56 Building Blocks

As Flash traveled further and further from Olo, he realized that he had no particular destination in mind, yet he looked forward to whatever adventure awaited him.

Scanning the nearby star systems, he was able to glimpse, at great distance, fantastic nebulae in every conceivable shape and color.  These, he charted, photographed, and recorded. He was mindful of the fact that no other Earthling had ever seen the wonders that he beheld.  Gas clouds burst out like slow moving fireworks. A glacially slow celebration, which was breathtaking and vast. 

When he was not gazing at stars, he read from the book he had picked up back on Olo. The book was like an intergalactic garage sale find.  It was a well used item that had outgrown its usefulness to the former owner, yet it fit him perfectly. He could not understand how his own story could have been told in its pages, and every time he opened it, he wondered at it.  Upon waking, he would open the book to see if it had been a dream, but there it was in black and white. His own thoughts and actions were told, and interspersed with other beautiful, heroic, unbelievable stories. Could they also be true accounts, as his own story was?

Back on Earth, people crowded the edges of the water, building their homes, whenever possible, with a view of a lake, river or ocean. This was never satisfying for Flash, who wanted to touch, or be submerged in the water rather than just see it in the distance. 

When looking at a mountain, he wanted to climb it or explore a cave beneath it. 

This is how he felt as he looked at the distant stars with their rings of orbiting asteroids and planets, and so he began looking for one that would support life.

He zeroed in on a planet whose scan showed oxygen and water, and set a course toward it. 

The blue and white planet sparkled like a diamond on the screen, and Flash wondered what he might find there.  It was an icy planet, but contained the building blocks of life. 

As Flash approached the Earth-sized planet, he began to see its swirling blue and white surface in greater detail. He’d seen other watery planets which did not have continents, and in this case, he could not be certain whether he was seeing clouds, continents or simply vast areas of ice-covered ocean.  His readings indicated that it was cold, with temperatures ranging around 100 degrees below zero fahrenheit.  Cold… Dangerously cold. But he was prepared for those bitter conditions, and even colder.

He would be safe inside his ship, and he had gear to protect him outside the ship as well. Once again, Flash found himself looking down on a planet from orbit. It was clear from this vantage point that there were continents under the ice floes. Spiraling clouds hung in the atmosphere, and passed over the frozen expanse. Flash had second thoughts about this. A lush, warm planet would be more inviting for sure, and yet he felt he had chosen this planet for a reason. Out of an infinite number of choices, he felt almost as though he had been called to this one. There was something familiar about it, for all the hostility of its climate, and he wanted to know what mysteries it might hold. Unknown forces held it in eternal winter, though its proximity to its sun was similar to that of Earth. 

If he sat and thought about it too long, he figured he might change his mind, so he gathered cold weather gear and opened the hatch to the TNI2. The temperatures out here in space were far colder than anything he would run into down there. 

Flash gazed down at the rippling whiteness, set against the deepest blue he could imagine, separated by a dynamic, jagged shoreline. What could it be that drew him here?

Thank you to Anne for this photo she took in Palmer, Alaska. Anne is a painter, glass and ceramic artist, a dear friend and one of my biggest inspirations in my painting. Check back for an episode based on her photo series!

For as long as I can remember, I have loved books. 

When I was a child, my mother would read to us on the love seat in our living room, or she would sit on my bedroom floor, her back against the bed, reading bedtime stories aloud. 

I did the same thing with my kids, and I even read them some of the same books my mother read to me. 

Most memorable was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis. 

She read the first couple of Narnia books aloud, and then I had to learn to read entire books myself in order to get the rest of the story. 

Much later, I went to college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, home of Eerdman’s, the publisher of Lewis’ books in the United States.  Their bookstore sold imperfect printings at up to 90% off retail prices, and I collected everything I could find by him. 

Through Lewis, I was introduced to George MacDonald, Charles Williams, Madeleine L’Engle, J. R. R. Tolkien and others who lit a passion in me for storytelling. 

There was another bookstore not far from campus where I bought several books which I still have, and still love today. The Little Prince and The Velveteen Rabbit among them. 

