Soulshine (25 page)

If you are reading this without me standing next to you, I have most likely run out of luck and met an untimely end due to some unforeseen accident. After I decided to make you my lifelong companion, I thought it best to also provide you with some hope of eternal happiness should I perish. Hopefully, this tiny bottle will enable you to keep another true love once you find him. And you will find true love again, dearest Michelle. You are beautiful, intelligent and witty, and you possess the perfect soul. I love you, even now as my spirit and soul are absent from my body.

I have also left some savings for you. Knowing my habit for planning ahead, I trust that you had a comfortable amount of assets to bring you to this letter. However, I wanted to ensure that you have plenty of resources to go on living as you deserve, just in the event that we had less assets than I hoped we would have had at the moment of my untimely death.

Live long, shine your soul, and be happy, my lovely, wonderful Michelle. Surely if my soul has a memory, I am thinking of you even as you read this.
Love forever, Evan

“ Michelle? Michelle? Are you alright?”
Momentarily, Michelle couldn"t speak.
“Michelle? It was a long time ago.”
“No, Judy. It was just a few days ago. He passed away,

“Wow. That"s quite a wad of cash. Was he rich as well as handsome?”
“He… accumulated a lot over a long period of time.”
“So he stayed with you for a long time, didn"t he? Oh, Michelle. I guess I"m still insensitive. I"m sorry. After eleven years, you would think that I wouldn"t put my foot in my mouth.”
“That"s okay, Judy. You had no way of knowing. If you"ll excuse me… I think I"ll walk over to Crescent Park and just remember Evan by visiting a place we used to go to a lot. I think I never
did
stop and take the time to mourn him.I guess that I don"t really want to believe it.”
“Crescent Park? The old amusement park up the road? That"s been torn down for years, Michelle. There"s nothing there but condos now… and the carousel… but that"s closed shut.”
“I guess that we can never really go back, can we?”
“That"s the truth. Look at me. I"m thirty and looking like it. At least you still have your young looks. I"d kill to look like you.”
“That somehow doesn"t make me feel better, Judy… but thanks for trying. It was nice seeing you again. Can I just ask one favor of you?”
“Name it, Michelle.”
“If you happen to see my mother or father… please do not tell them that you saw me.”
“Sure, Michelle… but why?”
“It"s a story I"d rather not go into right now, Judy. Like I said… we can never really go back. I just came to Riverside to get this box and then leave.”

Evan looked up from his book to see Jean timidly standing there. Her gentle demeanor and gray hair was more grandmotherly than aunt-like.“Sure… what"s on your mind?”

Evan smirked. “
Heralds From God
by Michael Westbrook, a book written by a lesser-known British vicar who lived in thecharming Cotswolds area of England. It"s based on his chance meetings with people he considered to have broughtGod"s message through their life and words.”

