CHAPTER 18 – UNWANTED CELEBRITY
20:17 (New York Time)
Tuesday, March 5, 1996 ‘C’
Apartment # 4, 607 West 51st Street
Hell’s Kitchen District, Manhattan
New York City, U.S.A.
‘’Let’s see now! Religious cultists dancing in front of our building: check! Nutcases calling to ask to be ‘initiated’ by me: check! Paparazzi army camped on the sidewalk on the opposite side of our street: check! Reporters calling to ask for an interview: check! Studio executives offering me a contract to play a superhero in a film: check! My face being on all the television news programs: check! Priests wanting to exorcise me in public: check! Did I miss anything, Lucy?’’
‘’You forgot the editor of the porn magazine calling to offer you a zillion dollars to appear as a ‘divine’ centerfold in his magazine.’’ answered Lucy, who was sitting with Nancy, Sarah and Erika on their lounge’s sofa and watching their television set, tuned to the CNN news channel.
‘’Right! I forgot that one. That one was a real doozie, though.’’ said Nancy before sighing in discouragement. ‘’When I think that I came to New York simply to study music.’’
‘’Well, at least Carmen is escaping this looniness tonight: she stayed for supper at Ken’s home in Chinatown.’’ said Sarah, who shared with Carmen the apartment under Nancy’s apartment. Just as she finished saying that, the telephone in the lounge rang…again!
‘’I’ll take this one!’’ announced Nancy before getting up from the sofa and going to the telephone, picking up its receiver.
‘’Hello?’’
‘’Am I speaking with Miss Nancy Dows?’’ asked in a business-like tone a female voice.
‘’That’s me!’’ replied Nancy, automatically becoming on her guard.
‘’Miss Dows, this is Christiane Amanpour, from CNN. I suspect that you have already received many calls today from various people and organizations but please hear me out. I am presently at the CNN New York studios on Sixth Avenue, also named Avenue of the Americas, near the corner with West 50th Street, and would very much be honored to interview you, either at our studios or at your home.’’
‘’Well, Miss Amanpour,’’ replied Nancy, switching to Farsi, ‘’I would strongly counsel you to avoid coming to my place, as the street below is full of dancing and singing religious cultists and with also an army of paparazzi waiting in ambush along the sidewalk. My mother likes very much the news coverage from CNN and I also appreciate it, so I accept to be interviewed at your studios. What is its exact address, Miss Amanpour?’’
There was a second of delay on the line, probably because Amanpour had been surprised by her quick acceptance.
‘’Our studios are at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, Miss Dows.’’
‘’Then, I should be there in about twenty minutes at the most. I will see you there. Thank you for calling.’’
Putting down her telephone receiver, Nancy then saw that her three friends were now looking at her with surprised expressions.
‘’You accepted to give an interview, Nancy?’’ asked Sarah Weissman. ‘’But you previously refused at least five requests for interviews by reporters and newscasters.’’
‘’Let’s say that I like CNN over the other channels’ news shows. Well, I better go now.’’
‘’How are you going to get out? The street downstairs is full of cultists, nutjobs and paparazzi who are only waiting for a chance to jump on you.’’
‘’Simple: I will fly out! Let me get my windbreaker, then I will go on the roof of our building and take off from there. I would however need someone to secure back the roof hatch after I go out.’’
‘’I’ll do that, sis!’’ volunteered at once Lucy. Grabbing her jacket, Nancy then went to the staircase at the back of her apartment which led up to both the improvised musical practice room built above the two bedrooms of the apartment and to the roof access, closely followed by Lucy. Once out on the flat roof, Nancy waved goodbye to her sister by adoption.
‘’See you later, Lucy!’’
She then levitated from the roof and flew off, taking the precaution of doing a detour towards the DeWitt Clinton Park in order not to be seen by the cultists and paparazzi waiting along the West 51st Street. With the CNN studios located only two kilometers from her apartment building, it took her less than ten minutes to fly to it, all the while being cautious to fly high enough to avoid the multitude of wires and cables strung above the streets of New York. Her landing on the sidewalk in front of the CNN studios did startle quite a few pedestrians but she hurried inside the CNN building in order to avoid a full-blown incident and went to the reception desk on the ground floor, where a young woman greeted her with a big smile.
