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Reunion. That word sounded beautiful to Jake. He had met only Rico, Angie and Jessie, but having listened to their stories and every classroom lecture, Jake really felt he was reuniting with these people.
These people! These people were from another world of their own, a world in which Jake knew he belonged. Since they were eight years old, these people lived in this other world. Just what would happen when they came together as adults? It was a mighty thought. Jake could barely stand the anticipation.
After classes Monday, Jake walked to Kinko's and made twenty copies of the PI report. As he was leaving, he ran into one of his frat brothers.
"Hey, bro...where you been lately?" the fraternity jock asked.
"Been real busy," was Jake's reply. As his frat brother pursued his curious line of questioning, Jake could not stop his inner feeling that nagged him to get away from his frat brothers. Jake had little interest in the world of fraternities or their parties any longer. Try as he did, Jake just could not see himself spending another moment at the frat house. As he listened to his peer talk about what Jake's been missing, Jake knew these past few weeks he had been pursuing his calling. He could not imagine himself doing anything outside this new world he discovered with the only exception of going to his classes and doing his studies. Of course, Jasmine was part of his new world. With that thought came an enlightenment.
"Thanks, Derrick!" Jake practically shouted. "You just helped me solve a big problem! I've gotta run. See you later, bro."
Jake grabbed his stack of reports, paid the cashier, and he nearly ran out of Kinko's. Derrick shook his head and muttered something about love and another one biting the dust.
Out in the fresh cold air, Jake never felt so good. "All right!" he yelped as he walked through the snow covered campus back to the dorms. After running into Derrick, Jake knew he was going to quit everything beyond his classes, studies, this reunion project, and time with Jasmine. He knew he would have to quit his night job as a waiter at the local favorite Steaks n' Beer restaurant. He had enough money saved up, and he made up his mind to focus on the reunion.
At 4 o'clock he showed up to work and told the manager he had to quit and was giving two week's notice. The manager looked at Jake for a long moment.
"Yer the best hustler in the place. Jake, I count on ya here. Did ya get a better job somewhere else?"
"No, no," Jake reassured him. "I've gotten involved in a major project; I need to put all my spare time into it. ...Before now, I never knew how precious time could be."
Jake liked the manager. He was a hard-working man in his mid-20s who was raising a family and never had the resources to go to college. He alone made the popular restaurant run like a watch. He had the natural good looks of a competent young man with self-confidence and maturity beyond his years. Jake and his manager had an unspoken bond based on admiration for each other's work ethics.
"I'm sorry to see ya go," the manager said. He thought for a moment, and then, out of his respect for Jake, he opened a series of questions, "How soon do ya start this project?"
"I'm waist deep in it already and going in fast," Jake said while hanging up his coat.
"How ya gonna to pay yer bills?" the manager asked. He was not being nosy. It was his way of showing concern.
"I have a bit saved. And, I have a pretty nice coin collection in my safe deposit box from when I was a kid. I can sell some of my gold coins if I need to."
"Yer really into this project, aren't ya?"
For the first time, Jake noticed a young man before him, somber...silently saying good-bye. At that moment, Jake understood the manager differently. His life was tied to this restaurant. Jake was merely using the restaurant on his way to much better things. Without planning to, suddenly filled with compassion, Jake heard himself say:
"I'm sorry," and he instantaneously thought, why did I say that? But he knew he was sorry that he could not give the manager wings to fly to the heights Jake himself was preparing for.
"I'll tell ya what," the manager said, covering up his sense of loss. "We're slow this time of year. Put yer coat back on and get to work on yer project, hear me?"
Jake looked at his friend and smiled. It was a gift, the only gift the young family man could afford. Jake knew the manager would be waiting tables himself until he could find a replacement.
"Thank you," Jake said. His tone of voice made it fully clear that he had just received a gift.
The manager put out his hand to shake Jake's hand. "It's the least I can do. I've enjoyed working with ya, Jake. Good luck out there." His expression changed from boss to friend, for this was good-bye. "And, my friend, ya go to the top. I can see the first atom of self-motivation or lack of it in every young man and woman who passes through here, ya know. Yers is the best."
Jake knew that this was the last time their paths would cross; this was good-bye, forever. For a moment, Jake did not want to let go of the manager's hand. Then he heard himself say the oddest thing.
"Someday things will be different. Not just for me, but for everybody. Things'll be better, a lot better."
They nodded and forever parted.
*
The reunion letter was impactful and fun to read. Jake admired Jasmine's writing skills as she helped Jake put together a brief and exciting history of events that led up to the four-page reunion letter. Jake and Jasmine had convinced Rico, while spending the weekend in the beautiful mansion, to let them write the reunion letter.
