Alice stood up and roared with laughter.
As Connie was leaving with a happy look on her face, she heard, one girl, say “Ginger you’re so full of shit, it hurts.”
“Tony told Alice that we would have to break into mom’s house if he doesn’t get up soon. We tried earlier, but he won’t answer the phone or the door. Sorry, but there is something wrong here.”
Alice said, “I will take care of him right now.”
Then something happened that would start a strange series of events.
While trying to sit down, Alice slipped off the chair and fell onto the wooden floor, banging the right side of her head. She sat up, wearing a shocked expression. I better call it a day, I can’t see a damn thing, and I ripped my best skirt. Connie returned after hearing the commotion, Alice said out loud “are you still here Connie?”
The answer was yes,
Connie, please cover for me this afternoon, we can have Billy play the nurse.
Billy said great, can I call Sarah to help me?
Yes said, Connie. She then got Tony and Billy to straighten out the desks and passed out some Braille study books to the children. She then walked around offering help to the children.
Alice has taught classes without Robert being about, but that was a long time ago. Now for some unknown reason, it baffled her, she had already fallen twice, ripped her dress and wanted to die.
Robert also worked at the school. Alice called Robert in sick for today. Robert told me its fun throwing around a bunch of delinquents. He said, the girls, whispered in my ear, things like ‘How is she in bed?’ Also ‘You guys were late for work today, why’? And we would both laugh.
Alice called the front office and asked for their help in getting home; she told them she keeps on falling, and it is scaring the children.
A few Nuns helped Alice to the nurse’s office.
Alice told them she could not see and needed Robert to pick her up. Nuns surrounded her, and with tears in her eyes, trying to hold a ruined new dress together, she dialed her number, and the phone rang for quite a while. Please, Robert pickup she screams in her mind to him.
Someone picked up the phone, and Alice said, “Thank God” please come and get me now. The phone was just picked up, then dropped.
Alice was raging inside She didn’t care anymore she was through with Robert. He was holding my blindness over me. Well, I was blind before, and I could do it again. Then she passed out.
They called an ambulance; a few nuns were hovering over Alice; her face was pale as death. In a few minutes, the top of her body rose to a sitting position, which scared the nuns to Protestants. Alice white as a sheet said, in a strange deep voice said “call my Godfather the Police Chief, tell him, they poisoned us. Robert is at the house.” The new Protestants were falling over themselves to call the cops.
Uncle Carmine called back right away. Mother Superior told him they had called for an ambulance. She did not know what was wrong with Alice and that Robert did not show up for work today.
The Captain arrived in twenty minutes, pick up Alice and carried her to the waiting ambulance. While on the way to the hospital, one of the cops he sent to the house called and said the young man is on his way to the hospital. We found him in the bedroom in his jockey shorts laying over the telephone table. I think he is dead. Captain, what am I supposed to do with the dog and rabbit?
The Captain said the dog’s name is “Lily Kemble,” take them over to my apartment and give the animals to my son.
Murphy said this “dog is mean, suppose she bites me.”
The Captain said, “Bite her back.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Recovery
At first, it was pitch black, then the light from a candle appeared. The small glow was bouncing around in an unusual matter: if it wasn’t a candle it was a flashlight. Either way, I couldn’t see who was holding it. The surrounding was alien to me. I didn’t feel Iike I was in danger except for being in total darkness; I was at ease, but thoroughly confused. I think I was in a houseboat, that was moving without a sound in a tunnel or cave. The moving light was now around fifty feet away.
The last thing I remembered was standing next to the phone in Alice’s bedroom, we had a terrible fight, the night before, I was in my underwear trying to answer a telephone. When I woke up, I think I was in a Gondola, laying on a sofa. We were moving fast, but I don’t know how. I didn’t hear a motor. There was no wind so it could be a current driving the boat.
