THE ORGANIZER

THE ORGANIZER Chapter #1

"Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say."

“Ask someone that’s been there” says Scott, to the luscious redhead trying to ply him with a starter drink for the evening. Little does he know the direction this evening’s progress will take?

He eyes the green colored liquid in the punch bowl, with clanking, melting ice, cascading down the sides of the cold container. He had not purposely come to drink, but his throat was hot and dry. The ladies at the party had already formed their special groups swapping gossip until it all sounded like a muffled gargle. Who cares if Jeanie is sleeping with Tom, or that the Wheelers have left town, and this time for good, adds the gray-haired madam from room 327? You would not want to lock horns with her. Scott gulps the drink his mind beginning to meld into the neighborhood pot of suburbanites. It has been a long week, thank God for weekends. Scott decides on another one of the offered libations. “Give me another-one of those green things please.” Denise, the pretty young hostess, smiles and reaches for the limeade looking concoction. Another sip tells Scott it is not for the weak-hearted, yet it is satisfyingly wet and cold and does have a distinctive taste of mint. Denise and her husband Tom have been his only lasting friends since long before his wife Melissa passed away.

“Scotty,” Denise says with a wink, “don’t disappear, I have someone special I want you to meet as soon as she gets here.” Soon after the third serving of the now familiar libation, Scott decides to retire to the balcony for some fresh air. Most of the ladies at the party are married and locked in mortal combat with each other, vying for the title of current information specialist.

Scott fills his lungs with the crisp fifty second story air he then finds the familiar comfortable couch facing the suburban side of the dancing city lights. His mind drifts to favorite thoughts of his business and of making money, the only thing that has kept him sane since Melisa. Suddenly, his mind shifts, and he is floating somewhere out in total darkness, yet he is awake. He pinches himself to be sure. “Ouch!” Yes, he is sure. He wonders, has he died? I have had a heart attack while sitting on the couch.

Is this what being dead is all about, floating around in total darkness? “Don’t be crazy,” he tells himself, “You just fell asleep and are having a strange dream. This is weird, I am awake in my own dream.”

Scott knows that he is screaming but he hears nary a sound. He strains to see something, anything, out there in the darkness. Finally, in the distance he spies a tiny light. Frantically he flays his arms and legs trying to gain some momentum. Little by little he begins to make headway towards the light. Scott struggles until he is standing at a doorway resembling a giant human’s bellybutton. The light is still at a distance inside the opening illuminating a long corridor with doors on either side. “Well done,” he commends himself, “I must get back to where I belong? I will check-out some of these doors. One must be a way back to reality.” He reaches out and turns the knob of the first door. “Click” it turns easy enough, he slowly pushes the large wooden door open.

“Hi,” a perky red head sitting behind a desk looks up at him. “I am Megan, are you here to fix the bathroom sink?”

Taken aback, by the absurdity of the situation, he answers, “No, my name is Scott, and I am afraid I do not know how I got here. Could you tell me exactly, where I am?”

“Gee Mister, you must have come in the wrong door. What department are you looking for?”

“Department? What do you mean? I was just sitting having a drink at Jack and Denise Wallaby’s apartment on the fifty second floor of The Madison Building, when suddenly I woke up out in what looks to be deep black space. I saw your light and worked my way here. Can you tell me where I am and do not tell me it is Hell?” Scott begins to case his surroundings. “Is this some sort of joke, am I on a Hidden Camera show?”

Megan the pretty young receptionist laughs. “No sir, you’re not on a Hidden Camera show.”

Befuddled, Scott asks. “What makes you think a person dressed in evening clothes has come to fix a sink?”

Scott points down at his attire and is shocked to find he is wearing working apparel, overalls, and a tool belt. “I better sit down for a minute and try to make some sense of this. What is going on?” he mutters.

Megan gives Scott a confused look and speaks. “You wait right here Mister. I will get Mr. Maxim, the night manager, he will know what to do.”

Megan returns after a few minutes with a smartly dressed, meek looking man who is every bit in his sixties. “Can I be of service sir?” Mr. Maxim asks.

Scott quickly relates his predicament to the night manager who listens intently, and then answers.

“I have worked here for over twenty years and never have I heard such a story. I am deeply sorry sir, but I just cannot help you. Perhaps if you come back in the morning Miss Daily, the day Manager, will know what to do.”

