Soul Dancing with the Brass Band (The Brass Band Series) (26 page)

We arrived in front of the library at eleven sharp and Dad was nowhere in sight. “Mom, I think he’s been mesmerized by the books again. I can already see him with another stack to check out. Let me park the car and we’ll go in and rescue him.”

Mom laughed, knowing I was probably right.

The library was so dark and quiet that it was spooky. As Mom and I walked, the motion detectors turned lights on and then they faded to darkness behind us. We soon heard voices talking softly and knew they were coming from the glass-floor room.

“
The Thomas Gospel states that all of us come forth from divine light
.”

“I recognize that voice,” I said to Mom as we turned the corner. Dr. Edwards, now holding the repaired book, was so deep in conversation with Dad that neither of them noticed we had entered the room. I cleared my throat to let them know that they were no longer alone.

“Hi Kiddo, Kate,” Dad said sheepishly, probably remembering that he stood us up for our lunch date. With a warm smile that could melt ice, he added, “Let me introduce you to my new friend, Lee Edwards. This is my wife Kate and my daughter….

“Hillary,” Dr. Edwards finished. “Hillary and I are old friends,” he said, cheerfully acknowledging me. Turning to Mom, he reached out to take her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Kate. I’ve enjoyed talking with your husband. It’s always nice to meet another
of like mind.”

“It’s interesting
, isn’t it, that the more you learn, the less you know. The Universe just keeps opening,” Dad added with a chuckle as he took Mom’s arm and wrapped it through his. “We have a lunch date that it appears I’m late for. Would you like to join us?”

I blushed at just the suggestion of spending time with handsome Dr. Edwards. He had become quite a popular figure on campus. The females were absolutely enamored with him. I supposed hanging with him might ease that
larger than life image I had of him and help me stop blushing every time I saw him. We all walked down to the parking lot together and Dr. Edwards followed us to the restaurant in his own car.

It was a typical Italian restaurant; dimly lit with a scent of fresh garlic that made your nostrils flare with pleasure. Dad requested the four-top in the back corner to allow us more privacy. Seemed like the back corner of any establishment was fast becoming my usual place. When we began to talk, Dr. Edwards insisted that I call him Lee, making me blush
c all over again. I was interested in hearing more about Dr. Edwards’… Lee’s life, so I hoped that he wouldn’t hold back.

“For the last twenty some years I’ve been doing research, or at least that’s what I like to call it,” he began to explain. “In the early
‘80s I found myself at a Hindu Ashram with the opportunity to study with a great master. I arrived with the misconception that their teaching techniques would be similar to those used in college, and I would graduate with some kind of enlightenment degree.” Laughing he said, “There was a lot I didn’t understand about the spiritual journey back then. My largest misconception being that you can be
taught
the Way to self-awakening. I soon discovered each person’s journey is uniquely their own because “I”
was the Way
for me and me alone. You can learn technique, but how you apply within your consciousness is very individualized. I began to spend hours going into the silent space deep within me, surrendering, allowing my mind to rest until one day I found I wasn’t speaking at all… silence is a profound teacher.”

“I discovered I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life going deeper and deeper into that silence, that space between the breath. Of course, we all know that is when things
must
change. The Universe never wants us to be too comfortable; it wants us to continue our journey. So one day, after spending time in a particularly insightful meditation, one in which I found myself almost levitating rather than walking out of the temple, someone handed me a note. The slip of paper merely said to ‘report to the office’.”

“Upon my arrival, the ashram secretary handed me a letter. I didn’t recognize the name or phone number that I was asked to call, but as I read on, I found out they belonged to the director of Menninger Clinic. Reluctant to call immediately, I spent a few days meditating with the letter in my hands and came to the realization that I must replace my worry with faith. If I accepted what had found me and opened myself to the new experience, even more blessings would come into my life. So I called and accepted a fellowship that was offered to me with great gratitude because gratitude should always follow opportunity.”

“It wasn’t what I had planned for my future. I imagined I would do something much loftier, but it did give me the facilities I needed to continue my research. Eventually, I was allowed to invite a group of Gurus from India who agreed to become my research subjects. Now those results would blow your mind.” He seemed to want to take that tangent and tell us about the gurus, but instead he pulled himself back to the subject at hand. “It also helped me with a more personal project of mine, what I have always been interested in. I have been researching past life experiences.”

Dad had ordered a bottle of wine and thought it was a good time to fill our glasses. He had a grin on his face the size of Texas and I could tell he was bursting at the seams. He couldn’t wait to tell his new friend about the boys!

We were all quiet as the waiter brought our lunch and refilled the water glasses. When he left, the conversation picked up where it left off.

“My hope now is to unearth the answers to the questions that have haunted me for years, some since childhood,” Dr. Edwards continued as he looked around the table. I suppose he was trying to gauge if we were receptive before he spilled his guts to three virtual strangers. “Maybe a more accurate explanation would be dreams and visions of
my
past lives. I get glimpses of memories and faraway places in my dreams that I feel may be as real as the life I’m now living.” He looked around the table for some sort of confirmation.

