Vision 2200

The ringing phone roused him and only then did he realize he’d fallen asleep on the train. Bade, who was seated across from him raised an eye-brow in question as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

            “Hello, you’ve reached Kola Da’Silva’s phone.” He said, trying not to sound groggy.

            “Good morning Mr Da’Silva.” A chirpy voice said. “I’m Sarah Baines from the CRA¹’s office and I’m calling regarding authorization for the transfer.”

He shook his head as if to clear it. What transfer was she talking about?!

            “Err, Ms Baines, could you bring me up to date on the transfer you’re referring to?” He frowned and shrugged in reply to Bade’s enquiring look.

            “The Gremlin account Mr Da’Silva.”

The Gremlin account, are you kidding me?! He’d only just recently attained Portfolio Manager status at the Brokerage Firm and handling a high-profile account like the Gremlin account was a dream that was at-least three years away!

            “I’m sorry Sarah but err… I… can I get back to you on that?”

            “If you want to go over the documents one more time, I could send a VRD² to your Google Glass.”

My Google what?!

            “Was that the CRA’s office?”  Bade asked when he got off the phone.

            “Yes and this lady was going on about…”

Just then, he heard a little beep and then a voice in his ear: Incoming mail from Sarah Baines.

Are my glasses talking now as well?!!!

Before he could process that thought, an image sprung up smack in front of him and he reeled backwards reflexively, knocking his head on the glass-pane behind him. His eyes clouded over for a moment from the impact and the image swarm before his eyes.

Dear God, I have gone completely crazy. Or maybe I’m dead!

“Hey easy! You alright?” Bade said, reaching out a hand to steady him.

He snapped off his glasses and thankfully, the image disappeared.

            “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Bade said.

            “I’m… I …it’s…”

            “Your GG’s are blinking, could be you’ve got a message.” Bade cut in, pointing to his glasses which indeed had a red light blinking at a corner of its frame. He stared at it flummoxed, wondering how he had come to be wearing the alien contraption in the first place! Tentatively, he put the glasses back on and tried to comprehend the image before him. He wondered if everyone else on the train could see it, but no one seemed to be paying him any attention.

I must be the only crazy one!!

It was a document with details of the Gremlin account. Instinctively, he reached out a hand to the image and flicked it gingerly, scrolling through the pages like he would a tablet. He didn’t know which overwhelmed him more: the image projecting from his glasses or the information contained in the document!

“Wha…what’s all this about the Gremlin account?!” He spluttered, completely befuddled.

“Oh, you got the paper-work already. Good!” Bade said. “We should get ready for the Virtual Presence meeting with their CFO³.”

            “Hold on a minute! You mean we’re financing Gremlin, as in me and you?!”

            “That would be affirmative, unless you’re an alien posing as Kola!” Bade said giving him a worried look. “What’s gotten into you today? You’re being really weird!”

            “I …”

“You ready?” Bade asked.

Not knowing what else to expect, Kola gulped and nodded.

            “Okay Glass, Vi-P Mark Rogers and sync K.D.” Bade said.

You are now synced with B.O. Setting up Vi-P, the Siri-like voice said in his ear.

If he’d been amazed by the events of the morning, he was knocked right out of his socks when the life-sized image of a man was projected onto his retinas!

            “Good morning gentlemen.” The image said and sat down. It actually sat down! The image seemed to hover above the seat across from him and he imagined that somewhere across town, Mark Rogers was sitting at his kitchen table starring at their hovering images! Vaguely, he listened to the conversation go back and forth between Bade and Mark and hard as he tried, his mind simply refused to comprehend what was going on around him. Talk about an information over-load!

“Everything seems to be in order.” Bade said finally. “So we’ll authorize the transfer.”

“Great!” Mark said beaming.

A quirky part of Kola’s mind wondered if they would shake on it! Bade flicked his thumb and fore-finger and magnified the document Kola had been viewing earlier. At the bottom, where there should have been dotted lines for their signatures were bar-codes.

What’s he gonna do?! Sign the bloody thing with his finger-print?!!! He probably shouldn’t have asked! Bade simply aligned his eye with one of the bar-codes and blinked at it.

            Pupil recognition initiated good old Siri chirped.

The bar-code flashed red, then green.

“Your turn.” Bade said flicking the document towards him.

In a daze, he tried to mirror Bade’s actions and the meeting quickly came to a close.

            “Glass, end Vi-P meeting.” Bade said and Mark and the document pixelated and dissolved from sight.

            “Wow, this is all crazy! It’s like walking into some Sci-Fi movie!”