‘’Good evening, miss. May I help you?’’
‘’You certainly can! My name is Nancy Dows and Miss Christiane Amanpour is waiting for me.’’
‘’Let me warn her that you are here, miss.’’ said the receptionist, who probably did not realize who Nancy really was. Making a short call and speaking a few words on the phone, the receptionist then smiled again to Nancy.
‘’Miss Amanpour’s assistant is coming down to guide you to her studio, miss. Would you like to sit down while waiting?’’
‘’No, thanks: I will be fine, miss.’’ replied Nancy, who then walked slowly around the lobby to look at the various pictures hooked to the walls. Less than three minutes later, a young man nearly ran out of one of the elevators situated in the back of the lobby and then walked to Nancy, presenting himself to her.
‘’Miss Dows? If you will follow me, please.’’
Nancy followed the man to the bank of elevators, where they took a cabin and went up by two levels before stepping out in a large hallway. Next, the man led Nancy to a recording studio where a pair of television cameras were pointed at a stage furnished with a desk and a sofa. A tall woman in her late thirties came at once to Nancy when the latter entered the studio.
‘’Miss Dows, I am really happy that you accepted to be interviewed by me. I am Christiane Amanpour, international correspondent and newscaster for CNN.’’
‘’Please to meet you, miss, but please simply call me ‘Nancy’. May I call you ‘Christiane’?’’
‘’Of course, Nancy! About the interview I will do with you, do not worry: you are under no obligation to answer my questions if you deem them too personal or inappropriate.’’
‘’I came with an open mind, Christiane. I must however tell you in advance that I have absolutely no connection with the ‘God’ on which the Bible is centered. There is already an army of religious nutcases camped in front of my apartment building and who believe that I am some kind of new messiah, but I am no such thing.’’
‘’Well, you will be able to explain that fact to our viewers during the interview, Nancy. A makeup artist will first apply some touchup on your face, then we will go sit on the stage, in front of the cameras.’’
‘’Will the interview be live or recorded for future broadcasting?’’
‘’It will be live, Nancy. We will however have to wait a bit in order to start the interview at the right time for live broadcasting. However, the wait won’t be long. Let’s go to the makeup room now.’’
Going with Amanpour to a small room adjacent to the recording studio, Nancy sat in one of the barber’s chairs in it and let a makeup artist work her face and hair, while another artist prepared Amanpour. As she was having some powder brushed over her forehead and face, Nancy spoke in a casual tone to the CNN reporter.
‘’Christiane, know that what I will say during this interview may disturb some viewers with deeply seated religious beliefs. This may cause some public backlash but on the other hand I hate hypocrisy and I will only tell the absolute truth, religious fanatics be damned.’’
‘’The truth should always win over dogmas, Nancy. As long as you don’t use insults or swear words, I invite you to say what you believe in.’’
‘’Thanks, Christiane. I have another warning for you: some of the things I will say are considered by some in the government as classified matter, but are in reality fundamental truths that need to be told.’’
‘’But…your mother is in charge of our military forces. Couldn’t your revelations hurt her in return?’’ said Amanpour, looking with concern at Nancy.
‘’No! Nobody will be able to blame her for what will be revealed tonight. As a half-celestial, I have contacts with a spiritual being of immense power, a being I and my mother call ‘The One’. The message I will pass tonight will come from The One.’’
That left Amanpour truly wonder what was going to come from the incoming interview. The makeup artists then declared both ready for the cameras. Returning into the recording studio, Amanpour invited Nancy to sit on the sofa of the stage, while she sat behind her interviewer’s desk and waited for the signal from her studio producer, which came after about two minutes of waiting. Amanpour then smiled to the camera facing her.
