Blue with Black Dots (The Caprice Trilogy Book 2) (25 page)

Owen waited to release everything he had before pushing away from Georgia and pulling out of her.  She held onto his waist but he twisted, breaking her grip.  He crawled forward on the bed making sure he had enough space to extend his legs.  He put his head on his pillow and exhaled.  He lied on the bed with no cover before Georgia rolled over next to him bringing the top sheet with her.  She covered them both.  Owen turned over, flat on his back.  Georgia found a comfortable position nestled next to him with her head on his chest.  She felt the hyper-expansion of his chest going as far out as it could go, before retreating inward.  Neither said a word.  There was the sound of his breathing, the feeling of his heartbeat and the blessing of the stars.

•••

“That was a neat trick,” said Owen, “Closing the curtains like you did.”

              “Just to get your attention,” said Georgia, “Or do you still have to think about being in the public eye?”

              “Well,” said Owen, “Maybe, but not enough to keep the curtains closed, I like the starlight.”

              “So do I,” said Georgia, “Besides the media don’t come after MPs who have left office.  Do they?”

“Do you know what it means to be a former MP?” said Owen.

              “I can’t honestly say yes,” said Georgia.

              “It means feeling like you’ve left nothing but collapsed castles in your wake,” said Owen.

              “Why?” asked Georgia.

              “Because no matter what you’ve done, it stands to be undone as soon as you leave office, if not before then,” said Owen, “You’re no longer there to keeping fighting for your initiatives.  And your own party won’t care once you’re gone, unless defending your policies is necessary to promote the career of some active party member. I suppose that’s the motivation for being the PM.  That way at least you can be a former PM with rubble behind you instead of just an MP.  The more exclusive the club.”  Owen reached down for soft end of Georgia’s butt.  Georgia played with his chest hairs.

              “I suppose we’re all looking for an exclusive club in one way or another,” said Georgia.

              “I suppose that’s true,” said Owen, “In the end, we build something to make it exclusive.  We want it as our baby—pride and joy.  But time will take it away when we’re gone.  And if you believe Nietzsche, God is dead.  So now we live in the world he created, as it comes apart.  And he’s no where around to mend it.”

              “Have you heard of Theo Bilder?” said Georgia.

              “No,” said Owen, “Who is he?”

              He was an Austrian soldier from Salzburg and minor writer,” said Georgia, “His works were quite novel but he went wrong by trying to popularize himself through claiming to have known Hitler before Hitler left Salzburg for Germany.”

              “Why would he do that?” asked Owen.

              “I can’t be sure,” said Georgia, “But I think it was about money.  He had failing health in his last years and he never made much money from his writings.  But he wrote a lot about Nietzsche.”

              “What did he say about Nietzsche?” asked Owen.

              “He said that God could not be dead because then all of creation would collapse.  In a sense, God is life so if he dies, we all go with him.”

              “That’s interesting,” said Owen.

              “It gets better,” said Georgia, “He said God wasn’t dead but the Holy Trinity was.  He said that Jesus had done his job and was relieved of all responsibility toward creation and since all sin had been washed away, the Holy Spirit could also be relieved of duty because God no longer needed to send messages by way of the Holy Spirit.  So he said God replaced the Holy Trinity with what Bilder called the Trinity of the Mind.”

              “What’s the
Trinity of the Mind
?” asked Owen.

              “Ok,” said Georgia, “Bilder postulated three mental states that sum up the functions of the mind.  The first state is
Mind as a Tool
.  He says this is the mental state when you’re being creative or trying to solve a problem.  The second state is
Mind as a Weapon
.  This is the mental state for plotting or scheming.  He said that exploration is also included in the
Mind as a Weapon
state because exploration is literally an attack on the unknown.  Science is a combination of
Mind as a Tool
and
Mind as a Weapon
because it combines exploration and problem-sovling.”

              “What’s the last state?” asked Owen.

              “This is where he got deeply philosophical,” said Georgia, “The third state is
Mind as a Prison
.  He said this was the mental state predominant in fools and for those oversubscribed to a particular way of thinking or any particular religion.”

              “Wait,” said Owen, “And you said that Bilder said God gave men this
Trinity of the Mind
?”

              “Yes,” said Georgia, “The point of this new
Trinity
was to do away with religion because it was no longer necessary.  This is why he said that deeply religious people have their minds stuck in a prison.  Because religion is no longer needed.  He said the final step in God’s plan was to rebuild the Garden of Eden where mankind and God would once again walk together.”

