Dragonfly Dreams, Part Fifteen

Frank Mason realized that his mouth was hanging open in shock. He quickly closed it, but he still couldn’t believe who he was seeing standing….or rather floating….in front of him. It was…

“Mr. Jones!” Frank said in awe, “How in the world?”

“Mr. Mason,” Gordon Jones smiled, revealing his perfect white teeth as he floated at least a foot off of the ground, “I realize that you weren’t expecting to see me.”

“You’ve got that right!” Frank said, staring at his boss. He hadn’t seen the man in months…but he remembered how Gordon Jones had floated in the air during his job interview. He was still amazed to see him do it.

Gordon Jones floated a little closer. “Mr. Mason,” he said, his eyes blazing at the ruins around him, “Do you remember what I said when you were hired to work for us?”

“I…I can’t…” Frank stumbled over his words. He felt thick and dumb…like he was going into a trance. How long had Gordon Jones been following him? What was going on?

“If you recall,” Gordon Jones continued, “I stated that Gaia Pharmaceutical is an international conglomerate. We have offices and people working for us all over the world. We are one of the richest companies in the world.”

Frank nodded, “Yes…I recall. And you stated that your drugs were just one small part of your success…..and that you had other projects....other areas of interest….”

“Very good Mr. Mason,” Gordon said, “And this…place…just happens to be one of those areas.”

“This place?” Frank asked, “Well…it looks quite old. This place is just ruins. Why didn’t you just come on in? Why wait until now?”

Mr. Gordon began to laugh. It was an easy laugh, but Frank sensed some tension in it. It made him uneasy to hear that laugh. It sounded strained….practiced.

“Oh Mr. Mason,” Gordon said, “You still don’t get it…do you?”

“Get what?” Frank asked, noticing that he could see the large monkey from earlier once again. It was sitting on top of its house and peeking over the edge at the two men as they talked. It was eyeing them suspiciously.

“Mr. Mason,” Gordon said, “Has anyone ever told you that you are a very special person? You have a true talent…a gift. You are a Finder.”

Frank was sure that he had heard Chuck refer to him as a Finder once. Supposedly he had a power to find things that other people couldn’t. But what did that have to do with this place? It was just a bunch of ruins in the middle of the jungle. It wasn’t exactly some deep, dark secret.

“I see that you are still confused, “ Gordon said, his feet hovering inches now above the ruins of the bricks that lay on the ground, “Let me explain. You see….this city….this temple….hasn’t been a secret to Gaia. We knew about it….at least…we knew the stories ABOUT this place. We just couldn’t FIND this place.”

“Why not?” Frank asked, looking back at the monkey again. The monkey had closed its eyes…like it was asleep. Frank guessed that it was still listening very carefully to what they were saying though.

How can a monkey listen though, he thought….that’s just crazy!

Gordon Jones continued, “You see….there is something here that Gaia Pharmaceutical would like to own…to possess. Something that would give us great power. We just couldn’t find this place because…and I know that this is going to sound insane…but this place isn’t always in the same location. It….it travels! Sometimes I don’t even think that it is on this planet.”

Frank stood stunned. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.

Gordon Jones touched down lightly on the ground. He reached down to straighten his jacket and then looked up at Frank, “Oh I assure you….I’m not. Surely you’ve seen enough of the hidden miracles by now to know that there is more to life on this little planet than you originally thought. Life is amazing…and there are more things on this earth that you haven’t even thought of.”

“So….what is it that you are after?” Frank asked, intrigued.

“How well do you know your Bible?” Gordon asked, walking up to Frank, “Have you ever heard about the story of the Garden of Eden?”

“Well…sure,” Frank smiled, “Most kids hear it in Sunday school. It was the place where Adam and Eve lived until they messed up. Then God kicked them out.”
Gordon laughed again…that forced, strained laughter. “Something like that,” he said, “But do you remember what was in the garden?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said, looking back at the temple which rose behind him like some misplaced mountain in a sea of green jungle, “Flowers, vegetables, trees…..the usual stuff.”

