Descending Road - MAYBE THE WORD by Dana W. Paxson

MAYBE THE WORD

2407 CE

“What’s the matter with you?” he started to say, but the words stuck in his throat. His mouth was as dry as a desert. “Wa, water,” he whispered.

“Oh, God! You’re back! Oh, Trin, I thought you’d died!” Her arms gathered him in, then she jumped up and brought him some water. His head felt loaded with throbbing fluff. He gulped the water; afternoon sunlight streamed in the window.

“Jesus Christ,” he croaked. “What happened?” He tried to turn and look at the wall clock behind him, but his whole body ached from the effort. “What time is it?”

“It’s Saturday afternoon,” Mina told him. “You’ve been out for a day and a half. I had to close your eyes and your mouth. I thought you were dead!”

“It didn’t slow down,” he said. “Time. It just skipped ahead. Wow.”

“I’m gonna throw the rest away,” Mina said.

“No! Don’t do that! This is powerful stuff. Maybe we can try it when we’re in a safer place. Wait.” He put both hands at his temples. Something was there, trying to be remembered. The voice had said a word. It was so deep, not human. One word.

“Mina, I heard this voice say this word to me, just to me, like it wanted me to know something very big, and none of my words were big enough. This voice–“

“Trin, stop. Please, we can’t use this stuff. It’s dangerous.”

“Mina! I’m serious. This isn’t acid, or anything. I heard this voice say a word, I can’t remember what it was.”

“What are you talking about?” The tears came down her cheeks, and her face was red under its normal coppery tinge. She’d been crying for a long time.

He groped in his mind. “Outside me, the time skipped ahead. Inside me, I was in this pale room for about three seconds, and this really deep voice, it sounded like horns and drums all together, said a word to me, just once. No colors, no weird things, just this one real serious word. And then I saw you again. It’s okay, Mina, it’s okay.” He put his arms around her and held her while she sobbed, her face buried against his rib cage.

At last she drew herself up to look at him. “You’re not gonna do that again without me.”

He stroked her hair gently. She really liked him, loved him maybe. And inside he knew that he felt something very special for her, he didn’t dare call it… not yet. “Then we go places together, okay?”

“Okay.”

He didn’t yet know what that meant, but he knew that he wanted to hear that word again from the deep voice. Maybe the word was love.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	MAYBE THE WORD 2407 CE “What’s the matter with you?” he started to say, but the words stuck in his throat. His mouth was as dry as a desert. “Wa, water,” he whispered. “Oh, God! You’re back! Oh, Trin, I thought you’d died!” Her arms gathered him in, then she jumped up and brought him some water. His head felt loaded with throbbing fluff. He gulped the water; afternoon sunlight streamed in the window. “Jesus Christ,” he croaked. “What happened?” He tried to turn and look at the wall clock behind him, but his whole body ached from the effort. “What time is it?” “It’s Saturday afternoon,” Mina told him. “You’ve been out for a day and a half. I had to close your eyes and your mouth. I thought you were dead!” “It didn’t slow down,” he said. “Time. It just skipped ahead. Wow.” “I’m gonna throw the rest away,” Mina said. “No! Don’t do that! This is powerful stuff. Maybe we can try it when we’re in a safer place. Wait.” He put both hands at his temples. Something was there, trying to be remembered. The voice had said a word. It was so deep, not human. One word. “Mina, I heard this voice say this word to me, just to me, like it wanted me to know something very big, and none of my words were big enough. This voice–“ “Trin, stop. Please, we can’t use this stuff. It’s dangerous.” “Mina! I’m serious. This isn’t acid, or anything. I heard this voice say a word, I can’t remember what it was.” “What are you talking about?” The tears came down her cheeks, and her face was red under its normal coppery tinge. She’d been crying for a long time. He groped in his mind. “Outside me, the time skipped ahead. Inside me, I was in this pale room for about three seconds, and this really deep voice, it sounded like horns and drums all together, said a word to me, just once. No colors, no weird things, just this one real serious word. And then I saw you again. It’s okay, Mina, it’s okay.” He put his arms around her and held her while she sobbed, her face buried against his rib cage. At last she drew herself up to look at him. “You’re not gonna do that again without me.” He stroked her hair gently. She really liked him, loved him maybe. And inside he knew that he felt something very special for her, he didn’t dare call it… not yet. “Then we go places together, okay?” “Okay.” He didn’t yet know what that meant, but he knew that he wanted to hear that word again from the deep voice. Maybe the word was love.