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Chapter 17
Hand in hand, Emmanuel walked with Zina through the dark
woods of Stanley Park. "You are myself," he said. "You are the
Shekhina, the immanent Presence who never left the world." He
thought, The female side of God. Known to the Jews and only to
the Jews. When the primordial fall took place, the Godhead split
into a transcendent part separated from the world; that was En
Sof. But the other part, the female immanent part, remained with
the fallen world, remained with Israel.
These two portions of the Godhead, he thought, have been
detached from each other for millennia. But now we have come
together again, the male half of the Godhead and the female half.
While I was away the Shekhina intervened in the lives of human
beings, to assist them. Here and there, sporadically, the Shekhina
remained. So God never truly left mankind.
"We are each other," Zina said, "and we have found each
other again, and again are one. The split is healed."
"Through all your veils," Emmanuel said, "beneath all your
forms, there lay this ... my own self. And I did not recognize
you, until you reminded me."
"How did I accomplish that?" Zina said, and then she said,
"But I know. My love of games. That is your love, your secret
joy: to play like a child. To be not serious. I appealed to that; I
woke you up and you remembered: you recognized me."
"Such a difficult process," he said.
"For me to remember. I
thank you," She had abased herself in the fallen world all this
time, while he had left; the greater heroism was hers. Staying
with man in all man's inglorious conditions ... down into the
prison with him, Emmanuel thought. Man's beautiful companion.
At his side as she is now at mine.
"But you are back," Zina said.
"You have returned."
"That is so," he said. "Returned to you, I had forgotten that
you existed. I only recalled the world." You the kind side, he
thought; the compassionate side. And I the terrible side that
arouses fear and trembling. Together we form a unity. Separated,
we are not whole; we are not, individually, enough.
"Clues," Zina said. "I kept giving you clues. But it was up to
you to recognize me."
Emmanuel said, "I did not know who I was for a time, and I
did not know who you were. Two mysteries confronted me, and
they had a single answer."
"Let's go look at the wolves," Zina said. "They are such
beautiful animals. And we can ride the little train. We can visit
all the animals."
"And let them free," Emmanuel said.
"Yes," she said. "And let them, all of them, free."
"Will Egypt always exist?" he said. "Will slavery always
exist?"
"Yes," Zina said. "And so will we."
As they approached the Stanley Park Zoo, Emmanuel said,
"The animals will be surprised by their freedom. At first they
won't know what to do."
"Then we will teach them," Zina said.
"As we always have.
What they know they have learned from us; we are their guide."
"So be it," lie said, and placed his hand on the first metal
cage. Within it a small animal peered at him hesitantly. Emmanuel said, "Come out of your cage."
The animal, trembling, came to him, and he took it in his
arms.
From his audio store Herb Asher called Linda at her Sherman
Oaks home. It took a little while -- two robot secretaries held him
up temporarily -- but at last he got through.
"Hello," he said when he had her on the line.
"How's my sound system coming?" She blinked rapidly and
put her finger to her eye. "My contact lens is slipping; just a
second." Her face disappeared from the screen. "I'm back," she
said. "I owe you a dinner, Right? Do you want to fly out to
California? I'm still at the Golden Hind; I will be for another
week. We're getting good audiences; I'm trying out a whole lot
of new material. I want your reaction to it."
"Fine," he said, enormously pleased.
"So can we get together, then?" Linda said.
"Out here?"
"Sure," he said. "You name a time."
"What about tomorrow night? It'll have to be before I go to
work, if we're going to have dinner."
"Fine," he said. "Around 6 P.M. California time?"
She nodded. "Herb," she said, "you can stay at my place if
you want; I've got a big house. Plenty of room."
"I'd love to," he said.
"I'll serve you some very good California wine. A Mondavi
red. I want you to like California wines; that French burgundy
we had in New York was very nice, but -- we have excellent
wines out here."
"Is there a particular place you want to have dinner?"
"Sachiko's," Linda said. "Japanese food."
"You've got yourself a deal," he said.
"Is my sound system coming along okay?" she asked.
"Doing fine," he said.
"I don't want you to work too hard," Linda Fox said.
"I have
a feeling you work too hard. I want you to relax and enjoy life.
There's so much to enjoy: good wine, friends."
Herb said, "Laphroaig Scotch."
In amazement, Linda Fox exclaimed, "Don't tell me you
know about Laphroaig Scotch? I thought I was the only person
in the world who drinks Laphroaig!"
"It's been made in the traditional copper stills for over two
hundred and fifty years," Herb Asher said. "It requires two distillations and the skill of an expert stillman."
"Yes; that's what it says on the package." She began to
laugh. "You got that off the package, Herb."
"Yeah," he said.
"Isn't my Manhattan apartment going to be great?" she said
enthusiastically. "That sound system you're putting in is what
will make it. Herb --" She scrutinized him. "Do you honestly
believe my music is good?"
"Yes," he said. "I know. What I say is true."
"You are so sweet," she said. "You see so much ahead for
me. It's like you're my good luck person. You know, Herb, no
one has ever really had confidence in me. I never did well in
school ... my family didn't think I could make it as a singer. I
had skin trouble, too; really bad. Of course I actually haven't
made it yet -- I'm just beginning. And yet to you I'm --" She
gestured.
"Someone important," he said.
"And that means so much to me. I need it so bad. Herb, I
have such a low opinion of myself; I'm so sure I'm going to fail.
Or I used to be so sure," she collected herself. "But you give
me -- Well, when I see myself through your eyes I don't see a
struggling new artist; I see something that ..." She tried to go
on; her lashes fluttered and she smiled at him apprehensively but
hopefully, wanting him to finish for her.
"I know about you," he said, "as no one else does." And,
indeed, that was true; because he remembered her, and no one
else did. The world, collectively, had forgotten; it had fallen
asleep. It would have to be reminded. And it would be.
"Come on out to the West Coast, Herb," Linda said.
"Please. We'll have a lot of fun. Do you know California very
well? You don't, do you?"
"I don't," he admitted. "I flew out to catch you at the Golden
Hind. And I always dreamed of living in California. But I never
did."
"I'll take you all around. It'll be terrific. And you can cheer
me up when I'm depressed and reassure me when I'm scared.
OK?"
"OK," he said, and felt, for her, great love.
"When you get out here, tell me what I do right in my music
and what I'm doing wrong. But tell me most of all that I'm going
to make it. Tell me I'm not going to fail, like I think I am. Tell me
that the Dowland is a good idea. Dowland's lute music is so
beautiful, the most beautiful music ever written. You really believe, then, you're sure that my music, the kind of things I sing
will take me to the top?"
"I'm positive," he said.
"How do you know these things? It's as if you have a gift. A
gift that you in turn give to me."
"It is from God," Herb Asher said.
"My present to you. My
confidence in you. Accept what I say; it is true."
Gravely, she said, "I sense magic around us, Herb. A magic
spell. I know that sounds silly, but I do. A beauty to everything."
"A beauty," he said, "that I find in you."
"In my music?"
"In you both."
"You're not making this up?"
"No," he said. "I swear by God's own name. By the Father
that created us."
"From God," she echoed. "Herb, it scares me. You scare
me. There is something about you."
Herb Asher said, "Your music will take you all the way." He
knew because he remembered. He knew because, for him, it had
already happened.
"Really?" Linda said.
"Yes," he said. "It will carry you to the stars."
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