Dyna-Mike

6.

May 1982

It had been four years since my dream. I had worked with Dr. Zarins for two years as his assistant, mostly tracing the roots of the Mesopotamian 'Ubaidian' through the Middle East. Dr. Zarins was convinced the key to the earliest civilizations lay in the discovery of the lost Ubaid trade routes. He had made much progress, and was talking about returning to the Middle East to continue his search. In the entire four years I had learned much of ancient civilizations, languages, and cultures, but I was no closer to Eden than before.

I had moved to Chicago two years earlier to study for my Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Chicago. I was graduating at the end of the month, and was extremely busy with my studies. I was 26 years old now, and looked much the same as I did at 21, but with fewer pimples. I was still a bit overweight, my hair was always wacked out, my glasses were too big, and I had no social life at all.

I lived in an old Winnebago motor home in the campus parking lot so I could spend as much time studying as possible. If I wasn't at school, I was sleeping. I showered at the school gymnasium, and took my meals in the cafeteria. I had rented a post office box to receive mail, but I seldom ever heard from anyone.

My mother was still in Fairfax, California, and was still as nuts as ever. Each phone call home wound up being a listing of all the injustices the world had burdened her with. It was a real drag, so I kept the conversations to a minimum, wanting to stay in touch but not wanting to be depressed the rest of the day. Of course, she was always too broke to send for me at holidays and vacations, so I stayed in the RV all year, preferring to take summer classes rather than sit around bored.

I did quite a bit of tutoring, and taught a couple of classes at the local community college to help make ends meet. One of my students was a 21 year-old sophomore named Susan Sahakian, a beautiful, demure Armenian with deep brown eyes, and thick flowing raven-black hair. I was attracted to her the first time I saw her, and she seemed to like me. She always smiled sweetly at me when I made eye contact, and I got the impression she was hanging around after class just to be near me.

Finals were due this week, and Susan hadn't been doing so well on her test scores. I was concerned she might blow the exam, so I asked her if I could have a few words with her after class. She smiled, and hung around as the other students shuffled out into the sunshine. Soon it was just she and I, I sitting at my desk, and she standing in front, facing me.

"Susan, I'm a bit concerned about your final exam. I notice you don't seem to be taking notes, you seldom turn in your homework, and your test scores are pretty low. If you blow this test, it could mean failing the class altogether." I looked at her with a concerned smile.

"Hey, Mr. Weatherspoon, you're not gonna flunk me, are you? I thought you liked me!" she answered flirtatiously. She walked around to the back of my desk and planted her hands on her hips. She looked straight into my eyes and leaned forward until I could smell her perfume. She continued in closer, until her lips were right next to my ear. I could feel her hair as it brushed against my cheek. "Are you?" she whispered, her hot breath giving me shivers all the way down my neck. She pulled back, and smiled at me, a mischievous grin playing across her lips.

"Well, I certainly don't want to, but you really need a good grade on the final exam, Susan," I stammered nervously.

She looked at me with a pout. "Well, can't we work something out?" She cast her eyes down, and grinned at me with a  sidelong glance. "I REALLY want a good grade on this test, Mr. Weatherspoon…" her voice trailed off as she blinked her eyes slowly.

"Look, Susan, I'm not, that is I can't..well, there are rules, and, you know, well, we can't, that is to say, oh, good grief, Susan, I can't date you, I'm your teacher!" I gulped, and looked at her lithe form swaying in front of me.

Susan stopped moving, and her jaw dropped. "Date you!" she exclaimed. "Are you nuts? I was thinking an extra credit project or something. You thought I wanted to go out with you?

"Well, you were acting like, I mean I thought, it's just that I.." I was at a loss for words. This was the most embarrassing thing that had happened since high school!

"Look, Mr. Weatherspoon. No offense, but I wouldn't go out with you if you were the last guy on earth! No offense," Susan reiterated.

"Um, none taken" I mumbled, and turned back to the papers on my desk. "Susan, if you'll focus on the last three chapters, and concentrate on the end-of-chapter questions you'll have everything you need to get through the exam. You'll just have to study, that's all." I pushed my glasses up on my nose.

"Okay!" Susan quipped, and sashayed out of the room. A second later her head popped in through the door. "Oh, Mr. Weatherspoon?" She sang.

"Yes, Susan," I looked up at her. She blew me a kiss and winked at me. "Bye-bye, loverboy!" She giggled as she trotted off down the hall. I heard the classroom door click shut, and sat there looking at it for a long time afterwards. Suddenly I was grateful I didn't have a girlfriend.

            Some time later I was in my classroom going over the final exam questions. The phone rang, and I absently picked up the receiver with one hand, the other one being full of papers. "Weatherspoon," I announced, gripping the phone between my chin and left shoulder.

            "Samual, my boy. It's Juris. From Springfield!" Dr. Zarins' voice sounded far-off.

