Stephen's Secure Blog #279
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 17 in this story, in spring of year 7 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #279 "On Ice"
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My time came for my practice session on the ice. The skating club
people got off, and I got on. I tried some scratch spins first. I did
the blur, and then did all kinds of spins with different limb
positions. The coaches and students were staring at me with their
mouths hanging open. Then I tried out some jumps, mostly quads. I did a
few multiple quad combos, and then did some quints. Then I tried a
sextuple flip, and fell. I got up, and said to the others, "Er, ouch."
They laughed. I said "Should I try it again?" One yelled, "Go for it!"
I said "If you would let me fall on you." She laughed. I did try it
again, and succeeded. They cheered. I bowed. Then I did the other jumps
that way. I had done every jump in the book but the axel. So, I did a
triple triple. Then I said "Should I try a quad axel?" The same girl
said, "Go for it!" I said "No, for a different jump, you have to tell
me in a different way." She laughed, and then said, "Yes, you should do
it!" I gave her a thumb's up, and she laughed. I skated around to build
up speed, and turned to the front, and stepped off into the jump, with
four and a half revolutions, landing going backward. I almost fell, but
managed to hold it up. I said "Not good enough. Another try." I did it
again, and it was perfect. I said "So, what's next?" She said "Don't
you want to try it again for practice?" I said "No need to. I do it
once, I can do it again and again, exactly the same way. I have a
complete memory, body and mind. How about I do it with my arms over my
head?" She said "Great!" I said "Hey, not yet." She laughed. I did it.
They applauded loudly.
I said "Now I'll try some gymnastics." I did, doing some almost
impossible tumbling, and leaps in odd positions. Some of them showed I
could do a full side split. Then I did some comedy routines. They
laughed a lot. So I did some more, and they laughed louder. Then I
skated in some ballet positions, and their eyes almost popped out. I
stopped to get some water from a bottle Chad was holding for me. One of
the coaches came over and introduced himself, and said, "You were
fantastic! I didn't know some of those techniques were even possible."
I said "Everything we know now, was impossible, before we knew it."
That threw him off a little. Chad tried not to laugh. I said "Chad
here, wants me to do an ice skating show, so we scheduled some time on
the ice so I can see what I can do for that." He said "How long have
you been skating" I said "A few weeks when I was eleven, and then
today. I see you have trouble believing that. I should tell you I am
unable to lie. As for how I can do all this without much experience,
well, I have total recall, and I am extremely well trained in most
strenuous physical activities." He said "What are those?" I said
"Practically everything else, from archery to gymnastics to ballet. I
beat an entire NBA team in basketball, recently, with less than two
hours notice. This time I have a little more notice, DON'T I, Chad?" He
laughed. The coach said in awe, "I saw part of that. You said ballet.
Were you that Stephen with the one man show?" I said "I had a WHOLE DAY
notice for that one. Yes, I am that overworked Stephen." He said "How
can you do all that?" I said with a grin, "Very well, I hope. People
are paying to see me. I have to make it worth the money they are giving
to charity for that."
It took a while for him to mentally digest that. Then he said, "Are
you available for coaching?" I said "I would love to be, but I teach
other things elsewhere, such as in Tibet. And I'll be doing things for
the PBS pledge week, and there are recording sessions, and other
Sorry." He said, with emotions all jumbled up, "It was a pleasure
meeting you. Thank you for your time." He wandered off in a daze. Chad
almost choked, trying not to laugh. I went back to the ice to try and
put some combination moves together. Then I tried to do "Puttin' in the
Ritz" with music and singing. Then I went over to Chad, and said, "What
do you think? Include it, even though it duplicates something I already
did in the ballet show? We need to make this show last at least two
hours." He said "Do it." I said "And the rain, too." He said "Yes." So
I went and did that one on the ice, and it worked well. The students
all applauded my practices. I bowed. Then I skated to excerpts of
Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol. That earned a lot of applause,
even from the hockey team which was waiting to practice. I went back to
Chad, and said, "Should I run through Scheherazade now, or save it for
tomorrow?" He said "Would you need to do it more than once?" I said
"No. If I do it today, I won't need any more practice than I can get
just before the show. It's 45 minutes, though." He said "We have time.
Do it now." I nodded, and went out to the center of the ice, and
started the music. I had built the program in my mind, and then let my
body do it. The great music, made my skating rise to the occasion. I
did well. Even Chad almost popped his eyes out. I went back to him, and
said, "I think I'll add a few things to it for the show. And there are
some other things I plan to do, which I'm not going to tell you about
ahead of time. I don't know which ones yet. Depends on how I feel, and
how the audience responds." He said "Fine. We're done here."
