“First Contact” Comfort:
Longer Than a Bus Ride,
But Shorter Than a Sigh
“Ree-Nee, what does it feel like to travel here from so far away?”
“Well, it takes hardly any time at all and I don’t feel much different than when I just fall asleep. But the difference that I do feel is like there’s a little tingle just under my skin. But mostly it’s like how you feel when you take a nap but much more fun than taking a nap.”
“I don’t like naps. I’m too old for naps,” said the girl with dark curls as she slightly forced her lower lip forward.
“You’d like this kind of nap though!” Ree-Nee’s eyebrows arched and her eyes widened slightly with honest enthusiasm.
The two girls sat together on the window seat of Polly’s upstairs bedroom. The night sky was laid out before them like a personal planetarium. Of course it was only a small portion of the Big Show, as her father called it. Her father, an astronomer by hobby, chose this house in the Vermont countryside to cut down on the earthshine and enjoy his hobby from the widows walk on the roof above their heads.
Ree-Nee spoke again, “I wish you could come visit me sometime, but my dad says it may be quite a while before you can travel like we do. But I can teach you to feel that really nice tingly feeling. It always comes first before we travel. It’s like how you told me that you always put on seat belts before you go somewhere in your car.
“I learned to feel it with my mom’s help when I was three. She showed me how it comes in handy when you don’t feel so good. You know, like when your mom says your being cranky and should take some time out.”
Polly absentmindedly stretched a dark curl around her cheek to her mouth and looked back out the window at the dark sky with its pinpricks of twinkling light surrounding the slightly dusty path of the Milky Way. Her face darkened with frustration, two tiny lines of disbelief rose between her eyebrows.
She turned to Ree-Nee and blurted out “I have to ride the bus for more than a half an hour just to get to school. I may be just eight but I know that’s longer than my bus ride.” Pointing out the window at the Milky Way, she spoke each word forcefully “I… don’t… believe… you!” She suddenly held her breath. She caught herself feeling the frustration. She always liked Ree-Nee. Always hated to see her go after a visit and always wondered how soon she could see her again.
“Don’t go Ree-Nee. I’m sorry!” the dark look swiftly changed to genuine remorse. Not thinking of her own loss if Ree-Nee left, but now after so many visits she began to understand that Ree-Nee genuinely didn’t like to be around her when her feelings in Polly’s words, got stuck on cranky.
Ree-Nee reached out with one hand gently touching Polly on her left shoulder and they both sighed. First Ree-Nee’s then Polly’s eyes glistened just a bit as if they reflected the dim twinkle of starlight beyond the room.
“You always understand, and you’re so easy to talk to, Ree-Nee.”
“I like you too, Polly. I learn a lot when I visit. That’s why my dad lets me come on my own now. My dad always says ‘You need to be an excellent student Ree-Nee, and open to everything around you and Life will teach you whatever you wish.'”
“That feeling that tingles, I’ll let you teach it to me. Just don’t go yet,” Polly pleaded.
“Okay, turn around and cross your legs. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in and let it go like an enormous sigh. Good. Listen to my breathing and try to breathe at about the same rate I do, but its okay if you’re not exactly the same, just about the same.”
They sat facing each other on the window seat in the dim light of the stars for two or three minutes before Ree-Nee spoke again.
“Remember, how you felt just after I touched your shoulder? Bring back that feeling from your memory and we will start there.” Another pause not so long as before elapsed and Ree-Nee spoke again.
“Are you ready to reach for a little better feeling?”
Polly nodded silently but Ree-Nee knew her answer without opening her own eyes.
“How about the feeling you have when you wake up on a Saturday morning and there’s no school. The sun is shining in the open window, you hear birds and you know you’re free to play all day.”
“Oooo, I like that,” Polly said as a smile began to spread across her face.”
They sat for a while longer and Ree-Nee spoke again. “Think about where you feel this feeling in your body now and imagine it is expanding, growing like a bubble of light. Slowly growing and filling you up.”
Ree-Nee waited, allowing the pause to be a little longer this time and she spoke again. This time she made her voice calmer and quieter like it was a little more distant from Polly. “Let the bubble be slightly larger than your whole body, make it a little brighter and keep it about the same size so you are cozily surrounded by its comfort.”
Now Ree-Nee could hear Polly’s thought, “This is fun! I’m in a one-bubble bubble bath of sunshine.”
