Yes! I had finally done it, again. After six months of fiddling and diddling with stuff that barely a year ago I had no idea existed. This was it. The secret to levitation. My secret to levitation. I had finally managed to make my anti-gravity invention into working technology. I can finally take my tech for a spin without drawing too much attention. Not that people wouldn’t be attracted to a flying giant egg, this is 2019, of course they would. But compared to my prototype, this was way more discreet. I can go out in the evenings, take a spin…ahem!…take a flight and come back without anyone even noticing. Something the noisy prototype is unable to do with it’s size and low buzzing.

Now, don’t get it mixed up. I am not a genius but I am not dim either. I happen to be an out of luck guy of slightly above average intelligence. My life was not going according to plan, having graduated with a BSc. Honours degree in Library and Information Science from one of the best universities in the land, I still couldn’t land a job. For seven freaking years, man. When that happens after everyone you know was against your choice of degree, you’re kind of on your own.

“Librarian? Are you out of your mind? You go to varsity to be a librarian?”

That’s a few lines that I was not going to forget soon. At first I was confident and defended my choice. It went on for so long that I decided to find other people who made it in life after becoming librarians so I could silence my critics once and for all. That was seven years ago. Let’s leave it there. All I can say now is I am still living with my mother, I have no visiting friends, no work colleagues because I don’t go to work. I have a girl that I like but I am not sure if she likes me back because other than a casual greeting, I have never really talked to her. Basically I have no social…or professional…or any life. But it doesn’t bother me anymore, not since slightly over a year ago when I stumbled upon what has become something of a “life” I can call my life.

I was taking a stroll around the unused plots of land. I usually chose those because they were behind residential homes in my neighborhood, no roads, no people, no activity, just dead or dying grass, a few trees no taller than I was, and an occasional rodent going about it’s business. This was my daily routine. Do a little reading away from other humans, do a little searching online where there are no other humans, take a walk in the wilderness where there is little chance of you meeting humans like you. Which is kind of strange for someone who is a librarian by profession. Despite what many people think, librarians aren’t really the antisocial awkward types that are portrayed in films. If anything they are quite the opposite. It’s just that their work environment does not like “loud”. So when you see them at work they are reserved and they give slight smiles where laughter is expected so people mistake that for whatever led to the librarians we see in film. I was a normal human once, but when you are in a situation like mine you will avoid people, trust me.

So there I was taking a stroll in “no other man’s land”, minding my own, avoiding people, especially those I grew up with. I came to the foot of local hills. I usually climb half way up and sit their observing life happening below, day dreaming I was a valuable member of society. But today I decided to go all the way up. I wanted to see all the way up to the edge of the business district where all the important people spend most of their awake time. I have a few “friends”, former classmates who work there now. Perhaps today I wanted to imagine I was one of them. I decided to avoid the sandy parts of the hillside, opting instead for the rocky parts because I wasn’t in the mood for dusty shoes yet, just in case I meet people. Hahaha. Big mistake. Three quarters of the way up, I stepped on to some loose stones on a hard surface. Tiny stones as they were, but they made a huge decision on whether I will reach the summit or not. I could have taken a tumble all the way to the foot of the hill was it not for a small tree, some shrubs and some sand. So I just rolled a few metres downhill hit a small tree which snapped instantly, but it slowed my decent. I rolled into a shrub which helped to further reduce the effects of gravity on my fall and I landed in a patch of sand. How ironic.

I wasn’t in a hurry to get up. I lay there for a moment feeling the warmth of the sand on my back as I watched some grains of sand rolling over my exposed belly. It was as if they were reenacting my little tumble. I would have given them an applause because they did it so accurately. But I was too ashamed to even move. I looked around to see if there was anything I could grab to help me stand up, that’s when I first noticed it. Just a few centimeters above me, a glossy transparent shape trapped in a reddish brown background. It was impossible not to notice it. If the difference in colour didn’t give it away, certainly it’s polished regular shape would have done the job. From the angle it presented itself, it looked rectangular. I quickly realized that it couldn’t have been glass because it went deep into the rock as if it had carved itself a nice cave. I could see see all the way to the back of the niche, that’s how I realized this thing was as transparent as clean water. A diamond? Nooo, it was too big, close to thirty centimeters on it’s longest side. Quartz! That’s it, at least that’s what I thought.

