Soulshine (5 page)

“You"re a freak!”
“Yes… yes. I guess you could say that. Here I sit in this bed… my right leg gone and the rest of me in serious doubt for survival. Rather freakish, I"d agree.”
“Freakish bastard! And somehow you made a freak out of my little girl! So that"s why you never called… never told us where you were… never wanted to see us. Look at you! You"re just like her. Or rather she"s just like you! You don"t look a day older than when I first laid eyes on you. And Michelle hasn"t aged a day since… since… who knows when? Since shewas twelve?”
“Thirteen.” Evan tried to sound contrite but knew it was futile to appease Mary.
“Thirteen? Like you know the
exact
time of her disease… which you obviously have something to do with! You"re a devil… a demon!”
“I liked „freak" much better.” The attempt at humor rang hollow in Mary"s ears. “Mary… I think I can explain.”
“You
think
?”
“Okay, I
know
. If it makes you feel any better, Michelle knows what happened too.”
“No, that does
not
make me feel better. The only thing I care about is getting my little girl back to normal. Listen to what I"m saying. I"m calling her my little girl. She"s twenty-nine, for crying out loud! She"s supposed to be my adult daughter!”
“She
is
, Mrs. Fleming. She is a beautiful adult daughter. And I love her just as she is… always have.”
Mary was ready to explode at Evan"s glibness when Nurse Croshere entered the room. “What"s all the commotion about?” asked the nurse. “This patient is not up to confrontational visitors, and only immediate family is allowed.”
“It"s all right,” said Evan. “This… is my mother-inlaw… Mrs. Fleming.”
Mary wanted to yell at the top of her lungs „I am
not
his mother-in-law. He
never
married my daughter." But she did not want to leave until she said her piece to Evan
and
got some explanations.
“Please, nurse,” said Evan. “Give us time alone, would you? She is understandably upset because we have not talked in many years. This is a… good thing. I promise that there will be no more outbursts… right… Mom?”
Now Mary wanted to take a swing at him. “Yes… I"m sorry if I created a disturbance, nurse.”
“Alright, Mrs. Fleming,” said Nurse Croshere. “But if you raise your voice again, I will have to ask you to leave.”
“No worries,” replied Mary as she gave a stern look toward Evan.

It was getting increasingly tougher for Evan to keep his promise to himself.
No sexual relations with Michelle until (a) she is eighteen, and (b) both he and Michelle are aware of the possibilities of what could happen if they produce an offspring unlike themselves.
Sweet sixteen was such a fitting phrase for someone as adorable as Michelle Fleming. Her trusting green eyes… her tiny freckles of innocence sprinkled on her cheeks… her girlish smile… everything added up to perfection as far as Evan was concerned. As he held her in his arms, he wanted so much to touch her all over her body. She was perfect for him, and he for her. And Michelle had to now be well acquainted with boygirl relationships just from associating with other high school girls who were dating. On one hand, there was great risk in making any move. On the other hand, he did not want Michelle to ever feel
not
special. She deserved the best in a relationship.

They were alone behind the Shore Dinner Hall at Crescent Park that abutted the inlet of Narragansett Bay. It was long after the neighborhood amusement park, their favorite haunt, had closed. The sun was going down on a lovely late summer evening. As their lips locked, Evan effortlessly unbuttoned Michelle"s pink blouse and felt her breasts for the first time. They were the same size they were three years earlier on their first official
date
. Evan could not understand how any man could obsess over physical features. It was superficial to him. Evan loved Michelle just as she was three years earlier. She was perfect in his eyes and needn"t have to change. The celebration of the person"s soul came firstto him… the body was secondary. He loved Michelle long before he loved her body, and
that
was not only of the utmost importanceto him… it was the way he believed it should be. He proceeded to delicately caress and kiss her all over her upper body.

To Evan"s relief, Michelle welcomed the added attention. She could not believe how Evan knew the right time for everything, almost forgetting that it was her kindness of giving him a timely birthday card that started the whole courtship. After a period of gentle caressing, they awkwardly talked about sexual expectations, and they both were of the same mind. When the time is right, it will happen. Michelle thought about being behind other girls her age regarding her physical development, but each time she did have those thoughts, the thought of Evan"s undying love made it seem insignificant.

