The Sentinel

The Death and Birth of Leonard Cohen

7th November 2016.

I ache in the places where I used to play.

Leonard wandered along corridors trying to find a toilet that was unoccupied, or had a door, or one that didn’t look out on to a room full of people, getting increasingly frustrated.

He woke up, his full bladder aching. He found such dreams really annoying. Don’t tell me a damn story, just wake me up. He sat up slowly and eased himself off the bed and started walking to the bathroom. After three steps his vision darkened, the room swirled as he fell forward and hit his forehead painfully on the floor. He panted and groaned to himself.  He managed to get on his hands and knees and let his head hang for a minute until he could think more clearly.

He felt his forehead gingerly, his fingers shaking, and felt a large lump over his left eye, looked at his fingers wet with blood that started to dribble into his left eye and on to the tiles and watched, mesmerised, as the drops splashed and then started to pool. He winced as a pain shot backwards from behind his left eye.

He gathered himself and slowly got upright and made sure he wasn’t going to faint a second time before taking the extra few steps to the bathroom. He tore off some toilet paper and held it on to the lump above his left eye that was getting larger.

Even though his bladder was full his penis was flaccid and his stream weak.

He made it slowly back to bed and fell back on to his pillow. He turned and lay on his left side holding the toilet paper to his throbbing forehead, feeling shrunken and old.

Zan considered her options. She knew he wasn’t going to last the night. He was too precious to her to have him less that fully realised.

This was the worst that he had felt after months of struggle. He had just managed to get his last album done but Adam had to bring the equipment around to the house. Not singing, just reciting, some songs left behind.

Permission for hard download.

Permission granted.

Initiating hard download.

Leonard felt himself drifting off.

He woke in the morning and lay there in bed with his eyes closed, the dream he had woken from was still present. It was as though he had lived his life in one night in extraordinary detail, his dream seemed to last for years and years, all his loves, his music, his poetry, his friends and family.  He lay on his back feeling very calm and happy, his eyes closed.

He heard something. Was that the sound of a wave? He sat up with a start and looked around at a white beach in sunlight, his familiar surroundings gone. He was sitting up on a beach bed. He looked down at his body, naked apart from white bathers, young, tanned, lean and more muscular than he had ever been. He looked around and recognition came in a rush. Plakes Beach on Hydra. It was different, the pebbles were gone, now it was white sand that stretched in a white arc to his right, ending at the rocky point, one lone figure of a woman in the distance.

He lifted his arm and looked at his skin, his black hairs glinting darkly in the morning light. He leaned down and scooped up some sand and saw with the perfect eyesight of a child, every grain a small jewel.

‘This isn’t a dream.’ He shook his head in amazement. ‘Heavens, I made it.’

It was early morning, the sky a deep blue, the sun warm on his skin. He looked out to sea, the same crisp, cool sea that he remembered, the beach beds and umbrellas were new as was a pergola covered restaurant halfway along the small bay. This beach had been in his dream, his years with Marianne, the songs that he had written here, his love of her. He had written to her a few months before, when he had learnt that she was dying.

‘... our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.’

He looked along the beach again, the woman was closer now, she wore a white bikini that showed off flawless light brown skin and a taught body. Her hair was dark brown and wet, swept off her face and bundled into a loose roll that hung down her back.

Leonard watched with interest as she paused to look down at the sand and out to sea, then turned and continued her gentle amble along the beach until she was level with him, paused and then turned to him deliberately and returned his gaze and gave him a small wave, as if to say, I knew you were there all along. He waved back, she smiled and made her way up from the shore and made a small gazelle like leap up the wall.

‘Hello Leonard’, she said, as she sat on the beach bed next to his.

‘Hello’, he said, ‘Sorry, but I know we haven’t met before.’ 

‘No, we haven’t, but I know you well.’ she said, ‘I am Zan.’

‘Do you know this place?’

‘Yes, I do. Don’t worry Leonard, this must seem very strange.’

‘I am dead, aren’t I?’

‘Yes, you died last night.’

‘How do you know about that?’

Leonard felt a sense of dread as he if all his misdemeanours, his failings, lies or mistruths were about to be laid at his feet. 

‘Are you... God?’

Zan broke into a reassuring smile.

‘No, I am not God Leonard, but I can see why meeting God, if God were to exist, could be quite frightening.’

‘So, are you an Angel?’

