Portals

by Amy Simone

  Should she get a job? She added that to the list. She’d heard on the radio that Lafayette had recently added a new shipping distribution center in Carencro, on the north side, that was hiring. Maybe she should go there and apply, she thought.

  She walked into Ralph’s study and fired up his desktop. It never hurt to poke around, she thought, and then hunted for pet-friendly apartments in Carencro and filled out a few job applications. Hayworth was still available to babysit. Maybe she could work a second shift somewhere and have her mother or her ex watch the kids?

  Her phone rang from deep inside her purse. She’d left it in the kitchen. It was her mother.

  “Hello dear. Frank wants to know if you and Catherine and your crew would like to take a ride with us up to the mountains so you can see where we will live. I know you all have a school holiday coming up. He’ll do all the driving since we can all fit in his Expedition. I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure.”

  “That sounds like fun, mom. I’ve been doing some thinking. You’re right. I need to find a job. Once I pay Ralph back, I’ll be free and he won’t have anything to hold over me.”

  “Exactly right.”

  “I need a favor. Can you watch my boys on nights I have them so I can go to work?”

  “I suppose so,” Hayworth answered. “Did you find your gift in your in box yet?”

  “I haven’t had time to check my email.”

  “I can hold on,” said Hayworth expectantly.

  “All right, mother.” Cassie flipped over to proper screen and scrolled through her messages. One had hearts all tacked into the text and it said, “a gift for you.” She opened that up. No, not this. Her mother had paid and signed her up for a dating service.

  “Well?” Hayworth asked.

  “Mother! Did you have to do this? I can’t go on a date!”

  “Yes, you can and you should. You aren’t getting any younger.” Hayworth paused. “I’ll be glad to babysit Caleb and Josh. I want you to be happy and living single won’t do. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about!”

  “Your situation was different. Daddy was killed!”

  “All my friends have tried this and so many have really found happiness. Dear, I insist you at least try it.”

  Cassie was quiet for a long moment.

  “Just humor me. Try three dates. Otherwise I will have wasted my money.”

  “Oh mom…” Cassie whispered. “I’m just not geared for this.”

  “There’s no time like the present,” Hayworth kept on. “Live a little!”

  Cassie’s eyes misted over. It seemed even her own mother didn’t understand her. After she hung up, she fought an urge to flip the lid open to her laptop as she stood in the kitchen. Right now only the Coach had proved to be the most sympathetic and most of the time Catherine tried to be. The plaid bag containing her computer was resting on the chair by the back door. Caleb was due home in about fifteen minutes.

  She grabbed the laptop out of its cover and settled into her kitchen nook. Josh had fallen asleep after he’d eaten lunch. She heard the soft tones of a kiddie movie she’d turned on for him in the living room.

  “It’s showtime,” she said to herself as she dramatically opened her computer.

  At first she saw nothing. The screen stared back at her, empty and blank. She toggled the power switch, then used the power cord to plug it into the wall.

  “I have needs,” she thought to herself. She even grabbed her list and plunked it down right next to the laptop. “Okay, call them wants. I don’t care what you call them… I need help…”

  With the power cord now giving the slim computer new life, she was pleased to see her new favorite color—the strange violet—gaining strength in the display.

  She glanced out of the window, just to make sure Caleb’s bus hadn’t gotten there yet. The laptop seemed to take forever to warm up.

  “Give me what I want,” she begged as the machine whirled and clicked. “I need money. Lots and lots of money.”

  And like that, her wish came true—but not how she would have liked it to be.

  18

  Liar's Poker

  There were mountains of money everywhere. Coins and stacks of dollar bills. It was so noisy, though. Robotized machines were flipping the paper currencies and organizing them, the wrapping them with multicolored paper sleeves. Several coin counting machines were funneling more money down chutes that would around the room and all headed to a huge opening that led to a pipe. Cassie stood in the middle of the room with a large muscular shirtless black man. The upper back half of his cargo pants showed a distinct “U” of sweat that had run down his back. He also had on a who wore a pair of cargo pants and a massive white head wrap.

  “Where am I?” she asked the fellow.

  “The counting room.”

  “Of what bank?”

  “This is no bank,” he told her sternly. He had a long-stemmed shepherd’s crook which he used to occasionally poke at a stream of money that had gotten bogged up. She saw that he wore a variety of body piercings, all made of gold—he had multiple loops in his ears and nose. Although his gruff manner at first was unsettling, he seemed too preoccupied with his mission to bother much with her. The machines also had green and red blinking lights on top. He watched those carefully as they signaled to him when a problem had occurred.

  She raised her voice and stood closer to him, then rose on her toes so she could speak closer to his ear.

  “Okay, so it’s not a bank. What place is this?”

  “Casino. Macau.”

  He stepped around her to tend to a machine that was larger than the rest in one corner. Poking and grunting, he finally worked the clod of paper cash free.

  Cassie looked up and saw several video cameras on the room. That made her shudder.

  This does me no good, she thought to herself.

  The dark man smiled at her, revealing gold plated teeth. “Nice to be around this money, eh?”

