Future Writer Chapter 18 (5 pages)

Chapter 18

We met for lunch and it was the same ole story as earlier that day. Her possessiveness and jealousy was overwhelming. I never thought that I'd be glad to get away from her. I found that the mind reading drugs lasted on and on providing that I didn't drink a sugar solution. It did however fade as days turned into weeks from the sugar in food. The whole time that I was under the influence of the drug I continued to focus on Alexia. Night and day, at home and at work, she would be thinking of me. Even in her dreams I could see flashes of myself. I couldn't reverse the thought injection because the leaves were all gone.

I just avoided her the best I could. That was difficult being that she called me almost hourly at both home and work. In her thoughts I could read that she was becoming homicidal. She was thinking of killing all those who talked to me.

This included men and women alike. Then one day I picked up faint distressed thought patterns. I didn’t know what was going on until I was driving home from work and on the radio I heard, "Upon the arrest of Warlord and drug cartel, Enver Projeski, by the Islamic Nationalist Alliance for the murder of a rival warlord Ivan Meddlkov, Russian troops have sealed off the city of Dushanbe. Of those trapped in the city are some two thousand U.N. workers, embassy employees, and the employees of numerous relief agencies. The President has call for an emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issue of negotiating the release of the Americans hostages in Dushanbe. Projeski has been suspected as being the primary supplier of drugs into the former Soviet Union and has formed an alliance with the Russian militia leaders for financial backing. If tensions increase, the cold war is eminent.

From the White House, this is Carol Harper, CBXC news."

Enver Projeski was just a name which I fabricated by selecting and combining two different name from the Tajik phone directory. What had I started? I called Alexia to give me the 'who’s who' in Tajikistan.

"Hello?"

"Alexia? This is Sam."

"Hi Sam. Have you heard what is going on at home?... my home that is?"

"Yes, but I do not understand who is after who. Could you explain the situation?"

"Can I come over?" she asked.

"Yes... Of course you can."

"I'll be right over."

I quickly performed a field-day (clean-up) of the apartment. I tried to read her thoughts as she came over to find out where she was. She stopped at a store for a bottle of wine. She's expecting an intimate evening. I don't think it's going to happen. I have to find out what I've caused before anyone gets hurt. I turned on the television to gather any information that I could.

"At this moment it unclear what, if anything has been resolved in the President's meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but we do know this, the USS Saratoga has changed course for the Asiatic Sea along with for escort ship. There is talk that if the situation deteriorate in Dushanbe there may another Desert Storm. If that happens it's fearful that Russia will regroup its alliance with China and a cold war confrontation may erupt......"

I flipped through the channels and all of the other stations said the same thing. I became so wrapped up in what was going on that I forgot about Alexia coming over. The doorbell rang.

"Hi!" said Alexia as she walked through the door.

"Won't you come in?" I said after she walked passed me.

"Sure, don't mind if I do."

"Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you.... Oh I brought this along in case we have dinner or something we would have something to drink."

"Thank you. I'll set it on the counter."

We sat on the couch with plenty of space between us. I didn't want her to dive into her infatuation just yet. I wanted to find out what was going on so I could correct the situation if possible.

"Could you," I asked her, "fill me in on what is going on in your country?"

"My husband," she said while swallowing hard, "was a Russian drug... person. He was in a power struggle against Enver Projeski over who controlled what section of the country. The Russian encouraged their fighting in Tajikistan because it kept the fighting away from their borders. Although my husband was Russian, they didn't mind his death. This gave Enver Projeski control of the underworld. You know... the black market... the drugs and the weapons. Meanwhile the Islamic Nationalist Alliance took power in Tajikistan. They oppose the communist way of doing things. The Russians did not like this but they didn't mind either, as long as they stayed away from the Russian borders. If fact, the only reasons the Russian were there were to keep the Afghan people out, and allow the drugs to cross the borders. The drugs would be loaded onto Russian military aircraft and distributed across Russia. This is how the Russian militia is financed. When Enver Projeski was arrested, the Islamic people gained control over the borders and the Russian high ranking leader were cut off from their drug money. So the Russian want Projeski released to Afghanistan to re-establish the flow of drugs and weapons into Russia."

Alexia shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. She continued, "...The taking of hostages will usually cause the government to give in to their demands, but this time the government has not released Projeski yet and it's been three days. I think he is dead.... Projeski I mean. That is why the Islamic Nationalist are not... or have not released Projeski."

"If that is true, what do you think will happen?"

"I think the Russian will fight for control of the border and the war will be between the Islamic people and the Russians."

"Why would you suppose the Americans are so involved?"

"Because there are Americans held hostage in the city of Dushanbe."

"How could this be solved with the least amount of bloodshed?"