At last, the mystery of the light was solved. It was a candle being held by a person wearing a long dark robe with a large peaked hood, covering most of the stranger’s face. The light was traveling in an erratic manner stopping here and there, going up and down. I must go into protective mode, let’s review the known facts:
I have no idea where I’m.
I have no weapons.
I can’t kill the candle carrier. I must save him for interrogation.
I must get the candle before it falls.
The candlelight is getting closer; it was now about ten feet away. I will spring up with my right hand extended to grab the person’s throat and with my other hand get the candle. The plan sounded right in my head, but the most unpredictable thing happened. When the burning candle, was about to burn my face I heard a voice say ‘Boo.’
Just before the ‘Boo;’ was said, I was moving upward but froze when I recognize Miss. Boo, but I still knocked her down. Alice landed hard on the boat’s deck, and the candle flew up and into the water. Quickly, I picked her up and put her into my arms. Alice are you alright?
Alice in return was holding me with every muscle in her body. She was shaking, shivering, and crying uncontrollably. Alice was in the middle of having an emotional breakdown. I put her on my lap and started to whisper baby-talk in her ear like my mom did to her when we were babies. The lights came on around us; I didn’t care my attention was on my girl. It took about ten minutes for her pulse to slow down, and her body to stop trembling. I said, “Alice as soon as you’re ready if you want, we can go back to the Miss. Boo act and start over.” Also, “lemon drop, we now have electricity, the lights are on, in fact, there is a spotlight on us, and two young women are gawking at me.”
Alice said,” Robert, I can’t breathe let me get up. Standing now, Robert, you scared me to death. You’re supposed to be dead for at least another week. Both of your parents told us you were still alive and would wake up in a few days and not leave your side. Your father believes we were poisoned in retaliation for the five gang members you killed, on Flatbush Avenue. We didn’t die because of our biological makeup. I came around faster than you because I am of ‘Royal Blood,’ and you are not.”
The unidentified females joined the conversation by yelling in concert ‘Yeah!'
You see Robert, I am a Princess, and you’re not a member of the ‘Royal family,’ but you’re a member of a small unknown noble family. Either way, Robert I love you and that Royal crap means nothing to me. Alice continued, your Mother’s physicians were able to clean out the poison from our bodies without a problem. Right now, our internal organs are repairing themselves which means we will be doing a lot of sleeping until we are completely back to normal. Your father told me not to leave your side and move into the Fifth Avenue Apartment as soon as possible.
I placed her on my lap and said, Miss. Boo, you are not going anywhere until you answer the following and any additional questions that I have:
Where are we?
Where are we going?
What are you wearing?
Why are these women staring at me?
Robert, I’m dressed in a white lace pantaloon pants thing, it has a thin red ribbon around the top, and all you must do is to pull the right string on the bow, and my pant falls. On top, I have a long skirt (To my heels) with a short velvet jacket covering a white bl
ouse. And of course, closed pointed shoes.
“Your mom and dad gave me a ring. And never call me ‘Lemon drop’ ever again.”
Alice, why are all of you wearing the same outfits, is it ghost night?
No, silly, we were playing, we are on a Soldier’s War Ship, headed towards the East Coast, and Brooklyn. I’m not stupid Robert, we are in a deep channel, and this ship has five levels. We are at the top level. Right now, my maids and I are dressed for ‘Halloween,’ and we are going around scaring the crew.”
“Now Alice, please tell me what happened to us?” Robert let me read you a copy of the letter sent to Grandma, Lily by your mother, Elizabeth.
Dear Mom,
When Robert and Alice arrived, they were both in a comatose state from an unknown poison. Our medical staff was able to treat the effects of the toxin with no problems, it was an extreme old type, but the kids displayed a natural ability to fight it.
