Between the Lanterns (25 page)

This was wrong. There was a reason he had never done it. Samantha hated the idea of being inside a machine;, even Woodrow. She wouldn’t want him to do this even now, after years of being away from him and being in… Heaven?

All of a sudden August felt something familiar inside of him. It was the same humming, electrical feeling in his chest as when he cooked… the radiance that he knew to be Samantha communicating with him from… somewhere.

And he knew right then, that it was ok. The feeling… or Samantha… was telling August that it was ok to put the SameSoul into Woodrow. And so he did. August slid it into place until it clicked.

The light in Woodrow’s eyes went out for a split second and then came back on as a slightly different color.

“Hey, sweets,” a familiar, long- gone voice said to August. “You got old.”

It was her voice. It was Samantha’s voice. A sound he had not heard in what seemed like forever. August fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands as he wept.

“Hey, now, sweets,” the voice said. “Get up. It’s ok. Don’t worry. I’m here, I’ve got you.”

Smooth, wooden hands reached out and gently pulled August to his feet. They were surprisingly strong but incredibly delicate. He raised his eyes and looked into the lights emanating from the wooden automatons’ sockets, and knew that his wife was inside… looking out at him. That realization brought a happy smile to his face. One so big it almost hurt.

August embraced the wooden vessel, squeezing as hard as he could, and said, “I’ve missed you so much, Sam. I’ve hurt so much… and felt your loss for so long. I never even got to say goodbye…” he admitted, which made his voice grow tight with sadness. “It’s haunted me for 30 years, babe.”

The wooden hands rubbed on his back, exactly the way Samantha had done when she was alive. It felt different, but still warmed August’s heart beyond what he thought possible anymore.

“I’m so sorry, sweets,” she cooed. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I never wanted that. I was scared that maybe I was wrong about God… and Heaven. I wanted our last hours together to be happy ones. I never could have predicted that you’d get hit by a damn car, just like John.”

August pulled back and feigned surprise, tears still falling down his cheeks, and said, “You doubted the Divine? Ooooh, I’m tellin’, girl.”

Samantha laughed. It was her exact same laugh;, a sound August had missed as much as a fish misses water on dry land. And hearing it made everything instantly better.

And then August collapsed onto the road.
 

There was no pain, only the loss of muscle control. He could still see, he could still talk, but August couldn’t move.

“Ouch,” he moaned.

“Sweets!” Samantha’s voice said from within the wooden automaton. “What in Heaven’s name is happening?”

August looked at his beautiful wife. Her long, black hair fell to her shoulders, and that cute spread of freckles on her cheeks stood out in the Alabama dusk light.
 

But, that wasn’t right. It was Woodrow looking down at him. He was so confused.

“I think it’s my time, babe,” August said, as quiet as a mouse. “My Countdown ends today.”

Those gentle, wooden hands caressed August’s face and chest, and her voice whispered, “Oh sweets. Why did you wait so long?”

His breathing grew uneven, and August saw the navy blue dress with white dots all over it that clung sexily to her beautiful figure underneath. She hadn’t aged a single day since her death. How was that possible?

But wait… that wasn’t right…

“I wanted to respect your wishes, Sam,” August tried to explain quickly, as he knew time was growing shorter with every beat of his failing heart. “I know you gave me a choice and all, but I wasn’t gonna do anythin’ you didn’t really want.”

“You old dummy,” Samantha said, her voice somehow sounding full of sadness. “It’s alright, though. I was always with you, sweets. In the SameSoul.”

August’s unfocused eyes regained a momentary shine as he said, “So that was you, every time I cooked… and just now? That feeling… it was you the whole time?”

The wooden automaton did its best approximation of a shrug, and Samantha’s beautiful voice said, “It’s hard to explain, sweets. I was aware of you… your presence… and when you cooked I felt happy. Sometimes I felt this other presence, too. It was trying to pull me somewhere. Somewhere I couldn’t go just yet, not without you. I don’t know. But just now when you were thinking of not putting the SameSoul into old Woodrow, I knew that you had to. I… I tried to yell your name, I think. Like I said. It’s real hard to explain.”

August felt a peaceful and warm sensation wash over him, but it was getting hard to see… and to breathe. August began gasping for air. He felt everything going numb, starting down at his toes. August realized that he was dying.

“Sam,” he said quietly but desperately, “does that mean that there is a hHeaven? Is there something after this? Will I get to see you again, babe?”

The gentle, wooden hands wiped tears from August’s face, and her gentle voice said, “I’m sorry, sweets. I don’t know.”

August Lurie closed his eyes. But before his final breath left his lungs, Samantha Lurie leaned close and said, “But we’re going to find out together.”

Opening one last time, August’s eyes beheld their final sight ever. His wife was holding a little black box in her hand.

“I love you more than there are stars in the universe, August,” Samantha said.

August’s voice caught in his throat, but he croaked through it, and said, “I love you more than there are grains of sand on every beach on every planet in this and all other universes.”

As the last rattling breath finally escaped from her husband’s lungs, Samantha Lurie, or Woodrow… or maybe both of them… crushed the little black box to dust.

The Tesla generator outside of town suddenly shut down and all of the lights in New Dothan went out instantaneously. Seconds later the town’s new solar array, one the size of a football field, powered on for the first time. And all of the lights in New Dothan came back on, except for two.

THE END

Thank you for buying and reading
Between the Lanterns
. This book has been an incredible journey into my past, writing about the town where I grew up. To be honest, this world I’ve written about is exactly where I see our society headed. I’m hoping that we can go with August and Samantha’s way of living before we ever get to the cold, emotionless, fake world they lived in.

On a separate note, I’d like to ask you to please review this book on Amazon and Goodreads, whether you liked it or not. Reviews help sell books, and since I am an indie author and publisher, I could use the help. Again, thank you for your support, sweets.