Connections Read online

  Connections

  R.H. Vesely

  COPYRIGHT

  First published in United States, September 28, 2013

  Copyright © R.H. Vesely

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be circulated in writing of any publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This book has been produced for the Amazon Kindle and is distributed by Amazon Direct Publishing

  Cover art by Sydney KV

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  We can be deceived by believing what is untrue, but we certainly also are deceived by not believing what is true.

  Kierkegaard

  Frequency of words in the Bible and Quran:

  Bible Quran

  Wrath/Punishment 225 110

  Fear 400 155

  Love 311 36

  Peace 429 63

  *The Bible contains roughly 6 times as many verses as the Quran and the Quran is somewhat more repetitive than the Bible.

  Connections

  Prologue

  You could not really say it was living but in some way you were alive or at least your brain was but then that would not be accurate either since to have the organ called brain you would have to have a body and that you most assuredly did not have. Also it would be hard to imagine what you would do with a body here, there really was no here in the sense of physical place. Inen had often wondered about this as he did with most things. He was a being or entity driven to find answers to the unknown or even the unknowable.

  So far he had determined that where or what he came back to was filled with others who had at least one thing in common, all their names began with the letter "I". He also knew that there was another place where all the others names began with with "O" and another place where all the others names began with "Y". This he knew from a mistake that occurred and he for an instant came back to the "O" group and the other he knew through another "I" who had the same thing happen with a "Y" group.

  As to where he existed this was also hard to define in words that made any sense. There was clearly one "place" where if you had just returned or were not viewing you existed. Here you existed and could communicate with a large group of other "I"s. Otherwise your "place" was defined by who you were viewing and here you would exist only with other "I"s who might be watching people involved in what you were watching.

  He knew that while here he had complete memory of all his past lives but that once you went in, this all seemed to disappear. One might think this would be great fun and it often was but it was also a great hindrance. Experience taught Inen that many "I"s got so caught up in reminiscing and re-viewing that they wasted their viewing time for their next going in and when you reached your personal time limit you went into whoever was going to be the next implantation. You might get lucky but you also might get very unlucky, you had no choice. As a result, Inen's rule was to chat briefly with the "I" group to see if there was anyone he knew and then spend all his time viewing.

  Inen usually began his viewing by choosing some present time location in North America and rapidly viewing places such as colleges, bars, restaurants and large work places where likely candidates might be. If someone interested him, he would then start looking at his or her recent past and move even further back if he felt it warranted. You did not actually move anywhere you were just there by deciding to be there. By communicating you could sometimes discover who other "I"s were watching but not always, especially if there was a pair in the viewing in whom many were interested. In this case, others would often lie saying they were watching some collateral person in the scene trying to throw you off and gain an edge for possible going in.

  He also knew that the other "I"s were neither female or male, gay or straight. This distinction did not occur until you went in and actual going in did not occur until there was a good attachment. You could make your selection after fertilization but going in did not occur until attachment. So there was a small last period of time, but if you waited, there was always a good chance another would get in ahead of you. For many "I"s who hoped for the "perfect pair", it happened more often than not.

  Inen's chosen way of confronting this difficulty was to view people who he believed would not necessarily be attractive to others. He avoided people who appeared that they would lead good, pleasant, normal, successful lives and looked for what he thought of as the outliers. Often troubled and flawed people of passion but sometimes just odd people who fit no mold but were not ones others would be likely to spend much time viewing. Inen also was possibly one of the most dedicated "I" viewers. He rarely took a break from the intense, complex and exhausting process of viewing. While others might be focused on two or three pairs, Inen might be trying to follow a dozen.

  This is what Inen knew and had known for some time but when he came back the last time something had changed and he was now bent on finding out if this was new knowledge or just some internalized hope.

  Ia - Jesus Inen when was the last time I saw you. I think it was two or three times back. Wasn't it when you were going for that couple who were living in the midwest. How did that work out .

  In - Well not so well. You know Iain, every once in a while for the hell of it you take a flier. You know figuring they're young they're smart, really smart, creative, seemingly enamored with each other and you know stranger things have happened. It could be great fun and time was getting short and I had devoted almost all my time studying them. I thought for sure that they would follow through to birth so I jumped in.

  Ia - Yeah, so what happened?

  In - Lasted about 5 weeks until the illegal abortion.

  Ia - God I warned you about that one but you wouldn't listen. A 17 yer old female Jew, a 19 year old wasp in the theatre department no less, what the hell were you thinking.

  In - Well I had just finished an 80 year stint in Kansas waiting for the rapture, if you can believe it, and so I was a bit desperate for something that spoke of life.

