Stephen's Secure Blog #193
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 16 in this story, in the Summer after year 6 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #193 "Shield and Flute"
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I made a padded box for the shield. It had wheels and a handle, so we
didn't have to cary it. I ported us and the box to an unobserved spot
near the museum director's office. We went there. I said "In case you
remember me differently, I'm Stephen." He looked at me in surprise, and
said, "The violinist!" I smiled, and said, "Sometimes, but I think
you're not anticipating music at the moment." He said "But that was you
at the Siam, correct?" I said "I am who I am, wherever I am. Why all
this fuss about a little music?" He said "That was only little to you?"
I said "Actually yes. We did much more than that earlier in the evening
at my house. But we're here about the shield. If you're not
said "But I don't see any instruments here." He said "I play the flute,
and I have one, a student practice model, here in my desk."
Srinoy said "Stephen plays the flute, too." I said to him, "He
doesn't need to know that. We are supposed to be talking about the
shield." He said "I know, but you have art and music. I only have
music." I hugged him and said, "Oh. That's true. I didn't think of it
that way. We can talk some more about music." I said to the director,
"Srinoy is a musical prodigy on the piano. I expect him to be as an
adult, the best in history." He said "Wow!" I said "I agree. He played
the Grieg Piano Concerto, that I had the pleasure of conducting, that
afternoon. An expert said it was the best ever." He said "Why have I
never heard of either of you?" I said "Because that's the way it has to
be. Because of who we are, and what we really do, we must not be famous
that way." He said "What a loss to the world!" I said "Not really. Our
music is being recorded, and some of it will be released anonymously.
Some more will be released in about 15 years." He said "But what do you
do that should keep you unknown?" I grinned and said, "If we told you,
wouldn't that go against that requirement?"
That got his attention. I said "So please keep such things
confidential. Or do you need me to ask your government to tell you to?"
He said "Oh! That explains it. You couldn't donate what you do, if you
were not rich. You own companies which do things for our government and
others?" I said to Srinoy, "This proves it. Museum directors are very
smart people." He smiled and nodded. The director was embarrassed. To
change the subject, he said, taking out his flute and putting it
together, "Would you do me the great favor of playing something?" I
said "I suppose." Srinoy said "Sting him!" I said to the surprised
director, "He means the Flight of the Bumblebee." He laughed. I played
it. He said "Wow!" Srinoy said "He hears that a lot." He laughed. He
you mean by play. Well, practically, er, all." He said "Wow!" Srinoy
said, "Stephen doesn't lie. He can't." I said "Well, you can't either."
He said "But you are the one saying impossible things." I said "True
now, but you said them the last time we were here." He said "Yes, but
we made it sound like it wasn't true, after I made that slip." I said
"Yes, but didn't you just reverse that now?" He said, "Oh. Right." I
said "He's looking at us." Srinoy said, "Well, you do look odd. We
should tell him that it happened to you unexpectedly, and you didn't
dye your hair or skin." I said "But he was being polite in not asking."
He grinned, and said, "And I was being polite in helping him not do
that." I said "True. Nice of you."
I looked at the director, and he was staring at us in rapt attention.
I prodded him with, "Comments?" It took him a while to recover. Then he
said, "Extraordinary intelligence, too. You are very unusual people." I
said "Er, thank you. What kind of flute do you usually use for serious
music?" He said "A custom model, made of silver." I said "Wouldn't a
platinum one be better?" He said "Yes, but I couldn't afford it." I
played a fast Irish tune on the flute, and gave it back to him. I said
"Thank you for allowing me to play. Want the shield now?" He looked
surprised, and said, "You actually brought it with you?" I said "Well,
it doesn't like to travel alone." Srinoy laughed. The director smiled,
and said, "I see that you brought a good audience with you, too." I
grinned and hugged Srinoy. Then I opened the box and took out the
shield, and held it up for him to see. With my other hand, I gave him
the list of materials. Srinoy had his bowl ready. He almost needed it.
The director's eyes did manage to stay in his head all by themselves.
Just. I said to him, "You might want to close your mouth before
something flies into it and starts building a nest." He laughed. I said
to Srinoy, "You can put the bowl away now. His eyes can't pop out now
that he's laughing." He laughed harder.
He came from around his desk and studied the shield, referring often
to the list. He said "I don't know what to say. Such careful attention
to detail! Amazing! Fantastic! Incredible!" I said "When you can't
think of any more, we can go out and get a thesaurus for you." He said
"Oh, so you're embarrassed. I should have known." I said "You're going
to have a problem showing the stars in the stones, with a vertical
mount. So I suggest not on a wall, but low and at an angle, in a case.
