We were looking at the auction pieces. Lise, my wife, is my lifetime
companion, we have been married for 43 years. Here, she wanted to make a
good deal hoping to buy a grandmaster’s painting of great value for a few
hundred dollars.
She has been watching Antique Road show every week and she loves to buy
things and save money on a good deal. She is interested in buying objects of
art or a nice little desk or some pieces of furniture, pottery, all kind of stuff…
If I would not be a restraining factor, I think that we would end up having no
more space to move around in our house.
Nevertheless, she convinced me to come over to this drug dealer auction at
the Marriott Hotel in Palmetto Dunes, a plantation mid-way into Hilton Head
Island located at the southern tip of South Carolina. Last year she came to
another drug dealer auction, and she regretted that I did not come since
there were some great masters’ pieces we could have bought at low price.
We have an art gallery there, in Shelter Cove Harbor. We have been here for
almost 8 years now. So, we could have sold some of those pieces for possibly
ten or twenty times the price we would have paid for. But I was hesitant, who
knows if they are originals, it is hard to tell with half an hour of viewing
before the auction starts and with the brown paper covering the back of the
paintings.
I don’t need to take a chance to make a potentially good deal; we are doing
well here with our little art gallery, and I am very happy. I thank God every
day for my life, the weather is exquisite, it is almost always sunny here and I
am a golfer and a member of the Palmetto Dunes Club. I play golf three
times a week and I paint and manage the gallery the other days.
There was a very strange contraption amongst the sculptures, and I looked at
it more closely. It had two kinds of horns about six feet long, arching towards
each other to form a perfect circle coming out of a short two feet by four feet
pedestal. I could not identified the metal it was made from, and the surface
had an impossibly slippery surface; when I tried to touch it, I was not really
touching the surface. There were some buttons on the side, and I started to
touch them. I touched four of them at the same time and I saw an electrified
field taking shape inside the circle. I quickly touched the four buttons again
and the field disappeared.
I looked around to see if other people had seen what happened, but nobody
were looking.
I have been a science-fiction reader, and I have a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry, so for me, that contraption was worth buying. Who knows? It
might be an artifact left over by aliens from another world. That’s crazy right?
A nice couple started to look at the artifact and I hoped that they would not
bid against me for at that moment I had decided to buy it if the bidding did
not go too high.
I told my wife about it, and she said it was ugly and that kind of stuff had no
appeal to her. Then she showed me some pottery, a few sculptures and
paintings that caught her attention.
The auction started and I waited for that piece. They started the bid at
$500.00 and I raised my hand; somebody else, the man that had look at it
while I investigated the contraption bid $1000.00, I raised the bid to $1500
and the man finally outbid me and got the piece for $5000.00.
Lise would not have talked to me for a week or two if I had bought it at a
higher price, so I let it go but felt that I had just lost something important.
A few weeks have passed since that auction, and I was surprised to see the
couple that had bought the contraption walking in my gallery.
was surprised to see that couple that had bought the contraption walking in
my gallery.
They walked around and finally asked me at what price they could get one of
my largest sizes, a 60″ X 48″ very modern fantasy landscape with a lot of red
foliage on the shore of a pond. I told them the price was $12,000.00 plus
$1,000.00 for the frame.
– My name is John Edwards, said the man, Pam and I have a house here in
Palmetto Dunes; we want that painting, but you will have to come over and
install it on the wall. It was Friday afternoon and my week-end was already
booked.
– No problem, I can take it over to your house next Monday morning.
The man paid me in full and I thank them but before they left I asked them if
they like the contraption they bought at the drug dealer auction.
– Oh, I remember you now, said John, you were bidding on the same piece,
right?
– Right, did you notice that it is a very strange artifact? I asked; did you show
it to anyone?
-No, it is standing in our living room.
-If you touch the first four buttons of the pedestal at the same time, the
artifact produces a semi-transparent electrical field. I said. It is very strange,
and that is why I wanted to buy it. I wanted to investigate that thing; I believe
it has not been made by mankind.
– I will take a look at it, said John, when we get back to the house and on
Monday when you come over with the painting we will talk about it.
-Excellent, see you Monday 9:00AM then.
