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Message-ID: <47855asstr$1084792205@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
Subject: {ASSM} JC:Ed Biggers II-21 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi)
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Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 07:10:05 -0400
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=====
Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac


	
		
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<1st attachment, "biggers2-21.txt" begin>

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 21
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Gary and Diana were to meet a young couple by the name of Leon 
and Dora in an upscale restaurant located in the only large town 
within half a days drive of where Ed was staying. In fact, it was 
only about thirty minutes from the cabin. This particular part of the 
country was a very popular vacation spot that attracted young 
couples nationwide and locals living within six hours. The 
downtown area was full of art shops, souvenir stands, clothing 
stores and restaurants. There was a water park and other tourist 
attractions that kept the families busy while the young 
professionals were busy shopping, eating, and drinking.

The evidence was highly suggestive that Leon and Dora were the 
serial killers John had been tracking. It wasn't even sure if these 
were their real names, but something they had told Gary and Diana 
when they first met. Odds were good that these were false 
identities used to cover their tracks. 

Entering the restaurant, Gary and Diana blended easily with the 
rest of the young crowd. The host at the door greeted them with a 
contrived formality. Gary said, "We are expecting to meet Leon 
and Dora here. Do you know if they've arrived?"

The host answered, "You can look around and see if they are here."

Diana looked around the room and then said, "I don't see them."

"Would you like to wait for them at the bar or at a table?" asked 
the man. 

"A table, I think." Gary looked over at the crowded bar.

"I have a corner table if that would be good." After a nod from 
Gary, the host picked up two menus before leading them to a table 
near the corner of the room. 

Donald was pleased to see that Gary and Diana were keeping 
within their role without identifying him as Gary's father or as a 
cop. He seated them with a wink and then handed them the menus. 
While the place wasn't exactly busy at that time of day, the table 
next to theirs was occupied by a young couple. There were actually 
very few empty tables since the lunch hour was just ending.

It wasn't too much later that the couple they were expecting 
entered the restaurant and spotted Gary and Diana in the corner. 
The young couple pointed to them and followed the host to the 
table. After handing them a pair of menus Donald went back to his 
station. 

The conversation around the table started a little slow, but after a 
while it started to flow as Gary and Diana got over their initial fear 
of the situation. Before long, the four were exchanging stories 
about college life. The only interruption in the conversation 
occurred when the waitress came to the table and they were forced 
to take the time out to order their meals. 

After five minutes, the waitress returned to the table carrying a tray 
of glasses and a pitcher of beer. She passed the glasses around the 
table and filled each glass with beer before leaving the pitcher on 
the table. With the kind of fake smile that comes easily to a 
waitress in an upscale place, she told them their food would be 
ready soon.

About the time they finished the first round of beers, the couple 
from the table next to theirs left. The flow of conversation 
continued. Despite what they had heard about Dora and Leon, it 
was very hard to believe that these were the serial killers by how 
they behaved. Leon was charming and attentive while Dora was 
attractive and flirtatious.  

Everyone at the table turned when the host led a man to the table 
next to theirs. This was the last kind of person that one would 
expect to see in this kind of establishment. He was a tall slender 
man wearing cowboy boots, blue jeans, western style shirt, and 
cowboy hat. A huge belt buckle with a face of cut agate completed 
the look of a cowboy too far from the range. Sitting down heavily, 
the man turned to the foursome at the table next to his and said, 
"Howdy folks. Is the food any good?"

The disdain with which Dora looked at cowboy was unmistakable. 
She turned her back on him and said, "What they allow in these 
places."

Looking insulted, the cowboy said, "Just trying to be neighborly. 
Don't have to get your panties in a bind."

The foursome at the table gave each other looks suggesting that 
this old timer was definitely in the wrong place. Ed examined the 
menu, looking over at Dora occasionally as if checking out her 
well developed chest held back by a tee-shirt that was much too 
tight.  His view was momentarily blocked when the waitress 
showed to deliver the food to the table. 

