Danny had arrived with Aldo earlier in the day to visit his lab. Other than the college dean, Aldo possessed the only other key to the room. Even the janitors were excluded from entering Aldo’s private lab.
A fascinated Danny was looking inside the communication chamber while the power was turned off. He knocked with the back of his knuckles on the black wall behind the ring of electro-magnets. A curious Danny asked, “So, Aldo – did I actually come through the back of this wall? How could that be possible? It feels very solid.”
“The wall is plenty solid, alright – but it was only an illusion that you actually passed through a solid wall.”
“Aldo, I’m a bit confused – could you please explain it to me in layman’s terms?”
“Well, Danny – do you remember the old cartoon, ‘The Road Runner’?”
“Yeah, that was a great cartoon – one of my favorites.”
“Well, the Road Runner often painted the illusion of a black tunnel on the side of a rocky cliff, and then inexplicably he would escape into the black tunnel.”
“Yeah – I remember that, and after he ran into the supposedly fake tunnel, Wiley Coyote would either try to run in to follow him and then smash his face on the painted stone wall, or worse yet, sometimes the tunnel became real and an oncoming train would run right over him.”
“Precisely. The black wall behind my ring of electro-magnets is quite solid, and it was just an illusion that you materialized through the fabric of the wall. In actuality, the highly energized, ring of electro-magnets successfully locked into the wormhole tunnel which leads to the central black hole you spoke of, and ultimately leads to the other parallel universe.”
“So, I guess that the lengthy wormhole tunnel is attracted by a certain frequency created by your contraption, and literally is drawn into connecting it’s origin to your magnetic ring, just like a piece of steel is drawn by a magnet.”
“Well, sort of. You see, the wormhole tunnel has no specific end. That’s why anomalies sometimes happen with travel through space and time – randomly, as if by chance. Apparently, one such an anomaly occurred when the truck hit your wheelchair in the other world. The old guardian at the black hole was quite correct in stating that you were there by accident.”
“It’s finally starting to make a bit of sense to me,” said a grateful Danny.
“Danny, my communication chamber just takes the random factor out of it. The wormhole tunnel will tend to be attracted to places where the magnetic field is strong enough. Currently, on this planet, there are only three places where it will naturally be drawn towards: the Earth’s ‘magnetic north-pole’, the ‘magnetic south-pole’, or right here at my communication chamber. I don’t think anyone wants to travel to the ends of the Earth, so – for now, the gateway to another dimension begins right here in front of you.”
With a wide-eyed look of amazement Danny commented, “That’s incredible, but didn’t you originally intend for your communication chamber to help you speak to your mother’s spirit?”
A look of sadness came on Aldo’s face as he said, “In that regard, I’ve failed miserably. Originally, I believed the communication chamber would pave the way for two-way conversations with the spirit world, but so far I’ve been totally unsuccessful.”
There was a sudden knock at the door. Aldo went to see who it was…
In walked a jubilant Jessica. After a saying a quick, ‘hello’, to Aldo, she walked straight over to Danny and draped her arms around his shoulders. Danny was delighted to see his beloved Jessica again, and he held her around her slim waist. She planted a nice, long kiss on his lips.
“Hi Jessica, dear – look – my leg is doing much better. I can already walk without crutches.”
“That’s terrific – and I see that you’re trying to change your look too. I find your short-cropped beard rather sexy, but frankly, your hairdo looks like a retard did it.”
“Well, I’ve never been called a ‘retard’ before,” said a chuckling Aldo, “but I had to cut his hair myself, since we couldn’t take the chance that a hair stylist might think he’s your famous husband. Actually, his haircut is a pretty decent match to the photo on his driver’s license.”
Danny pulled out his wallet and showed Jessica the photo of, ‘David Dawson.”
“Hmm… David Dawson – how did you end up getting his ID?” asked Jessica.
“It’s a long story,” explained Aldo. Basically, he used to be my assistant, but he made a fatal mistake by leaping through the electro-magnetic ring of my communication chamber. Let me turn the power on. I’ll give you a demonstration.”
Aldo closed the communication chamber door. He asked Jessica and Danny to observe through the small window built into the door.
Aldo went to the nearby control panel, and pushed the power level up to the max. A low, humming buzz filled the room. Moments later, traces of light began to form in a swirling manner within the ring of electro-magnets. Within a minute, the brightness of the swirling, multicolored lights intensified, and the round, circular shape of the wormhole tunnel was clear to see.
“Oh, Aldo – that is magnificent,” said an excited Jessica. “Does that really lead to another universe?”
“Personally, I don’t know, but apparently that’s exactly where the tunnel leads to, since that’s how Danny came to our world.”
After about a minute, Aldo detected that the magnetic coils were beginning to overheat, so he shut the system down. He said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Voluntarily choosing to go down that tunnel might easily be suicidal, but if I had to choose between facing a life in prison – or taking my chances with the wormhole tunnel, well, I’d definitely pick the tunnel. Hopefully, it will never come to that. By the way, Jessica, can you give us an update on your husband’s condition?”
