1
Jack Casey had to learn to be Mason Alexander in every respect. He was determined that nobody would ever find out about his true identity. He had total, vivid recollection of Jack Casey’s whole life. At only three years of age, everything had suddenly come back to him and he understood why Fred Stoner haunted his dreams. The first priority of his life was to find a way to get rid of Fred Stoner forever.
He tried everything he could think of, yet nothing worked. It took him until he was four years old to finally figure it out. All he had to do was remember how that bastard Fred Stoner tried to take that gold bullion away from him. The anger and rage that manifested itself justified the murder of Fred. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that Fred deserved to die; maybe even begged to be killed. That did it! The nightmares gradually went away.
With his biggest problem disposed of, Jack set about dealing with this Mason character. The whole key to protecting his secret was to eliminate Jack from the equation. He began to think of himself only as Mason. He repeated it to himself over and over. He spoke the name Mason out loud whenever he was out of earshot. It was a simple problem with a simple solution. Rote was all it took to finally make him comfortable with the name Mason. And one day, without any particular effort, Jack became Mason.
Mason knew from the time he turned four that he possessed the knowledge that could make him immortal. He was so aware of the value of this incredible knowledge that he decided he must never ever risk divulging it. He made a conscious effort to draw no attention to himself at all. He had to be just like everyone else around him. That was the only way to insure he could make maximum use of the power his knowledge brought him. And so, Mason Alexander became invisible.
.....
Elliot and Lori Alexander were proud of their son. He had been an astoundingly fast learner in his early years, but extremely troubled too. Then he began to change. He calmed down and began to seek out the company of other children. He did all the things that the other children did; watched TV, colored with crayons, played with toy soldiers, and even got into his fair share of mischief. He abandoned all of his obsessive cravings to learn. He was pretty far advanced from the beginning, so he just idled through a year or two as the other children caught up to him. From that point forward, Mason was just a normal, healthy boy. To Elliot and Lori the change in Mason was the greatest miracle of their lives.
Elliot was hardly ever home by the time Mason was ready to start school. The chain of appliance stores was up to eleven at that point, and Elliot sometimes spent twenty to twenty-five days a month away from home. Lori compensated by spending as much time with Mason as she could. The two of them became more than just parent and child; they became best friends.
.....
“Tomorrow’s the big day, Mason,” Lori announced. “What do you want to wear on your first day of school?”
“I don’t know,” Mason replied. “What will the other kids wear? Maybe I could wear my jeans and the Christmas sweater that Grandmom bought me.”
“You’ll have to be ready by eight tomorrow morning,” she advised. “Let’s put out some clothes tonight for you to wear. How does that sound?”
“Good. Is Dad coming home tonight?”
Lori shook her head. “No, Mason. I know you wanted him here for your first day of school, but he’s going to be away until Thursday.”
“How come he’s always away, Mom? All the other kids’ fathers are here all the time. I wish he was here too!”
“We’ve been through this many times, Mason. You know the answer. Maybe things will change when Daddy’s finished growing the business.”
“I hope so,” Mason commented. “I want a father like everyone else.”
.....
Kindergarten was fun for Mason. He made more friends than ever before and learned to get along with other children in all sorts of activities. He always waited patiently for his turn to do something, and was always respectful and cheerful with his teacher and the other children. He never got in fights like some of the boys did, and he was probably the most obedient child in the class.
Parent visitation day came only a month after school started. It was one of the rare occasions when Elliot was home, and Mason was delighted that everyone at school would get to see his father. The three of them drove over after dinner and walked into the classroom.
“Hello, Miss Block,” Lori greeted. “I’m Lori Alexander, Mason’s mother, and this is my husband Elliot.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Miss Block responded, “and I’m glad to see you both could make it. Why don’t you let Mason show you his busy-box? Afterwards he can play with the other children while you and I have a brief talk.”
“Wonderful!” Lori agreed.
The busy-box was a cardboard box with “Mason” printed on the side. It contained drawings and crafts that he had made. There were also several sheets of wide-lined paper with rows of printed letters. Lori and Elliot raved about how wonderful Mason’s work was, and he seemed too proud for words.
When they had examined every last item in the busy-box, Mason ran off to the play-corner while Elliot and Lori went to talk with Miss Block.