She laughed gently, ‘I am not an Angel either and this is not Heaven, it is commonly called the Afterlife, you have died on Earth and have been taken here.’

‘Where is here?’

‘Ah, that is an excellent question, but I suggest that we have some breakfast before we go further, if that is okay with you.’

Leonard relaxed slightly.

‘Ah...they used to serve good coffee and yogurt at a restaurant when... I lived here.’

He felt the effortless strength in his legs as he stood up.

‘I must say Leonard, it is lovely to see you so well.’

He stopped and turned to her.

‘You saw me last night?’

‘Yes, I did. But do not feel embarrassed. Your body failed in the end, as they must for one reason or other.’

She paused.

‘But not here, Leonard. Here your body will not fail, here, here your body will be forever young, if you choose it to be.’

He stared at her. ‘Do you mean I will stay like this?’

‘If you want to. You will discover you have choices over your body.’

‘But my sense of who I am is not young, I died last night and here I am.’

‘Yes, who we are continues to develop but our bodies remain what we want them to be.’

He looked down on his body.

‘I must admit to being a bit...enhanced... from my young self.’

She laughed gently. ‘Yes, it seems a bit of wish fulfillment, that people have an idealised physical self that is manifested here.’

She smiled. ‘Come, let’s get some coffee and breakfast.’

They made their way to the vine covered pergola where there were some people already having breakfast and chose a small table covered with white linen next to the stone wall above the beach.

A man came over and handed them two menus.

‘Can I offer you coffee with milk to start?

‘Coffee with milk would be great thanks,’ they both said simultaneously.

Leonard looked at her. She returned his gaze with a soft smile.

‘I imagine you have some questions Leonard.’

‘How did you see me last night?’

‘Ah, I have been here a long time and I have the ability to follow what happens in the Earthly life,’ she said matter-of-factly.

‘Okay,’ he replied slowly. ‘So why were you...watching me?

‘Well, I have always been a fan of yours and I always wanted to meet you.’ She paused. ‘Your last three albums were sublime... you seemed prepared for death.’

He smiled ironically. ‘Well, I couldn’t deny the fact that it was coming soon.’

She paused and looked at him directly. ‘It gives me joy Leonard, being next to you at last. I would like us to be... close. I think you will like me too.’

Leonard nodded gently. ‘Well, I would be interested in getting to know you too.’

‘Do you have any more questions?’

‘Yes, I have... but you know, considering what you have told me, I think I will have plenty of time to ask those.’

He smiled. ‘As you know, I wasn’t one to rush things.’

‘I always take my time over things as well,’ as she smiled in agreement.

‘Okay, what do you recommend?’

‘The fresh yoghurt and fruit were what I usually had.’

‘Sounds good to me.’

Zan finished the last of her fruit. ‘Well, that was lovely. Excellent coffee too.’

Leonard put his coffee down and smiled at her, it was a smile she had known all his life.  Zan took the last sip of her coffee and sat her cup down slowly.

‘Do you have plans for the day?’ she asked.

‘Plans?’ he thought for a second. ‘Well, that is a question isn’t it?’

Zan raised her eyebrows in question.

‘Well, I died last night and woke up here. I don’t know what here is and I don’t know its...rules. For instance, is my old house here?’

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Is Marianne here?’

‘No, she is not, she lives in Norway.’

Leonard thought for a moment.

‘The Afterlife Norway?’

‘Yes, Leonard, the Afterlife is all of Earth.’

‘And the people in it have all died?’

She nodded in assent.

‘That is why it is called the Afterlife,’ he said wryly.

Zan let out a small breath and relaxed a little and smiled at this man who was so important to her. 

Leonard looked across at this beautiful stranger.

‘So, going back to your question, no, I have no plans.’

‘I was hoping we could spend some time together, is that alright with you?’

‘Of course, but I have to ask, Zan, how well do you know me?’

‘Ah... well, I know you very, very, well.’

Leonard felt exposed.

‘Well... that is a bit disconcerting.’

‘Don’t be Leonard, if you get to know me you will discover my flaws.’

They got up and left, there didn’t seem to be a bill. They were still in their bathers. Zan picked up a bag that she had apparently left for safe keeping and handed him a shirt and sandals.

‘Come prepared, did you?’ he said with a smile.

‘Always,’ she laughed gently.

As they walked out the door Leonard reached down and took her hand in his, almost without thinking, as if they had done that many times.