“Oh yes……I’m sure that it had all of those things,” Gordon said, eyeing the temple as well, “But do you remember what else was in there….the two special trees?”
“Well….one was the Tree of Knowledge,” Frank said, “The Bible states that was how Adam and Eve sinned…..they ate of the tree and then they knew that they were naked. But I can’t recall what else…”

“Why Mr. Mason,” Gordon stated quickly, “Think again….what was God keeping them from when he kicked them out of paradise?”

And then Frank remembered. “The Tree of Life!” he said.

“That’s right Mr. Mason,” Gordon smiled a slow, lazy smile. He pointed toward the temple which lay before them, “And if Gaia’s calculations are right….we will find that tree inside this temple. And with the Tree….we will find….immortality!”

Frank couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He turned completely around and took another look at the stone temple.

“How in the world could a tree live INSIDE that thing?” he said, “It wouldn’t be able to get sunlight….air….water!”

“Well Mr. Mason,” Gordon Jones’ voice came from behind him, “This is no ordinary tree. The fruit of it will let a man live forever….and I want that fruit! I want it so bad that I will do anything to get it. Even hire a stupid idiot like yourself to find it!”

“What are you talking…” Frank turned….and froze.

His blood ran cold. Gordon Jones was pointing a gun directly toward him.
“Unfortunately,” Gordon Jones smiled, “You won’t be able to live forever. You get to die….right now!”

And then….the world turned upside down.

Until next week….class dismissed.

Dragonfly Dreams, Part Fourteen

Frank Mason was running through the jungle. Any other person would have been overwhelmed by the immense, sticky heat and the smothering greenness of the Brazilian jungle. But Frank was in another place…a safe place inside his head. His body was running on autopilot.

The music! The music wouldn’t stop. Over and over, Billie Holiday’s voice rang out inside his skull:

Momma may have and Poppa may have
But God Bless the Child that’s got his own

And floating in front of his face…a dragonfly. Small and golden, the insect floated just out of his reach, although Frank was trying with all his might to catch it. He knew…just knew…that if he caught it and stopped the buzzing that everything would be alright. But it always seemed to be just a little bit in front of his clutching fingers. And still the songs of Billie Holiday kept playing…over and over inside his fevered brain.

Quickly covering ground, it didn’t take him long to enter parts of the jungle that were largely unexplored. The jungle began to fall back into clearing as his feet stumbled over rocks jutting up out of the ground. After almost tripping and splitting his head open, he finally stopped and looked down. No….they weren’t rocks. They were….they were….

“Bricks,” he whispered, looking up to see that the dragonfly had vanished. He wasn’t surprised. The music had stopped also. Somehow he knew that both the song and the insect had never been there anyway. They had just been illusions….ways to distract him….ways to make him enter into the jungle and find….this place.

Staring around in amazement, Frank saw that he was in the midst of a ruined city. Large, stone bricks lay like tombstones….marking the death of a civilization that had once stood in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. From the appearance of the ruins, it looked as though nobody had lived here…or even had stepped foot here….for hundreds (if not thousands) of years.

Tall stone pillars rose up like soldiers to his left. Streaming from their tops, large green vines snaked their way to the ground. Frank saw that there were small yellow and red snakes crawling in the vines. He wasn’t too sure if they were poisonous or not, but he decided to err on the side of safety. He pulled away from the vines, eyeing a snake that was crawling dangerously close to his left foot.

On his right, the ground was clearer. He walked that way and was amazed to see the remains of what once was probably a paved road. It had been cobbled with smooth stones and could have served as a main way into the city. He stepped carefully among the stones which remained of the ruined street.

