Pete jumped onto the window sill, slid under its wooden frame and was making an announcement very early this morning concerning his need for breakfast. It was apparent that he was anxious and when the half a dozen ‘meow’s hadn’t worked he proceeded to brush his whole body up across Jonathan’s face. It wasn’t an easy maneuver but the tail across the nose usually worked quite well. Normally Jonathan would get somewhat annoyed, but this morning he was grateful for his furry little rooster. That’s what he would call him when the mouse hunting wasn’t good the night before and Pete was making his hunger known the moment he was coming in through the window.

“Okay Pete, I got it covered. Come on.”

Pete had a few more tricks to make sure Jonathan made it a priority to go directly to the cupboard where the cat food was.. As Jonathan walked down the hall toward the kitchen, Pete was weaving in and out of Jonathan’s strides to stay right on the outside of his legs with each step.

“Pete, I think I’ve figured out that you must have been a dog herding sheep in your previous life.”

Next, Pete jumped on the counter and walked along the tiles just in front of where Jonathan stood.”There are pushy people out there just like you only they aren’t liked very well because they aren’t as soft and cute as you.” Pete made another pass a little closer this time. “Hang on, I’m just getting my coffee started then we’ll both be having a feast. How about a break from cat food and having some eggs and turkey bacon today? Sound good? It needs to be fast though. I’ve got a big day, or I may be living a bunch of days today if Michael’s time invention works as well as Felina’s. Oh, you don’t have to worry about the competition with dogs anymore. Felina is definitely going to be the new man’s best friend if a company can talk Michael into sharing the technology. What a world we live in Pete. It’s amazing.”

They finished breakfast and Pete left the room while Jonathan started the dishes. Pete never understood what all the banging around of the pots was about. His life was so much simpler and required so little to be quite content. “You’re a lazy one Pete!” Jonathan’s voice followed Pete down the hall and into the bedroom. “You’re just going to lounge around the house now. If people are at the top of the food chain, why are they stressed out all the time while the domesticated animal kingdom is on a perpetual vacation. You’re probably on my bed right now licking your paws and wiping your face and whiskers. Then after you do that for a few minutes, you’ll sprawl out in every direction like it’s your bed and fall peacefully asleep. Then in a couple of hours you’ll relocate to the front window and check out the birds coming by, and the dogs. You’ll bask in the sun and sleep there for awhile. Then you’ll remember that you’re supposed to tear up the back of my desk chair a little more, and after that, as you are on the way to the other window sill maybe knock over the line books I keep on the corner of my desk. Pete, why did the universe make you anyway?” He joked.

It was getting close to 5:30 now and he didn’t want to be late. “Pete, there’s leftovers on the sink and food in your bowl. You’re on your own today boy. I’ll probably be late coming home.” He closed his door as quietly as he could as he went out, then tiptoed down the front stairs so as not to disturb the neighbors and off into the darkness, having decided to walk, feeling very certain Mrs. Abbey didn’t have her sensors turned on this early, but not taking any chances.

Michael’s lab was a lot closer than he expected and he had arrived early. It was May, not cold, not warm, just right and the morning air felt very pleasant as he leaned against a tree and waited outside the beautiful wooden door to Michael’s lab. It wasn’t anything like you’d expect to be guarding something scientific. Michael was full of the unexpected things of an eccentric individual like himself, and he was another man of a life of obsessions. Not the bad kind of obsessiveness. It was different for a dreamer. A dreamer lived from one divine synchonicity to another, from one adventure to the next one around the corner, one amazing thing to another amazing thing. Whatever came into his life that opened another window or gate along the path, became his latest passion and was added to his otherworldly ‘obsession’ collection.

“Good morning, Jonathan.” Michael had opened the beautiful door from the inside. “I see you found my cave. I’m so glad you’re here. I haven’t let anyone into my lab since I started the past life project. Even the walls have been lonely with no voices to echo. We need to get started. Are you still okay with all of this?

“Yes, of course,” Jonathan said excitedly.

