In Search Of

Lately Pater was pondering what the meaning of his life was all about. Perhaps he was getting older and questioning his existence on earth and its purpose. He knew there was one, but coudn't yet grasp its meaning.

Recently, Peter started going to church on a regular basis. He liked to listen to the singing praises at the beginning of the service, He couldn't yet get into it though. He remained quiet and surveyed his surroundings as most of the members sung along with such fervor. This was a good time to meditate. He found himself pondering things he did wrong in his life. He quietly asked forgiveness for all the wicked choices he'd made throughout it. He would try to be a better person in the future, but he couldn't yet get over the guilt; for having hurt other in the process. He choked up a lot during this part of the service.

Then comes the pastor and gives his sermon. Peter always looked forward to what he had to say. There was a lot of wisdom in whatever the topics the Pastor chose for the service. Peter hadn't been disappointed thus far on any one of the Sunday's he'd attended and fiound himself looking forward to the next service.

He didn't see himself as one of the fervent parishioners hed seen there on Sundays. Some of them seemed to want to sing out loud, others seemed to want to speak out when agreeing with something the Pastor had just said. That was fine, it didn't bother him, it's just that it's was not who he was. He just sat quietly and like a sponge, he absorbed as much as he could.

During last week's service the pastor mentioned how doves were messenger's of God and how he works in mysterious ways, that rainbows are a sign of God. Peter thought about the time he got married and went on his honeymoon to Hawaii. When he got to his hotel room and looked at the balcony, there, sitting on the handrail of the balcony was a white dove looking at him, behind the dove, in the horizon a rainbow. Both his wife and Peter though "How beautiful." Afterwards, he didn't think much of this incident, but on that Sunday he thought to himself "Had that been a sign of blessing from God?"

A few days later, still in Hawaii, Peter and his wife decided to got to the beach. They found themselves in a most beautiful and picturesque beach with no one on sight for miles. Peter's wife, Bianca, got on a pool float and cast herself in the still waters of this fantastic beach. Peter turned his back on her and started setting up his rod and reel, he wanted to do some fishing and relax awile. He'd probably had his back towards Bianca for no more than ten or fifteen minutes, but when he turned around, to his disbelief, she had drifted quite a distance. She must have relaxed and didn't realize how far she had gotten. She raised her hand and waved to him. Bianca didn't know how to swim and although Peter could take care of himself, he didn't consider himself a swimmer and was most petrified of the deep when in the water, be it a river, lake or ocean.

Peter looked to his left for help, no one there. He look to his right and saugh a person way in the distance playing with his dog. Too far to go ask for help.

Now he know that if Bianca got up from that float and fell to the side onto the water, she'll drown before anyone could get to her. He realized she was in deep waters and too far for him to swim there. He never swam much and always liked to feel the bottom with his feet and woudn't venture much further than that, ever.

He told Bianca not to sit up. She was face down on the float, and told her to try and hand paddle her way back towards him. She tried, but all she accomplished was to turn in circles. He was afraid she might loose her balance and fall over.

He remembered the last words his mother-in-law said to him before departing for their honeymoon, "Please bring my daughter back safe". They had never been apart from each other for long; The honeymoon was going to be three weeks long.

He didn't know what came over him at that moment, but he told Bianca to stay there and not move, that he was coming to get her. He got in the water and walked until he could not feel the bottom any longer. He started floating and swimming towards her. Every time he'd run out of breath, he paused, looked where see was and kept swimming. She seemed so far out of his reach, but he kept going. he was not afraid of the unknown, of what could be creeping under the surface or if he'd drown, instead Peter was afraid of loosing his wife.

He finally made his way to the float and grabbed the rope on the side of it. He rested for a few moments. She kept telling him how beautiful this was, the surroundings, the water, the moment, everything. He didn't reply, he just told her to be still and not to try to get off the float. He began to tow her back towards the beach and if getting to her was bad, the return trip was unbearable, Peter's lungs were on fire. But he kept going, and going, and going for what seemed an eternity.

He finally found himself close enough to the beach to try to stop and put his feet to the bottom, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up and touch the bottom with his feet. He looked down into the water to see how deep it was, but he couldn't tell. He was exhausted and not sure if he'd be able to stand up. He did know that if he tried and the waters were still deep and went under in the attempt, that he wouldn't have the strength to stay above the surface.