            "Oh my gosh, how are you, Sir!" I was delighted to hear from him. It had been over a year since we had last spoken.

            "Samual, are you near your fax machine?" His voice sounded urgent.

            "No, it's in the office down the hall. Why? I asked.

            "I'm sending you a LANDSAT image. I want you to go get it. I'll wait."

            "Okay, I'll be right back…" I knew from experience not to argue with Professor Zarins when he was on a roll.

            I went down the hall to the anthropology department office, and heard the fax machine whining and screeching in the back of the room. I threaded my way past cubicles and stacks of cardboard boxes, and retrieved what appeared to be a satellite photo of a body of water. I walked back to the classroom and picked up the receiver, lying on the desk where I had left it. "Dr. Zarins?" I asked.

            "Do you have it, my boy?" he inquired urgently.

            "Yes, Sir. What is it?" I was holding a dark space photograph of a large body of water.

            "Listen, Samual, have you ever heard of Dr. Farouk El-Baz from Boston University?"

            "I think so. Isn't he the geologist specializing in space photography the U.S. government used in the Gulf War?"

            "Yes, yes my boy. Well, he sent me this image from the LANDSAT camera in orbit." Dr. Zarins was clearly excited. "Look at the outline. What you see is the Persian Gulf, the northernmost tip. Now look just north and extending to the west. Do you see the fossil river faintly outlined?"

            "My God, Dr. Zarins, you're right! It is an ancient riverbed."

"My boy, that is the Rimah-Batin, or it once was." He was silent for a moment. 

"Yes, Dr. Zarins?" I waited for him to speak again.

"Samual it had another name before that." He fell quiet once more. As the realization began to sink in, he spoke again. "The name was the Pishon"

I felt faint of breath. I asked in a near whisper, "What about the Gihon?"

His reply came just as quietly. "The Gihon is the Karun River in Iran, coming in from the East."

I opened the middle drawer in my desk and removed a magnifying glass. I examined the image meticulously. There they were, all four of them. The Pishon, the Gihon, the Hiddekel and the Euphrates, all merging at the tip of the Persian Gulf and pointing directly towards… Eden….! I drew a shaky breath before speaking again. "Dr. Zarins, you have the evidence to prove your theories!"

"Yes, my boy, it seems I do. But there is much more work to be done. Can you come to Missouri?"

"I have to finish the semester and put my affairs in order. I'll be there in three weeks."

"Good, my boy. I'll put you on staff, you can assist with my research again." Dr. Zarins was clearly as excited as I was.

"See you in a few weeks," I said, and heard the click on the other end as he hung up the phone.

I looked back at the satellite photograph on my desk. I was astonished. For thousands of years mankind had sought for the missing river, and there it was, clearly visible from space. It had taken the technology of modern times to reveal what had been directly underfoot for centuries. The moment was amazing, and I basked in it at length.

I clasped my hands behind my head, and leaned back in my chair, reclining against the chalkboard. I closed my eyes, and began to fantasize about the Garden of Eden, hidden beneath the Persian Gulf since time immemorial. I realized that my path would eventually lead me there, and some day I would understand why my life had been continually redirected towards this search. The room grew quiet as the afternoon sun sank lower over the horizon outside. I could hear crickets chirping, and a few birds singing in the trees outdoors. I heard a girl's laughter in the distance, and smiled.

My chair moved slightly. I sat up suddenly, afraid I was about to fall off onto the floor. But the chair was not on the floor. I was not on the chair. I was in the now familiar fog of Gabrielae's realm, floating weightless in the warm mists of light. I waited quietly, until I saw her shimmering lights approaching. She floated up to me, as beautiful as I remembered her, like a dream or a fantastic vision. Her smiling eyes, fell upon me, and I blushed. Her hair swirled and set off the myriads of rainbow lights twinkling in the long tresses.

"Samual, you have done well!" she spoke. "But there is much more ahead of you. The times will change, and you must face many trials and dangers in the pursuit of your Quest. Now that you have located Eden, you must go there." She took my left arm, and it began to tingle. I saw the imprint of her kiss from long ago on my hand, as it began to glow brightly in her presence. She floated near to my face. Her beauty immobilized me as before, and I was paralyzed with rapture. She brushed her petite fingers lightly against my cheeks, and cradled my head in her hands. Looking deeply into my eyes, she spoke.

"You will do well, Samual. You will do well." She pulled away, smiling angelically, and began to fade in the mists. Soon all I could see was her hair, ever in motion, twinkling like a starlight night and I leaned forward to touch her again, but found I had no balance. I started to fall, and instinctively threw my hands in front of me just in time to connect with the desk in my classroom. I shook my head, closed then opened my eyes, and looked around. I was indeed in the classroom. I looked down at my left hand. There, glimmering faintly was the image of a kiss. I stared at it as it faded slowly into nothingness.

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