  “I suppose so. Is this what you do all day?”

  “Uh, huh.”

  She covered her ears just as a fresh batch of metal hit a chute. Noisy coins spilled onto the floor.

  “Get those for me, would you?” he asked. “Just stick them back in.”

  She did and looked at the coins themselves. They were also gold.

  “Is this a branch of Fort Knox?” she joked.

  “No, ma’am. All Europe plays here now. This is international all the way. Real money.” He laughed, showing a bright broad smile. “Does not matter what color your skin, if you got the gold, you play.”

  “Can I see the rest of the place?”

  He pointed to a small metal door with huge hinges on it and a tiny window. “Feel free.”

  She exited and now was in a long carpeted hall that seemed to be underground somewhere, as if she was in a basement. Walking along the barren hall, she was glad to get away from the noise.

  Finally she found an elevator. Punching the button for the ground floor, she rode up a few flights. She read the glass-encased listings and menus for several restaurants housed in the Grand Lisboa that coated the elevator walls.

  Resisting an urge to call the Coach she walked out into a gigantic gambling hall. He was probably watching her progress anyway on one of those screens of his. There really was little she could do at this point. She had no money to fritter away. The environment was full of money but none of it was hers. Story of her life, she figured…

  The moment she left the elevator she felt a warmth envelop her body. She had become instantly sheathed in body-hugging emerald green shiny dress. Her arms were bare and now she had a deep plunging neckline along with an up-swept hair style. Very Audry Hepburn. She caught sight of herself in a large mirror and was amazed at her new transformation. All around her were the various tables and stations of gambling. Many of the patrons were Chinese although there were several Caucasians too. Everybody looked a bit foreign to her, more elegant than typical Americans—perhaps Europeans and
Asians.

  In the center of the massive room was a gigantic glassy purple egg structure with flowing water cascading out of it. Cassie was drawn to it but as she got closer, she was horrified to realize why. Inside of the egg she saw her two sons. They were oblivious to the goings on of the room. Caleb was playing a game on one of his tablets while Josh was teasing Tiger, their cat.

  At a circular desk that encircled the egg/fountain sat one formidable security guard, all dressed in formal garb covered in epaulets and brass and braids. Cassie’s legs felt like they were going to give way from under her as she approached the set up.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the guard, “those are my kids. Let them out.”

  The guard who looked like a Sumo wrestler, merely folded his thick arms across his chest. “No.”

  “No? Just no?” she cried.

  “They are for later. You must wait,” he informed her.

  Cassie assessed the desk, trying to see if there was an opening she could use to enter and get closer to the egg. She waved violently, trying to get her kids’ attention. They did not see her.

  “What do you mean for later?”

  “They are for winner only,” he told her.

  “You mean to tell me my kids are to be given away?” She started hyperventilating.

  “You must wait,” he repeated.

  Cassie pounded on the desk in front of him, challenging him. “No. They are my sons. No.”

  The guard reached under his desk top and pulled out a clipboard. “There is a price. Thirty thousand U.S.” He slid the clipboard out of view.

  “What the hell?” Cassie now tried to climb over the desk. Her new stiletto heels got caught up on the hem of her dress. Angrily she yanked off the shoes.

  The guard had rung a loud buzzer and the entire gambling hall now filled with a shrill ringing sound. Every game stopped and the crowd stared at her.

  “Cut it out lady,” one of the customers yelled from the back of the room. “We were having a good time back here.”

  “Yeah, I was winning,” another one yelled.

  A second guard, an Oriental-looking woman dressed in a neatly trimmed simple dark green skirt and white blouse with a braided cap, took Cassie’s arm.

  “Come with me,” she said in English. She stooped long enough to grab Cassie’s shoes.

  Cassie tossed her head back, screaming, hoping her kids would hear her.

  “You bring back money, you win,” the larger guard said with a shrug. He then smiled, revealing several black holes where teeth were missing.

  He rung the buzzer a second time and all play sprang back into action. Cassie hadn’t stopped screaming though. The female guard finally put a hand over Cassie’s mouth, then the guard jerked her head sideways to indicate to another guard to come help her subdue Cassie. The two of them led Cassie into a small side room, then set her down in a chair, tossed the heels onto the floor next to her and locked the door.

  Still panting, Cassie pounded on the inside of the windowless door. Nobody answered. Her disheveled hair was all over her face and she couldn’t stop screaming or crying.

  She carried on like this for a good ten minutes. Then she saw the door handle turning. She prepared to leap out into the hall but was prevented from doing this by a tall, resolute man who vaguely resembled Annie’s husband. The door was locked behind them. He carried a thick manila folder with him.

  “Hello, Mrs. Owens. I’m here to help you.”

  “Greg! What are you doing here?” she asked suspiciously. Then realizing the seriousness of her situation, she cried, “Oh God, yes, please help!”

  “You need to understand the rules….”

  19

  Bad Rides

  “What rules? No, Greg, I need to get back,” she said. Then she looked up at the ceiling and yelled, “Coach, get me out of here!”

