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They made their last full day together something memorable. That memory would help keep them motivated throughout their time away from each other.

Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne spent the past five weeks, since being sentenced, busily putting their affairs in order for a three to five year absence. Now, the day before they were to report to prison, they were prepared to go. So, they spent the last day absorbing each other's love.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, they spontaneously thought about getting married that last day together. But, they realized they would be busily running around all day to get their marriage license, their blood test, and to find a justice of the peace. Instead, on this day, they wanted to celebrate their love for each other and decided to get married after they were free again. This day was the first time they discussed marriage. It left a wonderful feeling inside them both. Because of this inescapable separation, their love went to a new level that last day together, where their love, she believed, would always stay.

Their last night together, they slept in each others' arms.

*

The next morning seemed unreal. To be apart for so long would have been nearly impossible. But the previous day together, with their decision to marry upon getting back their freedom, would carry their spirits until they were together again.

Jessie drove Mr. Melbourne; Angie drove Miss Annabelle. Saying good-bye was hard, but it was possible because, ironically, they were still celebrating the new romantic heights they had reached. They both inherently knew their higher love would get them through the next few years.

It was a beautiful September morning; the sun was shining, the birds were singing. It almost felt as though the world was celebrating their discovery of a higher love.

With smiles on their faces, Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne let go of each other and said good-bye.

*

A week inside prison and Mr. Melbourne was tired. He had no idea how hard prisoners worked. He dropped another tray of dishes onto the dishwasher rack and leaned back against the counter for a breather. He was on cleanup duty.

The dishwasher, a tall black man everyone called Ace, noticed Mr. Melbourne was hurting and said in a mock Australian accent, "Don't worry, mate, you'll adjust, and the work'll go by quickly."

Mr. Melbourne laughed at Ace's attempt at an Australian accent that sounded more Irish than Australian. Ace reminded him a bit of Jessie.

"Thanks. I hope I adjust `cause I'm worthless after I get done my shift."

"Ah, before you know it, you'll be in the gym pumping iron after them tables are cleared and cleaned," Ace promised, wisely giving up his attempt at an Australian accent.

"I worry about my fiancé. Dishes weigh the same in women's prisons as they do here." Mr. Melbourne said, shaking his head. Worrying about Miss Annabelle was making his condition worse.

"She'll get used to it too," Ace said reassuringly. "You're young. She's young. In a couple of weeks, she'll be OK. She'll even get that toned up body every woman dreams of!"

"You're sure?" Mr. Melbourne asked.

"Yeah, I know women who've been in prison," Ace answered, seriously and honestly. "They can physically handle it."

It was what Mr. Melbourne needed to hear. All of a sudden, his fatigue seemed to be gone. For the rest of his shift, Mr. Melbourne, for the first time since being here, moved with ease through his job and even wondered, for a moment, if he felt good. He stopped and thought for an instance, do I feel a little bit happy?

That evening before lights out, Mr. Melbourne began working on his book again. Suddenly, without a doubt this time, he felt a surge of happiness. He wrote until lights out.

Lying on his back, his body was in a small room with five other men. But as he lay on his top bunk, his mind was free and racing through a universe of thoughts. His experience here, he realized for the first time, was giving him profound insights about man, society, and our mentality. He was also discovering how free he still was.

*

Mr. Melbourne's discovery was a godsend: the experience of being in prison as a political prisoner brought unique angles to everything he had written in his book. In bizarre irony, he was discovering that a man is not wholly free in the anticivilization until he goes into the abyss of captivity. When his freedom is taken away, he discovers the power and freedom of his mind. Now, Mr. Melbourne spent every spare moment working on his book. He now knew his life would still move forward. Like a sick man who just got better, he felt really good.

Forty-five minutes away in the state prison for women, Miss Annabelle had been discovering the same phenomenon. Her nonwork time now all went to developing a weekly lecture that she taped and mailed to her twelve little God-Men each Wednesday. They continued their weekly classes together at Sally's house or Teddy's house. They would listen to Miss Annabelle's lecture on tape and then discussing it among themselves.