“This is the real thing Bro! It’s Peer-To-Peer banking on a whole new level. Banking has become so retail and individuals now have the financial capability to carry out transactions and offer services without the need for financial intermediaries. Gone are the cut-throat lending rates, mammoth overhead costs and draconian lending terms!”

            “You mean the Banks…”

            “…like we knew them are no more! You, my friend, are the Bank of the future!”

            “I can’t…I’m not just managing the Gremlin account, I’m financing it?!”

Bade clapped him on the back.

“Get a grip dude, welcome to the 22^nd century!”

                                                                        *

Kola started awake suddenly. Again.

            “You alright Hon?” His wife mumbled beside him.

            “Yes Love, just had a very weird dream.” He replied.

I just saw the future, and I was King!!!

¹Credit-Rating-Agency

²Visual-Retinal-Display

³Chief-Financial-Officer

Please vote here!!!

Through 'My' Looking Glass Version 1.4

Read Version 1.3 here.

I’m not asleep…but that doesn’t mean I’m awake.

̴ Author Unknown

*

We are such stuff

As dreams are made on,

And our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

̴ William Shakespeare, The Tempest

The dark corridor and the walls melted away and I found myself standing on a beach with the man. By then, I was beyond surprise. I wondered which beach this was – Bar beach, Oniru, whatever. It was deserted and there was no one else with us as far as I could see.

            “Where is this place?!” I asked. I was tired of all the weirdness and just wanted it all to end.

            “That depends.” The man replied.

I scoffed. “On what?!”

            “On where you need to be.” He said evenly, not offended at all by my attitude. He almost seemed to expect it.

            “Who are you anyway and what do you want with Ayoade?” I asked.

            “I could be a lot of things to you.” He said, smiling. “And as to what I want with Ayoade, I want the same thing from you.”

            “Which is what?!” I demanded. “ It’s been you all along, isn’t it? All the crazy stuff today, the voice, the illusions, the dreams!”

He didn’t say anything to that. He just kept looking at me with his head angled to one side, like he was trying to decide how best to handle a child throwing a tantrum.

            “Come with me,” He finally said. “Let’s take a walk and see what we find.”

With that, he turned and started to walk down the beach. I threw up my hands in frustration and followed after him. He didn’t say a word, no matter what I said or what I asked. After a while, I gave up and sulked quietly. We finally got to a door. Yeah a door. A solid wood door, complete with hinges and lock but without a frame. How a door can stand upright, in the middle of a beach, without a frame or wall or anything else to support it is totally beyond me, but there it was! A door! Curiosity made me walk round it, but there was nothing on the other side, just mile after mile of sandy beach. A door with no entrance!

            “What’s this?!” I asked.

            “A doorway.” He said simply.

A doorway. I didn’t see a doorway, I saw a door, period.

            “What’s a door doing here?!”

            “That’s for us to find out. What do you think doorways are for?”

I shrugged. “Doors are supposed to keep things locked in, safe, whatever!” as silly as it sounds, I’d never really wondered about the functions of a door.

            “True.” He said. “But they also give us access.” He finished.

What was his obsession with doors anyway?! First Ayoade’s door, now this one.

            “Don’t you want to find out what’s behind the door?” He asked.

I gave him a look that said I thought he was completely bonkers. He just continued to smile at me.

            “There’s nothing behind the door!” I said pointedly.

            “Are you sure about that?”

            “Hello! Take a look around! We’re standing on a beach and that’s all that’s on the other side of the door!”

            “You know, things aren’t always what they seem like. You might not know what is behind a door until you open it.”

            “Fine! Go ahead and open it then!” I said exasperated.

He smiled again. “This door isn’t mine to open.”

I raised an eyebrow, as in seriously?! He simply shrugged, still giving me that annoyingly patient look. I hesitated for a moment. The dream had ended here at the door and I had no idea what would come next. I would probably wake up again. Or things could really go hay-wire! What if…

            “Whatever!” I was tired of all the theatrics. I grabbed the door handle and put my whole weight into the push ‘cos the door looked quite heavy and I figured the sand on the other side would resist my opening it. The door swung open so suddenly and so lightly that I fell head first into the room.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

The beach was gone and in its place was a room. I looked around the room and the memories hit me like a blow. I had not thought about this room in years. I thought I had forgotten all about it, thought I had burned all the memories of it to ashes. This was a memory I had locked away somewhere far, and thrown away the key. It was gone. Dead. Buried. Forgotten. Until this stranger dredged it all up on a beach. A beach with a door. A beach with a door into this room. A doorway. I looked around the room in horror. My mind simply refused to process the info it was receiving. It looked exactly as it had the last time I had seen it. The two beds still sat at opposite ends of the room with the door between them. The walls were a dark blue, not helping the fact that there were no windows; it was always dark in this room, not just dark in the sense of no light, but dark as in deep-down-in-your-soul-dark. Angry, I swivelled to face the man.

