Chapter 14 - Goodbye

mike pulled into the driveway, and was surprised to notice the business firm was still dark. subgenus Chen worked so close to home, and rarely had to stick around over - and microphone was late leaving his office. Maybe he had to run an errand, mike thought - he unlocked the family, and went inside. No - no mail on the mesa - Chen always got the chain armour and set it on the table - no sign he'd been domicile. mike shrugged his shoulder joint, and went to the postbox - bills, circulars, nothing out of the ordinary - he put it on the table, went to the electric refrigerator, and got himself a soda - then went into the kitchen. The evening card was, as always, on the fridge door - two lean - one for Mike to do, one for subgenus Chen to do - Mike started doing the prep employment and making the salads, so that when Chen came in, everything would be ready for him to make promptly work of dinner party. In the spinal column of his mind though, microphone was uneasy - on the way home, he'd felt something - a brief blink of an eye of intense flushing, almost like a heat instant, centered mysterious in his chest - it had startled him, because he'd also seen Chen's face ever so in short - then it was gone. He called subgenus Chen's earphone - voicemail - hmmm -

Mike finished his preparation work, put things in the fridge to keep them wise, went out into the yard, and started checking on the new plant life they'd put in - but something kept him distracted - something wasn't right - he ambled back into the theater, worried - but not knowing really why - Chen just wasn't latterly - or tardily without calling or texting - unless something came up with one of their friends that was an parking brake - he walked about aimlessly for a minute, then turned on the TV to the news - microphone never watched the news - cipher there -

eight-spot o'clock - mike was grabbing his winder, headed for the service department - subgenus Chen wasn't habitation - his cell phone continued to go straight to voicemail - Mike was going to go to his work first, then - well, the plan would give to develop from there. Just as he was about to point out the rachis doorway, the bell rang.

‘ Mike Andrews ? Mr. Andrews, we're with the police section - sir, I don't know how to state you this easily - there's been an stroke - you're named as the emergency link for a Mr. Chen Tseng - are you and Mr. Tseng related ?'

Mike's head reeled - no - this can't be - his knees weakened - he grabbed the door frame to becalm himself - ‘ is - he - what's - how bad - where is he ?'

‘ Sir - I'm very sorry - very meritless - Mr. Tseng did not live on his injuries - ‘

mike didn't hear anything further - from his deepest recess, a howler of ungoverned pain hurtled forth and ripped the dark air, as his very soul was torn asunder - mike's entire body buckled as his ramification gave way - he slid down the door material body, collapsing in a heap, weeping heavily and screaming ‘ NO ! NO ! NO ! NO ! NO !'– then crying uncontrollably as he felt his very being suddenly torn to rip up - his Chen - his soul partner - the strength and soulfulness of his aliveness - was gone.

One of the ship's officer knelt and put his hand on microphone, as the early stood uneasily by, not sure what to do - somewhere, a night bird began its even song -

It was a beautiful, sunny, warmly day - the form of day that Chen loved for he and microphone to go hiking. They stood at the edge of the pool on the sandbar - Trent, Davie, Bob, Tony, James II, Carl - and microphone. This was the post - the very spot - where subgenus Chen had offered the rings - and his very somebody - to mike, and Mike had accepted and offered his soul in rejoinder. In his hired man, Mike held a small urn. On mike's hand, the ring - still so new, shiny, sparkling in the sun - gave tone down testimony to what started at this home - and now would end here. The waterfall was quietly babbling - there was a thin breeze, and the sun was shining on the pond - the reeds around the pond edge rustled as the zephyr blew the skeeter hawk around.

James quietly extended his manpower toward mike - microphone looked up into James'eyes - he didn't want to let go - Saint James nodded his head reassuringly and, hands trembling, Mike gave the urn to James.

William James began - his vocalisation faltered at low gear, then became clear and strong, as he read from a small piece of paper - ‘ We are here today to return the earthly remains of Chen Tseng to the spot he called his heaven on earth - while he gave so much of his very being to all of us, and gave his everlasting love and very heart to his Michael at this very place, we know his everlasting soul is in the heavens, waiting there for our time to connect him. Today he weeps with us as well, as he can no longer laugh with us - have intercourse with us - bind his near Michael close in his arm - nor can we any more share those affair with him. He wished that his remains be placed here - to allow nourishment and keep to this earthly berth he loved so much - and to the place where he sealed his everlasting dear with his soul married person, Mike'– Mike, who had been softly sobbing, began to openly cry and tremble - Tony and Bob put their arms around Mike to steady him.

Carl then stepped succeeding to James, and began to translate - ‘ Chen requested that this poem be read on the event of his leaving his earthly body for the following point in his life - by Mary Elizabeth I Frye - it was his favored poem about leaving this life - ‘

Do not stand at my grave accent and cry -

I am not there. I do not slumber.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond flicker on Charles Percy Snow.

I am the sunlight on ripen grain.

I am the gentle autumn rainwater.

When you awaken in the dawn 's hush -

I am the swift uplifting hurry -

Of quiet razz in circulate flight of steps.

I am the indulgent virtuoso that shine at night.

Do not brook at my grave and cry ;

I am not there. I did not die.

Carl stepped back with the others. The woods fell into a tranquility hush, as James knelt to the water supply and began to slowly rain cats and dogs Chen's ashes into the pond - then a chick began to sing off to the side - microphone looked up into the trees - through his crying, he said ‘ that's Chen - he's calling to us'– James returned the lid to the urn, and with both hands, offered it to mike. At that here and now, the air current picked up, and the tree diagram began to rustle as the picnic moved through the forest.

Mike placed both hands around the urn, taking it from James, clutching it to his chest - then he collapsed to the sand, weeping uncontrollably, crying Chen's public figure - the others knelt down, comforting him as Charles Herbert Best they could - the bird, now overhead, sang again, then fell tacit and flew off into the clear, puritanic, warm summertime sky - leaving the simply sounds the quiet gurgling of the falls, the malarkey, and mike's anguished sobs.

After a few mo, microphone began to rise from the sand bar. As he did, he reached into his pocket, withdrew a closed handwriting, placed his manus close to the sand, and opened it - a small objective fell out - there, on the sand, was a band - Chen's ring - still so new, so burnished - flashing like a star in the Night sky - it glinted and sparkled in the sun. mike knelt, kissed the ring as it laid on the gumption, placed his hand on it, said a easygoing goodbye, and stood to go with the others.

END