Bringing this quartz crystal home was the biggest thing I had ever done. Not because it was worth anything, nor was it because it was so clear and beautiful, but I had worked hard to dislodge it from the rock in which it was imprisoned, I bet for millions of years. That felt wonderful, like a real achievement. I hadn’t done anything worth talking about since high school, what with the seven years of life in doldrums, so you have to understand this was a big thing for me. I set it on my desk and with the enthusiasm of a kid I rushed to close the garage door to shut the day light out. Yes, I live in a garage, but it was my choice, get over it. I wanted to shine a lamp through it to see if I couldn’t make an interesting lampshade out the crystal. I moved as fast as anyone in a rush could move in the dark. I switched on my desk lamp to start my little useless show, and behold… The show had already started in my absence.

I think I stopped breathing. I could not feel my heart pumping, so I am guessing that had stopped too. I think everything inside me stopped for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. The sight before me was from out of this world. If anyone had told me I would ever look at a staple pin with that much awe I would have…I don’t think I know what I would have done because it’s not something that anyone ever says, or think of, so why waste time with something that will never happen, ever. Until now.

I watched as the staple pin floated above the crystal as if it was a satellite in orbit. I tried pulling it and I felt a little resistance. Not much, but it was there. I thought of place it on top of the crystal, again, the slight resistance. So the pin didn’t to be pulled away from the crystal, neither did it want to be in contact with it. What strange behaviour. I could understand if it behaved in either one of the two, but not both. My mind was blown. The only thing I could think of doingat that moment was to take the entire box of staple pins, separating them and pouring the lot on the crystal. Behold, more amazement. The pins layered themselves according to their mass. Those that separated in singles occupied the lower layer, those that broke off in twos were slightly higher and it continued to the biggest piece which had seven pin stuck together. I know because I counted them.

Finally, I had something to my pitiful existence. I spent the rest of the day searching the internet for crystals and their properties. For the first time, I think in the history of the internet, I was over the moon because I could not find what I was looking for. What was I looking for? Anything that had out of this world properties. I did not use direct search terms or use any words that could have given away what I was searching for exactly. I did that for two reasons. First you never know who is listening, these machines can betray you you know. But most importantly, people post a lot of garbage on the internet. Say a word and it comes spewing out. Many claims, conspiracies, fake phenomena, everything. I also tried real science journals, I couldn’t find anything similar, or vaguely related to what I had seen. This was perfect because it meant I was the first and only one, to have something of this nature. If there was anyone else, they kept it a closely guarded secret. I can’t blame them, I was doing exactly the same thing.

My next move was to think of what this meant for me. How does this change my life for the better? It’s not as if it will bring me any new friends. It could but that would mean letting the cat out of the bag, and I didn’t want that. Doing so would reduce my discovery to a party trick that would eventually fall into the hands of some government agency, or worse, remain a party trick in the hands of some loser with no ambition,who is not me. I continued searching, and dare I say, researching possible use of the crystal. Before I went to bed, which was literally two steps away, I had settled on power generation and anti-gravity vehicle. I had even drawn some sketches of how I would do it, with the help of the internet of course.

I woke up early the following morning, not that I had slept much, the excitement was too much. I kept thinking and imagining what to do and how to do it. I walked over to my desk, observed the pins still floating above the crystal. I noticed they had move I various directions but still equidistant from the crystal and still in their respective layers. While I was still enjoying my little show, a knock came to the garage door.

“Mo, are you in there?”

“Good morning ma.”

“I didn’t see you come in last night…”

“I never went out ma. You know I don’t go out”

“Is everything okay dear? You never had your meal”

“I’m fine ma, was jus busy with something.”

“Did you bring company home, a lady perhaps?”

“Maaa!”

“I’m just asking. You are not young you know?”

I knew better than to respond to that. That had become part of every conversation with my mother. She was convinced she was destined to never become a grandmother, unless she puts pressure on me to find a girl to marry,and quickly.