I got off the ice, and was mobbed by the skating students. We hugged
a lot. Before we left, I said, "Want some advice?" They really did. I
said "Skating is a sport which requires a lot of hard training, but
it's art, too. Never forget to put your joy into it. Feel that, and
show it to all who see you perform, and you will please them, and
yourself, to become better than you could have been before. When you
love what you do, you do it better, and that love comes back to you in
many different ways. I know, because I am love. Here is my love for
you." I wrapped them in my love, even the coaches. Then I had my blade
covers on, and we were out of there before they recovered.
Back in my living room, Rose said to me, "I love what you said to the
skaters." We hugged. Hawk said "You were terrific, but why didn't you
build an ice skating rink on Allguard, and practice there?" Chad was
surprised, and said, "I don't know why I didn't think of that." Rose
said "I know why he didn't do it that way. No people." Chad said
"Right. He said he needs inspiration to be his most creative, and he
gets that a lot from people." I nodded, and said, "And I wanted to see
how they responded to some of the comedy things, so I could build the
program around what worked the best." Hawk said "Right. Comedy is the
hardest thing in showbiz." I said "Pole dancing makes things hard."
They all jumped on me, and we all did things with hard things, to very
nice conclusions.
I skated out onto the ice, and announced to the audience, "Hello, I'm
Stephen, your ice skater for this evening." I looked at one girl, and
said, "No, I'm sorry, you can't take me home with you." She laughed
delightedly, and the others laughed, too. I said "The music I'll be
skating to is from different times in history, and in different styles.
Some of it is classical. Some I arranged myself, and some is music I
wrote. The singing is mine. So is the shivering!" Laughter. I said "So,
to help me warm up a little, I thought I would do a little bit of
skating to my shortened arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio
Espagnol. My reason for doing that is, well, I like it." Some laughter.
I stood in the staged position, and I started skating with the music. A
little over nine minutes later, after some triple quad combos,
impossibly fast spins, and other interesting techniques, the music
stopped, with me at the same time. I bowed to a lot of applause. I went
off the ice, and then came back with a hat and an umbrella, and with
different clothes, a suit. I announced, "Next I will do "I'm Singing in
the Sleet, er Rain. My reason for, well, what do you think?" One said,
"You like it?" I put my hand to my ear like I didn't hear it, and a lot
more people said, "You like it!" I said "Right! And because it's harder
to do on the ice. I like the challenge. Here we go." The music started,
and at the right time, I started skating. It was difficult to simulate
tap dancing with ice skates, and even harder to match the sound of the
taps I put in the music, but I did, and when I was done, I had a
standing ovation. I bowed, and went off the ice. The lights dimmed.
There was a sound of voices. I said loudly enough to be heard by the
audience, "But he told me to do it!" The other voice said, "Well,
alright, but be quick about it." The spotlight showed on the ice, and
me in janitor's clothing, towing a mop bucket, with a mop in it, onto
the ice. In the middle of the ice, I took the mop out of the bucket and
swabbed the ice. A waltz started playing, a very catchy tune, even if I
say so myself, having written it. I turned the mop over, so the head
was up, and I stared at it, swaying to the music. I took off my jacket
and hung it on the mop under the head, and smoothed the head strings
down oner the shoulders. Then I grabbed the end of one sleeve and held
it out like it was an arm, and with my other hand lower down on the mop
handle, I started dancing with it, like Gene Kelly did in "Thousands
Cheer". I danced with it like it was a person, all over the ice, and
with some fancy footwork and jumps. I acted like I was in love with the
mop. Quite romantic. The spotlight followed me very well, because I was
directing it. As I was dancing, the mop was slowly changing into
looking more and more like a beautiful woman, and my clothes were
looking like a tuxedo. After nine minutes, when she was almost
perfectly life like, a voice said, "Are you finished moping yet?" At
that, she was just a mop again, and I was back in janitor's clothes,
and the music slowed to a stop. I was at the bucket. I hung my head in
resigned sadness. I took my jacket off of the mop and put it back on. I
put the mop back in the bucket, and dragged it behind me as I was
moving slowly to the exit. There, I turned back to the ice, and sighed.
The audience could feel my sad love lost. Then my spotlight went out. A
few seconds later, the lights came back on, and I went back on the ice,
and bowed. Silence. Then uproarious applause, and then a standing
ovation. When they quieted down, I held up my hand for silence. I said
"I didn't tell my manager I was going to do that one. I think I'll hear
about it after the show. Oh, and that music was mine."