‘’Good evening and welcome to this special report, dear viewers. I have with me in this studio Nancy Dows, who created quite a sensation earlier this afternoon by literally flying into Chinatown and stopping and dispersing a large crowd engaged in racist anti-Chinese rioting, using some fantastic powers of hers. Before I start interviewing Miss Dows, who gracefully accepted to be interviewed by CNN, let’s review the media recordings of the events of this afternoon in Chinatown.’’
A large television screen set behind Amanpour’s desk then started playing a film of the rioters vandalizing shops on Hester Street. Then, Nancy was seen flying in and landing in the middle of the street, near the rioters, then pushing them back with some invisible giant hand. The recording ended with reporters filming as Nancy got into a police car to go to the local precinct. Amanpour then looked back at the camera, her expression most sober.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, this may have been the latest demonstration of the powers possessed by Nancy Dows, who has been nicknamed in the past as ‘Supergirl’, but it was not the first time she did so, by far. In May of 1988, then five-year-old Nancy, seeing one of her school friends being kidnapped by mobsters, flew in to the rescue, caught with those mobsters, killed three of them and captured a fourth one before police arrived on the scene, by which time she had freed her young friend. In June of that same year, the same gang of mobsters who had tried to kidnap her friend attacked her house in Arlington. Her mother, the famous Ingrid Dows, fought off those mobsters in an intense firefight but it was young Nancy who actually brought an end to that fight, by throwing what has been described as blue balls of pure energy which vaporized those mobsters. Then, a year later, coup plotters in Moscow placed a bomb on Red Square that killed the leaders of the Kremlin, then arrested a number of American citizens, accusing them of being CIA agents and of having placed the bomb in Red Square, torturing them to obtain confessions. In a series of extraordinary events during and following the public trial of those unfortunate American citizens, General Ingrid Dows revealed more of her rumored powers by getting those Americans out of Moscow and transporting them instantly to her Arlington house in a manner still unexplained, where her daughter Nancy healed them all in seconds. A few years later, in 1992, Nancy Dows was a witness to an ongoing sex slavery trafficking operation in New York. Not content to alert the police about it, she also intervened to save one New York policeman who had been shot by Chinese Triad thugs, killing those thugs before healing that policeman with the touch of her hands. Then, last year, Nancy Dows was rumored to have healed a number of people dying from AIDS, earning the nickname of ‘White Angel’ in the process. That happened only a few days before a glowing angel appeared in Mount Sinai West Hospital and produced a huge burst of white light which covered the whole New York State area and healed all its inhabitants of all their ailments, be they cancer, diabetes, myopia, heart diseases and lots more. As you can see, young Nancy Dows has already proven time and again that she possesses some fantastic powers of supernatural origin, with the events of today in Chinatown being only the latest demonstration of her powers. Let’s now ask Nancy about herself.’’
Amanpour then pivoted her chair to face Nancy, who had been quietly watching while sitting in her sofa.
‘’Nancy, many people are understandably extremely curious about you and your fantastic powers. What could you tell us about yourself?’’
With one of the cameras zooming on her, Nancy replied in a calm, matter-of-fact voice.
