Somersaulting Over New York

“Our life on earth is the childhood of our immortality.” Johann Goethe This unusual story, in the vein of It's a Wonderful Life, but uniquely for the New Age, takes place on two levels. The tone is funny, magical, spiritual and touching throughout. DAISY BRIDE, 11, an artistic, intuitive girl, is the main character, along with her brother DANIEL, 9, a quirky, awkward, inquisitive boy, who keeps a menagerie of animals. The family is charming, cheerful, and eccentric, although struggling financially. THOMAS BRIDE (40s) is a boyish, pie-in-the-sky scientist, whose invention, the PING (Proto Intergalactic Neutron Generator), has the promise of changing the course of history with its capacity to provide universal free energy. His wife, MADELINE BRIDE (40s), was a talented pianist, but had to put it aside when she came down with multiple sclerosis. The Brides have pinned all of their hopes on Thomas’ upcoming meeting with Webb World Technologies, a multi-national corporation interested in purchasing the PING. But there is another level to the story! In the sky, are three Celestial Spirits who watch over the family and comment on the action from their ever-shifting panorama in the clouds. (These can be portrayed by actors or animated). They are the stuffy and authoritative leader, MAXIMUS, 5000-years-old; the sentimental QUIZ (Quizzical), 3,000-years-old; and the mischievous JACKPOT, 500-years-old, who is still learning how to somersault. These Spirits have been assigned to help the members of the Bride family fulfill their destinies. This “help” consists of giving them difficulties to overcome so they can grow. They are particularly interested in Daisy, who is special to them. The Spirits, too, have to complete their missions so that they can also move on to a higher level where they can finally see the “Endless One.” They can do “Clouds, Waves, Sunsets, Lightning, Weather, Seasons, Constellations, Animals, Birds, Fish, Earthquakes,” but Humans are the hardest for them, especially for the soft-hearted Quiz. They try to follow various precepts, such as “Do not get soft,” “Trust in the script,” and “Do not let them know you’re there.” They reminisce over their days in "Earth School." The Brides are never aware that their lives are being upended by the Spirits so, of course, they blame one other and are thrown into chaos. A lot happens. Thomas is accused by Webb World of “prior art,” that is, having stolen the concept for his invention. So he not only loses his university job and his scientific credibility, but it the cause for the break up of the family. Thomas vows to fight Webb World in court, but, although he is completely in the right, has no chance to win. Madeleine announces to the family that she wants to separate. She moves, with Daisy and Daniel, to the beach-side home of her father ALEX. There she gradually begins to strike up a relationship with her former childhood sweetheart, the affluent but wooden, RICHARD, who has two obnoxious twins PERCY and AUGUSTA. Throughout this time, Daisy and Daniel make a pact to never stop trying to keep their family together and they make several gallant attempts to reunite their parents. Of course, the Spirits intervene to make sure that all these plots backfire. In the meantime, Thomas finds a job as a projectionist at Star World—a planetarium—where he ends up inventing a revolutionary new machine for projecting the stars onto the dome. In his loneliness, Thomas turns to drink, though he still holds out the naive hope of reuniting with Madeline. When Daisy and Daniel visit him, he shows them the “Big Bang” and other celestial formations and they discuss “Brahma” and the creation of the universe. Madeline and Richard grow ever closer as Augusta and Percy torment Daisy and Daniel. During one of Daisy and Daniel’s attempts to reunite their parents at a roller-skating rink, Madeline announces that she is getting a divorce. Then, on the way home, the Spirits send down a blizzard and they get into a car accident, in which Daniel becomes seriously injured, goes into a coma, and is rushed to the hospital. They all visit him, bring him Christmas gifts, and sing Christmas carols. But he remains in a coma. Daisy spends Christmas Eve with Thomas, and they eat pizza and look through his telescope. She asks if he sees any “alien beings” out there but he says that it’s just an idea people invent to keep themselves from being lonely. Later, they go out for doughnuts and meet a tired, off-duty Santa Claus, who tells Daisy that her brother will get better. When he departs, he strangely calls her by her name “Daisy.” We later see that this was Quiz who came down for “Visitations.” On a visit to the hospital, Daisy sneaks Daniel’s turtle, Rainbow, into his room. Daniel responds to this and finally comes out of his coma, wryly telling his father that he "sings off key." In the hospital, he bonds with his doctor, who piques Daniel’s budding interest in medicine. When Daniel returns home, Madeline announces that she and Richard plan to marry, throwing Daisy and Daniel (and Thomas) into despair. They plan for a wedding. Madeline asks a very reluctant Daisy to try to make it work. Afraid to disappoint her mother and make her illness worse, she goes along with it. Before the wedding ceremony, a distraught Daniel rushes out. He runs to the beach and sets out to sea in a rowboat. The spirits send down a rainstorm. Daisy, the ring-girl, notices that Daniel is missing and rushes out of the wedding. She finds Daniel in the boat, being carried out to sea, tossed in the waves. He can’t swim. She swims out to join him.Then, in the middle of her vows, Madeline runs out in the downpour in her wedding dress and goes to the beach where she sees Daisy and Daniel in the boat, being battered in the storm. Then Thomas (who had been texted by Daisy) appears. He swims out to the boat, bringing it back to shore, where all three are embraced by Madeline. There in the rain, a drenched Thomas asks Madeline (in her bedraggled wedding dress) to marry him—again—and she shyly says yes. The family is reunited, as a triple rainbow, created by the Spirits, appears over them. The all-knowing Spirits then speak of the fates of each of the family members: Thomas will never win his court case and World Wide will bury the PING so they can make more money. However, Thomas’ planetarium machine will be successful so Thomas and Madeline can live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Thomas never wins the Nobel Prize, but--"in thirty-six years, seven months, thirteen days, four hours, three minutes, and fifty-eight seconds"--Daniel will discover the cure for cancer. He wins the Nobel Prize. As to Daisy, she will graduate Earth School and become “One of Them.” Precept number one: “Everyone has to Climb.” At the end, Daisy looks up at the sky and says, “Thank you.” Having completed their mission. Jackpot successfully does a somersault, then Quiz and Maximus begin to somersault, and then, we see hundreds, then thousands, of spirits somersaulting in the sky.