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Show 7n Later, I learned that others had felt the heavenly quality, speaking as though the room itself had been transported to a higher plane of being, and that they, too, had shared a singular, commemorative moment with my father, establishing their, love-bonds with him. When we pulled up before the house, I sat dumbly until Brain carried Janelle inside. I followed slowly and stopped in the livingroom. Suddenly I sank to my knees, closing my eyes as if in prayer. Only I wasn't praying, not exactly. I felt disembodied, the mood of the evening overwhelming my senses. My arms began to tremble and my chest was too tight for breath and then suddenly filled. Again, I had the sensation of being lifted to great heights. I was overpowered with a soft,whirling radiance. Then I saw my father sitting on a shining throne. His silver hair had grown long and full, like the mane of a lion. His eyes were piercing as ever, yet benevolent. He motioned to me and held out his hand for me to sit beside him. I came closer. He motioned again and nodded at the figure on his right, a small person encompassed by his arm. Then I saw that he was giving the figure to me. And I saw that it was Brian, his Marine uniform stained with blood, his eyes crazed and limned in red, his face scarred by panic and terror. He was giving me Brian! My eyelids opened, but the frightened face was still there and then I realized that it truly was Brian who knelt before me in his grey three-piece suit, his face concerned, asking what's the matter, and then I knew that it was 1977 and that the war was nearly over, the blood spilled there at last atoned for through some mysterious force of |