Ed had felt sick from the moment he entered the restaurant. Sitting 
next to the foursome was like sitting in an orchestra pit while they 
tuning up their instruments but with every sound magnified a 
thousand-fold. The lies told as Gary and Diana played their part 
was like chalk scratching a blackboard. That was nothing 
compared to the falsity of Dora and Leon. Their nice facade over a 
black interior ripped into Ed's brain like a chainsaw. 

When the waitress left, Dora leaned forward and put a hand on 
Gary. Diana looked at the woman wondering what she was doing. 
During that moment of distraction, Leon refilled the glasses with 
beer. Ed saw the truth of what was going on. It was hard to miss as 
it struck him like the sound of a cannon fired in his ear. He 
watched Leon slip a pill into Gary's glass. He understood now that 
they would get him drugged and help Diana carrying him out to the 
parking lot where they would nab her.

This was the event for which they had been waiting. Leaning back 
in his chair, Ed gestured a waitress over and said, "I want a 
different table."

The waitress stood there confused by his actions, not knowing this 
was the cue for Diana to leave the table. While Ed made 
increasingly loud demands at waitress, Diana leaned forward and 
said, "I have to go to the little girls room."

With the argument behind her and Diana wanting to leave the 
table, things looked out of control from Dora's perspective. She 
wished that stupid cowboy would just leave so that she could 
concentrate on taking their next victim. After shooting a dark look 
at Ed, she decided that if things didn't get back in control soon that 
she would call it off. She asked, "Would you like me to go with 
you?"

Smiling, Diana answered, "No, please eat. I'll be right back."

As Diana passed by Ed on her way to the ladies room, she looked 
at him with concern. Ed looked very ill. He was pale, sweating, 
and his hands were trembling. The host came over to the table 
where Ed was seated. He took up a position right behind Dora. 
Dismissing the waitress,  Donald looked at Ed and realized that he 
looked very ill. He asked, "What's the problem here?"

Feeling sick to his stomach, Ed was having difficulty playing his 
role. Thinking that the sooner things were over, the sooner he 
would recover, he said, "I want another table."

Responding to the call to arms by Ed, Kip and Wayne entered the 
restaurant the first time he asked for a new table. Now they walked 
over to the table and stood in a position that blocked exit from the 
corner of the room. They had just reached their position when 
Donald asked, "Why?"

As planned Ed was supposed to stand up behind Leon and make 
sure the man couldn't get up. Unfortunately, Ed couldn't stand and 
he knew that he had to make the truth known so that the lies would 
not affect him so strongly. In a voice loud enough to be heard 
around the restaurant, he answered, "Because those two are serial 
killers and just drugged the drinks of that guy over there."

Everyone was surprised at Ed's announcement. It was a major 
deviation from the script. At the shocked looks on the faces of 
Dora and Leon, Ed smiled as the discordant sounds started to fade 
and he felt that he could function again. He said, "Those two men 
are FBI and they are here to arrest you."

Dora tried to get out of her chair, but Don's hand on her shoulder 
held her in place. Surprising everyone, Leon spun out of the chair 
with a knife in his hand. Before Ed even had a chance to react, a 
long slice appeared across his chest. The sudden action and 
surprise that it generated almost allowed the couple to escape. 
Leon pushed Donald into Kip and dashed towards the door. This 
freed Dora to stand up and flee. 

Wounded, Ed threw himself on Dora before she had a chance to 
take two steps. A knife seemed to appear in her hand from 
nowhere. Screaming like a wild woman, she tried to stab Ed while 
he wrestled with her. Gary, realizing the danger Ed was in, jumped 
on her and wrestled the knife away from her. Despite his prompt 
action, he was too late to prevent her from cutting Ed along his 
back. Once the knife was gone, she started scratching and biting. 
Her strength was incredible. Struggling frantically, Ed finally was 
able to flip her onto her stomach where he could grab her arms and 
gain control.

When Kip staggered backwards as a result of Donald falling into 
him, Leon made it past the two FBI agents and raced to the front 
door. Once blood had been shed, other customers in the restaurant 
started screaming and stood in an effort to flee what appeared to be 
a dangerous development. Wayne had drawn his pistol but was 
unable to shoot because of the crowd of people. 

