Solomon's Private File #22
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 13 in this story, in the Fall of 2039.
Solomon's Private File #22 "A Death in the Family"
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Mom managed the event, to let Dad prepare himself. He didn't. He was
having too much fun watching it all happening. Besides, he's had years
to prepare for his death, and his only real effort the last day would
be during his last love broadcast in Tibet on September 1st, and that
depended on how much he could get done in the time he would adjust for
himself while the healing was going on.
Mom briefed the CNN crew the morning of the event, and gave them lens
adaptors for their cameras. Later, she ported them to our house in
Lhasa, and they set up some things in the TV studio, and synced their
equipment for the live broadcasting link to Atlanta. I was with them
then. I introduced myself with, "Hi, I'm Solomon, son of Stephen and
Rose, and brother of Kamala, the Dalai Lama. For my privacy, I'm in
disguise. Even my voice isn't really mine, but what I say with it is.
On camera, my whole head will be a blur. I know that's frustrating for
you, but you know what word my father would say to that." Some said,
"Good!" I said, "Right! Well done!" Some chuckled. I said, "My sister
and I really loved it when he said that on your shows. Actually, we
loved everything he did. Very entertaining. Did you know he said some
things specifically to make some of us at home laugh? That made the
rest of us have to laugh at Uncle Hawk." Some more chuckles. I said,
"My home is great! I can't think of a better place to grow up in, and I
can think a whole lot!" Len said, "How much is a lot?" I said, "That
kind of thing can't be measured in a way that makes sense, for anybody.
How can you determine how much one thinks? It's not the same as how
fast." Len said, "So, how fast do you think?" I said, "I already
thought that." They had to laugh.
I said, "I'm here alone with you. I have great parents, who are the
best at managing situations. That should tell you something you might
be noticing now." Len said, "Right. We'll get absolutely nothing you
don't plan to give, and you plan like they do." I said, "Right, but
shorter." More chuckles. Don said, "I see you have your father's
humor." I said, "Hawk said I should give it back to him." Chuckles. I
said, "I'm not. I like it. It's a copy, though. He's taking the
original with him." He said, "You're not sad?" I said, "No. I grew up,
well, to this height, knowing this would be happening. I'll miss him,
but I'm not sad. It's not as if he won't be able to communicate with
me. You've felt that kind of thing yourselves." They nodded, I said,
"And he will know every embarrassing thing I do for the rest of my
life." Len said, "Are you going to be careful because of that?" I said
with a big grin, "Absolutely not!" Chuckles. I said, "Think of it from
his perspective. He's starting on a great new adventure, that very few
ever get to do. He's going to have the whole universe to play with, and
help gazillions of people to do great things. He'll learn and know
things we can't even begin to imagine. One more reason for him and us
not to be sad. He isn't really needed here anymore. He IS really needed
there, and they are very impatient to have him. I'm kind of proud to
have a father like that. There is one more thing he's going to love all
to pieces in his new existence. I'll bet you'll never guess what it is.
Try." They couldn't think of anything. I said, "No clothes! Immaterial
beings don't wear clothes. He was raised as a nudist in this and his
last life. He REALLY dislikes clothes. Well, I think we've fully
uncovered that subject." Chuckles.
I said to Len, "You've figured out what I'm doing." They all looked
at him, making me grin. Len said with a smile, "You intended to put us
at ease, so we could do our jobs better." I said, "Yes, and because I
care about you and your feelings. You love my father. How can I not
love you for that?" I hugged each of them with love. Don said, "Wow!" I
laughed, and said, "I got my first wow from CNN!" They laughed well.
Then we talked informally about Dad and the shows, and how people
reacted to them, and that Chad was disappointed when there wasn't
enough controversy to suit his taste. Some topics were about me.
Len said, "I think a lot of people were surprised you became Jewish."
I said, "So? As if it's any of their business?" He cleared his throat,
and I grinned. He had to chuckle. So did Don, at him. I said, "You know
all this is off the record?" They reluctantly nodded. I said,
and he laughed. I said, "I could have chosen Islam, but praying 5 times
a day is a little too inconvenient. I attended Jewish services, and the
other religions, too. Nobody knew who I was, but the Jews recognized me
as one of their own, and I felt the same. Then we just made official,
after some practicing and testing, what already was. I am Bar
Mitzvahed, and a graduate Rabbi from a respectable school, and I'm on
the Federal registry as a cleric." To their shocked faces, I said, "You
should know we don't go with half measures." Len said, "That's true.
They could sense your past lives?" I said, "I didn't know them then.