I read to my friends, I read to cabins full of campers during those summers. Now I read to anyone who will listen… To the annoyance of some. A friend told me this week that I am too much in love with the sound of my own voice. He prefers to read silently to himself. Sigh. I understand, but it leaves me out of the experience. 

Ok. So I need to choose my audience more carefully, or let my audience choose me. 

Hearing David Sedaris read his own work adds so much to his wonderful stories, don’t you think?

The last couple of years, the bookstore in my town has invited me to come and read at their shop during the full moon in the summer months.  When the weather allows it, we sit around a fire within sight of Lake Superior, and I read some of my favorite passages by some of my favorite authors, and sneak some of my own writing in, too. 

55 TroubadourFlash planned his exit from Olo’s gentle pull, plotting a course well away from his cetacean neighbors. In no time he came upon them again, rounding the far side of Olo, now further out from them.  He slowed so he could watch them, and his mind went back to a whale watching excursion he had taken on the Atlantic, off the coast of Africa.

He felt a thrill back then seeing whales surface and blow, or an occasional wave of a tail fluke. 

Now, the entire pod was clearly visible, almost illuminated against the dark velvet curtain of the universe. 

The whales were moving now, in formation. Slowly they circled, each following another, rising in an ever tightening carousel below the mother ship. 

Something glimmered out the side window, and Flash looked closer at it. A crystal… no… hundreds of crystals rose up from the whale pod, encircling his ship like a net. 

He had heard of something like this. Back on Earth, whales blew bubble nets to corral and feed on krill or small fish. 

He took stock of his situation. If these were like earth whales, he felt confident that they would not swallow him up. But these were not earth whales. If they rose up through the net of crystals, at least one of them would most likely collide with his ship. If he flew through the net, his ship could be damaged or even pierced. 

They continued their slow spiraling climb, still far below him. 

Flash simply followed the tunnel of crystals “up” away from the whales until the crystals subsided, and then doubled back outside of the net. 

As they continued, the crystals grew more plentiful. 

One great whale suddenly swam up the crystal funnel, it’s mouth open. Another followed behind it, and then the entire pod darted through the area feeding on something that was not apparent to Flash’s eyes. 

He watched their activity with great interest, and when it was over, the whales slowed again. All of the crystals appeared to be gone. 

One of the largest whales approached the mother ship. With it’s face on a level with Flash’s viewing screen, it slowly raised it’s tail until it was vertical (in relation to the ship), much like the whale had done when dropping Skip off down on the planet below.  The ship seemed to vibrate, and Flash turned his sound equipment back on. 

The whale’s song filled the compartment with heartbreaking tones that sounded like cellos and bass violins, laced with high pitched guttural sounds, and other acoustic elements that he had no words to describe. The song sounded ancient. Sad and hopeful at the same time, and Flash wanted it to go on and on. But no. The otherworldly troubadour finished his song and swam back toward the pod.  As he passed, they all turned and followed him away into deep space. Their time on Olo was over, and so was his.

 Now what?  Tiny Olo appeared tinier by the minute, and Flash couldn’t help thinking of his predicament twelve years earlier. The thought of being out in deep space beyond our solor system would have meant certain death.  Now he had come here by choice. 

For the past year, I’ve been trying to get Flash Meridian to the Planet Olo via the spaceship in my brain.  I’ve had a couple of weeks off from school over the holidays, and I wrote feverishly while I didn’t have weekly assignments weighing on my mind.  A new year started today, and Flash’s visit to Olo is over. Now I feel a little bit lost.  Maybe that’s an appropriate way to feel on New Year’s Day. 

The journey of 2011 was cathartic for me, bringing some difficult times back to the forefront of my memory. But rather than a vague sense of lies and injustices, I now feel compassion, as Flash did, for those who are hurt or are lost, and even those who try to control others in the name of love. 

While I can not change anyone, I can learn to fit pieces together and make sense of reality. I can question things and make up my mind based on evidence, waking every day to learn something I never knew before… about myself, about the world I live in, and about what it all means to me.