When Leon opened the door to leave the restaurant, there was a 
loud crack as John hit him across the stomach with his walking 
stick. That was the end for Leon as he doubled up and fell to the 
ground. In seconds, Wayne was present to snap the handcuffs on 
him. 

In the main room, Kip put the handcuffs on Dora so that Ed could 
roll off her. As soon as the pressure of Ed was off her back, she 
started struggling to escape. She was giving forth spooky animal-
like screams that sent chills up and down the spines of everyone in 
the restaurant.

As the nausea induced by such a concentration of lies slowly 
passed, Ed climbed off the floor and stood. Blood trickled down 
his chest and back as he rocked from side to side feeling faint. 
Shaking his head, he couldn't believe how hard that woman had 
fought. His face had been scratched and he had bite marks on his 
arm.

Gary and Donald went to Ed and led him to a chair. His breathing 
calmed and the din in his ears faded when the FBI agents took 
Dora and Leon to the car. After taking a sip of his water, he sat 
back only then beginning to feel cuts. Donald had taken two cloth 
napkins and was using them to press on the knife wounds on the 
front and back of Ed. The wounds didn't appear to be deep, but 
they bleed freely when pressure wasn't applied.

When Ed was more composed, he winked at Gary and Donald as 
he said, "John is really in trouble now. I'd hate to be him."

Looking over to see what was the matter with John, neither man 
could see any problem. Worried that he was missing something, 
Donald said, "He looks okay."

Grinning at the blood on his hands, Ed said, "The wives are going 
to skin him alive for letting me get hurt."

Father and son grinned with identical smiles at the joke. John 
walked over and looked at Ed. Shaking his head at all of the blood, 
he said, "I'm really in trouble now."

Gary laughed and said, "That's what Ed just said."

Now that the action was over, Diana came out of the restroom. She 
felt guilty at having left the scene. However, she had done as Gary 
requested and took comfort that she hadn't been in the way. When 
she saw Ed, she paled and nearly fainted. Surprising her, Ed  
smiled and winked at her as though nothing was wrong. She came 
over to the table to see if she could help. Ed looked at her and said, 
"You did everything exactly right. You did what we had planned."  

The local police entered the restaurant and started taking 
statements from the other customers. They had been told that a 
major arrest was going to be made in the restaurant, but that they 
should wait at the end of the street with the other FBI agents until 
called in to establish control. The additional FBI agents took 
charge of the crime scene. The glasses of beer were collected as 
evidence. They would be analyzed to identify what had been put in 
the drinks. The purse that belonged to Dora was bagged and taken 
away. 

Standing next to Ed, John tried to figure out why Ed had deviated 
from the script. Unable to come up with a reasonable explanation, 
he asked, "What happened?"

Shaking his head in disgust at his own weakness, Ed said, "The 
plan was perfect except I shouldn't have been the one at the next 
table. I didn't think that my truth sense would practically cripple 
me like that. I held on until he slipped the pills in the drink and 
then I just had to expose the truth."

Hitting his head with his palm, John said, "I should have know 
that. You must have been in horrible pain. I'm so sorry."

Ed shook his head and replied, "Hey, I helped plan this mess. I 
should have been the host and Donald should have been the 
customer."

Diana, surprised to see the men talking so calmly with Ed 
bleeding, said, "Speaking of pain, why aren't you taking him to the 
hospital?"

John answered, "The ambulance is outside. They'll be here in a 
minute and will take him to the hospital where they will sew him 
up as good as new."

Winking at Diana, Ed said, "They'll haul me off to the hospital 
where some pretty nurse will not tolerate my poor attempts to 
seduce her. As a result, they'll get out their favorite rusty needle 
and sew me up. Then after  tetanus shot, and possibly a full rabies 
treatment, they'll release me. Unless I really angered the nurse. In 
that case, they'll probably lock me up for psychiatric observation."