“Call me Patty,” she urged. “I hear ‘Miss Block’ all day long.”
“Sure, Patty. Then you can call us Lori and Elliot.”
“Mason is doing just fine in school,” began Patty. “But there was one thing I wanted to discuss with you two. It’s not really serious, but I think it’s worth mentioning.”
“Please go on,” invited Lori.
“Mason seems to have a totally submissive personality,” Patty explained. “There’s nothing really wrong with that, but most children show some form of dominant behavior once in a while, even if they are submissive by nature.”
Elliot was noticeably puzzled. “What are you talking about, Patty?” he asked. “I guess I don’t understand the terminology completely. Can you explain?”
“Yes, Elliot. Mason never volunteers for anything. He never raises his hand first to answer a question, or begs to be team captain so he can choose the other children for a team. He always wants to be picked by someone else, told what to do, and called on without raising his hand. I’m not absolutely certain that there’s any cause for worry, but my training taught me to look for these kinds of characteristics in children. It could be a sign of emotional problems, and it could be nothing at all.”
“What do you recommend?” asked Lori.
“Nothing at all,” Patty assured them. “My purpose in telling you this is simply to alert you to watch Mason and keep your eye out for any sign of problems. Lots of emotional problems can best be solved when a child is young. Other than that, I must tell you that Mason is a pleasure to teach and to talk to. He really gets along well with the other children too. Let’s leave things on that positive note, please. As for my other comments, it’s just my job to keep a watchful eye on every pupil.”
“Well, thanks for the talk. We really appreciate your candor,” Lori lied.
.....
That night Lori and Elliot discussed the meeting as they got ready for bed.
“I hope Mason is all right,” Lori commented.
“Oh, he’s just fine,” Elliot insisted. “I’m sure Miss Block is just exaggerating a bit.”
“How the hell would you know?” Lori blasted back. Elliot stood there stunned and Lori saw his reaction. “I’m sorry, Elliot” she apologized. “I’m just letting off some steam.”
“Okay! Put it on the table!” he demanded.
“It’s just that you should be home raising your son instead of building new stores all the time,” she complained.
“I’m building those stores for you and Mason,” he argued.
“Oh, bullshit,” she yelled. “You’re doing it for yourself. Mason and I don’t want your money; we want your time!”
Elliot was silent. Lori seized the opportunity to get a few more words in.
“And I’ll tell you something else, Elliot. Miss Block is right about Mason. I’ve been thinking about what she said and she makes sense. I think Mason has been a follower ever since he was around three. Do you remember how advanced he was before that?”
“Just go ahead and blame it all on me,” he countered. “I suppose if he catches a cold it’s because I brought the germs home from my Fairfax store or from Washington.”
“Just please forget what I said. I didn’t mean to start a fight, Elliot. Miss Block just made me feel overly sensitive.”
“Me too,” he agreed. “I’m sorry. Let’s stick to the subject of Mason.”
“I’m probably overreacting,” Lori admitted, “but she’s right about Mason. I guess what bothered me was that I just assumed it might be because Mason lacks a full-time father figure in his life.”
“Do you think that’s really true?” asked Elliot.
Lori could see that Elliot was genuinely concerned. She tried not to upset him again. “I certainly do appreciate the business you’ve built for the family, Elliot. You’re a wonderful provider and a great husband. I just wish there was a way that you could spend more time with us. I would gladly live with a third of the money if we could have you full time.”
Elliot humbly looked down at the floor and admitted, “I really don’t like being away so much. Maybe I should try to do things a little differently.”
2
In the second month of Kindergarten, Miss Block scheduled a class trip to the zoo. When he brought the permission slip home, Mason was so excited that Lori felt compelled to do something special for the occasion. She bought him a cheap point-and-shoot camera to bring with him on the trip. She even got him a practice roll of film that she promptly got developed after he took pictures around the house. They discussed the results of that first batch of pictures and Mason learned what he had done right and wrong. He couldn’t wait for the opportunity to photograph the zoo animals and tell his parents all about the trip to the accompaniment of his very own photographs.
