Find Me At the Gates
Part Four: A Toast to the Condo
11 March 2012 Saturday
The condominium had been transformed. I still had several moving boxes to unpack, but all that would take care of itself.
"I propose a toast," Ray said, holding up his glass, "to your new home."
Ray, Alison, and my new business associate, Max, sat around my antique wooden dining table for dinner.
"Ray, your contractor did a great job," I said raising my glass. "A toast!"
Ray, Alison, Max, and I clinked our glasses.
Even though middle-aged, Max still wore his hair long, letting it hang loose around his white collar. He was the most attractive man I'd seen in a long time.
"Max, you're going to like working with Ann," Alison said. "She's an excellent organizational psychologist. You've read her book?"
"Yes, I've read your books," Max said, looking deep into my eyes.
"I can't wait for you to see your new office, Ann," Ray said, taking the salad bowl from Alison. "It's in our corporate headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. You have a view of West Hollywood. You'll love it."
When we were finished with dinner, we all carried our plates and silver back to the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher. I put on the kettle for tea and coffee and surprised them with a chocolate chip pie. The four of us settled down in the living room to talk about the new projects at I.C. Inc.
J.D., my Australian shepherd, ambled in and curled up at my feet. Such a happy dog! My mother had taken such good care of him for a year. She hardly wanted to give him up.
I.C. Inc. first got involved with the United Nations when the climate project started in 2002. Predictions of weather changes and melting ice caps were coming true, so people organized a worldwide day of prayer. Millions - perhaps billions - prayed that day to heal the environment, asking for global awareness and correction of anything that adversely affect the Earth's climate. Although humanity prayed that day, many still felt hopeless and doubted that anything would help. However, the tide turned quickly. Powerful people forced corporations to adopt stricter environmental policies. Scientists who had been working on the climate problems started to have breakthroughs. Seven scientists in five different countries simultaneously had vivid dreams about miracle botanicals, plant extracts, that could neutralize harmful chemicals and possibly even radioactive material. The dreamers woke up with strong feelings about how to make the natural chemical compounds. After they met each other, they all pooled their efforts.
I looked up the dreams on the I.C. Inc. web site. The scientists had provided detailed records. Each of the dreams had specific information about the smell of the plant molecules. They described the cure as a "healing rain" or "lotus water" that bonds to free radicals and forms a protective coating in the sky, something like sun block. Bonding and moisturizing images recurred in each scientist's dream. Several reported related nightmares where they saw images of split atoms that were tearing the fabric of reality, burning through it like a cigarette ember on a piece of cloth. Tears from the curing flowers healed the wounds.
Several dreamers reported images of plants growing inside towers. All plants had something to contribute, but certain plants offered more benefit than others. There the dreamers' accounts differed. Some could name the plants, while others just had a vague impression of a leafy green plant with flowers that would supply the chief ingredients. Some saw fountains spraying the water toward heaven, so that the healing molecules would float upward like little umbrellas to shade and protect the earth. The organic compounds would bond with the split carbon atoms and neutralize them. It was similar to the way trees neutralize carbon dioxide.
All of the dreamers felt strongly enough to dedicate themselves to discovering the formula of the dream substance. Three of them lived in Russia. They took the lead in manufacturing the plant solution to restore the Barents Sea, which had become one of the most radioactive bodies of water on earth. The other scientists worked on ways to release the molecules into the atmosphere. When the groups working with water and air found out each other, they formed a consortium to pursue the research. They began testing trial substances on carbon and nuclear waste in 2007. When they came up with something that worked, they started decontaminating toxic waste on land in 2009, and in the water in 2010.
I.C. Inc.'s job was to bring the technology into use all over the world, on a mass scale that would immediately remove thousands of tons of carbon, methane, and other greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. Work was to begin immediately. It would have been nice to have another week off to finish unpacking and get used to my new setting, but my brother said we needed to get started.
The view from window of my seventh story office was of the L.A. County Art Museum, Hancock Park, and the La Brea tar pits. It was exciting to visit the art museum and become a member once again. The Hollywood Hills rose majestically beyond the park and condo towers. Hollywood had been through changes since the 1950s when my parents had moved there. In the 1960s hippies had sold their psychedelic newspapers on the Strip; in the 1970s, the culture changed to drug dealing and prostitution - the dark days of Hollywood. In the 1980s, all the merchants formed a neighborhood association that set its sights on prosperity. Ever since then, expensive restaurants and specialty boutiques had prospered on the Strip.
Besides being beautiful, the view had sentimental value. My father had bought a hilltop home above Sunset Strip after his divorce from my mother when I was only fourteen. My brother and I had taken turns living with our father, then our mother, when we weren't off at college.
Sunset Strip had cleaned up early, but it was only on the cusp of the new century that the rest of Hollywood finally came around. Patches of the city suddenly and inexplicably became safe again, and the new subway brought more tourists. About the same time, new entertainment centers opened and people took more interest in preserving the art deco buildings. Tourists discovered the authentic treasures of movie history that had previously been covered, like a place of pilgrimage that had nearly been lost. Now the city thrives.
I sat at my desk, gazing at the hills for a long time before a friendly knock at the door woke me from my daydreams.
"Got a minute?" It was Max. He leaned on the open door and smiled.
"Oh, come in, sit down," I said, motioning to an overstuffed white couch near the window.
"Thank you. We have some things to go over. Actually, things are going pretty well." He loosened his tie slightly, then spread piles of paper across the coffee table.
"You're doing all the work, aren't you?" I said. "We should be online by late summer."
"Actually, it's better than it looks. This is the chemical engineers' report. Here are the test results from the ecological engineers. Here are some schematics from the facilitator proposing time schedules and listing the obstacles to completion."
We worked for several hours, going over the specifics of the project. I had grown attached to Max in the month that we had been working together. When he left, I felt lonely, staring out the window at my past. The flourescent lighting inside made it look like my own reflection was superimposed over the city where I'd grown up. I felt disturbed, like there was still something I did not understand. It was ironic, since going to India was supposed to put the matter of my past to rest. Now it hung like a big question mark across the glass wall of my office. It bothered me enough to make me decide to go out for a drive and get away. I told the receptionist I'd be back later that afternoon, then took the elevator to the basement garage.
It was not my destiny to return to the office that day, because that was the day of my imaginary car accident. It was also the first day I saw the chanters.
