The Changing of the Guard: Death Knell

They came from everywhere, the US, Canada, Mexico, and overseas as well.  The line wound for miles through the streets of D.C., leading to the Capitol Rotunda, where The Box lay in state, open to the public for viewing. The Box was unassuming in nature, looking rather like a crate that had been unloaded from a ship, made of wood with a lid that required nails or screws to hold it in place. Approximately 4' by 6' in size, the lid was now off, and the people strolled by one by one to look inside it. But things were quite different when you looked inside the Box, yes indeedy, they really were...

When one peered inside The Box, it appeared to have no bottom. In murky blackness, you saw items, many items floating around. There were not any neat stacks or labels, you had to watch each item float by, and make sense of it as best you could. An old lady stood by The Box, she watched as a bible and a rosary came into view, and then a picture of Elvis and one of Marilyn Monroe, and then an old picture of her long dead husband [ I wonder where they got that? ], she mused. There was a pick-axe and a hoe, and she remembered starting her first garden with implements like that. Next an old newspaper floated by, it's headline screaming that JFK had been shot in Dallas, and then a photo of Martha Stewart, looking not so quite "good thing" in a prison uniform. Next was a "Radio Flyer", with a rugged-looking young boy pulling around a precious little girl in it, and then there were horrific videos of people dying as bombs exploded around them, and of jetliners flying into buildings, and a snapshot of a mushroom cloud, soaring high into the sky. And then, she thought she saw twinklings in the murky blackness, seeming celestial bodies swimming in a pitch-black ocean. A gaseous nebula popped into view, the shape of it reminded her of someone she thought she knew, but she couldn't remember who it was, and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

With a start, she looked up and moved away, thinking that she had been looking in The Box for a really long time, overstaying her welcome. But, as she moved off, she looked at her watch, and saw that she had only been there for five seconds....

And so it went on, for a month or more, the people strolling by for their time with The Box. There had been multiple security forces very visible at the start of the viewing, but now there were none to be seen, this having happened after some of the CIA and FBI and Homeland Security types had gazed into The Box themselves. Down on his ranch in Crawford, reporters asked President Bush "how he had managed to orchestrate" such a tremendous event, but the President remarked that he had had "very little personal involvement" with it, and that "some of his aides" had taken care of it for him. When asked if he had visited The Box himself, he said, "Why, no, I have many pressing matters to take care of you know", and then stopped taking questions, saying he had "an old, sick tree that needed to be chopped down", and moved out onto his ranch. The reporters left, in a hurry to get on their phones and file their stories, but most relaxed a little after leaving the ranch, and decided to stop at a little dance hall outside of Crawford, and drink some Lone Star Longnecks, and get pleasantly drunk....

The next day, at noon, the viewing of The Box was over, although there were still miles of people in line waiting to see it. But, they didn't mind, they had all heard the stories of what was in The Box, and they all had their own nuances about it, and all were happy, for they could sense closure coming. At noon, the line stopped, without anyone having told them to do so, and six congressional pages picked the box up and placed it on a four wheel trundle, and pushed it to the Lincoln Memorial, closely followed by the throng of people. No one had been by the Memorial lately, it not having been the center of attention in recent weeks, but upon arriving there, the people saw that a ramp had been constructed from the top of the building to the reflection pond below. The ramp was connected to a construction elevator in the rear, and upon this elevator The Box was placed. Somehow, somewhere, in the proceedings, someone had tied former Representative Mark Foley to the top of the box, he smiled gleefully as the elevator rose up. The bells in church towers and other auspicious places began to ring all over the world, Big Ben in England began to chime, cuckoo clocks in houses and grandfather clocks as well started their melodies, although no one bade them do so. When the elevator reached the top, it pitched forward, sending the trundle down the ramp. Just before it hit the water, Mr. Foley was heard to remark, "YEE-HAW", and then all was gone in a tremendous splash....

The masses gathered around the site stood silent, although many had come expecting to cheer when The Box hit the water. Instead they lit candles and cigarette lighters and matches, and held them up in the air. Indeed, this happened the world over, and no telephones rang, and no radios or TV's spewed their noise, and everyone in cars cut their engines off. The only thing that remained was the knelling of the bells, and the silence of the people.

At once, the bells stopped ringing, and a soft voice surrounded everyone, a voice seeming to come from nowhere, but yet everywhere, at the same time.

"It is time for my people to come home", the voice said.

THE BEGINNING