#68.20 - Return to Atlantis contd

What did Plato know?

I return from the interview wondering if I can write it up. I need to find out more, surely? Even for her own protection, I must be able to verify her claims. Perhaps she was speaking metaphorically? Perhaps she was trying to convey a project she was planning. In truth, I was so confused and embarrassed for her I didn't ask her questions, instead I just let her speak. And she was happy to speak, her words spilled forth, as if she had been longing to tell someone this story and couldn't stop. It was such a relief for her. Was she going mad?

When I got home, I received a call from my editor. I didn't know what to tell him. I felt like I had failed in the assignment, I got plenty of good photographs of her house, of her. She sat patiently for me, and obliged every shot. All the time she spoke and I nodded. She also showed me artifacts from around her home. It would seemed she lived through every time.

"Ah yes! That was when I lived in Central Persia. What a time it was!"

"Look, this was bought in Venice, just after the 13th century."

"I visited Antarctica during the 19th century."

She couldn't really be 98, but then, she could be any age, I thought.

I took the call.

"Did you get it?"

"Yes, the interview. I also got lots of great photos."

"Thank god."

"Yes, but listen..."

"She has passed away."

"What?"

"She passed away an hour ago. I had phoned to make sure everything was alright and to tell them to expect the money by this afternoon - but - she's - gone."

"Gone? How can she be gone?"#

"I don't know what to say, but these things happen. She was very old."

"You don't understand..."

"Still, a great scoop."

"No, really, you don't understand."

"What do you mean, don't understand what? Please tell me you got everything."

"I did... but it was... strange."

"Strange - how?"

"Strange as in, she says - said - she came from Atlantis?"

"What do you mean, Atlantis?"

"I don't know what else to say - you can hear it all, I got it on tape -"

Then the phone went dead. I looked at the battery, I had it fully charged. So I dialed again, and couldn't get through. I sent a text saying I was going to transcribe the story and take a look at it. But where would I even begin?

I knew nothing about Atlantis, except that it was swallowed by an earthquake - well, not an earthquake now, as I know it. I don't know. I don't know.

=================================

I am in a garden. It is not a garden I recognise. It has a central arch, like the one in Paris - huge - and many carvings, intricate, very lifelike. It is impossible to tell where the garden ends. It is more like a jungle, but it is not a jungle. It is a garden. The sky is bright blue. I hear running water and follow the sound. It is a stream... I follow the stream up.