"I don't know.... It's kind of... hard to explain... because of the way Islamic people view dying.... I remember once when I was little girl... I hated a neighbor girl... and one day a boy from other street came and tried to take something of hers while she wasn't there. I teld him to put back, this item. He would not so I grabbed it and held it very hard. The neighbor girl who I hated came out and we ... together got back her thing which he was taking. I guess what this situation needs is a common enemy... like something which is threat to mankind or something... I don't know... I think this would pull people together... It's just a thought."

After she was finished I excused myself to use the restroom but instead I pulled out the Ledgerl and jotted down notes from our conversation. When I came out she asked if I was all right because of how long I was in there. I made dinner and we drank the whole bottle of wine without realizing it. The wine lowered my resistance to her infatuation. Before long we were sitting side by side looking at my baby pictures. I had no idea how we got on to the subject of baby pictures but here we were. One of the pictures was of me naked in the bathtub. She began laughing an hysterical laugh while saying, "You're soooo cute."

She pinched my cheek and added in a drunk way, "I'd like to see you naked now."

At that moment, I was living every man's dream. I never thought I'd have the experience of having a woman as beautiful as Alexia saying she wanted me naked.

I told myself that I would keep my distance because of the condition Alexia was in after the thought injection, but the wine has caused my resistance to be down.

She sat closer to as we looked at the pictures. She moved the photo album between her lap and mine. I leaned back against the back of the couch. As she looked at the book my eyes caressed her soft dark hair, her slender neck, her pale brown skin. I could see the impression of her spine knuckling through her shirt. The muscles in her back would tense and then relax with each turn of the page. Her body shook and shrugged with each laugh caused by the infant child in the pictures. I knew that I shouldn't look at her this way. As she turned the last page she closed the book and set it on couch next to her. She leaned back on the couch and looked at me as if I were the only man on the planet. Without saying a word a soft gentle calm came to her. At that moment, I was looking at her as I've never seen her before. She was as radiant as sunshine. I felt a tingling, energetic, feeling run through my body. I put my arm up on back the couch and she snuggled into it. She was looking so deeply into my eyes that I could swear that she could read my thoughts. I placed my other hand on her thigh and she sighed. She raised her hand and ran her fingers through my hair.

I knew that this night would end in bliss. Before we touched anymore, she said to me, "Don't move. I'll be right back."

She picked herself up from the couch and walked into the bathroom. Although I could read her mind the thought never occurred to me. I was in too much in the state of ecstasy. Before she came out I began telling myself that I shouldn't be doing this. She should do this on her own, not under the spell of the ledger.

She came out of the bathroom and turned the lights off along the way. She curled up next to me on the couch. She smelled like a rose garden and was as soft as cotton. The stars glistened through the window.

The next morning we woke up on the couch. We both overslept. It was well past the time we should left for work. We both called in sick and spent the entire blissful day together. I felt as though I owned the world. Parting that evening was difficult, but we knew we'd meet again, or so I thought. By the next morning allied forces invaded Soviet occupied Dushanbe and had joined the

fighting. In retaliation, acts of terrorism erupted across the United States and Britain. Curfews had been established and the national guard had been deployed. By the week’s end fighting had erupted across China and southern Russia. Fighting and terrorism spread like wildfire. Russian and Chinese nationalist were escorted to make shift camp. Alexia was one of those to go.

Of what power I had to read thought I focused on Alexia. I received brief fragments of fright and she felt a soothing when she thought of me. Then one day I could not find her thoughts. For a long time I didn't know what had become of her. I knew that I could still read thoughts, just not hers. My days and nights were consumed by the thought of her.

I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what until I was called by a camp guard that said my photo with a phone number was found in a wallet that was located amongst the rubble of a camp building that was hit by a missile. He told me that a white supremacy group targeted the camp in retaliation for the war.

A missile was shot into the compound. Alexia had been killed.

For the next two weeks I couldn't eat, sleep, or even think a thought that didn't have her in it. From the plane crash in South America to the day on the Jet Ski, to the night of passion, I could not get her out of my mind. I found myself visiting the places were together and the pain was intense, yet

I wanted her fresh in my memory. I read over and over the ledger entries and each time I read them as if it were the first time. Just as when I would read of my grandfather, I could feel the experience in my mind. By this time the war had escalated and Eastern Europe was heavy with blood shed.

"Blood shed? Where did I read about blood shed?"

Then it occurred to me that Alexia last told me that a common enemy would pull mankind together. What would be a good common enemy. A plague or a famine would be a good common enemy but unfortunately it's far more destructive than the benefit. A flood or some sort of natural disaster would be an idea, but that would not involve everyone. It needs to be fair and affect everyone.

Astrophysicist are talking of a comet that is racing to earth. How would we stop a comet? I wasn't sure what to write about but I knew I had to do something quick.