“No! I didn’t... I mean, no, I don’t!” He told her in all honesty.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit late for modesty.” She pulled on his sheet again.
“No, I don’t,” he said a bit more loudly.
She let go of the sheet and picked up a long, blue dressing gown from the dresser and slipped it on.
“How did I get here?” He asked looking about.
“I brought you here after the accident.” She smiled at him and looked around for her slippers.
“Accident?” His eyes were wide with confusion. “The accident!” The memories of the night before came back to him in a rush. “Oh, God! I thought you were Angelica!”
“Yeah, right,” she said and laughed slightly. “You didn’t think so last night.”
“Where’s the bathroom?” He asked.
“Second door on the right.” She nodded toward the open door to the hallway.
Perry hurried out of the room, found the appropriate door and let himself into the pink tiled bathroom. He was relieved to find his clothes hanging across the shower curtain rod. Everything was there except his shoes. He’d left them at the creek! He’d left his car at the creek! How would he get home? What would Angelica say? He looked at himself in the mirror. Everything seemed to be in place. He turned to look at his back and shoulder as best he could. Nothing. He ran his fingers through his hair and then splashed water on his face. He needed a shave and a toothbrush, but he needed to get home even worse. This was not good at all.
He dressed in his damp clothes and went back to the bedroom. Maureen was gone.
He followed the sounds of pots and pans to the kitchen and found her busy making breakfast.
“I need to get home,” he said when she looked up.
“Not before you have breakfast,” she told him. “Come on in here and sit down. Please don’t mind the clutter. I haven’t finished unpacking yet. I’m really glad you’re here. I feel like a new woman.”
“You do?” He asked and edged past her to sit in the only empty chair at the table.
He was beside himself. What had he done now? He didn’t feel like a new man. What was he going to do? Walk home? He didn’t even know where he was. This was a new experience for him. He felt totally helpless.
“How’s your shoulder?” She asked as she took bread out of a box and put four slices in the toaster.
“My shoulder?” He looked at her quizzically.
“Yes, you have a nasty cut on your left shoulder and a cut on your arm and a bruise on your...” she said looking at him intently, her voice trailed off. “You must have banged yourself up real good when you jumped into the creek... no, the other left,” she told him when he tried to look over his right shoulder. The bruise on his forehead was gone.
“It’s all right now,” he said.
“How do you like your eggs?”
“I don’t have any eggs.”
“I’ll fix yours like I fix mine,” she said lightly and cracked two eggs in the skillet. “Fluffy scrambled.”
“Fluffy. That sounds good,” he nodded. “I really need to go, Maureen. Today is our grand opening. Angelica will be furious.”
“No doubt,” she agreed. “It’s only six fifteen. You’ll be home in plenty of time.”
“But what will I say?” He asked her frankly.
“Whatever she wants to hear,” Maureen told him. “I’ll drop you off by the pecan orchard and you can walk back. She’ll never know where you’ve been. Besides, she probably doesn’t even know you’re missing.”
“But my car...” he said and then shook his head. It was all too confusing.
“Don’t worry... be happy.” She looked at him dreamily. “You know, I never understood that song until now.”
“Maureen,” he said plaintively. “I need to know what happened last night. You have to tell me.”
“You saved Billy Johnson after he apparently tried to kill you,” she said. “The big dumb clod. You risked your life to save him. I don’t know why.”
“No, I remember that,” he said. “I mean what happened... here.”
“Oh, I see,” she nodded and turned to look at him narrowing her eyes. “It’s like the movies. You can’t remember. OK. It was absolutely... wonderful. You were divine. Like a fairytale dream. Sparks were everywhere.”
“Sparks!?“ Perry sat thinking about this. The only thing he believed was the part about the sparks.
“Which one?” He asked.
“Which one what?” She countered.
“Which fairy tale?”
“Oh, let’s see.” She pressed her finger against her chin and looked up at the ceiling. “Sort of like Sleeping Beauty only I played the part of the prince and you were the sleeping princess. Only it wasn’t like the story exactly. It was a bit different.”
“How?” He asked reluctantly.
“I kissed you,” she said and went back to stirring the eggs. “But you didn’t wake up. So I kissed you again. The prince only had to kiss the princess once, I believe.”
“Oh,” he said somehow relieved. “Then my virginity is still intact?”
“You’re so funny,” she laughed.
“So I’ve been told.” He smiled and didn’t know why.
Within a few minutes she set eggs, toast and jelly in front of him.
“You want milk or OJ.?”
“Oh Jay?” He frowned.
“Orange juice.” She shook her head and took the orange juice from the refrigerator to pour two glasses. She set the glasses down and reached for his shirt.
“I need to look at that cut on your shoulder,” she said when he pulled back from her. “Dammit, Perry, you act like we’re strangers!”
“No, it’s fine, really,” he almost whined.
“You might as well let me see it.” She crossed her arms stubbornly. “It’s not like I haven’t seen everything already. It took seven kisses to wake you up.”
“Seven?” He almost squeaked. “I thought you said I didn’t wake up.”