Diana was dismayed to see them take the injury that lightly. She 
asked, "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Only when I'm asked about it and I can get a little sympathy from 
a cute young lady," replied Ed with a wink to indicate that he 
wasn't serious.

Kip came over to Ed and looked at where Donald was still pressing 
the two cloth napkins against the wound. Shaking his head, he 
asked, "You were cut twice and still caught her?"

Ed said, "There was no way I was going to let her get out of here."

"Damn, that's impressive," replied Kip. 

The EMS personnel finally arrived to take care of the cuts. After a 
quick look, they replaced the blood soaked cloth napkins with 
sterile pads and taped them in place. Ed walked out to the 
ambulance with them, knowing that John would have to stay 
behind to finish the investigation. To his surprise, Donald, Diana, 
and Gary followed behind the ambulance in their car.

At the hospital, they had to wait for the dermatologist to arrive. 
Surprised that they had called in a dermatologist, Ed asked, "Why 
can't you stitch me up?"

Shrugging, the nurse said, "We get a lot of rich folks up here and 
they don't like scars. It's standard practice to call in the 
dermatologist to sew people up. We'd use a plastic surgeon, but we 
don't have one anywhere around here."

Donald and Gary stood there watching while Diana went to get 
some coffee for everyone. Ed looked over at Gary and said, "Gary, 
you did a good job getting the knife from her. She'd have probably 
buried it in me if you hadn't been there."

"Yes, he did," said Donald as he patted his son on the shoulder. 
Pulling him close, he said, "I'm very proud you son. You handled 
yourself like a pro in a very nasty situation."

Gary looked at his father, pleased to hear praise from him. He 
answered, "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot coming from you."

The dermatologist arrived, shuffling into the room looking over his 
glasses at the people gathered there. He was a short man about as 
round as he was tall. A year short of seventy, he had retired to this 
area for the summers and in Florida for the winters. 

He paused to examine the cuts and then went to wash his hands.  
After he returned to the patient, the nurse held out a tray with two 
syringes filled with a local anesthetic. Shaking his head, he poked 
the needle into several places around the wounds. When one 
syringe was empty, he grabbed the other. As he worked, he asked, 
"So how did you get cut?"

Ed answered, "It doesn't really matter."

The nurse went over to a cabinet and prepared the needle with 
suture. The dermatologist looked at the cuts for a minute and then 
said, "Yes, it does. This was done by a knife. Cut like that has to be 
reported to the police."

Donald answered, "The police already know about it. He was cut 
while capturing one of two serial killers."

"Oh, that's what that mess was that I drove by on my way here. 
Restaurant with the parking lot full of police cars, FBI agents, and 
news reporters," said the doctor as he went to work. After making 
a half dozen strange faces, he said, "I take it you were one of the 
good guys."

Laughing at the odd little man, Ed replied, "Yes, I was."

Gruffly, the doctor said, "Don't laugh while I'm sewing. I'm trying 
to make the stitches as close together as possible. You probably 
won't have much of a scar."

Diana returned with the coffee as Ed answered, "It isn't the first 
and probably won't be the last."

While taking the coffee from Diana, Ed was surprised when the 
doctor said, "I'll look at the other scars. Might be able to get rid of 
them. What kind are they?"

"Bullet wounds. I wouldn't bother if I were you," replied Ed.

The doctor tied off the last stitch on the cut in the back. He moved 
around to the front and examined that cut more carefully. This one 
was longer than the one in back but not as deep. He picked up 
another needle and started sewing. Looking over his work, he said, 
"If you get stabbed and shot that often, I'd suggest a different line 
of work."

When Ed tried to take a sip of the coffee, the doctor said, "Stop 
that. You sit there nice and still while I work or I'll sew your liver 
to your backbone. I assure that is not pleasant sensation."

The doctor worked on the wound some more and then asked, 
"What did you say your name was?"

"Ed Biggers," replied Ed looking down at the doctor.

"Oh, are you the one that's married to Dr. Hayes, John Carter, and 
that nurse... Oh what's her name... Kelly?"