“I saw Joy yesterday.”

“What do you want ma?”

“Well, I made breakfast, I figured you’d be hungry.”

“I’m okay ma.”

She didn’t respond but I was certain she was still by the door. I waited until I heard feet leaving and went back to my new found life. I had ideas in my head of what I was going to create and I was going to go about it. During my internet search I had gained a few ideas. First of them was inspired by a coil of copper wires that defy gravity when an electric current is run them. Second was a perpetual motion device that would help me get unlimited electric energy if I am able to make work.

The days that followed were filled by going to the hardware store to buy supplies and building prototypes. Little sleep, little eating more work and movement goin in and out of my late father’s garage. My mother saw less and less of me during meal times, and more of me going in and out. I knew that had her worried because she stopping coming to the garage to invite me for meals but everytime I went out or returned I could see the corner of the curtains peeling. I knew it was a matter of time before an authoritative figure was called to intervene. An uncle or a local pastor… or God forbid, the horrible professor Huni four houses away from ours. I had to figure out a way to prevent that from happening. One day as I was coming from the hardware store minding my own business, I accidentally stepped into a puddle as I turneda corner into our street wetting my shoes. I cursed loudly at the overcast sky that had just drizzled all morning. But I had no idea I was being so loud since I had earphones on listening to some depressingly gloomy Gregorian chant music. Just then I felt a voice coming from right.

“What?” I asked as I tried to pull an earphone buried from my ear and swinging to direction of the voice at the same. I don’t know if it was my actions that made me move back into the wet grass and slip down landing on my back, or it was the sight before my eyes.

“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”

I raised my head trying to locate where the former contents of my box had landed. Before I could gather my sense together, the owner of the voice had rushed across the street and was standing by my feet offering her hand to me. I hesitated a bit before accepting the offer and she helped me up.

“Are you okay? She asked again.

“I am fine Joy, thank you.”

“I am sorry I startled you.”

Aaah, so it wasn’t my actions that made me fall. It was you, beautiful thing. That is what I said in my head but my tongue was tied and my mouth just hung open. I had always liked this girl, but I always feared she could not feel the same thing for someone like me, or worse, she could be interested only to be disappointed by what a lifeless nobody I was. The latter terrified me more but the effect they both had on how I interacted with her was the same. I always kept my guard up, my words to a minimum and by that I mean just one sentence and it was made up of more or less the same words everytime. I just could not bring myself to relax around her for fear of looking or sounding stupid. My life situation didn’t make matters any better. So whenever I happen upon her the script was already well rehearsed, until now. This time she had happened upon me and I was taken off guard. She realized I wasn’t going to respond to her anytime soon, so she spoke again.

“I didn’t know you were a handyman.”

“What?”

“I always saw you as the bookish kind.”

“Uh, what?

“You are aware there are other words, right?”

“No. Yes. No…I mean…”

“Oh gosh, you must have hit your head so hard.” She giggled as she covered her mouth with her hand. “I hope I didn’t damage you too much.” The giggle turned into proper laughter.

That laughter, that smile, those eyes. This beautiful human being is making jokes in my presence, and it’s just the two of us. Is this really happening? Don’t ruin it, don’t ruin it, don’t ruin it. Relax, play it cool, but not too cool. No, just be yourself. No being yourself is the worst you can be right now. Aaaaargh. Quick think of something before she thinks your are weird. You are weird, don’t help her confirm it. Smack smack smack. Thiiiiink!.

“Oh you damaged me pretty good. Now you just have explain it to my mom.” Was my response with a little smile.

“Oh gosh, I better fix you up quick. Lucky we already have a handyman.”

“If only he could find his handy tools.” I said.

She laughed again as she picked up a pliers and some copper wire.

“Will these do?”

“Yes, if you are fixing a robot.”

She laughed again, “You’re too funny to be a robot.”

