--- Begin Message ---
- From: David Clemmer <parachute_over_me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <youwerealmostkind@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 15:50:39 -0800
Randy Described Eternity
by Ensign Cannon Everett
Cannon strode into his quarters and sat down near the window. He just loved
looking out windows. Ever since he was a small boy, he would be in the
family car, his forehead leaving a greasy stain on the window, just staring
at all of the really interesting things that they would pass by. His mother
would always ask him what was out there. "Whatcha lookin' at out there,
Can?"
"Ah'm tryin' to see if Ah know anybody," and he would smile that goofy
rubber cement smile and would not blink. Not even to stop a renegade dust
particle from entering his eye. And if it did, it didn't come out until the
ride was over. Cannon wasn't going to miss anything.
Now, all that was outside were stars. Just stars. "How borin'!" Cannon
exclaimed to himself, his voice echoing over the hard wood he had put in his
room. "Ah could just as much walk outside at night and look up. What a
cruddy window!" When he stood up again to replicate some whiskey, he was
faced with Randy again. And he just stood there, one eyebrow raised, one
foot jutting out in Cannon's direction, one hand on his hip. Randy wasn't
exactly human. His name wasn't exactly Randy. It was something much longer
but it started with "Rand," so Cannon didn't care and called him Randy.
Randy...didn't look too pleased.
"Here you are just talking to yourself again," Randy said. "Why don't you
try doing something productive? Like working on..."
"Oh Ah know about that, Randy," Cannon interrupted, boasting and smiling
that ignorable smile. "Ah'm just havin' a little bit a fun, you know? Takin'
it easy. Kickin' back and relaxin'! You ever do that where you're from,
Randy?"
Randy rolled his eyes. "You've been saying that for a year now," he said. "I
have no clue why you're the...the..." And he rolled his hand in the air,
wafting more air in his direction. He knew that Cannon knew what he was
talking about and he didn't look like he wanted to say it. But Cannon's an
idiot.
"The what?" Then Cannon remembered, snapping his fingers and regaining that
god-awful smile. "Oh that! Well duh, Randy, it's because Ah'm the studliest
stud and smartiest smart and the..."
"Just stop."
"Why? I was on a roll!"
"Cannon, do you know what Eternity is?" And the Texan didn't really, and he
let his dumb face display that. "Imagine life as you know it. Life in its
most beautiful form. Paradise. You remember the 'canyon,' your friend Jack
used to live in? Paradise Canyon? That. Only the whole world. Imagine that,
Cannon. The whole world just like Paradise Canyon."
"Oh that's nice!" Cannon said, opening his mouth wide and keeping it open,
looking brilliant as ever. "Ah can just picture it now!"
"And you can live forever..." Randy continued. He actually intended to
continue further...
"Why this just keeps gettin' better and better!" Cannon found himself unable
to talk after that. He tried to open his lips but his jaw was frozen shut
and his lips wouldn't part and his tongue wouldn't move. Trying to hum his
words, he discovered Randy had taken that away from him too. So he slumped
his shoulders and looked like a pathetic child whose mother took his
favorite toy away.
"I'll give your voice back when I'm done, okay?" Randy watched as he nodded
reluctantly, still wanting his favorite toy back. "Eternity is a paradise
that you live in forever when you die. Humans call this place Heaven, and
they're not sure if its real. But we are sure that Eternity is real because
we've been there. I have been there. And this is where you go when you die.
In Eternity, you are fancy free, able to do whatever you want. There is,
however, one chore you must do. Very tedious. Every year, to the day, you
must travel to the beach, and take one grain of sand, take it home, and keep
it. You do this every year until the beach has no sand left. That's what
keeps Eternity alive, this sand pilgrimage. But it is a beautiful thing. All
of the people choose one day and there are grand celebrations...and right
when the sun goes down, it marks the end of the journey and they pick up
their sand and go back home."
Cannon was almost going to fall asleep standing up. So Randy shocked him and
he jumped a little. "Pay attention." He nodded, trying to keep his eyelids
off of his eyes.
"The Revorena," Randy continued, "are essential to Eternity because though
new sand has been washed up from under the sea, it must be blessed by the
Revorena. However...the Time Catastrophe has only seemed to effect the
living world in minor ways. The Catastrophe resulted in the Revorena
disappearing from Eternity thirty years ago. And they have been reincarnated
and unknowingly walk the universe as living beings. Eternity can crumble
without the sand pilgrimage, and without you, the sand pilgrimage will be
meaningless. In another year, people will begin their treks and it is by
then that you must find the Revorena and return them to Eternity. It is by
then that Heaven...rests on your shoulders."
Randy vanished after that and Cannon sat at his computer and tried locating
some Revorena, then got bored and played a video game.
--- End Message ---