Very surprised to be recognized out here in the middle of nowhere, 
Ed answered, "Yes, I'm that Ed Biggers."

"Hmm," said the doctor. He looked up and said, "I was in 
California visiting that Disney Place with my daughter and 
grandson during the big quake there. I spent a horrible day in a LA 
hospital patching up the walking wounded. You guys did nice 
work there. That Dr. Hayes, she's good one."

The nurse looked at Ed in surprise. In the entire time she had 
known the doctor, he had never had much praise about other 
doctors. Ed answered, "Yes, she is."

The doctor continued stitching as he said, "Might be wrong about 
you needing a different line of work. The world needs more people 
like you four."

"Thanks, we just do what little we can," replied Ed. He looked 
over at Diana to see that she was staring at the doctor.

The doctor said, "Well, I heard that you saved over five hundred 
people that day. In my book that's not a little thing. Spending most 
of my career treating zits and removing skin growths of various 
kinds, I can't say that I've saved that many people in my whole 
career."

"Most of the people weren't in that bad of a shape," said Ed.

The doctor hit the medallion and looked it over. When he tried to 
remove it, it slipped out of his fingers. After several attempts, he 
moved it so that it hung down Ed's back. Unperturbed, he said, "To 
Find A Truth, A Lie To Find. Interesting little medallion you have 
there."

"It was a gift from the Two-Sided One," said Ed.

"Who's that?"

"One of the Gods and Goddesses of the Druids," answered Ed. "It 
is a symbol of my service to them."

Almost finished with sewing, the doctor said, "Your husband, John 
Carter, isn't he the Chief Druid?"

"Grand Druid. Yes, he is," replied Ed. 

"Interesting man, he is. Inventor of the Fusion Battery, founder of 
the Fusion Foundation, part-time FBI agent, and Grand Druid," 
said the doctor as he tied off the last stitch. Standing up straight, he 
added, "You've got an interesting family."

Puzzled, Ed said, "You know a lot about my family."

"Even an old geezer like me has to have role models," replied the 
doctor.

Gary was intrigued by the doctor and his manner. It was direct, yet 
distant reminding him in a way of John Carter. He asked, "Is John 
Carter your role model?"

"Hell no! John Carter is a saint. Saints make lousy role models. 
They tend to get burnt at the stake, crucified, or die some other 
horrible death. No, you go to saints for advice," replied the old 
man. Turning, he examined Gary for a minute. He said, "No, 
young man. You want a real person as a role model. Someone that 
is strong at times and weak at times. Someone that when the need 
arises, pulls themselves up and does the best that they can with 
what they have. You don't want a role model that is successful at 
all times, they don't teach you how to act when you are 
unsuccessful."

"So who is your role model?" asked Gary amazed that the doctor 
had dismissed John out of hand.

Smiling, the doctor answered, "Dr. Beth Hayes is my role model. 
She's a normal person, yet in one day she and a single nurse treated 
over five hundred people. Now that's an accomplishment. 
Occasionally, she'll lose a patient. I'm sure Ed will tell you that she 
goes home and cries about it. I know I do. I cry like a baby when I 
loose a Melanoma patient that waited too long before coming in to 
see me. She gets up the next day and goes back in to fight the 
battle."

The doctor walked up to Gary and put his hand on his shoulder in a 
grandfatherly way. Smiling, he said, "Ed can have John Carter as a 
role model, he's a different kind of saint. You, you aren't a saint. 
Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing. You have the potential 
to be great. I can see by looking at you that you discovered that 
about yourself just recently. Pick yourself a good role model. It 
shouldn't the best person in your chosen field, because that isn't all 
that great of a life. Pick someone successful who is happy outside 
of that success."

The doctor turned and left the room saying over his shoulder, 
"Nurse, give him a tetanus shot and bandage him up so that he 
can't stress those stitches. If I know him, he'll run in a burning 
building to rescue someone and ruin all of my work. Come to think 
of it, I probably should have stitched his legs together and ..."