It is so unlikely that I would be here, whirling through space on this dynamic planet, aware of my own unlikelihood. But here I am, contemplating history and dreaming of the future. 

I string words together in an attempt to express something the way I string brushstrokes together on canvas or talk one on one with a friend. 

I think life is so beautiful, and also so sad. Sad and happy at the same time. 

If we want to be happy, we have to learn to feel every other emotion. That’s how we can tell the difference.  Besides, our emotions deceive us. So often, we think bad things are happening, only to see the incredible gift in it later. 

In school, I tend to compare myself with others, thinking everyone else is doing better than me. But everyone struggles. You can never know the secret insecurities that others face. Nor are we necessarily a good judge of our own progress. 

So my advice to me is to lighten up!  Do the best you can. Ask for help when you need it. Enjoy your brief time on this beautiful planet. Love yourself. Forgive others. Have a great year. 

54 DepartureFlash Meridian picked up the book and turned without saying another word. He boarded the TNI2 and lifted off the ground.  Hovering above the planet’s surface, he could move three dimensionally in limitless space. 

He flew over the colorful plains and toward the towering forms.  The vertical treelike shapes looked like they were made of glass, and when he was quite close, he could make out spirals that rose the height of the sky scrapers. These spiral features rose in zig zagging increments, a dizzying staircase to the clouds.  There were caves at intervals along the steps.

As much as Flash wanted to stay, something within him said it was time to go. 

The TNI2 rose gradually as Flash took in as much as he could below him. The mountainous forms gave way to a plateau on which stood a soaring castle, identical to the one Buffy and Skip had  constructed, only massive in scale. 

He rose higher and higher until pale blue gave way to black. Like a magnet, the mother ship drew him to it, and he was home. 

The hatch was his welcome mat, and the familiar clicking sound his greeting. 

He set the Ololian rulebook on the control panel, and did a quick radar scan in preparation for leaving orbit. 

Several objects were nearby. They were not asteroids. They were not ships. They were whales. 

53 The Rulebook Forbids itBuffy and Skip were like dogs that had lived their entire lives in puppy mill cages. When let out onto a sunny summer lawn with squeak toys and rawhide chews, They had no idea what to do. 

Flash wanted desperately to free them from the mental prison that held their spirits captive. 

“Come with me” he said. They rose and followed him to the bed of rubies. He raised one to eye level and it projected brilliant beams of dancing light. 

They shrunk away, and glanced about as though in fear of getting caught and being punished. 

“It’s ok!” he reassured them, “Let’s go and see what wonders this world holds for you.”

“The rulebook forbids it” they claimed. 

Had Flash missed something?  “Show me” he said, handing the tattered book to Skip. 

With worried faces, they began pouring through the book, searching for a basis for their fear. 

“I know it’s here somewhere” Skip muttered, becoming more and more flustered. 

“What I see in the book,” Flash said, “is the freedom of potential, not the blinders of fear. I think you may have misunderstood the message.”

The Ololians were so steeped in misguided beliefs that it was difficult for them to see the beauty in anything.  In light of this, perhaps Flash actually was a redeemer of sorts. But could he break the chains that shackled them?

“If you look for something, that is what you are apt to find. If it is fear you concentrate on, you will live in fear. On the other hand, if you can see beauty, then you can live joyous and beautiful lives.  Does that make sense to you?”

Their apprehension was palpable. How many years had they lived under this umbrella of suppression?  Their former world was drab and colorless. They were clearly products of this oppression, yet Flash thought he had detected a spark of joy at the blazing crystal.

“Let us further examine the rulebook,” they pleaded, and Flash obliged with an immense feeling of pity. 

As they sat, huddled over the pages, Flash set off to explore the area. He followed a yellow path which he could easily retrace if he made it any substantial distance from the ship. 

Flash was met with surprise after surprise on his ramble.  As much as he tried to keep the big picture in view, every detail beckoned him to stop and marvel.  The jewel encrusted terrain eventually gave way to a softer, almost spongy surface, but still in intense color like before.