“Good, you’ve got the idea. Now think of someone who loves you very much and feel that love brightening the light bubble like it is surrounding you with all their love.”
A couple minutes passed but time itself slipped out of both of the girls minds and the warmth they felt did transform into something wonderful just beneath the skin like Ree-Nee had said. As Polly felt the feeling begin to pass away she thought she heard Ree-Nee’s voice say, “I am leaving soon but this is how you can call me, anytime you can get to this feeling. Remember it’s like calling on a phone but no numbers to push. Just breathe, reach for the best feeling you can feel, and then think of my name. My thoughts will come to you just like this. You’ll know it’s me by the way it feels. The same as it feels right now. The more you practice the quicker and easier it will be to call me. I’ll be turning eleven soon, so I might not be coming to see you as often as I have been. Practice this again and again until you you can just heave one big sigh and connect with me just like this. Yes, it’s longer than a bus ride, but soon it will be shorter than a sigh.”
When a sense of time came back to her, Polly opened her eyes. She could not see her friend Ree-Nee, but it did not feel as though she was gone this time. Before, when she would leave, she would politely say she was about to leave. But a few moments later she would suddenly be gone. Polly would look away for some reason and when she would look back to Ree-Nee and she would be gone.
Polly lifted her eyes once again to the stars outside her window, placed her hand over her heart and whispered softly, “Oh Ree-Nee, this was the best birthday present ever, like a golden music box handle to uncrank my cranky heart.” Polly slipped off of the window seat, padded across her bedroom to snuggle down under bed covers. A smile framed by dark curls and a white pillow was the telltale sign that her music box dream began to play.
* * * *
Ree-Nee felt the soft sensation of her meditation couch easing around and beneath her as her form and gravity became partners once more. Her eyes were still closed, listening to Polly’s whispering and mind chatter. She giggled to herself as Polly went on and on. The joy and enthusiasm was contagious. Plus Polly’s imagination was so much fun that she loved going along for the ride. Her dad always told her to pay close attention to all the things there were to learn on these trips. Travelers could never under estimate any detail’s importance in another time and space. Polly could hardly imagine the gifts Ree-Nee had received from her.
As she opened her eyes she saw her father across from her on his meditation couch.
“How was your visit?”
“Oooh, really good dad. Polly could feel it, the energy sheath, on her first try. Annnd,” her eyes widened with great emphasis on the word. “This time we could think together. I have been showing her how to create an emotional shift. I think she’s going to practice ‘uncranking’ herself with the breathing and ‘feelings’ shift” a lot.
“Uncranking?” her dad asked. His smile began at the corner’s of his eyes and his mouth but he held it back along with the chuckle that stuck in his middle.
“Yesss, ‘uncranking.’ Polly made up the word. I think it’s her way of joking about the anger and frustration she feels sometimes. She just now thought that it gets her started with trying something different. And that’s always the toughest part. So it’s easiest starting with her imaginary joke. She is thinking that she can see a little crank handle sticking out of her heart. So she sees herself winding it backwards a couple turns in her mind, her heart grows back to its normal size and then she can take a deep breath. Now she’s thinking about something called a grouch or a grinch. I don’t know. I’m losing the connection now that I’m back. Are we about to leave for home or is there somewhere else?”
“We have one more visit. You’ll come along and you get to choose. Do you want to go ‘in form’ or ‘in consciousness.'”
This was new, he didn’t usually give her a choice. So she asked.
“Who or where is it. I like visiting boys in consciousness more than in form.”
“Well, it’s not a little boy or little girl this time. I want you to visit some adults with me. It will be in a restaurant near a group of people who are becoming more sensitive than other adults. We don’t need to talk with them but it’s time you began to feel them and understand how they are changing. You might say that they are becoming more like the children you’ve been visiting yet they have a long way to go.”
“Hmmm, adults, and a ‘restaurant.’ That is tricky to visit ‘in form’ Dad. Will there be a long walk after touch down?”
“Not too tricky. I’ll show you how to find an entry point and we’ll use a time and space bubble with a conference assist from researchers in The Work Vessel that just arrived.”
“Okay, there’s less to be concerned about than I thought. Can I have a chocolate milk shake?”
“I don’t believe that is on the menu, but you’ll enjoy the raspberry ice tea almost as much,” he smiled and felt her joy at the simple pleasure that came with ‘The Work.’