Miss Annabelle, like her lover, had discovered life in prison. Her lectures now had a dimension and added value she could not reach without this experience. She felt happy again, and her love started flowing from her heart again, which started a stream of perhaps some of the most beautiful love letters ever written. Her nonwork time now consisted of a perfect balance of developing logical left-brain lectures and emotional right-brain love letters.

The stream of love letters flowing back and forth between the imprisoned lovers fueled them and motivated their creations. Their lives, suppressed in routine physical labor and loneliness, were also full of adventure and love. Their minds soared toward new creations...and their hearts beat with love for each other. And Ace was right: the labor was exhausting, but their bodies got used to it.

Miss Annabelle also received a tape each week from her students' discussion session. After they listened to her lecture, they turned on the cassette to record their discussion. The prison gave her permission to listen to those tapes. Her students wrote her personal letters, too. Miss Annabelle was busy from the moment she woke up till the moment she fell asleep. Even after lights out, she would often lie awake in bed, sometimes up to an hour or longer, thinking about the next part to the puzzle picture she was building for her students...or thinking about her love.

*

At Duncan Elementary School, the third week of the new school year had begun. The whole school attended a special announcement in the school auditorium that Monday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.

No one knew what the announcement would be about. The teachers were surprised when Ms. Minner started to talk about Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne being in prison for the manslaughter of Mr. Hammerschmidt.

Then, what particularly surprised the faculty, was the principal's religious references.

"Let there be no mistake: anyone who commits such a crime will have blood on their hands when they meet God and will be sent to the fire below for eternity." Her voice, filled with bitterness, rang through the auditorium in her thick southern accent like a leap-of-faith healer.

Ms. Minner was born in Atlanta, Georgia into a devoutly religious family, notched for generations in the Bible Belt. Ms. Minner who was physically unattractive all her life with beady black eyes, thick glasses, thin greasy hair, unhealthy-looking skin, never married. She never even went on a date. She never kissed a man romantically. She resented men and hated pretty women. She disliked children, especially small children. She physically tightened up when children laughed and played around her. She hated places like McDonald's and fairs. At home, she used to refer to children as little brats. Over time, that changed to little rats.

When she got together with her two friends -- two older ladies who also never married -- their talk was negative, always. But they seemed to enjoy their nonstop, negative talk.

The topic for discussion lately often turned to Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne. The three of them would whip themselves into a frenzy, convinced that the attractive couple was the work of the devil himself.

Hammerschmidt had used Ms. Annabelle to create, with cool calculation, an illusion that would boost his political career. Ms. Minner, on the other hand, was not interested in politics. She was a mystic. She rationalized and believed she was the heroine who saved the school, the children, and the town from the devil's work. With her two friends cheering her on, Ms. Minner became obsessed with the mission to get Miss Annabelle out of her twelve students' lives forever.

Moreover, in a euphoric moment, the three ladies agreed that Ms. Minner would be doing God's work by separating the two lovers, for the strength of the devil would be broken. Thus, the topic of discussion with the only two friends Ms. Minner had in this world became her mission from God: separate Miss Annabelle from the two things she deeply loved -- her students and her man.

Two days later, Ms. Minner searched through Miss Annabelle's and Mr. Melbourne's files at school, and her beady eyes widened at the discovery that Mr. Melbourne was not a citizen of the United States.

*

The only contact Miss Annabelle had with the outside world, besides her cherished letters from John, was her weekly audio-cassette tape and the personal letters from her students. She saved every letter and tape and noticed how rapidly her twelve little God-Men were advancing. They all used Neothink now, building puzzle pictures piece by piece. Teddy was on his way to becoming a millionaire before he turned 10 years old. He and Cathy went out on their first "date" together. Ian had an article published in the USA Today and his ideas on the cosmos were becoming looked at by some prominent physicists. Sally's mom seemed surprisingly strong and the relationship had taken an interesting turn: Sally and her mom were spending hours together after school learning about the disease. Sally was beginning to form some very interesting insights -- perhaps pointing toward a direction for controlling the disease not yet recognized by the medical world.