Loved my humor, though. This started when I was eleven." Don said,
"Were any of your lives in the Bible?" I said, "Dad already set the
precedent for me on that. So, I'm not going to talk about who I used to
be. Except one thing. Sometimes we knew each other. One extra more
thing, for the salacious. Sometimes I was a female. No more on past
lives."
Don said, "Your solar power station invention. Did your Dad help you
with that?" I said, "Not only did he not, he almost kicked himself for
not thinking of it." They returned my grin. I said, "But he did help
with setting up the production system. I didn't have enough industrial
engineering then." He said, "Do you have the same abilities your Dad
has?" I said, "I can't really answer that the way you would want me to.
We are different people with different interests, and different
strengths in education and different abilities, including the control
that's necessary to use them effectively. And how do you measure
experience? All I can say that would really mean something to you, is I
can do all that Mom can do, but be beautiful and get pregnant." They
looked really odd. I grinned, and said, "Right. From a child that's
thousands of years old. But, no wrinkles!"
We took some time out for food and other necessities. At ten PM, I
ported the CNN crew to the upper part of the Road to Sera. Then I said
to them, "Yes, I can do this. To be sure, you might want to count your
limbs." Some actually looked at them, and then noticed my gigantic
grin, and had to laugh. Dad sent to me in connection that he loved what
I was doing. I REALLY didn't dislike that at all. They established
their positions, and set up their equipment. At five to eleven, Dad
ported with his posse to his pavilion. There were a lot of Abbots and
Ministers, and other religious guests, already there. The CNN crew knew
they were not to bother anybody before the broadcast. Dad took his
usual place on the Road. Mom, Kamala, Chad, and Hawk were behind him. I
was with Len. I said, "I'll try to let you know anything important you
should know when it happens." Len whispered, "You expect a surprise?" I
said with a grin, "You know him." Len chuckled, and said, "If he can,
he has to." I said, "Absolutely! Starting in two."
Dad glowed and grew to a giant. Then all the world heard his farewell
message in their own languages, about being promoted so he could work
for them better. Then his love broadcast began. I had a partition
watching and analyzing it. I matched his time stretching, too. I saw
all that he did, which was a whole lot! He cleaned the Earth of
pollution, fixed important broken things, made crystals with his love
in them, and his symbol on them, for every intelligent being in the
galaxy, and put the same symbol on a lot of what he had made, from
buildings to light cubes, all over the galaxy. Then he was finished.
The love broadcast stopped. Dad shrunk back down to normal size. He
started to fall backwards onto the Road to Sera. His gigantic blazing
aura went out like a smothered flame. His body hit the Road, dead. We
could already see something of what he had done in the last seconds of
his life. His symbol was in the air over the Pavilion of Stephen. It's
called that because it's the only one he made with his sayings in it. I
had a paper in my hand. I gave it to Len, the producer for the CNN team
there, and said, "Here's what he did in the second before he died. Oh.
Here, use this." I gave him some tissues. He was crying. He nodded
thanks to me. Then he looked at the list and said, "Wow!" I said "Odd.
That was Dad's last thought in this life when he saw where he was going
to. Yes, he could say that, too." That was a joke for all of us because
we always hear a lot of wows around us. Len made a funny noise.
Granpop Chad, who was the official Medical Doctor on site, besides
being an Adept which was secret, knelt down to Dad and put a
stethoscope to his chest. He shook his head and announced, "No
heartbeat." Mom said, "No aura and no brain activity. Stephen is dead."
My sister Kamala, the Dalai Lama said, "Yes, my father is dead." Regent
Rhamcha said, "Yes. He is with The Buddha now." The there was silence
in the air, with a lot of love and sadness from the crowd down the
hill. Doctor Chad Watson said the date and time, and said in Tibetan
and then in English, "I declare Bodhisattva Abbot Lama Stephen
Rinpoche, Stephen Chad Holmes, Atsah-Ho-Ya to the Navaho, The Master
Teacher, the Master of Abbots, the Master Adept, the Master Guardian,
who was Attin Lantos ReyMu, Moses, and Saint Francis, citizen of and
Ambassador and Special Envoy of the Galactic Council, citizen of The
United States of America, the Navajo Nation, Belize, Thailand, the
planets Zichesshich, Tsuriss, and Posintan, Hero to all of us, even
though he would not like to be called that, gone from this, his last
life. He is dead. All please sign the certificate as witnesses." He
passed it to Kam, and then it went to Rhamcha, and then to Mom. Chad
said, "Rose, as his wife, as stipulated in his Will, I consign his body
to you." Mom said, "Thank you, Chad." She knelt down and touched Dad on
the forehead. When she pulled back her hand, his body burned brightly,
but without smoke and with a pleasant smell. I recognized juniper from
home. In a very short time, there was only ash there. She waved her
hands, and it became a pile. Kam gave her a blue jade urn, and the
ashes went up and into it, and it vanished. Dad's symbol became visible
on the Road where his body had been.
