The coroner led Luke down to the city morgue. “Let me offer you a small bit of comfort. She doesn’t appear to be injured the way we would expect in a crash like this. It looks like she was either thrown down to the floor of the car or ducked down just before impact, so she didn’t take any kind of a direct impact. But she went instantly from internal injuries.” He pulled back the sheet covering her and Luke again went numb with disbelief and loss. He nodded and the coroner covered her again. He handed Luke a card. “Your funeral director can call this number to arrange pickup. I’ll give you some time here alone with her. Take as long as you like. I’m sorry for your loss but it’s not as you think.”
Luke started to sit, then turned around. “What did you mean - it’s not as I think? You’re the second one to say something like that in the last hour.”
“I honestly don’t know how to describe it; but all of the lower plane people are brought here when they pass away and I’ve seen how higher plane relatives react when they come in. They give off this undercurrent that death isn’t at all what we think. I know this is pretty vague but it’s the best I can do.” Luke sat for a long time with Eileen, trying to face the seeming reality of her death yet struggling with the contradictions he had heard. He left, finally, and drove over to the office of the archdiocese. Maybe Bishop Noonan could help.
Chapter 22
The bishop was waiting for him, drawing Luke into his arms for a brief moment of comfort.
“I knew you would come, son. Please sit. We have a lot to talk about.” He signaled his housekeeper and she quickly returned with glasses and a bottle of Scotch. “Take a little of this, Luke. It’ll calm you so you can open up to what I’m going to tell you.
“First you should know that I decided a couple of months ago to ascend to a higher plane. I resisted it for many months because I wanted to relate on the same level with those people who chose to continue life as before. But there were so many questions I needed clarity on, and I could only get them by ascending. Now, the first thing you need to know, the answer you came to me for, is this. Eileen still is. She’s just in another type of existence. She could be right here this moment, just a few atoms away but you couldn’t reach her now. The hard work you have to do, is to learn how to open a channel to her.” Luke sat in a daze of emotion and confusion. He took another sip, then looked over at Noonan. “And how do I do that. How do I open a channel?”
“I can get you started, Luke. But first you’re going to have to ascend to a higher plane yourself to have a bigger, broader view of existence. You may even have to ascend to a still higher plane. And you must start learning to completely quiet your mind and emotions so she can reach through to you. You may have to seek out other teachers too, ones who know far more than I. Do you want to begin?”
“Yes, father.”
“I still like that you call me ‘Father’, Luke. As I told you once, I’m just a parish priest with a fancier hat. And we’re going to need that kind of relationship. Now let’s go over to my chapel and I’ll pray to help you to ascend.” They walked the short distance, and once inside the bishop dropped to a kneeler and spoke so low that Luke could not hear. Finally Noonan stood. “I think you’ll begin to feel the effect fairly soon. Just have faith and a lot will be revealed. Now go and take care of your family and wait for your path to be made clear. And remember, I’m always here to talk to. Don’t hesitate, even for a minute.”
The days that followed were filled with details, Eileen’s family back East, services, work arrangements. Mag had volunteered to care for the kids, and one night they sat at his kitchen table over steaming cups of tea. “You’ve gone up, haven’t you,” she asked.
“Yes. I had to if I want to find her again.”
“Find her again,” she said. “Yes. It’s exactly right. You found her once and you’ll do it again. The first time you met, it was a matter of space and time. If you’d gone to a different college or at a different time it would never have happened.”
“I need so much to have us together again. A life without her is no life. And now that I getting to this higher plane, I can feel her nearer me but I have no idea how to connect – how to get through to wherever she is.” Later, half asleep, half dreaming, he could feel her with him, but as if there was a veil or some kind of energy barely keeping them apart.
Then he thought of what Mag had said – space and time. Yes, that was at least a way he could begin. He would go back to their beginning. Start over again. Something in his newly-found vision told him it was the place to start. The next day he stopped in at the station to see Jake and Zack.
Jake was so certain Luke would find Eileen again that it seemed a little weird, as if there had been no accident, that she hadn’t died, almost a “ don’t sweat it,” attitude. Somehow Luke found this reassuring. Jake had always seemed like someone who lived in a slightly off-center world, as though he lived in a different reality. Zack was a different matter, full of condolences and sorrow. After they got past that, Luke explained that he would be away for a while – maybe a long while, so someone new should probably take over his show. He was going on a search and he didn’t know where it would lead. Zack nodded, thought for a bit, then stood up, pacing the room. “Okay, this just popped into my head and if you’ll do it, we’ll still have to clear it with the network and all that, but what if once a week, for example, you phone in a report for use on the air – the places you’ve been, people, any insights.
“Now understand that I’m not interested in commercializing your loss; but I think people will really connect with this in a genuine way, the quest, trying to find the other side. That kinda thing. This higher plane stuff has raised as many concerns as it’s answered and this would help. Plus we can keep paying you so financial stuff won’t hold you up – taking care of the kid’s needs, your house, bills. You know.”