Dad was the first to speak after taking a big drink of wine. He first looked at me for approval and then at Lee.

“I hope I’m not over stepping my bounds here, but I think I know someone that would like to meet you.”

They both planned Lee’s introduction to Will for as soon as it could be arranged, then the conversation moved onto less serious subjects. Lee told Dad how he met me and how he loved the glass-floor room and Dad told Lee about the farm and how it was his ashram.

WHEN WE
pulled up to my apartment, the chimney was smoking and a smile erupted across my face that needed no explanation.

“Go ahead, Hillary. Dad and I will make ourselves at home in your apartment. I’ll have dinner ready about five o’clock if you’d like to invite Will up and George too, if he’s here
,” Mom said.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, kissing her on the top of her head and turning to leave. “I’ll let you know either way.” I knocked on the door at the same time Will opened it. He kissed me hello and led me into the living room where George was on the couch with Buddy perched on his finger!

“Buddy’s back!” I hurried over to sit by George, knowing my parents would be so happy to see him again.

“Will and I hadn’t been here more than ten minutes before we heard tapping on the window. When we went to check it out, we found the little guy asking if he could come in. I think he’s grown accustomed to his warm bed above the fireplace,” George explained.

“What are you going to do now, just keep him inside?” I asked.

“Go look at what Will’s building on the kitchen table. H
e’s going to make a birdie door,” George said, pointing with his free hand.

I walked over to where Will had returned to work with an array of items on the table. He seemed to have fabricated a piece of wood the width of the window with a very small, lightweight plastic flap.

“Let’s try it out,” Will said, picking it up and walking to the window to see if it would work. He placed the piece snuggly along the sill and lowered the window down on its top. It sealed beautifully.

“Now the question is - how do we teach Buddy to use this door?” Will said turning to George.

George got up with Buddy still on his finger and walked over to the window. Lowering Buddy onto the windowsill, he pushed him through the little flap. We all put our faces against the glass in an effort to see what Buddy was doing on the other side.

Buddy took one hop, two and on the third, he flew back through the flap. Jumping out of his way, we watched Buddy fly to hi
s box on the mantel and snuggle in.

“I guess we don’t have to teach him anything. He seems to know,” George snorted.

Smiling, we all shook our heads and sat back down on the couch.

The computer Will and George had found in the trash was sitting on the coffee table. They were able to use our Wi-Fi from upstairs and it was obvious they had been on-line.

“How’s Ruth?” I asked. For a moment George seemed amazed by my psychic abilities.

“She’s doing well, but she misses us,” he answered.

“Yeah, yeah, George. She misses
you
,” I teased.

George smiled and turned a beautiful shade of pink. Even though he was a full-grown specimen of a man, he always looked like a boy when the subject
of Ruth was brought up. It made me wonder if Ruth might be George’s first girlfriend. He seemed very innocent in the ways of romance and it made them such an adorable couple.

Around four o’clock I remembered to call Mom to tell her that there would be two more for dinner. George and Will were becoming accustomed to Mom’s good ol’ farm cooking and would probably be very sorry to see her go.

We could smell dinner wafting into the apartment from above and were starving by the time we arrived upstairs. Mom had cooked fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. It was a far cry from the vegan, ashram food that Will and George were used to, but they loved it. All talking immediately ceased as the food was placed on table.

Once Mom served after
-dinner coffee and the cream was mixed in, conversation started again.

“Hey, Will,” Dad began, “I hope I haven’t
let the cat out of the bag…well, you know, by telling a new friend about you and the boys.” Will looked at him, eyebrow raised as Dad continued. “In relationship to people that you and McCollum are looking for, I met a fellow that might be of great interest to you.”

Dad had pea
ked Will’s interest and before long they were dialing Lee Edwards’ phone number.

The conversation with Dr. Edwards was short. They set up a time and place to meet the following morning and returned to the topic of conversation George had struck up with Mom. George wanted Mom to teach him how to dance.

“I want to be prepared when Ruth invites me to one of her high society Kansas City parties,” George explained.

“You’ll leave all of those society girls stupefied when they come in contact with your Shakti,” I said and had a good laugh just picturing it. “I know Ruth’s family will love you, George.”

Everyone talked until well after midnight and I knew I wouldn’t have any alone time with Will. I started to get impatient that I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about the mystical warrior, soul mate stuff Dad told me about. As if picking up on my frustration just before saying goodnight, Will assured me that McCollum would answer all of my questions and until then I should find joy in the life I was living right now.

So, when I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I thanked God for each one of the incredible people I had in my life and drifted off into a deep sleep.

Dec 29, 37AD

I lay on the ground wrapped in a blanket against the chill of winter. It is but seven days since the Earth tilted away from the sun. It is a time of rebirth, but I feel immense emptiness and am looking forward to sleep overtaking me. The part of my soul, which remains with me no longer dances, and the part
that left to find Liam, I can no longer feel. There will be no peace for me in this lifetime for I am only half alive
.