The experience went very smoothly. Visualizing from the couches they touched in with “D” and “E” in the research department on The Work Vessel E.S.T.S. Raph-Amadore, felt their greeting and the familiar tingling began. Two bubbles of time/space expanded in the restrooms of the mall. They could see them as they slowly zoomed in from above visually. As they watched they could see the humans present leave the area. Ree-Nee felt her dad squeeze her hand and encourage her to go ahead into form in the empty Ladies as he began take form in the Men’s room. They walked out at the same time and smiled at each other. He was carrying a shopping bag with a department store label on the outside like they were father and daughter just returning from buying school clothes.
“The place looks pretty busy and there’s daylight outside the doors. Have we changed time?” Ree-Nee asked after glancing around and looking up at her dad.
“No, just time zones on the planet. Polly is just beginning to nod off in her bed in Vermont and we are in California.” He was smiling down at her now reading the question that arose from her knitted brow. “Don’t worry we’ll only be here long enough to enjoy an ice tea. You can check in on Polly through her dreams after we’re done and as we leave the planet. The Time Line is remaining steady.”
Ree-Nee had heard of the Great Vessels that could move through time and space and knew if the E.S.T.S. Raph-Amadore was here then anything could be possible. It was less confusing traveling in the smaller E.S.S. Sparky with her parents because they would stick with a simple corresponding Time Line between home and Earth.
They arrived at the restaurant and her dad asked to be seated on the patio. The server came up as soon as they sat and he requested two raspberry ice teas.
“And that would be all we’re having since we are just resting our feet after a little shopping and before going home,” he said politely smiling to the young woman. Ree-Nee loved watching him work. Humans thought he was so charming and they were so willing to help in any way. They essentially lit up with an air of contentment while interacting with him.
“Now, let’s get down to work,” her dad’s thoughts were firm and clear with an air of formality. “Our consciousness will have a separate dialogue from our forms. We’ll be talking about shopping, school and similar things. You can see with your mind’s eye what we have in the bag and talk about it or anything else that seems simple and fits in with our situation. But after she brings your raspberry ice tea while drinking begin to reach out to the tables behind me. There are a dozen people there who are great candidates for partners in The Work. After a while focus on me and send me what you’ve learned.”
Ree-Nee could see what was in the bag, got excited and began to chatter out loud how much she loved the new clothes. Soon the raspberry ice tea arrived.
Ree-Nee reached for the ice tea and gazed at the ladies at the long row of tables. They had unusually larger and clearer light bubbles than ordinary human adults. They reminded her of big kids having fun at a birthday party. She almost felt one of the ladies when a sip of tea reached her mouth and tongue. That’s when she saw her dad start to chuckle and realized he was amused by how much she got distracted by the ice tea. Well, that brief distracting pleasure was over. Now her eyes focused on the lady’s necklace. It was made of dark metal squares and ovals that caught the light of the setting sun on the raised sparkling bits and she thought of the night sky over Polly’s house. She caught herself again and then turned her focus on the lady herself. She felt a sense of joy, excitement. The lady was with friends, no, the friends were near her but they were all colleagues or co-workers. The excitement was about something they were all learning together, practicing. Now she noticed the man at the table with his back to her. He was the only man at the table. He seemed different. Not quite part of the co-worker group. He was a little shy and unsure of what to say to the ladies around him, but he was transmitting a feeling of reassurance and politeness like her dad often did while working. And all of a sudden Ree-Nee could hear him hear her. He became aware of Ree-Nee’s description of him. And Ree-Nee heard his thought process.
Because he was self aware and felt slightly self-conscious she knew what he was about to do. Her dad knew it too. She could tell from the broad grin on her dad’s face. The man began to glow creating a golden bubble of light. He expanded this huge bubble of light all around them. It circulated through the lights of all the ladies at the table and Ree-Nee saw this just inflated their energy all the more. The expanding bubble rippled outward and began to include more and more people in the restaurant. A squirming toddler two tables down looked at the man and just stopped with its mouth open. The young lady that served them tea was at the cash register. Ree-Nee saw her put her hand to her forehead heave a great sigh and smile slightly with relief. And Ree-Nee herself felt the wave of energy rush through her. For a moment she was feeling that tingling beneath her skin and feeling the comfort of her meditation couch. She looked at her dad, sending to him all that she felt including a great deal of surprise. Then she began to relax as her father’s thoughts were in her mind as clear and reassuring as his voice.
