A Phone Call Interrupted My Reverie. It Was Gideon Asking If Id Had An Interesting Morning. I Blurted Out The Incident Of The Birds And The Books And The Paper And The Music And Whatever Else I Could Recall. I Commented How Curious It Seemed That Dreams Of Yesteryear Could Leap Across The Crevices Of Time Onto The Pages Of Today.When You Think About It, John, He Said, There Really Is No Past Nor Future, No Beginnings Nor Endings,just The Ones That We Create In Our Minds Depending On Our Current Perspective. A Thousand Lifetimes In A Million Years Or A Million Lifetimes In A Thousand Years,what Does It Matter, Anyway? Weve Always Been Alive.Doesnt It Get Lonesome Being The Only One With All The Answers,Gideon? I Taunted. And Im Sorry, Why Did You Say You Called?I Didnt Say,but Since You Asked, He Said,no Special Reason. Just Wanted To Tell You Its Not The Answers That We Have Problems With. We Have All The Answers. What We Need Are The Questions. . . .What Did You Say About No Beginnings Or Endings Just A Few Moments Ago? I Interrupted.Words Are Just Symbols Of Meaning And Not The Meaning Itself. They Are Not The Best Representatives Of Truth, But In Their Own Way, They Do Express It Somewhat. In Other Words, Dont Confuse The Map With The Territory.By The Way,still Interested In Going On That Trip?What And When Do I Pack? I Asked.You Dont Have To Pack Anything. A Good Part Of The Trip Is Internal, He Said. And As To When? The Answer Is When Its Most Appropriate.Actually,where Are We Going, Gideon? And What Are We Searching For? I Asked.You Are Searching For The One Secret Of Life, John. The One That Was Written In The Middle Of The Book You Found Beneath The Mango Tree When You Were Seven Years Old. The Secret You Couldnt Read Because You Didnt Understand The Language.So You Knew About That, Eh Gideon? Was That Really The Secret Of Life Written There? There Were Just A Few Words.Is That All There Is To It? A Simple Little Secret?Simple. Not Easy, He Replied.Do You Think Well Ever Find It? I Asked.Its Not The Finding Thats Difficult, He Replied, Its The Recognizing.Well, Im Looking Forward To All This, Was All I Could Say.Not To Worry, John, He Replied In That Tone Which Always Brought Me A Sense Of Assurance And Comfort. Well Take Care Of All That. And Of Course, Marla Will Be There, Too. There Was A Pause, Then He Added, Thats All For Now. Youll Hear From Us Soon. Bye. The Phone Went Dead.The Day Hadnt Really Started And Already It Seemed Like Id Been Awake For Many Hours. The Children Must Be Awake, I Thought, Because I Could Now Hear Footsteps Coming Downstairs. Malika Came Into The Kitchen, Said Good Morning And Casually Mentioned A Weird Dream About Birds That Read Books. But She Couldnt Remember Any Details. Interesting, I Thought . . . Very Interesting.