“So far, things are working out perfectly. Like you predicted, my husband ended up in a coma. The doctor says he’s stable, but has no clue whether or not he’ll ever regain consciousness. The worst part is dealing with a very persistent police detective. He has me worried. The other thing that could present a problem is the paparazzi – they seem to be constantly trying to follow me. I made sure that nobody was following me over here.”
Placing her loving arms around Danny’s shoulders once again she said, “Danny, since you are feeling so much better, I wonder if you could come visit me tonight. I’ve been staying at a posh room at the Westin Hotel.”
A sense of nervousness flashed across Danny’s face as he looked over at Aldo.
“Gee, I’m not your father – you’re an adult, Danny, so do as you please. I just want you to take extra care to be discreet about your rendezvous.””
“Aldo, I’m not asking for your permission to go, but could I please borrow your car?”
“You want to take that scuffed up Toyota to the Westin Hotel? Well, OK, but spare yourself some embarrassment by not using valet parking.”
“Thanks a lot, Aldo,” said Danny while turning his attention to Jessica. “How can we meet without being noticed by the cameramen?”
“The hotel is adamant about not allowing paparazzi into the hotel, but they also monitor unregistered guests. It would be best if you could check into a room of your own, and then come visit me in room number 2712. They seem to have several vacancies right now, so you could request a room on the 27th floor for convenience. Why don’t you come visit me tonight, around 10:00 PM? I still need to make my daily rounds of stopping by the house and the hospital.”
Danny gave her another nice, long kiss and said in a romantic-tone of voice, “I’ll see you tonight at ten o’clock, my love.”
When Aldo re-locked the door after Jessica left, he said, “Why don’t you use one of David Dawson’s credit cards to reserve a room? I’m sure he won’t mind. My only advice is to be careful so that no one sees you together with her. That could lead to a lot of raised flags in the future.”
“I understand, Aldo. I’ll be real careful – and thanks again for letting me b
orrow your car.”
Danny parked in the underground parking lot, and checked in at the main lobby. A bellhop asked if he had any luggage, but Danny just said, “No thank you – I don’t need any help.”
As he got off the elevator up on the 27th floor, he checked to see where Jessica’s room was located. He was pleased to see that it was only three doors down from his own room.
Danny arrived almost two hours earlier, but he used the time to relax and wash himself. The wound on his thigh was healing nicely. After showering, Danny applied some medicinal ointment to the injured area and wrapped some fresh gauze around his leg.
He had borrowed some of Aldo’s aftershave lotion, and he liberally doused himself with it as ten o’clock was approaching. A final check on the time showed it was now 9:58. Danny looked at himself in the mirror and thought, “Tonight is the night I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
Danny carefully opened the door only a few inches, and he was glad to see nobody else around. He tiptoed a few steps over to door number 2712 and lightly knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened halfway, and Jessica reached out to pull him inside. She quickly hung a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the doorknob, and locked the door.
Danny’s eyes had zeroed in on Jessica’s sexy, purple-lace, see-through nighty. She wore matching, purple fishnet stockings, and black, high heel shoes. Danny was enchanted by the fragrance of her imported, French perfume which she had applied in liberal amounts. He started to say, “Wow, Jessica…” – but he was interrupted as she grabbed him hard, and pushed her shapely, sexy body tightly up against him. The couple began with long, romantic kisses, but soon they became engaged in outright, hot, French kissing.
Jessica knew that Danny was a virgin, so she decided to take control. To slow down the pace a tad, she asked him, “Danny, could you please open a bottle of champagne for us?”
“Sure, honey,” said Danny, but when he popped the cork, bubbly champagne shot out all over her lacey nighty.
At first, Jessica squealed in delight, but then she opened up the front of her negligee. In a more serious tone she said, “Oh, Danny angel, you mustn’t waste that good champagne. Please lick the droplets of bubbly from my boobs.”
Jessica had already pulled off the covers of their plush, king-sized bed. She lied down on the silky, satin sheet and cooed as Danny knelt over to lick up droplets of champagne which sparkled in the semi-darkness. Although the room’s lights were turned off, there was more than enough visibility thanks to the city lights. Thus, Danny was able to admire the beauty of every one of Jessica’s fabulous curves.
“Oh. Danny – that feels soooo good, but you’ll find some more champagne drops if you move a little lower.”
Danny was inexperienced, but he knew exactly what she meant. He headed further south, and he eagerly drank a few drops of champagne from her fountain of love.
Jessica grabbed at the silky sheets with both of her hands as Danny gently worked her up towards a raging, wild orgasm. Danny could tell that his actions were bringing great pleasure to his lover when he noticed miniscule beads of sweat forming on her gyrating abdomen. After reaching her best climax ever, Jessica sat up and placed her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. She told him, “I love you Danny – that was the best. Now it’s my turn to thrill you.”
They took turns exploring each other in every way Danny had ever fantasized about – plus a couple of extra twists that had never even occurred to him. After making love until they both were totally exhausted, Danny sat up on the edge of the bed, and then he burst into tears.
“Is everything OK, Danny dear?”