“It’s okay, that wasn’t a signal that we’re leaving. It’s his, the man in the ball cap. He’s found the Secret and he’s sharing it. Remember how I tell you not to be intrusive. Just begin with little nudges and transmissions of comfort? Well, we have our mission, a different mission, and we only do this in a small careful way because that is what is required of us in The Work. He is sharing it in a big way, because he feels that same service to humanity calling to him in a big way.
“The Humans have a different mission. They need to feel their love for each other strongly and send it out just as strongly because the planet and their fellow human beings are calling on them to do it that way. Now you know why the E.S.T.S. Raph-Amadore has arrived. This is happening all over the planet Earth. If Polly saw what the observers and researchers like “D” and “E” saw she would probably say there was popcorn exploding all over the place.
Ree-Nee giggled out loud at this thought.
“I’m ready for a trip to the restroom after that ice tea,” he said out loud. He placed a ten on the table under the ice tea glass. So Ree-Nee took one last big gulp before getting up too. Her thoughts went racing back to Polly in Vermont. But her dad soon got her attention with his continued thoughts about this experience.
“These changes mean changes for us too, Ree-Nee. Your mom and I may need to start working out of Big Raph. You’re going to be eleven and will graduate out of Neo’s into Rangers.” They walked silently out of the restaurant as she listened to his thoughts.
“There’s a time/space bubble arriving in the restroom courtesy of ‘D’ and ‘E.’ It will be clear of humans by the time we get there and then we go back to the E.S.S. Sparky for the trip home. Mom just left a message saying you’ve got lessons scheduled for tomorrow plus she and I have an emergency conference call that has appeared on the calendar. These Earth signs are changing plans at every level so The Work must take advantage of these improvements.”
“Wow, do I get to help?”
“We won’t know until after the conference call and preparations. Rangers have their assignments too, but the range and power will be much narrower. As a Neophyte you’ll enjoy the expansion and you’ll be ready for the new challenges. Keep an open mind. You’ve learned a lot but there is so much more. If your mom and I get promoted then you may not be traveling with either of us quite so often. Staying in touch with Polly through thought and feeling is as important as this field trip was itself. You’ll need to learn more through her as part of your training on the next level,” he emphasized the word ‘through’ and Ree-Nee knew he was being serious about how important ‘The Work’ was that they all did. As they reached the restroom two people smiled at them as they passed them each into their own glowing bubble beyond the doors. The tingling feeling came and the surroundings became glowing gold with the light. Once again she felt the transition to that lightness of being and exhilarating joy and then came an easing into gravity and being comfortably held by the meditation couch.
As she felt her body breathing in she opened her eyes as saw her father across from her in his meditation couch.
“Now settle in, I’ll leave when I sense you are ready,” her father’s thoughts were clear in her mind.
He closed his eyes and Ree-Nee saw and felt the golden glow of the E.S.S. Sparky, a four person traveling vessel, all around her. She closed her eyes too and thought of Polly. Her emotions soared with the joy of travel and she sent to Polly the feeling she was having. The feeling of thousands of tuning forks all around her and now the visual image of a movie screen that surrounded her like a huge planetarium. Then came the shift, an exhilarating feeling like a short roller coaster ride. Visually it was like a movie about the galaxy. That part of the the night sky the Milky Way was in, was shrinking away into the distance far below her. She could see the whole thing, then it began expanding again as if they were closing in on another more distant galactic arm of the great M-W. It was like leaving the ground behind and rising up and up on a galactic Ferris Wheel, going up from Earth’s neighborhood and coming down in Ree-Nee’s neighborhood.
“There, Polly. You’re dreaming of my home, where I’m from.” Ree-Nee’s thought was strong and clear. She wanted Polly to have the feel and visual image just as strong and clear as it was for her as she traveled. The galactic arm expanded as they zoomed in and soon they were suspended in front of a beautiful sphere. Blue, greenish brown colors frosted here and there with white swirling shapes. Ree-Nee then heard Polly’s thoughts strong and clear as well.
“It is like a big blue marble. Like Earth is a big blue marble.”
“Yes, Polly, Amadore and Earth are like twins. And you were right, its much further than a bus ride, but I promise I’ll always be near. So near you’ll feel my breath when I sigh.”