“Sounds interesting. Is it?”
“Quite. Particularly the parts about Eustace Tewksbury. He never told me that he thought that highly of me, especially when he suggested to me that I leave the Church of England for being a radical.”
Jean smiled and laughed. “A radical? Why doesn"t that surprise me?”
“Do you really think I"m a radical?”
“Your views… aren"t mainstream.”
“Mainstream is for those who haven"t lived long enough to know better.”
Jean looked at him and nodded, not knowing what else to say in response. “Eric…”
“Please… it"s Evan now… and forever. I made a promise to a very lovely girl.”
“Evan… why didn"t you tell me? Didn"t you know I could be trusted? I would have rather you told me about your background instead of running off on me… and Bryan… and everyone else who cared about you.”
“Of course I knew I could trust you. But Jean… even if you knew the truth, sooner or later everyone else would realize that I"m not your normal guy, don"t you think?”
“So?”
“So? Jean… the government doesn"t strike me as an organization willing to let illegal aliens live without identification and without paying taxes year after year… never mind century after century. Moving around always kept me an unknown entity. Even the coloring I applied in my hair would not fool people forever. Yes… I was able to pass for thirty… but for how much longer?”
“Why are you wearing the coloring and the makeup now?”
“I"m not wearing any coloring and makeup.”
Jean looked at him closely. “Your temples are gray and your forehead has some wrinkles. You didn"t have that earlier this morning.”
“Oh… quit pulling my leg, Jean. Stop with the appearance jokes. The truth is out.”
“I"m serious. You look… in your late thirties or early forties all of a sudden.”
“That"s not uncommon,” said Oliver as he and Bryan walked into the room. “The body is finally reacting to the shock of losing a lot of blood. The damaged tissue caused unlimited aging… or death… to the affected areas, but the rest of the body is also affected because theelixir is in the blood… and a lot of blood was lost… so some visible aging that would have naturally occurred if not for the elixir is expected. We know this from witnessing past cases when members of our brotherhood suffered similar blood loss. Evan was in the process of dying. You could say that age was starting to catch up to him. Luckily, he didn"t age any more than he did. Don"t worry, Evan. I think the aging process has completed. You"re going to be fine.”
“I look… around forty… without makeup?”
“Hey,” said Bryan. “What"s the complaint? You still look a lot younger than
we
look… and probably feel younger than we feel too.”
“It looks good on you… Evan,” said Jean, who disliked calling him by that name. “You look like a very distinguished gentleman.”
“But I preserved Michelle so we would always look like we did when we first met.”
“I thought you told Oliver that you were aging slowly… so how would you have ever accomplished that anyway?”
“When she drank the elixir, I didn"t know that. Only when we discovered that a fetus was growing inside her did I realize…”
Jean and Bryan looked at Evan as he stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. “Evan? What are you thinking about?”
“Michelle. Will she recognize me?”
“Probably,” said Jean, “but now you look
way
too old for her.”
“There"s no such thing as someone being too old to love someone else, Jean. What has all your theology taught you? You should read this book by Westbrook. It appears that I made a lot of sense to him. Unfortunately, he was too much tied to religious doctrine to admit it openly when I knew him. His book, however, is quite good. He quotes me on several occasions.”
“Please don"t get a swelled head over it. I, for one, have never heard of Michael Westbrook… and I am in Christian bookstores all the time.”
“Many fine authors never become well known, Jean. One positive thing I can say for our host is that he is able to dig out some literary gems from the obscure authors. His talent for separating people who are in love with each other, however, leaves a lot to be desired.”
“I heard that, Mr. Troy,” bellowed Oliver from across the room. “As I already communicated, we had no idea that you
turned
her into one of us. Nor did we know she was carrying your child. As I speak, my trustworthy brothers are on their way to Riverside to pick her up. We"ll be sure to have a party when she arrives.”
“After your keystone cops scare her to death, she probably won"t be in the mood to celebrate. I"m still unsure of how she"ll react to the older looking me.”
“Evan,” said Bryan. “You just told us this morning that Michelle is the most exceptional woman you ever met. It sounds to me like she wouldn"t care if you aged a few years… would she?”
Evan sat up straight. “Everyone has their limits, Bryan. We"re all still only human.”
“I liked you when I thought you were younger than me,” offered Jean. “I like the new look too. I wish we could have remained friends back in New York.”
“Jean… let"s not go down that road again. I liked you… but there"s something magical about Michelle. She had… soulshine. She would never manipulate events so someone else would thinkthat the love of their life perished… for example.”
Jean tried not to look ashamed despite her feelings. “I thought it best because I didn"t know that the girl was older.”
“She gave her age at the hospital, Jean.”
“Yes she did… and I didn"t believe her.”
“Couldn"t you tell by looking at her that she was telling the truth?”
“I haven"t had centuries of reading people"s faces, Evan.” Jean was now getting used to calling him Evan, since Eric had never accused her of wrongdoing.
“It"s not the face, Jean. It"s the soul… shining through the eyes.”
“Maybe I"ll make it all up to you by finding her in Quebec City.”
“If Oliver"s
police officers
don"t find her in Riverside first,” offered Evan, still unsettled by the plan.