Luke stared out the window for a minute, realizing that none of his responsibilities had even occurred to him. “Yes. I could do that. No promises of how good it will be, but maybe it would help me focus my thinking, too. I’ll call you tomorrow with a final answer.”
Chapter 23
At home, Luke began sketching out a list. Eventually it occurred to him that he should retrace the trip he and Eileen first drove cross-country from Connecticut to San Diego. Space and time. After talking with Mag and setting up bill- paying, doctors and all the other details of living, he stopped at his auto mechanic’s shop to go over the Healey. “Go over every inch of it. We’re making a long trip together.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be my choice of cars for a cross-country haul,” he said. “But I can show you how to adjust it when you get to higher altitudes, and the other tweaks these things need. It’s a really strong car. It’s just the way the British make things – lots of stuff to adjust, all the time. You know, I could trade you this for a nice Chevy V-8 that’s pretty much bullet-proof. All you’ll need is two different screw drivers for the whole trip and you’ll probably never use them.”
“Thanks, but it has to be in this car. Personal reasons.”
“Alright. I’ll put together a tool kit and a repair manual for you too. Also a list of dealers along your route. See you in a couple of days. And I’ll loan you that Chevy out front. May change your mind.”
Four days later Luke started out, winding his way up to San Bernardino and then into the Mohave desert. Even though he was traveling the route in reverse, he remembered vividly all of the places they had passed or stopped, even cafes where they’d had lunch, conversations, it was almost as if she was there as each mile droned on. It gave him both sadness and hope. Passing through the desert was brutal, just as when they had come west. The ceaseless, gritty cross-wind meant putting the top up on the Healy, even the side curtains to keep from being sandblasted continuously. And it made it 100 degrees inside the car.
Finally he cleared the desert and climbed up to Flagstaff to spend the second night. Exhausted from having to steer all day against the right-angled wi
nd, he pulled into the first half-decent motel He saw. Turned out they had a pretty good restaurant where the owner served Luke himself. “I remember you and that car,” he said. “About 3,4 years ago. We never see anything like that out here, so it stuck.” He pointed to his temple. “Never forget a car like that. And where’s that beautiful wife of yours?” Luke stared at his plate. “She died in a car crash about three months ago, but I’m on this trip to try and find her again.”
“That higher plane thing, right?”
“Yes, exactly. Crazy, huh?” The owner sat down across from him, the cafe empty except for one trucker nursing a beer at the bar.
“No. Not crazy. It probably doesn’t show but I’m about a third Navajo. My people believed in all that stuff even before they walked onto this continent thousands of years ago. It was central to my tribe that people never die. They just change form or place. Some begin life again. With so many different people migrating over, it all got mixed together, so we all have pieces of it. If you want, I’ll show you how some of our people can reconnect with their ancestors. It’s mainly about learning to turn off all that noise and thinking that’s goin on between your ears. You won’t have to eat snake or anything, but a couple of Scotches won’t hurt. Come back about eleven and I’ll tell you what I know. It’s not easy. I’ve never been able to get there but I don’t have a reason to, like you. And the ancients had an advantage – lots of time and silence. Plenty of time to walk, hunt, sit by the fire and not think.
“By the way, my name is Phil. See you later.”
Luke went to his room and showered the grit off, watched the local news and dozed off. At eleven he walked down to the café. What the hell. Maybe this would at least make a good story for his weekly radio report. Phil was sitting at an out-of-the-way table in the corner. He had a legal-size pad, a ruler and a pen. “Okay, sip that first Scotch there and free your mind a little. Here’s how it’s been explained to me, all the way back to my grandfather who was mostly Navajo.” He drew a number of parallel lines on the pad. These are what you call your ‘planes.’ There are lots of them. More than I put here. And then there are ones that go up and down, like this. My grandfather called all of this the ‘many worlds.’ Now, let’s say you’re here on plane or world number two.” He drew an X. You’re more knowing and sensitive than if you were on plane one but not that much. Now look way up here on the next higher plane and up toward the end of the paper. He drew another X. What is your wife’s name?”
“Eileen.” Phil crossed out the X and put an E. “What does this tell you, Luke ? He shrugged.
“Come on. This is the easy part. You and Eileen are in the same space but at a different time. Or the same time but a different space. All this is a maybe. Who can say? But you could cross that time or space. You already have the power within you ’cause you’re on the higher plane already and Eileen moved up to the same plane or an even a higher one the instant she died, or more accurately, the instant she changed space and time.” Phil chuckled. “I remember when my grandfather first drew this out for me with a stick, in the dirt. I probably had that same look on my face as you do right now.”
“No. It’s just that someone I know said the same as you a week ago – ‘space and time.” Phil nodded. “That’s basically how they say it all works. There’s a woman down in Sedona that knows a lot more. She used to be a physicist – taught at some big university – she knows all the science part but I hear she moved to Sedona ’cause that’s supposed to be the place where a lot of these forces are all focused together – vortexes I think they call them. You might want to go down there and talk to her. It’s only about 20 miles. I don’t remember her name but ask anybody. She drives a pink Jeep to take tourists up into the hills so she should be easy to spot. I’ve heard she’s always willing to talk to people who want to know more about many worlds and stuff.”
