he got some cheesecake.
“Just spill it.”
“Alright. So today I bought a ticket to a Supernatural convention in Portland. Plus a ticket for a photo op with Jensen Ackles. Don’t be jealous.” He told them like it was the best thing he had ever done.
Jennifer laughed. His crush on Jensen Ackles was cute and she was actually happy for him.
“That’s amazing, honey. I’d actually love to come with so I could watch you fangirl over him.”
Jonathan grinned. “I knew it, that’s why I bought you a ticket, too.”
And with that he left the kitchen to go to the bathroom.
Jennifer smiled and shook her head. He managed to brighten her day again.
Anne laughed. “Man… he’s really something else.”
“I know,” Jennifer took a sip from her coffee, “that’s why I love him.”…
It had started snowing very early in the morning and everything was covered in white. Jonathan stood outside the front door on the porch and just observed the cold and snowy world around him.
He took a sip from his cup of hot chocolate. He loved the freshly fallen snow. Everything was quiet, you could hardly hear a sound. There was no wind, just the falling snow, the streets were empty, most people stayed home, safe and warm.
Jonathan watched the snowflakes fall and hit the ground silently. It was peaceful and serene.
He remembered how he loved to play in the snow as a child back home in Canada. It was something that helped him after he returned from… well, from that horrible place. He didn’t want to think about THAT now.
He and his brother Thomas used to build families of snowmen, they gave them names and biographies and hoped they would stay but of course they didn’t. The snow melted and the years went by. Jonathan tried to recall when he had last built a snowman. It’s been years.
He heard some children laugh in the distance. It probably came from the huge park across the street. There were lots of trees, playgrounds, even some ponds, gazebos and miniature golf course. It was beautiful.
People went ice skating on the frozen ponds in winter and children had fun sledging. He imagined that’s what they did. Maybe they were even having a snowball fight or…building snowmen.
He saw a car drive very slowly down the street as the snow got stronger. As a driver this weather wasn’t fun but Jonathan didn’t have to go anywhere this weekend and he was sure the streets would be free by Monday.
He heard the door open behind him and turned around.
“Hey!” It was his brother Thomas. “Let’s go build a snowman!”…
Jennifer stared at the blank document on her computer screen. The page did not seem to want to be filled with words, at least not today.
She was working on her new novel but made little progress. The deadline was still a few months away so she didn’t panic just yet. She sat back in the chair in her office in their house. It was was a nice cozy office with a couch, a soft carpet and pictures of landscapes that Jonathan took on their vacations. She loved the adjacent library though she wasn’t sure if it was big enough to be called that.
Jennifer grabbed one of the mint Oreo cookies, turned the chair around and looked out the window into the back yard. She could see the ocean from there. It was one of the main reasons they bought this house. Both of them loved the ocean, the waves, the sound and the smell. It was relaxing.
It didn’t help her write her novel though. Not in this moment. She missed Jonathan. He and Glenn went to attend a physics conference in Boston, he wouldn’t get back home until the next weekend which was still 4 days away. 4 long days, she thought and sighed.
Suddenly something grabbed her attention. Something she saw in the back yard. And then it hit her. She turned the chair back around and started typing.
“That’s it!”, she said to herself. The words started flowing…
The Festival of the Three White Ravens was held every year in a little town at the coast. It was certainly unique and had it’s origins in the 19th century. Here, every child learned the story at school. Shortly after the town of Winchester was founded a group of people saw three white ravens fly over the ocean and land on a rock by the harbor. They were majestic. Their plumage and their beaks white as snow, their eyes bright blue. The people were scared because they thought they were a bad omen. But one of the ravens said: “Don’t fear us. We are Wisdom, Courage and Prosperity.” The people couldn’t believe their ears. Ravens couldn’t talk, it must be the work of the devil. They chased the ravens away and as they took flight each one of them left a glowing white feather. The people took them to the mayor and he kept them safe and the town flourished. Ever since then, ever year they would celebrate the Festival of the Three White Ravens where everyone dressed in white and shared their wisdom, their courage and their prosperity with each other.
That’s what the legend says. Who knows what really happened but the festival was beautiful and serene.
Jonathan, his wife Jennifer and their friends Anne and Sarah were about to leave the festival. They wanted to have a nice dinner at their favorite restaurant and were headed towards the parking lot. They passed many people dressed in white clothes and some curious tourists who didn’t quite know what to make of all this. The festival was held at the edge of town near a forest on a great lawn by the sea. It was very scenic. Shortly before they had to cross a little bridge over a creek Jonathan heard someone call his name. It was very faint and he couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman or even where the voice was coming from. He looked around. At the edge of the forest he saw a lonely figure with a long white robe looking right into his eyes. He stopped.
“What’s wrong?”, asked Jennifer.
“Nothing… I think. Excuse me for a minute.”
Jennifer was confused but Jonathan just had to go meet that person.
As he slowly approached the figure he started to see more details. It was a dark older woman with mysterious and deep blue yes staring right into his soul.
“Jonathan.”, she said in a deep voice that gave him goosebumps.
“How do you know my name? Who are you?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Well.. this is a weird situation so.. yeah.”
“I can see your broken soul, Jonathan MacLean”
He was confused. As a scientist he didn’t really believe in souls and how could they even break?
“My what?”, he was incredulous.
The mysterious woman stepped a little closer.
“I can see everything you’ve been through, your life, it broke your soul into pieces.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because there is something that you need to know.”
Jonathan had no idea what she trying to say but for some reason he listened to every word of what the woman told him. The things he needed to know to be prepared for what’s to come…
“I still don’t understand how you can eat that.” Jonathan looked at his brother’s shrimp sandwich and shuddered. He didn’t like fish or seafood, he wouldn’t eat anything that lived in the ocean.