That Monday, I bubble-wrapped and card-boarded the large size painting,
then, my wife helped me to fix it on the roof of our mini-van.
John’s house was right on the beach; his land alone must be worth $5 million,
and the house was huge and very beautiful. I figured that its value was
probably around 8 or 9 million dollars. Before I took the painting from the
top of my minivan, I went up the stairs and rang. Nobody came. I checked the
door, and it was unlocked. I opened it and walked inside.
– John, Pam are you there? I shouted. No answer!
– You can’t walk inside Richard, you might be arrested, said Lise.
-You are right, let’s have a walk for twenty minutes and if they are not back
when we return, we will leave, and I will call them this afternoon to get
another appointment. We went for a walk and came back half an hour later. I
went to the door, rang, waited one minute, and finally, I boldly walked inside
and went to the living room. The artifact was there. I went to the backyard to
see if they were there, unable to hear the bell, but they were not there.
So, I visited the whole house to see if something happened. I thought they
might have been killed and lying on the floor somewhere because John was
not the type of man to give an appointment and then miss it without calling.
After visiting the whole house, I went back to the living room while Lise was
waiting outside, I was hoping she would not be too impatient, I went to the
artifact and noticed that it was on, I mean the electrical field was on, a
perfect circle of transparent soft light and I could not see the back of the
living room through that circle of light.
I saw something though; I saw a semi-transparent grass lawn though the
circle of semi-transparent light.
I went back to the kitchen and picked up a wood spoon and a fork plus an
oven glove and walked back to the artifact. I touched the field with the wood
spoon, and it went right through, and I could touch the semi-transparent
grass with it. I pulled the spoon out and it was unaffected.
I then used the oven glove and tried to do the same thing with the long metal
fork and again there was no sparkle, it just went through easily and I could
touch the grass with it. I rolled it to pick up some of the grass and pulled
some through the circle of light.
I was now convinced that it was a door to another world, and it worked both
ways.
So, I did the next step and went through the circle of light with my index, I
touched it first and there was no reaction to my skin and then I pushed my
index finger through and still no reaction and it was intact when I pulled it
back. Then I went through with my whole hand and part of my arm and I
could touch the grass; I grabbed a handful of it and pulled it through and into
the living room. My hand and arm as well as the grass had not suffered from
that experience.
I decided to wait a few days and see if I had any adverse effect following that
experience. If not, I would come back well prepared for an extraordinary
adventure and I would boldly walk through the circle of light created by the
artifact.
I went outside and told my wife about the experience; I told her everything.
She was very upset and worried.
– You could have been electrocuted or even lose your arm and die there
bleeding to death. She said.
– I have that sixth sense of impending danger, sweetheart. How many times
did I survive very dangerous situations relying on it? And it always served me
well. I didn’t sense any danger and in fact I expected it to be a door to
another world right from the start. That’s why I wanted to buy it at the
auction.
I also think that John and his wife went to that other world and they might
come back. I will come over to see if they are back every day for the coming 2
weeks and then I will go to that world and try to find them..
– You are out of your mind, she said, worried sick about it, for she knew that
when I make a decision, I always do it.
In the next few days, I got a permit to buy a handgun and bought a Smith and
Wesson, a solid knife and everything I thought I needed to survive in an
hostile land.
I went back to John’s house every day of the following week and spent some
time in front of the artifact trying to sense any danger from it but nothing,
there was no foreboding.
Seven days later, I was standing in front of the artifact, Lise was with me; I
had written a note for the police explaining what I was going to do in case I
would not come back. I had made a new will, leaving her everything I had;
just to confirm my previous will of 43 years ago.
It was time to do it, I had a bottle of spray paint to mark the emplacement of
the door on the other side. I threw my backpack, my gun and the spray paint
can through the circle of light and then I kissed my wife and hugged her.
– I will be back Lise, don’t worry. In fact, I will walk back right now to show you
that I can.
I walked through and I stepped on a lawn, looked around me and saw the
circle of light from where I had walked. I sprayed the paint to mark its
emplacement and then walked right back into the living room.
– You see Lise, I walked back through it, that was my main worry. So, I am
going there and I will try to find John and his wife. Don’t speak with the police
if I am not back within one day; give me three days. I will do everything I can
to be back before that.
