Middle Falls Time Travel Series, Books 4-6 (Middle Falls Time Travel Boxed Sets Book 2)

by Shawn Inmon

  “Oh, sorry. I’ve never done anything like this before. I assumed you would be the one to tell me what to do. No, no ground rules for me. I’m open to discussing anything you’d like. This is the only interview I’m going to give, though, so the weight of the world is on your shoulders.” Nathaniel smiled as he spoke this last, but knew it was the truth.

  “That’s very refreshing. I interviewed a Eugene City Council member a few weeks ago, and he sent me a six page memo of things that couldn’t be discussed.”

  “This is the advantage of living a quiet life, with no political ambitions. I have nothing to hide, and don’t need anyone’s vote. How long do you think this interview will run?”

  “I don’t have a set time for it. I don’t like to work off a specific set of questions. I prefer to just have a conversation and see how it progresses. We’ll film the whole interview, but we might edit it for time before we air it. You have my word that we won’t edit it to make it appear that you are saying something you aren’t. We will use short slices of it in promo spots. If you feel like we’ve gone on too long, just let me know and we can wrap it up.”

  “Other than the open road, we’ve got nowhere to go other than here, so use me as you will.”

  “I have a makeup person standing by. Would you like her to make you up before the interview?”

  “Oh my God, no. I can’t imagine it. I’ll be fine. By the way, is this going to be live?”

  “No, no. We’ll record it now, then we’ll edit it together with some of the other footage, and we’ll broadcast it as a special tonight.”

  “Perfect. That will give us a chance to put a few miles under our wheels by the time it airs. We have people who want to keep us company, wherever we go. I’ve been hoping that if I take the time to sit down and answer all the questions you might have, then maybe some of the interest will settle down.”

  “I’d like to tell you I agree, but I don’t think so. I’ve never seen as much interest in anything as there is in you.” She turned away from Nathaniel and said, “Scott, would you get us some water? If we run long, we might need it. Tell Larry we’re ready, will you?” She turned back to Nathaniel and Violet. “I hadn’t thought, would you like to be part of the interview, Mrs. Moon?”

  “No, absolutely not. I’d enjoy watching it, though, if I could.”

  “Of course. Scott will be in the production room, if you’d like to watch it there with him.”

  Scott returned with a pitcher of water and two glasses, then escorted Violet back out through the door to the control room.

  A bored looking man sauntered in and stepped behind the camera. A moment later, he peeked around at Laura and gave her a thumbs up.

  Laura looked straight into the camera and said, “Nathaniel Moon interview in 3, 2, 1.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Hello, I’m Laura Hall, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to interview Nathaniel Moon. If you’ve been anywhere near a television or any kind of screen in the last twenty-four hours, you have almost certainly seen the video of Mr. Moon’s heroic actions in Middle Falls, Oregon. I’ve been in the news business for twenty-five years, and I think it’s the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She turned to look at Nathaniel. “Thank you for joining us. We are a small-market, local station. Meanwhile, every broadcaster in the world, from CNN to Fox News to MSNBC and the BBC is trying to have a sit-down with you, so I think the first thing I have to ask you is, ‘Why us?’”

  “I saw your show this morning, and I liked it. I’m not much for appearances. Celebrity doesn’t have any currency to me. It’s all transitory. Think of someone who was famous twenty-five years ago. Are they still sought-after today? Likely not. Two days ago, anyone in the world that wanted to, could have stopped by my house for a visit. I would have welcomed them, put the coffee pot on, and we could have talked about all the things you and I are going to talk about now. But I wasn’t famous then. I am, apparently, today. But I’m the same person.”

  “Maybe that’s not fair, though. Yes, you were the same person, but, to all appearances you were an ordinary man. You worked in a hospital, you lived alone—“

  “—Except for my dog.”

  “—yes, except for your dog. So people may not have known you were capable of such extraordinary feats.”

  “Is that the standard, then? ‘Can someone perform what the world will see as miracles?’ If so, that’s a pretty difficult standard to reach.”

  Laura, shifted, tapped her pen against her cheek.

  “Let’s change tacks a bit then. Have you always been able to perform ‘miracles,’ as you say?”

  “Yes. But, I’m not alone. We all can. You could. Larry over there, behind the camera, he could.”

  Larry, who had been a disinterested observer, peeked around the camera with a “Who, me?” expression.

  Nathaniel winked at him, then turned his attention back to Laura.

  “Let’s table that for the moment, and come back to it. You say you’ve always been able to do these things. Tell me about the first time you did something extraordinary.”

  “My first memory is waking up in my mother’s womb.”

  Laura did her best to remain a disinterested third party, but her jaw fell open slightly.

  “I know that seems extraordinary, but I believe we all do that, then we proceed to forget about it. If not by birth, then not long after. In my case, though, my mother was under extreme stress at the time, and we began to communicate.”

  “Wait,” Laura said, raising her hand. “I just want to clarify. You’re saying you were completely conscious in the womb—aware of your surroundings—and that you communicated with your mother.”

  “Yes.”

