The Teacher

The Teacher: Part II Graduation Day, Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I STILL WASN'T SURE HOW TO ASK Antonio to simply come with me, much less expect him to agree to playing an intimate role in my next life. I'd already dropped plenty of hints, but he hadn't made any moves in my direction. What's a girl to do? Then it came to me. What if I tabled the whole marriage and family thing in favor of the more immediately achievable goal of convincing him he was needed for the mission to succeed? Then, it would just be a matter of letting nature, prompted by just enough obvious flirting, take its course. Plan B it was!

"All right, then, now we have to decide who the key players will be, get them to agree to assume roles, and finally make sure we've picked just the right world at just the right stage of development with a people who are both in need of spiritual and political Salvation, Antonio said, gracefully guiding the process along.

This was my chance to pounce—he'd just opened the door to who would be going and I knew what my pitch would be.

Antonio's initial remarks represented a well-rehearsed initial string of instructions he'd used many times before in his role as a mission planning counselor. Because the second part of my mission would embody an objective with universal spiritual implications, meaning the mission had to succeed, he should want to be involved.

"Antonio, so far I'm onboard with what you and the Mission Control Board are hoping to accomplish. Now...you have to admit we were a good team on Earth during the critical mission to turn the tables on the Guardian. I'd be worried about something going wrong unless you were there to watch my back. What do you say—will you come with me?" I shamelessly suggested, tilting my head before locking onto his intoxicating deep-blues with the biggest cow eyes I could manage.

I had to put it out there. The heart wants what the heart wants and right then I just couldn't separate the needs of my soul from those of my heart. That said, I could certainly appreciate Antonio's commitment to his calling as a mission-planning counselor. I remembered back to when he died on Earth from natural causes, 200 years before I did, so he'd been doing this in heaven for long enough to be really good at it.

There was a growing awkward silence as Antonio seemed to be uncomfortable considering my request, his head and eyes turning to the right, up, and away from me. Anticipating rejection, my insides were being wrenched by a thick disconcerting fog of pain about to engulf me.

"Fallon...you know, I don't think that's such a good idea. I've got a lot going on here...hold on...just a minute, please."

His deflating this-just-won't-do reaction was cut off by another transmission from the Spirit Beings who were in constant telepathic contact with him. Several times Antonio nodded compliantly acknowledged the instructions they were giving him. Finally, he turned back to face me.

"You know, that was the Board and...they've both given me permission and asked me to temporarily leave my post here and join you on this historic mission. So...I will be going along and playing a role right alongside you! Fallon, really, I'm delighted to be doing this for you, but may I also suggest that you have friends in high places. The Board was passing on a request from their supervisor, and I can only imagine who that might have been—someone close to the top I can tell you. That's never happened before on my watch. You can see how much this means to them."

IT WORKED! HE WOULD BE COMING along, but as far as getting a ring on Antonio's finger, that would have to wait, and only time would tell, but I was hopeful. Now, the sooner the mission planning was completed, the sooner I could begin my next incarnation, so now I was ready to stop asking so many questions and move things along.