He swam a bit longer and finally said to himself "This is as far as I can go, I leave it in God's hand." When he stopped and stood up, the greatest feeling came over him, by God, his feet touched the bottom and his head was above the surface. He walked in the water to the beach not saying a word, and when he finally got to the waters edge, Peter collapsed from exhaustion.

This past Sunday Peter couldn't help to think that God gave him the strength to go out there and conquer his fears on that day, to have ventured into what he had always feared in order to save his wife. There was no one out there on that day who could have done it, no one human in safe distance. There was someone with him that day, someone who protected him and made sure that no harm would come to Peter and Bianca.

The Beauty and the Beast

Dr. Noriega could not comprehend why Amanda was once again in his clinic. She had undergone 27 nip tucks from one extreme to the other and any idiot could see that she was looking more and more like a monster and not the beauty she once was. Amanda had been the wife of the once famous and now dead Victor Sorensen of the 1950’s. Loaded with money and plenty of where to spend it, Victor could not bring himself to seeing his precious Amanda all cut up after that terrible car crash on that cold January day back in 1979. She was only 28, full of beauty and now she looked horrendous. Victor called Dr. Noriega and asked for his services. Noriega performed six reconstructive surgeries on Amanda’s face and finally in 1982 he told her and Victor that the reconstruction was complete.

Amanda saw differences in her looks, and she liked what she saw. She was so impressed that she came back for more, and more, and more. Doctors to the stars do not ask too many questions, especially when the patients have plenty of money to spend. Noriega performed so many operations that he lost the count. Eventually he told Amanda that that was it, he would no longer perform any more operations on her.

By now, Amanda had lost all her facial nerve movements and was looking more like a stiff on a wax museum. Amanda went from Noriega to other plastic surgeons. They all turned down her requests. Eventually she had to settle for some unknown quack in Miami who did the surgery in his “Not quite ready for prime time” facility. Amanda went into cardiac arrest on that filthy facility and died before the ambulance got there. A sad ending to the tragic life of a beautiful woman. Dead on a table and looking like an unrecognizable beast.

The Princess and the Pauper

When the Princess walked through the door, the camera followed her all the way through to the elevator. Not aware of this intrusion, she called David on her cell and asked for instructions on a speech she would give that night at the conference for third world hunger awareness, a subject she abhorred and despised. Contrary to speculations in the media about her contributions on the subject matter, David reminded her that perceptions abounded about her deceptive behavior. She went on to tell David how much she hated having to be there and to speak to a bunch of peasants and low lives, she had seen through them and known that all they cared for was how much money they’d be making out of her being there that night and how little the poor bastards back home would benefit from all this. Security at the Ritz was formidable and not only had they gotten her video taped but the sound system here was top notch. All of her conversation with David was picked up by the security system and Russell Snitzer at the command center walked out of his shift with copies of the taped incident already bided on by various media institutions for a hefty $300.000 US dollars. That same night Russell sealed the deal over a sumptuous escargot and champagne dinner at the famous Le Rouge Monique seated right across from the Princess herself.

The Devil Wears Ferucci

I don’t know why there was such a fuss over his tirade with the staff neglecting the launching of the new line of men’s shoes. After all, his ideas had never failed before and certainly this time would not be any different. Gustav Olev was not amused at the ridiculous stile that Giordano had presented at the Shoe fashion show in Milan. He noticed the crowd reaction and immediately convinced himself that this would be a disaster for the Ferucci family. Enzo Ferucci had placed all his trust on Giordano, having designed for Prada, he certainly had credentials. Gustav had reservations about Giordano’s switch to Ferucci, and this presentation certainly solidified his suspicions that Giordano was well paid off by Prada in order to sabotage Ferucci who was quickly catching up to the grand shoemaker. Enzo nevertheless felt that the peculiar stile would have a significant impact in the industry. “Trends were everything” said Enzo “and if I am right, we’ll be kicking Prada’s ass so bad, that eventually it’ll lead to a Ferucci’s line of bags to rival Prada’s corner on the market. I can honestly say that I envision the Devil wearing Ferucci.”