Reflection in a Mirror

By Richard S. Conde

Reflection in a mirror is a science fiction tale with a historical involvement with both the 1936 Spanish War and the current day project eight hundred feet below New York city streets where a new water tunnel is under construction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452075075

Richard S. Conde

Richard Conde is a professional engineer who has traveled extensively throughout the world as a communication consultant for the US Air Force. He has been involved in many ventures in satellite communication interface and owned cable TV systems in the Northeast. He is a graduate of Norwich University at Northfield, Vermont with a degree in Mechanical engineering. He is now retired with a residence in both Manchester, Vermont and central New York State.   List of Richard Conde novels Shelburne, Vermont Century one Harmony of the Spheres Reflection in a Mirror  

Book preview

Contents

Forward

Chapter 1

One can not fly like an eagle,

with the wings of a wren

Chapter 2

On The Horns of a Dilemma

Chapter 3

The thread of Destiny

Chapter 4

A thorn in the flesh

Chapter 5

Covering my nakedness

Chapter 6

Beauty will fade, but not goodness

Chapter 7

You can never have enough grace.

Chapter 8

If we have no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant,

if we did not sometimes taste adversity; prosperity would not be so welcome

Chapter 9

Once the game is over, the King and the Pawn

go back in the same box.

CHAPTER 10

One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.

Chapter 11

Wisdom is merely knowing what to do next,

Chapter 12

Our destiny changes with our thoughts.

Chapter 13

Man cannot discover new oceans until he has. courage to lose sight of the shore

Chapter 14

Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Chapter 15

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Chapter 16

The truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men.

Chapter 17

The problem with the gene pool is that there is never a lifeguard on duty

Chapter 18

The master Plan

Great achievements involve great risks.

Chapter 19

Evil flourishes far more in the shadows than in the light of day

Chapter 20

Compromise does not mean cowardice.

Chapter 21

Yesterday is but Today’s memory Tomorrow is Today’s dream

Chapter 22

Don’t expect life to be fair

Chapter 23

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up

Chapter 24

The author’s final words

Forward

God has his favorite people.

These individuals are held in high regard, and enjoy kindness, and unfair partiality, from the Lord. He aids and supports every move, they undertake. There is no question, his outward manifestations of friendly approval, follows them from birth, to life’s end.

Most of us never understand why these people are regarded, and treated with favor. Things come to them automatically, things the rest of us prayed to obtain. They receive gifts from the Lord, those are tokens showing love and consideration for those, so blessed, as the chosen one’s.

Those of us, who do not share the gifts of the Lord, see living through different eyes. The distress, the ache, the unkindness, the anger, the hate, the nastiness, the unhappiness, the death that prevails in the world that touches us. Moreover, love one’s telling us, that we cannot be brave, if we only have wonderful things happen to us. Divine achievement, is never allowed to be part of our character.

Those of us, who cannot count on this protection from God, must heed what James F. Bell once wrote.

Fear is an insidious virus. Given a breeding place in our minds, it will eat away our spirit, and block the forward path of our endeavors.

We arrive at a point, in time, when we no longer expect God to bless us, as he does his favorites.

As a child, we begin to fear God, so we learn to pray. As an adult, we begin to understand that our prayers do not interest the Lord. Time and time again our modest desires go unfulfilled, and heartbreak becomes a part of us.

God keeps giving gifts to his favorites. They are unbeatable, usually wealthy, and always in the best of health. They win lotteries, marry grand mates, and have the most wonderful and smart kids, who never, end up as caregivers.

None of this is fair!

God must have a limited amount of treasure; he can spread among those of us, who are not special to him.

Great world thinkers tell us, if God gives you a burden, he also gives you the help to carry it. That I believe is pure bullshit. Why is God excellent at passing out burdens, and so selective in giving us rewarding solutions?

Ancient writings tell us, that there are three individuals whose existence is unimportant.

He who must look to the table of another, for sustenance.

He who is afflicted with suffering.

He who is a caregiver, not by choice, but by doing what is right according to, the words of God.

God gives his favorites gift’s of joy, while the rest of us are chained in place, in a sea of tears, that will never dry,

Living would be much easier, if there were no God.

The fundamental nature of all realities is that there is a God.

Nevertheless, in the deep recess, of my mind, I accept the fact, that he only serves, or listens to those chosen few, he considers worthy.