“It’s delicious, you don’t know what’s good.”, explained Thomas as he took a huge bite off his sandwich.
The twin brothers went to run some errands in town and were taking a lunch break in a little diner by the beach. They had lots of fish and seafood on the menu so Jonathan had just ordered grilled cheese with fries.
He liked the diner despite the sea food, it was a nice location with a beautiful view. It wasn’t very busy today.
“So have you changed your mind?”, Thomas asked. Jonathan was confused.
“About what?”
“Appearing on my show.”
Not this again, Jonathan thought. They’ve discussed it a million times. Thomas was a late night show host and had been trying to get his brother on the show for years. Jonathan didn’t want to. Thomas was very outgoing, loved to entertain people and make them laugh. Jonathan was more reserved. He preferred to be entertained rather than being the entertainer, especially not on national TV.
He took a sip from his ginger ale.
“No way in hell.”, he told his brother.
“Come on. Everybody wants to see you, I talk about you all the time, people are gonna think you’re just a figment of my imagination.”
Jonathan shrugged. “So?”
Thomas rolled his eyes as he continued to eat his sandwich. He seemed to be thinking about something.
“Oh, I’ve got an idea!”, he exclaimed after a few minutes.
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
“What if you promised…”
“No.”
“…that you come on my show if..”
“No.”
“Dude, stop saying no.”
“No.” Jonathan continued, just because he knew it would annoy his brother.
“You’re coming on my show when you win the Nobel Prize.”
Jonathan had to chuckle at that. “What, are you serious? That’s never gonna happen and you know it.”
“You know I believe that you can do it, you’re a brilliant scientist and I’m not the only one who says that. Anyway, if you’re so sure that it’s not going to happen then you might as well agree.”
Jonathan didn’t think of himself as brilliant, he was just doing his job as best as he could and he thought nothing he’s working on was important enough to ever win a Nobel Prize.
“Alright.”, he finally said. “Let’s agree on that. If hell freezes over, IF I ever win a Nobel Prize then I’m gonna be on your show for a minute or two. But you’ll never bother me with it again until it happens. IF it happens.” Jonathan was sure that would stop Thomas from asking him every time they met and he was sure he’d never be on that stage in his life.
Thomas smiled. “Great. Let’s shake on that.” He offered his brother his hand.
“I’m not touching your shrimp hand.”
“You’re an idiot.” Thomas laughed.
Jonathan smiled.
They finished their sandwiches and were off again. Thomas wanted to see if he could buy himself a nice new suit…
She came home to find Jonathan asleep on a deck chair in the back yard, a Kindle on his belly.
She smiled. He looked so peaceful just lying there, she didn’t want to wake him up but she had some news to share.
Jennifer carefully sat down on the edge on the chair, facing him and touched him gently on the shoulder.
“Hey, “, she almost whispered. It was enough to wake him up.
He looked at her with sleepy eyes. “Hey. You’re home.” He sounded tired.
“I want to talk to you about something. But let’s go inside, it’s a bit chilly out here.”
It was also getting very windy and clouds started covering the sky.
“You mean I have to get up?”, Jonathan asked, being only half serious.
Jennifer smiled again. “Yes. Come on.” he stood up and waited for him to do the same.
Jonathan grabbed his Kindle and followed her inside.
She had something to tell him. She got an offer but she wasn’t sure whether she should take it and wanted to discuss this with her husband. It would change some things for her, should she decide to do it but was she ready for it? Would she even be good at it? There were so many things to consider…
Jonathan couldn’t wait to get home. It’s been a stressful and exhausting day at work and he was tired.
He still had a 30 minute drive ahead of him which right now felt like an eternity. An eternity till he would see Jennifer again, get some rest and maybe even a piece of that red velvet cheesecake that he loved so much. If any of it was left.
The sun was setting and it started to get darker.
His mind was still at work, in the lab where he had started to set up an experiment. An experiment that, if it went the way he predicted, would have a great impact on the world of science. It would change things. If his calculations were correct…
Glenn told him he was crazy more than 3 times today because he just didn’t think it was possible.
Maybe Glenn was right, maybe it was crazy. Jonathan went over the equations again and again. There was no doubt in his mind and it was exciting and scary at the same time.
His discovery wasn’t even directly connected to the project they were working on, it was just some kind of happy accident.
The set up would take a few more days and then it would be time for the moment of truth.
The thought of it made him nervous so he tried to distract himself and direct his thoughts into a different direction.
He saw the trees and buildings rush by as he drove towards home and then he noticed that he didn’t even turn on the radio but decided he didn’t want to listen to anything right now. The quiet was good, his mind was loud enough already…
When Jennifer came home on this beautiful Monday afternoon she walked slowly into the kitchen, enjoying the silence. It’s been a while since it was that quiet in the house.
She walked into the kitchen, through the back door into the back yard, closed her eyes and just listened to the wind and the birds and the ocean. It was peaceful. After a few minutes of just standing there she heard Jonathan’s car in the garage, a sound she didn’t mind hearing.
Not long after that she could hear him behind her, she turned around and he greeted her with a quiet “Hey.”
“Hey”, she replied and smiled at him.
He came closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“Can you hear that?”, he asked.
“Silence.”, the both said in unison and chuckled.
“It’s nice to have the house to ourselves again. Just us… and the cat.” he added as he heard the soft meow.
Jennifer turned around and kissed him. “It feels like a new beginning and it’s kind of perfect.”
“I know.” Jonathan smiled. He looked happy.
They enjoyed a few more minutes in the back yard before they went back in to have dinner. Just the 2 of them, for the first time in a while….
|
|
Recent Comments