Jake was never so excited about his future as that Wednesday afternoon when he and Jasmine walked into the campus post office with a stack of fifteen large manila envelopes. Each envelope contained the reunion letter and the PI report. All twelve former students (including Rico at his request) and Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne (addressed to Miss Jacqueline Belle at her publisher's address) were getting sent the package, and so were Jessie and Angie, of course. That added up to fourteen packages. Jake decided to also send the lawyer who had helped Miss Annabelle, Bruce Salinski, an invitation. He knew that Rico would approve. In tracking him down through the Internet and discovering the boundary-breaking work Salinski was doing as perhaps the first profoundly honest lawyer, Jake could not wait to meet the man. He, too, belonged in this other world of fully integrated honesty.
Including Jasmine and me, Jake thought as he looked at the stack to be mailed, that makes nineteen of us -- seventeen people who already live in this other world and two who want to get there, Jasmine and me. What, oh what, Jake wondered, could these people create if they came together, as adults, on a common goal like they did in third grade when they produced the amazing Breakthrough News. Working alone, they were changing the world in a big way. The thought of them coming together sent a rush of excitement through Jake.
As Jake and Jasmine dropped the packages through the mail slot, Jake trembled for a second.
"They're all coming, you know," he said.
"How do you know that?" Jasmine asked, knowing that those people were running empires and could not so easily break away.
"I know what they once had 27 years ago. Over the years, they forgot. They'll all react just like Rico. You'll see."
The complete confidence in Jake's tone moved Jasmine. She let sink in what was happening. ...What will it be like being in the same room with people like Al Patterson, Theodore Winters, Sally Salberg, Ian Scott, and Jonathan Ward? For the first time since she knew him, Jasmine heard Jake's voice tremble: He turned to her, eyes big and dancing with intrigue, he grasped her shoulders, and whispered, "What have I done?"
*
The phone was ringing as Jake opened the door to his dorm room Friday afternoon. He dropped his books on the couch on the way to the phone.
"Hi," Jake said, already knowing it was Jasmine, of course, calling about going to the movies tonight.
"Jake?" she said, sounding a little odd.
"How are you doing?"
"Jake, I'm doing fine. My name is Dr. Sally Salberg, and I received your letter today."
Jake's heart raced. He was talking to the likely winner of the Nobel Prize...the woman whose discoveries were now leading medical science toward a cure for cancer.
*
Before the weekend was over, he had talked to three Nobel Prize nominees -- Dr. Sally Salberg, Dr. Ian Scott, and the great Theodore Winters -- and over half the others. By Monday, all the former students had called and confirmed as well as a delighted Jessie and Angie and a surprised Bruce Salinski. Jake knew he would not hear from Miss Annabelle and Mr. Melbourne for another week or so since they lived in Australia. But, Jake received a surprise call from her Tuesday evening. Apparently, Angie emailed Miss Annabelle to see if she would make it to the reunion. Miss Annabelle told Jake that she and her husband decided they had to come, even if some risks were involved.
Less than one week after he sent the reunion letter, everyone was confirmed to attend the reunion. Jake had talked to or met every one of the nineteen except for one -- Miss Annabelle's husband. In three weeks, Jake and Jasmine would personally meet them all.
*
Jake had no more interest in his old activities or friends. For a couple of days, he wrestled with the thought that maybe he was becoming a snob, now that he had rubbed shoulders with Nobel Prize winners and multimillionaires. He felt guilty for not wanting to spend time with his old friends anymore. When he expressed his feelings to Jasmine, she helped him see that he was rising to another level that demanded more out of him than his old friends and activities, which had nothing to do with becoming a snob.
Jake was grateful for her support, but she could see he was still bothered. Jasmine said, "I've always been a bit of a loner; I never had a lot of friends like you did. So, I know I can't relate to what you're feeling. But, I can prove to you that you're neither becoming a snob nor is this going to your head."
"You can?"
"Yes, I can. Just last Tuesday when we were addressing the reunion letters...do you remember what we talked about?"
Jake cocked his head. This was intriguing. "We talked about a lot of things," he said, still in the dark.
"I know we did, honey. But who did you go on about for...oh...at least an hour?"
Jake grinned, "Yeah...OK...I rambled on about Jessie and Angie. God, I love those people."
"Exactly, Jake...you love them. They're an honest, salt-of-the-Earth couple. They're not rich or famous. Jessie's a janitor and Angie's a housewife. They're honest people, Jake, and I see in your face: that's why you love them. ...If you were a snob or if this were going to your head, you wouldn't light up like you do when you talk about Jessie and Angie."
Jake was floored. He grabbed Jasmine and kissed her. "Thank you, darling. Thank you, thank you." The false guilt vanished.
*
Three weeks clipped by in a hurry. Jake kept his anticipation under control by working endlessly in the evenings with Jasmine writing about his experience. Jasmine was right when she told Jake, back when they were spending the weekend with Rico, that this project would not be one article but a series of articles.