I hugged her again and kissed her and walked back through the circle of
light.
The air smelled good, there were a lot of birds, singing birds, and the
temperature was just perfect, around 75. The sun was just like our sun giving
life to luxurious vegetation. The clearing ended up in a dirt path that went
through a forest of oak, maple, birch and fruit bearing trees.
I went to it and walked down the trail. There were raspberry and blueberry
bushes all bearing fruits. I picked up a few and they were delicious. There
were no mosquitoes, no flies, but busy working bees that never bothered
me.
I walked for 2 hours and spotted several graceful deer, a herd of wild horses
that looked at me seemingly interested but they left. There were some kind
of otters that came walking beside me in a playful way, touching my legs
intentionally. There was now a golf course on my left and an ocean on my
right as I walked towards a beautifully designed Swiss village. I saw some
people and I made a friendly hand sign; they saw me, and they invited me
with a hand gesture to come over.
I walked to them.
– Welcome to paradise, said one of the men in English, my name is Henry.
– Thank you, Henry, my name is Richard.
Henry was solidly built, he had a gentleman way of speaking, he seemed to
be very sure of himself and looked 55 to 60 years old. I thought he was a
businessman of some kind. We shook hands and Henry introduced me to the
three other men and the two ladies of the group.
I come from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and I am looking for John and
his wife. They left their house two weeks ago and I thought they came here.
– Yes, we met them, said Henry; they are probably at the marina or sailing on
one of the sailboats. They will be back for dinner.
– So, what is that place? And where are you from?
At that moment I spotted a robot levitating a few feet from the ground. The
robot picked up some damaged fruits that had fallen from a tree and then it
carried a handful of them to a receptacle that was probably serving as a
garbage container. I realized that the place was clean and everyone was
dressed in some immaculate clothes; the men were shaved and looked
friendly and neat just like the women.
– This place is amazing. Replied Henry; it was built for us by very
sophisticated aliens. They reached a very high level of technology; they made
those levitating robots that take care of everything plus some food
synthesizers and teleportation doors from Earth to here and so many more
wonders.
They control the weather; it only rains during the night. There are no
mosquitoes, no snakes, no spiders, scorpions or anything that we wouldn’t
like.
There are no predators and no one, no animals grow old and die here. I got
here just after World War 2, and I was in my sixties then.
-So you must be well over a hundred years old and you look like a fifty years
old man. Wow!
– Let me show you the place, said Henry.
– Can we go back to fetch my wife first? She is waiting worriedly in John’s
living room.
– Sure, that is considerate of you, we will use one of the golf carts, I will be
right back.
Henry walked behind the plaza where many golf carts were parked in neat
rows and came back to pick me up. We went back to the doorway to Earth,
and I walked right through to find my wife sitting on a sofa reading a book. I
took off my guns, knife and camping gear and went to her.
– Lise, Henry is waiting on the other side, it is safe there; it is some kind of
Eden. I found John and the villagers would like to show us their village; please
come back with me.
– I don’t know if I should, she replied.
I knew she was afraid; she never wanted anything strange and weird in her
life.
-Come Lise; there is nothing to worry about, I said reassuringly.
I took her hand, and we walked through the circle of semi-transparent
electrical field.
– Henry, this is my wife, Lise.
– I am happy to meet you, said Henry. Please sit down in the cart and I will
show you our little part of Eden.
We went back to the village and followed him to his house. It was just a living
room, a family room, a bathroom and two bedrooms. There were no kitchen,
no TV, no computers.
– The toilet is disintegrating the content as we close the cover. The shower
water is purified and redirected into the tank.
We have no kitchen and that is a very good thing because we all eat together
in the cafeteria and the food is delicious. Let me show you.
We went to an open building with a ceramic-like floor and a roof, a few walls
and openings. There was a huge food dispenser with photos of meals and a
selection of beverages.
-Are you hungry? asked Henry; with the smile of someone about to surprise
another one.
-Yes, let’s see how this alien gadget works.
-I recommend this meat plate if you have a good appetite and the spicy wine
here…
I pushed the buttons and one minute later, a fuming plate set on a tray with
a tall glass of red wine came out of an opening.
