Free The Invitation-kindle by Michael McKinney

them.”
    “It must be difficult for him to travel, confined to a wheelchair”
    “We’ll make him as comfortable as possible.”
    “I’m sure. If it were me, I think I’d rather stay home.”
    “They’ll be glad they went.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Just an intuition,”
    “You’re being mysterious.”
    “Not trying to be,”
    “Well, you must know what you’re doing. The vote on the energy bill is Monday.”
    “Finally.”
    “Do you think it’ll pass?”
    “I think so. I thought it would pass six months ago, but with all this wrangling, it set us back.”
    “I hope so.…Ken,”
    “Yes, Love?”
    “I hate to bring this up, but, when I had lunch with your mother the other day she told me something very strange.”
    “What was that?”
    “She said one night when she was home, she had an experience. This was when she was pregnant with you.”
    “What kind of experience?”
    “She told me that one night she woke up in bed, and there was some kind of light above her.”
    “What kind of light?”
    “She didn’t know what it was, but she said it filled the whole room. Part of it came down and illuminated her body. She could see inside her womb. She said a beam of light focused on you. She could see you inside her womb.”
    “That’s bizarre. She must‘ve been dreaming.”
    “She says it was real. She showed me the nightgown she was wearing. It had a strange burn mark on it.”
    “Are you convinced that she believes it?”
    “Oh, she believes it. There’s no doubt.”
    “She never told me this before.”
    “I didn’t want to mention it, but I thought you’d like to know.”
    “Well I’m glad you did.”
    “I’m mostly concerned for your mother. If the press ever got hold of this, they could make life miserable for her.”
    “Thank you for telling me. Let’s do this: after we get back from Miami, when she comes over again for dinner, we’ll talk about it, just the three of us, and we’ll hear what she has to say.”
    “That sounds good.”
    “Has she told this to anyone else?”
    “No one knows but the three of us.”
    “Well, don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. Tomorrow’s Thursday already,” Ken says.
    “This week has flown by. I can’t believe the Olympics are almost here.”
    “Opening ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, a little after seven.”
    “Why so late?” Carol asks.
    “I guess it’s to maximize TV viewership.”
    “You’ll be going down a day ahead of time with General Croft.”
    “That’s right.”
    “I wish you could stay until Friday. We could all fly down together,” Carol says.
    “I have to go a day early. General Croft and I need to confer with our base commanders to make sure we’re all reading from the same page.”
    “Are you worried something might happen?” Carol asks.
    “I want to make sure we don’t respond inappropriately in case of any harmless intrusion into our air space.”
    “You mean civilian pilots.”
    “That’s right. I don’t want anyone getting hurt by accident.”
    “What time will I meet you in Miami on Friday?”
    “Probably around four. We need time to greet the Mayor, and a Congressional delegation.”
    “So who’s coming with us?”
    “The Vice President, Congressman Kearns, and his wife. That’s it. We’ll all be back by Sunday night.”
    “What time do you leave tomorrow?”
    “A little after nine,”
    “You better get some sleep. It’s been a long day,” Carol says.
    “You go ahead, Love. I’ll be in soon.”
    Receiving a kiss from his wife, the President affectionately bids her goodnight. Sitting back in his chair he calmly settles into a detached, reflective mood. Ken Myers has for his entire adult life been in the habit of ending each day with meditation and quiet introspection. His nightly ritual of personal solitude enables him to disengage from the enervating stress of his demanding routine.
    He finds a rejuvenating solace in these quiet moments. Fully cognizant that his decisions