Come Live With Me And Be My Love (So I Can Kill You)

I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

Angels, and ministers of grace, defend us!

Not mad, but bound more than a madman is…

The Saga of Neils and Susan

And all my mother came into mine eyes. And gave me up to tears.

It almost never happened during the Spring and Summer, this sitting in the rocker in front of the bay window watching the breeze carry the forms of beings and things on their journeys along a certain slice of time and space. North Island, the entire North Archipelago, really, was just too much fun during the warm months. There was too much to see and do. Trekking around the islands was always interesting, in part, because things, landmarks, trails, and the like, could change. At least that’s what it looked like to Asgeir. Not that the changes were profound, mind you, no. There would be a stand of trees that was several feet closer to or farther away from the road than it was last week. Trails could appear, not right in front of your face, but over the course of several days, then vanish again.

His best friends, Caleb, Joshua, and Harry liked to accompany him on these treks. The changes could be seen by any islander at any time, but they seemed a bit more pronounced when Asgeir was along, or when they went along with Asgeir. At the age of ten he had learned that, if he looked at a part of the landscape in a sort of sideways fashion with his mind, he could see what the changes might be in the next few days.

He had often wondered if he decided to walk down a certain dirt road or trail and that trail disappeared, would he disappear, too? Asgeir realized that that had probably happened countless times already in his life. He surmised that if a path he was on disappeared, then that probability disappeared, but not him. That was not right, either, he thought after a while. The probability always existed, it could never be destroyed. It’s just that he could no longer see it. It was as if it had become refracted out of his line of sight.

During one of these beautiful summer hikes, he met a girl, and what a girl she was. She was small. Four feet, ten and one-half inches in her flip-flops. Four-foot-ten in her bare feet. She had big, brown eyes, which on North Island made her different. Most people, after living on the island for more than ten years had their eye color change to a variation of blue-green. Their children were then born with blue-green eyes and their children after that. If these people moved from the island their eyes gradually changed back to what their genetics dictated their eye color ought to be. Not Glory Audel, no. Her mother and father had the blue-green eyes of everyone else, but she was born with coffee-brown eyes and coffee-brown they remained for the rest of her life.

Caleb, Josh, Harry, and Asgeir where out hiking around the Northern-most island in the Archipelago, nicknamed Nordkapp. They had brought their surf-casting rods and had been fishing, somewhat successfully, when they spotted two people walking toward them from some distance. This was not terribly odd to see, but since Nordkapp was more than one-hundred miles from North Island, it was no trivial thing, either. To make the journey usually meant bringing a tent and supplies because it would be difficult to travel to the outlying island, do what you wanted to do, and get back on the same day. Most people made a long weekend of it. This is what the boys had done.

When the figures got close Asgeir realized that it was George Audel and his daughter, Glory.

“Hello, there, fellas! Anything biting?”

Caleb held up a very large striper in his right hand.

“Wow! Yeah, when I was younger this is where the boys and I would come to fish and camp for the weekend.”

“Cal seems to be having more luck than the rest of us.”

“Harry Martin? Is that you? Weren’t you ten years old just last week?”

“Sure seems that way, Mr. Audel. I’m seventeen now.”

“Unbelievable. Some of my fondest memories are of camping out on this beach with your fathers, and sometimes, your mothers, too!”

Cal said, “I’ve heard the stories, Mr. Audel. You are a bit of a legend with both of my parents.”

“Thank you, Cal. No finer man lives on these islands than Arthur Smith.”

Asgeir, who had been silent until now, completely ignored George Audel and said a little sheepishly, “Hi, Glory.”

George Audel coughed a little and said, “Hey, fellas, is it ok with you if Glory hangs out here for a while? She won’t get in the way. I have to go back to our camp and get dinner started.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Audel,” Cal said and he thought he could hear Asgeir let out the breath he’d been holding.

An hour later we saw a small plane fly overhead, rocking its wings. Glory said “Hey! That’s my dad’s plane! What’s he doing?!”

A few seconds later she received a text from her dad which read “You’re welcome.”

She texted back, “Dad! What are you doing?! How am I going to get back home?!”

“Don’t you like Asgeir? He’s a special young man. Something about him. Can’t put my finger on it.”

“Dad! Really?!” She texted frantically.