A very amused Ed watched the doctor walk down the hall 
mumbling to himself about the kinds of things he should have done 
to keep Ed stationary. The nurse bandaged Ed without saying a 
word. The fact was, she was stunned at everything she had heard. 
This guy she was bandaging was the husband to John Carter? This 
guy was a saint also? While trying to answer those questions, she 
was cruising on mental auto-pilot. Ed asked, "Is he always like 
that?"

The question roused her out of her distracted mental state. She 
answered, "No. Usually he tells folks that they are fools for having 
hurt themselves."

Smiling, Ed said, "I like him even though he didn't tell me his 
name. Can I get his card?"

"Sure, ask at the desk when you check out. What are you going to 
do with it?"

"I might invite him to Beth's birthday party. He would enjoy that," 
replied Ed.

With card in hand, the group returned to the restaurant to meet up 
with John. When they arrived, the scene had quieted down 
significantly. It was long past lunch time and most customers were 
long gone although there were still a number of official cars parked 
in front. Entering the restaurant, Ed looked around for John. He 
was sitting at a table drinking iced tea while talking to Kip and 
Wayne about the case. 

John looked up and smiled at Ed seeing him walk in with his 
bloody shirt. The tone of his voice conveyed affection as he said, 
"Well, if it isn't the wounded one."

Wryly, Ed replied, "That was fun. Know any war zones where I 
can go to work on my dissertation?"

His comment brought a laugh to the table. Moving stiffly, Ed sat 
down at the table next to John and said, "I'm under doctor's orders 
not to charge into any burning buildings until the stitches are 
removed. He threatened to sew my legs together if I did."

John commented, "Don't tell Beth. She'll do it to both of us."

The group sat around the table talking and drinking iced teas. 
Finally, John said, "Special Agent Kip Caler, I turn this 
investigation over to you. We're going to find us a nice quiet place 
to eat and chat for a bit. I figure that Gary, Diana, and Donald are 
all as hungry as I am."

"What about me?" asked Ed in a mock hurt tone.

"I'm not feeding you. I'm in trouble with the wives because of 
you," replied John with a smile and a wink at Diana.

"I could try to lie and get you in even more trouble," joked Ed 
knowing that it was an empty threat. He couldn't lie without 
experiencing pain.

"The operative word there is try," said John knowing what a 
hollow threat it was. 

John and Ed drove in one car, followed by Donald, Gary, and 
Diana in a second car, to a surf and turf restaurant down the street. 
Entering, the five of them were taken to a table and proceeded to 
order a huge meal. As late as it was, they would probably eat a 
light late night snack rather then a full supper.

Gary had been quiet ever since leaving the hospital. The advice of 
the doctor kept running through his head. He realized that he was 
being given a chance of a lifetime and he felt as if he was letting it 
slip though his fingers. John noticed his silence and said, "Gary, 
you've been quiet ever since this afternoon. Are you all right?"

"Actually, I feel better than I have for a long time," answered Gary 
as he realized the truth of his statement. He had mended the 
relation with his father, protected his girlfriend, and helped take 
out a serial killer. That was a lot of things for a single day.

"So what is the matter?" asked John.

"I just feel like I'm missing an opportunity of some sort, but I don't 
know what it is," answered Gary. The doctor had said that one 
should ask saints for advice, but he couldn't think of a single thing 
to ask about.

After a minute, John said, "Until the opportunity has made itself 
clear, you haven't missed it. Maybe you just need a little quiet and 
a real chance to think about it. Since Ed is not busy for the next 
five days, I think I'll stay around for a few days. Why don't we get 
together to talk in a day or two?"

Donald said, "I'm going to stay another day. This is a nice area and 
I'd like to take advantage of this visit."

Gary asked, "Dad, would you like to go fishing in the morning?"

"I'd love that son, but what about Diana?"

Diana answered, "I've got him all summer. Besides, I would like to 
talk to John and Ed about their views on marriage."

At that, Gary and Donald both reacted and looked at Diana. 
Donald, with a big grin on his face, asked, "Did I hear the 'M' 
word?"