On the day of the trip, Mason proudly boarded the bus with his lunch box in one hand and his camera in the other. When the bus arrived at the zoo, Miss Block and one of the classroom-mothers guided them through the admission gates and led them on a pre-planned tour. Mason knew he only had twenty-four pictures on his roll of film, so he was very careful to take only one picture at each of the major exhibits. At lunchtime, they ate outdoors in the grove near Monkey-Island. Mason checked the camera and saw that he had thirteen shots left, and he decided to use them all in the afternoon’s scheduled visit to the baby animal petting zoo.
Miss Block had put everyone on the buddy-system for the trip, and Mason’s partner was his school-friend Jeff Groves. As the two of them meandered around the baby animals that afternoon, Jeff snatched the camera out of Mason’s hand and clicked the shutter while he held the camera out of Mason’s reach. Mason was devastated. Jeff had wasted a perfectly good picture, and right before Mason’s eyes Jeff advanced the film and wasted yet another frame. Mason grabbed for the camera and Jeff yanked it back out of reach. As it swung behind Jeff’s back, the camera struck a trash container. The back of the camera opened up and the film cartridge fell out on the ground. Mason bent down to retrieve the cartridge, but Jeff’s foot came down and smashed it before Mason could get to it. Mason just stared at the broken film cartridge for a full ten seconds. Then he slowly raised his head and stared right into Jeff’s eyes without saying a word. He stood up and quietly took back the camera while Jeff apologized profusely, explaining that he was just trying to tease Mason and things got out of control. Jeff actually recoiled as Mason took the camera, fully expecting Mason to slug him. But Mason did absolutely nothing to Jeff.
Mason inspected the camera and it didn’t appear to be broken. He bent down and retrieved the crushed plastic film cartridge and put it into his pocket. He slowly raised his head and stared at Jeff with the saddest expression he could conjure up.
“Darn it, Jeff,” he complained. “I really wanted those pictures to show my folks.”
Jeff, still a bit cautious, replied, “Oh, the zoo’s no big deal anyway. My dad takes me here all the time. I’ll take pictures for you the next time my dad brings me.”
Mason didn’t reply. He said nothing more to Jeff the rest of the day.
.....
“How was the trip?” asked Lori as Mason walked in the door.
“Okay I guess. But my camera opened up and the film got broken. I couldn’t take any pictures.”
“Oh, that’s such a shame,” comforted Lori. “Maybe you’ll get back there again in first or second grade. How did the camera open up? Did I load the film wrong?”
“I don’t think so, Mom. It was just an accident.”
Lori hugged Mason and told him, “You’ll have other chances to take pictures, honey. I hope it didn’t ruin your day.”
“It didn’t,” he assured her. “I just wish I could have shown you the pictures. It would have been nice.”
Mason and Lori had dinner together. Elliot was off on business as usual. Mason was particularly quiet during the meal, and Lori could sense how disappointed he must feel.
After dinner, Mason took the camera down the basement to take a closer look at it under the big light and magnifying glass at his father’s workbench. He saw a crack around the latch area of the camera back. He tried to push on it with his finger to see if the crack was big. A piece broke off and fell on the floor. Disappointed, Mason placed the camera in the trash container and sighed.
He walked over to the metal storage cabinet and opened the double doors. He looked back and forth around the shelves, but he couldn’t see too well in the poor light. He got the flashlight from the workbench and shined the light into the cabinet. He read the labels on all the bottles and cans.
.....
The next day, Jeff and Mason were back to normal. They played together at recess and Jeff apologized again.
“That’s okay,” Mason replied. “It wasn’t that great a camera anyway. I think the back was broken on it before you even took it.”
Relieved, Jeff went off to play in the sandbox. Mason chose to do some finger-painting in the free time Miss Block gave them just before lunch.
.....
It was a beautiful Indian Summer day, and Mason was playing on the monkey bars after lunch. The sound of an approaching siren caught the attention of everyone outside. When an ambulance pulled up at the school, Mason and the other children ran to investigate.
“What happened, Miss Block?” asked Cynthia Sommers.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Please stand back and give the men room.”
The rescue unit men rolled a gurney into the Kindergarten classroom and all the children inside were ushered out to allow the men more room to work. Questions were flying back and forth every which way as the children tried to see what had happened. They looked among themselves trying to see if anyone was missing, but the confusion was too overwhelming.