While the landscape continued to captivate him, Flash couldn’t help thinking of Buffy and Skip, and he wondered how he could help them. Not to meddle, but they clearly looked to him for guidance.  This was their planet, not his, and this realization changed the way he viewed it.

As the yellow path narrowed and came to an end, he turned and followed it back.

From a distance, Flash could see Buffy and Skip still hunching over, just as he had left them. He felt compassion, but did not know what else he could say. 

As he neared them, he heard the sound of laughter. 

With their backs turned to him, Buffy and Skip were building a glimmering castle out of crystal shards.

They were oblivious to his presence, piecing stones together to form an ornate structure with balconies cantilevering out from tower walls. A sweeping amethyst roadway led to the main gate whose arch reached several feet above the mosaic floor. Looking over their shoulders, Flash saw within the mosaics, images from his own journey that brought him all these light years to meet them, and his heart was glad. 

Behind the castle, he saw something that did not quite fit the creative and playful scene. There, pages disheveled, lay the rulebook, a relic from another time.

The crystal palace was so detailed and well constructed that Flash could hardly believe his eyes. It was nothing like a child’s sand castle, but appeared to be an exact replica, only more beautiful than any Flash had ever seen. 

“How did you do this?” Flash asked in amazement. 

“This is how the pieces fit together,” they said. 

Flash could see it now. In this recreated world, the two inhabitants had all the tools they needed to fit the pieces together. They did not need him to teach them how we assembled the puzzle on Earth. Perhaps they would do it better here without his intervention.

Just one or two of Olo’s magnificent crystals would be worth a fortune on earth. Here, there were blue diamonds and clear emeralds larger than watermelons, but Flash was only interested in one souvenir. 

“You dropped your book,” he said. 

“We don’t need that anymore.”

52 It’s For YouThey were clearly humanoid.  Flash had heard the words they bellowed, “Happy, happy…”  He had observed one of them smiling and waving, so he did not anticipate a problem with communication. 

“My name is Flash Meridian,” he said when the duo reached a conversational distance from him.

“I’m Buffy”, the young woman announced. “And this is Skip”. 

“Hi”, Skip said. 

Flash wondered where he should start, but then Buffy spoke. 

“We are so glad you are here!” she began. “I wondered if this day would ever come!”

“We read about it in the rulebook”, Skip offered. 

Flash smiled, hiding his confusion, and hoped they would further enlighten him. 

“What rulebook?” he asked.  “What did you read?”

“It was foretold!”, they exclaimed in unison, and then Skip continued.

“…That you would come from the heavens in a shining garment, and create for us a whole new world.”

Yes, he had come from the heavens.  Yes, his silver suit shone.  Yes, their world had been transformed. 

Flash grew concerned. This story sounded rather familiar. It seemed the Ololians saw him as some sort of messiah figure. 

“May I see your rulebook?” Flash asked.

“Yes, of course, we always keep it nearby”. 

Skip pulled a worn book from his back pocket and handed it to Flash, who opened it with some trepidation. 

Indeed, the book told of Olo, and its two inhabitants. It told of Flash, and his journey with it’s setbacks, mechanical trouble near Mora and his journey through the black hole. He turned pages, quickly devouring the information while his skin tingled in absolute wonder at what he read. How could this be?  He turned another page and saw there an image of Olo’s destruction and restoration. It was exactly as Flash had seen upon his arrival. He felt faint, his mind boggled by what he saw in the book.

He looked up at Buffy and Skip. They stared at him wide eyed as if anticipating some insight or instruction. He stared back at them in a daze. 

“What must we do now?” Skip asked. 

“What do you want to do?”

The question seemed like a completely foreign concept. 

No one said anything for what seemed a rather long time, so Flash opened the book again. 

“It says here…” he began, and at this, the two sat cross-legged on the ground in front of him, clasped their hands and looked very solemn. 

“It says here that this new world has been created for you to enjoy. I think you should enjoy it together.”

Still, they sat looking up at him, oblivious to the wondrous world around them. 

“Look around you!” he urged. This planet is beautiful!  And it’s for you!  Go!  Explore!  Live!”