Mom, when Alice woke-up she was in my arms, she looked at me smiled, hugged me and fell asleep again. She thrilled everyone in the castle and the thousands of Soldiers waiting nearby. “Alice asked for Robert right away, she; knew he was nearby because her vision had returned. We couldn’t stop Alice, she found him, walked to the bed he was lying on, bend over him, kissed his lips. Then Alice dropped to her knees beside the bed, laid her head next to Robert’s and didn’t move for hours.”
“The King of the Soldiers watched everything, he walked to the bed and told Alice not to worry dear, my Son will make it. Robert woke up a few times. The four of us had excellent conversations when he did. The King, my husband, fell in love with both. He’s proud as a peacock. He was concerned when they arrived, but he understands that it was going to take time for both to fully recover from the poisoning. Robert needs sleep. When he is himself, he can find these people and kill them before they attack us again.”
Queen Elizabeth had two maids waiting to serve Princess Alice, and this was the Perfect time to tell Alice about her good luck. I told my husband King John, and we laugh about it for a half an hour. Alice fell in love with them immediately and named them ‘Nit and Wit.’ Ma don’t say anything they loved their names.
Love, Elizabeth
“Alice yelled girls get some soup, blankets, and clothes for the big jerk. Also, stop staring at him. In ten minutes, Alice was pouring hot soup down Robert, made him put on warm clothes, and sat next to him while all four of them ate hot biscuits with jams and jellies from a bygone era.”
Robert said to Alice, “listen I must sleep, thanks to the food and I love you.” “Thanks for watching over me and that goes for your two helpers.” He climbed onto the bed they had set up for him and waited for Alice.
Alice dragged both silly maids to the open hatch and dropped them both down, and “yelled play with the soldiers.”
Alice walked back to Robert, took off her Princes outfit, the short jacket, the skirt, and shoes. She unleashed her long black hair down to her shoulders and slapped his hand as he attempted to pull a string on her pantaloon bow, lifted the large woolen blanket and scooted next to him. In a few, minutes, Alice was sleeping in his arms.
Alice felt a constant poking on her stomach; she said: “it’s not ‘What’s his name’ he out.” She didn’t know who it was, so she opened her eyes.
She found Gloria, Joeann, and Sarah poking and staring at her. Captain Carmine was standing behind them with a grin on his face. Nit and Wit were standing on a little dock, looking downcast dressed in all black with creepy hoods.
Alice sprang off the sofa and jumped right into the middle of the girls. After a lot of kisses and hugs between all except for Robert who was still out; Alice got everyone ready to leave. The Soldiers put a suit on Robert, and they carried him by stretcher. Alice wanted to show Grandma Lily a Medieval outfit, so Nit got a lovely dress out of one of the steamer trunks.
The girls ran downstairs to Alice’s suite on the submarine; she put on a new pantaloon then a ‘Sherwood Forest Looking dress,’ with a blouse, high girdle, long dress, short coat, then they all marched around the ship meeting the Captain and his crew.
It was quite a trip from the caverns under Brooklyn (Who knew), up to an ancient winding stairway, onto a subway station, two stops, and they were at the Fifth Avenue Apartments. Grandma was watching the Caravan, with a genuine smile, marching up to the apartment house. The tallest figure had to be the Princess; she was covered up with a long-hooded overcoat. She was leading the parade, with a laughing Carmine at the end. His son was beside him carrying a steamer trunk as if it was a pocketbook.
Carmine son Kevin was shot down over France in 1944. Two weeks ago, he was sitting on the stoop at the apartments waiting for his family. His mother Joan saw him first. After a phone call, Carmine arrived, and he has been smiling since Kevin came back as a Soldier.
Alice liked Nit and Wit, well she named them, but right now they were driving her nuts, they were attached to her heels, plus wouldn’t stop complaining ”She knocks one out, but the other one would start, these bags are too heavy, I’m starving, where is our bedroom, what’s for supper, where is grandma?”