            “What exactly do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted at him. “How dare you bring me here?! You have no right!”

            “I didn’t bring you here.” He said calmly. “You did.”

I lost it then. How could he stand there so calm, when he was tearing my world apart! How dare he throw it all in my face, rub it in without even a flicker of emotion! I lunged at him, rage fuelling me on. I grabbed a handful of his shirt and thrust my face in his, seeing red. The tears came hot and furious, an intricate mix of anger and pain with no distinction between where one ended and the other started.

            “How could you bring me here, bring all this back?! What sort of sick, twisted mind does that?!” I asked through clenched teeth, snot and spittle flying. “You know what this place is, you know all it stands for, how could you?!”

He didn’t say anything else. He just stood there calmly; when my fists pummelled his chest; while I scratched at his face and neck; holding me while I sobbed and shook uncontrollably; after all the anger and emotion was gone and I was spent; when the wailing shrivelled away into silent tears; he just stood there. Not saying a word. A solid wall holding me up. Soaking up the tears. Reliving the memories with me…

 

 

Somedays are such as this (2)

It all starts right here!
 

I took the pamphlet from her and drifted through the double doors with the other people around me. Absently, I scanned the pamphlet which highlighted the evening’s event. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I could recollect hearing about the Worship Concert, probably from a friend or from a poster somewhere around Uni. Hmmnnn, Israel Houghton, Matt Redman and Darlene  Zschech. Should be fun!

The auditorium was packed already, even though the pamphlet stated that the concert wasn’t due to start for at least another half hour. Lights blazed and pulsed from the stage which was already set with myriad instruments. Music played softly from speakers placed around the space such that it felt like it was in my head. Techies were tweaking sound mixers and cameras mounted on tripods and heavy-duty arms. Men in suits and blade shades spoke discretely into microphones hidden in their suit sleeves. The crowd was buzzing around me and I felt a surge of excitement. I hadn’t been in a live concert in a long while and the giddy feeling came back to me quickly. As I was making my way up the stairs to the gallery to find a seat, a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind. I turned around and was enveloped in a bear hug! Hmmmnnn, part of the warm welcome! I couldn’t hear what my ‘welcomer’ was saying above the buzz around me, but he was thumping me enthusiastically on the back, so I reckoned this has got to be good! Finally, he released me and held me at arm’s length, beaming at me from ear to ear. At least, that much I could see, I still had no idea who he was. I squinted through the probing lights at the 100 watt smile and then gasped. It was my turn to crush his ribs in a bear hug!

            “Dude, how have you been?!” I asked, probably doing more damage to his ribs than he’d done to mine. “It’s been ages!”

            “Yes oh!” he replied laughing.

            “Wow! This is the last place I would have expected to run into a familiar face!” I said.

            “Small world!” He said beaming.

            “What’s been happening to you Bro? And what brings you to my Hot Pot?!”

            “Was in town on some work runs and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Kirk Franklin live!”

            “Wha…Kirk Franklin?!” I hadn’t even seen that bit on the pamphlet! Another bolt of excitement shot through me. I love Kirk Franklin! It really had been too long since I was at one of these things and I realised for the first time how much I’d missed it.

We made our way to the gallery deep in conversation, trying to hear each other above the sounds around us. I hadn’t seen him in almost four years, since we finished up in Unilag. We’d been posted to different states for our Service year and after that, he’d gotten a job with Schlumberger while I’d moved to Houston for a second degree.

Our reminiscing was cut short when the worship team got up on the stage to kick start the evening. We shuffled our way to two seats close to the back as the crowd raised up a cheer. For the moment, I forgot all about the good old Unilag days and if I’d been feeling the excitement before, I became charged with raw electricity! It really had been too long.

            “Welcome to Church!” it was Israel himself leading the first phase of the worship and it felt like his words were a personal message, specially for me. 

Welcome home. 

 For the first time that evening, I wondered about what had made me get off the bus four stops early and why I’d ended up here. Well, at least, I got to bump into an old friend. That was what I told myself.

            “Doesn’t it feel good to be in His Presence?!” Israel was saying, and the crowd roared its agreement.            

            “You know, we live in the days where we’re too busy living life to actually live! We’re in this place where the business of living has drained the life out of us!”

The crowd went quiet then and his voice rang out clear and smooth over the pianist’s soft accompaniment. “It is time we stopped, time we paused in all our doing and just be still.”

I miss you. 

            “It’s time we went back to The Author of Life Himself, ‘cos who better would know all about living?! Who else could show us Life?” 

