Heaven and Earth - Series 1

Book 1

Chapter 1

The Shipped Gold Standard - Fall Out Boy, Believe - Mumford and Sons, Wonderwall - Oasis, Fix You - Coldplay

2018

Jason always enjoyed Literary Studies. For him, it was a break from the somewhat mundane analytics he often found in his physics classes. While Jason did enjoy the sciences with a passion, he was equally interested in questions of morality and what drove people to action. He looked to understand what made people who they were.

Jason had neat, brown hair, eyes that blended brown and green as if they mimicked autumn, and stood a little shorter than average, although this didn't cause many problems for him. The lecture hall that hosted Literary Studies tended to echo sound with its high roof and empty, brown walls. This was lucky for all the students, because technology like microphones was far beyond the professor's comprehension. Jason, realizing he had become lost in thought, tuned back into the class.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

The professor, an older gentlemen with a balding head of grey hair, closed his book. "Now," he said, "can anyone tell me what Shakespeare's intended message was?"

Jason, having read this particular sonnet before, had the answer on the tip of his tongue. However, before he could stretch his arm to signal the professor, a young woman eagerly raised her arm.

"Yes, the young lady in the back." said the professor.

"Shakespeare is attesting to the unbreakable and unwavering nature of true love. He says that not time, nor the worst storm could destroy this strong connection between two minds." The blonde-haired woman answered with a confidence in her voice that impressed both the professor and Jason.

"Very good, Thank you." She sat down. "Remember class, unit final is this Friday. It may be wise for all of you, some more than others, to ensure that you are prepared. Dismissed!" The Literary Studies class filed out of the auditorium as a single, throbbing mass of people.

Jason tapped the woman's shoulder as they both walked out into the courtyard. "Hey, I, um, really liked your description of the sonnet. I'm assuming you've heard it before?"

"Only about seven times! I first heard it in my high school english class. Unfortunately, these days my reading list involves more textbooks than Shakespearean poetry." She sighed with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, they certainly don't hesitate to, uh, use all the paper they can!" Jason seemed to swear he could feel his brain crying after that terrible joke. To his surprise, however, she laughed.