| "And, you wouldn't have believed that Marla was | | | | good things do not have to come to an end. All good |
| willing to forgo all she held dear to spend a lifetime | | | | things can get better. |
| with an itinerant musician. You should have seen her | | | | Where there's a 'good' there's a 'better' and where |
| then. Willing to give up everything for the love of a | | | | there's a 'better' there's a 'best.' All good things |
| man." | | | | continue only if they change. You'll know this when |
| "So, was that wrong?"I asked. "Don't you both | | | | you discover the one great secret of the universe." |
| deserve happiness in whatever way you choose?" | | | | After a slight pause, Gideon took a sip of his coffee |
| "Of course, it wasn't wrong," replied Gideon,"it's not a | | | | and continued, "Life is forever. It flows through time |
| matter of right or wrong. It rarely is. It was just that | | | | and space, sometimes slowly, other times much |
| I was caught up with the seeming pleasures of the | | | | faster depending upon your perception of time. It's a |
| moment and thought they would last forever. I | | | | journey, not a destination. Life is not the candle nor |
| nearly forgot my mission and why I was here. The | | | | the flame. It's the burning." |
| same is true for Marla. We discussed the situation | | | | "And there will be others like Kimberly, other times |
| and our feelings at length. The Chief helped us each | | | | and places of adventure and hope," Marla added. |
| time.We've grown through those experiences and I | | | | "You'll meet parts of your soul everywhere you go. |
| rather suspect that there will be other, similar ones." | | | | And every bend in the river is an indication that life is |
| "Isn't it a pity that all good things must come to an | | | | forever flowing." As I sat with these two special |
| end?" I asked. "My life with Mardai, for example, | | | | friends, I still found it hard to believe that even souls |
| vanished into thin air, family and friends disappeared; | | | | so advanced as they are still faced with emotional |
| new relationships developed as old ones faded away. | | | | choices - eternal pains and pleasures of life. The |
| A Kimberly appears for an evening, a dynamo of | | | | journey never ends. |
| energy, passion and joy. Here this moment, gone the | | | | As we leisurely strolled back to the hotel, the echo |
| next and all good things come to an end." | | | | of the rhythmic waves crashing against the island |
| "Law of change, John," said Gideon, "all growth | | | | crags sent forth a healing stream into the rivers of |
| consists of change. No change, no growth, only | | | | my mind. Yes, all good things. . . . |
| stagnation. Everything comes to pass. And No! All | | | | |