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Chapter 9 - A woman of FireAnton joined us on the island on the first day of the second week. In spite of what I had said about her earlier, no one was surprised to see her show up. Nor was I. "So, what took you so long?" asked Sylvia after the initial round of greetings had ended. "Why didn't you come sooner?" "As you probably know, Fred had not invited me to come. He told me that an important meeting would be held that is designed to change the course of humanity and protect civilization. But he didn't invite me. I felt hurt. Then, after I stewed over this for a few days, I suddenly realized something that I had carelessly discarded. I realized that neither had Fred said that I shouldn't come. After I stewed on that new revelation for another few days, I suddenly realized that I was throwing my life away by not coming here. It seemed so utterly without purpose, even ridiculous, suddenly, that I should waste my life on hosting tea parties for Nicolai's Admiralty, while you are engaged in a life and death struggle to prevent the destruction of civilization. It became infinitely clear then, where I had to be. That's when I simply invited myself. Why should a human being have to be prompted to do the right thing? Are we not capable of knowing what the right thing is, without a shadow of a doubt? Besides, I didn't come here to take anything away. I came here to add whatever increment of light I can add. That's the opposite to the black hole process, isn't it?" "That's the opposite to the Grima privatization process," I interrupted her. "It's the process of the sun." "I came here to add light to the sun," she said and began to laugh. "If I can do this in some way, my coming here will have been worthwhile, and the few weeks of my life that I spent here will have been well spent. But what's that Grima privatization process?" "Oh, that's a long story," said Steve, "but I'll gladly fill you in." "So, you say that you called Fred up and told him that you are coming here, just like that?" I asked Anton, after Steve was finished. "Eh, why should I do that? Why should I bother Fred with something so unimportant?" she replied. "My mind was made up. I knew what I had to do. Nicolai already knew the location. With his help, transport was arranged. So here I am. Are there any coconuts left on the palm trees?" she added. "Tony knows the location of a whole grove of them," I replied. "That's on the sunrise side of the island. I'm sure Tony would be delighted to take you there to view the sunrise with him. Of course, in-between, we have work to do." "That's why I am here, Pete, to do work; to work with all of you at the leading edge. And let me say this, we better make this good. I have not come here to waste my time with idle tea parties, the kind that I have just escaped from." "Now that is what I call passion, passion for life!" said Steve to Anton. "You have finally begun to come alive as a human being. I am so glad that I asked Fred not to invite you. I knew you would take the initiative yourself, and that's worth a thousand times more, especially to yourself, than just responding to being prompted. You have that fire in you; the kind of fire that it takes to do what we all must do. Do you want to know what Pete had predicted about you?" Steve asked. "He had predicted that you would awaken to become a dynamo. So you have come to bring your dynamism, your fire, and the light of your love into the lateral lattice of human hearts that represents the world of our being, to bring light and strength and passion to it? Welcome, Anton." After Anton had set up her tent and stowed the gear away that she had brought, I invited her for a stroll down the beach, all the while keeping on eye open for a finely pointed stick for making drawings in the sand. It didn't take long to find one. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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