She thinks I’m funny? I tried to rewind to a few minutes ago to see if we are in the same universe. It certainly couldn’t have been anything I said. Then I found my answer. It was what I did, or rather what happened to me. Stepping into a puddle, cursing, swinging, slipping and falling on my back while sending my little box and it’s contents flying all over. That was real slap stick comedy. It was almost cartoonish, certainly I would have found that funny. Interestingly, that train of thought relaxed me a small bit.

“You’re are too smart too.”

Okay, now she is stretching it. But before I could say anything in modest protest, I realised she was holding a set of technical drawing set squares in one hand and a mathematical set in the other.

“What are you making anyways?” She asked as she put together some of the things she had gathered from the ground.

“Oh, nothing that important.”

“…and modest too. I must say, you come as advertised.”

“As advertised? By who?”

“Your mom. I met her the other day at the neighborhood council meeting.”

“Oh my god. Let me first apologize for my mom. She sometimes has problems with boundaries…” I tried to explain myself out of whatever my mother could have said as I quickly gathered the last of my belongings into the box.

“Why do you think she crossed boundaries? Are you afraid we talked about you?”

“What? No. Besides, what could be so interesting to talk about me?”

“Oooh plenty stuff? She said, with a look that says ,” I heard things”

“Like what?”

“Like how you are an old soul…”

“Really? So you did discuss me?”

“I never said we didn’t, and no, it wasn’t a discussion. You just came up.”

She said the last word as she picking up my box and heading the direction home. Joy lived by the house next to the house opposite my parents home. They had moved there a few years back when she was doing her final year in high school. I had already started college then. Before her family came the house belonged to this horrible old couple that cared nothing for neighbourly love. They had had a run-in with almost everybody who passed the street in front of their house. Everything and everyone was a nuisance to them. It came as a relief when they sold their house and moved to start country life. Then we all went to welcome the new family and we were happy they were friendly, normal people. That’s when I first met Joy, the girl if my dreams that I have never had a conversation with, until now. I am not entirely to blame for this. We live in a peri-urban set up. Our houses are on big plots of land, so big a single plot would be four or five yards in a typical low density suburb. One can go for days without seeing the neighbours.

We walked towards home talking about what she had discussed about me with my mother. She still insisted it wasn’t a discussion. But she learnt a lot about me, too much for people who were not discussing me. I couldn’t shake the feeling my mother was trying to set her up with me, and I feared she must have tried too hard, or worse, force her. But she was all cheerful, perhaps even playful, that I began to doubt my mother even started their conversation. It’s like she skillfully tricked my poor old mother, so desperate to become a grandmother, into volunteering all the juicy information about me.

As we approached my main gate, she slowed down her pace as if to prolong our time together. I have had enough experience to know when someone is interested. It had just never happened to me that I am head over heels for that someone. I didn’t know what to do or say. The risk was just too big. If I make the wrong move and ask her out when she was just trying to be a friendly neighbour, I would ruin any future chance. Besides, for me to take that bold move in the end when it was she who had broken the ice, started a conversation that took years for me and guiding me into this zone where I could even contemplate asking her out, would seem too forward and rude. In my previous relationships, the stakes were not this high, win or lose, I wasn’t that much emotionally invested anyway. But this was different. Then there that fear of disappointing her by not meeting her expectations. I knew I wasn’t that interesting, I didn’t need anybody to tell me that. Inside me it was chaos, thoughts and arguments all over the place, unable to endure another minute with this…with this…angel. But outwardly I tried to stay calm and casual. Looking down a bit, up for a moment, at the person talking and smiling. It was all an act. I feared if I spend one more minute with her, she will expose me.

As luck would have it, we reached my stop and my mother was at the gate. It was closed but she was peeking out, if she saw us it could only have been when we were nearly at the gate. Joy just took one quick step in front of me that merged into an about turn standing directly in front of me.

“Well, this is your stop.” She said as she handed me the box in an almost playful manner with arms stretched, legs crossed and head bent a little to the left.

“I hope you will show me what you’re fixing when it’s done.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be the other first person to know.”

“The other…oooh, Mama’s boy.” She said with a giggle in a low voice.

