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ALBERT ENDED THE conversation by announcing that he had a surprise for me We all departed froht, Albert suggested that he and I walk a while, Katie joining us "I could tell that Arthur’s words disturbed you," he said "They shouldn’t The people he referred to have nothing to do with you"

"Why do I keep worrying about Ann then?" I asked

"You’re still concerned about her It will take some time before that ends But there’s no connection between Ann and what Arthur was talking about"

I nodded, wanting to believe him "I wish, to God, there were direct co would be resolved" I looked at him "Will it ever happen?" I asked

"It h Not one of distance, as I’ve indicated, but of difference in vibration and belief At present, only the most advanced psychics on earth can cope with it"

"Why can’t everyone on earth handle it?" I asked

"They could, with proper training," Albert said "The only ones we know of that can do it, though, are those born with the gift--or who acquire it by accident"

"The gift?"

"An ability to utilize the etheric senses despite their encapsulation in the physical body"

"Can’t I find a psychic with that ability?" I asked "Communicate with him? With her?"

"What if that person wasn’t anywhere near your wife?" he said "More likely, what if you did e to coe to your wife and she refused to believe it?"

I nodded, sighing "And the one tiht have communicated," I recalled, "it went so badly that it probably destroyed any possibility of Ann’s ever believing"

"That was unfortunate," Albert agreed

"And he saw me," I said, dismayed by the ht your discarded double was you," Albert reminded me

"That was hideous," I said He put an arm across my shoulders "Try to have faith, Chris," he told me "Ann will be with you; it’s ht help"

I looked at hiroup of minds can join forces to contact someone left on earth," he explained "Not in words," he added quickly, seeingto impart a sense of comfort and assurance"

"Would you do this?" I asked

"I’ll set it up as soon as possible," he said "Put your hand on Katie now and take my hand

I did so and, ie of an enorround level It was croith people

"Where are we?" I asked, straightening up from Katie

"Behind the Hall of Music," he said

I looked around It was a stunning spot in the twilight illu amphitheatre surrounded by lawns and round

"Is there going to be a concert?" I asked

"Here’s so He turned me around

I knew him in an instant, Robert There was very little difference in the way he looked His appearance was one of vigorous health but he hadn’t grown younger, looking much as I rereeted me We embraced each other, then he looked at

I nodded, s back Uncle Sven was always irl," he said, stooping to pet her She was obviously pleased to see hiain "You’re surprised at how I look," he said I didn’t knohat to say

"A natural curiosity," he said "One can ree one chooses here I prefer this one Wouldn’t it be silly to have nothing but young people here?" I had to laugh at the quizzical look he gave Albert

Albert laughed too, then told ht relay

After he was gone, I explained about Ann and Uncle nodded "Good, the relay will help," he said "I’ve seen it work"

His confident ed a s in music," I said "I’reat love," he said He gestured toward the grass "Let’s sit," he said "You’ll like it better here than in the amphitheatre; I won’t tell you why, I’ll let you be surprised"

We sat and Katie lay beside us "Is there a lot of e role in Summerland," he answered "Not only as diversion but as a way by which a person can achieve higher levels"

"What is it you do?" I asked

"I specialize in the study of the bestmusical inspiration to those who have a talent for composition on earth," he said "Our studies are tabulated and transferred to another group who consider the best roup does the actual transmission Then--but I’ll tell you about it later, the concert is about to start" How he knew I couldn’t tell since everything was out of sight beneath ground level

He was right though; it was about to begin I know you’re not a classical ue you to read that the main composition to be performed was Beethoven’s Eleventh Syested that we sit above the level of the a is not the whole experience No sooner had the orchestra begun to play--an unfamiliar overture by Berlioz--than a flat, circular surface of light rose from it to float level with the topmost seats

As the ht beca a foundation for what followed

First, four colu, tapering pinnacles of luminosity remained poised, then descended slowly to become broader until they resembled four circular towers each topped with a doht had thickened and risen slowly to form a dome above the entire aher than the four columns There, the immense musical foran diffusing throughout the structure As the music went on, this coloration altered constantly, one subtle shade blending into the next

Because I couldn’t see the ah so place in front of me I learned that all music emits shapes and color but not every composition creates such vivid forht form depends on the purity of its melodies and harmonics In essence, the co edifices of visible music

"Does it vanish when the music ends?" I whispered, then realized that, since we spoke by thought, I didn’t have to whisper

"Not immediately," he answered "Time must be allowed between pieces for the form to dissolve so as not to conflict with the next one"