Michael lead Jonathan up the stairs that lead to the central room of the large domed building. There in the middle, under the dome, stood a twenty foot in diameter globe sitting on a circular platform anchored by three sets of stairs positioned equidistantly apart, like the sides of a pyramid. The stairs began at the floor and extending ten feet up, passed the first platform and then went another ten feet to a second ring shaped platform, like one of Saturn’s rings, then continuing up they joined and a smaller fifteen foot base above the globe that held a large upright circle that had been designed to look like the sun with a large opening in the middle of it.

Michael pressed a button on the wall to open the dome ceiling.

“It’s really quite simple. You just need to be able to recognize the portals that will transfer you from place to place, and back here. Have you ever noticed when you watch the sun go down over the ocean, there’s a time when the reflection of the sun breaks up in between the waves and it looks as though there are stepping stones in the water leading into the sun?”

“Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about and it only lasts for a short time.”

“Perfect. Then you now have an idea how the important timing is. This is critical to your survival. You can’t miss a single appointment or you will be stuck in that place for the rest of your life.”

“I can do that. I’ve had some practice at screwing up the time meeting up with my girlfriends and landing in worse places.” Michael looked at him a little concerned. “Don’t worry I’m just kidding! I’m not a screw up. It’s my cover so I appear normal instead of the perfection fanatic I really am.”

“Okay, we have ten minutes. This program is synchronized with the sun coming up over the ocean in particular locations around the planet as it turns with each day. It begins here and ends here. I will tell you when it’s time in order to get in the program. Once you’re in, you will know when it’s time for the next one to transfer you to another past life. The highest platform at the base of the sun has degrees carved into it around the edges. While your climbing the stairs, I will work out the coordinates and tell you which degree you need to be standing on. The space in the middle of the platform will have the appearance of water and light will begin to rise at the bottom of the sun. As it begins to fill the circle, the steps will appear. As you step onto the steps, you will experience something that feels real, not unlike what the crew on the Enterprise experienced on the holodeck. It will look and feel as if you are walking on water and the sun is far away in front of you. It will get warmer at you approach the sun. Put these glasses on and keep you eyes closed and keep walking until it begins to cool down. At that point you can open your eyes and orient yourself to where you are. Here’s a bag with the things you are going to need including a recording
device to journal your visits. I don’t need to them to you and you’ll why when you get there. We’re down to three minutes now. I need to get to Twilight’s controls in the next room.”

“Twilight?”

“Oh — I forgot — Twilight, this is Jonathan.”

“Good morning, Jonathan.” Her voice sounded celestial and as Twilight spoke her words were expressed in twinkling lights surrounding the sun.

“Wow, she’s pretty. Michael, you’ve been having way too much fun!”

“Yes, I don’t suppose I’ll ever know the meaning of bored. Good luck, Jonathan, and thank you!”

Jonathan climbed the stairs to the higher platform and as Michael gave him the coordinates, Jonathan followed it around to the right position. Then following the instructions Michael gave him, the golden steps appeared, he stepped onto them, and put the glasses on. As he began to walk, it grew very warm and much brighter and then closing his eyes, he shuttered for just a moment and the words quietly slipped out of his mouth, “How does he keep doing this to me.”

When it began to cool down he opened his eyes and after a brief sensation of floating in space, he saw that he had been deposited behind a large mound of sand and palm trees, a hidden and strategic place where he would have time to assess where he was before he encountered anyone. It was quite warm and between the sand and the heat it didn’t take long to figure out that he was in a desert.” Now I know how Macy felt. I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore.” While his mind was adding the new experience to its already overextended multitasking, he opened his bag to put the glasses safely away and pulled out a jacket and a hat with a small devise he could see fit in his ear.

“Okay, I guess I’m ready for whatever.”

Someone was shouting out a word. The device in the hat translated the language so he could hear that it was someone’s name. He guessed the someone was him and this was his cue to enter the stage. “This isn’t going to be so hard to do.”

“Japheth,” he called again.

“If I’m Japheth, then that’s Noah.” As he came out from where he was hidden, a turban had replaced the hat and the coat morphed into some kind of tunic and his shoes became very makeshift looking sandals.

“Unbelievable! Michael, you’re a genius!”