  Laura shook her head. “I can’t imagine if my child had reached out to me in the womb. Frankly, I think it would have freaked me out.”

  “Now imagine that you are all alone, fleeing for your life from an abuser, and that happens. My mother is an extraordinary woman.” Nathaniel glanced at his mother through the glass and smiled. Tears glistened in Violet’s eyes as she fluttered her fingers at him.

  “Did you perform any miracles as a child?”

  Nathaniel paused, thinking. “When I was very young, I healed two people. My mom was, rightfully, concerned that things were going to spin out of control—basically, that she was going to lose me to a process she couldn’t have stopped.”

  “I understand that. If my child performed miraculous acts, that’s one thing. If I’m afraid that someone might take my child away from me because of it, that’s something else altogether. So, bearing that in mind, how did your mother react?”

  “We ran. We packed what we could into our car, and we left. We drove until we just about ran out of road to drive on, and that’s how we ended up in Middle Falls.”

  “But you were still very young then, correct?”

  “Yes. I was four.”

  “Four. But you’ve lived in Middle Falls ever since, correct?”

  Nathaniel nodded.

  “So nothing to attract attention to yourself? No more miracles, so to speak?”

  “Not exactly. I still did my best to help people where I could. I just tried to do it in such a way that we wouldn’t have to move again. I might have seen a neighbor of ours suffering from arthritis at the grocery store. If I just touched her arm when we said hello, her pain would go away. I did my best to be discrete. I liked Middle Falls. I didn’t want to have to leave it. Plus, simple acts of kindness can add up just as much as a public miracle. If you see someone who is hungry, you can feed them. If someone is lonely, you can spend time with them. If you open your eyes, there are opportunities everywhere.”

  “All these years, then, you’ve essentially kept these miraculous abilities under wraps. Until yesterday, when you made quite a splash. What changed?”

  “Perspective is everything. There are tragedies every day. More than eight million people die from cancer every year. That means twe
nty-two thousand families are having a very bad day, every single day. If I was able to save a new person every five seconds, twenty-four hours a day, I couldn’t save them all. And, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.”

  “That surprises me. Why?”

  “We all have a hand in planning out what our lives are going to be like, based on what we feel we need to learn in this life. For example, if I feel I need to learn humility, I might choose a life that humbles me.”

  “You’re saying then, that before we are born, we choose what kind of life we’re going to live.”

  “We all have free will, but I think we each put a lot of planning into what the circumstances of our lives will be before we are born. Some lives can be like a vacation. We’ve all known people who seem to be good at everything, right? Pick up a tennis racket, and they’re quickly beating experienced players. Sit down at a piano and just begin plunking out a song. Those lives are fun, and can recharge our batteries, but they’re not good for learning anything. Success is a terrible teacher. We learn when we fail at something.”

  Laura opened her mouth to ask a follow up question, but Nathaniel continued.

  “If I begin making wholesale changes in people’s lives, including when and how they die, I will negate a lot of that planning. The divine part of me, which we all have, is able to think that way, to distance myself. But yesterday, my friends were in such pain, such fear that they were going to lose their daughter, that I interfered.”

  “According to what you just said, though, you would theoretically be harming them in the long run.”

  “I agree. That’s why I don’t think what I did yesterday was necessarily a good thing. It was likely a weakness on my part, or a test that I failed. That’s the human part of me. I never said I was perfect. I just brought a little more perspective with me from my last life.”

  “Let’s talk about the reactions to what happened in Middle Falls yesterday. As I was preparing for this interview, I read stories about you from around the globe. Let me read you some of the headlines, and, if I could, get your reaction to them.”

  “Sure.”

  “The Great Middle Falls Bomb Hoax.”

  “I wish more people believed that. It would make my life easier.”

  “Middle Falls Messiah.”

  “Not even close. What’s the definition of a messiah? A person who wants to lead a group of people, or a cause. I have no interest in any of that. I don’t believe such things, overall, are beneficial.”

  “Messiahs, or causes?”

  “Both.”

  “Let’s stay there for a moment. Are you saying that religion is bad? Christianity?”

  “I don’t like to label things like that. Here’s the thing about humans: we fear death. We are afraid it is the long blackness, a total loss of our unique consciousness. So, we create stories, myths, of what happens to us on the other side of that curtain. That makes us feel better. It lets us ignore that fear of death for long stretches. But, there are certain things that are simply beyond our comprehension. In our human forms, it is almost impossible to truly comprehend the divine. But, that doesn’t stop us from trying to quantify it, name it, limit it by using words to capture it. The divine is so vast, it cannot be reduced down enough for us to grasp in this form, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. If I have a secret, it is knowing that the divine is inevitable. We are moving toward it at exactly the speed we are intended. No matter what we do, whether we expend incredible energy, or none at all, we will arrive there at the same moment.”

  Nathaniel paused, made eye contact with Violet in the control room. “I’m no theologian, but I see dangers in all organized religion.”

  On the other side of the glass, Violet hung her head and whispered, “Oh, Nathaniel, you know what that will do.”

  “Such as?”