“Well, if they don"t, I still remember her cute little face. If she attends that winter carnival, I"ll find her. Can I ask you something else?”
“I"m not going anywhere for a while.”
“Did you know Jesus… personally? Did you meet him after the resurrection?”
“I was not in the Middle East at the time.”
“But you knew Paul. What did he say about Him?”
“You"ve read his epistles, haven"t you?”
“Yes… but if you told me what Paul said to
you
…” “Jean… are you having doubts?”
“I was just asking…”
“Fine, Jean. I will tell you all I know. Are you ready?” “Mm-hmm.”
“As for His resurrection… I haven"t a clue. I won"t dismiss a miracle… especially after the life I"ve led… but I haven"t a clue. But tell me… if He didn"t rise from the dead… does that nullify everything He taught?”
Bryan was observing a very pensive Oliver gazing out the window. “Oliver, are you okay?”
“I suppose,” replied Oliver. “With all the planning I had to do today, I just now found the time to contemplate Evan"s revelation to me. I always expected to live forever… barring a fatal accident. Same for the rest of the brotherhood. I"m trying to come to grips with the fact that we may be growing older. I thought our work here would usher us to the end of time. But now to consider that ourtime is finite?”
“Relax,” said Evan. “This past week has taught me that living forever is vastly overrated. But to cheer you up, by my calculations you still have thousands of years to go.”
“All the more reason to find this residue of elixir so we can examine it. Bryan and Jean are integral cogs in our machine now. They must replace two of those that we have lost. The elixir must be reproduced… for the sake of the brotherhood.”
Bryan and Jean looked at each other. They didn"t know what to say at first.“Oliver,” said Bryan. “I don"t want to speak for Jean, but I don"t want to start a slow aging process from the age of sixtyfive.”
“Me neither,” said Jean. “I would simply rather go back to volunteering at Ottawa General and live out my normal years so I can meet God at the appointed time.”
“Astonishing,” exclaimed Oliver. “The promise of joining the most worthwhile organization on earth does not entice either of you?”
“I enjoy working with you and the brothers, Oliver,” said Bryan, “and maybe when I was younger I would have considered it… but I"m getting old.”
“Bryan… you are certainly in good health, are you not?” begged Oliver. “Who knows what the near future will bring in terms of illness? Let us find this elixir and examine it.”
“I"ll tell you what. Find the elixir and examine it. I"ll make my decision at that time.”
As Bryan and Jean left the room, Evan protested to Oliver. “That elixir belongs to Michelle. You have no claim to it. It is for
her
eternal happiness should something happen to
me
.”
“Evan,” replied Oliver. “You are part of the brotherhood now. We cannot have you roaming the earth any longer. You will compromise the knowledge of our existence. Michelle will be brought here permanently. I realize that you are not… celibate… like the rest of us. You have need of the woman and if all goes well in Riverside or Quebec City… wherever we find her… you shall have her, and we shall teach both of you all we know about helping and healing our fellow man.”
“Celibate? You know… I had asked Bryan when I first met him if he was… you guys are gay, aren"t you? This is some sort of… fraternity.”
“Evan… we"re disciplined. We have stayed the course of our ministry for centuries. We accepted the fact long ago that we are unable to mingle with those on the outside of the brotherhood. Like you, we have also moved around the globe, Evan. Surely you realize that we could not have possibly always been in this location. Do you think this is our only base of operations?”
“You can"t keep me here.”
“You have no other choice, Evan. Our alternative will be to turn you in to the authorities as the famous decomposed man come back to life with no identification and let them deal with you.”
“You won"t do that. I"ll let them know that you are just like me.”
“We will have the Flemings as witnesses to our claim regarding you. Your claim regarding us will be dismissed as the ravings of a guilty man trying to bring down his accusers.”
“But when they find out that you healed me…”
“We"ll deny it. How can we put a decomposed man back together again? It was all a trick on your part.”

As soon as John was escorted back to his cell, he looked at the envelope that Mary had given him.
No return address and it’s from Ottawa. Who could it possibly be from? The police up there are finished with me and the postmark is prior to the day of the shooting.
John opened the envelope and pulled out a letter.

I find it hypocritical to call you John and even more hypocritical to call you Dad. By now, I am sure that Mary must have filled you in on my past, including both my long personal life and my life with your lovely daughter, Michelle. Mary was quite irate when she stopped by my hospital room yesterday, but I found it heartwarming that she left on seemingly good terms with me.

Now I need to let you know how dreadfully sorry I am that I created such an error in judgment by administering an ancient elixir to Michelle without first getting consent from either of you. You, along with your lovely wife Mary, raised perhaps the most beautiful… inwardly as well as outwardly… woman that ever lived. Please understand that I use the term ‘woman’ seriously… because in the world I grew up in… Michelle would not have been merely a girl. I confess that I should have, for the sake of the woman I love, revealed my secret to you, Mary and Michelle. If either you or Mary had any objections, I would have then waited the required years by your society’s standards until Michelle could have made her own decision. And then, had Michelle dissented, I would have waited any number of years I needed to until she either acquiesced or we parted through death.