Cloud to Cloud

Episode 14: Welcome to the New World

Fred let the tip of the cane press into the hard concrete of the sidewalk. He breathed in the afternoon air and straightened to take another step.

"Day three. Walking." Fred stated to the empty sidewalk. "Let the day's journey begin."

The prescribed therapy for a man who had gone through a major heart attack and bypass surgery. It was not the walk that bothered Fred, though--it was lack of purpose. With two weeks of work leave--a mandatory vacation, as the human resources department referred to it--following nearly a month on his back in la la land, the banality of his days was becoming too much for Fred's typically busy mind.

It wasn't as if he could do much at work anyway. Connections were so sketchy, he had given up watching streaming video or listening to digital radio. Walks were, in sad truth, the most interesting part of his day. It had only taken Fred one trip around his neighborhood for boredom to push his adventures further.

Fred absorbed the mundane wonder of finely manicured lawns, drab walking paths, and the blasé similarity of quaint front porches. He offered vacant good mornings to disturbingly adorable gnomes and rigid figures of forest animals whose living counterparts would likely never venture this deep into human habitation.

Potted plants and geometrically imperfect stone paths meant to emulate dried rivers dotted the waterless neighborhoods. Fred counted the number of green yards against gravel patches, and pondered how to properly categorize a xeriscape yard.

It was as boring as he always knew it to be.

He could be fighting with streaming data systems. He and Evan might even have been able to fit the remains of land lines to the house, if they tried, but that boy was making him crazy.

Evan had cared for Fred and visited him every day in the hospital since the incident on the train. Fred was grateful, though he had no idea at first why Evan was helping him. Now he realized there was little else for the kid to do, with GlobeNet systems laying people off left and right. Fred sighed as he took in yet another perfect gravel yard complete with river rock ribboning through it, off of center.

He continued down the street, further than he had ventured before. His strength and stamina had been improving enough Fred no longer felt he would have to call Evan for a ride home if he wandered further than his body could take him back.

Manicured front yards gave way to open lots and office parks. Fred eyed the commercial gardens and parking lots, before averting his attention in the opposite direction.

Opposite the business district, the street was dotted with a row of two-story homes. These lawns were unlike those in the neighborhood.

Fred glanced back the way he had walked. He was easily two miles from the entrance of his neighborhood. Three miles was a decent walk. He sighed, considering the three more it would take to return. They would not be easy miles.

"I can always ask Evan for a ride. That boy needs to get out of the house. It will give him an excuse to take a shower."

As Fred pondered Evan's employment situation, he continued down the street into undiscovered territory.

The quality of the houses were lower here. They were not necessarily dilapidated, but the perfectionism of lawns and overall appearance dwindled comparatively.

Gravel patches were scattered with weeds and leaves. Paths needed more sweeping. The figurines and porch decor leaned more toward tacky, second hand, or handmade.

Fred wandered on, a renewed energy from the unique discoveries fueling him, drawn by some deeper energy. Halfway down the street, Fred's eyes fell upon a sign jutting from the front lawn of a two-story structure might have been a home at one point, and now doubled as commercial property.

Fred adjusted his glasses and squinted at the twist and swirl of the ornate letters. A sudden rush of understanding struck him. He shot a glance up and down the street. He had indeed wandered into the back streets of historic homes and business district of the chichi downtown.

He considered how proud his doctor would be when she took the readout from today's walk. A full six miles. Fred averted his attention to the sky. The sun was high, and the growing afternoon was warm. He'd walked the morning away.

Whether from the sudden realization of the time, distance, or heat of his adventures, a wave of dizzying fatigue overwhelmed him. He leaned on the sign post.

"Maybe a moment inside to cool off." Fred meandered the short walk to the porch of the business-slash-residence.

He offered a bemused smile to dangling porch chimes tinkling in the gentle breeze. His eyes protested in a flurry of blinks and squints as a string of crystals trapped the afternoon light and glinted it back in an array of prisms. A pair of brightly colored pinwheels with petals like flowers spun at either side of the porch stairs.

Yet another wave of vertigo bucked through him as he gripped the rails. He caught the step with the foot of his cane and allowed a moment to lean on the hook. His eyes rolled and focused on the bright yellow door at the top of the short flight of steps.

Inside the window, a small paper sign was taped to the glass. Fred's brow knit at the sight of a printed page and realized that the lawn sign had been on a printed board as well, rather than a digital advertising screen.

Fred read the words on the paper.

"Have you recently had a Near Death Experience? Do you want to discover more about past lives? Do you see, hear, or otherwise experience unexplainable or unusual phenomena?"

Fred's mind suddenly returned to the strange images and visions he experienced before waking in the hospital bed.

He looked through the window beside the door. A woman within the building wandered into Fred's view. She was young, possibly the same age as Evan, yet there was a way in her walk that caused her to seem much more mature than Fred's playboy nephew.

The woman paused mid-task and moved out of sight. A moment later the door of the little shop opened. She leaned on the open screen door. "Come on in, you're a little early, but that's good for your first time."

Fred's confusion was consumed by the calm of the woman's energy. His vertigo evaporating, Fred didn't hesitate to enter the little store.