It Was 2020

The man in the suit suddenly stands still. The only thing that moves are his eyes as he looks intently at an elderly man sitting at a bus stop a few feet in front of him. There doesn’t seem to be anything special about him. He has on a green cap, a light brown jacket, red and black plaid shirt, and blue jeans.

The man in the suit watches as a glowing leaf appears above the old man, floats down, and gently touches his forehead. Not once is the leaf swatted, pulled at, or acknowledged in any way. The leaf emanates a bright blue light and disintegrates on the old man's forehead. The lone member of Theoth-E.R.S. watches quietly; a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

Kay thinks to herself, “What the hell did I just see?”.

In the split second it takes her to form this thought, the old man's body briefly twitches. He sprints into the street where he is promptly flattened by an oncoming transit bus! The bus drags his body 20 yards before the driver screeches to a stop.

As the driver plunges down the stairs, he screams,

“I didn’t see him. I was talking to my passengers. It was an accident! Oh my God! What have I done?”

The driver squats next to the mangled old man and gently lays his unkempt and bloody hair flat. “I am so sorry.” he says, as he closes the poor old man's remaining eye.

The driver speaks with police about the incident. Kay notices that he doesn’t get a ticket and he’s not arrested. She tries to tell the officers about the man in the suit, his affiliation with Theoth-E.R.S., and the leaf, but they are not interested in her story. It is then that Kay notices the man in the suit is gone. She never saw him leave, and none of the other members have come out of the building.

Kay is having a serious crisis of conscience. On one hand, it’s the last day of her trip. It’s not like she can help a dead man. She did try to talk to the cops after all. If she heads to the Olbrich Botanical Garden she can finish her weekend on a high note. She’d call the cops when she got back home and ask them if they had heard anything about this group, Theoth E.R.S. Kay decides to finish her trip as planned. One final thought crosses Kay’s mind.

“I’ll talk to my family about it later. Maybe they have a logical explanation. In the meantime, perhaps I can get some winter flower photos. I hope that nice elderly man doesn’t hang around as a ghost. Talk about a rough start to your afterlife.”

The day is young and she needs to stay on task. Death may not take a vacation, but she did and by God she is intent on enjoying every minute of it.

There are 16 acres of lush, blooming gardens on display and Kay is intent on discovering how the bark, berries, evergreens, and the Thai Pavillion stand out in the snow during the winter.

While Kay is enjoying a stroll through the 16 acres that is the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, the bus driver has finished his route.