Miss Annabelle was in awe of her students. She knew, when their minds started integrating knowledge and building Neothink puzzles during those final weeks in third grade, that they would become self-perpetuating creators who would someday create great values for the world. But the speed at which this was happening amazed her.

*

Christmas Day arrived. Miss Annabelle awakened before the 6:00 a.m. bugle sounded. On holidays, she liked to think back to the same day the year before, which she did as she lay in her bunk. She remembered that on Christmas Day last year she had broken through to grasping the immense value of human life and tragedy of human death. She also remembered spreading that God-Man perspective to her students, who were still young enough to genuinely never want to die. That immortal perspective amplified the value of their own lives so greatly that, she believed, their young minds reached for more -- reached for Neothink.

At breakfast, Miss Annabelle sat at the table, unaware that she had not eaten a thing. She was feeling down. She had been in this place for just four months, and she had at least two and a half more years to go. Two and a half more years! That's seven times longer than I've been in here, she thought. I miss John; I miss my students. I just miss them too much.

"Merry Christmas, Jenny," a cheerful voice said. Miss Annabelle looked up to see one of her roommates, Megan, sitting down next to her. "You haven't eaten a thing, sweetie. Do you feel OK?"

"Oh...yes. I'm...I'm just..." Miss Annabelle paused, not sure what to say.

"Holidays in here are hard." Megan's voice had so much compassion that Miss Annabelle's eyes involuntarily filled with tears. Megan saw the reaction and said, "Oh...honey, come here." Megan put her fork down, reached around, and hugged Miss Annabelle.

Megan had become a genuine friend. She was a sincere person, 40 years old, and a pillar of positivity. Miss Annabelle really enjoyed Megan's sense of life.

"It's going to be so long before I see John again and my students," Miss Annabelle said, her voice shaking. Megan hugged her tighter.

"In here, Jen, time goes by so slowly. But I want you to consider something, dear. Out there, time goes by so quickly. In here, I have a lot of time to think about what I want out of life. I already know that when I get out, the rest of my life will go by in a blink. But, because of my time in here, I'll know what I want. I'll go hard after what I want. I'll be focused and not on an endless journey that ends before it begins."

Miss Annabelle sat up to look into Megan's eye. Her friend had expressed a wisdom that surpassed Miss Annabelle. She looked at her vivacious friend who grew up in Rochester, New York in a blue-collar neighborhood. Megan looked cute with her short blonde hair and long spit curls that framed her face. As almost always, she wore a beautiful smile.

"You've turned this negative -- your five precious years in here -- into a positive. I admire that, Megan."

Megan smiled, and so did Miss Annabelle.

"You're always so positive...so happy!" Miss Annabelle said through a tearful chuckle, obviously feeling better. "What...how..."

"There's really nothing special about it," Megan said. She was not being flippant. In fact, she became very serious and said, "Would you like me to tell you how I got this way?" Miss Annabelle nodded and gave her undivided attention to the story Megan was about to tell.

"Okay...you're the only one I've told this to: When I was 15, I fell in love. His name was Joseph, and he was 20 years old. He landed a good job as an apprentice train mechanic for the railroad, and three months later I was pregnant. At 16, I had a beautiful baby boy...little Joey. Joseph and I got married. At 18, I gave birth to Meg and Peg, our twin daughters. But we weren't like so many teenage marriages...we were really happy, and we stayed happy. He was a hard-working man and worked his way up to line manager. I was so proud of him! Even though we struggled at first, we were happy. He'd rush home from work to play with the children. Throughout the week, he'd announce to the kids that his day off was family day, and we'd spend the entire day together, going on picnics, riding bicycles, going to a movie, taking a drive to the shore. When he became line manager, he had weekends off, and we'd spend them together as a family. Now and then, Joe would facetiously fret about the day our kids moved out, but I think he really kinda meant it."

