by D. B. Magee
“It has a nice ring to it. I like it,” Mr. Walborg said. “That reminds me. I have something I want to talk to you kids about.” He took a seat at the table. “Everyone, come over here for a minute.”
The group gathered around Mr. Walborg.
“Mrs. Walborg and I would like to come up with an emergency family code word,” Mr. Walborg began. “In an event that we ever have to summon you through a stranger, we would give them this code word so that you would know that it was all right to be escorted by them.” Mr. Walborg looked around at each of the young faces that stared eagerly back at him as he considered an appropriate word. “I know,” he said, at last. “Since you kids are considering yourselves guardians, what do you say we use guardian as the code word?”
The kids enthusiastically agreed, and with the matter settled, Mr. Walborg stood to leave. “Oh yeah, before I forget,” he added, looking at his daughter, “this just came for you, honey.” He handed Lisa the manila envelope and headed back over to the air-conditioner to test his handiwork.
Lisa read the return address. “Wow! This is from Jamie. What on earth would he be sending me?” Opening the envelope, she pulled out a note and a journal. She read the note aloud: “Lisa, I thought you kids might be interested in this, and I felt that you would be the best person to take charge of it. Thanks, Jamie.”
“What is it?” Stacy asked.
Lisa flipped through some of the journal’s pages. “His dad’s memoirs,” she answered. “It looks like it covers from the time he graduated college to the time he hid the Frequency Glasses away.”
Ryan peered over Lisa’s shoulder at the journal. “What in tarnation is a memoir?”
“It’s an account of the author’s personal experiences,” Lisa explained.
“So, it’s like a diary. I figur’d only silly girls kept those things,” Ryan said, sitting back down. “Why do ya reckon he thought we’d be interested in that?”
Passing by the kids once again on his way downstairs, Mr. Walborg overheard Ryan’s comment. “Maybe Jamie just wanted you kids to know the story and history behind the glasses,” he offered. “After all, you are the new guardians; you probably should know everything about them, don’t you think?” Stepping onto the staircase he looked back. “Remember kids,” he said. “The code word is . . .?”
“Guardian!” everyone said in unison.
Weeks later
About twenty eight hundred miles east of the Walborg property, an advisor met with the President of the United States in the Oval Office.
“Mr. President,” he said. “Do you remember, decades ago, a story about a pair of glasses that could see into the spirit world?”
The president stood and peered out the rightmost window of three behind the massive desk, his hands clasped behind his back, thinking back to when he had been a younger man in Congress. “Yes, but that was never substantiated. The alleged glasses were never found.”
“Well sir, that may have changed,” the advisor stated frankly. “It appears that someone is claiming to have the technology, and is purporting astral travels to the spirit realm via a website called Spacebook.”
“Is anyone claiming responsibility?”
“Yes sir, a group by the name of the Secret Society of the FGG.”
Deep in thought, the president silently gazed out the window for a long moment. Then turning, he said to his aide, “Start an investigation.”
Epilogue
Hi, everyone, Lisa here.
The summer is now over and Ryan is back in Texas for school. We sure are going to miss him, but he’ll be back next summer. We do see him regularly on the astral plane, however, where we all meet up before heading out on new celestial adventures.
I thought I would fill you in on some of the activities that rounded out the rest of our summer.
First off, Ryan and William finally cracked the code to the location of Captain Blood’s booty. Apparently the solution had something to do with the number of spokes on the ship’s wheel and using them to pinpoint the treasure’s location. (Maybe you, too, can figure out how they did it.) Upon this discovery, my father and the boys took scuba diving lessons and went on their own adventure to seek out this treasure. Their trip was a success, but fraught with its own perils and hazards — however, that’s a story for another time.
The proceeds from Captain Blood’s trove we used to form the Secret Society of the FGG, and to upgrade our hardware and improve the surveillance system around the property. Ryan, William, and Stacy all voted to use some of the money to pay for my operation. Yes — it’s great! I have the use of both my arms again, thanks to my friends. We also used a large portion of the money to fund a special project that Stacy and I came up with; to help public libraries pay for computer equipment so that children who could not afford their own would also be able to access Spacebook and the spirit realm.
Do you remember the journal that Jamie sent me — the one that holds his father’s memoirs? Well from it, and visits with David Finch himself at the SFM headquarters, we learned that William and Stacy are actually related to David and Jamie Finch. It turns out that David’s sister (now in spirit) is William’s and Stacy’s great-grandmother. Isn’t that something? With Jamie, they still have a living relative on earth after all. That also means that they will be the ones to inherit the Frequency Glasses when the time comes.
Thanks to my dad, Ryan, William, Stacy and I are all sporting custom-designed fellowship rings. They are made of gold and really cool!
Well, the Spacebook website is a hit! The astral plane has never been so alive with activity. Emails and blog posts continue to abound from grateful children around the world. They all seem so happy at being able to visit family and friends who have already transitioned to the spirit world, as well as making new Spacepals, living and in spirit. Other messages we continually receive tell of disabled children thankful for the opportunity to function wholly again, even if only temporarily. There seem to be thousands of astral visitors to Summerland already, with more coming every day.
This summer has been so exciting, and as Ryan would say, too much fun! Well, I guess that’s all for now. See you next time. Lisa.
END