Chapter 1

One can not fly like an eagle,

with the wings of a wren

The man before us, is a thirty plus individual, sitting deep within the confines of a large red, leather chair. His name is Michael Sacco.

His life has been hard, and a challenge since birth.

He understood clearly what Eiseley Loren meant when he wrote,

An unhappy childhood is a treasure you carry all your life.

It has been a long cold winter, in central New York. Little snow, but many zero degree nights. Spring is only two days away.

Mike sat before the fireplaces, watching the magic finger of flames, consume the apple wood logs. His entire body, was a captive of the wonderful smells of combustion. Furthermore, for a moment his mind set aside, a fact of life, that he knew to be true. Man’s life is a tragedy. A tragedy for all, but the chosen few.

He had a good life, so far, but it had been a difficult task. Nothing was ever handed to him, and he had never won anything. In truth, he knew he dwelled in darkness, without tolerance, or illumination lighting his journey.

He is a person, who always draws the lightning. Those who met him on the path of life constantly viewed him with a civility of envy, even though he had nothing.

To his credit, he always had an inherited instinct, to survive. He had delved into the lives and soul of his elders, and tried to absorb their wisdom. Although his life had been devoid of opportunity, he had an internal toughness, shaped by a few people, who cherished him. He learned in life, that enthusiasm and vanity walked dangerously together.

He had often been told that God posses perfect virtue. He did not believe that to be true, because he had never witnessed it. Moreover, over his years of living, he had packed away in his being, an abundance of history and intrigue, related to those who he had come in contact. He generally hated, all mankind, except a very few.

He had never been favored by most that passed his way. They had been imperious, determined, stubborn, ornery, cantankerous and even choleric.

The main reason, he was not liked, is that early in life, he had solved the problem of his existence. He saw pestilence and famine, all about him and defined it for what it was. He witnessed how the strong always, control the weak. Furthermore, most of all, he hated the countless victories of injustice, that paraded before him.

He would not be anyone’s slave, nor would he own a slave.

He would never be silent, in the face of what is wrong. He accepted the fact that pure reason can sometimes be powerless before the kings of our world. Most living on this earth can only store a limited amount of human knowledge during their stay; ability to reason is generally not a part of this process. They cannot separate the idea of reality that is often hidden behind, the false face of gratuitous assumptions. Blank existence, is no final stopping place for man’s action. The human capacity for self-delusion is nearly limitless.

Mike sat in the chair and was near exhaustion. It was late in the afternoon, and he had been active and engaged the entire day.

Nelson Ransom, a life long friend, had called him this morning while he was still in bed. The phone call had pulled him from the depths of sleep.

Weeks ago Nelson asked Mike to help him clean out the articles he had stored in his cellar, over the last eight years. Nelson, like Mike, was a single individual, who had filled his house with futile items he would never use. They had no function but they were expensive.

Nelson constantly attended the garage and estate sales, where sexually available ladies, were in countless numbers. Once these females were contacted, Nelson displayed pure and elevated aspirations for the finer things in life.

He believed women related strongly, to men who had a highly developed female side. It was only through sex, that Nelson could maintain his equilibrium in life.

Mike watched Nelson collect a string of beautiful women, with whom he had sex, then tossed them aside, like a shuttered and dilapidated toy.

He could hurt a female, like no other man Mike knew. However, Nelson was gifted, in many ways. His height and demeanor indicated he was charming, generous, attentive and respectable. Mike knew he was all of these except, honorable. Nelson was a friend, who had a special place in Mike’s conscience mind. He was a fun man to be with, who enjoyed silence, solitude and reverence contemplation, of the human spirit. He also was a die-hard New York Giants football fan.

Their friendship was strong, based on man’s nature as a weak and wimpy, worthlessness entity. Both were pale, featureless and boring people.

On this day, Mike had spent the entire time arranging and cleaning the countless treasures Nelson possessed. Tomorrow, an antique dealer would determine their value, and prepare them for sale.

Nelson had told him, If you see anything you can use, take it.

From this collection of items, Mike came across a full size mirror enclosed in a maple frame, that he could use in his bedroom. He would exchange the small mirror hanging over his dresser, with this mirror. The mirror’s maple frame was weathered, as if it were, barn siding. A rusted barbed wire was embedded within the entire frame, and had been exposed to the New York State, weather, for countless years.

