by D. R. Mather
“So I’m coming back?”
“Only if you wish to Kevin, that has always been your choice. We would very much like to meet your entire ‘team’ as you would say it. We believe that meeting us would be of a great service to them as well as to you and Judy. When the time is right, you will feel the urge to return. And now Kevin, we must speak alone, if you would?” He swung his very long arm in a forward gesture and they went into the second room. Kevin looked back at Judy, but she was talking to the female and didn’t see him.
’The light is bright, it’s in my eyes. I have to squint to open them,’ thought Kevin. It was the sun coming in from the library. Alex jumped up and came over to them.
“OH WOW, welcome back strangers!!”
Judy leaned forward and was grasping for his hand. She looked at him and in her own Judy fashion said, “What the hell was that?”
“Hey honey, you were there too.” He turned back to Alex, “I don’t remember the sun being out when we did the talisman Alex.”
Alex got down on his knees in front of him. “That’s because you two have been out cold for three days!”
Judy looked at Alex, then to Kevin, “HOLY CRAP!”
“That’s right honey, holy crap is right.” Kevin stood up. He wavered a bit but quickly got the hang of it. He helped Judy up, but Judy wasn’t so quick to recover and almost fell back to the sofa twice. She finally got her ‘sea legs’ as she put it. Alex dashed off and a minute later, the door to the library opened and everyone was there, even Will and Barb.
’Shit,’ thought Kevin, ‘how the hell do I explain this to them?’ He quickly discovered he didn’t have to worry.
“Hey, up from your nap I see,” said Will and then walked off.
Barb peaked her head in and said, “You two looked so cute there together. I just wanted to go over there and pinch your cheeks!” Then she also left.
Kevin looked at Judy, “Problem solved I guess.”
In a part of Kevin’s private conversation with the beings, it had been discussed and decided that Cindy and Roland should be let in on all of it, but with no active roll. Merely for support if needed. Marie would be left up to Kevin. Marie was taking care of Cindy, and that was very important for Cindy’s health, but things could get a little strange if Kevin brought Cindy and Roland in without Marie. This would be for Kevin to ultimately decide. He figured the best thing to do was to feel Marie out some, and take it from there.
Within an hour, everything was once again back to normal. Judy was in the kitchen, working with Barb on some pies. Beth, Alex and April were in the library. Apparently with all the searching they’d been doing, they had all discovered that the very books they were going through had opened up a whole new interest to them. Beth and Alex were sitting next to each other on a sofa with several books spread out around them. They were in a very deep discussion about Stonehenge with both of them picking up a book, making a point with it, putting it down then picking up another one and so on. April sat across from them reading a book about crop circles in England. When she put the book down, her finger was still in the page she was on. April was just looking across at them, watching them talking back and forth, when she noticed something. They weren’t sitting the ‘proper’ distance from each other. Beth’s left side was touching Alex’s entire right side.
April smiled, wondering if this was the beginning of yet a third romance at the Colburn Inn. Through some strange event that no man would ever figure out, Beth suddenly looked over at April. April did some type of gesture and head movement with her eyes, and Beth speed fluttered her eyelashes. April then did a quiet, very tight and controlled finger clap with her hands as they lay on top of the book, while twisting her body all around as if she had just ate a lemon. Now April returned to her book but she couldn’t stop the smile from being on her face. This was apparently a sign women could use to tell each other things. Men just threw up their hands to it and tended to place it in the ‘Looney toons’ category. Somehow Beth had managed to sort of ‘snuggle’ closer to Alex without him even noticing it. Or had he noticed?
Suddenly Alex looked up, “Hey, what the heck is going on here?”
“What?” asked Beth.
“I thought you and I were going through books?” April snickered a little, so Alex added, “Oh I see. Girl time is coming up, and it’s time to get rid of the guy, huh?”
“Actually Alex, just the opposite,” Beth leaned into him and they locked lips.
April sat straight up with her mouth open; she was going to make a joke but then she noticed something about Alex. As he slid forward on the sofa while being attacked by Beth, it seemed he became more in a lying down position. In this new position, April could see a ‘fully’ alert part of Alex that may or may not have been there a few minutes ago. April stood up, took one last look and murmured to herself, “Yup that should be enough to keep Beth happy.” She then exited the library and closed the doors behind her.
Alex pulled himself up again once Beth released him, and tried to compose himself.
“Well, ha, Beth, well, I don’t know what to say…”
“If you try to do a computer analyses of this, I’m gonna bust you in the mouth Alex,” Beth cut in.
Alex looked at her for a second then said “Yeah….but …I …really….”
He then said no more. Instead, he was all over Beth an instant later, kissing her neck, her ears, her lips; pretty much anything he could find exposed. Beth’s part in this? She just freaking loved it!