They glanced at each other, and looked blankly back at Flash.

front and back cover

inside front and back cover

Twelve years ago, I never imagined that I would still be doing this!

The Adventures of Flash Meridian was just one of those silly things that just happened one day. My friends Jeremy, Josh and Justin came over. I had flight suits. They put them on. It was as simple as that. I took pictures and altered them in Photoshop (which I was just beginning to learn to use).  Then I made up some captions for the pictures. We laughed. That was it… Or so we thought. 

Those fifteen or twenty actors that portrayed characters in the early episodes grew up and/or moved away long ago, and here I still am, with my silver “space suit” and a story in my head. 

The website has always gone through changes. I did one episode with Barbie Dolls and action figures. I did an episode or two using a comic book app on my phone…  but in the last year since the relaunch (at my daughter’s urging), there have been cataclysmic evolutionary leaps. 

The story now focuses primarily on the writing, even though I have transformed a room in my basement into the interior of the mother ship. 

Maybe the pictures will come back. Maybe in the form of paintings. Maybe a new crop of actors will wander into my life.

For now, I am obsessed with writing. The current story line (in the mid 50’s episodes) goes back about 28 years, when I was in my early 20’s and worked in a summer camp between semesters in Bible School. 

It doesn’t matter what you write about, pieces of you will surface. C.S. Lewis said that, far better than I just did. And it’s true. I’m often surprised at what details of the real me appear in my story. 

But the thing that really spurred the idea of a book is that the blog is all backwards!  The most recent episode always appears first, and I find it cumbersome to be constantly scrolling back to find continuity, although the links at the right hand side do make it easier to navigate (and allow you to comment). 

So the book flows. In order.  And that’s why I did it. 

I read the entire booklet out loud to my dogs tonight, and they listened attentively to the whole thing. I think they enjoyed it. I happen to love the story even though I wrote it, and I hope you’ll like it, too.

51 Hello!

It was clear to Flash that he needed a plan for exploring this planet. He could easily spend a week or more within site of his ship.  This was simply a random spot, and not even among the obvious geologic features that rose like huge coral reefs in the distance.

But first, lunch. He settled into the cockpit of the TNI2, and addressed the onboard computer, which was simply an extension of the network on the mother ship. 

“I’d like a ham panini sandwich with goat cheese, please,” Flash stated into the handset. 

“Certainly,” a voice responded. A few moments later, he opened a compartment and retrieved his lunch. 

He felt strength returning as he ate, but before he finished, something happened. 

It suddenly became dark, as though a storm cloud passed directly over him, and Flash looked up to see what meteorologic change was taking place.

It wasn’t a cloud. 

Suspended there above his ship, like a Thanksgiving parade balloon, an enormous white whale hovered. 

This was something Flash had never encountered or even heard of before, so he was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Was there any danger?

He decided to face this head on, as was his typical response. 

He stepped back out onto the now shaded but still bright ground, and walked out into the light to get a different view. This was the larger of the whales, and the other floated above it. Which part of a whale do you address?

He walked forward  toward the mouth, and looked up to see the texture of ventral pleats bigger than hand hewn timbers, which narrowed and curved up toward the rostrum or bow of the giant. 

He had to walk quite a ways forward of the animal in order to be able to see anything other than the underside of it, which hung in deep purple shadow, and twinkled all over with multi colored reflections from the gem encrusted plain below. 

“Hello!” Flash called, unable to see a rider on its back. “Hello!” he hailed again.  

The front tip of the whale lowered toward the ground and gradually the tail rose. As the whale became more and more vertical, the rider came into view, sliding down the dorsal ridge, and landed on his feet about midway between Flash and his ship. 

Down came the calf, perpendicular to the other whale.  It rolled its body and the other rider slid down its pectoral fin, landing on her feet as well. 

He wore a white shirt and a black necktie, and she wore a pink dress.  As they walked toward Flash, the whales drifted higher and higher into the atmosphere, and Flash watched them rise. 

“Hello,” Flash said again, and as the whales vanished from view, the riders approached him.