“Ok,” Scott answers, “just tell me how to get out of here. I will find a hotel and somewhere to eat.”

“Get out? Whatever do you mean sir? There is not an out.” The night manager adds, “There is only the commune area next door and down to the right. All your needs will be supplied there.”

“Tomorrow, tomorrow, ok tomorrow, I will find my answers after I rest up. Scott has had enough. He would play along for now. Mr. Maxim opens the door and leads him out into the corridor. “It’s that door over there.” He points.

“Thank you, Mr. Maxim, please tell your Miss Daily I’ll see her in the morning, if I live that long.” Apprehensively, Scott walks to the next door and he knocks, not knowing what to expect. The door opens Immediately, and he is engulfed in the hustle and bustle of people both men and women, busily getting food at a cafeteria style restaurant. He promptly joins them. He is starved and the food looks so good. He is amazed to see all his favorite foods staring back at him in expertly prepared cases.

“It’s Friday, I think I’ll go with the fish and chips” he tells the white garbed oversized woman behind the counter.

The smiling attendant replies with an unusually genuine disappointment. “Those deep-fried fish are already spoken for sir, they belong to Natalie. We have some baked fish, fresh out of the oven, if you would like to substitute.”

A generously endowed, hazel eyed brown-haired women, in line directly in front of Scott turns abruptly. Their lips almost meet. She says, “You’re quite welcome to have the fried ones. I really should be watching my weight anyway.”

“No, no, I would not think of taking your order Miss. I will have the baked. This could be heaven and I do not want to start out on the wrong foot. I heard the attendant call you Natalie, is that your name?”

She nods.

“I’m Scott.”

Natalie smiles. “Why don’t you join me Scott, while I get to the bottom of the food mix-up?”

She leads Scott to a table in the rear of the cafeteria. “We can have some privacy here. The orders should never get messed up like this there should always be exactly enough of whatever each person wishes to eat.”

“I don’t think the problem is with the hired help,” Scott admits. “I only just arrived, and I think I landed in the wrong place, but I am very pleased to know that I wasn’t expected, there must be some mistake.”

Natalie quickly warms up to Scott. It seems to her that she has known him forever. Scott is not far behind in his feelings. “This is amazing Natalie but not since my wife passed have, I felt such a kinship and so quickly with someone. It is like magic.”

Natalie adds, “I hope you do not get the wrong idea either, but I feel that emotional connection too. Why don’t you start by telling me exactly where you did come from?”

Scott reiterates his story. “I was at a party drinking a green minty concoction of liquor, then all at once, there I was out in never-never land. I was floating and wailing, somewhere in space until I came upon this place. A Mr. Maxim directed me here and then there is you. I am supposed to meet a Miss Daily tomorrow. She may help?”

“I have some good news and I have some unwelcome news for you Scott. First you should know that I am Miss Daily, Natalie Daily. The sad news is that I cannot do anything about your situation.” Natalie sees the bewilderment in Scott’s eyes, she boldly reaches across the table to touch his hand. “Why don’t you come home with me? I will put you up for the night. By tomorrow maybe I will have figured out something.”

The next morning Scott awakes on Natalie’s couch in the living room. He can smell the fresh brewing coffee. “Is that you up Scott?” Her voice comes from the kitchen. “There is a toothbrush in the bathroom. Feel free to shower and clean up and how do you like your eggs?”

“Anyway, you make them will be fine.” Scott smiles, and reflects, “this has got to be heaven.”

They sit down for breakfast and Natalie speaks. “While you slept, I contacted all the other department heads and we have decided on a course of action. Since none of us has ever experienced this problem before I am afraid that we are left with, only the last resort. You must contact the Organizer.”

“The Organizer!” Scott is chilled, “He sounds intimidating. Tell me more about this Organizer.”

“Well,” Natalie continues, “I have never really met him. In fact, I do not know anyone who has. I had nearly forgotten all about him, but he is there behind the last door at the end of the corridor. Legend says, that if ever there is an unsolvable problem one must see the Organizer, and you fit that criterion.”

With breakfast over Natalie leads Scott to the corridor. “I must get to work now Scott so please listen carefully. All I know about reaching the Organizer is for you to continue up the corridor until you see a golden door. It is there that you will find the Organizer. That is all I can say except, good luck.” She kisses him lightly on the cheek.