“You didn’t,” she said. “Not at first.” She picked up his toast and began to butter it for him. “But you finally came round.” She laid the toast on his plate. “Now let me see that shoulder. It can’t be OK. I think you might need stitches. You might get an infection.”
“No, really,” he said. “Let’s eat first. I’m starved.”
“If you don’t let me look, I won’t drive you home.”
“Don’t play games with me, Maureen.” He picked up the toast and bit into it. “I need to go home.”
“I’m not playing games with you,” she said seriously. “But there is the distinct possibility that you are playing games with me and I don’t appreciate it one bit.”
He allowed her to pull up his shirt and sat waiting for the response he knew would be forthcoming. There was no response. She let his shirt fall and stood silently behind him.
Perry turned slowly to face her. She had a most peculiar look in her eyes.
“It’s gone,” she said calmly. “It’s just like I figured. I know what I saw last night, Perry.”
“I’m a fast healer?” He suggested hopefully. “Now eat your fluffy eggs,” he said gesturing with his fork. “They are getting cold.”
Maureen cleared off a chair next to him and sat down. She buttered her toast and spread jelly on it in silence. He poked at the eggs on his plate.
“Haven’t you ever had eggs before?” She eyed his plate.
“Sure,” he said and stuffed a forkful in his mouth. “These are exceptional. What kind are they?”
“Perry?” She said after a few moments.
“Yes?” He continued to eat the eggs, grimacing and smacking loudly.
“You know I said there were sparks everywhere?”
“Yes?” He swallowed hard and picked up the orange juice to wash down the fluffy eggs.
“Well, there were literally sparks everywhere,” she told him. “Blue sparks.”
“Yes. And...” He drank down t
he orange juice.
“And you talked to me,” she said and he choked. “But you didn’t speak English. I don’t know for sure, but I’ve been around a bit. I think it was Latin? Or maybe Greek?”
“Latin?” He looked at her after he regained his composure. “What did I say?”
“I have no idea.” She smiled. “But it sure sounded good.”
He looked at the ceiling trying hard to remember something, anything.
“Are you some kind of alien?” She asked him suddenly.
He spilled the orange juice on the table. Maureen got up to grab a cloth and mopped up the mess.
“Why would you ask such a thing?” He looked at her incredulously.
“You said some pretty strange things in English,” she told him. “I do know that you really did think I was Angelica for a little while at least. Look, I’m no idiot, Peregrin. I looked that up. It’s Latin for foreigner or traveler. Caelum, Latin for heavens or sky. Aliger, Latin for wearing wings or winged. Let’s see... hmmm. That means Winged Sky Traveler. Right? How so very appropriate. You don’t know what scrambled eggs are. You don’t know what OJ means and you probably were a virgin.”
This time he choked on nothing but air.
“And last night you said, and I quote ‘humans put so much value on physical love that it must be worth trying at least once’ unquote,” she said with finality.
Perry closed his eyes. It was all bad enough, but to think he didn’t remember it was almost more than he could bear.
“I said that in English?” He asked after a moment and opened his eyes.
“Yes, you did,” she nodded. “And if you really are an alien or an Angel or something, it really doesn’t matter to me. I just wish you could remember it because I don’t think I could ever put it into words.”
“So do I,” he said sadly. Angelica would certainly be angry for a long, long, long time. Perhaps forever and that was even longer.
“Will you come back?” She asked. “When you’re more yourself?”
“I’ll consider it,” he said truthfully.
“At least finish your toast and I’ll drive you home. You don’t have to eat the eggs.”
Chapter Twenty:.
Tyler sat at his breakfast picking at the chocolate Malto Meal Paula Anne had cooked for him. It was his favorite Saturday morning treat and she had never missed a Saturday cooking it for him. But his swollen, split lip made even the mushy cereal hard to eat. Paula Anne had been extremely upset with him when he had finally come home at three in the morning, bruised and battered and bloodied. Mike had finally passed out and Tyler had taken him to the hospital. Mike’s nose was broken, his thumb was jammed and he had some severe contusions and possibly a fractured rib or two as well. Tyler had refused treatment. Paula Anne wanted him to file charges on Billy Johnson. She didn’t care that Billy had been drunk and was in the hospital himself. After all the creek water he’d swallowed, he’d probably have dysentery for a month of Sundays and deserved every last minute of it.
Tyler watched in silence as his wife piled various fruits into the blender to make her usual morning smoothie. Something she referred to as her ‘power breakfast’. He sure admired what it did for her. ‘I suppose it could have been worse!’ Her words echoed in his ears. ‘You could have let him break something else just as easily and then we’d never have a baby!’ Tyler sighed again. Maybe something else was already broken. He was having guilt trips on top of guilt trips. He silently thanked God it was Saturday and he was off for a change. The weather was good and he hoped to have at least two days to heal up before he had to go back to work.
She switched off the blender.
“Your aunt called yesterday evening looking for you,” she said sitting down at the table with her glass of thick mush.
“I’m sorry I missed her,” he said miserably. “Was it important?”
“Kind of.” She stuck a fat red-striped straw in the goo and he looked away. His stomach didn’t feel too good. “She said to tell you that the doctor called and the second X-rays came out fine. No scars and her heart is really smaller. Smaller? What does that mean, Tyler?”