Lily was the happiest in the World. Alice moved in with Gloria. The two maids were given their bedroom but refused to leave Grandma. Grandpa wasn’t too happy when he came home to Nit and Wit sleeping with his wife. They put them both to work at ‘The Diner’ as hostess, which turned out to be a panic, but so funny the customers loved them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alice adopted Mother Clare came back, and the court orders started to come, The first one ordered Alice back to the house on Bleecker Street. The orders were based on misleading information like Alice lived with a pal file since she was ten years old and has become dissocial thinking, she was a Princess in a fancy world of Kings and Queens. Had no real source of income lived with a man who was sick, and Alice had to get checked out at a local hospital for a physical and mental evaluation. Alice was not yet of age (21). She was blind and believed she was a Princess. Alice had no source of income and was living with an unemployed man.
Mrs. Clare DeVan wants complete control over Alice.
My adopted Mother, Clare served me with a ‘Court Order’ requiring me to have a qualified mental evaluation. If it’s discovered I’m not capable of caring for myself, Clare will become my Guardian. She would control not only my personal life but also my financial life.
I checked into the Neptune Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Doctor Joseph DeVan (My Uncle) was waiting for me. Listen, Alice, I have known Robert and you since you were babies. Alice, I’m here to assure nothing awful will happen to you. I will be nearby if you have any complications? A few of your relatives are also working here to look after you. They schedule you for examination by a team of specialists, who are working for your Mother, Clare. These examinations are your mother’s idea. She demands to be your guardian. Alice, you only must stay here until the results of your psychological tests come back.
Alice this is nurse Tessie; God rest her soul, will take you to your bed. You will stop at the changing station for a hospital nightgown and amenities, such as a toothbrush, and toothpaste. Two people entered the elevator with us, one of them said” push five please, it sounded like Tony.” The nurse Tessie said,” Hi, what your name, and what are you eating?”
A guy answered, “my name is Billy. We are eating prosciutto sandwiches from the new shop across the street. My friend, here, is Tony.”
“What are you guys doing on the fifth floor”, asked the nurse, you realize it restricted because the Ward has many severe mental cases?
“One of the delightful guys asked if she (Pointing at me) was nuts?”
Yes, was the answer. The two workers shuffled to the rear of the elevator. I didn’t say a word, just wheeled backward with them.”
“The shuffled continue. Alice had to pick up their present location, so she asked them where did you get
the sandwiches? These two morons should know better. While they were chatting about their new shop and flirting with the nurse, Alice was positioning herself.”
When they got to the fifth floor, the nurse got out first to hold the elevator door.
Alice kicked Tony in the balls (Lightly) and lifted Billy’s sandwich. She left them both grinning and moaning as she tucked the sandwich in her hospital grown. Nurse Tessie knew something happened, but what could a blind young woman do in two seconds?
During the first day, they delivered a new nightgown, a radio, a giant box of candy and flowers to Alice. No one knew who sent them? There were about twenty beds in the ward. Thank God there were only around ten patients. I’m scheduled to be in the hospital for three days. The X-rays, MRI’s, and an eye exam took up the first day. Since I couldn’t see anything, there was a limited number of tests “they could perform. Still, it was a tiring day. Both sets of parents visited. They told me my nightgown was beautiful, but they had nothing to do with the lingerie, radio, or flowers.”
A prominent young man sitting on my bed, by my waist, woke me up the first night. It was late. I checked to see if I still had underwear. “I asked the stranger if he knew the hospital’s security number? The Ward was pitch black, except for the blinking medical equipment lights. I knew it was Robert by his cologne He smelled great, a little too much cologne.”
He said, “we only have a little time. There must be a nurses’ convention on this floor, they checked me twice.”
“What did you tell them,” asked Alice?
“I told them I am your husband. Also, we had a car accident before we could start our honeymoon.
“They believed you,” Alice asked?
“Yes,” he said, “I showed them our marriage certificate.”
Great, I said to myself, “the person I must live with for the rest of my life is nuts.” I, asked, “could I look at this license.”
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