Now that the music has stopped, he sensed that everything was quiet….eerily so. It wasn’t just that he didn’t hear the sounds of the city which he wouldn’t have expected anyway. It was that he didn’t hear ANY sounds….no birds, no monkeys, and not even the buzzing of insects. There weren’t any sounds at all….not even the wind. It was like death had settled on the ruins and was forbidding even the breath of the wind to stir the air. Frank wondered if he was walking toward his own demise.

But he had come this far. He tried to remember what Irza had tried to tell him…but that was all a blur. He remembered the old woman’s nurse whispering something in his ear while he stared at Irza’s one good eye and Billie Holiday’s voice filled his head like a siren song….leading him to his fate. The rest of it was just like a deep dream….easily forgotten.

Now that he was on the street which had apparently led into the heart of the city, he started looking to his left and right. He could make out the remains of buildings now. Most of them were long gone, leaving only a basic outline of rocks to mark their location. There were a few that were still standing…though barely. Large weeds and even trees had started to grow inside most of these husks of a dead civilization. However, he was surprised to pass one house which looked surprisingly in good condition. The front yard was free of weeds and vines, the walls looked sturdy, and even the roof was still on the structure. None of the other buildings had that….

And then he noticed that there was someone standing in the doorway of the house….watching him. It startled him and he almost gave a yelp of terror….but then he noticed. It wasn’t a person standing there. It was a monkey…a very large monkey. He knew that it wasn’t a gorilla. They were only found in Africa. So what in the heck was this large monkey doing in Brazil?

The monkey was large…almost as tall as a short human. He guessed that it would have to be at least 4 and ½ feet tall. It didn’t move….it didn’t grunt….it didn’t even appear to breathe. It just stood in the door of the little house and watched him. He felt unnerved by the feel of the monkey’s eyes upon him, but he didn’t stop walking. He saw with some interest that the monkey was wearing a necklace….with a large stone dragonfly on it. What was it with the dragonflies around here?

Rising in front of him, a large stone pyramid rose to the heavens. It wasn’t very large, but it was larger than any of the other buildings…or ruins of buildings…in the area. He seemed to be headed toward this building.

“A temple,” he whispered to himself, “It was a temple.”

He didn’t know how he knew that….he just knew. He took one more nervous glance back over his shoulder. The monkey was gone.

Soon, he came to the base of the temple. The ruined steps of this once great building stretched almost straight up. He knew that he was supposed to climb them….make his way to the small dark door at the top. But as he stared upward, all of the steps seemed to flow together. He felt dizzy and sick. Perhaps if he just rested a bit then things would clear up. He wondered where the monkey had gone. Had it gone to get friends….were they coming back to rip him apart?

Behind him, he heard the rustle of feet on stone. He froze. He knew that it had to be the monkey. It had waited until he was too tired to fight back…and now it was going to attack. He turned to face the rabid jaws of the beast.

It wasn’t the monkey.

“You?” he asked in amazement as he saw the last person in the world he expected to see.

Until next week….class dismissed.

Dragonfly Dreams, Part Thirteen

Chuck looked over at Harry McCain. It had been a tiring day so far…and the day was just getting started. A fly was buzzing around his head. With a swat of his hand, the fly disappeared. He felt a tingle on his arm and glanced down at it. There it was….a brand new tattoo of a fly. He doubted if he would be able to use that later for any practical purpose…but one never knew.

Harry grinned, “Since when did you start making tattoos out of little things like that? I thought you were more of a monkey man.”

“True,” Chuck said, “Monkeys are more valuable as far as causing commotions and such. But everything has its place. Surely you know that.”

Harry nodded his head toward Irza’s door, “What do you think is going on in there?”

“I don’t know mate,” Chuck said, “But if we need to know, we’ll find out. Hasn’t that always been our motto?”

“Right you are sir,” Harry said, but he stole another long look at Irza’s house. Chuck could tell that he was worried about what was going to happen.

And if by sheer thought alone, the door opened. A dazed looking Frank Mason stepped outside, squinting in the bright sunlight of the Brazilian countryside. He took a step forward…and then collapsed to his knees.