“In that case, the other other first person.” I laughed as she playfully hit me on the shoulder and and laughed too. She pretended to not have seen my mother and said,

“Enjoy the rest of your day. Say hi to your mom for me.” That was it. She turned and continued down the road.

When I closed the gate behind me, I saw my mother trying with all her might to hide her smile and hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She held her hands together as if praying and said,

“Well, aren’t you going to deliver the message?”

“Hello ma, Joy says hi.”

“I didn’t know you too were close.”

“We’re not ma, I just met her by the junction.”

“It sure didn’t look like it, and it didn’t sound like it the other day I met Joy either.”

That’s when it started to hit me. Where was she coming from on this wet early afternoon? She had no court on and why was she holding on to my box as if she wanted a ransom to release it? It’s as if she had planned this little meeting. And what’s up with ignoring my mother and sending greetings to her?

“You two have more in common than you might know.”

That statement from my mother brought me back to earth and I just shrugged and walked on to my garage, thinking my mother is no so innocent after all. She played her part in this. Maybe not today but the build up certainly has her hand.

In the weeks that followed, I had managed to gather instructions online and built a generator, step transformer and build a prototype. The generator of course had parts from an old diesel engine generator that once serviced my father’s plot. I just needed the current generating coils because I had already figured out how to make it spin using the crystal. The step up transformer was to pump up the voltage for my levitation coils made from copper wires. The day came that I had put everything together ready for final test of the prototype. I switched every other electric appliance off and cleared the space by moving everything to the walls, including the bed. I had a nice arena to do my first crystal powered anti-gravity device test hover. I clicked the switch and behold, it float off the ground. I had done proof of concept tests before, but this was the first one with everything in a single unit. The prototype was a frame no bigger than than a coffee table. It had no room for anything other than the required components. The biggest thing was that it worked. Now the target was to build an actual vehicle that can carry a passenger or two with some supplies. I was trying to imagine what I would use it for and how to keep it’s secret. I already had an idea as to the size and shape of the final product. My main problem now was how to fund my little project. Should I deep into the last few dollars I had save over the course of the previous year.

As I was thinking, a knock came to my door. I already knew it was my mother, who else would look for me? Indeed I was correct, but not entirely. I went to the door and lifted it up to reveal my mother and a second person.

“Hi honey, you have visitor.”

I would have shut the door immediately after realising who the second person was. But being a garage dweller my door doesn’t quite work like other doors, it slides up all the way over your head. In the process revealing you and everything behind you. I just moved my eyes from my mother to my visitor and back again, perhaps it was the shock of receiving a visitor and an after shock who the visitor was. I just realised that it had already been a little over three weeks since our accidental meeting. Time had moved so fast without me realising it. After a talk like the one we had, a normal person would have followed up to say “hi” or something. But I wasn’t normal, was I? If I was, then my project was not. I hadn’t talked to her since, come to think of it, I hadn’t even talked or seen my mother that much. Not that I had not thought about her and our walk and talk. I had, but I guess I had other pressing things on my mind.

“Hi, Joy. How are you?”

“Hey.” She replied, putting her hands in the back pockets of her skinny jeans and crossing her right Lego front of her.

“I’ll leave you two.” Said my mother as she started to walk away, but not before stealing a quick look at us.

“So this is where you have been hiding?”

“Yes, my little cave of solitude.” I replied with a little laugh. But all the while I am wondering how is she still interested in visiting me? Am I that interesting or is she just desperate? I tried to wonder what she could see in me that’s not in other guys, so much so that she pays me a visit? I don’t think I understand. She knows I am not employed, I haven’t been for years, and I live with my mother, so why me?

“Cool cave.” She said as she took steps inside. I’m guessing no one had told her this is also my bedroom. How could she have guessed, my mother had a pretty big house with enough space for a football team, so there is no way she could have suspected I didn’t live in the big house. Besides my mother the only other person that lived in there was the maid who helped her with keeping the place neat, and she did a pretty good job too. I had moved out a long time ago, I didn’t want to be a burden to my mother at my age. At the same time, I didn’t have enough resources to find a place of my own. Since no one was using the garage anymore, I moved there against my mother’s advice to stay “home”.