I was so enchanted by the shi architecture that I was scarcely conscious of the music which created it I recalled that Scriabin had tried coht and music and wondered if that inspiration had coht how Ann would love this sight

The beauty of the color reether at Sequoia

This was not the trip we made when Ian was a baby This was sixteen years later, our first ca trip without the children We took a walk our first afternoon in the Dorst Creek caround; a two-mile hike to Muir Grove The trail was narrow and I walked behind her, thinking more than once, how cute she ith her jeans and white sneakers, her red and white jacket tied around her waist, scuffing the dust as sheoften because she didn’t watch the path Nearing fifty, Robert, and she seeed, in the grove with her, side by side, our eyes closed, paled by five im of wind far above us A thought occurred to h trees is the voice of God

Ann loved that afternoon as I did There was so about nature--in particular the stillness of a forest--to which she reacted well; the total silence seeping into one’s very flesh Outside of our home, it was one of the few places she felt entirely free of anxieties

When alked back to the ca sunset We stopped at an enoriant stands of redwood trees

We sat there watching the sunset, talking quietly First about the landscape and what it must have been like before the first nificence and methodically demolished it

Gradually, we talked about ourselves; our twenty-six years together

"Twenty-six," Ann said as though she couldn’t quite believe it "Where did they go, Chris?"

I smiled and put my arm around her "They ell spent"

Ann nodded "We’ve had our tih"

"Who hasn’t?" I answered "It’s better now than ever, that’s all that ainst me "Twenty-six years," she said "It doesn’t seem possible"

"I’ll tell you what it seems like," I told her "It seems like last week that I spoke to a cute little X-ray technician trainee on the beach in Santa Monica and asked her what tihed "I wasn’t very friendly, was I?"

"Oh, I persevered," I said, squeezing her "You know, it’s odd It really does seem like last week Does Louise actually have two children of her own? Is ’baby’ Ian on the verge of college? Have we really lived in all those houses, done all those things?"

"We really have, Chief," Ann said She grunted, aone to at the children’s schools, I wonder? All those desks we sat at, hearing what our kids were being taught"

"Or what they were doing wrong"

She smiled "That too"

"All those cookies and coffee in Styrofoam cups," I recalled

"All those horrible fruit punches"

I laughed "Well" I stroked her back "I think we did a reasonable job of raising them"

"I hope so," she said "I hope I haven’t hurt them"

"Hurt them?"

"With my anxieties, my insecurities I tried to keep it all froood shape, Mother," I told her I rubbed her back slowly, looking at her "So, I ht add, are you"

She looked at me with a tiny smile "We’ve never had the camper to ourselves before"

"I hope it doesn’t rock too round"

She hed and kissed her tee "I love you, Ann" I told her "And I love you"

We sat in silence for a while before I asked, "Well, what next?"

"You ht now?"

"No; in years to co there, we planned the things we’d do Lovely plans, Robert We’d co colors We’d ca, before the crowds began arriving We’d backpack into the high country,in the winter if our backs held out We’d ride a raft down a rushing river; rent a houseboat and sail it through the back rivers of New England We’d travel to the places in the world we’d never seen There was no end to the things we could do now that the children were grown and we could spendoutto reain, and suddenly, remembered I was in the caht and she had taken Ginger outside I’d woken when she left, then fallen back asleep again

I was out of the camper in seconds "Ann?!" I shouted I ran to the front of the truck and looked toward the an to smile as I started toward it This had already happened, I knew She’d walked into the ht bea bear She’d screa to her, held her in my arht bea of a bear, then Ginger snarling "Chris!" Ann shrieked

I rushed across the uneven ground This isn’t really happening, I reo this way at all Abruptly, I was on the with the bear, Ann sprawled on the ground, the flashlight fallen I snatched it up and pointed it at her, crying out in shock There was blood on her face, skin hanging loose

Now the bear hit Ginger on the head and, with a yelp of pain, she fell to the ground The bear turned toward Ann and I ju to chase it away It kept co it I felt a bludgeoning pain on round I twisted around The bear was on Ann again, snarling ferociously

"Ann!" I tried to stand but couldn’t; ht and I cruan to maul her "Oh, ht hand touched a rock and I picked it up I lunged at the bear and grabbed its fur, began to s ware and horror as I pounded on the bear’s head with the rock This couldn’t be! It had never happened!

"Chris?"

I started violently, refocusingnext to ht expression harrowed ?" I asked I stood up quickly