Exit God Out - Book One - The Unexpected Terrestrial

Exit God Out Book One: The Unexpected Terrestrial Chapter 38

Chapter 38

William Meyer and Basil Goldstein were almost an hour late for the meeting. Basil had never set foot in the lab, but he was curious to see the little girl. Their plan was to gather in the white room with Maggie and ask her questions to see where her skills and education levels were, especially when it came to divinity. Dr. Rosenthal was looking forward to presenting Maggie not as a spiritual child but a gifted child the doctor was responsible for creating, now that Anna was gone and didn't have the chance to speak. Janet was so incredibly detached that she posed no threat: she was only there for the money. The white room, the experiment and everything about it stripped Janet's desire to ever work with children again.

"I'm looking forward to this," said Basil to the group. "I want to see how well the experiment is going. You're almost half way through it already." He stumbled through the Janitor closet towards the white room door, barely able to stand with the cane. He had aged a great deal the last seven years. The anger and the repressed emotions had taken their toll. For unknown reasons it was he that wanted to see Maggie. Meyer did not coerce him.

Meyer helped Basil into the room, and Maggie stood up and came over to him. Basil struggled into the overstuffed chair and collapsed. Maggie studied him as he tried to get comfortable, and grabbed herself a chair and sat next to him while everyone else shuffled around with their seating. Dr. Rosenthal started the meeting, introducing everyone and explaining Anna's disappearance. Meyer was uncomfortable listening to the doctor speak of how well Anna looked after Maggie and took care of her needs. She spoke of how Anna would take her for walks behind the lab, and how Maggie loved them. During her speech, Maggie had taken Basil's hand and the two sat next to each other, hand in hand, while Maggie closed her eyes and sat quietly. Basil seemed quite content to connect with the little girl, and enjoyed her interest in him. At his age, no one was interested in an old man that couldn't walk. Basil quit shaking and put his cane down beside him. Meyer and Amarr were curious at Maggie's interest in Basil, but Dr. Rosenthal and Janet were quite use to Maggie's friendliness. She had been raised in closed environment and was still too young to be able to judge people, or so they all believed.

The doctor finished speaking, and opened the conversation to everyone. Meyer asked a great deal of questions about her abilities: how well she could write and speak, and if she had any other talents he should know about. Rosenthal began to describe Maggie's unusual artistic talent, and that she knew the alphabet and how to put a few words together. Amarr commented that he thought she was ahead of the Grade one plan, and he admired the doctor's abilities to help the girl along fairly quickly. Janet kept quiet through the process, feeling somewhat disgruntled for the lack of acknowledgement of Anna's educational work, but no one noticed her. She preferred to look anonymous and took the role of self-appointed secretary.

"So everyone is ready to hear my next set of questions to Maggie?" All heads nodded, having heard them earlier. Meyer turned to Maggie, still holding Basil's hand and saying nothing.

"Maggie, have you ever heard of God?" Meyer kept his eye on the girl, watching for any body language that could detect a lie.

Maggie looked at him curiously. "No," and she thought for a moment. "That's dog, spelled backwards," and everyone laughed and sighed. "What is God, William?" she asked Meyer. His face fell in shock, as he wasn't prepared for her questions.

Amarr jumped in. "It's a dog, Maggie."

"Then I had a God once!" She bounced happily at figuring out the riddle. "My God was named Annok but I set him free," and she immediately looked around realizing she released too much information.

Everyone sat still, waiting for Meyer to ask about this, but he was already onto his next question. "Maggie, where did you learn to draw so well?"

Maggie began to look up to the ceiling, but caught herself, remembering Anna's strong words to her. "Don't let them know who speaks to you. Don't let them know you have friends above your head." She sat in the chair, speechless, staring at Meyer.

"Perhaps she didn't understand the question." Meyer looked around at the group. "Maggie, does your mind make the pretty pictures?"

Maggie nodded slowly, hoping she had said the right thing. Meyer nodded in approval and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms as if he was showing the others his experiment was working. Maggie was trying to figure out what it was they were trying to get her to say, so she said nothing. They continued to look at her drawings and her alphabet letters and numbers, commenting on their perfection and calligraphic style.

"We encourage her to use her artistic talents as much as possible," the doctor stated. "Since she seemed to want to do this, I helped her along the way, drawing out her abilities and letting her know it was a good thing to do." Everyone was delighted and Dr. Rosenthal was thrilled this moment had occurred, so Meyer would realize the large annual paychecks were not in vain. There was a great deal of talk on how to proceed and what to teach Maggie over the next year, and finally they wrapped it up as Meyer began to get bored. Maggie jumped up and grabbed Basil's cane and his hand, and almost pulled him out of the chair.

"Slow down child, I can't move that fast. Give me my cane please." Maggie refused, and kept pulling at his hand. Basil was becoming agitated and finally Maggie pulled him right out of the chair. He stood there for a moment, realizing he was standing without his cane, and was unsure of whether he would fall or not. Everyone was heading for the door, and completely unaware of what was happening. Maggie pulled Basil again, and he took a step forward and stopped. Both of them held their gaze on each other, and Basil began to take steps on his own, slowly straightening his back every time, until he was standing perfectly straight and tall, as he once did over a decade ago. Maggie let his hand go.

Amarr was the first to reach the door, and he turned to speak to the group, but instead, saw Basil standing and walking towards them. His shocked face had everyone turning to see what was happening.

Meyer turned and shouted. "Basil! Be careful you silly old fool! You'll fall!" But Basil's smile was as wide as his head, and he walked up to Meyer and put his hands on Meyer's shoulders. You could have heard a pin drop until Basil broke the silence. "Let's head out now William. I'm feeling rather good! Take it slow though, I'm not sure how long this spell will last," and he walked, with no help, to the door and into the car. Maggie came up and put his cane in the back seat and leaned through the open window. Basil ran his fingers through her hair, noticing the strand at the back was suddenly lighter. Much was quietly exchanged that day, without anyone having a clue as to what happened. It was a gift between two of the most unlikely friends Mother Earth had seen in a long time.

April K. Reeves, Author. Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved. Visit us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/April-K-Reeves/390530011143987?fref=ts or our website: https://aprilkreevesauthor.wordpress.com/