‘’Well, first, I was born naturally on November fourth, 1982, aboard the spaceship U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, which was at the time approaching the Saturn System. My mother was indeed Ingrid Dows, a fact attested officially by the ship’s chief medical officer. However, the identity of my father was withheld at the time by my mother, who didn’t want to feed rumors on the ship about which crewmember was my father. In reality, my father was not a crewmember, but rather an angel of a hugely powerful spiritual being my mother and I call ‘The One’. Before people would speculate about ‘The One’, I will say that he is not what the Christian Bible calls ‘God’. The One did not create the Universe or even Earth. Rather, it was created as part of the Universe by natural cosmic forces. The One, a being of pure spiritual energy possessing immense powers, then attached itself to this solar system and has been with it for over five billion years now. I say ‘it’ to describe The One because it doesn’t have a human form, unless he wants so, and has no defined sex. The One is intimately linked to the growth and history of the Human race by one crucial factor: our souls. Most of us already believe that we have individual souls as human beings. In that they are correct. The catch is that each of our individual souls is actually a tiny part of The One which inhabits us from just before birth until our death. In a sense, that is the one main factor that differentiates us humans from all the other species living on this planet. When we die, our soul leaves our body and returns to The One for a period of cleansing. Then that soul goes to inhabit another newborn. That is basically what the Hindus call ‘reincarnation’. However, contrary to Hindu belief, the souls from The One only inhabit human beings, never animals or plants. The vast majority of us are unable to access the memories from the past incarnations of our souls, but a very few do, thanks to the help of The One, who has graced this way in the past a few people it chose to be one of its ‘Chosen’. My mother Ingrid is one of those rare ‘Chosen’ and so was her adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante, the celebrated Canadian time traveler from the year 2012 who was involuntarily transported to the year 1940 by scientists from the future who wanted to use her as a sort of guinea pig for their time travel experiments. As a Chosen of The One, my mother was able to remember all of her past incarnations, which covered over 7,000 years in history, plus gained a number of supernatural powers. However, this did not change the fact that my mother was and still is a patriotic American officer who swore to protect the United States from its enemies, both external and internal. She is in fact doing this right now, directing the war against China, which had instigated terrorist attacks against our civilian airliners only a week ago.’’
‘’Nancy, when you talk about internal enemies of the United States, who are they, in your mind?’’
‘’They are the Americans who are opposed to our democratic rules or who use violence to impose their beliefs on other Americans. The Ku Klux Klan is one prime example of an internal enemy of the United States, along with its supporters who wants to perpetuate racial segregation and white supremacy, often through violence and intimidation. Organized crime would be another example of internal enemies of our country. That includes both home-grown crime syndicates and foreign-related organizations, like the Chinese Triads, the Italian Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza.’’
‘’I see!’’ said Amanpour, whose heart was now beating faster after hearing Nancy’s revelations: this was going to be one dynamite of an interview! ‘’Tell me more about yourself as a person, Nancy. What are your goals in life and your motivations?’’
‘’Right now, my main goal and occupation is to study music and eventually become a professional musician and artist. I am actually studying at the Juilliard School of Music, here in New York, and have formed an amateur band with a few friends. As for my motivations, they are simple: to help others around me as much as I can and to encourage the notions of generosity, compassion and tolerance among us. I also of course would like to have fun while doing all that: after all, I am still a teenage girl.’’
‘’Of course!’’ said Amanpour, a grin appearing on her face. ‘’All girls…and boys, wants to have fun in life. However, some may say that, as an angel, you should promote a, uh, more prudish lifestyle. What do you say to that?’’
‘’I say ‘B.S.’ to that!’’ replied firmly Nancy. ‘’First off, I am only half-angel. My other half is as a human girl. Second, the rules about morality pushed by various religious scriptures and dogmas are in my mind pure hypocrisy, intolerance and, too often, instituted misogyny. What I am going to say now may shock and scandalize many in the United States and around the World, but it needs to be said, because it is the truth, plain and simple. All those religious scriptures, dogmas and beliefs around the World are pure fiction, written and propagated by men from the past, men who were ignorant of the true nature of our planet and of the Universe and who mostly invented religions in order to gain power, prestige, money or all three of those. In turn, their intolerant views and beliefs caused an untold and horrific amount of cruelty, intolerance and suffering throughout history, all the while preaching devotion to God and obeisance to their religious rules. You just need to remember the Christian Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Thirty-Year War, the English Civil War, the widespread torturing and burning of supposed ‘witches’, the Russian pogroms against Jews and now the various Islamic ‘holy wars’ or ‘Jihad’ afflicting the Middle East. I could also mention the sexual and physical abuse inflicted during many past decades on girls and boys in too many religious schools and hospices in places like Ireland, the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Organized religion is basically a poison for Humanity. If you want to believe in something, I have nothing about that, as long as you don’t use that belief to persecute, hurt or exploit others. In contrast, The One does not want to be worshipped or prayed to. It simply wants Humanity to evolve and improve on its own.’’
‘’Then, why does your ‘One’ sends angels to Earth or name a few ‘Chosen’, Nancy?’’