“FRANK!” Chuck yelled running toward him. It was his job to take care of Frank…to make sure that he got where he needed to go. The company…the Gaia Corporation…was paying him a lot of money to make that happen. He didn’t need Frank going all loopy now. What had Irza done to him?

“Frank,” Chuck repeated, catching the man before he could fall face first into the dust, “Hey mate…you okay? Harry! Get him some water….NOW!”

“Ammm okaaaaay,” Frank said. But his eyes weren’t right. They weren’t focused on anything. Instead they were just staring off into space, like he was seeing something far, far away.

Chuck asked, “Did you see Irza? Did she tell you what to do?”

Frank looked up at him at the mention of Irza’s name, “Irza? Oh yeeessss. I saw….I saw.”

Chuck knew that it had to have been a shock for Frank to see the old woman. To see who she looked like….who she was an exact copy of. Well…almost. Irza hadn’t had the privilege of wealth to keep her young and beautiful. Plus….it seemed that the copies…the clones…aged faster than normal. He knew that Irza wouldn’t be alive much longer.

“Irza,” Frank was mumbling again, “The one who has seen the face of God.”

“Well,” Chuck said, “That’s what they say. But then again…you don’t believe in God, so what do they know anyway?”

Harry came running up with a bowl of water. He gave it to Chuck who tried to get Frank to drink….but he wouldn’t.

“Look at the poor chap,” Harry said, “He is just staring off at nothing. What did she do to him?”

“I don’t know,” Chuck said, dipping his hand into the water and sprinkling it on Frank’s flushed face, “But whatever it was, it sure did a number on him.”

Frank began to mumble softly to himself. No…Chuck realized that he wasn’t mumbling…he was…

“Singing,” Chuck said slowly, “The guy is singing to himself.”

Both Chuck and Harry strained to listen to the low notes that Frank was singing…but it was hard to make it out. It was a strange tune….fast and low. They watched in amazement as Frank reached down and began to draw in the dust. His fingers worked quickly, making strange patterns and a hashing of crisscross lines.

“What’s he doing?” Harry hissed between his teeth.

“I don’t know mate,” Chuck whispered back, “But I’m not about to stop him to ask. Are you?”

Just then a shot rang out at the far end of the village…followed by screams. Chuck turned toward the sound. What in the world was going on?

The screams grew louder as villagers started running past him. Another shot rang out.

“Go get your gun Harry,” Chuck said, “Pronto!”

In the distance, running toward them, Chuck saw the cause of all the commotion.

“It seems that our lovely Miss Janet Jones has found us!” Chuck said, “I want to put a stop to her for once and for all. My dance card is full but she won’t take no for an answer!”

Harry ran off to get his gun. Chuck turned back toward Frank. He had to get him somewhere safe…away from that psycho Jones. She would stop at nothing, it seemed. He stopped and stared at the lines that Frank had drawn in the dirt.

It was a crude drawing…but there was no mistaking the picture for what it was: a giant dragonfly. Frank however was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished!

“Well that just makes my day,” Chuck muttered as a shot whizzed past his head.

Until next week….class dismissed!

Dragonfly Dreams, Part Twelve

The woman was old and wizened with years of living in the harsh jungles of Brazil. But there was no mistaking it. At one time, this woman would have passed for Oprah Winfrey’s twin. Sitting in a large red velvet chair underneath a softly twirling ceiling fan, she stared at Frank as the last notes of Billie Holiday faded away. One of her eyes had gone bad and simply stared forward with a milky whiteness. The other eye, however, was as sharp as ever.

He wondered how it had happened. How had this woman…this Irza…been created. And why did she look so much like Oprah Winfrey.

“It was an accident,” a voice startled him. It was a young girl who looked to be all of 12 years old. She was standing behind Irza’s chair. Dressed all in white, the girl had the appearance of a nurse. At least, that is what Frank was guessing that she was.