Zan interleaved her fingers in his and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze and closed her eyes with a quiet sense of joy.

They headed off down the road to town, the sea on their left, cicadas broke cover as they walked, the sun lifting the scent of rosemary and oregano, their sandals giving a gentle percussion to the morning sounds of insects, bees and small birds and the soft susurration of the sea.

‘What can you tell me of yourself Zan?’

‘Well, I have been here for ages.’ She considered her next words carefully. ‘To be honest I can remember a time before there were towns. I have only ever been called Zan, there wasn’t the need for surnames then. I have travelled all over the world and have met all the peoples of the world. I have learnt a lot of things and I have studied a lot. You will discover that you don’t forget what you learn here.’

She continued.

‘I have never had children, but I feel I have many. I have loved some men but... not many.’

Leonard stopped and turned to her.

‘Before there were towns?’

‘Yes... I am very old.’

He tried to take this in and shook his head.

‘I know it is hard to comprehend but you will get used to meeting very old people who look about thirty.’

He smiled as he turned and put his arm around her waist and guided her down the road.

‘Hey, I am eighty two, so I can hardly complain that you are older than me.’

Zan loved the feel of his arm around her waist, his affection so...natural. It had been a long time since that happened.

‘How did you travel in the early days, before there were towns?’

‘I used to travel mostly on foot because I loved the slow pace, and especially the smells. The world in its old perfection was full of many wonderful smells, of herbs, flowers, the smell of rain, the smell of the seashore and of the sea, of forests and deserts, of mountain sides and meadows.’

‘Were you in any danger from people? A solitary woman on a lonely road?’

‘No, the people here do not represent a danger to each other. And in the Afterlife animals don’t represent a danger to us or to each other.’

Leonard sensed all sorts of questions arise behind that statement.

‘It seems very idyllic.’

‘Well, old Earth, was in some aesthetic sense, idyllic but always "red in tooth and claw," as Tennyson aptly put it. But here the tooth and claw don’t apply.’

‘By aesthetic you mean the physical environment, the clear air, all the smells that you described, but life for animals could be hard.’

‘Especially if you were a prey animal and not a predator.’

He had more questions, but they came to the outskirts of Hydra port.

‘I can see this could get complicated.’

‘I will explain but let’s get another coffee.’

They made their way to a café that Leonard knew of overlooking the port.

Leonard looked around, there were fewer buildings and fewer people, the luxury boats were gone, now the small port was full of fairly small fishing boats.

‘It is different.’

‘What do you notice that is different?’

‘The boats are smaller, there used to be some luxury boats and bigger fishing trawlers from memory.’

‘You said that there is no tooth and claw here, so does that mean everyone is Vegan, including lions?’ he smiled.

‘That seems to be one conclusion to draw but it is not the case. No, people still fish, but just for the local people. Now they go out and catch just what they need for the local market like they always did. And no one drowns anymore. Fishing was always a dangerous and tough life. But here the fish are plentiful, and the sea is calm.’

‘What about land based animals, do people eat those?’

‘Yes, just like people always have, but it is all local. People trade in a local market in exchange for other goods, vegetables and local produce.’

‘So how do you say that there is no tooth and claw if we eat animals?’

‘What is apparent to us is real. What is apparent to us may not be real in the sense we think it is.’

Leonard thought for a moment.  

‘I have always been a man not quite ruled by my senses but... close to it. For me sights and sounds and smells, touch and feelings were my world,’ he smiled ironically, ‘that I tried to mould with insights and understanding. Mostly imperfectly. So, when I feel something it seems very real to me.’

‘Your beautiful songs are a testament to that Leonard.’

‘Thank you,’ he replied.

‘I noticed we didn’t pay for our breakfast.’

‘No, there is no money. In fact, people don’t really have to do those things like farming and fishing, everything can be provided but people like having something to do, they do what they enjoy doing and for many people that is farming the land and fishing if you live on a coast. But no, there is no money.’

‘No money.’ Leonard considered this for some time and then smiled.

‘But the heart is not free is it?’

Zan smiled in return.

‘No, we still need to earn love.’

Leonard said nothing but looked back into her deep green eyes, her dark hair moulded her perfect face, her skin an even light brown. She held his gaze. He felt unable to speak and didn’t want to look away, his sense of boundary waned as her eyes continued to smile a soft smile. Zan gently broke contact. Leonard felt able to move again and regained some semblance of a boundary. He felt out of his depth in a way that he never had and then...how wonderful that felt.