‘’Mostly to encourage us in becoming more compassionate and tolerant, Christiane. As for me, as I said earlier, I was born as a girl and only wish to have a productive, happy life while helping the others around me.’’
‘’That is a most normal and commendable goal, Nancy. However, many will still question your motives and may even dispute what you said to me tonight. What do you say to that?’’
‘’I will let my father answer that question, Christiane.’’
At first, Amanpour did not understand what she meant by that. Then, her studio producer, who was sitting behind the television cameras, became white as a sheet while uttering an exclamation in a strangled voice.
‘’Oh my God!’’
Looking behind her, where her producer was looking, Christiane nearly passed out from a rush of blood to her brain at the sight of a four-meter-high brilliant, semi-translucent humanoid shape standing next to the back wall of the studio. With the two cameramen present showing commendable professionalism and nerves of steel and pointing their cameras at the luminescent being, the latter made a gesture with both hands while speaking in a male voice that resonated around the studio.
‘’DO NOT FEAR ME, AS I CAME IN PEACE. MY NAME IS MICHAEL AND I AM NANCY’S FATHER. I ALSO AM WHAT YOU WOULD CALL AN ARCHANGEL AND AM PART OF ‘THE ONE’, LIKE NANCY IS PARTLY A PART OF ‘THE ONE’. I WILL NOW CHANGE MY ASPECT, IN ORDER TO STOP SCARING YOU.’’
Still being filmed by the two cameras, the giant translucent shape gradually shrank in size while becoming a solid figure, ending up into a tall, extremely handsome man appearing to be in his thirties and wearing a white robe and sandals. The one thing that stayed abnormal about him was the fact that his eyes were brilliant points of white light. Christiane Amanpour, like the two cameramen, the studio producer and the two makeup artist women who had been watching the interview from the back of the room, watched the ’man’ walk to the sofa where Nancy was sitting and bend over to kiss her on her forehead.
‘’It is good to be with you, my daughter.’’
‘’And it is a great joy to me to be able to see you again, Father.’’
Christiane nearly jumped out of her chair when Nancy turned her head to look at her: Nancy’s eyes were now dots of white light, like those of her father.
‘’I believe that this should convince the non-believers about my story, Christiane. If you wish to ask questions to my father, go right ahead.’’
Christiane Amanpour, feeling close to passing out from the intense emotions she felt now, did her best to regain control of herself. Still, her voice came out much weaker than usual.
‘’I certainly have questions, many questions for you, Michael.’’
‘’Then, let’s make it easy for you, Miss Amanpour.’’ Replied Michael while sitting next to Nancy on the sofa. However, both of them still had their eyes project white light as he spoke.
‘’I will only say this about ‘The One’: it is not the ‘God’ of your Christian Bible, nor the ‘Allah’ of the Koran, nor any of the gods venerated in the past of Humanity. It is simply a spiritual being who has no wish to be worshiped or venerated and who only want to see Humanity improve. The One has been following the progress…and regress, of Humanity for millions of years by now. It has rarely intervened in the past, mostly through its chosen and its angels, and intends to continue to do so. Unfortunately, some of its interventions were either misconstrued or, more often, hijacked by ignorant men bent on using its interventions in order to exploit them for personal gain. In the colorful words of this time and place, much of what you will read in today’s so-called sacred scriptures are pure baloney, fictions invented by ignorant, intolerant and often misogynistic men in order to subjugate and exploit the gullible ones around them. Even today, too many of these religious leaders and their gullible followers keep denying science. Yes, humans have evolved from primitive hominids. No, there was never such things as the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the Devil, Hell, Heaven or Purgatory. There is only this Earth and Humanity. However, Humanity is not alone as a sentient race in the Universe, far from it. This galaxy, like the rest of the Universe, is full of life, always have been. Your own recent discoveries of primitive forms of life on Mars and in the Jupiter and Saturn Systems are proof of that. Right now, the main worry of The One is that Humanity could wipe itself out through a nuclear war that would destroy life around this planet. You already have come close to such a nuclear war on a couple of occasions, but thankfully were able to avoid such a catastrophe, mostly due to the admirable work and dedication of Ingrid Dows, who is both your top military commander and a Chosen of The One. Beware, though! The patience of The One has limits. If someone tries again to trigger a nuclear war, then The One may be forced to intervene. Those who will have caused his wrath will then bitterly regret it. This is the warning I came to pass to you in the United States and around the World. I will now leave you in peace.’’
