THE TOWER OF PERSPECTIVE (CON'T)

Awareness looks at Enlightenment and then he looks at Illumination and it is obvious that they can all tell what one another are thinking. They, all three, make a mad dash to the stairwell door and quickly run up the stairs, and don’t stop, until they come to the twentieth floor. That is the age they all were when they had entered the Tower of Perspective, before they were humbled to adolescence. They enter the vantage point huffing and puffing. Just to the right of the door is an INFORMATION booth with a twenty-year-old Memory smiling. “I remember you.” Memory laughs.

Awareness and the others step back into the stairwell.

“We have got to plan a strategy for entering into the Control Tower”. Awareness tells his companions. “We can’t go in there without a plan.”

“I agree, Awareness.” Enlightenment says. “But if we don’t know what to expect how can we make any plans. What will we plan for?”

“It is hard to make plans without any understanding”. Illumination agrees.

“Well maybe we should try to find someone who will tell us what we can expect.” Awareness says trying to figure it all out.

“Well, I know what helps me.” Enlightenment interjects.

“What’s that?” Awareness asks.

“ I usually make a list of the pros and cons.” Enlightenment answers.

“Good idea!” Awareness exclaims. “Let’s write them down”. Awareness reaches into his armor and pulls out a writing implement. He bends over and draws a cross on the floor. On one side of the cross he writes ‘Pros’ and on the other side he writes ‘Cons.’

“Let’s see”. He writes ‘Getting older as we reach each higher level’, under the ‘Cons’ column. “Yeah!” Awareness says aloud and writes. ‘Don’t know what to expect when we reach the Control Tower’, under the ‘Cons’ column. “And there is the possibility of getting an aging disease”. Awareness says as he writes that down in the ‘Cons’ column.

“Aging disease?” Enlightenment and Illumination ask together.

“Yeah”, Awareness is surprised that the two have never heard of it. “You know, Senility, Dementia and Alzheimer Disease. And oh yeah, there is the dreaded Second Childhood syndrome. I had a hard enough time going through my first childhood. I am not going through that again.”

“I can’t think of any ‘Pros’ to add.” Enlightenment says.

“I can” Awareness says. “One thing and it balances the whole list. “Purpose… This is my purpose and it will bring the entire castle into wholeness.”

Awareness stands up with a look of determination on his face. He sticks the writing element back beneath his armor and says. “Let’s go. No sense worrying. We have a number of levels ahead of us and plenty of time to figure things out. Something is bound to come up”. With that Awareness grabs the handrail and catapults himself up the stairs, two at a time. Enlightenment and Illumination followed with equal enthusiasm.

At the Thirty-Fifth Level, as Awareness begins to enter the room he drops the writing implement, which somehow had found its way loose from beneath his armor. He reaches back into the stairwell to pick it up when Enlightenment says with surprise. “Awareness!

Look at yourself!”

“What?” Awareness asks with equal surprise.

“Once you opened the door to enter the room and stepped in you aged according to the level of the floor. However, when you stepped back into the stairwell to retrieve your writing implement you went back to your normal age.” Enlightenment says with amazement.

“Really.” Awareness says. His companions could see Awareness’s brain begin to glow with ideas. “We can use this information. We had better check it out to make sure.”

Awareness steps into the room and walks over to the INFORMATION booth to the right of the stairwell door with a thirty-five year old Memory sitting at the booth.

“Memory,” Awareness says. “My companions and I have discovered a piece of information about the Tower of Perspective and I wanted to ask you if you can confirm it.”

“Yes.” Memory says patiently. “What is it?”

Awareness begins. “When we arrived at this level, just a moment ago, I dropped my writing implement upon entering the room. It rolled back into the stairwell. I stepped back into the stairwell to pick it up and Enlightenment informed me that he had witnessed an interesting occurrence. Enlightenment had told me that he had noticed I had aged upon entering the room but when I stepped back into the stairwell I returned to my normal age. Why is it that he observed such an phenomenon?”

“The stairwell is neutral.” Memory replies. “It is open all the way up. There is no way to separate one year from another in an open corridor. The Entry’s to the Vantage Point Levels are the Separation Partitions. There is a force field over the opening as you pass through when the doors are open. This would be impossible to construct separating each level in the stairwell.”

“So,” Awareness says. His brain is going a mile per minute. “We retain the age that we were at the time of entering the Tower of Perspective in the stairwell. What about at the Control Tower?”

“The Control Tower is also timeless.” Memory tells them.

“Then we retain our age there also.” Awareness states.

“That is correct.” Memory replies.

“Great!” Awareness slaps his hand on the counter of the booth. “Let’s go.”

The three walk back into the stairwell and Awareness gives Enlightenment and Illuminations the details of his plan… so far.

“We are going to stay in the stairwell”. Awareness explains. “We won’t go out into the Vantage Point Level areas unless it is absolutely necessary. This way we will avoid any unforeseen events there. So at least we know what to expect in the stairwell.”