“Stand back, everyone,” commanded the paramedic as the gurney rolled out in front of the children. One of the paramedics was running beside the gurney holding an oxygen mask on the child.
“Who is it?” one of the children asked.
“I can’t see,” another answered.
“Jeff,” shouted Randy. “It’s Jeff.”
Mason ran over to look. “Oh, man!” he yelled. “What happened to Jeff?”
As they loaded Jeff aboard the ambulance, one of the paramedics yelled, “There’s no pulse!” He leaned right over Jeff as the gurney was locked in place and began to administer CPR. “Adrenaline!” he shouted as the rear doors closed and the ambulance sped off, siren wailing and lights flashing.
Things were pretty sullen for the rest of the afternoon. Then, just before it was time for the children to board the bus, the phone rang in the classroom and Miss Block picked it up. The children sat motionless and listened.
“Yes......Oh, God......But how?......” Miss Block’s face went noticeably white and she spoke very softly into the phone, “Okay. I’ll get the children on the bus immediately.......Good-bye.”
She hung up the phone and turned to face the class. Every child’s eyes were locked on hers. She said, “Jeff’s not doing very well, children. Let’s all say our prayers for him tonight.” She couldn’t bring herself to tell them Jeff was dead.
.....
Mason rushed into the house that afternoon, totally out of breath. He told Lori the whole exciting story.
“I don’t know what happened to him, Mom. Miss Block said we should pray for Jeff tonight.” He caught his breath and added, “You should have seen it. The ambulance guys just grabbed him and took him away in a stretcher.”
“Jeff Groves?” asked Lori. “He was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”
“Yes,” answered Mason. “He was even my partner on the zoo trip. Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“Oh, Lord, I hope so,” Lori replied as she shook her head in disbelief.
Elliot came home that evening and Mason rushed over to him as soon as he walked in the door. He started telling the story all over again for Elliot’s benefit, but Elliot immediately interrupted.
“I heard it on the radio on the way home, Mason. Lori, did you hear what they said about it? Some kind of poison, they think. He was dead on arrival at the hospital.”
“Dead?” gasped Lori. “Oh, my God! I didn’t know.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” he apologized. “I just assumed you and Mason knew.” Elliot realized he might have scared Mason with the news. “Mason, are you all right?”
“Yes, Dad. I guess I’m all right. I didn’t know he died.”
Elliot kneeled down and hugged Mason to him. “It’s so terrible, son. I can’t believe you have to find out about death this way.”
Mason just clung to his father as tightly as he could. It felt so nice to be hugged this way.
.....
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Lori whispered as she tucked Mason into bed and kissed his forehead.
“Goodnight, Mom,” he purred back. “I love you.”
“Me too, honey.”
Lori switched off the light and closed Mason’s door on her way out. Mason just lay there staring at the ceiling, thinking of Jeff Groves.
“Why do people think they can take my stuff?” he whispered to himself.
.....
The autopsy revealed a massive dose of a rather uncommon poison in Jeff Groves’ stomach, and concluded that it had been ingested with the boy’s lunch. The police searched the Groves’ residence as well as the Kindergarten classroom for any trace of poisonous substance. The police lab finally traced the poison to the milk in Jeff’s thermos bottle, and verified that the source was other than the milk container at the Groves’ house. The death was immediately ruled a homicide.
Interrogations began of the family members and Miss Block. Then the police interrogated the children and learned that most of them had been with Jeff at one time or another during the morning, and that about eight or ten of them had access to Jeff’s lunch pail. When follow-up questioning of the children began, one of the fathers objected. He was a young criminal attorney just beginning to feel his oats. He obtained a court order suppressing all evidence gathered during the interviews with the children because their parents had not been notified. This technicality killed the investigation and caused the suppression of all evidence gathered to date. A brief legal battle ensued between the District Attorney’s office and the attorney-father, but the father prevailed.
The District Attorney finally had to hold a news conference to explain why the investigation had to be dropped without finding a suspect. The conference lasted twenty minutes, and all the local news stations aired it that evening.
.....
“This is absolutely preposterous,” Elliot commented as the family watched the evening news. “What the hell is wrong with our legal system?”
“It doesn’t look like they’ll ever figure out what happened,” added Lori. “It’s such a shame.”