Megan hesitated and looked into Miss Annabelle's gentle eyes, then Megan smiled, but it was a sad smile. "He never did see that day when Joey moved out. My sweetheart died one icy winter evening on his way home from work. A van going in the other direction lost control and spun directly into his car." Megan dropped her gaze to the floor. Miss Annabelle had never seen Megan sad, defeated. She barely could say more, but she continued, "I...I often try to imagine what Joe was thinking about during that last drive home. I know he was excited to see us. He'd always come in through the garage door and yell `Daddy's home!' The kids would drop whatever they were doing and run to him. He did that for seventeen beautiful years."

Miss Annabelle knew what it was like to lose loved ones suddenly, violently. When she was in her mid-20s, she lost her parents to a multiple, freeway car collision.

As Miss Annabelle looked at her friend, she realized that when you lose a loved one to early death, especially to a violent ending during that loved one's prime, your inner world of emotions is mercilessly and permanently defeated. You can grow new emotions, but those emotions in you from the past that revolved around your lost loved one are forever defeated. That look of defeat covered Megan's face.

"I'm so sorry," Miss Annabelle said, her own eyes filling with tears of sorrow for her friend.

Megan nodded and tried to smile. She struggled to say, "Joey, Meg and Peg...oh, they were devastated; they got so skinny after their daddy died. They wouldn't eat. Our world orbited around Joe, and then he was gone ...instantly...forever. Through all our pain and depression, what stood out most in my mind was how fast those 17 years we had together had passed. These days, 17 years is considered a marathon marriage. But after the accident, those 17 years seemed like six months. They had gone by in a flash...they really had.

"The kids and I barely managed. Two years later, Joey moved out. The year after that, Meg and Peg moved into the dormitory of the local college. For the first time in my life, I was alone. It was really hard. I kept living in the past, and I couldn't get out of my head how fast those 17 beautiful years went by. It felt like my life was over now...over so fast.

"Four years after Joe died, a year after my girls moved out, I couldn't stand the loneliness. I started dating for the first time. Stanley had worked with Joe; he was a very nice and caring person. He was educated, a college graduate, and had always been part of railroad management. I didn't love Stan; I didn't think I could love again, but I did like him...and he was good to me. So, he moved in. It wasn't until after Stan moved in with me that I discovered he had a cocaine habit. He convinced me that it was only a stimulant for when he was working long hours. He said it did less harm than smoking cigarettes or drinking coffee. He said he'd always used cocaine. I really didn't know anything about it other than what he told me.

"One night, about a month after Stan moved in, six federal agents stormed my home and found his cocaine. Since I knew about it, I was charged with possession and was sentenced to eleven years.

"Well, Jenny, that was about as much as I could take. I wanted to die and thought about killing myself, but I kept going because I knew what the suicide option would do to my precious children.

"Months passed in here; I didn't smile, not once. Then, one morning when I woke up, for one beautiful moment I felt like I was with Joe and the kids again. It was the first time I felt really good inside since Joe died. Lying in bed that morning before the wake up call, I smiled for the first time in here."

Megan had a hard time getting through her personal story, but now she seemed to gain strength as she remembered that morning:

"I realized I was letting go. I was telling myself it was OK to let go of those beautiful years and that my life with Joe was an everlasting part of me...a permanent place I could visit in my heart whenever I wanted to, just as I was doing that morning. By that afternoon I realized I had lived one life, which included my fairy tale with Joe and my children. And now, I had one more life to live again. All afternoon, I kept thinking how fast my first life went by in a blink. If I kept frowning, my second life would be over in a blink, and all I would have done was feel miserable. I could either frown...or smile. Either way, my life would go by in a flash, but it could be a flash full of frowns or a flash full of smiles. I chose to smile.

"At first, it took discipline to pursue a positive life. After a while, it came naturally. Now, I know that my second life will be over fast, like my first life, so I'm going to make every moment as positive and happy as I can."

Suddenly Megan put both her hands on Miss Annabelle's shoulders and said, "Jennifer, people don't know, until it's all ending, how fast our lives pass by. I know because I've had one life that already ended. Once you know it, then to be less than positive and energetic is such a waste of your one brief moment alive."

