A Dream Unfolds

Marlo Timpani sat on a bench in Regents Park, London thinking deeply. Should he go back to her? Could he commit one hundred percent to all that this would entail? It was not the first time he had left, but something always drew him back to her. Somewhere deep inside, despite his periodic doubts, which flared up like a dark wave of insecurity, he knew that what they did together was good, that the world benefited from their being together. Sometimes it was just too much of a reality shift to live in her world. He looked around him, saw children playing in the carefree sunshine of their youth and thought about the world that adults had created. Would it promise the children and the children's children a bright future? Could this world, the way it was going, help them explore their fullest potential? Two teenage boys slouched slowly past, one spat on the path and said to the other "bashed up a granny last night. It was wicked, got it on camera too¦ Marlo's guts tightened with disgust. What was the world coming to? Wickedness was now perceived as goodness and everything stank of moral demise. Where had the magic gone? If he would not try to bring it back who would? Quick as a flash all she had taught him came back to him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the thug's heart. He saw blackness strangling the seed of light within. Saw the violence the boy had himself endured in life, and mustered his own love light within. He recalled his medicine dreams of Polar Bear. Standing swiftly and pitching his voice to perfectly resonate within the lad's heart he said Then it's prison for you lad, unless you change. The boys swung around to see who had spoken. "And what you going to do about it grandpa? They stopped in their tracks. Before them they saw a kind faced, wizened old man standing with his arms outstretched, heart wide open. A trembling fear swept through the lads. They looked at each other in disbelief, having both thought they heard a bear growling. For an instant a subtle beam of soft pink light shot out from Marlo's heart into the braggarts' and some darkness melted away. Marlo moved swiftly forward, closed the gap between them in a few strides and touched both boys gently on the heart. "Remember this feeling? This is happiness. I'll be watching you in your dreams. Now go. He gave them both a sharp rap with his knuckles, right on the heart so they wouldn't forget, turned and strolled away without looking back. The louts just stood there. They couldn't quite believe what had happened. Something had gone from inside. A dam had been removed and their senses reeled with happiness. The years of aggression had gone and their bodies struggled to remember how to move without it propelling them. They sank to the ground together, right there on the path, blinking through tears and saw the world anew. It was a world that accepted them, as easily as sunlight flows. Looking down the path they saw the old man striding away purposefully. Between each blink of their eyes he seemed to have moved just slightly further than ought to have been possible. Marlo had made his decision, he would return to Japan, to his mentor. He would continue upon the path of the dream wizard, and he would not turn away again.