To Laugh Or To Cry

By A. D. Nance

Eldon investigates human-like emotions such as guilt, despair, and especially humor. He feels this will help him learn more about his Creator and about himself. Three examples, and places are: at a rest stop he is compelled to sing in a karoke contest; he becomes a jungle creature at an amusement park; he interacts with himself as a clown. All are firsts and all important in his search.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A. D. Nance
• Release date: Jan 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310395550

A. D. Nance

Originally from Oklahoma, I now reside on the Carolina coast. I wrote Leonardo Who? in 1993, then revised and published in 2013. In 1997 I was able to write an account of my 6+ years I lived in New York. In April 2014 I published Poems of a Common Man - a collection of poems and song over the decades. In May 2014, part one of an upward looking epic fantasy was published - My Stars and Other Highlights. The writing is complete. The artwork is in progress. Audio version part one is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FWeQT4z37c I hope to continue walking on beaches with my #1'star' Sally.

Book preview

Part Eleven

Copyright 2015 A.D. Nance

Smashwords Edition

CONTENTS:

15: To Laugh Or To Cry

Next: The Mountain

TO LAUGH, OR TO CRY

The face in the monitor image looked somewhat older, eyes more deep set with a slight shading over them, forehead bulging more now at the edges of the face, and a certain unfamiliarity. Eldon had not noticed these augmentations in his appearance before.

Mirror, he said looking into his eyes. The monitor produced a reverse mirror image. It looked the same to Eldon. He felt a slight headache coming on.

This was a moment between writing sessions when he was on a planet, preferably Earth, but not always. This time he had really taken a good look at himself. It was not a particularly 'happy' face, but that was understandable since outward emotion was rarely displayed by Hearthites. In fact, the only creatures Eldon could remember seeing that were considered truly happy and contented were animals like sea dolphins on Earth, flep fish on Gragune, and small creatures of various planets that were low on the tech scale. They all seemed to fit perfectly in their environment and had everything that they needed. Some co-existing with ibees, even having a kind of symbiotic relationship with them.

He could not recall any truly happy intelligent beings, not like those small 'lower life forms.' Ibees in general had embedded themselves in a web of complicated and ever-tightening lines of progress and manipulation. Their 'progress' seemed to be out of harmony with what the Creator intended, in Eldon's opinion. 'That must be why ibees do not seem to be satisfied or content with what they have,' he reasoned. Then he thought about Salena and how happy she seemed on Earth. She had forsaken space travel and stayed in her new home to work with children and animals.

Eldon took a look at himself again. He appeared to be his age of 112 years, a third of the life span of a normal Hearthite. But he was anything but normal. Due to his unique experiences as a Singsord, and when he encountered the metanova, keyshina and other rare events, what he had inside him was far beyond a normal ibee. He was not consciously aware of it, but it was there.

This is why Eldon was chosen to be a contributor to certain historic documents. Treatise for a Creator was being drafted by certain Singsord elders. It was a manifest of evidence from all over the galaxy that the Source not only exists, but that it is a Creator, an all-wise and powerful Personage. And in development for quite some time was Articles of the Seeker Union. As a start, this document loosely defined what a seeker was, their goals and common attributes. It set out not rules, but expectations and a statement of unity. In it was an agreement of mutual cooperation that would eventually transcend all culture, species or region of the galaxy differences. It drew from writings of many seekers spanning time and space.

Eldon was very careful to write accurately