An extraordinary week

CHAPTER FOUR

It was eight thirty when Jessie pulled up to Jaynes’ house. The top of Topanga Canyon was still engulfed in early morning mist, it cast an enchanted glow around the landscape, all it needed to complete the scene was a silver clad knight on a great white steed riding through the trees.

Jayne appeared at the door to greet her beloved friend. “Your home is so beautifully placed with all the trees and the view of the coast. I never quite get over the magic, I love visiting you. It's like walking into one of your movie scripts."

They hugged and Jayne led her into the kitchen where the smell of fresh coffee and bacon greeted her. “Waffles are almost ready, have a chair, I hope you like the pure Maple Syrup my Mom brought over the other day, it's love in a bottle.”

“Mmm sounds yummy, how is your Mom I haven't seen her in a while?” she sat down in the sun filled breakfast nook, the angled windows were framed in cascades of Bougainvillea, enhancing the fairy tale ambience. The table was spread with vintage Franciscan Apple plates and cups. Sterling Silver and cloth napkins. Jayne was a fastidious collector of antique tchotchkes, and loved the authentic.

“Mom’s fine, she's busy preparing for her trip to France.” Jayne carried an ornate silver tray mounded with food and set it on the round table and sat down on a beam of sun light filling the chair. “Butter...I forgot the butter.” Jess hopped up “I’ll get it” when she opened the fridge door there were the two rainbow trout still smiling. “Whats this? Did you go fishing?...without me?”

“Ha...ha...no I caught those with Jerome last night. That's what I wanted to tell you. I spent another night with Jerome.” The butter dish almost slipped out of her hand onto the tray. “You and Jerome...Here? Last night?”

Sensing the skepticism in her voice. “In a dream.. it was in my dream, silly!”

“These dreams you’re having are they affecting your mental health? I dunno, it seems odd, this connection you have with him. I wonder if he's aware of it.” scooping a generous helping of scrambled eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 2 waffles, and several homegrown strawberries from her Mom’s garden, completely covering the apple pattern. Jayne poured the coffee.

“I don't know if he's aware or not, I'd like to think he is, how else would those fish appear smiling like they were in on a secret joke? I know...I know...its all so bizarre. I can't explain it but the feeling is very real and I have to say, pretty intense. I have never felt so full of joy and possibilities.”

“Oh...these waffles are incredible. Is it a mix?”

“ No it's my Mom's recipe.”

“Your Mom's amazing. She's the west coast’s, Martha Stewart.”

“I know, she's pretty great...She’s off on a book tour to promote her new recipe book”

“In France?...the heart of cuisine?....How bold.” Jessie poured some maple syrup over the last bite of waffle. “I'm looking forward to reading it.”

“Why? You don't cook. silly.”

******

After breakfast, the dishes piled in the sink they refilled their coffee cups and took them into the Spanish Styled living room, both sinking down into the matching paisley chairs. Jess turned on her digital recorder and said. “OK! Let’er roll I can't wait to hear about your exploits.”

Jayne recounted her experience with the beach and the golden ocean, the crystal boat, and the all-consuming feeling of being part of the rhythmical swells in this sea we're all floating in. “I told him how much I wished you were here. And he said you were... you just weren't aware of it.”

Jess stopped the recorder. “Whoa wait a minute, what planet are you on...and how did I get there?”

“Remember when Jerome pointed out in his lecture that when we surrender to our Source we are transcending into a new dimension where all things exist and anything is possible? The place where human pain and suffering just disappears.”

“Yeah, kind of... I remember something - he said it was the ocean of Radiant Bliss, I think that's what he called it.”

“Well that's where he took me, Jess, I felt such a release, I saw sparks coming out of my palms, he had light coming out of his eyes but in the dream I was translucent, everything was blended into the most chimerical defused light.”

“OK, I vaguely remember...Next time will you take me with you?”

“But that's just it. Jess! You're already there. When you allow yourself to just be - when you forget your mind then suffering and human misery lose their importance. You no longer react to outer influences and you become aware that everything just IS. You are automatically connected to everything, you Are the root and the substance. It's so simple, and we are all right there - together in the beingness.”

“I may need you to guide me through it, it's so foreign, it feels unnatural.”

“Didn’t Jerome's words affect you at all?”