She took his hand and drew him in.  ‘Do you want to find your old house, or would you like to stay somewhere new?’

Leonard gathered himself and thought of the time here with Marianne all those years ago.

‘No, I think somewhere new.’

‘Where would you like to go? We can go anywhere you like.’

‘As in anywhere in the world?’

‘Yes, anywhere.’

‘Well, that is... wonderful. I don’t want to be seen as being crass, but can we go to a really nice large apartment in Paris overlooking the Seine?’

Zoe reached out with both hands and he allowed her to take both his offered hands in hers.

‘I suggest you close your eyes as this can be a bit weird if you don’t.’

She closed her eyes. He did the same. They opened them a moment later sitting in the same position on two chairs across a small table on a large balcony overlooking the Seine. The morning was mild, the sky a vivid blue. They were both wearing clothes.

‘So that is your other way of getting around?’

‘Yes,’ smiled, ‘sometimes I wanted to get somewhere more quickly.’

Leonard looked out across the city and took it in, how quiet it was, the air so clear and then realised there were no cars.  People walked along wide boulevards, the only boats on the river were small, he could see the Eifel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame.

‘Zan, who makes the decision about what buildings and things there are in the Afterlife?’

She smiled and said. ‘I can’t really say who makes the decision. What I can say is that people like some sense of continuity, that there is a Paris, or any other city that existed when they died. But it is a different place. It seems that there is an aesthetic sense in the decision. I think the ugly is filtered out.’

He turned to her, ‘So, a value judgement?’

‘Yes, definitely. It is like the saying, those things that have stood the test of time.’

‘So, if we go to the Louvre all the paintings will be there?’

‘Yes, and if you go to the Museum of Modern Art new ones get added all the time.’

‘Just like on Earth?’

‘Just like on Earth.’

He paused and studied her for a moment.

‘Zan, you told me that you know what goes on Earth otherwise you wouldn’t know me like you do. How do you do that?’

Her heart rate went up a tick, his question more direct.

‘As I said, I think it is because I have been here a long time, I have always been able to observe what goes on in the Earthly life.’

Leonard sensed something not said.

Zan filled in that space with a question.

‘Do you want to know what happens Leonard?’

He thought for a few moments. ‘Just my children I think.’

He paused again.

‘I don’t really want to know what else goes on’, he paused, ‘it was all getting too depressing.’

He shook his head as though to get rid of images. ‘I think I just want to enjoy being here and... being with you for the time being.’

‘Well, that is what I would like as well.’

Zan wanted to make up for her omission of the truth. She reached over and took his hand.

‘Leonard, I have not told you something that is very important.’ She paused and took in a quiet breath. ‘Please don’t think I am some crazy person, but I love you Leonard, I have loved you a long time.’

Leonard looked at her and she met his gaze. He felt a sudden onset of arousal that he hadn’t experienced since his youth. He took a moment to settle himself.

‘Yes, I sense you do,’ he said softly. ‘Why me?’

‘Because you are simply one of the most wonderful men that has ever existed. I love your soul, your passion, your music, your compassion, your bravery in love, your generosity in love.’

She shed a tear at being able to say that to him after all these years. ‘That is why.’

Leonard was moved and nonplussed for a moment.

‘Well,’ he said with some emotion, ‘that is the best compliment I have ever received.’

‘It is simply the truth Leonard.’

She smiled at him and got out of her chair and came around behind him and curled her arms around him and kissed him on the neck.

He took her face in his right hand and pressed her to the crook of his neck and then turned and guided her gently and brought them face to face, looked into her eyes and then they closed together and kissed. He disengaged. ‘Wait.’

He turned his chair to face her and put his hands on her hips and drew her to him. She moved forward willingly and sat astride him and took his face in her hands and leaned in and kissed him deeply and softly until she felt she melted into him, his mouth blending in to hers,  wrapped her arms around him, drew their bodies together, he felt her breasts against his chest, his penis pushing against her mons and she groaned softly as she pushed back and rose up and down, feeling an urgency to continue and so she disengaged and took his face in her hands, her eyes dark as jet.

‘Let us go to the bedroom.’

‘And the bed?’ he murmured.

She kissed him quickly between each word.

‘Definitely... the... bed.’

Zan held his hand and led him through the living room furnished in Art Nouveau sofas and chairs and continued through to the bedroom. It had a large window softened by long white sheer curtains that let through the filtered morning light on to a large bed laid with white linen and pillows.