Lise chose a fish plate with the same spicy red wine; she took her tray and we
sat at one of the tables.
The food was delicious, and I felt exhilarated once I drank half of the wine. I
was bubbling with joy and ready to laugh at nothing.
-The wine will have no more effect from now on, commented Henry, we get
high, but we never get drunk. There must be a chemical that stop the effect.
I just felt wonderful and very energetic.
-Can we do something Henry? I spotted a golf course on the other side of the
village, and we have plenty of time before John comes back for dinner. Would
someone give me company or play with me?
– Sure, said Henry and James at the same time. Let’s take a cart.
There were a dozen golf carts parked neatly just beyond the dining plaza.
– The carts engines never need to be recharged or fueled, commented
Henry.
We went to the clubhouse where we picked up a golf bag and I played a good
game. The golf course could not be nicer; there were hills and deep valleys,
all kinds of beautiful trees, a lot of wild life and none of the animals and birds
bothered us during the swings but they came to us when we were just
walking around.
– Every one of these birds and little furry friends are at least 50 years old.
They like to be caressed and come in contact with us, but they know when to
do it and they keep quiet and stay at a respectful distance when we
concentrate on a shot, said James. They probably became more intelligent
over the years, he went on.
– Very interesting, I commented, but do you have people here that aren’t
respectful? Bullies, drug dealers, assassins?
– No we don’t have any of those, replied Henry; perhaps the teleportation
doors don’t allow them to come here. The next village once had a violent
man that beat up a couple of people and one day he wasn’t there anymore.
– I guess the robots are keeping us safe and will not allow any predator to
live here, including human predators. I replied. But how many villages are
there in this world?
– I took one of the golf carts once and drove a few hundred miles north and
then made a left turn and came back and I found 18 villages; many were
empty of people, and none had more than 50% of the houses occupied.
There are always empty houses to sleep in when you visit this world. So, if
you decide to stay here, you just move into one of the unoccupied houses.
– We will think about that, I said politely.
– If you spend one night here, you will miss this world when you go back and
if you spend a week here, you will not want to live anywhere else. We are all
very happy here and that is forever, since we are not growing old here and
we are all in excellent health. It must be the food, something in it, prevents
us from getting sick and there is no virus or bacteria that can affect us.
I looked at my wife, I didn’t have to say anything, but she understood that I
was considering that possibility.
I would have to give up my career, my paintings, my financial security,
everything I had, I thought.
We went to the stable after the game and Henry showed me the different
bells.
– Each of the bells have a different chime and the horse knows which one we
are calling, said James as he rang one of the bells. A beautiful and joyful
stallion came galloping from the prairie. James took a handful of horse treats
from a dispenser and gave it to the horse.
– This is Richard, said James to the horse. I walked to it and caressed his
head. We went back to the dining plaza and John was there with his wife
waiting for me.
– Hello Richard, said John happily, you must have delivered the painting we
bought from you and found that we were gone…
– Yes John, I went to your living room and saw that the artifact was on; I
deduced that you had walked through a door to another world and decided
to come to your rescue.
– That was very nice, thank you, said John, will you spend the night with us?
– Why not? I replied, looking hopefully at my charming wife.
We had dinner with the whole village and then we played some games and
walked to the beach.
– Why don’t you put on a swimming suit and refresh yourself? Asked James;
the bathing suits are in these little beach cabins.
We changed and swam with hundreds of colorful fishes over multicolored
corals and then we watched the sunset. Then the tree frogs started to sing
their hearts out; the sky was full of stars and there was a moon with seas and
continents and a beautiful atmosphere.
We were captivated by the millions of tree frogs sound and the beauty of the
night; we just felt wonderful. I took Lise in my arms and shared that
unforgettable moment. Later, we walked to one of the empty houses and
spent the night on a most comfortable bed.
We talked with John again at breakfast.
– You can have my 12 million dollars house and all the money I have in bank
if you wish to live on Earth again, said John, you just have to get my check
book from the top drawer in my bedroom and bring it here along with a legal
paper that will transfer you the right to the house and the right to manage
my assets. I will sign the document and a large number of blank checks, and
you can return with it. But I want to warn you, the door to this world might
stop working at any time and this is why we will not return. The longer you
delay your decision to come and live with us, the greater are the chances that
you will not be able to.