April came down stairs and looked about to see who was around. Kevin, Cindy and Roland seemed to be in a very deep discussion at the back of the living room, so she headed to the kitchen. When she got there, she found Marie, Judy and Barb all trimming pies. It looked like they’d made about twenty in all.
“Hey, what did I miss out on?”
“Oh nothing exciting April,” said Barb. “We just had a lot of pumpkins left in cold storage and decided to make some pies to freeze.”
“Oh I see.” She walked over to where they were. “Is that pie jizz in that bowl then?”
“APRIL,” Barb said in an angry tone.
“Come on Barb, we’re all adults here, we get to talk like this, our mommy’s said we could once we all grew up!”
Everyone laughed but then Judy said, “My ‘mommy’ never did much talking to me at all.”
That wiped the smiles off everyone at once.
Judy looked up, “Oh shit, I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have said that. I’m so sorry, okay?”
Barb took Judy’s waist and did a pull hug.
“Don’t you worry dear,” said Barb. “That’s behind you. Everyone here loves you and that’s enough.” Barb then kissed Judy’s head and stepped back away.
Now came April’s announcement about Beth and Alex. Yes, Judy did her jumping up and down thing while speed clapping her fingers. And yes, Judy squeaked as well.
Barb did a quick head count and thought to herself, ’Wow, three new romances with this small group of people.’ She decided she might have to change the name of the place to the ‘Hearts on Fire’ or the ‘Wishes and Kisses’ Inn. Then she realized that so far, they had only catered to a very lonely group of people. Therefore she let those ideas go. Nevertheless, she had a warm smile as she resumed trimming a pie.
April did the old ‘key lock across the lips’ thing and said, “I’m sure it isn’t my place to say, but I just couldn’t keep it in. If anything comes of it, we should leave it up to them to tell us.”
Everyone agreed to keep it secret and pie trimming continued.
***
“You both understand that we aren’t going to intentionally let you get in harm’s way. I’m telling you this so that just the opposite will happen and that you’ll know to get out of the way should you see something going on that can harm you. Do you understand Cindy, Roland?”
Cindy had both of her hands on top of Kevin’s; Roland didn’t mind, he understood it was a friendship love, not a romantic lo
ve.
Kevin turned to Roland; “To be honest with you Roland, your part in this would be a lot bigger at this point, only it’s going to take two people ‘in the know’ to raise these two children with the proper knowledge. I happen to believe it’s no accident that you’re a scholar and a professor as well.”
“Thank you Kevin, for the kind words. In fact I… we do understand. Anything we can do to help, please just say it. If we can, we will. Kevin, face it, no matter how you may want to shrug it off, we have both figured out that those men were not going to leave that restaurant with anyone inside still alive. They weren’t wearing masks, and at least two of them had the will to kill. Cindy and I figured that out after we talked the whole thing over when we stayed in that first hotel after you got us out of there. Those men were not going to allow witnesses to be alive. We owe you our lives.”
Kevin smiled at them both, “I won’t hide it, you’re right; they weren’t going to leave anyone alive.”
“How does it work Kevin, in your head I mean?” asked Cindy.
“It sort of plays out like a movie, only a movie running on fast forward – very fast forward. I see several turnouts according to my actions; I get to decide in a mere millisecond which is the best. I don’t have the power to change what has already happened prior to my arrival, only what happens after. This is why I feel so bad about Emma. I know inside me that I got there one lousy minute too late. Just a few red lights that I could have driven through instead of stopping; that could have been enough,” Kevin hung his head in regret.
“Kevin, you did the best you could do.” Cindy tapped his hand.
Kevin looked up, “Have you two picked out names yet?”
Roland just pointed to Cindy and smiled, “That was her call all the way Kevin.”
“As a matter of fact I have,” said Cindy. “Timothy and Anne!”
Kevin pulled back slowly and stared at them. He didn’t say a word for most of a minute. In his head he began to sing the old Harry Chapin song, ’All My Life’s a Circle.’ Then he stood and took both of their hands.
“Perfect, I love the names,” he said, grabbing both of them in one big hug.
***
Dinner was as good as ever. There were popovers with shaved beef in them that were covered with gravy, several vegetable side dishes, and two freshly made pumpkin pies over at the serving table, just waiting for hungry eyes to attack them. The talk was light and very comfortable, more like a family than boarders. After the pie was served, Kevin made an announcement.
“Guys, in two days I have to leave. I have to go back to Indiana for a short visit.”
Judy snapped her head around at him, “What?”
“I’m sorry honey, I just got the news an hour ago, and I wanted everyone to know.”
Will leaned forward, “News, what news; the phone hasn’t rung all day?”