He swallowed another bite of the cooling cereal and frowned. “I guess it means that she’s doin’ a lot better than she was. It’s good news. I needed some good news.”
Paula Anne nodded. “She said that the doctor was really upset. Said he believes her X-rays from last year were defective.”
“Still good news, either way,” Tyler told her. “At least she don’t have a heart disease.”
“She wants me to come by and pick her up when you go to the festival today and bring her over to Louis’ booth and the new shop.” Paula eyed him suspiciously. “Your aunt Mary seems to be doing a lot better. I’ve never known of her going out anywhere she didn’t have to go. And stranger still, she was nice to me on the phone! She asked me how my dance classes were coming and even sounded like she was hinting for a dinner invitation. What’s gotten into her?”
“I don’t know.” Tyler managed to smile. “Other than that fancy tea.”
“Yeah,” Paula Anne said and glanced at the red and gold box on the counter. “That stuff could be addictive. You know, she mentioned that she wanted to be Godmother to our baby.”
“Really?” Tyler looked up. It sounded too good to be true.
“You don’t love me any more, do you?” Her question threw him totally off track.
“Of course, I do!” He frowned and then winced at the pain it caused his lip. “I just can’t sweep you off your feet right now and dance you into the bedroom. I gotta a slight problem.” He was irritated how she always caught him off-guard like that. He wondered how in the world her mind worked.
“I just needed to hear it again.” She smiled for the first time and even seemed sympathetic to his pains. “I know something that might take your mind off that little old problem for a while.”
She got up and went to put the kettle on the burner.
“We’ll have some of that tea and then we’ll talk about your problem,” she told him as she set out two cups. “You’d be amazed at how good a hot cup of tea can be. Why, it can just take you away from all your troubles. The Chinese write poems about tea. Did you know that? They are very civilized people.”
“So I’ve heard.” He watched her with growing interest. She scooped some pellets out of the can and put them in a ceramic bowl and then turned around to look at him.
“I want to see inside that gift shop,” she said. “I thought I might buy something. Maybe one of those Oriental tea sets from China. That way I wouldn’t have to use a mixing bowl to make our tea.” She suddenly giggled and he looked at her in amazement. “I wonder what other kind of teapot would come from China except Oriental. I guess that’s where China dishes come from too, huh?”
“I guess so.” Tyler grinned at her and regretted doing that as well.
“You know you look kind of cute with that fat lip,” she said and tilted her head to one side. “It reminds me of when you were in college playing football. I used to imagine that I was taking care of my Knight in Shining Armor every time you came in after the game with injuries. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.” He remembered some of the treatments she had given him. She had not used sound medical practices, but the pain would always go away. At least temporarily.
“I guess I should have told you about those fantasies, huh?” She asked and actually blushed.
“I guess you should have,” he told her. “It’s not too late, you know.”
“All right.” She turned around. “I’ll get our tea and we can discuss it somewhere a bit more comfortable.”
“Aren’t you going for your jog?” He asked in amazement.
“I had something else in mind.” She poured water over the green lumps in the bowl and covered the tea with a plate.
Tyler thought that two days rest might not be enough. He might actually have to call in sick.
Perry stood in the open do
orway of the apartment above the New Castle Gift Shop in his sock feet. He experienced a multitude of emotional phases. Each one overlapping and intertwining with the last and the next. Guilt. Embarrassment. Relief. Frustration. Angelica leaned around the side of the armchair in the living room where he usually sat and looked at him blandly.
“Good morning?” He reverted to his usual routine greeting for lack of anything better to say. He was surprised to see the curious face of Louis Parks appear from the other chair.
“Good morning!” Louis stood up and looked at him from head to toe stopping short at the sight of his feet. He turned his attention back to Angelica after a moment’s pause. “May I use your phone? I’ll call the station for you, Mr. Aliger. Everyone’s been lookin’ for you.”
“I’m sure they have,” Perry nodded and another realization dawned on him. He could be in more serious trouble than he had first thought. “The phone is in the kitchen.”
Angelica stood up, staring at him. When Louis Parks disappeared, she crossed the intervening space between them quickly and took his arm, pulling him down the hallway toward the bedroom. He wondered briefly if she meant to kill him when they got there, but instead she closed the door and turned him around to look him up and down carefully. She stuck one finger in the rip on the back of his shirt and then spun him around to face her. It was not the reception he had expected.
“Your shirt is clean!” She told him. “It’s torn, but clean. You have committed a crime, Peregrin!”
“An exaggeration surely,” he said and sat down to pull off his dirty socks. She immediately found him another pair and then searched the closet for a shirt. “It may have been a mistake, but it is not a crime that I am aware of.”
He could not imagine how she could have found out about Maureen so quickly. He had always blocked her whenever he wanted, but then he couldn’t remember last night... He shuddered at the thought that she might have been listening in.
“You may not perceive it as such.” She handed him a white pullover shirt to replace the one he had on. “But these people have their laws and it is a crime. You can be arrested and taken into custody. You will have to make a statement to Sergeant Parks at least and hope that he can intervene on your behalf. Why did you do it?”
The Pandora Effect Page 34