  Ia - Not exactly a long oration.

  In - Very funny, like I said time was short. What are you looking for this time another working class hero or have you given up on the ennobling struggle you were prattling about last time.

  Ia - Nah, screw that I am going to hang in for a bit and go for a couple generation wealth or power or maybe both.

  In - Man you are going to be here a while and if your number
plays out you could end up in Kansas like I did. I'm telling you man if you want to know about hell on earth or at least the dawn of the living dead you may soon find out and they live a long time.

  Ia - Hey speaking of long time, remember Isai from that time? Well listen to this after the midwest fell through Isai popped up and was here waiting like your plan. Isai knew it was close to going where ever and sweating bullets.

  In - Yeah hadn't Isai come back from being a chicken worker in Missouri because he had tried the same thing the time before. God I remember his regaling us with the intricacies of slaughtering chickens and the wonders of chicken shit. He was funny as shit, bad choice of words, but he could tell a great story. Hadn't he pulled off being somebody famous once, I mean way back.

  Ia - Exactly, she was Saint Ethelburga of Barking and she had a Sister Saint Sexburga. She said sainthood was like a family business, I think even all four sisters were saints.

  In - That's right and they all had been or were very sexually active. Isai had a zest for life. God when she would get going on the barking and the sex, bellowing orgasmically while barking I thought, lucky I don't have a body or I would be pissing myself right now.

  Ia - So anyway, time runs out, he ends up as the child of a circus freak couple and his mom is billed as the dog woman. Obviously not high on anybody's list but what are the odds. I hope to hell I bump in to him again. Can you imagine what he will do with that. I crack up just thinking about it.

  In - You know I have been wondering about exactly that. I don't know if you noticed but we seem to be coming back to a lot of the same group of people.

  Ia - Actually it is kind of nice that we get to see some of the same people but the lives are generally getting longer. It makes it hard to quickly catch up with someone over what has been going on.

  In - Maybe that's why Isai was so great she could capture the essence all in a good story.

  Ia - Ok, so I assume now you have come to your senses and that abortion put the kibosh on that whole thing about love or whatever it was you were going on about before.

  In - Nope, I'm still a believer and I'm not sure I would call it love just a potential for deep connectedness to others that I sense is important. I guess it is what I think of as love but that word has been so bastardized that it is tough to use.

  Ia - You have got to be kidding, right. My friend that is like beating your head against the wall. It feels so good when you stop and it is time for you to stop.

  In - So whose lives have you been watching? I've been scoping out these two who there can be no question are passionately in love.

  Ia - Jesus are you even listening to me! Love or lust my friend, remember not to get caught up in it like you have before.

  In - Yeah, yeah well it is still early on and nothing definite but they have possibilities and a kid they raise could possibly have an impact.

  Ia - So you still believe in this impact stuff.

  In - Well it would be sort of nice to know that you moved the world a bit further along in a positive direction.

  Ia - Like what? You hoping to eradicate some disease?

  In - No, right now that is mostly a waste. I mean they keep using modern medicine to allow poor people to live longer or escape child death but not sure it really helps. They don't have any more resources or food just more people. In fact it makes the simpler I think more fulfilling life of living off the land virtually impossible and the friggin cities just keep getting bigger. From experience I would rather have thirty years of just getting by sort of happiness than eighty years of neurotic regret popping 15 different pills a day or god forbid sifting though garbage in a city dump to just survive.

  Ia - So how the hell are you going to have an "impact".

  In - Ok here is my present and I stress present thinking. I figure if I can find a kind empathetic pair who love each other they will give me a life of love and teach me how to be empathetic and kind to others. Basically through all our kindness towards ourselves and others the world will slowly get a little better to be in. Less neuroses, pills, loneliness that sort of thing and less tolerance of brutal poverty and degrading of others. I think of it as a pair who have a deep connectedness.

  Ia - Wow, looking for never never land huh. Look we both have been there enough to know that despite all the crap that people spout, human beings are not by nature very kind sorts and even if they had some general inkling of altruism, it is precisely the neurotic ones who get the power and money and keep it all going with a vengeance. Remember you take nothing back with you. So there is a pretty good chance that if this so loving duo screws you up as a kid you will strike back in some way. In fact, the odds are not in your favor from my and you would have to admit your experience.

  In - Maybe so, just maybe so..... So what's your answer?

  Ia - Simple, try to pick one that will be fun and interesting and where the local society is likely to see you as successful, since neurotic and selfish is basically guaranteed. As the song goes "make it easy On yourself".

