Ana

CH 3

She said, “Hello Tom. As you can see, I do represent your client.”

He hung up and put the phone away. Tom was starting to realize that he had been manipulated and it didn’t feel good. “But why didn’t you tell me all of this over the phone or on voice chat? Why trick me into coming here like this?”

Ana replied, “Because it wouldn’t have had the same effect. And now that we have that all settled, there’s much more that I need to show you. However, I would prefer to wait until dark before we continue. Will you please return here tonight?”

What the hell? “Why do I need to come back tonight? You can show me now.” She can’t be serious. She brings him out here just to tell him to come back tonight…

Tom thought he saw a bit of mischief in Ana’s face when she said, “Trust me. We need to wait until dark for the next part.”

“Well, I’m not coming back so you better tell me right now.” He crossed his arms and waited.

“Tom, you’re going to have to accept that I can’t give you additional information until tonight. I hope our friendship and your trust in me will be enough to bring you back, if not, then maybe your curiosity. But before you go, I have a gift for you.”

Something seemed to sparkle on the coffee table in front of him and he noticed a silver key lying there.

“I took the courtesy of making you a spare for your truck so you won’t have to call a locksmith,” she said.

Despite his normally jaded attitude, his jaw dropped open. “What the… How’d you do that?” He reached down and picked up the silver key. Tom tried to ignore the slight chill he felt a creep up his neck but this was getting weirder by the minute.

“That and more will be clear tonight.” The image of her character disappeared.

Tom called out, “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?” There was no response. “Well then I hope you don’t mind if I take a look at your fancy hologram table.”

Tom knelt down and ran his hand over the table but its smooth glazed surface gave no hint as to how it could project holograms or make keys. He lay on the floor and looked under the table expecting to find electronic hardware and a power cord, but found nothing. As far as he could tell, it was just a table.

“Ana can you hear me?” he said loudly, but the room remained silent.

Not ready to give up, Tom went around the room examining every piece of furniture and even the walls of the room but he found nothing out of the ordinary.

The situation reminded him of an allegory used by Socrates to portray how people define reality. The allegory demonstrates how our senses only perceive the shadows of reality yet these shadows are what we believe to be the truth. To discover the real truth, we must first let go of our hard set ideas and admit that we know nothing. Then we can begin to look for what is beyond the shadows.

The engineer in Tom told him that something in this room was capable of making a hologram. The philosopher in him told him that there must be some part of the truth that he was not able to perceive. He tried to relax and let his mind clear but no enlightenment came to him. For now it might be best to accept Ana at face value and come back later to see what more she had to say.

Accepting the fact that he would not discover the secrets to Ana’s little hide-away like this, he left the mysterious building and quickly retraced his steps back to the front gate with Ana’s key clutched tightly in his hand. This would be one neat magic trick if this key worked. Once he reached his truck, he paused a moment then put it in the lock. With a twist, the door unlocked.