The Club

The Club

The club was very special, probably only one person in a generation, in any country in the world, got an invitation to become a member.

The invitation would arrive one morning in a gilt envelope and would contain a simple message,

" You are invited to a special reception at "Immortals" on Friday evening at 8:00pm"

Brief directions were given.

The strange thing was the directions were different for every person that got an invitation as they had been since Immortals first appeared 10,000 years ago.

You could (if you new where to look, and what you were looking for) find the staircase on the corner or every block in every major city in the world.

A set of simple unadorned steel steps leading  to a large door and an entrance hall leading to a second large door.

Nobody ever noticed the stairs, only that one with an invitation.

Amazing thing, it was always just a short walk from their home!

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It was Friday morning in Makiki Honolulu, Hawai'i.

A young  man of colour with mixed African and white American descent walked out to the mail box.

It was August 4, 1979 and it was his 18 birthday.

He was eager to see if he had any cards.

When he opened the box there was just one gilt envelope.

He opened it as he walked back up the path to his grandmothers house.

Inside was a simple card with a few words and directions on it.

" You are invited to a special reception at Immortals on Friday evening at 8:00pm"

At a building just a block away from his home.

He thought it was a joke but decided to play along with it.

At 7:30PM it was already dark.

The young man kissed his grandmother and made his way out.

He walked for a few minutes and easily found the steel stair case leaning up the side of an old factory block.

Now he knew it was a joke, but still he played along.

He slowly climbed the steps and  was about to bang on the door when it opened.

A short man from Indian in a white robe opened the door, the young man was sure he knew his face.

The man just smiled and ushered him in.

There was a strange tingling down his spine as he passed through the second door.

First thing he saw was a fat Englishman smoking a large cigar, booming out a laugh in a deep gravel voice

As, A middle aged Italian dressed in a strange monk like garb, held up a sketch of an enigmatic black haired woman with an en witching smile and shouted noooooooooo she was ugly as hell!

At the next table was a guy with a huge shock of curly hair, who from his accent was German, he was saying, "I am convinced that God does not play dice."

The man sitting next to him said with a definite Greek accent "Albert your a rouge" and they both laughed out loud.

As he moved forward he was sure Albert called the Greek, Odysseus, he shook his head, no he misheard!

The young man looked around and all the faces around him were familiar in some way.

A beautiful English woman walked over to the young man and the Indian and said "Thanks Mahatma, I will take over from here", The Indian smiled and said simply "your welcome Florence".

Florence took the young mans arm and guided him across the room to a dark corner where a group of men sat around a  table in the shadows.

They all looked up as Florence and the young man approached.

She said "gentlemen this is the young man we have all been waiting for".

Florence introduced them one by one, as she did the young mans eyes grew wider and wider.

Socrates,

Plato,

Aristotle,

Marcus Aurelius,

Thomas Aquinas,

Voltaire,

Mencius,
 
Confucius,

Al-Kindī,

Siddhārtha Gautama,

Sun Tzu,

The Young man laughed and said "man this is some joke, where are the guys?"

The men at the table looked at him seriously for a long moment.

Then the man introduced simply as Voltaire stood up and said with a thick French accent, "Young man we have been waiting a very long time for you.

Sun Tzu, pulled out a chair and offered the young man a seat at the table.


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On August 25 2009 few minutes after 8PM in Washington DC, the sun had gone down.

A middle aged black American of mixed race, slipped out of a door into a service yard at the back of the White House and climbed a set of simple unadorned steel steps leading  to a large door and an entrance hall leading to a second large door......................