Poppins’ Return

Chapter 4 – A really big wake…

I think I actually stopped breathing for about ten seconds, which is an eternity when staring into the eyes of someone you are currently heavy in lust with. Then my brain failed to accept what she had said as correct.

“I’m sorry, I thought you said that you were here for me…”

“That’s exactly what I said,” she replied with a cool smile.

I could feel my heart-rate shoot up as adrenalin flooded my bloodstream. My over-abundant libido was battling it out with my conscious. On one hand, my dick was saying, “Hey, cool! She’s yours man!” and generally having wild and ridiculous fantasies involving some kind of master-slave relationship. On the other hand, the reasoning, adult section of my grey matter (small as it may be) was setting off alarm bells left and right urging me to run for my very life. When I could speak again, I asked her to explain herself.

“It’s really very simple,” she replied, adjusting the fall of her sweater. My eyes were transfixed on her fingers as they moved over the soft fabric. “Just as there are events in history that make a bigger splash, and so can be heard from a distance, so also are there certain people who are slated to make greater or more effectual differences in the greater scheme of things. By guiding these individuals in sometimes subtle ways, you can ensure certain outcomes with much more accuracy than trying to avoid “bad” events. Each person has a certain course or path that they have made through life. These paths are much easier to track than event ripples. You can see where someone is headed, and given that you know an event is in front of them, and that obstacles exist to keep them from varying to far away from that event, you can pretty much conclude that they are going to be influential somehow in the event itself. By either steering them clear, or confirming their destination, you can often make great changes come about.”

I sat there with my mouth open. “And you call that simple?”

“Well, consider what might have happened if Albert Einstein had never come to America. Or if Thomas Edison had been blinded in his youth. Certain people make such a huge difference in the course of history that their path affects nearly everyone on the planet, and the wake from their boat as it travels over the surface of the lake is more like an aircraft carrier than a rowboat.”

“And you think that I am one of these great people?” I was quickly favoring my adult, rational side as I listened to her words.

“Oh no! not at all…” She seemed a little surprised that I would even think such a thing.

“Huh? But you said…”

“I used those figureheads because it’s easy to see how they could affect history. But it need not be someone of any consequence… Take for example, the person who happened to be responsible for the O-rings on the space shuttle Challenger. One small decision regarding the quality of a single part out of millions, changed how people thought about being an astronaut on a global scale.”

“Hmmm…”

“And yet, when looked at from a ripple perspective, that one could be seen a mile away.”

I looked up again.

“Are you saying that the Challenger disaster could have been avoided?”

“Of course. But the events that caused that one man to choose an inferior O-ring over a quality one may have been just as locked in as the disaster itself, and so, that much harder to change.”

I considered this for a moment. “So what you’re saying is that I am going to do something that effects something significant, like a Challenger accident?”

“YES! That’s it exactly!” Her face became suddenly so bright and happy that I thought she had had an orgasm.

“So, what’s going to happen?”

She went pale and solemn again.

“I, um… can’t tell you… Yet.”

“Oh great. Here I am, trying very hard to believe an entire concept of a brand new philosophy, which pins me as the crux of a major event in history, and I’m not allowed to know what that event even is!? Shit…”

“I’m so sorry, Mark. It’s important that you don’t try to learn everything all at once. Believe me, it’s easier this way. Having your concept of the world completely changed is hard enough without having to do it in a single sitting.”

I stewed it over in my brain for a while, then made a decision.

“So what CAN you tell me?… Assuming I believe any of this.”

“Oh, please believe! You MUST believe! I can’t give you many specifics, except that it is VERY important, and that many many lives are at stake, including your own.”

“Aww damn,” I said in half-hearted melodrama. “I just knew you were going to say that.”

Marly had a look in her eyes that bordered on desperation. I could see that she had reached a point in her spiel that left it up to me to decide. I sighed heavily and then smiled at her.

“What the hell… So what do I have to do?”

Her face instantly came alive. “Oh, Mark! Thank you! You have no idea what this means…”

“So, suppose you explain it to me a little… Now that I’ve bought the farm, so-to-say. How do you fit into all this, anyway?”

“I’m here as your guide, and your protector,” she said with a straight face.

“My protector? What do I need protection from?… No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know yet.” This answer seemed to please her, and she sighed in relief.

“I can tell you this much. We don’t have a whole lot of time, but I will need as much of yours as you can possibly give me without changing your day to day routine.”

Now she was talking! Hey, this new philosophy was looking better all the time. Hell, even if she turned out to be completely loony, it was worth the chance to spend time with her. I was going to be thinking about her whether she was there or not, so I might as well have her there in the flesh. And what a nice flesh it was…