Diana, realizing how it sounded, said, "You heard it, but I didn't 
mean to imply that I was about to put my hooks into Gary."

Gary suggested, "She's already got the hook in me, she's just 
waiting to reel me in."

Diana said, "No, I was just curious about their group marriage. For 
most of their stay here, I've been looking down at them because I 
didn't feel like they were committed to their wives. I don't believe 
that now and I want to understand."

Looking over at Diana, Donald realized that he was curious as 
well. Years spent as a cop had shown him a lot of ugly marriages. 
He had seen it all - couples that fought, families that were 
dysfunctional, and lots of lonely people. How four people could 
live together and be so happy with each other was an interesting 
question. He said, "I'd like to hear how it works as well."

 As if the answer was obvious, Ed said, "We love each other."

Donald said, "So do a lot of other people, but they still have 
problems."

Shaking his head, John said, "No. They don't love each other. They 
think they do, but they don't."

Puzzled by that assertion, Diana asked, "How can you say that?"

"Love isn't an ownership kind of thing. It is wanting to help the 
other person to be the best that they can be. When two people love 
each other, each works to help the other grow," answered John. 

Donald asked, "What happens when they don't grow as you want 
them?"

Smiling, Ed answered, "That is where most people blow it and it 
stops being true love. They think they know best what growth 
means for the other person, but that is an ownership kind of thing. 
You don't own or control the other person. Loving means allowing 
them to grow in their own individual manner."

Nodding his agreement, John said, "That's right. You help them 
grow by supporting them in what they do. You don't dictate or nag, 
you make suggestions. You don't say 'I told you so' when they err, 
but help them pick up the pieces."

Ed added, "You don't sacrifice yourself for them to grow as that 
undermines their ability to help you grow."

Donald crossed his hands across his chest and said, "There an 
awful lot of selfish people out there that can't give of themselves 
that way."

Sitting back in his chair, John looked directly at Donald and said, 
"That is very true. They are incapable of true love and will be until 
someone heals them of that selfishness."

Diana asked, "Ed has a rock hunting friend that he sleeps with. 
That sounds kind of selfish to me."

With an intensity that was shocking, John leaned forward and said, 
"Don't ever limit the ability of another person to love. Love is a 
limitless resource. If you start putting limits on them, then you start 
limiting the love they can show you."

"Oh," replied Diana as she thought about it. Finally, she said, 
"Love might be limitless, but time is finite. The more people you 
get involved with, the less time that you have to spend with each."

"True, but you are starting to make demands upon them that are 
selfish and rooted in ownership. If you like opera and he doesn't, 
why should you require him to go with you to the opera, 
particularly when you know someone that loves the opera as much 
as you? Everyone wins that way. You win because you get to go to 
the opera, your friend wins because they get to go to the opera, and 
the one you love wins because he can spend the time in growth 
activities. When you remove demands upon the other, you are also 
removing demands upon yourself. You can grow," countered Ed.

John said, "Ed came here to write his dissertation because at home 
he would be busy helping all of us in various activities. We wanted 
him to come here so that he could focus on it and complete it. That 
is supporting him."

"You took him away from that the past two days," said Gary.

Smiling, John said, "I called him on this case because I needed his 
help. I knew that he would support me if he could. I didn't demand 
it of him, but asked."

Laughing at the suggestion that he wouldn't help, Ed said, "I would 
have been mad at him if he hadn't called me."

Gary and Diana eyed each other speculatively, each wondering 
what the other thought about this. Noticing the exchange, John 
said, "A couple should talk to each other about what kind of 
marriage they want and what they want from the marriage. It is 
important to be honest."

In agreement with that, Ed said, "We discussed our marriage for a 
year before we got married. We worked out money, lifestyle, and 
responding to temptation. We took into account that we are human 
beings and prone to error. Our marriage is based upon an explicit 
acceptance that we will be tempted and will succumb to 
temptation. You can't be more honest than that."
<1st attachment end>


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