It’s been so long…

            “I love the way the Psalmist put it in the sixty-third psalm. He said ‘So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in Your strength. In Your generous love I am living at last!’. What we seem to have forgotten is that we find strength in the place of worship!”

So what happened last Sunday? Or the one before? Or all the others before?!  Where were You?! Or is it ‘where was I’?!

“#…from beginning to the end, it will always be, it’s always been You…#”

                         

               You’re so close. Yet so out of reach

The electricity in the air became intense, became something else entirely, something I can’t even begin to put to words. I wondered if everyone else could feel it but the intensity was such that I couldn’t pry my eyes open. I felt heavy and feather light at the same time and for some unknown reason, I had the burning urge to cry.

               I’ve been here too many times before

“#…nothing else matters! Nothing in this world will do…#”

The song seemed to swell until it filled every air molecule in the vast space. I felt like it was in my head, in my mind, in my bones, I felt like I was going to burst!

“#...and everything revolves around You, Jesus You, at the centre of it all…#”

            “It feels good to be in His Presence, doesn’t it?” Israel asked at the end of the song. “You know, back then, Moses said to God, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, we won’t go from here.’ Worship doesn’t have to be just about church and just when we gather and we have the ambience and the surround speakers, the lights and stuff. It doesn’t have to come just at the times when the word is powerful and has stirred us into a frenzy! In Exodus 33, God said to Moses, ‘I’ll personally go with you.’ If there’s anything you’ll take away with you tonight, let it be Him! If you desire it, He’ll personally go with you into your everyday…”

                      

              Why did You go silent! Why did You walk out on me?!

It was ringing in my head and I couldn’t shut it out. It wasn’t a thought or anything that I’d consciously felt. It was more like a presence, like it was. Weeks and weeks of mounting frustration and helplessness had finally found a face. I’d felt the deep sense of loss without knowing what had gone missing, the emptiness had crept up on me subtly, without warning, leaving me hollow and listless. I hadn’t really known I’d been searching for something until I’d found it.

“#...nothing in this world will satisfy, Jesus You’re the cup that won’t run dry.

Your Presence is heaven to me…#”

             

                 Why have you put up the walls?          

“#...Treasure of my heart and of my soul, in my weakness you are merciful.

Redeemer of my past and present wrongs, holder of my future days to come…#”

Where did this chasm creep out from?! I never even realised it  was there!

            “Reach out to Him, touch Him tonight.” Darlene said, taking over from Israel. “Let your heart touch His with the sweet aroma of your worship.

#...Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face.

And the things around will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace…#”

 I reach out but can’t seem to touch You! Maybe You don’t want to be found…

“#...I’m desperate for Your touch,

a glimpse of heaven through the glory of Your Son…

…so let this fire consume my life! Let Your love take me deeper

Draw me closer to where You are, ‘cos all I want is more of You…#”

   It’s so cold out here…please…

“#... In the quiet,

In the stillness

I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence, I know there I am restored…#”

          I’m so, so tired…

 

“#...when darkness seems to hide His face,

I rest on His unchanging Grace

In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone, corner stone,

Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love

Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all..#”

          If You can still hear me, please I can’t do this anymore…I know I can’t.

 

            “Let’s just stop for a moment to be still before Him…”

Later on, it would occur to me that I’d heard Kirk Franklin’s voice without going all crazy! Maybe it was the fact that his words had been more of a whisper, so unlike his boisterous self. Maybe it was because by then, we were all so subdued and caught up in the moment. Or maybe it was just that by that time, I was so unaware of anything or anything around me except for the One in whom I desperately desired to be one.

“#...And when my strength has come and gone

Your life in me it makes me strong

Your hand is where my heart belongs

You take all my pain and erased every stain

Jesus, You’re my everything,

So whatever You take me through, I promise you, I’ll spend my always with you…

… Your touch

Your kiss

Your grace

To me

Is deeper than my soul can see…#”

    I’m here, always here, closer than the breath on your face..

“#...You're the mender of the broken

To every outcast a friend and comforter

I come boldly to your presence, Lord I bow before your throne

You're my healer, my redeemer, You're my hope, my life, my all

You hear the cry of the broken

You answer the cry of the broken…#”

  I love you…for all eternity…

  I love You…

“#...Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes,

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul, worship His holy name

Sing like never before, O my soul!

And on that day when my strength is failing

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore…#”

Matt Redman finished up the evening with a simple prayer. The room went quiet, not a thing stirred. I have no idea how long we were like that, time seemed to have stopped and there was just that moment…finally, I got up from the floor where I’d ended up at some point, and made my way out quietly behind my friend…knowing I’m found in the light of the aftermath…