              “Ok,” said Owen.

              “But,” said Georgia, “The idea was that human beings would be the ones to rebuild the Garden of Eden.  He said that God’s plan was for us to take over in the creation process.   We have to understand the
Trinity of the Mind
and its importance to us as a species.  Then we would continue to evolve until we were like God, which is what God intended from the beginning.  Bilder cited the rapid advancements in technology as proof of his new
Trinity
theory.  Because the advancement of technology means we are freeing our minds from prison and using them as tools and weapons to serve us.   He said that eventually mankind would use its mind as a weapon to defeat death.  Eventually we will find a way to live forever and wars will become inconsequential and meaningless, as we learn to create anything we would want to fight over.  Freed from the prison of religion there would be no more religious wars.  We would thereby return to a Garden of Eden at which point God would be content and come join the party.”

              “I like that,” said Owen, “He did a lot of religious thinking as well.  Was he Christian or…”

              “He was raised as Protestant,” said Georgia, “But studied other religious philosophies.  He was heavy into Darwinism.”

              “I bet,” said Owen.

              “There was something else he said about the third state,
Mind as a Prison
,” said Georgia.

              “What did he say?” asked Owen.

              “Well,” said Georgia, “The
Mind as a Prison
state was another way of saying, your mind is a prison when you settle on one thing and dismiss all other things.  He said this was true of falling in love.  You only have eyes for one person.  Your mind becomes a prison.  So he said that in the New Eden there would be no more marriage because the
Mind as a Prison
state would still exist but human beings would become too enlightened to except it or fall into it.  We would simply know better.”

              “I don’t know how I would accept that,” said Owen.

              “Why?” asked Georgia.

              “Did I tell you I was married before?” said Owen.

              “No,” said Georgia, “But I figured there was something.  A marriage or a son somewhere perhaps.”

              “Why’d you think that?” asked Owen.

              “They say you’re still a child until you have children,” said Georgia, “And you’re still an individual until you get married.  Married with children means you’re no longer a child and no longer an individual.”

              “I don’t have children,” said Owen.

              “Fair enough,” said Georgia, “But you have a certain air of understanding about you.  It’s what makes you such a good professor.  It’s like knowing versus understanding.  You can know life but when you start getting married and having kids you really understand life.   You start to attach other people to yourself and your decisions.  That’s when the gravitas to this thing called life comes into play.  You’ve got that.”

              “What?” asked Owen.

              “Gravitas,” said Georgia.

              “I suppose it’s not a bad thing to have,” said Owen.

              “It’s not,” said Georgia, “I’m sure being married helped you understand the weight of life.”

              “It did,” said Owen, “More so than being an MP.”

              “Explain,” said Georgia.

              “Explain?” said Owen.

              “I’m twenty-four,” said Georgia, “Marriage and kids, all that is still in front of me.”

              “Wow,” said Owen.

              “What?” asked Georgia.

              “It’s true when they say, they get younger every year,” said Owen.

              “Students?” said Georgia.

              “Yeah,” said Owen.

              “What difference does it make?” asked Georgia.

              “When you’re forty-six,” said Owen, “You’ll know.”

              “I suppose so,” said Georgia.

              “But I suppose it goes back to what you said about gravitas,” said Owen, “You understand gravitas a lot more when you have much of it to look back on.”

              “You mean being an MP or being married?” asked Georgia.

              “Well,” said Owen, “In my case they were intertwined.”

              “I’m not gonna let you out of explaining what that means,” said Georgia.

              “You sound adamant,” said Owen.

              “No,” said Georgia, “I just have a high opinion of you.  I wouldn’t be wearing this outfit if I didn’t.”

              “Oh yes,” said Owen, “The birthday suit, it looks good on you.”

              “I appreciate that,” said Georgia.

              “What opinion of me is this that you’re talking about?” asked Owen.

              “You said your marriage and being an MP were intertwined,” said Georgia, “It has the sound of you running around shagging about, while making phone calls to your wife saying I’m meeting with my staff or reporters or something.”

              “No,” said Owen, “I did all my interviews with the
Telegraph
not
The Sun
.  In fact, I’m not even sure
The Sun
does interviews.  Not even sure if they could get any.  Who’d ever want to give them an exclusive?”

              “Don’t they pay for exclusives?” said Georgia.

              “It wouldn’t surprise me,” said Owen, “As many people as buy those tabloids, they would have the money.”

              “So you weren’t shagging about?” said Georgia.

              “No,” said Owen, “Already too many MPs in that game for me to play.”