12
Ri was informed of Seth’s death. Yet she was pregnant with his child. The female iS user from America was at large. She was indeed beautiful. Seth must have liked her a lot.
By the side of Mao’s portrait, a smaller one of Seth, as if the Great Leader had put his hand around the teenager’s shoulder.
The leader of the march past called out,
Huat…
And the troop replied,
HUAT!
Huat… HUAT!
Huat-HUAT! Huat-HUAT!
HUAT, HUAT, HUAT,
Huayyy!
There were tears in her eyes as she stood in the box on the stand around Red Square, watching the parade of special forces in their dull greens, caps studded with a red 5-point star.
The President of the Communist Party shook her hand. And in his speech, mentioned many of the changes that would sweep China and the world thanks to the love and bravery inherent in one man.
Just below the balcony, Seth’s still-living index finger, now denuded of the gold curled spring. America had refused to release the rest of his remains for the ceremony.
Inexact Science, what do you think of it? The Chinese leader leaned over to whisper in her ear.
My husband told me about the technology. It depends on the body -its primal desires. As a group, amplified. Once somebody or some country starts teaching it, everyone has to learn.
A single mind, with a primed iS weapon can take out a world leader, even yourself just like that, she shrunk back coyly.
But the President laughed it off, ceremoniously, sipping from his covered tea cup.
The crowd gathered in Beijing that morning was enormous.
Shall we now learn the technology of the West?
Shall we stoop to them rather be crushed?
There was silence punctuated by muttering.
No, neither. We shall offer the West an olive branch of peace.
Rumbles of discontent.
The highest Science is indeed the body’s natural reaction, not to a machine, not even to a shared ideology. Erasmus Jr, power Nth once said,
Peace is not the grave, neither is it a result or reward of continuous striving. Indeed, the highest achievement of a race, a species, is peace. Whether or not you realize why, or what comes from it, it is embedded in all men’s hearts.
The crowd roared and clapped. The President raised his hand like he was feeding the live wild foul on display at a very posh restaurant.
We will rebuild -this time, as one world!
Sir Percival’s body had poor vision -like the optical sensor of an early model digital camera, fuzzy and grainy in low light. It worried Seth a little bit but he wasn’t sure if it were worse than having no right index finger.
Yet it was when he tried to see something hidden THROUGH something real, that it then became clear as day.
*So that was the power of the innermost*
Gracie thought she heard an inexact whisper but Sir Percival’s brainwaves were too fast to catch. He just smiled and she continued riding him.
Now that Seth is dead, and I am retired, there is an opening on the supreme council for a clairvoyant leader. Marjorie, I’ve put your name forward against Mr Frederick’s better judgment. He knows you personally but I know the meaning of knowing itself and that in itself is judgment most true.
Marge looked imploringly at Sir Percival.
And to think I thought poorly of Gracie’s company vis a vis my eyesight.
Seth, I know you’re in there… somewhere, her crepe-covered bosoms pressed against his light summer suit.
And I know the reason you married Matthew -the only man you’ve never bested. Seth included. Marjorie, you only see what you’re afraid of and that is your debt to me for offering you what might save your very existence, and repay Seth as well, were he here or not.
She turned away to hide her eyes which began to dart to the corners of her vision. The logic of the council-innermost had that effect on ‘specials’.
Or should I offer it to Gracie?
He began to etch a seal on a card of e-matter.
Seth, I’ve never fallen out of love with you.
Then be very quiet about it.
She nodded. And he handed her the card.
Ri was alone in her apartment, back in Kunming when the child was born. It came early, before she felt any labor pains, before the water broke. She felt others in her hands, in her eyes as she eased out Little Seth, cut and tied his navel and gently bathed him in warm water. She stared out the window. Snowflakes were falling on the ledge outside. She took some zoom videos of the unseasonal ice crystals as she suckled the child. They looked like the Chinese characters for ‘happy birthday’. She giggled and after putting Seth Jr to sleep, turned the tuning dials of the tubular guitar and wrote a new song.
Wǒ xiǎng wǒ ài nǐ,
ràng wǒ shù shù.
Yǒngbào nǐ,
wǒmen suǒyǒu.
Qīn'ài de, wǒ huì yǒngyuǎn hé nǐ zài.
And it sung in English neatly as well. Seth Jr. giggled when she translated it, which she thought odd, but it went like this,
I think I love you,
let me count the ways.
I’ll hold you,
All of my days.
Darling I’ll be always near to you.
*Bravo, Sunny -your rhyming has improved*
She smiled at the loving caress of the supreme council. And she was told that they had overshadowed her embryo and that it was a precise clone of her husband.
*Look after him well*
She stared at the baby, helpless in its makeshift cot. Emotions coursed through her heart. Who were these western ‘scientists’ who meddled in everything. Was nothing sacrosanct?
It was like the ‘Gift of the Magi’.
*O’Henry, you stabber*
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