“Glory, you’re fifteen now. You know how things work around here. It’s time you started at least thinking about marriage. I spoke to the Joergensens and they agree. I know you like him. The boys knew you were coming. We had that banter scripted in advance. You will go back with them. You’re safe. I know it. Love you, sweetheart.” and George Audel would reply no more.

That was how Asgeir Joergensen and Glory Audel fell in love. They began spending a lot of time together, especially at the Joergensen house in the over-stuffed chair in front of the bay window.

“Who are these “friends” you told me about? Are they real people?”

“Well, they’re real, but not really people.” Asgeir said giving Glory a devilish grin as she sat ensconced in his arms in the large chair.

“It is a beautiful day. I love blizzards. I love you. I never want to be without you.” said Glory.

Asgeir did his best to keep a poker face, but Glory saw a change in his eyes.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you want to be with me forever? Don’t you love me?”

Asgeir stared out to the blowing snow, not sure how to answer.

“Asgeir, don’t you love me?! I love you so much and you don’t love me?!” Glory said through tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.

Asgeir looked at her with an expression of deepest love, warmth, and affection. “Glory, I love you more than I can tell you. I have loved you since that day on the beach when your father played match-maker. I love you, I love you, I love you.” He then kissed her on the cheek and pulled her closer to him.

Glory looked visibly relieved but cried all the more. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him crying into him.

Asgeir directed her to look out the window to see the late-afternoon light saying good-evening to the storm raging outside that did not seem to care about the light.  He focused his mind then reached out to Glory’s mind allowing her to see through his lens, to see what he could see and, to some degree, feel what he could feel. When he did this, Glory nearly screamed. Asgeir quickly wrapped his mind around hers giving her an immediate sense of safety. He explained to her what was going on, told her to not be frightened and to see what he was seeing. What she saw was beyond her ability to describe.

The world of trees and snow and wind was replaced by random geometric shapes of different colors. Interspersed among the colorful shapes were voids, places empty of anything and everything. Asgeir could feel Glory’s mind recoil in fear.

“Glory, honey, shhhh. Let the scene settle a bit. It’s a little bit nauseating at first, I know.”

“Yes, it is. This is so scary! It’s beautiful, but it’s scary! Is this what you can see every day?”

“Well, yes, I can see this, but wait for things to even out and you will see what I normally see.”

“Asgeir, I don’t like this….wait! I can see things now! There are people out there!”

Asgeir gave Glory a little interior hug and a smile. He knew that Glory was special, he just knew it. “Ok, things are still jelling for you. It may take another five minutes or so, but it will be worth it.”

“Ok, sweetie, I love you so much!”

“I love you, too, baby.”

Five minutes later, Glory, looking through the mind-eyes of Asgeir said “My God, Asgeir. My God, Asgeir. My God.”

“I told you. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Look at all the people! Not just people but people who aren’t people! Who, what are they?”

“They are many people and many things. Some of them are people who have lived here in the past. Some are people who will live here in the future. Some are, well, it’s very hard to describe what they are. Strains of consciousness, electromagnetic patterns that we normally perceive as visible light or hear as static on radios, old-style radios, anyway.”

“They’re all so wonderful! Can you talk to them?”

“Most of them are wonderful. Some are not. Some are so bad that you could not imagine it if you tried. Yeah, I can talk to them, if I want. Some of them talk to me.”

“What do they say?”

Asgeir did not respond.

“Asgeir? What do they say? Please tell me.”

“Sometimes they talk to me about what might happen in the future. Sometimes it pans out. Sometimes not. Mostly they talk about baseball. They’re obsessed with baseball.”

“Baseball? You’re pulling my leg and I know it. You’re not going to tell me what they speak to you about, are you?”

“No.”

“And nothing I do or say will change your mind? I bet I could find a way to loosen your tongue.”

“Not until you’re out of my mind. And my tongue is loose enough around you, as it is.”

“And how. Please tell me!”

“Nope. Not going to happen.”

“How does a girl pout when seeing the world through her boyfriend’s mind?”

“You can pout all you want. I’m not telling you and I will loosen you up later and you’ll forget all about it.”

“Ok. You’re the boss.”

“I am.”

“For such a sweet guy you can have a spine of steel when you have the mind to.”

“In my business, that’s a requirement.”

“And what is your business?”

“Nope.”

And that was that.

 

Copyright 2018 by Andrew Payne