The Fountain of Eden: A Myth of Birth, Death, and Beer
Page 52
Chapter 52
No Beginning, No End
“I tell you what, this is some first date.”
Stephone snuggled deeper into Jack's shoulder. “You were right. It sure is peaceful out here.”
They were surrounded by Great Ocean, floating on the back of a Turtle. The scenery was breathtaking, but it was crowded on the shell.
“Wesakaychak, I think you've done well for yourself,” said Turtle, paddling onward, ever onward, through the endless sea. “She's a great girl.”
“Yeah,” said Beaver. “Just don't blow it this time.”
Otter snorted. “He's a Trickster, my bucktoothed man. He's bound to blow it sooner or later.”
“No, I think he's learned a lesson,” said Bill the duck. “I believe we're looking at a new Wesakaychak here.” A knowing smile swept across his feathered face. “I think that he and Steph will be just fine.”
“Er, could you guys stop talking about me like I'm not here, maybe?”
A round of apologies and good-hearted laughter ensued.
“No harm intended, Stephone,” said Turtle. “We're just not used to having company—other than one another, that is—out here in the middle of this Great Ocean.”
“We're glad you stopped by, though,” said Beaver.
“Stay as long as you like,” said Otter.
“It's quite fun when you guys are here,” said Bill.
After a spell of peaceful silence, Stephone said, “So the MythCourt approved the divorce. Hades agreed to all terms. They're sending me the documents by MythMail later this week. All I've got to do is sign a few things, send them back, and it's done.”
Beaver, Otter, Bill, and Turtle expounded congratulations.
Jack was ecstatic and gave her an awkward hug. “That's great news!”
Stephone beamed at him. “Yeah. It is. And Hades has lifted the Curse of the Pomegranate. For the first time in a long time, I'm free. Apparently the King of the Dead learned a lesson when Chaos took him over, body and mind.”
“Kick ass,” said Jack, looking around at the all-encompassing sea. “So the next stop on this little vacation is Elysium, huh?”
“Yup,” said Stephone. “The Blessed Isles are nice at any time of year.”
“I can't wait to see them. And then, when we get back, we'll both be working at the Olde Eden Taphouse, which, along with John's farmhouse and select buildings around town, is being rebuilt as we speak, and should be completed by the time we get back. You don't think you'll get sick of me, seeing me all the time at work, do you?”
At this point the pair had completely forgotten they were with company. They basked in their closeness, and the rest of the Worlds were forgotten.
Beaver, Otter, and Bill sensed the mood (there was an amused chuckle or three) and dived into the Great Ocean for a swim. Turtle looked ahead to the endless horizon, his eyes shining like stars.
Stephone peered deep into Jack's Trickster orbs, down into his very spirit.
And she smiled at what she saw there. “I doubt it.”
And Jack Whiskey grinned.
Master Mirbodi and Sitting Lotus strolled down one of the nature trails that meandered their way through Tranquil Forest Park, getting in a little walking meditation before the sun went down. It had been a beatific day, unseasonable for the end of August, and the pair were enjoying themselves.
After an extended period of silence except for the sounds of thriving nature, Sitting Lotus looked over at Master Mirbodi with pursed lips. “Master, I've been thinking about everything we've been through recently. If the universe and all the things it contains are truly empty, then is it even possible to destroy the universe? Since it doesn't exist in the first place, you know?”
Master Mirbodi smiled. Sitting Lotus had learned a lot in the past few days.
“In Buddhist universe, novice, there no such thing as you and I, this and that, form and emptiness. We all one—interdependent, interconnected—and we all none, even so-called Creator gods. Creator gods and mythical beings may be powerful, but they, just like human beings, no have ability to release anybody but their own selves from suffering. So there no such thing as Wheel of Birth and Death. It illusion, illustrative concept, invention of human mind, fancy of imagination.”
Sitting Lotus snapped his fingers. “I knew it! So you're saying that if we had done nothing, the universe and life as we know it would not have been destroyed?”
The Zen Master chuckled. “Well, I no say that, now did I?”
The pair walked along in silence, enjoying the wooded scenery, until Sitting Lotus sighed. “So I guess it'll be you and me from here on out, huh, Master? Two Zen Buddhists, two Eternal Ones, here until the end of Time. Say, just curious, but how did you end up drinking the Water of Life?”
Master Mirbodi's constant grin widened to as-yet-unseen proportions. “Who said I ever drank that Water, novice?”
Sitting Lotus's mind tripped and fell flat on its face at this statement. “Y-you never drank the Water of Life?! B-but how are you still alive, then?!”
But Master Mirbodi, for the time being, refused to say more.
Twenty minutes later, just when Sitting Lotus had calmed himself down and almost convinced himself that it didn't really matter, Master Mirbodi dropped the bomb on him.
“So tell me, novice, why did I come from West?”
There followed a moment when the Song of Mother Nature took over completely, and then Sitting Lotus's face dropped. “Siddhartha's smoking stupas, is that another koan? Already?! Are you kidding me, Master Mirbodi?”
The Zen master shrugged. “You know how it go, novice. Here in Eden, it, whatever you think it may be . . . well, it never end. And it, just like universe, never began, either . . .”
And the patchrobed monks walked off towards New Shaolin Monastery, the novice muttering to himself and twitching. He would be unable to sleep tonight, puzzling over this one.
Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?
During the peaceful (at least for him) stroll back to the monastery, Master Mirbodi watched Sitting Lotus from the corner of his eye and grinned like a Zen Trickster.