Be careful of the swords. They are real and sharp. I did careful
research for this. We saw sword fighting demonstrations, and practiced
it ourselves. We already knew kickboxing, but visited a training camp,
anyway." Srinoy said "We went to see elephants working, too. Stephen
talked to them." I said "They're nice people. In my art, I always do my
best. So here it is. Want it?" He said "On behalf of our museum, thank
you very much for your donation. But, are you of legal age?" I said
"That depends on how you look at it. To avoid all that confusion, you
can call my legal guardian. Want his phone number?" He did, and I gave
it to him, with all the other information. He said "The Abbot is your
guardian?" I said "Yes. My mother died when I was 2, and my father
deserted me. It's strange in a way, because I first met Tomba when we
were children in my last incarnation, and I rescued him from slavery
and imminent death, and brought him to the Temple where he is now the
Abbot. I was one of his teachers then. He still calls me his Master
Teacher." He bowed deeply to me, and said, "VERY unusual people." I
said "Please excuse me for not bowing, but the swords have rather sharp
points."
He laughed and said, "Please, let me take it from you." I said "Stop!
This is a lot heavier than it looks." Srinoy said, "Stephen is probably
the strongest human on Earth." I looked at him, and said, "Ah! You're
remembering to qualify your declarations. Good." The director said,
"You didn't correct him. Does that mean he is right?" I said "Probably,
yes. He and I use much more of our physical and mental potential than
untrained people do. Are we going to need that bowl again?" He laughed,
and said, "Was that your idea?" I said "No, it was Chad's, that musical
expert I told you about, when he saw it last night. He is my great
grandfather, and my best friend and student in my last life." He said
"Full of surprises!" I said "It's been said that I'm full of a lot of
things." He laughed. Srinoy said "Speaking of that, you are going to,
aren't you." I said "You know me well. I can't not do it." He said "He
will make the connection. Tell him about the statues? He would really
want to see them." I nodded. I said to the director, "May I put this
back in the box now?" He said "Please." I did.
I said "Do you know of the big Buddha in the DC Temple?" He said
"Yes. OH! Yours?" I said "Yes. I offered, and Tomba accepted. One big
natural emerald. I made another one of a different gem, recently. I
think you will really want to see it. In Chiang Mai." He said "Oh,
yours too? I heard about it. You're right. I do have to see it." I said
"Well, I think we've done enough damage for today. We should be going.
Oh, that lower left drawer in your desk won't open until after we are
gone. Now you will learn something more of who I am, and what I really
give to people." I opened my arms, and he came into them for my hug
with love. Srinoy helped him to sit in his chair. He whispered in awe,
"That was YOU!" I said "Yes, in a ceremony at the Temple in Chiang Mai.
I was a little overextended. It changed my appearance a little." We
bowed and said farewell, and walked out, and when we were unobserved,
we ported to my house. Srinoy cried and hugged me, and said, "That was
SO nice of you. I read the note. Beautiful. A platinum flute!" I said,
"Well, silver tarnishes." Srinoy said "He will treasure it more as a
gift from YOU, than what it is and is made of." I looked at him, and
said, "Wise. Yes, it could be so." We sat there and hugged for an hour.
Then we had lunch. Then we hugged some more, sometimes singing. He has
a very good voice.
I said "Next week, I plan to go to Mongolia. I was a Mongol in a past
life. I'd like to renew that connection." He looked at me with pleading
crushing mind in a hard kiss. When I could pry myself loose, which I
have to say I didn't try very hard to do, I said, "You might want to
save that for the pool party, which should be starting soon." He
giggled.
We went to the sports area while it was still empty. We selected the
biggest outdoor pool, and stripped and went in. I showed him how to do
the dolphin stroke, and we were chasing each other around the pool when
Zander and the students started to arrive. When they saw who was there
before them, they didn't wait for the rest, but stripped really fast
and joined us in the water. We got hugged and kissed a lot. Later, I
yelled out to Srinoy, "Watch out for the Hopchers! Their tails will
make you jump, and when they find out you have the same sensitivity as
thought it was very funny, but he was the one who had to laugh. We all
had a good time. It was even better when we used the bubbles. There
were a lot of active hands and tails under the water. Then we got out
and passed through the blue light cleaning stations, and went to the
soft area. There we did the usual things to make Srinoy and me
broadcast our feelings of nuts being licked in the link, while the
other people were doing sexplay with each other. We all finished a lot
of times, and it was really great. While we were resting, I made some
active people sculptures with the water, which jumped around and played
on the surface. That time, at Srinoy's request, I added dramatic music
to it, mostly from Grieg's Peer Gynt. There were a lot of favorable
comments.
Back at my house, with Srinoy, Rose, and Hawk, we discussed music,
and how it could be combined with other arts like I did at the pool.
Near the end, I said, "Too bad that different species hear things so
differently, that we don't like each other's music all that much."
Srinoy said "Our scales don't match. What we think of as in tune, is
out of tune to them." Hawk said, "That's what they need, a tune up." We
jumped on him, and tickled him into submission.
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Grant
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