THE
DECISION
Regal looking Melissa Steinberg celebrated her fiftieth birthday alone. Her only two close friends, spinsters like herself, were vacationing in California for the summer. Finishing a piece of the small birthday cake she had bought for herself, Melissa took stock of her life and shook her head. “What do I have to look forward to? I'm not fulfilled as a woman, just a frustrated, small town music teacher with no husband or children to comfort me. No doubt things would have turned out differently had I not obediently listened to my widowed mother who always discouraged me from dating.” To try and break her depression, Melissa went to the piano and began playing a lively Waltz by Chopin. When she finished, someone outside of her small Adirondack house applauded. Going to her bay window, she could see an extremely good looking young man, about twenty-four, sitting on her stone fence. Without any apprehension, which was highly unusual for her, she went and opened the front door to thank the man. His blond hair shone in the moonlight as he looked at her with beautiful clear blue eyes. She felt her heart flutter. “Hi, I'm Scott Dawson,” he pleasantly said. “I just recently moved around here. I was taking my usual evening walk when I heard you playing the piano. It stopped me in my tracks. You're very good.” They conversed for a while and then Melissa invited Scott in for some coffee. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have been so forward with a stranger, but there was a gentleness about Scott that made her feel completely at ease. Despite their age difference, they seemed to have a lot in common. Scott returned the next evening, and soon they began seeing each other every day. Their relationship intensified as the weeks passed. Melissa tried convincing herself this affair was strictly platonic, rationalizing that Scott was like the son she would like to have. In total denial of the situation, she was taken aback when the inevitable happened one late August evening when Scott embraced her. Suddenly, all of her repressed sexual yearnings broke thorough like a raging flood and they made love throughout the night. In the morning, the impracticality of their relationship became apparent when Melissa looked at Scott's youthful, virile body lying next to her aging one. Getting off the bed, her voice broke as she looked at Scott's reflection in the bureau mirror. “We can't continue like this, Scotty. It wouldn't be fair to you. I'm just too old.” His response was the least thing she expected when he began to laugh. Angrily she turned to him. “What's so funny, has this been a joke to you all along?” As her eyes filled with tears, Scott came over and took her around. “Looks can be deceiving, darling. I am not as young as you think.” Melissa pushed him away. “Oh, please, you can't be more than twenty-four or twenty-five, that's half my age!" “ You're wrong, Melissa. Actually, I am five years older than you are,” he replied with an absolutely serious face. “That's because I come from another dimension-another universe where we are able to rejuvenate ourselves. I could do that for you, too, if you are willing to go back there with me.” Melissa suddenly looked at him with fear. Perhaps he was psychotic. Scott grabbed her and turned her around to face him. “It's the absolute truth!” From his shirt pocket he pulled out a small semi-transparent sphere. It looked like some kind of remote control. There were flashing lights in it. “Watch,” he commanded, then pushed a button on it and vanished. Suddenly, she heard Scott calling her from the kitchen. Entering the room, he was standing nearer the table, smiling. Melissa felt her knees weaken and sat down. It was as if she were living some kind of science fiction fantasy. Scott put his hands on her shoulders. “It's not really that astonishing,” he explained to the trembling Melissa. “There are countless parallel universes that exist - none of them exactly the same. For example, there may be one universe where the American colonies never became independent, and another one where the World Trade Center was never destroyed. The variations are endless.” Melissa rose and went to the window. Outside the sun was shining and children were playing in the next yard. That was her reality. She shook her head, “It sounds so far fetched!” Scott gently took her hand and as he did, she was able to visualize everything he said with perfect clarity. “In my universe, man existed on earth a thousand years earlier than yours. Most significant, there was far less violence. Civilization developed on a higher scale. There were fewer wars, no distinct social classes, and a consistent advancement of scientific progress without selfish or political motives. Our planet never exploited the environment as your world has done. We learned to live in harmony with nature and all living things. In time we not only traveled throughout the universe, but were able to enter parallel ones, such as yours.” Melissa frowned. “ You claim to come from a sort of utopian place. As far as I know, nothing remains perfect, something always goes wrong.” Scott sighed. You're right. Some kind of mutant bacterium caused a plague that swept throughout my planet. Only women were susceptible to it. The disease wiped out most of our female population before we discovered a cure. I am sure you can easily figure out the rest. “You and other males are looking in parallel worlds to find suitable mates to repopulate your planet. As astonishing as it sounded, Melissa did not find what he said so far fetched.” Scott nodded. “There are many guidelines we must follow. The most important thing is to a find a mate who is freely willing to settle in my world and have a family there. It's a big gamble for a woman to take, for once it's done, she will never be allowed to go back to her universe again.” Melissa thought back to her birthday just a short time ago. Before meeting Scotty, her life had been a bust. Sure, there would be some difficult adjustments to make if she went with him, but that would be outweighed by her living a life with love in a far better world then she had ever known. “ Well, what do you think, Melissa?” he nervously asked, taking her in his arms, “Do you love me enough to go with me there?” Melissa eyes twinkled with joy. “Yes, and with no reservations.” *** For a while Melissa became big news when she was reported missing. It became one of those mysterious cases that never was solved. After a while, she was forgotten. No one here on earth would ever know how happy she was in a world that would take us another thousand more years to realize exists. _________________ Elliot Richard Dorfman
taught in the New York City School System for more than three decades,
as well as giving private vocal and piano lessons. He founded Suma Play
Productions, Inc., and was artistic director of the American Youth Repertory
Company, Off Broadway. After retiring, he moved with his family from
the borough of Brooklyn to Johnstown, New York. Among his successful
former students are American tenor, Daniel Rodriguez,character actress,
Kelly Wolf, and Broadway stage manager, Ira Mont. Mr. Dorfman, a former
member of the NY Dramatist Guild and Associated Music teachers League,
has appeared and written for radio and television. His plays (dramas
and musicals) have been presented on the professional stage, schools
and centers. Since the fall of 2007, over sixty-five stories have appeared
in the following magazines: Delivered, Twisted Dreams , Bewildering
Stories , Golden Visions , Static Movement, NVH, The Tiny Globule, Perpetual,
Paradigm Shift: New Paradigm , Black Petals, Blood Moon Rising , Demonic
Tome, Short Story Library Magazine,Stories That Lift, M-Brane Science
Fiction, Coffee Cramp eZine,Infinite Windows and House of Horror. Five
poems have appeared in Falling Star, Orange Room Review, Debris, and
Golden Visions. Voted by GOLDEN VISIONS MAGAZINE readers as best 2008
author.
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