This is a story about the inevitable loss of our youthfulness and how to deal with aging. We can become a recluse, or we can start a new life with someone we love no matter how old we are. I would marry an 80-year-old blind paraplegic if I fell in love with her heart. Love is about giving, not getting.
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When Eagles Soar
Hollywood isn’t the best place to meet
someone when you’re a celebrity. The callous paparazzi are everywhere, staking
out the popular restaurants and hotels and cruising the streets.
They
are worse than vultures.
To
spot celebrities, they research the type of cars they drive and even the breed
of dog they take for a walk. Sometimes these leeches sit for hours behind their
telescopic lenses, merely to get a shot of a celebrity letting the dog out. And
it doesn’t matter if you’re an aged has-been, the paparazzi delight in selling
photos of aging celebrities. It’s something for the public to laugh at or pity.
It
was to avoid these vultures that Rachel, once the most popular screen actress
of all time, chose a restaurant on the outskirts of Hollywood to meet me, Tony Allen.
I am still her most ardent fan, and I waited patiently in a private dining room
for her arrival. She appeared, wearing oversized sunglasses and a broad-brim
hat that shaded her heavily-wrinkled face.
Rachel
smiled a heart-breaking smile for me. It was a genuine smile, not the forced
kind that most movie stars put on for their fans. She was never a fake or
egotist like the others. I pulled her chair out for her to sit and kissed her
on the cheek before I sat down.
“You
leave me breathless every time I see you, Rachel. You know I still love you and
think you’re as beautiful as ever.”
“Hogwash
on the beauty part, Tony.” She giggled. “But thank you for lying.”
“Beauty
isn’t just on the outside, Rachel, and millions of your fans still consider you
beautiful. You’re an American institution from the glory days of Hollywood.”
“I’m
more like a relic, Tony. It’s why I’ve been a recluse for the last 25 years.
The lights, the camera, and the adulation of the fans are just fading memories
now. It was all vanity on my part anyway.” Rachel lost her smile and stared at
the tablecloth.
“You’re
wrong, Rachel. Everyone wants to love and to be loved. If that’s vanity, we all
need more of it in this world. You brought joy to millions of fans and they
still love you, so don’t feel guilty over being a movie star. The limos and the
glamorous lifestyle you led weren’t ego trips, at least not for you; they were
rules you had to play in the movie industry and the fans expected it.”
“I
admit I personally enjoyed the attention.” She flashed a short smile and
looked directly into my eyes.
I
reached across the table to squeeze her vein-laden hand. “As indeed you should
have; you gave of your talent and you got something in return without asking
for it. That’s what life and success is all about, Rachel.”
“Well,
perhaps you’re right, but my youth and those days are gone forever.” Rachel
lowered her eyes to avoid my look of sympathy.
I
was moved by her sadness, but I had a plan. “How would you like to be young and
on the big screen once more?”
“Why,
that’s impossible.”
“Nothing
is impossible if you strongly believe in it. Look into my eyes, Rachel. Just relax
and look deep into my soul,” I said.
“Okay,
I’m relaxed.” She decided to play along.
“Now
close your eyes and open your mind to what I’m telling you.” I spoke in soft,
repetitive phrases until she was in a deep trance. “Visualize yourself as a
young eagle, effortlessly soaring through the sky with me to the premier of
your latest movie. We’ve landed now, Rachel, and you have transformed into the
elegantly-dressed young movie star you’ve always been. The chauffeur is now
opening the door of our limo and we step out to greet your cheering fans. You
are 27 years old, radiant in the bloom of youthfulness, and you’re holding my
arm as we walk down the red carpet past the fans and clicking cameras. You’re
wearing a glittering red gown with a flowing trellis when a fan hands you a
bouquet of red roses.”
I
watched Rachel’s eyes move beneath her closed eyelids and saw the streams of
tears trickle down both cheeks. Her smile was simply captivating, as it had
always been. Then she spoke of her fans.
“Tony,
I love them all.”
“And
they love you, Rachel, as I do.” She leaned over to kiss me while imagining in
the trance that she was entering the theater. She sat in the front row,
surrounded by Hollywood’s biggest stars. “This movie is certain to garner an
Academy Award for you, Rachel,” I whispered.
Though
Rachel’s eyes were closed, she held tight to my arm in our private room,
watching the imaginary screen inside her own mind. As I suggested to her, the
movie began with an 8-year-old actress portraying the childhood days of
Rachel’s on-screen character named Rebecca. The movie began to follow Rebecca’s
life and career—from a child raised on a Texas farm to an acclaimed actress, to
her marriage and children, and to the loss of her husband in a plane crash. The
final scene shows the lonely life that Rebecca has lived for the last 25 years
of her life. Old and gray now, she gets an occasional visit only from her great
grandson.
“What’s
it like to get old, grandma?” her grandson Timothy asks.
Rachel’s
on-screen character smiles. It was a rude question, but something one can
expect from an inquisitive and innocent child. She stroked his hair, as she
paused to collect her thoughts. “It’s like taking a long trip, Timmy. Like when
you return home from a trip, tired, but with lots of souvenirs and stories to
tell. Funny stories, sad stories, and lessons to share with others.”
“What
kind of lessons, grandma?”
“Well,
the greatest lesson I’ve learned is that old age is nothing to be ashamed of,
and that death itself is nothing to fear. So, when you near the end of your
journey, which will be a long, long time for you, don’t be sad. Instead, be of
good cheer because afterwards you’ll renew your youth and fly again on the
wings of eagles.”
Timmy
stared at Rachel for a moment, not yet old enough to comprehend. “I gotta go,
grandma, see you later.”
“Bye,
Timmy; Granny needs to rest now.”
The
final scene in the movie shows Rebecca sleeping peacefully in her rocker as the
camera sweeps outside her home. A lone eagle flies out and meets a dozen others
in the heavens. Her deceased earthly loved ones had been waiting for her.
I gave Rachel a post-hypnotic suggestion
to wake up happy and refreshed, with full knowledge that the movie was a
hypnotic dream I’d crafted for her. On awakening, she wrapped her arms around
me and kissed me.
“Thank
you for that wonderful dream, my dear friend. I’m going to call my old
publicist and tell him to schedule a news crew for my first public appearance
in 25 years. I’ll no longer hide my face; I want to tell them the same message
about old age and death that Rebecca gave her great grandson.”
“Don’t
make that call, Rachel,” I said.
“Why
not?”
“Because
I’ve called a producer I know and presented a script for a movie; you will be
the star and appear at the end of the movie.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes,
Rachel. Let’s just deliver your message about aging on the big screen.”
“You
are truly my dearest of friends!”
“I
know, and for the 50th time will you marry me?”
` “Yes,
a thousand times yes!”
“Good,
now hold out your pretty hand and let me slip on this engagement ring.”
The End
Copyright © 2018-2019 by Ken Pealock
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