Miss Annabelle shook her head and managed to say, "I so admire you, Megan." ...She doesn't belong here, Miss Annabelle could not stop saying in her thoughts. Why is this good woman in prison? She's not a criminal. Yet, she's being stripped of anywhere from eight to eleven years of her prime...aging in here.

Miss Annabelle remembered what Rico had told the class: there are many people in prison who are not criminals. They committed no real crimes of force. Instead, they violated the sound-good, vote-gathering laws created by politicians. Megan, a beautiful person who would never hurt anyone, violated one of those political-policy laws. Miss Annabelle agonized over this. How many Megans are trapped in here? The innocence of Megan's face really moved Miss Annabelle as she heard a voice in her head saying, over and over, "I'm so sorry you're in here, Megan!"

Megan smiled. She did not know Miss Annabelle was feeling sorry for her. Megan said, "I'll tell you, Jenny, our lives go by in a hurry. When you get out of here, don't waste any time, don't hesitate to do whatever it is that's going to bring you happiness. And let yourself...no, make yourself feel it! Figure out your path, and then run along it. I've already figured out what I'm going to do. Now, I just can't wait to get out of here! Just four years to go if I get out early."

Four more years murdered by politicians, Miss Annabelle thought.

*

Megan's attitude lifted Miss Annabelle. Why frown when I can smile? Miss Annabelle never forgot those words, and she realized she had a lot to smile about. She was deeply in love; she thought a lot about the wedding that would happen when she and Mr. Melbourne were free again. In fact she started planning the wedding, right from prison, ordering catalogues and brochures. She wanted a wedding and reception so she and Mr. Melbourne could celebrate the special memory with the other people they loved: her students, Sally's parents, Teddy's parents, Jessie and Angie, John's family. The wedding had also become a symbol of freedom for Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne. Thinking about it kept them both very positive.

Miss Annabelle led a busy life in prison. She kept her weekly class going from prison, which made her feel as if she were out there in the free world. She and Megan had become close friends. And every other Saturday on visiting day, Jessie and Angie visited her for a couple of hours. Those visits were like shots of adrenaline. Moreover, Jessie and Angie visited Mr. Melbourne, too, once a month. Miss Annabelle would get so excited hearing everything about him and vice versa. Angie and Jessie really enjoyed it, too. Miss Annabelle was forever
grateful to the value and effort Angie and Jessie gave to her.

Her students had asked her on the first discussion tape if they could come to visit her. Rico said that they could and told them how. Miss Annabelle's heart melted as she listened to their euphoria when they thought they could come to see her. But children were not allowed to visit unless they were related to the inmate and accompanied by a parent or guardian. So, they had to settle for the recorded weekly lecture and discussion period, which was very rewarding nonetheless.

Every night now, she lay in bed after lights out and thought: With all these wonderful people and values in my life...why frown when I can smile?

*

Forty-five minutes away, Mr. Melbourne had maximized his values in prison, too. He discovered that, unlike in the free world, in here he could talk to prisoners about the ideas in his book, and they not only listened, but in many cases they enthusiastically integrated the protocols of the God-Man into their lives. The idea of the Civilization of God-Man, also called the Civilization of the Universe, fascinated many of the prisoners. Mr. Melbourne used several of the prisoners for effective work studies. He realized they could see through to the essence and grasp things in here that would be blocked out there in the free world...in the anticivilization filled with political illusions and dishonesties. Why? Why could these prisoners see reality when ordinary citizens could not? He realized that out there, society's political leaders and their media calibrated everything to support the political illusions and dishonesties. In here, the prison leaders calibrated nothing, for no illusions existed. In here, people woke up from the spell of external authorities and simply thought on their own. Amazingly, several of the prisoners grasped the next evolution of man -- God-Man and his Civilization of the Universe.

Two years into his sentence, Mr. Melbourne had extracted extensive "laboratory" experiments he could have gotten nowhere else. The results strengthened his work. He learned that the source behind the illusions and dishonesties of the anticivilization was laziness. With that insight, he developed a marketing approach for his work that would embrace the most powerful force of the anticivilization instead of fighting it. Through his invaluable prison experiments, he learned to present his work as the ultimate route to easy, indeed effortless wealth. He also wove that theme throughout his book itself. Thus, his new marketing approach and theme woven throughout his book was extremely attractive to the anticivilization dominated by laziness and its get-something-for-nothing attraction. Yet, his new angle was not hype; it was for real.