Mason told them, “All the kids at school are real scared of the police guys. They treated us all so mean when they were there.”
“Well, in a way it’s good that the cops aren’t permitted to bully people around,” said Elliot, “especially children. But it doesn’t seem like they’re likely to ever catch the person that did this.”
After a few more minutes of discussion, Lori and Elliot decided to get Mason a lunch pail with a lock on it and put the key on a chain Mason could wear around his neck. Elliot went out to Sears that evening and came back with a stainless steel pail with a built-in key lock. It was large and cumbersome, but it made sense to exercise extra caution to keep Mason safe.
That evening Mason went to bed thinking about how he would look carrying that enormous lunch pail. He was afraid all his friends would laugh. Then he thought about Jeff’s death and a smile swept over his face. For a brief instant, the mind of Jack Casey took control. They’ll never figure out how I mixed up that concoction. Mason fell asleep with the vestiges of a smile still clinging to his face.
3
During the Summer before first grade, Mason began to seriously consider what he should do with his life. He was angry with himself about the Jeff Groves incident. It was a totally unnecessary risk that he never should have taken. He knew that it might have destroyed the Mason Alexander segment of his existence. He realized that one or two lifetimes shouldn’t be of concern considering he knew the secret to eternal life, but he lacked patience.
The thrust of Mason’s Summer planning was to figure out two things. First, he needed to figure out exactly how he would go about preventing the cleansing of his memory from lifetime to lifetime. Second, he needed a plan to enable himself to pass wealth along from existence to existence. It was the first of these two things that troubled Mason the most.
Oren had collapsed during the Processing. That was a fortunate coincidence, but one which obviously could never be counted on to occur again. Mason remembered Oren saying that only the souls could pass between the worlds; only souls could pass through the conduits. And he also remembered Oren had indicated that God made mankind responsible for its own destiny and strictly forbid interference.
Mason pondered these facts all Summer long trying to zero in on their full implications. He decided that there was little that the Processors could do about it if he were prepared to jump into the black hole the instant that he arrived in the Processing room. Then he wondered if another soul could be sent after him if he were seen jumping into the void uncleansed. But to do what? What could anyone do to him? Kill him? He’d simply start again if that happened. Besides, nobody could be trusted to go through the void uncleansed. It was forbidden by God. Oren said so, and Mason fully understood why God had made it that way. For Mason there was no doubt whatsoever that an uncleansed returning soul would never allow itself to be cleansed again.
That was it! There was nothing to worry about! But then Mason had a rather troubling thought. It was about the others; the other five that had followed him back to earth uncleansed. Surely they would also exploit the benefits of their common knowledge. Mason wondered if they might compete with him in his quest for wealth. That disturbed him. Competition in such a venture could only serve to harm all six of them.
Six! To Mason, that was a rather unpleasant number. But what should he do about it? Several thoughts passed through his mind. What if he could find them and team up as partners? What if they didn’t want to share? What if Mason didn’t want to share?
Mason thought about the possibility of eliminating the other five entirely. He wondered if they could be done away with without allowing their memories to go with them. He wondered if they could be cleansed right here on earth before their souls ever went back. The more Mason thought about this, the more he liked the idea. But a terrible realization struck him. What if one of the others was thinking the same thing as he was? Was he in danger?
Mason gradually became tormented by the notion that he himself might possibly be in danger. He began to figure out ways he might defend and protect himself should danger confront him. One thing became certain to him; living in fear was an unacceptable way to go through eternity. He had to do something! But what?
By the end of the Summer, Mason had formulated his plans.
.....
First grade began in September. Mason no longer tried to totally blend in with the others in his class. He managed to quickly identify the brightest child in class and matched himself as closely to that person as possible. He was determined to make the most out of this lifetime, but he would not allow himself to be the best or the smartest. It made much better sense to be second best. That way you didn’t have to watch your back all the time.
In his previous life, he never had the opportunity to go to Harvard Law School. A small, mediocre Mississippi law school might have been okay for Jack Casey, but nothing less than Harvard was suitable for Mason Alexander. The law was the only way to go! Managing wealth in a way that would be transferable from lifetime to lifetime would require some very special skills, knowledge and connections. Harvard Law School was a must.