– Thank you, John, I appreciate it, I will take a golf cart and get those
documents and I will be back with an attorney and the documents.
We left the plaza and went back to John’s house and from there I called his
attorney Tom Swift and told him that I needed him to prepare the legal
documents and come over to John’s house. It is urgent, I said.
The document will be ready tomorrow and I will be there at 10:00AM.
Tom came on time, I opened the door and brought him to the living room. I
showed him the artifact and turned it on and asked him to promise me to
keep secret what he was about to learn. He promised. Then I moved in and
out of the door to Eden a couple of times to reassure him that there was no
danger at all and told him we were going to Eden where John was awaiting
us.
Tom was quite courageous, he followed us since Lise would not let me go
without her. We took him to the village where John signed the document and
a pile of blank checks and we returned to the house, my house now.
– Are you sure you want to return? Asked John, the house and those millions
in the bank did not bring us happiness but here in Eden we are very happy
and you would be as well.
– Well John, I replied, I have an artist’s career and with the fortune you are
giving me, we have decided to go back for a short time and then we will
decide what to do. I am quite sure we will move here forever in a short while.
We went back to John’s house and moved in the following day. I paid Trident
Villa Rental for the balance of our condo rent and called Trish.
– Trish, there is a big change in my life, I said, would you like to work full time
in the art gallery?
-Oh yes, absolutely. When will I start?
Trish had been working for us for a few years, managing the gallery when we
were away in Montreal, and she loved it. She loved meeting a lot of people
and she loved my work and felt rewarded every time she sold one and I
mean personal satisfaction, not only the 10% commission she was getting in
addition to her salary. She was a wonderful lady and my wife and I loved her
very much.
– If you don’t mind, start tomorrow and let’s meet at the gallery at 10:00AM; I
have something to tell you.
We spent the rest of the day walking inside and outside our new 12 million
dollars house and reflected on our luck and how great it was to be living in
such a beautiful place. We went to the Fresh Market on the 278 and bought 2
large size lobsters and a few pastries.
That night, we opened a bottle of Champagne and feasted on our freshly
boiled lobsters. We spent two weeks away from the art gallery, visiting
Daufuskie Island, Beaufort, Charleston and Savannah and I got bored.
-You know what Lise, I said, I don’t think that a great house and all those
millions in bank are making me happy. In fact, I had more fun bicycling from
our condo to the beach and have a walk once we get there than bicycling
from our very wealthy area to our old condo. Let me explain with a
comparison here: Going to Central Park in New York from an apartment in
the Bronx is more fun than going to a poor sector of the Bronx from Central
Park…
-Yes, very funny but true, replied Lise,
– Also, we get used quickly to luxury and now that we have been living in this
multimillion dollars house for two weeks, it does not excite me anymore. In
fact, I went on, the happiest day of my last twenty years is the day and night
we spent in Eden. I felt so energetic there and the serenity of the place and
the relationship we had with the people.
– So, what do you really want to tell me?
– Well, I propose that we spend one week in Eden and at the end of that
week, we decide what it will be: living forever happily in Eden or living a few
more years in our 12 million dollars house, then get sick and die in a crowded
hospital.
– You have such a way of hammering your idea, said Lise; I would look foolish
to object to it. Are you ready to quit on your artist career and everything we
have been working on for so many years, our financial security, our friends,
our children, our relatives?
– They have their own lives to live and besides if they want to join us in Eden,
they have our new address and I will leave a note how to use the artifact. We
will have a lot of friends there, the whole village.
We did it, we spent a wonderful week there and Lise stayed there. We
decided to live in Eden forever.
I came back to do a video, my last video, and tell everyone that I am leaving
the 12 million dollars house and the pile of signed blank checks that John
gave me to whoever find the house. I will not tell you the exact address, you
must find it. But the house is in Palmetto Dunes, right on the beach and
there is a private gate to get to the house. The code is 7707.
If you can open the gate of a 12 million dollars house sitting on the beach
with that code, the house is yours. If you decide to come over to Eden and
live there forever with us leave everything like I did for the next lucky ones.
Now I am returning to Eden, I got only one step to do, I wish you all a very
good life, Farewell.