He realized that as humanity evolves into the new God-Man mentality and outgrows its dependency on leaders and dissolves the political leaders' illusions and resulting regulations, then people would become very wealthy without lifting a finger. He identified that the computer industry was a forerunner of that millionaire phenomenon, as he liked to call it. Without lifting a finger, consumers' buying power for computers increased tens of thousands of times. The computer industry was the least tolerant industry for political interference, thus the computer industry was least hindered by regulations and litigation. The future of high technology combined with the God-Man mentality, shifting power from leaders to individuals, removing the political leaders' destructive regulations and litigation that held back industries, well then, that same ten-thousandfold increase of buying power would apply to a lot more products than computers. The people, without lifting a finger, would suddenly enjoy the buying power of millionaires or billionaires.

Needless to say, the prisoners loved this anti-authority, get-rich philosophy. Mr. Melbourne realized that the general population would be drawn to this philosophy as well because, ironically, it appealed to the pervasive mind set of the anticivilization: get something for nothing.

Two years in prison, and he was discovering the value and power of marketing. In here, he witnessed a microcosm of what he could accomplish through marketing his life's work worldwide.

He continued testing marketing ideas in his laboratory of prisoners. He discovered that the get-rich-quick approach was much more effective than an intellectual approach. He kept detailed notes and started building his puzzle pieces to a Neothink marketing approach that he would pursue upon his release.

He was savvy enough to know that he would have to market his book himself, that no Establishment publisher could handle its anti-Establishment message. He set his eye on some of the prisoners who were never criminals. In here, he, too, discovered the two different categories of prisoners -- those criminals here because of a crime of force versus those innocent people here because of a political-policy "crime". Prisoners' anti-authority mindset after being scorned by the Establishment would make motivated employees for his new anti-authority business. He was thinking business, marketing, personnel, and he was scouting for good employees.

Mr. Melbourne was building a plan to advance the world through business and his book. He would leave the academic world behind when he got out. He formed his vision and knew what he needed to do. His business would disseminate his book by the millions.

One evening after his hard labor was done, while studying his notes and data on his marketing approaches, he saw the big picture: a Neothink picture for a powerful brochure for his book. A whole new world was opening up to him.

Mr. Melbourne had subscribed to several trade magazines on publishing, advertising, and direct response marketing. He studied the ads in those publications. He also received, in prison, several advertisements through the mail, for now he was on several mailing lists.

He learned from those advertisements. He also felt that either they missed the most powerful common denominator of this anticivilization -- the desire to get something for nothing -- or, if they did appeal to that get-rich-quick desire in people, the product was not valid.

He realized he had both the only valid get-rich-quick advertising concept and the only valid product that would deliver such a phenomenon.

I'm sitting on a powerful marketing concept to get my book out to lots of people, he thought as he worked on his brochure. This whole new world of marketing was the way to advance the world. I'll press the most urgent buttons in people out there, he thought, and get as many books out there that I can. His product was nearly done; now the marketing had just begun.

He worked fervently on his brochure until lights out. He would then slide his folder of notes into his locker and get into bed. He would slip into dreams of the future, eyes wide open, staring into the black. But his mind's eye saw his future office filled with hardworking people, marketing and fulfilling his book. If gotten out in large enough numbers, his book would start advancing humanity toward the next, superior mentality like Miss Annabelle and her twelve little God-Men.

His dreams of the future always wound up seeing his lovely wife-to-be with him. Like her, he was feeling good about himself. He spoke to himself silently in his thoughts: When I get out of here, I'll be 40 years old. I'll be entering my power years. I'll have completed my book of 15 years. I'll go into business for myself and learn how to market this to the world.

A cool breeze blew in through the one rectangular window in the small room and brushed across his face. He smiled. He liked the wind, for it came from out there -- from beyond the fence. ...He longed to be free as the wind, again.

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