  In - I admit that one thing that troubled me the most was that we don't remember anything so how do we progress. I mean imagine if we even kept a little bit of our knowledge relative to religions and how they really came about, a great deal of the misery and violence would disappear. Or imagine that my concept of connectedness somehow carried over.

  Ia - You know I am not so sure about that. I mean religions may just provide a vehicle or outlet for human beings that would just find another outlet. Look at what happened with communism or look at all the tribal and national conflicts and hatred most of which would certainly exist absent religion. The only thing that seems to abate this slaughter of person on person is when someone or group achieves power that is opposed to it and frankly I am hard pressed for any significant examples. It may be that the tendency lessens a bit but the weaponry available when the mood so to speak hits is so much more advanced that the actual killing and misery is certainly on a par or likely higher. It used to be that to have a mass slaughter armies of people would battle each other and have to deal with the actual act of killing. Now you can kill or starve people half way around the world and never even have to see them other than to evaluate the effectiveness of the slaughter.

  In - Sure but what about what I call the big kill. Where the ecosystem that sustains human life on the planet is destroyed. The biggest thing I see that could prevent the coming together that is needed to see it as one species, one planet is religion. When you throw in our god against your god and each side believing that theirs is the only one and only by holding to this belief they will go to a better place, it is difficult to see them working together. That's why even though I may be an idiot, I still hold out for love. I mean in the sense of a unifying principle for moving things in a positive direction. I think it is the one thing in humankind that sometimes works. I think religion has bastardized or co opted its possibilities. It feeds the basic drive by talking about it but then throws in all the vengeful, jealous stuff and that everyone but us believers is screwed twenty five ways from Sunday. It basically uses raw fear to trump love but notice that it still feels the need to pay lip service to love. I think there is a reason for that. I am so sick of the everyone who is not us is going to burn in hell but our god is loving and forgiving. Haven't seen a lot of that going around but they still have to include it. You see what I mean.

  Ia - Ok, Imagine for example that no one was willing to commit a suicide bombing in the name of whatever religion. Do you think the killing would go down much, not likely. While religion appears to be at the root of it I doubt it. I think it would be quickly replaced by other us and them thinking that would lead to the same level of killing. I mean look at Stalin, Mao, Khmer Rouge etc not a whole lot of religion going on there and they were mostly killing their own people. Can you feel the love.

  In - Ok, enough, you are depressing me and let's just agree to disagree.

  Ia - Fair enough, how about we take a look at your latest find? What are their
names?

  In - Not telling all you'll do is rag on them. I prefer to see the possibilities.

  Ia - No, no really I will try to keep an open mind and see it through your eyes. I would love to be convinced.

  In - Are you just screwing with me, you cold assed son of a bitch.

  Ia - Language please, no I really want to try, ok.

  In - I am sure to regret this but Pat and Kelley. They met by chance, they are young and good chance she is going to be pregnant.

  Ia - You know to digress, I wonder why it is we can see their whole lives in a short period of time up to the point of pregnancy but nothing after that until we come back. Do you think there is a god and we are his amusement. I mean you would have to admit that in a rather dark way it is pretty funny when we exhaust our energy picking someone only to end up in an abortion or waiting too long and getting stuck in a freak show like Isai.

  In - I know, it seems like an unending hall of mirrors and never knowing what is on the other side. The only thing I am fairly sure of is the god or gods they talk about are not it. I guess I just accept our lives as the way of the universe. It just is and you never know that freak show child could be part of the answer. So care to take a look at Pat and Kelley?

  Ia - Really, you're serious? Well never let it be said that I did not enjoy a good laugh, lay on McDuff.

  Chapter 1

  Dave lived in a huge old mansion set high on the hill that overlooked the city below. It had an entry foyer the size of most peoples apartments and the obligatory large library with shelves of old books, burgundy leather furniture and a huge fireplace. It was architecturally and spatially impressive. The same could not be said for Dave. Though not bad looking he was a bit of a dud largely due to a set of parents who were equally boring but financially successful. Spring had sprung and Dave, Pat and Sean had begun celebrating their spring break from college earlier in the day. They were in fact pretty well lit as they took turns sliding across the newly waxed marble foyer into the walls. Dave was desperately trying to keep a lid on it but as Sean and Pat kept plying him with more beer his concern over what his father would do to him over the streaks in the wax faded. They were getting drunk and as with any 18 year old males the childish joy of sliding soon gave way to the topic of women. This was especially the case today since Sean had the keys to his brothers apartment. This fortuitous event came about because his older brother was still on his honeymoon somewhere in the Caribbean and had foolishly given Sean a set of keys so he could keep the plants watered.