Robin Peace and Loring Resler

Loring Resler
Inspiration Piece

My Forbidden Love
By Robin Peace
Response

I close my eyes.  My mind is alive with white-hot neon light.  I open my eyes and the light explodes out of them, ripping a hole through space and time, just enough to slide my body through.  My name is Stacey, at least in the 21st century, and I am a time jumper.  I am the last of a dying breed in my century, the 31st century.  I am of marrying age but I can’t bring myself to settle down with the men of my century.  They are boring and unexciting.  I want someone who is going to challenge me intellectually.  So, I’ve search through the centuries for a mate.
I think I have found him in the 21st Century.  His name is Anthony and he is as beautiful and perfect as the original Statue of David, before they Christianized it.  I went back in time to see it, awesome!  Anthony’s hair is black and curly and his eyes are steel grey.   His towering athletic 6’4” frame makes me feel like a dwarf at 5’7”.    He picks me up, as if I was a pebble in his hand and kisses me so passionately, I feel swallowed by his soul.  The conversation flows easily and any lulls are filled with holding hands and soft caresses.
As I fall into my century, I find myself in a strange room.  Someone has hijacked my jump.  I immediately realize, I am in the Interrogation Room of the Office of Temporal Oversight and Control.  A semicircle of thirteen judges, on a raise bench, are peering down at me.  My father is sitting in the witness chair, in front of the raised bench.  He is a broken man.  My God, I thought, what have they done to him?
The Judge in the center says, “We know of your desire to mate with the 21st century man, Anthony Kent.  We have blocked it.  At this moment, his memory of you and anyone you both contacted are being scrubbed.  You are to select from a list of appropriate mates and begin the mating process or you will be implanted with a infertility chip until you cooperate.”
I am angry.  I am furious.  I am sad.  I am hurt.  My Anthony has been taken from me without me even able to say good-bye!  I look at my father with rage.  He broke too easy, I thought.  He didn’t even look me in the eye.  He seem to realize my eyes on him, he lowered his head further.  Damn him!  I curse.
I look at the Judge who spoke and say, “Can I go see him one last time?”
“I don’t see what good that would do.  However, first you must undergo the mating process.  Then you may go.” She says.
I nod in acceptance.  I look at the list of ten men on the computer screen and I chose the one that looked the most like Anthony as possible.
This isn’t even going to be as fun as mating with Anthony would have been.  I lay on a sterile table as they take four of our fertilized eggs and inject them in me.  I wait until I am six months along with twins to take the jump back to the 21st Century to see my Anthony.
I watch him as he drew pictures of people in Fell’s Point Square.  His eyes fall on me.  He smiles; it’s brighter than the sun.  He walks over and sits down in front of me and begins to draw.  The chemistry is still there.  But I can’t entertain it.  He sees a man selling a beautiful bouquet of gold and red flowers and he bought the whole bouquet for me.  Tears sprang to my eyes.
He says, “I didn’t buy them for you to cry!  I was hoping for a smile! A beautiful woman about to bring forth life should not look so sad.  What is it that is causing you such sadness?”
I shook my head and stood up.  He had to help me that only made it harder.
I say, “I should have never come back.  The Judge was right; it didn’t do any good.  Thank you for the flowers, I will treasure them always.”
I walk away, not caring if anyone saw me time jump.
Now the flowers are suspended in time, surrounded in glass, so I can enjoy them.  My identical twin daughters look at them in awe, curious about this concept of love.

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