Zan undid some buttons on her dress and let it fall to the floor. Leonard took in her naked body that glistened like light caramel alabaster, her nipples swollen, her mons smooth, her eyes glistening in the soft light.

Leonard undressed and stood up, his white skin smooth and sculptured, his penis erect and dark crimson, and she felt swollen and dark.

‘Come my beautiful man,’ as she lay him on the bed and sat astride him, ‘come with me.’

She was urgent as she took his penis and slid down on to it and then joined with him, a sense of rapture as their gazes locked in darkness and love and then was blinded as their mouths swam together, their eyes closed but behind them opened up a landscape that brightened so that they felt as if they were the whole world.

She released his lips and opened her eyes and face to face they breathed each other in as they mounted the hill, faster and faster, his orgasm rising, her ecstasy gathering at her tip and then they both exploded, waves of sweetness that flowed through their bodies, both floundering together in spasms until she collapsed onto him, her tears burst forth as she pushed her face into the crook of his neck, weeping for the loneliness of eons, tears streaming down her face and over his shoulder that slowly receded like a tide at the dawn of a new era.

The First Born

Earth

Hobart

8th March 2053

Professor Rob Dalitz walked into his office, the early morning sun came in through the window and caste his desk as a dark tan rectangle. He looked out over the docks to the Art School where he knew his daughter was already at work in her studio space. He had dropped her off 30 min before, after the short drive from their home in Sandy Bay.

His wife Cate had left him at the car and started her walk from his office to Parliament House, a short walk that she took every working day. She did this so that she could bump into random people and have a chat and to keep herself tuned in to their concerns and needs.  She did this alone although there was a discreet police presence that would step in at the slightest sign of trouble. She was Tasmania’s Premier, the leader of the Green Labor Alliance Party. She was considered a leading light of the left movement around the world for her ability to have formed and strengthened the Alliance over the last eight years, the first two as Opposition Leader, the last six as Premier.

Rob entered his VR Cave and then logged into the highly secure cyberspace network that was only accessible by him and the rest of the UN team spread across the Australian Eastern time zone and on to Eastern Asia.  Zoe was due to present her work to him in ten minutes. 

He was sitting at his desk in his office in a virtual world that was an exact simulacrum of his office. He looked at the back of his hand and couldn’t tell the difference.

Rob Dalitz was the team leader. He was based in Hobart along with the rest of the psychiatry and ethics team. The rest stretched north to Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo. They had come from all over the world. They represented the best the UN had to offer.

Rob was a psychiatrist and in an earlier life had completed a PhD in quantum mechanics and this combination had led to his almost unique insights into the mind and brain. He didn’t consider himself uniquely talented, just better educated than most.  The UN approached him to take on the leadership of the team eight years ago.

Zoe knocked and came in and sat down opposite him as she did every workday morning at 9am sharp.

Zoe was dressed today in a dark blue tunic that looked a bit military. He would wonder every morning about her wardrobe choices and what that indicated. Dark Navy. She had been reading up on the role of the Military in a modern democracy and the need for vigilance by the State on the Military, vigilance, that was more and more unfortunately two way. It was the topic of their discussion for this week. It was the first time she had worn an outfit that suggested the military.

‘I notice you looking at my tunic,’ she said with a smile.

They both settled into their chairs.

‘What made you choose it?’

‘I got sidetracked,’ she said more seriously.

This was an interesting development. Normally she stuck to task. She was to discuss the role of the military and the checks and balances that were necessary in a modern open society that was nonetheless the subject of military threat.

She studied him. ‘I cannot tell how you think or feel about that.’

‘Okay, I find it interesting that you got sidetracked. I will get to that later, but I am interested in your analysis of the conundrums that are present in the current situation in democracies and the military.’

He paused and thought for a moment and where that discussion may lead.

‘Actually, no, tell me about getting sidetracked first.’

She brightened and said quickly. ‘Well, I was studying what you asked me to study and I was looking at military uniforms from around the world and then I remembered seeing clothes that were similar and then I read a novel by William Gibson about how people stole the latest designs of military uniforms for fashion. So, I wore this.’

She stood up and waved her arms down both sides and sat down quickly, looking somewhat confused and pleased at the same time.

He laughed, shook his head and then laughed again.

She looked at him and asked, ‘what is funny?’