  “Dogma can act as a salve for the itch of self-discovery. If all the answers are bundled into a book, or a single philosophy, or act, that doesn’t encourage you to continue to quest to find any other truths. When someone hands me a package, and says, ‘This is all you need,’ I am suspicious. And of course, there is the weight of history. If you take all the good that religions do and put it on one side of a scale, and all the harm it has done on the right, which weighs most heavily?”

  “That’s not likely to be a popular opinion.”

  “Good thing I’m not running for office. Have you ever looked at it this way? Why were all the miraculous deeds limited to ancient times? If men and women of God were able to manifest miracles then, why not now?”

  “I’m guessing you have an answer to that.”

  “I have a theory. If say, Jesus Christ was on Earth now, and he performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, what would result? He would be besieged with requests to end world hunger, to magnify his miracle a million fold. If he healed the lepers, he would be overwhelmed with crowds of the sick and dying everywhere he went, until he was stifled by them. His voice wouldn’t be heard above the din of the crowd. In all likelihood, some government somewhere would step in and try to harness his miraculous gifts for their own ends.”

  “Does that same thinking apply to you?”

  “Of course. If I could have walked and talked to people and helped those I could while sharing any messages I might have, that would have been a life worth living. In our world, though, we have vaccinated ourselves from miracles and miracle workers by creating a communication network that makes it impossible to spend the needed time with people. I don’t think that if I spread my message on a Facebook page, or Twitter account, that it would have had the same impact. Even if I had climbed to a mountain top, I believe the lines would have stretched to the bottom. Do you doubt it?”

  Laura shook her head, agreeing with Nathaniel. “You said just now that you had messages you would have been interested in sharing with the world. I’m sure this interview will be seen by untold millions for many years to come, so what message would you like to share with us?”

  “One of my core beliefs is to not give unsolicited advice. But since you asked, I will tell you some of the things I believe. If you’ll keep in mind that I am just as human as everyone else, and that everything I say might be wrong.”

  “All right ...”

  “We look for happiness outside of ourselves—cars, television, houses, social media—but freedom and happiness can only be found within ourselves. And I don’t mean to say this is a new human condition. Before technology became what so many worshipped, we had the same problem. People thought If only I made ten thousand more dollars per year, I would be happy. Or, If only she would love me, then my life would be perfect. Or, If only God would bless us with a child, our life would be complete. Here’s an enduring truth: If you’re not happy with what you have, you will never be happy with anything you get.”

  “Profound.”

  “I think I read that in a greeting card. You’ve got to find your life’s truths where you can.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Laura paused for three beats, then glanced at Scott in the control room. “Let’s take a quick break here.”

  Larry stepped out from behind the camera and walked over to the set. He was a large man with a Rasputin beard that reached his chest. “Laura, I’m sorry, and I know we talked about this, but I’ll never get another chance like this.” He turned to Nathaniel, a pleading look in his eyes. “I have a little girl that’s never walked. If she was here, could you make it so she could?”

  “Would you want me to?”

  “Of course!”

  “Most importantly, would she want me to? She chose this life, chose her limitations, because she wanted to learn something. If I change that, she might have to live another entire lifetime. Would that be worth it to her?”

  He looked nervously at Laura. “Would you ask her yourself?”

  “Larry!” Laura said. “We all agreed that we would be professionals about this.”

  “I know, I know, but what if it was your little g
irl, Laura? Wouldn’t you do anything for her?”

  That hit Laura where she lived. She had given up her career and moved to a small town to give her daughter a better life. “Of course I would,” she said softly. “Is she here?”

  Larry didn’t dare speak, but he nodded. Laura looked at Nathaniel.

  “It’s fine with me, but I don’t want the camera on. It’s not fair for her.”

  Larry said, “Thank you!” and hurried through the studio door, only to return seconds later pushing a young girl in a wheelchair. A woman, who Nathaniel assumed was her mother, trailed behind.

  Nathaniel stepped off the set, walked to the girl and knelt in front of her chair so their eyes were at the same level. “What’s your name?”

  “Grace.”

  “Of course. Grace.” Nathaniel looked deeply into her eyes. “And you are full of grace, aren’t you?” He reached out and held her small hand in both of his. “Do you know what your Mom and Dad are asking? They want me to help you walk. I understand how attractive that is, but think, just for a moment. There might be reasons why your beautiful spirit chose this body. Maybe you are intended to inspire, to lead, but do it from this wheelchair.”

  Grace considered that carefully. “If I chose to be this way, I’ve changed my mind. I want to run with my friends. I want to go hiking with Daddy and Tuffy, our dog. I want that more than anything.”

  Nathaniel nodded, then released her hands and reached out to hug her. Grace laid her head against his shoulder. Nathaniel stood and smiled at her. “You can walk, Grace.”

  Effortlessly, she stood. Nathaniel opened his arms and she took two tentative steps toward him, then fell into another hug. She turned to her parents with a smile as wide as Texas.

  “Goodness,” Grace’s mother said, crossing herself, then put her hand to her mouth as her tears flowed.

  Larry looked at Nathaniel and shook his head. His eyes were dry, but wide with what he had just witnessed. “I have no words for what this means to us.”