Blackstone

Lessons and Rules

When I came to, I looked around and found myself lying on the warehouse floor amidst the tall crates. Carrie and Thomas stood over me with Mr. Z who held his remote control. I slowly got to me feet. Thomas and Carrie helped me when they saw how woozy I was.

            I pointed at Mr. Z's remote control. "So, are you happy now? Can we go?"

            Mr. Z smiled and held his remote control out. "Yes, thank you Grant, Eliza. I'm most happy now that I've got my remote control back, but I'm afraid that the real instruction hasn't even begun yet."

            He pressed a button on the remote control and the warehouse vanished.

            We found ourselves seated in a classroom. Mr. Z stood at the front near a long chalkboard. He set his remote control on a big desk and turned to face us.

            "As you can see here in the Gray Domain, the nature of reality is more slippery and elusive than you are normally used to in your normal third dimensional reality."

            Thomas raised his hand. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that. All that stuff, the Minotaur, the giant ball tank, the Gray Guardian Spider, was all that stuff just an illusion? Something that was made up to mess with our heads?"

            Mr. Z's large eyes blinked and he raised one hand to clarify Thomas's point. "The Guardian is very real. It is an archetypal energy, part of the collective unconscious of the Earth. All travelers in the Gray Domain must make its acquaintance."

            "So Mr. Z, if I'm to understand you correctly. Everything we saw was real but imaginary at the same time." Carrie asked.

            Mr. Z clapped his hands together. "Very good. Ms. Brunner, Carrie. You are beginning to understand. What is real is also pretend. To think is to create."

            Thomas frowned. "Look I'm sorry either something's real or it isn't."

            Mr. Z walked up to Thomas and looked him in the eye. "Are you sure?"

            Thomas shuffled in his seat, unnerved by Mr. Z's coal black eyes,

            "Close your eyes, Adebayo, Thomas." Mr. Z said.

            Carrie and I looked at each other, wondering what the point of this whole lesson was.

            I got it. Thought creates. That was one of the first lessons Mary ever taught me – the nature of reality and how everything is energy vibrating at one speed or another. Still, I had to go along and pretend this was all new if I was ever to complete my mission.

            Thomas closed his eyes.

            Mr. Z waved one of his hands in front of his face. "Now, Adebayo, Thomas I want you to imagine that before you is a delicious mouth watering bacon double cheeseburger. Can you see it in front of you? Can you smell the crisp bacon, the sharp, gooey, cheddar cheese? Do you see it? Doesn't it look good?"

            Thomas nodded. A big smile came across his face and he licked his lips. Carrie and I smiled at each other, watching the comical performance.

            "Now go ahead and eat this wonderful item. You've earned it." Mr. Z said.

            Thomas, eager and salivating, grabbed the invisible cheeseburger and bite down hard. He reached out and broke the invisible burger in half. He chomped air, chewing and munching, swallowing huge chunks of emptiness.