Scott takes a step to leave, then turns. “If I make it back, will you be here waiting?”

“I will be here,” Natalie whispers. Wiping away a trickling tear, she turns and starts back along the corridor to her office.

Scott is determined to get to the truth and return to Natalie. He passes several doors on his journey, all-the-while, the light continues to slowly intensify. Finally, he spots a tall figure wearing a white robe standing by the largest door yet. It is brilliant gold with a clear crystal doorknob. The intimidating figure speaks. “I have been expecting you, Scott.”

“You have?” Scott replies in a subdued menial rasp, again he is bewildered.

“Yes, if you had waited any longer, it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

“I don’t understand are you, The Organizer?”

The ominous figure beckons him closer. “Yes, I am,” the thundering voice chills Scott to the bone. The Organizer opens the golden door and bids him to enter. Scott cautiously does and sees a large office with an excessively big desk and phones everywhere. There are big ones, little ones, red ones, blue ones, yellow, pink, and orange. Some are on the desk and some on the walls and shelves. Most of the phones are ringing and in all manner of tones.

Scott steps back into the corridor and the Organizer shuts the door. “Do you know what is happening to me Mr. Organizer? What did you mean when you said if I had waited any longer it would not have mattered?

“It wouldn’t have mattered Scott because this entire world is about to end, kaput, over.”

“Stunned Scott has but one thing on his mind, you mean everything including Natalie?”

“I am afraid so Scott. Let me try and explain it to you in lay terms. I know in your world you have heard the ancients refer to the phrase, a circle within a circle. What you do not know is they were describing how the cosmos work. It is a metaphor meant to be handed down through the ages. It means a world within a world or parallel universes. Within you there is another world, this world and so it goes on and on. Each world is indivisible and controlled by the five senses. Sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. The people in each plane of existence, such as Natalie, are as real as the people in the world you come from. Without them you could not exist and visa-versa.

You were at a party after a long hard week, and you had a few drinks. The key was the strange taste of the green drinks you consumed. When you fell asleep on the couch you traveled via your sub-conscious mind back along your sense of taste into the world within your own body. That is why you ended up in Natalie’s department. She heads up the sense of taste. You might just as well have landed on any one of the other four sense’s doorstep.”

Scott considers for a moment, “Well that’s simply great Mr. Organizer. My life is not going so well in my other world so why don’t I just stay here? I already have a terrific girlfriend. I could start all over.”

“Not so fast, Scotty my boy, why do you suppose all of those phones in my office are ringing off the wall?” Scott makes a dumbfounded gesture.

“Well, I will tell you why. Those are the organs calling in and I mean all the organs in your body. They are starting to shut down. My friend, you are dying. Remember that you are now here and no longer command the earthly resources that supplied your organs. The chain reaction that follows will annihilate all of us and it has already begun. I know because I am the Organ Supervisor, the Organ-izer for short.”

Scott realizes that he is the pivotal key to the whole operation. He longs to run back down the corridor, back to Natalie’s door. Who cares?

Dying in her arms would be better than a life without her, but he knows that it would be unforgivable. He must go back to his own world if only to save her.

“What do I do, Mr. Organizer, how do I get back and save our worlds?”

For the first time the Organizer sounded unsure. “I do not know if there is enough time, the phones are getting weaker, much weaker. Their volume is controlled by the health and strength of the organs.”

Scott is adamant, “I can make it. Tell me Mr. Organizer what must I do?”

The Organizer senses the gallantry in Scott’s voice. “Ok Scotty, I think you just might have the right stuff. The light is beginning to fade. Hurry! Go up the corridor son and catch the light. Be One with the Light.”

Scott hurriedly begins his trek again. The light seems always just beyond his grasp. He walks faster and faster; but the light continues to dim and move away. He begins to run, faster and faster. He runs until he thinks his lungs will burst. Finally, with a last frantic lunge Scott closes his eyes and desperately dives straight into the diminishing light.

When he slowly opens his eyes again, he hears music and discovers that he is back at the party. He is wearing his evening clothes and is sitting on the familiar couch. He spies Denise coming towards him with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

“I am so glad we found you Scotty. Here is that someone special I wanted you to meet.”

Scott takes a closer look at the beautiful woman. “Natalie it’s you.” With a mutual kind of recognition, they caress, with lips touching lips.

Lad