I opened my eyes to find myself back in the Anteverse.
“You’ve been a pretty busy man,” said a voice behind me.
I turned around and came face to face with the unearthly Timekeeper.
“The materializing process associated with your ideas has been pretty interesting,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Although ideas are immaterial, pure energy constructs if you will, they do produce actions in the material realm.”
“I don’t understand…”
“As you lay in a hospital bed, people are reacting to your ideas and furthering the concepts you’ve brought forth.”
“But how can that be? I haven’t…”
“Your friend the Professor has been making inquiries. And those queries have prompted other minds to question their previous beliefs. Your ideas on time have taken on a life of their own Ray.”
“But ideas are energy, as you said; how do you come in contact with them in the materializing process?”
“Ideas shape the present. Many times in the human experience matter is shaped by the ideas that first envision its form.
“Some people believe that what happens in the mind is not real, but the truth is that everything that transpires in the energy universe residing in your brain is as real as the material world around you. Even the most outlandish ramblings of a mad person are real because they exist in our reality. The only difference between the energy constructs within our mind and the physical ones around us is the presence of matter in the latter. But matter is not what makes something real. If such were the case, then we would have to conclude that feelings like love, pride, and gratefulness don’t exist.
“This is important because it would be erroneous to believe that your interactions with Einstein didn’t happen because they only occurred in your head.”
“But the doctors…” I interrupted.
“The doctors gave you their diagnosis and I ask you: did it say that nothing happened?”
“No of course not, it said that I had some sort of psychotic disorder.”
“That’s right. And that diagnosis certifies that the events, which transpired inside your mind, did in fact occur. As I said before, everything that happens in your mind is real. And by definition, so are dreams like this one. If you take only one thing with you from this experience let it be to keep on dreaming Ray. Dreams define the shape the world takes in the future. Einstein once said that imagination is a preview of life’s coming attractions and if so, then I would say that dreams are the trailers.”
As the Timekeeper talked I felt myself being pulled away from his realm back to the hospital bedroom. It was dark but I could see Gina sitting next to my bed reading something on her iPad. There was a knock on the door and a nurse came in with some pills for me to take.
“What time is it?” I asked Gina as soon as the nurse left.
“Close to midnight,” she said.
“This might be the medications talking, but I could have sworn I saw you leave with the others once visiting hours were over.”
“I did, but just to pick some stuff in my car, and then came back up. Talked to the head nurse about staying with you for the night.”
“I thought you didn’t babysit coworkers,” I said with a smirk.
“Ray, Ray, Ray you can be so dense for some things. Of course I don’t baby sit coworkers,” she said and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
EPILOGUE
Commencement day at Princeton University some years later… Gina and I are walking hand in hand through the beautiful campus.
“I really liked the main speaker’s speech,” said Gina.
“Absolutely. I read some of his work on the matter of time and found it fascinating. It’s amazing what brilliant scientific minds can do with science-fiction concepts. They always find a way to make the impossible a reality. He deserved the Nobel,” I said.
“And look at you, with a Princeton degree.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said kissing her.
“Well, you’re a Tiger now.”
“An Irish Tiger,” I said.
“That sounds German… Irishteiger,” said Gina smiling.
On a bench close by, an old man lowered the newspaper he was reading, looked at me and winked. I could have sworn he looked exactly like Albert Einstein.
T H E E N D
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