And so Awareness and his companions continue their climb to the Control Tower.

When they come to the thirty-ninth level Awareness and his companions feel like they have just stepped into somebody’s living room. There is a large sofa with an end table on each side. Next to it there is a high back chair with an end table beside it. The furniture completely surrounds the object of their focus, which is a big screen TV. The three are amazed to see that the television is on and when they walk closer they can see, sitting in the high back chair, a character totally engrossed in watching the television

“Excuse me” Awareness says meekly, not wanting to startle the character.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” the character says, “I didn’t hear you knock.”

“We didn’t.” Awareness says. Feeling he really hasn’t done anything wrong being that they were in a stairwell and there was no door indicating that this was a private residence.

“Well, what is it that you want?” The character asks.

“We, my servants and I, are on our way to the Control Tower.” Awareness answers. “May I ask you a question?”

“Sure, why not, you are already in my living room.” The character says rudely

“I have noticed that in all of Castle Glade there are no lights and yet here you have the whole landing of the stairwell lit by the light of your television set. How is that?” Awareness asks.

“King My Way doesn’t mind us watching television.” The character answers confidently. “In fact he encourages it.”

“My name is Awareness.” He says politely. “And these are my two servants and friends, Enlightenment and Illuminations. What is your name?”

“My name is Rerun.” The character answers reluctantly.

“Why do they call you Rerun?” Awareness asks.

“Did I ask you why they called you Awareness?” Rerun replies rudely. “But if you must know they call me Rerun because I love to watch the reruns on TV. My favorite is ‘The Jack Benny Show.’ He’s the reason I live here on the Thirty-ninth floor. Whenever somebody asks his age he would answer that he was Thirty-nine years old. I think that is so funny.”

“Why are you living in the stairway?” Awareness asks.

“Well, I have discovered that I have this disease.” Rerun says. “The doctors call it senescent phobia.”

“Senescent phobia?” Awareness asks, “What’s that?”

“It is the fear of growing old.” Rerun answers. “So when I discovered that I had it I moved into the stairwell. Here you don’t age. You stay the age in which you are when you entered the Tower of Perspective.”

“Yes, we know.” Awareness says, “We just found that out.”

“How long have you been living here?” Awareness asks,

“Since I first found out that I had this disease.” Rerun answers.

“And when was that?” Awareness asks.

“Boy, you ask a lot of questions.” Rerun replies rudely. “I was Thirty-nine years old.”

“And how old are you now?” Awareness asks.

“Thirty-nine.” Rerun laughs.

“Can you tell us anything about the Control Tower?” Awareness asks.

“What would you like to know?” Rerun asks.

“Well, what characters reside there?” Awareness asks.

“Feelings is in charge.” Rerun answers. “He is the Chief Predominant Influence in Castle Glade. He is also in charge of Wrong Focus, the Guardian of the Spotlight.”

“Wrong Focus?” Awareness asks, “What does he do?”

“He directs the attention of Castle Glade to whatever characters that Feelings desires him to focus on.” Rerun answers.

“What for?” Awareness asks.

“Well,” Rerun explains. “Let’s say that Feeling wants to direct Castle Glade to the attention of Worry. He will instruct Wrong Focus to shine the Spotlight on Worry and keep it there. Once the attention is directed towards Worry then the entire castle’s Attitude, Disposition and Appearance will demonstrate worry. Now if Feeling wants to direct Castle Glade’s attention towards Fear then he will have Wrong Focus shine the Spotlight on Fear. All the while the attention is on Fear the castle is experiencing its emotion.”

“Why would King My Way want to do that?” Awareness asks.

“The ways of King My Way are beyond comprehension.” Reruns answers.

“You can say that again.” Enlightenment replies

“As well as beyond understanding.” Illumination adds.

“What can you tell us of the Wounded Child?” Awareness asks

“The Wounded Child is being held hostage there in the Control Tower”. Rerun says with concern. Here is the first sign of humanity that Rerun exhibits. “The Critical Parent is keeping watch over him and keeping him in line.”

“What can you tell us about the Critical Parent?” Awareness continues to probe Rerun for any information that might be helpful.

“Well the Critical Parent has two faces.” Rerun says solemnly. “It has the face of both the Father and the Mother. However their voice is critical, demanding and demeaning. It badgers the Wounded Child all day long. It tells him he is stupid when he makes a mistake and when he fails It tells him he will never amount to anything. To the Critical Parent the Wounded Child can never do anything right. It demands total perfection from the Wounded Child. Anytime the child attempts to let his voice be known the Critical Parent quickly shuts him down with demoralizing ridicule.

With the information Awareness now has he is confident that he will know what to do when he arrives at the Control Tower. He thanks Rerun for his help and apologizes for intruding into his living room. As he leaves to head toward the Control Tower he says to Rerun as a last farewell. “Enjoys your reruns my newfound friend.”

“Good-bye.” Rerun says as the three climb out of sight.