“You sold me. I have enough cash on hand to start paying my share of the rent while I look for ajob,” said Eric Townsend as he checked out Bryan Moore"s apartment.

“Great,” said Bryan. “If you"re around later tonight, you can meet some of my friends. One nice aspect of living in the big city is that you can be unattached and still not feel alone. There are plenty of people around to make lots of friends.”

“Sounds good, Bryan. I think I need to be around a lot of people. I was just in the Midwest for quite a few years. It was nice, but I ended up spending all my leisure time with a girl. She was rather young. Nice kid and everything, but she just wasn"t my type. She liked to jump around from one guy to the next, usually someone older who only wanted her for thesex. I didn"t quite fit that mold.”

“You meet that type here, but they are generally older… at least our age. But you also find a lot of cultured ladies who you can have decent conversation with. So what took you out to the Midwest?”

“Oh… uh… change of scenery. I have the tendency to get restless and crave change.”
“So that would explain why you moved from the city to the rural area and then back to the city again. When you say Midwest, I assume you aren"t talking about a big city like Chicago?”
“No, I was in Indiana. I worked on a farm, in fact.”
“From the theaterto the farm?”
“Like I said, I tend to keep moving. But I am getting the itch for the theateragain.”
“Is there anything you
don’t
do?”
“Sure. I avoid real dangerous occupations and hobbies. It… keeps me looking young, eh? Seriously, I always loved the theater best, I think. I worked for a Shakespearean company in London, too.”
“You sure have done a lot in your short life. I thought I"ve been around, but you have not only been around, you"re quite diversified.”
It’s best if I don’t tell him I’ve had a few tours of duty in merry old England,
thought Eric.
And he would never believe I also did some time in the Greek theater as well.
“So did you want to go to the theater district here in New York to look for work then?” asked Bryan. “I thought you wanted to catch a play when you asked me for directions.”
“Yeah. I figure I may as well do some work I am accustomed to doing.”
“So… are you a stagehand? Do you do any acting?”
“I"ve done some of everything. Generally, I offer my services as a stagehand, sooner or later do some understudying, and then one night I end up filling in for someone who calls in sick. Sometimes I catch a big break.”
“That"s odd. I would think that once you get acting experience, you can easily use that experience on your resume to get in the door as an actor elsewhere.”
“Well… first of all, I"m just content to be in the atmosphere of the theater. Secondly, I prefer to be paid under the table. There aren"t many men knocking on doors looking to be farm workers or stagehands these days. So typically I can work out a deal that helps both sides. The employer pays out less, I make out more, and the government needn"t know a thing.”
“Luckily for you, I"m not one to care about anyone cheating the government.”
“Well, if you were, I guessI"d be on my way and you"d still be looking for someone to help out with the rent. No worries.”
“No worries. Best of luck at the Regal, Eric. Hope to see you later.”
“Thanks, Bryan. I look forward to meeting your friends tonight.” Eric left the apartment to head for the Regal Repertory.

Linda Sherman stopped Dr. Frank DiLaurio before he entered Evan"s room. “Frank, can I see you for a minute?”
“Sure, Linda. What"s up?”
“Mr. Troy asked the head nurse to leave him alone with Mrs. Fleming. That"s the young lady"s mother. He referred to her as his mother-in-law. Now I recall that you had said that Mr. Troy and Miss Fleming both said that they are not married.”
“Yes, that"s correct.”
Linda sighed. “This is getting more mysterious by the moment. I"m doing my best at putting off calling the authorities.”
“Did you do any research on them, Linda?”
“I did. Miss Fleming checks out. Mr. Troy does not. There is no record of any existence of an Evan Troy… at least no one that fits his approximate age in the United States and Canada.”
“Kind of what we expected. So what now?”
“Frank, how is he doing? Contacting the authorities has always been secondary to stabilizing the patient, unless the patient appears to be a threat.”
“I wouldn"t call him a threat. As for how he"s doing… I