After wiping away his tears in the satin sheets, a very emotional Danny replied, “You know, ever since I became a cripple in the ski lift accident back when I was only seventeen, I’ve had no sensation of any kind below my waist. I lived my entire adult life with the certainty that I could never make love to anyone. Jessica, my angel – you just gave me the most meaningful night of my entire life. I love you very much, and I can never thank you enough. Living life as an invalid has been emotionally devastating to me.”
“Danny, I can honestly say that I feel grateful to you as well.”
“I’m curious – in what way are you feeling gratitude?”
“Well, as you know, my husband and I have no children even though we’ve been married for almost eight years. I always really wanted to have my own baby, and I thought that becoming parents would solidify our marriage. However, after years of failing to becoming pregnant, I began to doubt that I was even capable of having a baby of my own. I’ve been prescribed all sorts of fertility medications and I’ve been examined by several gynecologists. Not a single one of the doctors could find any physical reason which would prevent me from becoming pregnant. Finally, a year ago, my husband confessed that he secretly had a vasectomy during a business trip shortly after our wedding. He gave me some bogus explanation that he thought the world was overpopulated, but in reality, he just wanted to have unprotected sex with other girls without risking paternity lawsuits. That horrible guy drove me to the very brink of suicide. So, Danny dear, tonight was particularly special to me too, and yes, I love you too – with all my heart.”
Now it was Jessica’s turn to cry. Danny gently wiped away the tears which ran down her cheeks, and then he gave her a warm, comforting hug and a kiss…
“Jessica, honey – I’m sure you would make a terrific mother, and I would love to make a baby together with you. You know, our baby would be a very unique, special baby. It would be the first ever ‘inter-universe baby’ conceived by parents from two separate worlds.”
A choked up Jessica answered, “Your wonderful words are music to my ears. After being duped into believing that I was unable to become a mom, I fell into a deep depression which led me to the very cusp of suicide, but now I know I have the correct, loving partner in whom I trust completely.”
Jessica asked Danny to sleep and cuddle with her some more, but Danny suddenly noticed a beam of sunlight shining through a small gap in the curtains. Reluctantly, he convinced her that the threat of being discovered would become greater the longer he stayed there.
“I know you’re right,” said Jessica, “but I can tell that this wonderful encounter is just the beginning of something truly beautiful,” and then she kissed him gently.
She helped Danny to get dressed, and then she put on a bathrobe. After exchanging, ‘I love you’, numerous times, they continued to kiss right up until Danny opened the door to leave when…
“Flash!!” went the paparazzi camera. Somehow, the photographer had managed to sneak up to the 27th floor. The unknown cameraman ran off down the hallway, and quickly exited though the fire escape stairwell.
“Oh boy,” said Jessica. “I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.”
“Same here,” replied a worried Danny.
After a final ‘goodnight kiss’ Danny knew it was time to leave. He blew a sweet kiss to his true love just as he stepped into the elevator to head down to the underground parking lot. He was very concerned about the sudden appearance of the paparazzi cameraman right outside Jessica’s hotel door, and he was hoping to avoid any further encounters with other photographers and any members of the media. However, Danny did not get his wish – three more cameramen managed to get photos of him standing right next to Aldo’s car – and his license plate number happened to be captured in one of the photos…
15
The next morning Aldo got up bright and early like usual. He let Danny sleep in since he noticed it was early morning when he returned to his Shoreline residence. After making some scrambled eggs to go along with a toasted English muffin, he brewed a pot of coffee. Aldo sat down on the couch and turned on the TV in the living room to watch the morning news. He was interested to see if there was any follow up news concerning the Danny Donaldson situation…
“What the hell is this?” commented Aldo as he was choking on his scrambled eggs.
There wa
s a ‘TV newsflash’ which showed a reporter standing outside the Westin Hotel. He showed viewers a series of photos while saying, “This unidentified man was seen kissing Jessica Donaldson, wife of the comatose writer, Danny Donaldson. These photos were taken early this morning at the Westin Hotel. The unknown visitor was last seen leaving the parking lot in a scuffed up Toyota Camry. It’s only speculation at this time, but we believe the unidentified visitor may be linked to the mysterious case of the buried limousine discovered recently at the Donaldson property.”
“Oh, God no,” thought a shocked Aldo. “I can even see the last three numbers of my license plate in one of the photos. We’re completely screwed.”
Aldo rushed straight to the bedroom where a tired Danny was still sleeping. Danny sported a wide grin on his face even as he continued to sleep.
“Danny – Danny, wake up!” shouted Aldo. “You need to tell me what happened last night.”
A still groggy Danny yawned before smiling from ear-to-ear. He said, “Last night went way beyond my wildest fantasies. Actually, for still being a virgin, I rather surprised myself by…”
Aldo interrupted him, “Oh, Danny – no – I’m not talking about your performance. What exactly happened when you left her hotel room? Your pictures are all over the TV news this morning. To make matters worse, the paparazzi managed to take a picture of you at the Westin’s garage – right as you were climbing into my Toyota. Come and see for yourself.”
Danny sprang up from the bed and followed Aldo to the living room. Sure enough, the lead story on the morning news was about the Donaldson incident, and the TV reporter was calling for investigation of Jessica Donaldson’s unknown lover.
Ions Of Luck Page 11