“The woman that you know as Mizzuz Winfrey visited this land many years ago,” the girl said, “Even back then she was looking for a place to build schools…to help people live better lives. She visited this very village. The day was hot and the pond….yes, that very same pond you saw earlier….looked inviting.”

“But didn’t the villagers warn her?” Frank was in shock. He was staring at a clone of Oprah Winfrey…but she looked so old. What had happened to her?

“Of course they did sir,” the nurse said, “But surely you know that strong-willed women will always be strong-willed…no matter what others try to do to dissuade them. Mizzuz Winfrey simply waited until nightfall…and then slipped away from the village.”

And then Frank knew what had happened next. She had gone for a swim…against the wishes of the villagers….in the pond. The magic pond. And then how long had it taken for her to see what had come out of the waters with her?

“So Oprah Winfrey knows about this place?” Frank asked.

“No sir,” the nurse reached out to stroke Irza’s hair, “When the villagers found out what Mizzuz Winfrey was doing, they came to the pond and ‘persuaded’ her to get out. Of course, Mizzuz Winfrey took it all wrong….she and her entire group left. No money…no school….nothing. And then….soon after….”

She looked down at Irza. She didn’t finish her sentence…..she didn’t have to. Frank knew what had come springing to the surface of the waters. The village had their own version of Oprah Winfrey to keep them company.

Just then Irza gave a moist, meaty cough that made Frank’s chest hurt just to hear. The nurse stepped forward with a cloth and wiped the old woman’s mouth. She offered Irza a glass of water but it was refused.

Her body is old, Frank thought, but her eye is as sharp as a hawk’s eye.

For some strange reason, Frank felt as though he should bow. He knelt forward and tipped his head in the direction of Irza.

She didn’t speak but only lifted her hand. The song changed into “God Bless the Child.” Yet again, it was Billie Holiday singing. Frank didn’t notice any speakers anywhere. The music seemed to be coming from the very air around him.

“Mizzuz Irza welcomes you…you who are most favored,” the young nurse said, not leaving her post behind Irza’s chair.

“Why thank you,” Frank said, “It is a pleasure to finally meet Miss Irza.”

The nurse held up her hand to silence Frank. He watched as she cocked her head to one side as though she was listening to someone speak directly into her ear.
“Mizzuz Irza says that you have come a long way,” the nurse continued, “She says that you are looking for something.”

Frank thought to himself about this strange journey that he had been taking. It seemed like it was months ago when he had landed in Brazil…on a mission by the Gaia Corporation. He knew that he was expected to find something…but he just didn’t know what. And now….would Janet Jones find it before him?

Irza’s hand flew up once again. The song changed. This time it was Billie Holiday singing “It Had to Be You.”

“Mizzuz Irza says that you are the one who are destined to find it,” the nurse said. Frank wondered what was stranger: the fact that the nurse was getting mental messages from the old woman or the fact that he didn’t find this in the least bit strange.

“But what is it?” Frank asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

“I can’t say sir,” the nurse said, “Mizzuz Irza won’t say. I just keep getting images of fire…hot fire….that leaps out at me. It….it scares me sir.”

Irza’s hand flew up once more. It wasn’t Billie Holiday this time. Frank recognized the song as “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie.

“Oh sir!” the nurse exclaimed, bending down to wipe Irza’s brow with a cool cloth, “Mizzuz Irza just told me that you have to hurry! The other one…the one named Mizzuz Jones…is on the right path. You have to hurry….you will find it….tomorrow!”

“But I don’t even know what I’m looking for!” Frank demanded angrily. He stared hard and deep at Irza. She wasn’t moving. Her skin was sagging with age. Her hair was a white, wiry mess. And what was with that eye? The other one stared at him with a ferocious strength that somehow kept him from running toward her and demanding answers to all of his questions.

Until next week……class dismissed!