hospital.”
“Well, with that will probably come
publicity... and a university hospital will want some identification
first… especially if they are taking on a patient that has already
been treated. When Mr. Troy came here, he needed immediate
attention. We couldn"t waste time with the normal registration
formalities.”
“True, but Hugo and I have consulted all the doctors on our
staff. No one knows what to do beyond what we have already
done for Mr. Troy. We haven"t done much really. After we
stopped the initial bleeding, there hasn"t even been a lot of
bleeding to stop. Most of the lost blood disappeared as the leg
decomposed. My guess is that it somehow dried up as it came into
contact with the outside air. It"s hard to treat what we can"t even some unneeded explain medically or scientifically. Anyway, though we once thought the deterioration had stopped, it is now apparent that Mr. Troy"s decomposition is slowly spreading and will probably not
stop at the pelvis
unless
we get him the best care we can find.” “And no hospital specializes in stopping bodies in the state
of decaying.”
“
That’s
a problem. We need to find a university hospital
that is not afraid to take on a challenge for the sake of its
reputation.”
“Well, if you are certain that there is nothing else we can
do, I"ll try Fletcher University Hospital. Once Mr. Troy is free
from visitors, we will need to inform him that he will need to
provide some background information in order to get transferred.” Frank nodded. “And we may finally find out who Evan
Troy really is.”

Evan gingerly entered Michelle"s bedroom as she sat on the edge of her bed with her forehead resting on the bedpost, still crying. “Hey, my love,” he softly said as he sat beside her while placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