I said "Next, concluding this event, I will be skating to
Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherazade'. The symphony is about 45 minutes
long, and I'm doing all of it. I'll be back after a change of costume."
I skated off. After the change to an Arabian Nights style costume, I
came back out, and stood in the middle of the ice. The music started,
and I skated. I used different styles with the four different
movements. I used all the skills I had, including quad axels in
multiple jump combinations, sextuple jumps, and in combos, fancy spins,
acrobatics, ballet, all coordinating with the drama and romance of the
music, landing the jumps on just the right beat. When it was over, I
was a little tired. They gave me a very big standing ovation. I went
off the ice, and they continued. I came back, and raised my hand for
silence. I said "That was the end of the show. Well, how could I top
said "When I said top that, I thought, 'top hat'. I'll go get one." I
went off, and then came back with a top hat and tails, and a cane. I
said "I now present to you, 'Puttin' in the Ritz'!" And that's what I
did. When it was over, I received another standing ovation. I went off
the ice, and changed into my usual blue uniform, and went back out. I
should mention my fast changes were helped by porting. I couldn't have
gotten my pants on over the skates. Some did recognize my uniform, and
made the connection to my other activities. I bowed some more, and then
I said, "I really am finished with the show. But, I can offer something
for the records. I did a bunch of sextuple jumps today. For those of
you who are unfamiliar with that term, it refers to jumps with six
rotations. But I only did a quadruple axel. That is four and a half
spins, and of all the jumps, the axel is the hardest. Would you like me
to attempt to do a quintuple axel, which would be five and a half
rotations?" The applause said they did. I said "Well, I was kind of
hoping you wouldn't want that." They laughed.
I said "Chad, please count. If you need to, please play it back on
your camera." He said on the PA, "Will do." I nodded, and started
skating. After going around the rink, I had enough speed, and tried the
jump. It was bad, and I fell out of the landing, but I didn't fall all
the way down. I said "Not good enough. Another attempt." I did it
again, and made it. Applause. Chad said, "Five and a half turns. Well
done." More applause. Then Chad said, "Can you do the next one?" I
yelped, "A sextuple axel?" Then I said it in a more manly way, "A
sextuple axel?" They laughed. He said "Yes. Six and a half turns." I
said "Do I have to?" He said like he was gloating, "You can't back
down, now." I groaned very dramatically. They laughed and applauded. I
raised my hand for silence, and said, "I told him I would try for the
quint. We did NOT discuss anything higher. Chad, are my health
insurance payments up to date?" He said "All taken care of. Life
insurance, too." I said "Oh thanks. Well, I suppose I should try. But
if I fall on my er, butt, when we get home, YOU have to massage it!"
They laughed.
I skated around the rink again, and then tried the jump. I fell on my
butt. Chad said "Huh oh!" They laughed. I tried again, and had a bad
landing, but didn't fall. I tried it again, and landed it perfectly. I
said "Wow! I did it!" I received lots of applause. Chad said "Yes you
did. Six and a half revolutions. Congratulations." I said "Thank you.
And thank you in advance for the massage." He said "Can I use gloves?"
I said "I suppose." He said "Fine. I'm not going to need them for the
motorcycle." I said "Hey!" They laughed, and I shook my head in
dejection, which made them laugh louder. When it had died down, I
bowed. I started glowing, and I raised my arms, and said to the
audience, wrapping them in my love, "May all you believe is holy, bless
you with their love and care. Thank you for allowing me to give you
some moments of pleasure, and my love. Farewell, my friends, till we
meet again." I bowed, and when I straightened up, I made my silvery
disappearance act.
In the dressing room, I heard some reporters asking for me. Chad went
out to them and said, "He's tired. No interviews, even if you offer to
take my place for the butt massage." They laughed. One said "Will he do
this again?" Chad said "I don't know. We haven't discussed it. He did
his best. That's all. Have a nice evening." He came back inside. I said
"I don't want to do it again. Would be boring." He said "Not to anybody
else. That mop piece was really something! I like that kind of
surprise." I said "Inspired by Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, and a bit
of Carol Burnett." He said "I noticed. I also noticed, you didn't do a
comedy piece." I said "I wanted to, very much, but I thought it didn't
fit with the other parts of the show." He said "Anyway, it was a great
show, and you can always do that the next time." I groaned. He laughed.
We hugged.
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Grant
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