She walked in past my hovering craft, that’s when I realised what I was doing was obvious to everyone. The whole time I had the door open, neither she nor my mother had noticed anything strange behind me. Gosh, she stood next to it, and nothing. She brushed it with her shoulder going to the far end of the garage to admire the meat arrangement on the tools and other things there.

“This place just tells me you loved things in order.”

“Yes, well, I have a college degree in order.”

“What?” She asked with a confused look on her face. But before I could explain, it dawned on her.

“Ooh right! You are a librarian. I’m so slow.”

” No you are not.” I tried to comfort her, to which she raised her eyebrows and said something that I had not prepared for. Not had I ever imagined it will come from her.

“Well, I gave it three weeks and….” She said that as she raised her shoulders before letting them drop again. Just then I realised she took my statement to imply she is “too fast”.

“Noooo, no ,no I didn’t mean you’re…oh my gosh…uh”

“Gotcha!”

I just laughed sheepishly, as someone who has just be found out. But she quickly took advantage and pressed on.

“But seriously, why haven’t you called? I thought we had a good chat.”

“I kinda realised I don’t have your number so…” I replied scratching my head.

“What? You mean all these years you don’t have my number?”

“Well, you never gave it to me.”

“Did you ask for it?”

“No…” I felt embarrassed and accused at the same time. Wait, did she have my number?

“Do you have mine?”

“Yes!” She replied quickly, then paused as if realising she shouldn’t have said that.

“Then why didn’t you call me?” I flipped the accusation.

“I thought you would. I fear…if I called first…”

“Makes sense. I have fears too.”

“Oh really? Such as?”

That’s when we got to talking about our worries. First it was general, then it got specific to the two of us. That’s when I poured my heart out. I told her how I felt about her and why I never took action. I thought she would freak out, but she just nodded understandingly. Then I got to ask her why she wanted me to call, and why me? What she told me confirmed my earlier suspicions that my mother had a hand in it. But it went further, it seems us being together was a community project, but they wanted it to happen naturally so much of their work was more of little nudges in the desired direction. When I say they, i mean my mother and her female neighbours, Joy’s mother included. Joy only came to know of the plan the day after our accidental meeting. After my mother had seen us together, she called her partners in crime to tell the news. But the way she reported it, it was as if Joy and I were already seeing each other. Her reason for thinking that? Joy’s deliberate snail pace and her cute playful gestures that day. Joy told me upon hearing this, her mother said some something like, “All that effort for something that was already happening”.

“But that would mean you were interested before you know of their plan.”

“Hey, so were you. Besides their plan is years old, so maybe they planted the idea in my head.”

“Wait! Does this mean we’re seeing each other now?” I quizzed.

“Well, I’m here, am I not? At to them it’s already happening, so…” She shrugged again.

That statement was followed an awkwardly long silence. I couldn’t think of what to say, and neither could she? But I sensed we both wanted to say something. We just didn’t want to go first. She lost the patience first and finally said.

“Soooo, boyfriend, when are you going to show me what you were making that day? You promised.”

“You are standing in front of it.” I said.

She looked to the wall and couldn’t pick anything that could possibly be the ‘thing’. I gently held her by the shoulders and spun her by a hundred and eighty degrees. She looked at it with a puzzled face.

“You mean this has been hear the entire time?”

“You have no idea what you are looking at, do you?”

She laughed and said,”Not a clue.”

I didn’t wait for her to stop laughing, I gave the little craft a gentle pull and it responded by gently floating outside. When it was clear of the door, I followed it and turned the anti-gravity power by a degree and the small craft gently responded by slowly rising to eye level. I looked back at her in the garage and her jaw was literally dropping, in slow motion. Eyes wide open I could see at the back of her eye ball from metres away.

“Tttttttttttt that think is floating.” She finally managed to speak.

“Yes, yes it is.” I said ‘matter of factly’.

“How… how…how is this possible?”

“Magic!” I replied with a show of waving hands then laughed.

But, seriously, I wasn’t ready to share my secret energy source. I pulled the lever again and the craft glided down to below knee level before pushing it inside. She came round to me and hugged me and said,

“My boyfriend is really smart. How do you even begin to imagine something like this?”