Michelle sniffled. “Oh, Evan. You must think I"m a baby.”
“Actually… no. Your mom filled me in on the reason you"re crying. Believe me… I"m just as upset as you are. I… even feel somewhat responsible for what you"re going through.”
“You do? Oh, you"re so sweet, but why would you feel that way? This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me, sweetheart. Can we go somewhere to talk?”
“Where did you have in mind? Did you plan on doing anything special tonight?”
“Yes. I planned on being with the best person I ever met in this big crazy world.”
Michelle stopped crying long enough to muster a smile. “I meant are we
going
anyplace special?”
“Well, I brought you a birthday gift and I planned on having you choose what you wanted to do… but it looks like you could use a loving friend to just listen to you and talk only when needed.”
“We can talk here. I need to get rid of the redness around my eyes before we go out anyway. There"s not much for me to say. Mom told you about the girlsat school?”
“She did. I understand how that can bother you… but would it make everything alright if I said that you could stay the way you are forever and I will stilllove you forever?”
Michelle chuckled. “Oh sure. That would make everything just great. I stay like this forever while you get old and gray.”
Evan took a deep swallow. “Michelle… what would you say… if I told you… that… well… I really don"t intend to get old and gray? Hey, maybe
I
want to stay the way
I
am. I mean… look… I don"t look much different than
I
did five or six years ago, do I?”
This seemed to make Michelle forget her misery. “Uh… no… but that"s different. You"re older to begin with. You were already fully grown when I met you. I should have grown in the last five or six years.”
“Well… yes… I was fully grown when we met… but look at my face. Is it any older? What I"m trying to say is that we seem to be two peas in a pod. We have what other people dream of… eternal youth. It"s like God has shined His grace on the two of us. Someday those same kids will be cursing their old age while we remain just as we are.”
Michelle gave Evan a skeptical frown. “Evan… you"re not helping me by telling me fairy tales. One day I"ll start looking my age… probably when I"m thirty. And the same with you.”
“Michelle, why don"t you open your present? Happy birthday. I hope you like it.”
Michelle opened the small package and lifted out a delicate necklace with a pretty emerald stone at its center. “It"s beautiful, but that"s not my birthstone.”
“No,” said Evan, “it isn"t, but the green stone will make your green eyes even prettier than they already are. What"s in a birthstone? You are more special than everyone else who happens to share your birth month.”
Michelle blushed. Evan loved the way she always smiled just before lowering her head as she blushed. “Ah, you"re in a better mood now. I think there"s something I need to tell you… now… before you ever get hurt by comments made by ignorant people again.”
Michelle looked up in anticipation as Evan got her curiosity aroused.“And Michelle, my love, I think it is best I tell you now
before
you pick tonight"s destination. Because after I tell you what I need to say, you will either bevery happy… or very upset. You may or may not want to go out with me tonight. I hope that what I have to say will make you very, very happy. But I will understand if it does not. Now… if God will only grant me the strength.”
Michelle was perplexed. What could it be that could have her either happy or upset? A marriage proposal?
That would be intimidating but I would definitely be happy. I love Evan so much
. She dried her eyes in preparation forEvan"s announcement. She managed an anticipatory smile. “Go ahead, Evan. I"m ready.”
Evan drew a deep breath.“Michelle… you know how the defining moment, for me, of our relationship has always been that birthday card you gave me when you were twelve?”
Michelle wondered where this was going. “Yes?”
“If I were to ask you what is
your
defining moment, what would you pick?”
Michelle thought for a few seconds. “I"d say it was when you invited me to the sundry shop for our first real date. Until then, we talked to each other a lot, exchanged cards and notes, but I didn"t know how you really felt about me.”
“I knew you"d pick that moment, Michelle. If you hadn"t won my heart with that thoughtful card on my birthday, I think I would also pick that afternoon as my defining moment. That
was
special. You got my attention with the card. You won my heart during thedate in the sundry shop and the walk home afterwards.”
“I know. It was like a fairy tale to me. I remember when I wrote the words in your birthday card. I didn"t want to make a fool of myself by writing too much. I was so afraid that you would think I was being silly. I didn"t even expect you to fall in love with me. I just wanted to let you know that I liked you without really understanding why I felt I had to do it. I mean… I really didn"t think we would ever be alone together. I mean… you were so much older than me.”
“Well, I still
am
just as mucholder than you. It"s funny. As time goes by, age differentialdoesn"t really matter as much as people think it does initially. All of a sudden, when those same people reach their golden years, even a twenty year differential means nothing. But when the lovers are young, it"s somehow scandalous.”
“Yeah… when I was thirteen we had to be concerned with everyone"s perception. No one cared if we claimed to love each other.It made it hard… especially on you.”
“I"ve got news for you. I"ve been around long enough not to be concerned with perception. Granted, your mom has made it easier by putting trust in both of us. We never gave her reason to think I would ever take advantage of you. As for your father… I"m not sure that he has ever felt completely comfortable with his little girl being with an olderman, but he respects his wife"s judgment. You
do
have an awesome mom. I"m just not sure
how
understanding her awesomeness would be.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, she thought I was going on twenty when we had our first date… as did you. I… er… have a confession to make.”
“Ohhh-kay… so you"re saying that you were even a little older? You could have told me. You looked about twenty. You couldn"t have been
that
much older.”
“Hmm… this is tough. You say that I looked about twenty when we first dated. Michelle… look at me… I still look like twenty. Just like you look like you are thirteen… albeit the sweetest thirteen anyone has ever looked… but thirteen nonetheless. Have you ever thought that we are in the same boat?”
Michelle frowned, confused. “No… I… only saw it in me… probably because I"m so much younger. It"s not as odd for you.”
