Finding Forever (42 page)

“It's okay if you heard,” Peter said. “It was a terrible incident. That boy attacked me, and I simply acted in self-defense.”

“Yes, okay. If you say so, but I barely heard a thing. I thought someone dropped something.”

“Nobody's perfect, Taylor,” he said. “We all make mistakes. But we can learn from them. We have to confront our past and be ruthless in healing ourselves from what haunts us.”

Peter gestured at a white wood bench. “Have a seat.” When she did, he took a seat close beside her. And he leaned even closer. “I've never shared this with anyone else, but I feel as if you and I have a special connection. I think we understand each other because of our pasts.”

“We all have a past,” Taylor said “It makes us human. It's okay.”

“My mother died when I was thirteen. And my father was a scientist, always either obsessed with his lab or obsessed with the drink. Children need their parents' attention, they need to feel as though someone is caring for them. To me, there is nothing more precious than a child. In their innocence, children express so much light and love.”

“That's a beautiful perspective,” Taylor said. “I agree. So true.”

“But sadly, that beauty gets corrupted.”

“How so?”

“By adults, by time, by society in general. We live in a sick, sick world. We live in a world where children are abandoned, abused, exploited. We live in a world where youthfulness is valued, but the aged are discarded like a disease. And it
is
a
disease, though not one for which a person should be punished. This is the disease of our time. Fortunately, I believe I have found the cure.”

Peter got up and began pacing, kicking the pebbles on the path. “Fifteen is a magic number, Taylor. It's when one becomes psychologically, emotionally, and biologically equipped to survive. But it's also what I call ‘The Negative Pivot Age.' After fifteen, the incidence of an assortment of diseases increases dramatically. And my studies show it's also when one's appearance becomes less youthful, less objectively attractive.”

Taylor swallowed hard.

Peter continued, “The skin starts to sag, stretch marks appear, and metabolism slows, making it harder to maintain the kind of idealized physical beauty we've come to fetishize. That's when society begins to judge, to discard its aged in Darwinian fashion. Fifteen, Taylor. To be forever fifteen is to feel forever vital and alive. We have the science to achieve this. We now know how to achieve this state of perfection.”

Taylor sat, hands folded in her lap. She noticed that Peter was talking at her, not
to
her. His agitated gaze pierced through her and into an almost imaginary person—perhaps the ghosts of the past that haunted him. Like a madman. Intelligent, yes. Articulate, definitely. Passionate, to be sure. But a madman, nonetheless.

“I couldn't be more dedicated to this cause.” Peter's voice cracked with emotion, as if he could break down in tears. “All I'm doing—I should say ‘we' because you are part of this revolution of human potential—is piecing it together in one simple easy-to-follow program. Potentially, we can revolutionize the very way human beings experience life. We no longer will have mid-life crises to battle. We no longer will spend hundreds of billions on health care to treat the sick and dying. That money could be spent on enhancing and lengthening our lives. An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is not a new idea. But it is an idea that's time has come.”

Sweat formed on his upper lip and forehead. He took off his straw hat, combed back his now moist hair, and exhaled. Then he put his hat back on. “People have created religions, fabricated a false God and gods, and concocted these biblical myths. They profess these stories as fact, simply so they can cope with the fundamental fear that their lives are short. Physical immortality would make these fear-based dogmas obsolete.”

Peter placed his hand on Taylor's thigh, and she rolled her leg inward. She stopped short of slapping his hand. “You can trust me, my child,” he assured her with a smile. “Have you read the Bible, Taylor?”

She wasn't sure which was the “right” answer.

“It's nothing to be ashamed of. I am sure it was forced on you, just like it was on the rest of us when we were children.” Peter licked his lips. “Do you remember the first commandment?”

“Thou shalt not kill?” guessed Taylor, who had been dragged to church by her grandparents just a handful of times.

Peter laughed. “No, my child. That would certainly make more sense—to place, first and foremost above everything else, the preservation of life as the most important rule to follow? But that's not the hypocrites' very first commandment. Instead it is, ‘You shall have no other gods but me.'”

Peter sprang to his feet. “Oh, how convenient for God that his first command is about the almighty Him! Talk about narcissism! Talk about paternalistic order! The Peter Kensington Program will not only expose religion for being ancient fiction, it will also spark the New Enlightenment.”

He stopped pacing and crouched down toward Taylor, his face close enough she could smell his aftershave. “The mind, Taylor. I believe that when the Program is adopted
en masse
it will usher in an era of modern
thought.
From that will spring
a belief system in which we, the People, are God. Without the shackles of historical religion, we will have no more holy wars, no more religious oppression, no more dogma-fueled gender and sexual discrimination. Logic and science will have won. Scientific research no longer will suffer from these shackles of repressive, anti-intellectual religious institutions. Indeed, Taylor, the Program teaches us that the power of God can be found within all of us.”

She noticed the way the doctor's pupils got tiny when he got into his preaching mode, seemingly without taking a breath. She could only conclude that Dr. Peter Kensington, although fit and youthful looking for a man soon to be pushing fifty, could not be of sound mind.

Peter dropped down on the bench. “This music video project you and Evan will be shooting this coming week is very important.” He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. “I need you to do this for me. I need you to commit a hundred percent to our mission. Together, Taylor, we can change the world.”