In response I told her the inspiration was a lot of sci-fi movies. I told her of my research and the building process. Everything except about the crystal and where I had found it. At this moment I took a risk and asked her to promise not to tell anyone about this. Before she could say a word, I held her head by the sides and kissed her onceand looked straight into her eyes. She responded by nodding her head and said,

“Promise.”

Wow. Things had really changed since my little tumble on the hill. From being a regular ordinary nobody to a regular extraordinary nobody with a beautiful girl who just paid him a visit, became his girlfriend and kissed in front of a working invention that could change the world. All in a day. Before we left the garage, I told her of the plans to build a full sized vehicle and she agreed to help wherever she could.

For the days that followed, we worked together discovering things about each other. One thing I learnt was she had an eye for good design. Makes sense since she studied graphic design. I just didn’t think she could also apply herself outside of graphics. We got comfortable around each other so we shared a lot on our interests, hopes and dreams. I also took the opportunity to tell her I am now sleeping in the garage to put in more hours in the project and that I wanted to provide us space away from my mother when she is visiting. She loved it. It was a lie, but hey, I never said I was an angel. It made it easy to explain the bed that she had missed during her first visit.

We would work, and laugh,and occasionally I would receive little kisses on the cheeks. At first I thought I’m never getting anything done with here around. Turned out, she motivated me to do more. She even sheduled in breaks in between, something that I never would have done myself, but it made the working hours more productive. Sometimes during our breaks we would put on a movie to relax. She was considerate enough to balance between her types of movies and mine. From her romantic comedies we got to comment and laugh at a lot of real life situations. That’s also when we hugged and held hands a lot. From my sci-fi movies, we got inspiration for our project, and a little bit of scientific theory that prompted research. At one point she fell asleep while we were in the middle of watching one of my movies. That’s when I appreciated her effort to sound interested in something she would otherwise not do on her own. The weather was overcast and drizzly, just like on the day of our accidental meet. I took a blanket and covered her with it because it was getting a little cold. I was about to walk away from the couch when she grabbed my hand and said,

“Stay with me.”

It’s not like I was going to leave the garage. So I understood what she meant. I sat back on the couch and covered both of us with the blanket, she leaned on me and swung her legs on the couch. We both got so comfortable and fell asleep in each other’s arms. It had been so long since I felt this comfortable so I must have fallen into death like sleep. When I finally woke up, she had gone and I never even felt her leave. Looking around I saw a sticky not on my laptop screen. It read:

I couldn’t sleep, you snore so loudly.

Just joking, you are a beautiful sleeper.

Gone home for a quick shower, I suggest you do the same.

Back later. XOXO

17:05

She usually never stayed after 16:30. That was when she usually went home and I never saw her again until the next day. But 17:05? That was new. And to think she is coming back later? New again. I don’t want to pretend I have a clean mind, I don’t. Already the note was giving me ideas. I took it’s advice and went for a quick shower.

The events of what happened later, I will leave for another day.

The weeks that followed had a lot of going in and out between garage, electronic spare part stores, industrial areas and I even made a few trips to the dump sites. In three weeks we had manage to finalize the design, create a structural frame, have seat upholstered and major internal components and controls in place. I had purchased a high grade areal imagery drone with the intention to repurpose it’s on board computer for maneuverability of our craft. It was coming out great. We even did a few tests of the vehicle in and just outside the garage. The anti-gravity system was working very well. For the propulsion we had fashioned something similar to a jet engine, except it didn’t need fuel they were electric powered high speed fans. We had also fitted a few extra anti-gravity engine for the maneuverability of our vehicle. They would basically allow for the turns or vertical axis rotations, bank and move forward and back. All of which was controlled by the modified drone control system. What was left was to fit the interior finishings. The two seats were already in place and it looked like we would have enough space to add three more if we chose to. Of course we could not add a fourth because that space was where the door was. When finished the vehicle would be roughly the size of a small smart car. It would be a tough time moving inside the pod, that’s what we were calling it because of it’s shape, but once in your seats it was spacious.