“Apparently not like they did you.” she turned the recorder back on...”OK shoot”

Jayne continued. “I am no one other than you in our beingness. And in the beingness of all others and things simultaneously. When we are in the depths of just being, we are also the beingness of all thoughts, including all intentions, events, colors and sounds, shapes, movements, and emotions. There is nothing that is not within our beingness, the result is all encompassing love."

Jayne finished her coffee, putting the cup down...continuing...

"It is only there you find undying radiant happiness and freedom. You begin to discover this freedom in everything - all forms and people and events by realizing that there is no separation. No walls between us. It is this eternal existence that carries you into a world of ultimate freedom.”

“Are you hearing yourself? Jerome is breathing a new idea in you, and it sounds like it's sinking in. I can't wait to see your new movie script, it's going to be hugely earth-shaking.”

Jayne smiled, “I know weird, isn't it? Who would have suspected me of all the grounded pragmatic people would turn into such a loon? How can I write about this and not sound Looney?”

“Well thank whatever divine intervention for ridding you of that awful funk Joe put you in. Welcome back, by the way...I’ve really missed my old pal.”

They exchanged reverent glances smiling at what could only be described as blissful affection.

“So how do you plan to write it? Is it biographical or fantasy?” asked Jayne.

“I don't know yet it's pretty fantastical. Maybe we could collaborate on a movie script. I would like Emily Blunt to play me...um...and oh you know who would be a perfect you?”

“No....tell me who you think I'm like.”

Emma Stone. She's got that same spunky fire inside her. She could be your before and after Marvel Character.”

“I could hang with that...but let's get the story down first before we sell the movie rights.”

Jayne was going into her 12th year writing and collaborating on movie scripts for Paramount Studios. She started as a script editor after getting a degree from Cal State, home to many famous filmmakers. A talent for snappy, truthful dialogue made her popular with scriptwriters and started her career on it's way. The marriage to Joe, an actor she met while casting a movie she was making. His swarthy good looks captured her imagination and heart and was a complete disaster.

He was, as you might expect only interested in his career and used her unceremoniously to advance it. Needless to say, their whirlwind romance and fairy tale marriage took a toll on Jayne, after a few years, you could see her confidence eroding. Though - admittedly, some of her best stories were plots written from her own painful experiences. Their recent divorce left her fighting for what was left of any self-worth. Jessie's main goal was to help find a way out of her friend's misery and was always a top concern.

That fortuitous Unforgettable Day they met Jerome seemed to be having the positive effect she had been hoping for. She was however taken aback with just how it was changing Jayne and the events that were starting to escalate.

It was twelve o'clock and Jessie had a two-clock meeting with an editor to go over the final proof of her short story anthology. “Well, gotta go...I’ll get this into an outline and we'll get together to develop it. They hugged, Jess kissed her friend's cheek “Thanks for the feast, it was excellent and thank your Mom for the strawberries and syrup. She turned it into a gourmet banquet.

“ I will - I have to call her in a bit - I'll give her your glowing praises, enjoy your editing I hope it goes well.” They waved, Jayne decided to put the top down so she could enjoy the drive along the coast fully indulging in the autumn sun. She was starting to sense the freedom Jayne described. It was intoxicating.

Jayne loaded the dishwasher and sat down in her cozy nook to call her Mom.

Bum...ba dum ba dum🎶…Bum..ba dum ba dum…🎶 .”Hey sweetheart, I was hoping you'd call. Anything exciting going on?”

“I just had Jess over for breakfast, I fixed your waffles and the syrup and berries made a big hit. She says Hi and sends her love and thanks. Gosh, Mom, I have so much to tell you, how would you like to come for dinner tonight? I have some fresh caught Rainbow Trout.”

“Oh are those the fish Ben brought over last night? He said you were in some other world so he cleaned them and left them in the fridge, I would love to. I'll bring a sprig of lemon thyme and a white Cabernet I recently discovered. Seven o’clock?”

“Great!... see you then.” Ben brought over the fish. Jayne sat there stunned for a moment then broke out in the most bodacious belly laugh. "I'm such a fool."

***************

If you are enjoying the Jessie ‘n’ Jayne Saga the other chapters are here

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter three

Chapter Five

Thank you for reading my story.