Luke and Phil finished off the shots of Scotch and groaned their way out of the chairs.
They’d been sitting a long time. “Phil, thanks so much. I feel a lot better now, knowing more about it.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got a long way to go. Just one step and one day at a time. Stay patient. Your journey and Route 66 out there are both long, long roads. Seeya in the morning. And stop all that damn thinkin. Turn off the noise.”
Chapter 24
He started early the next morning, top down, cool enough to wear a jacket and hat. As he neared Sedona he began see the red sandstone cliffs that surrounded the area all around the town. It was spectacular. Like driving along the bottom of the Grand Canyon, only better. He and Eileen had missed this on their trip out. The town itself was small. And there, parked nose in on the main drag, was a pink Jeep. He pulled in next to it and walked to the shop advertising “Jeep Tours,” in the front window.
“Hi. I’m looking for the lady who drives the pink Jeep.”
“That should be made into my Indian name. It’s what everybody calls me who doesn’t know me. I’m Marion Hartly. You interested in a tour? It’s a lot more than you’ll see just driving along the town roads. Plus I tell you a lot about the native people, show you where they lived, their beliefs. And we even go to some anthropology sites where people lived here thousands of years ago. It’s really cool.” She had on a long tie-dyed dress, down to the top of colorful hand- beaded and carved cowboy boots. She wore a short fringed leather jacket and a collection of silver and turquoise jewelry, all topped with a well-weathered western hat. She was in her early forties and quite beautiful despite a total lack of makeup. Suntanned and freckled, a bit of grey in her wild, un-fashioned hair and blue-green eyes, combined with a genuine smile made an unforgettable impact. She was a person you would always remember.
“Yes, I’d love to take the tour but I’m also here for something else I’m told you might be able to help me with.” He told her the story of him and Eileen, Bishop Noonan, space and time. It all tumbled out of him in a rush; but she stood and listened intently. Luke went on. “A nice guy – part Navajo – helped me a lot with how to find Eileen again but he said you had been a physicist and knew all the science about this space and time, many worlds idea, and could explain it to me.”
“Well, I’ll probably be more useful in telling you what science doesn’t know. That’s what made me leave that work and come out here. Twenty years of teaching undergraduates and graduate students what we didn’t know finally got to me. Eight years ago I came here on vacation and never left.” Marion smiled then stepped through a door behind her. “How about some tea? They’re not breaking the door down for Jeep tours today – not quite our season until June or so – glad to tell you what I can that might help, and steer you to some people in town who are more into the spiritual side of things, like meditation and vortexes, spirit mediums and all that. I’ve been out here long enough to know the good people from the tourist traps.”
The tea was good. Perfect for the minor chill that the Healey ride from Flagstaff had produced.
“First. What’s your name.”
“Oh, sorry. Luke Trimble.”
“Luke Trimble. Why does that sound so familiar? Trimble, Trimble. Oh. Right, you’re the guy on the radio – the whole higher plane thing. Okay. Got it. But you’d better keep that to yourself around here or they’ll put you in a cage on Main Street and sell tickets to the tourists.
“Let me give you a quick course on the science.
“Einstein died before he could complete his ‘theory of everything’, a unifying theory that would explain how everything in the Universe works. One of the many things that troubled him and all physicists was that all the mathematics performed perfectly until the instant before the Big Bang – the beginning of the universe. That tiny instant is called ‘The Singularity.’ And right there is where most of the science and math fall apart – it just doesn’t work. For me, the singularity is God. It’s as simple as that. I think the singularity is God pushing the start button.
“It’s just my interpretation. But back when I was in ph
ysics I saw that the more my colleagues worked on this, the more religious many of them became. Turns out, they came to the same conclusion, that ‘singularity’ is a pretty good name for God. Now the attention is turning toward the idea that there are many universes in different dimensions and space and that’s where the higher planes thing fits right in, especially since the word came directly from your visitor on the radio, and the miracles – all of it.”
Luke shook his head as though all of this was too much for him. “So Eileen is in a different universe?”
“But that universe can be just millimeters away from where we are right now. We just can’t see it. And there could be another one right next to it, and others in different dimensions that we don’t even have theories about.”
“Which makes it infinitely harder to reconnect with Eileen,” Luke frowned.
“Maybe not. This all fits perfectly with the higher plane thing, in fact there could be an unlimited number of planes. And it fits with many of the more widely held religious beliefs, like reincarnation. Another thing is, now the top physicists are talking about holes or tunnels between these unseen universes or dimensions. So you might be able to reunite that way and be together. . . . But remember, this is all theoretical, and math that makes some assumptions. It could all be wrong. Maybe you or someone else on an even higher planes can see if it works.
“Because you’ve gone to the second higher plane, you can go anywhere and know a lot more than the people who stayed with their everyday kind of life. You just have to turn your mind loose. Let it go where it will. Stop trying. It’s just creating static that’s blocking you.
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