The rest of that week was spent relaxing most of the time because we had nothing much to do. We were waiting on the aluminum she’ll, the fibre glass outer finishing, the insulation form and the pressurising unit. That’s right, we making it at least upper atmosphere compatible and air tight. In case we were accidentally cast into space or dropped into the ocean. In place of back seats we had decided to fit in an oxygen recycler and an air conditioning system. Our vehicle was almost complete.

That day we just finished fitting the water proofing on all the major sections and we decided to go out for a walk. I asked Joy if she wouldn’t mind going to the hill. She said she had never been there and would love to see some of my escapes. I took her behind the houses through my usual path to the hill. Despite the whole area being overgrown and unused, over the years I had created a foot path that made it easy for her to walk. Of course with the rains and not being used for close to three months now, the path was beginning to fade into the overgrowth. That day it was of course a sunny day with clear blue skies. It felt refreshing to be in nature especially Ina sunny day after weeks of down poursand drizzles. The world just seemed new and fresh. I led the way to my usual spot on the hill.

“So this is where you were hiding all these years?” Joy said, looking around the unfamiliar territory.

“Yes, this is where I did most of my thinking, and hiding.”

“It did you great, didn’t it?”

“I guess it did.”

“I just wish you had invited me sooner. This is a beautiful place, nice and quiet. Very little pollution. And look at all these wild flowers. I love it.”

She ran ahead and climbed on a big rock, yelling, “I’m queen of the world!”. Of course she can let go of any inhibitions, there wasn’t a soul in sight, except for us. As long as I had known her, she had always been a very reserved person, in public at least. Of course I now knew another side to her. She can be the opposite of her usual self if she chooses it. But if there is one thing she is not, it’s loud. That is why her yelling came as a surprise. I had never really ever heard her yell, not even to call anyone at a distance. It made sense given where we lived. Families mostly kept to themselves save for a few neighborhood meetings and events. That, and also the huge space between our houses, you couldn’t hear what happens at the next house even if you wanted.

I got to where she was, offering my hand for her to climb down the rock. At that moment I was thinking to myself, “If she felt like she had been set free on this rock, what would she feel when we reach the summit of the hill?”. I could not wait to find out. I ran towards the end of the footpath to the foot of the hill. She followed suit, all the while beaming with excitement. She really was enjoying the outdoors. Despite the fact that most of the families did a lot of farming on their plots, we where not really an outdoorsy community. Yes, cropped to the extent of supplying the entire city with fresh produce year round, but most of the work was done by machinery. Most of us had hired help. The only work we did was marketing and delivering our produce. So being outdoors really set something free in Joy’s heart. I could sense the happiness.

When we reached the top, she was amazed by how pretty our lands looked from up here. With varying shades of green, yellow, brown and even red. She looked at me in the eyes, and I could see hers were watery.

“This is beautiful. You have made me so happy.” She said.

Again, this was one of those moments, she really confused. Of course the scene was beautiful, but the way she expressed her joy made me wonder if I am really this good or this girl really lacked exposure. Just like the day we first had a real conversation, I could not believe I was really this good, not with a girl, not with a girl this beautiful. I was about to tell her, “No, you’re just saying that”, but I stopped myself when I noticed tears rolling down her cheeks. I realised, this was genuine. But then I wondered, when she went to college for almost four years, did she not ‘see the world’?. As I was wondering, she took my head with both hands and pulled me on to her lips. This was it! Our first real passionate kiss, and it was on top of a hill, above the rest of our world. You are probably wondering if this was the first real kiss, what happened on the night of the ‘note’. That is a story for another day. We held on to each other as we kissed, neither wanting to be the first one to let go. I lowered my embrace to her waist and pulled her tightly towards me. I could feel her melons press into me. It was intoxicating. She was not a thick girl, not by a long shot, but in that region she was really gifted. I realised my blood was starting to boil, and I could feel myself starting to awake. That is when I decided to concede defeat and let her go to save myself the embarrassment. I looked her in the eyes as I used my thumbs to wipe the tears away from her cheeks.