“Well, it is exactly the same for me. What I"m trying to tell you is that you needn"t worry about keeping your youthful appearance because I will also be keeping mine.”
Mary knocked on the bedroom door and spoke without opening it. “How"s everything going in there?”
Michelle answered, “Everything"s fine, Mom. As usual, Evan made everything alright again. We"re just talking.”
“Well, your dad and I are going out for a while. Lock up if you leave.”
“Sure, Mom. Oh, Evan gave me this beautiful necklace!”
“That"s nice, honey. I look forward to seeing it when we get back. Goodbye, you two.” Michelle and Evan both said their goodbyes through the door. Evan was relieved that the Flemings were leaving the house. It made the next phase of the conversation easier knowing that when Michelle and he left the room, they would not need to hide the emotions that would result from their conversation.
Evan waited a few seconds to give Mary a chance to walk away from the door. “Michelle, let"s get back to talking about that sundry shop date. Do you remember the ice cream soda I made for you?”
“Yes, I do. I remember every little thing you have done for me.”
“Well, that ice cream soda
was
made with more care than you realize.”
“You care about
everything
you do.”
“Yes… well…
that
soda had an extra ingredient in it that you knew nothing about.”
Michelle gave Evan a look that said, „
What are you talking about?’
But all she could say was “It must have been an aphrodisiac?”
Evan chuckled. “No, Michelle… it wasan elixir… that has kept you from physically aging. I gave it to you because you were… are… so perfect. And I had already taken the same elixir. I… didn"t want to see you exceed me in biological age. Perhaps I should have waited until you reached eighteen or twenty, and perhaps I should have even gotten your permission first… but I loved you… and I wanted to keep
us
as we were when we fell in love. I was selfish, yes, and I pray that I did the right thing… but in case I did not do the right thing… I want to tell you that I"m sorry. It"s because of me that you are ridiculed by your peers.”
Michelle just stared, not quite believing yet. “You are joking, right?”
Evan felt better after speaking what he did. He only needed to take it a little further now. Michelle was not upset, but probably because it didn"t seem real to her yet. He held her tightly to his chest. “You know that chapter in the Bible you like the best?”
“Love is patient, love is kind…”
“That"s the one. Michelle… I knew the author of those words personally.”
“You knew one of the disciples?”
“It was actually the apostle Paul. Michelle… I have no idea what my exact age is. I was born in Greece over two thousand years ago. At around the age of nineteen or twenty… I"m not sure exactly… I met an alchemist. He believed he had developed an elixir that would conquer the aging process. He had experimented on plants and an animal… I believe it was a sheep. He was looking for a willing human being to take the elixir so he could observe the results. He was apprehensive about taking it himself because he already had some ailments that he did not particularly want to carry with him forever. He had told me that he felt that if he stopped aging in his condition, he would probably one day have to take his life to ease the suffering. But if a young, healthy, vibrant person were to take the elixir and it worked, he would have something beneficial for the masses… the key to eternal youth. Having an inquisitive mind and a zeal to help further scientific ideas, I volunteered to be… the human guinea pig.”
“This is too weird. Are you making this up?”
“You decide. Neither of us isaging, Michelle.”
“So what happened to the sheep?”
“Good question. I assume there must have been some success with the animal. Otherwise, why move on to a human being?”
“So somewhere there"s a two thousand year old sheep?”
“Probably not. It would have made scientific news. My guess is that it ended up slaughtered or attacked by a predator. That was my reservation when I took the elixir. It only offered the possibility of keeping me from aging, not the probability of immortality. Of course, I didn"t really expect the elixir to work at all. But I"m not indestructible. I can be killed just like a newborn baby or a child can be killed. I just cannot age. And neither can you.”
“Because you put the same elixir in my soda? And you kept this elixir with you for two thousand years?”
“I did. I drank only half of what the old alchemist gave me. I thought it foolish to walk away from that man without keeping a remnant… just in case I ever wanted… some good company on my long journey… assuming that it was indeed possible for me to be in store for a long journey through time.”
“So did you ever see the alchemist again? Didn"t he want to observe you?”
“He did want to observe me. But as I said, he was ill… and he died soon after I drank the elixir. He did not live to see his success… but more tragically, no one else knew what was in that elixir. I went through his notes and found nothing. I thought about having the rest of the elixir analyzed, but then I had reservations about it becoming public. What if it could be easily duplicated and humans started living forever? Would that cause severe overcrowding of the Earth? What about those who died by accident? Would the survivors be able to handle not joining them in the afterlife unless they also suffer some fatal accident? Not to mention the probability of the formula being kept secret by tyrannical powers who would rule forever. The implications are mind boggling.”
“And you never had any accidents?”
“No, some people are just lucky and never even break a bone. Of course, once I realized that the elixir actually worked as designed, I tended to avoid activities that would put me in physical danger. I moved around a lot so no one would notice that I wasn"t getting visibly older. The thing I lacked was permanent companionship. I met a lot of people, some famous even today… the apostle Paul, as I mentioned, was an interesting chap. I particularly enjoyed knowing Shakespeare, too. You are the only person I ever gave a second thought to sharing my gift with though. In fact, you caused even third, fourth and fifth thoughts. It wasn"t long before I knew you were my perfect soul mate to spend the rest of the ages with.”
“Okay... I know you"re putting me on to make me feel better about the ribbing I"ve been getting.”
“Michelle… I assure you I am not. Would I make matters worse by adding jokes to your hurt feelings? Michelle, you are
not
aging, and you will
never
age.”
Michelle pulled away from Evan and stared right through him.