They worked frantically over those three weeks. They had planned to have the paper to hand out at the reunion. As they got into the project, it grew well beyond a three-week job. But the reunion was the unmovable deadline. Jake and Jasmine worked until two in the morning, night after night. The night before they were to fly South to Rico's home, two days before the reunion, a bleary-eyed Jake and Jasmine smiled with deep satisfaction as they stood in the 24-hour Kinko's at 3:00 a.m., looking at their 128-page booklet, bound in a rose cover titled Miss Annabelle and subtitled The Beginning • The Reunion • The New Beginning.
The booklet contained a lot. It was packed full of information the former students and their teacher would very much enjoy reading. Jake revisited several of the most invigorating lectures, reminded them of some of the fun and light moments, summarized important events such as the separation of the teacher and her students, how and why it happened. He also included a current update on the seventeen people coming to the reunion, not including Jasmine or himself, and he wrote a long editorial with his own input and conclusions.
Jake, along with Jasmine's professional writing style, put together a riveting booklet in just three weeks. In a few hours they would travel to Rico's. As they stood there in Kinko's at 3:00 in the morning, exhausted, for the first time they had time to be nervous about the big event.
*
Jake and Jasmine took off classes Friday to be at Rico's by midday to help out. The guests would arrive Saturday afternoon for the reunion, which would start at 4:00 p.m.
Rico opened his home to his former soul mates to stay with him for as long as they could; his house could easily accommodate them all. They all told Jake they would stay over Saturday and Sunday nights, which was a long time for this group of powerful people. About half of them would stay a day longer. As per Rico's instructions, Jake encouraged them to arrive at any time, a day or two early if they could. But their schedules mandated they would arrive on Saturday.
Jake and Jasmine arrived the day before. The house did not cease to overwhelm them. They were staying in a different room this time, with the window facing the back view. Jasmine loved the views from the mansion. Everywhere she looked, her eyes were filled with the beauty of nature. Snow-white grounds bordered by rich green pine trees. The air was fresh and filled with a pine aroma from the pine wood burning in two fireplaces.
After they settled into their five-star room, Jasmine looked out at the coveted view.
"Jake, look!" she cried out.
"What...wow! Let's go check it out."
They ran down the back, grand spiral stair case like a couple of kids and out the back door. There before them was a sprawling one-story glass building that was not there when they were here a month ago. In front of the glass building stood a large arch, sort of like a giant McDonald's arch or a miniature St. Louis arch made out of block glass and neon lights brightly shining "Thank You, Teacher!"
Inside the glass edifice were beautiful, lighted fountains and flower gardens. Although it was the middle of February, the scented air inside was warm and moist, like a green house. The beauty in here went on and on...it seemed to be the size of a football field inside.
"Jake, this reminds me of a book my father read to me when I was a little girl. It was called `The Secret Garden'."
"Isn't it beautiful in here?" another woman's voice said so gently that it fell just short of startling the young couple. Then from around a large bush trimmed into the shape of a cuddly, sitting bear, came the soft blonde hair and fair skin.
"Hi Olivia," Jake said as Jasmine smiled.
"Welcome, you two."
"This place is like a dream..." Jasmine said.
"Like dreams innocent children have," Olivia said smiling. "That was what Rico wanted. That's what I tried to capture."
"Oh, you did...I've already had memories of my father when I was just a child, and we were so close," Jasmine said.
"Thank you, dear," Olivia said, tilting her head in compassion and reaching out, touching Jasmine's shoulder.
Jake, the analytical one, started asking about the structure of the building and how it got here in just three weeks. It turned out to be a temporary structure that gets picked up and reused at expensive gatherings such as this.
"I've fallen in love with this place, though," Olivia said. "And so have the kids. It's our secret garden. I don't know if we'll take it up after the reunion or just keep it here permanently."
Jake realized that Olivia had been working just as hard and as long as he and Jasmine had been working over the past three weeks.
"You're doing something very special for your husband," he said.
"So are you, and I want to thank you for that Jake...and you too, Jasmine. Rico had a hard childhood. He had disowned that part of himself and never talked about his past. He lost touch of who he was and where he came from. These past three weeks have been the most beautiful, most rewarding weeks since we first fell in love. He talks almost every night about his childhood, always about that year...that wonderful class...about his teacher, that wonderful woman whom I cannot wait to meet and thank...and about his amazing classmates, soul mates whom Rico had forgotten about when he blanked out his traumatic childhood. It's like a part of my husband had always been missing, unreachable. Now, that part of him is alive and warm and lovable. God, I'm so glad you came along, Jake." She walked over and hugged Jake and then Jasmine.
"I thank you on behalf of my husband, myself, and my children. You should see him play with them now, like he's a kid again himself."
Jake and Jasmine felt loved by Olivia, Rico, and their children. Jake felt love for Rico and Olivia and their children, for Jessie and Angie, for Miss Annabelle, for everyone who was coming to the reunion. "Is this the way of the other world," he wondered, "people creating magnificent values for each other, feeling deep, deep thanks and closeness and love for each other?"
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