Mike was dead tired. He grabbed the mirror that he had placed behind the front door, and carried it up to his bedroom. He placed the mirror next to his dresser, and took his shower.

In a short time, he was in bed, ready to spend a cold winter’s night, in the depths of sleep. Within minutes, the world closed around him.

Sometime during the night, Mike began to hear thunder, in the distance. It was a rolling type of thunder, which soon was directly over, his house.

Mike sat up in bed and witnessed the brightest lightning, he had ever seen. The light seemed to penetrate every object in the room. He could smell ozone and knew the lightning was only a short distance overhead. The thunder shook the entire house. Its sound waves echoed through the building.

Within seconds, the thunder and lightning were occurring simultaneously. The wind began to strike the outside of the house, with such force, that Mike darted from the bed, and went to the window to witness the storm onslaught.

Mike was astounded; to see the streetlights flooding the entire area of the front yard, and all was free of any rain or storm. No rain had fallen, nor was there any sign of wind, lightning or thunder.

Mike’s bedroom was as silent as a crypt.

Mike assumed it had all been a dream. A figment of his tired mind. But, how could that be?

As he sat up in bed, he had seen the purest white lightning, he had ever encountered, in his life.

How could his mind, create such pure penetrating light? Furthermore, the thunder had shaken and lifted his body, from a warm bed in a microsecond.

Yet, outside it was a cold March night, with no wind or storm.

Just over tired, I guess, said Mike.

He returned to the cavity in the bed, which awaited him.

He covered his head with the blanket, and soon was asleep.

At the breakfast table, he called his friend, who worked as a weatherman at the local television station.

Ned, was there any rain, anywhere in our area last night?

No, Mike only cold and dry, but I expect some rain tonight, after midnight, answered Ned. Thanks, said Mike as he replaced the phone handset, in the cradle.

Strange, he though, very strange.

The next morning, Mike left home early to attend a meeting that had been scheduled weeks ago.

Mike was a graduate of MIT, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was employed, at a research company, involved in the manufacturing of telecommunication equipment. It was an excellent position, for him. His workdays flew by, due to the dynamic interaction between him and his assignments.

His mundane college life was long gone, and his current position gave him a conviction of certainty to survive, and become the best designer of satellite gear, in the industry.

Yet, some of the other engineers, in his work section, would heap implied insults and abuses upon him, or his work, for no apparent reason. He never would respond, to any of their actions. Some of these individuals enjoyed hurting him with mean words, looks and bitter attitudes.

Mike felt certain co-workers had packed into their genetic code, an evil darkness, no human should possess. The darkness was wickedness, nothing short of a miracle, could cure.

Mike shunned these people, as if they were smitten, with leprosy. Furthermore, Mike was amazed, how these people of darkness, inter blended with others who also lived, in the shadow of life.

Mike knew, in the depths of his mind, that these individuals of obscurity had already accepted their predestination to hell, for they were monstrous tyrants, who would be someday punished.

Mike once read:

There is nothing as whole, as a broken heart.

Could he believe his eyes? Was this a dream?

The experience had shaken his being, and his physical self, was in a stupor. These tyrants specialized, in draining hope and initiative from their co-workers. They increased their own self- worth, by putting all those around them, down. Mike might not understand how any living thing could feel pleasure, by hurting others.

Once home, Mike heated a frozen dinner in the microwave, watched some television, then prepared for bed.

He viewed the mirror, on the side of his dressed and realized, it was too long to be mounted over the sideboard. The dresser would have to be moved to the left, so that the mirror could be mounted, on the wall. In that way, the mirror would reflect a head to toe view of any person standing before the mirror.

He moved the dresser, and up righted the mirror against the wall.

As he viewed himself, in the mirror, he was surprised to see how white his hair had turned. He had been proud of the golden reddish, color of his hair, in youth.

Growing up he would be asked time and time again.

How did you get a golden head of hair? You’re an Italian and Italians don’t have red hair.

His standard response.

Lucky, I guess.

He wondered to himself. Where is it written that all Italians have to have black hair? The Roman Empire covered the entire world, at one time, and the Roman soldiers married many of the women in the conquered lands. There must be thousands, of Italians, who have red hair.

Within moments, Mike was in bed, and deep in the confines of sleep.

The rolling thunder returned, but this time it was accompanied with the sound, of a strong wind.

The pure, white lightning illuminated everything, in the