Michael, getting up from the sofa, gave another kiss to Nancy, this time on her cheek, before walking towards the back wall of the stage. Watched by the incredulous Amanpour, the studio producer and the two makeup women, while filmed by the two cameramen, Michael simply walked through the wall and disappeared, like a ghost would do. Christiane Amanpour had to take a deep breath before being able to speak while looking at the cameras.
‘’This was Michael, father of Nancy Dows and an angel of the entity he called ‘The One’, ladies and gentlemen. This was easily the most shattering report or interview I ever made and I have no doubt that this will also be an Earth-shattering scene you ever watched. We will now take a break for a commercial before continuing this interview of Nancy Dows.’’
As soon as the red lights on the cameras switched off, signaling that they were not filming anymore, Christiane Amanpour buried her face in her hands while resting her elbows on her desk, emotionally drained.
‘’My God! This…this was so incredible!’’
She then felt the left arm of Nancy gently taking hold of her shoulders and raised her head to look up at Nancy’s face. The latter’s eyes were now back to their normal blue aspect.
‘’I still have difficulties believing all this, Nancy. Yet, it is impossible to deny what I saw.’’
‘’That is quite normal, Christiane. Only a dead person would not be moved by all this. I think that I should go soon: Michael said all that had been important to be said, while I already talked quite a lot about me. I still want to be able to study music like a normal girl and I sincerely hope that it will still be possible for me to do after tonight.’’
Christiane Amanpour shook her head slowly in response.
‘’Nancy, for me and all those who watched this interview, you will now be an angel girl, whether you like it or not.’’
Christiane Amanpour quickly concluded the interview a few minutes later, thanking Nancy for accepting to be interviewed before the latter left the studio to return to her apartment. Landing on the roof of her building and entering it via its roof access hatch, Nancy walked into her apartment’s lounge only to be nearly assaulted by Lucy, Sarah and Erika, who competed to kiss and hug her.
‘’Oh, Nancy, you were positively fantastic during your interview.’’ ranted Sarah. ‘’And your father Michael is a hell of a nice-looking man!’’
‘’You mean ‘archangel’, Sarah?’’
‘’Bah! Archangel…man: he was incredible-looking either way!’’
‘’I suppose that’s one way to look at it. I…’’
Her telephone rang at that precise moment, cutting her off and making her throw an irritated look at it.
‘’I hope that this is not yet another request for an interview.’’
‘’You won’t know until you will answer the call.’’ replied philosophically Erika.
‘’Right!’’
Going to her telephone and picking up its receiver, Nancy then spoke in a facetious tone.
‘’This is the home of Nancy Dows, the Angel Girl. For an interview, press…’’
She was then interrupted by a clear laugh which she recognized at once.
‘’Mom?’’
‘’Yes, it’s me, Nancy. I just watched your interview on CNN and I must congratulate you on it: you said all the right things the right way and Michael’s appearance was also a nice touch. By the way, The One discretely warned me that he would appear during your interview. But I mainly called you for another reason. I have a possible good news to pass to you, as long as you will promise me to keep quiet about it until further notice.’’
‘’You know me, Mom: my word is golden. So, what’s that good news?’’
‘’It is still tentative and will depend on how President Perot will react to it, but the Chinese just contacted me to say that they are ready to negotiate peace with us. I told them in return that I would suspend immediately all the bombings and attacks while President Perot considers their offer.’’
‘’That is great news, Mother! I hope that the President and his cabinet will prove reasonable about it. Please, keep me posted about the developments about this.’’
‘’I will, Angel Girl!’’
Nancy’s response to that was to make a noise with her mouth before hanging up.