Unity (Part One)

The scream shredded the comforting blankets of his dreams. The panic that seized him was akin to that of a parent whose baby has gone missing. He searched the house, flooding it with light as he went. First, he checked the upstairs bedrooms. All was as it should be. Maybe the scream came from downstairs. His heart thudded as he made his way to the living room and then the kitchen. It was only as he was about to check the porch that he realized the scream had been his.

He quivered uncontrollably under the intensity of the emotional tidal wave. Nights like this made him question the direction he took in life. Had it been worth all the loss and turmoil? Rarely did he regret what he had done, but the dream nights brought a sense of despair and longing for what he lost. He missed the days when the future had yet to unfold.

Jim stood by the front window all afternoon. His stomach was performing a routine guarenteed to earn a gold medal for tumbling. He had been promised today was the day. The postman always arrived before noon, but not today, not when Jim was expecting the letter. His friends had received theirs the previous week and he had the confirmation sitting in his email. He still wouldn’t believe it until he had the actual document in hand. Given his skills, he knew how easy email could be spoofed or telephone calls rerouted. It was the actual document on the forgery-proof paper that truly meant his application to the Oklahoma School of Technology was granted.

He nearly fainted when the postman drove past the mailbox. As he stood in shock, the postman backed up, put a large envelope in the box and waved as he pulled away. Jim couldn’t move. It was here, the acknowledgement of all his work and the beginning of his dreams. OST was the only school Jim wanted to attend. There were schools with bigger reputations and longer traditions in the computer field, but they had issues accepting the speed of change in the field. They provided a solid education and background in the history of the field, but only the grad students worked on the new technology. Not at OST, they prided themselves in the number of undergraduate students contributing to the discoveries in the labs. It was the only school to which Jim had applied.