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Michael typed on the keyboard with amazing speed and dexterity, Faith sat by the bed watching with a look of incredible disbelief that the man she had adored for years had such talent in so many fields�

�Ya would a made a great secretary.� She laughed. He harrumphed and smiled, continuing his bombardment of the board in front of him. As the board magically came to life in front of her eyes, she remained mesmerized by it�s flashing screens and colorful array� she had never been too technologically inclined, growing up in a small rural town, though the slow country life that was only 4 weeks past seemed light-years behind her now in a distant memory� Boy what would her parent�s think� Michael Jackson! She silently promised herself to call them later, to check in, to let them know she was alive and well. It�d been awhile since she had even thought of her family back home, she wondered if they were worried. The had known she was going to Chicago to �hunt down� Michael. �A waste of time� her father had grumbled as he had thrown feed into the bins in the hog pen� but both her parents knew there wasn�t much use in trying to talk her out of going. Would they be worried now? Probably not, she thought, in her rebellion against small town life, Faith had often disappeared for weeks on end, starting with the day she graduated from high-school and left right from the ceremony to visit a cousin in Florida� she hadn�t even packed a bag then, she had just hopped in the car and waved as her parents had stood on the sidewalk outside of the large, red brick school with their mouths ajar� they never looked so shocked any more, they had accustomed themselves to her wandering� visiting friends, relatives, or nobody in general, just wandering. Her job as a free-lance reporter for the local paper left her with little money, but lot�s of time, she cherished the people and the contacts at the little country rag, but she adored the freedom.

The little computer on the covers atop Mike�s lap sounded out a loud �Hello� and announced happily� �You have mail!�

�Cool� Faith said as her eyes widened. Mike quickly bypassed the mail screen, there were a few business messages - he wasn�t in the mood, and one from a fan � he�d get that later, he had said� �You�re fans have your e-mail address?�

�A few. There are several addresses actually� this is the �inner-sanctuary� you might say, only a couple of fans have this address, only a couple of business associates too. Only the ones I really want to hear from.� He talked while he typed, never taking his eyes off the screen in front of him.

Boy, Faith suddenly wished she had been �connected� all these years� she had stubbornly refused the papers admonition that she get �hooked-up�� no need for it, she had thought, I can write, you can type, and we�ll all be happy�.. well, wasn�t she payin� for her stubbornness now? She smiled, but alls well that ends well�. She had the real thing, who needed typed words?

�There are three addresses really� Going down the levels from one�s I always want to hear from, to one�s I sometimes wanna hear from, to one�s I occasionally wanna hear from.� He looked up at her demurely, and smiled at his own elusive web of mystery. �Then there�s these�� he pointed at the screen which now held a long list of �sites�, all it seemed, dedicated to the one and only Michael Jackson�

�Wow, those are all yours?�

�Naaaah, Fans create them. I love to read them though� I guess you could call it spying�� he giggled. �But I love to keep track of what�s going on in their minds, without having to worry about being mobbed, or bombarded with questions. Sometimes, it�s so heart-warming to read what they think, and feel. Sometimes, it�s alittle embarrassing, but even then�� he smiled slyly� �well, I like it� but here, this is one, in particular, I wanted to show you.� Again he pointed at the screen, but at the same time, he clicked on a line of script and the computer flashed away again, changing images to create a page in front of them� and at the top, it read �Mysteryfanpage�� I really love this one�

Mike spent the next half hour showing her the different areas of that site, explaining that almost every site had a variety of areas that a browser could click onto and see what was available. Then he clicked a line that read �message board��

�These are pretty cool� most sites have�em. This is where I really love to go� this is where you can find out about the people, what they think, how they feel about all kinds of things, in this case� me.� He grinned from ear-to-ear at Faith, looking up at her, beaming� �Sometimes� I really would love to go on the board and leave messages, but no matter how much I like this one, or that one, I just don�t feel it�s fair to single out one� and there are so many� I�m not complaining� heehee,� he gave her a sly mischievous snicker and continued �I have �popped� in on a few �chat� sites using a silly name, and listened in� even occasionally commenting� usually just listening to the �live� chat� I�m bad, huh?� He was grinning uncontrollably now, he really loved the games. �I love the people though. I used to go out in disguise and watch people, just because I like to see how they reacted with each other, to different things� etc� you know, but it was so cumbersome� it took hours just to get ready to go out, so no-one would recognize me� I�m not talking about the silly �transparent� disguises, I mean one�s where I wouldn�t even need a body-guard �cause no-one would EVER recognize me� every once in a while I�d do it though� and then I�d sit in a park, or a shopping mall, and watch� this is better though�. Here I get to �listen in�, maybe even respond, and I don�t need to wear any disguises except for the phone names��

Faith stared at him in disbelief�

�That�s almost cruel�� she couldn�t pinpoint exactly why it seemed cruel� maybe like a mean joke� �They�d be so hurt if they new you were eavesdropping.�

�No they wouldn�t, most of them write as if they expect me to read what they�ve written, or at least hope I will� many responses are address directly to me. Some have comments to me inside the messages� I think some of them believe I DO read the comments� Some just hope I do. Anyway, when I get the notion to do it, I contact one of them� one that touches me in particular, and let them know who I am� how to get in touch with me� They usually start out with the first level address, then as things progress. If I enjoy talking with them through e-mail� they move up� I don�t mean to sound too conceited, but that�s the way it works� I can�t give out my primary address to all of the one�s I contact, there would be a flood of email all the time� I�d never be able to keep up. And I certainly couldn�t make any of my addresses generally known� GOD the servers would have to put in separate lines just for that�� He shook his head, he knew he sounded pretty egotistical, but it was true� the lines would be jammed with people writing to him� And just like at his gates, some would be true fans, some would be curiosity seekers and some would be vehement� but even just the fans would be too much to get through in one lifetime. �Here, listen to this. I found this the other day, I thought it was interesting�� He clicked on a line and music came out of the tiny speakers inside the screen board� �The sound is better on the desktop comp. at home, but listen anyway.�

She listened as the music continued and a singer began to sing� it was a beautiful, moving, soothing.

�What do ya think?� He searched her face for a response.

�It�s beautiful. I really like the swaying feeling of the music, and the song is� touching.� She felt uncomfortable giving music critique to the man on the bed next to her� My God, me telling Michael Jackson if something is good or not� she thought, looking over at him to see if he was laughing at her� He didn�t seem to be, he just nodded his head in agreement as they continued to listen.

�It�s called� �Everchanging�. I really like it. I think I�ll write to the writer� this is the one.� He pointed at the screen again and Faith looked over at the name next to the listing�

�That�s his name?� Faith looked at Mike, �Unusual name��

�It�s his call name� I think his name is Tony.�

They continued to scan the pages and read, talking about the comments, laughing at some.

�They really seem to care about each other, like they�re good friends.� Faith had never seen so much emotion, towards each other; towards their subject� it was really interesting.

�Hmmm, yeah, it happens occasionally on these types of boards, but this one in particular� they all seem really nice�� Then with that mischievous look again he grinned and said, �I�ve spied on them a few times�� Think maybe I�ll contact a couple of �em�� Mike thought for a moment� �hell yeah, just for the laughs� what a riot.