Jaren Jackson awoke from his sleep and was immediately startled by his surroundings. However, the immense comfort of the bed he was sleeping in somewhat dampened his response, and he drew the luxuriously soft white covers closer to him while he pondered the strangeness of the situation. He didn’t even remember going to sleep at any point…the last thing he recalled was getting ready to leave the locker room after the game.
That was another weird thing. The scene outside his window wasn’t anything like the cool Memphis night he expected to see. There was a hillside glowing with orange mid-afternoon sunlight. On the gently sloping earth grew an orchard of low fruit trees. The playful chatter of birds and the rustle of leaves in the breeze were the only sounds he could hear.
The bed was almost too comfortable to leave, but Jaren forced himself to toss the covers off him and swing his legs over the edge. When he stood up, he noticed that he was completely naked. That was another strange thing to add to his rapidly-growing list of strange things. Thinking that he would like to get dressed before he explored his surroundings further, he opened the wardrobe that was on the other side of the cozy bedroom to find one article of clothing inside: an off-white tunic fringed with red tassels and pattered on the hem with a square geometric design that was similarly red.
After putting on the garment, Jaren exited the bedroom, but not before noticing that the room had nothing in it that required electricity. There weren’t even outlets. All the necessary light was coming in from the window. Where was he that the accommodations wouldn’t have electricity?
The hallway outside the bedroom provided no immediate answers. He seemed to be in some kind of grand residence, but all of the rooms that he looked into were void of any human activity. But the place didn’t seem abandoned; everything was well-kept and properly furnished. Even when he walked through an expansive living area and out into a small courtyard, there was not a sign of any inhabitants. He was, as far as he could tell, all alone.
The architecture and detailing had a distinctly Mediterranean feel, with tiled roofs, classical columns, stuccoed walls, and an abundance of terra-cotta detailing. It was a beautiful place that filled him with calm and put him at ease. But…he should be feeling frightened at his unexpected arrival in a place that was very obviously not Memphis, right? Why was he filled with such all-encompassing contentment?
Jaren turned back into the house and continued exploring its hallways. He walked for a long time, but there was always somewhere new to go, and he didn’t feel like he was backtracking on himself at all. He wondered vaguely what kind of rich Italian nobleman would need a mansion this big.
When he turned a corner and saw another person standing at the end of the long hallway, Jaren was almost disappointed. Everything was so quiet and relaxing; another human would interrupt that. Then again, this man might know something about the nature of this place that Jaren didn’t. So he approached him carefully, not wanting to cause too much disturbance.
“Excuse me…?” Jaren began.
The man, who had been looking out a window, turned to look at Jaren. “Oh. Hello.”
“What is…where…?” Jaren started to ask, feeling like he had forgotten how to speak.
The man, who was, surprisingly, just as tall as Jaren, laughed. “That’s a typical reaction for newcomers to the Countryside Villa of the Forty Point Scorers.”
“Countryside Villa…forty points?” Jaren repeated in confusion. “Oh, I guess I did score forty.” The game he had just played in seemed like it belonged to a different lifetime. “This sure is a big place,” he commented, not having anything insightful to add.
“Yeah, it’s infinite,” the man replied. “That way, nobody ever disturbs the solitude of your contemplation. Nobody but me, of course, for I am the appointed guardian of the Villa.”
Jaren wondered if he was supposed to recognize the man. “And you are…?”
“Linas Kleiza.”
The name was vaguely familiar to Jaren as an NBA player of the past, but that was all Jaren could recall. “So this is another dimension or what?”
“The Villa just is. Whether or not it is located in the mortal dimension is unimportant,” Linas replied. “But there is no need for questions here. The Villa provides all answers in time, and if it doesn’t, then it is the questions themselves that were not worth answering.” With that, Linas began to walk away.
When Jaren followed Linas around a corner, he had disappeared. Jaren was alone again. Finding a comfortable sofa next to an open courtyard, Jaren sat down and reclined. He found his need for more information on the Villa to be waning. If he could just remain here in total peace and comfort for the rest of time, that would be fine with him.