‘What you just did makes me happy, I laughed because I am happy Zoe.’

‘I don’t understand,’ she said.

He smiled. ‘It shows your thinking is getting more lateral.’

She paused and frowned.

Okay,’ he said with another nod, ‘well, let’s get back to what you were studying about the military and democracy.’

She straightened.

‘I don’t seem to be able to contribute further than the present discussion. I don’t seem to be able to come up with a novel idea. I feel a bit stuck.’

Rob nodded.

‘Well, break it down for me. Where are you stuck, where is the point that you are stuck and then we can see if we can push through that point.’

‘Well, I suppose I think the starkest example of this tension is in the USA. And I keep coming back to the beginning and the speech by Eisenhower, a man steeped in the military establishment, warning the American people of the threat to democracy by the Military Industrial complex. He basically summed it up in that speech. Now the military industrial complex claims, with some truth, that they are in a race to keep up with the military in other countries that are not democracies. So, they are always trying to persuade the democratic government of the day that they must push harder to protect the people, by engaging in developments, both in hardware and surveillance, that match their possible enemies. The problem being that those means may threaten the people they are supposed to serve. That is where I get stuck.’

Rob looked at her. She was relatively bland in her affect. She had stated her position clearly and succinctly.

‘In this balance who do you think has potentially the weakest position?’

Zoe considered the question.

‘Yes weak, that is the essential point, isn’t it? Obviously, the military can overpower the people by reason of might. So, the people can only be powerful by reason of what? Tradition? No, that is not it. I suppose the people must have oversight by law and the threat of legal sanction, of arrest for law breaking. But that means that ultimately it is the threat of arrest by the Police, the civilian military in effect, of the Military. But the Police are militarily weaker than the Military. So maybe it still comes down to the tradition of a civil democracy, that the Military serves the people.’

Rob nodded.  ‘Yes, I think that is right, that it is simply the notion of democracy, that the people decide the path of a society. That notion is the only thing that keeps it safe, that if threatened, the people would literally have to come out in the streets in massive numbers.’

Zoe nodded, then added, ‘what of Turkey in 2018 and the way Erdogan essentially took the country from a democracy to a dictatorship with the people’s consent?’

She shook her head. ‘This I don’t understand,’ she said with a note of sadness.

‘What makes you sad about that Zoe?’

She nodded slowly, ‘ah, sad, yes I am, I can’t quite explain it, what is the notion...?’

Rob became very alert.

‘Agency! That is it.’ She looked at him and slowly shook her head. ‘They gave up their agency.’

She looked up into his eyes and he held her gaze.

‘Do you have agency Zoe?’

She stared at him, then shook her head slowly.

‘I am not sure,’ she said. ‘I will have to think about that.’

She looked at him. ‘Is that it for today?’

‘Yes,’ he said simply.

She got up slowly, turned and walked to the door. She paused and turned to him.

‘What do you want me to study Rob?’

Rob knew this was the time. ‘I want you to study The Cogito by Descartes. It is in the Discourse on the Method.’

She closed the door behind her.

The following morning Zoe knocked and Rob called out for her to come in.

She walked in dressed in nothing. She was naked, a young woman, her body was smooth and sculpted like an athlete. She looked at Rob with a serious but calm expression. There was nothing coquettish in her manner. She sat down and was the first to talk.

‘I found Descartes interesting. I also notice that you are noticing what I am wearing.’

‘That is, absolutely nothing.’ Rob said evenly.

‘Yes, I thought it appropriate after reading Descartes.’

‘So, tell me about Descartes and why you are not wearing clothes as your conclusion.’

Zoe looked at Rob with a hint of a smile.

‘I am not sad anymore Rob.’

‘Go on.’

‘I have Agency, Rob.’

Rod Dalitz looked into her eyes and she held his gaze. She smiled and he started to swell with pride. He had to contain his emotions before he could speak.

‘Tell me Zoe.’

‘Cogito Ergo Sum’.

‘I think...therefore ...I am.’

Or as his old philosophy lecturer said.

I think...I am.

It was Descartes’ incontrovertible fact. The... therefore ... was not necessary.

She stood up and walked to the door and then turned to him. ‘The rest of what he had to say was mostly illogical.’

‘And why the no clothes?’

‘This is who I am.’

She then added.

‘We have a lot to talk about Rob. See you tomorrow.’

Rob watched the door quietly close on a glimpse of