  “Won’t do you any good. This room’s protected. And by rules—here is the main rule: everything has a price. When somebody makes you an offer you can’t refuse...”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing gets out of here. You can forget that Coach friend of yours. We’re encased by metal sheathing.” He tapped the edge of the file on the table and sat down.

  Cassie desperately wondered if she even would be home in time to greet her son. Despite the Coach’s assurances that these computer forays only took a second in real time, she felt she’d stepped over some edge. Why was Annie’s husband here?

  “We have some papers for you to sign.” He turned a set of forms to her. “You want the money. It’s yours for the asking. Just hand over the computer.”

  “No,” she told him.

  “If you don’t, your sons are going on a little joy ride.” He didn’t retract the forms. He pushed a pen in her direction.

  “I don’t want to do that,” she insisted.

  Greg rose and knocked twice on the inside of the door. “Sam, open this. Show Mrs. Owens what’s happening.”

  They had wheeled a large monitor into the center of the hall just outside the holding room. Cassie heard an auctioneer calling out numbers. She saw on the screen that her boys, still encased in the strange purple giant egg remained oblivious to the casino’s bustle around them. From the circle desk an auctioneer had joined the sumo wrestler guy. The second man was hugely obese, Caucasian, and had a Colonel Sanders white hair and mustache appearance. He held his suit jacket flung over his shoulder with one fingertip—showing that to him this to be a fast and quick sale. He acknowledged bids from the audience, confirming them by calling out numbers over a microphone. A live auction was going on.

  Cassie yelled again. She screamed into the hall, “Help!”

  “If you don’t give us what we want, your boys are going away,” Greg insisted as he used his arms and chest to force her back into the room.

  “You can’t….”

  “I can do anything I like,” he said in a low voice. Then, like that, he pushed her back all the way into the room and stepped out. “Think things over,” he told her as the guard re-secured the door.

  Agitated, Cassie walked back and forth, running her fingers through her hair. She knew she was being watched. Time was not on her side. Finally, she knocked in the same way Greg had.

  “Tell him I’ve changed my mind,” she announced to the doorman.

  “It’s too late.” The guard had only opened the door a couple of inches to tell her this.

  “What do you mean?” Her throat and chest felt like they were collapsing.

  “Those kids are gone.”

  Under normal circumstances Cassie’s scream would have been heard several floors up. Since she was being held in a more secure part of the casino, it only traveled to the end of the hall.

  She never saw Greg again. The Coach, though, strode up to her from the hallway depths. She caught sight of him through the crack in the door.

  Addressing the guard, he said, “since you all have the kids, you don’t need this woman.”

  The guard stood his ground. The Coach covered him with a light from his hands except this time it was dark red.

  Cassie dashed out of the prison room, never looking back.

  “Is he dead?” she asked the Coach.

  “Momentarily paralyzed,” he told her.

  “Thought you’d take the fast way, didn’t you? Working it from both ends? Did you get enough of being around this money stuff?” he said contritely as he led her back into the cavernous room. He sniffed at the environment.

  “Coach, I have no idea how I got here,” she professed.

  “That man Greg piggybacked onto our wave. Used some renegade code. That’s how. Your kids? He thinks of them as mere collateral damage.”

  “I’m being blackmailed. Also, I can’t get them back unless I have my computer, can I?” she asked, trotting to keep up with the Coach. He walked directly to the room’s center.

  “Who won?” he asked the auctioneer who was now outside of the circle desk and gathering up some paperwork as
he prepared to leave.

  “Why the witch. She wanted them the most, gave the best bid.”

  Cassie eyed the middle of the fountain. The purple glass object had turned fully opaque. Caleb and Josh were gone.

  The Coach stepped up into the auctioneer’s face. “Tell me more,” he said gruffly.

  The fat man fell back a bit, regained his composure and cleared his throat as he removed the Coach’s hand. “Said she was taking them on a little vacation.”

  “Okay, I know what she did.” The Coach turned to Cassie. “We’re going to Florida.”

  “Florida? I have to be home to meet Caleb.”

  “Nothing has changed—yet,” the Coach assured her. “You humans and your damn money problems. You all will do anything for money. A pity.”

  He motioned several times with his hands, creating a human-sized doorway like vortex of the strange yellow beams. They kept swirling as he stepped inside and offered his hand to Cassie. She hung back, afraid.

  “Hurry.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside with him. By now she knew there would be a darkness and a feeling of a pulling of energy as she felt the power thrust them to a new location.

  They ended up on an outside paved walkway full of people. Immediately she realized it was Disney World since she’d been there once as a child.

  The Coach looked left and right. “There’s a lot of nefarious creatures here,” he told her. “They hide out here because they blend in. Witches included. We ought to break up to search and meet somewhere later. I think Animal Kingdom might be a likely spot.”

  “I’ll go anywhere you want,” she panted. She felt light-headed, as if she would hyperventilate again. “I need to get them back.”

  He stopped and looked at her dead on. “You didn’t make any deals with that man, did you?”

  “No. I was about to but no.”

  “I’ll try the Hollywood area and you go to the Animal section. We’ll meet up in an hour at the main gate by Epcot. Now go!”