Kam said in a strange voice that all in Tibet could hear, "Stephen
has passed from this life. He is with The Buddha now. He knew this
would happen. For him, it is a good thing. Do not be sorry for him, but
be happy for him, and his great new adventure." Then it happened. We
all felt the touch. I think all in Lhasa did, and maybe even all of
Tibet. It was like the touch of God, but a little different. I know I
recognized it, and I think a lot of people did. It was Dad. He really
IS with The Buddha now, and at least an equal. I had to say wow. I said
to Len what happened, and he could only nod, with more tears. I said to
him, "That's alright. You can say the wow later. Don't forget, now." He
looked at me strangely, and almost laughed. We hugged with love.
I said to Len, "Those of your crew who are to stay here, should move
off a little. The rest of you I'll port to the house as soon as you're
ready." A few moments later, Len said, "Ready!" I ported them to the
living room of our house in Jokhang Monastery, in Lhasa, Tibet. They
went right into the TV studio. I followed. Mom, Chad, Kam, and Rhamcha
ported to the living room behind me. I said to Len, "When you want to
interview somebody, tell me, and I'll fetch them. Er, after asking." He
said, "You're amazing!" I said, "Sorry, I'm Sol. Nice try, though." He
almost choked. Don noticed, and almost did the same. Len's assistant
was monitoring the feeds from the crew that was still outside, while
Don was speaking on camera live in the link to Atlanta. The network
schedule was clear, because they were expecting that Dad would die, but
I don't think they expected what he did then. They were REALLY excited.
Don got a little upset over being interrupted by the anchor in
Atlanta a lot, and said, "Hold off on the announcements until I'm
finished. I have a list right here of what Stephen did. I'll read it
off if you give me a chance!" They did, and he did. Most of it was
confirmed right away, at least the things that happened on Earth. After
that, Len asked for Mom. She came in, and said what she wanted to. The
most important thing she said wasn't something they asked for. She
said, "Stephen has given you a clean and peaceful world. Keep it that
way, or I'll be angry. You REALLY don't want to make me angry, for
ruining what my husband did for you with his last dying effort." Don
had to say, "Wow! Oh. Folks, Solomon is with us in the studio in Tibet,
as he's been assisting us all this day. I didn't know it was possible
for him to grin that widely." Mom said with a fond smile and a chuckle,
"He knows me well." Still grinning, I nodded vigorously. Don had to
laugh.
Mom said, "I need to leave you now. I need to host meetings with
dignitaries from all over the galaxy. They know Stephen passed on.
Solomon will stay and assist here, but will not appear on camera. Thank
you for your love and care." She stood and ported away. They asked for
Kam. She came in with Rhamcha. They hugged and kissed me, and then did
some interviews. Rhamcha talked mostly about his times with Dad. It was
interesting to me, too. Then we were off air while they ran the program
that Mom had made in advance about Dad. I'm not sure if they wanted to,
but they didn't want to know what would happen if they didn't. Kam
almost laughed when I passed her that thought.
While that program was running, the network president asked Don what
I looked like. I told Don I would take care of that with a projection
of me to Atlanta. He warned him, and had to laugh at my really big
grin. I said to the pres, "Hello. I'm Solomon. Sol, to my friends. This
is what I look like to your crew in Tibet, but it's not how I really
look. I'm in disguise to protect my privacy. I don't even sound like
this in real life. I see the question. How do you know it's really me?
Do you think anybody would DARE to impersonate any child of my mother?"
He laughed really hard, and then said, "I see. I think I know what you
mean. Stephen could do things in different mental processes. You, too?"
I said, "Yep. So we can talk, and the real me in Tibet is still the
same. But you are having a problem splitting your attention between me
and monitoring what's happening with your network, so I should leave
you to that." He said, "Right. Thanks. Would you be willing to appear
on our network sometimes?" I said "As er, who?" He chuckled. I said
"So, probably not. You can play with my sister and mother. Well, as
much as they'll let you. I don't really have anything to offer. Nice to
have met you. Be well." I faded my image out, but kept my grin for the
last. He laughed well. So did Kam and Mom.
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Grant
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