Kevin pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and waved it up.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about those,” Said Will.
Judy swung sideways and just latched on to him, “I’m coming with you.”
He had her in his own tight hug as well. “No baby that would prove to be disastrous.”
He pushed her back gently and looked at her. Judy was crying, but she shook her head, “Okay, I know if you say it would be, then I believe it would be.”
Everyone had tears in their eyes, more because of Judy’s reaction than anything else. The rest of the night was somber. There wasn’t a lot of talking going on in the living room that night. Kevin looked over at Marie and decided. He got up and walked over to her.
“Marie, may I take a few minutes of your time?”
“Sure Kevin.” She got up and followed Kevin out of the room and upstairs to the library.
“Marie, we need to talk about something very important to all of us, and I don’t mean here at the Inn, I mean all mankind.”
Marie looked really nervous but she attempted to control it; “Okay Kevin, I’m listening. Go on.”
Kevin spent the next two hours talking to Marie, and then told her to wait a minute. He walked out of the room and went downstairs. Less than a minute later, everyone except Will and Barb were in the library with Kevin.
“Marie, I’m going to have each and every person standing here now, tell you what they know, maybe it can help build a better overall picture for you.”
It was 11:30 p.m. by the time everyone had finished talking to Marie. Kevin sat in a corner chair and never said a word the entire time. He just let each person talked to Marie. Part of the reason Kevin didn’t speak was because he was speaking to ‘the voice’ in his head. The voice and Kevin agreed that Marie was a wild card and a short trip might be needed because she was having a hard time believing it all. Kevin got up and took Judy aside.
“Honey, I want you to give Marie your half of the amulet, okay?”
“Why Kev, is she going to them?”
“Yeah, she’s having a hard time believing this. I’m going to put it in her………” Kevin stopped talking for a moment. “Well actually sweetheart, you can keep your half, they just told me you’re coming with us.”
Judy looked a little confused, “Why do they want me to go?”
“I don’t know, maybe they like your bouncy personality?”
“Well, whatever you say, you’re the boss.”
As they walked over to Marie, Kevin said, “Damn right I’m the boss.” He got an elbow in the ribs for it. Kevin smiled at this and Judy giggled.
As they got to Marie, Kevin had Judy sit to the right of Marie, whilst he sat to the left of her.
“Marie, I want you to hold Judy’s hand as well as mine,” he said.
Judy and Kevin held up the halves in their free hand and touched them together. Blue and white light mixed around them as they all dropped back onto the sofa.
The three of them were now standing on the exact same spot that Kevin and Judy had done on their first visit. This time the beings were only about ten feet away.
“Now that we know your entrance point, it will be easier to greet you Kevin.”
Marie looked like she was about to pass out when one of the beings went up to her and ushered her off to a side room. Judy’s new friend was there and they too walked away together. This left Kevin with ‘the voice’.
“You know,” said Kevin, “we don’t even know your names.”
“This is because we don’t use them Kevin, we do not need names here.”
“Well that’s kind of inconvenient isn’t it?”
“Oh no, just the opposite, we have the ability to recognize each other through both a voice and visual glance.”
Kevin let out a small laugh, “That must be fun in bed, ‘Oh, ------------ I love you. As do I, ----------------. Yeah, that makes the whole thing mean something special.”
When the being returned with Marie, she seemed to be a changed person; she was smiling and she held a small object in her hand.
“I believe Marie should pose no problem now.”
Judy came out from a side room and headed back to Kevin, her new friend walking behind her. When she reached Kevin, everything began to fade…
They came around on the sofa and Beth was there. She just waved at them.
“Hi, so I get the return watch this time, huh?”
“Hi Beth.”
“Hi Kevin.”
“How long this time?”
“Oh this one was quick, only a day!”
“Nice,” said Kevin. “I didn’t want to come back and have to run out the door the second I returned. Anything happen while we were gone?”
“Aaahhh….nope, nothing much... Well, Alex and I are sort of a ‘thing’ now.”
Judy sat forward, “And that’s nothing?” She stammered off the sofa and went to Beth, reaching in and hugging her tightly. “I love you both.”
“I love you too Judy.”
They separated and Beth looked to Marie.
She stood and turned to Kevin, “I can do my best t
o make sure Cindy and the babies are safe. Thank you so much for this gift.”
Kevin stood and hugged her. “No Marie, thank you for helping, we can really use it.”
Marie left, leaving Kevin and Judy alone in the library. His last thought before he left the room was, ’I don’t think I’ve ever done so much hugging in my entire life.’
As Kevin turned to go to his room, he heard the front door to the Inn as it opened. He turned and started to head down when he heard a voice; it was Bill, the plow man, and from the sound of it, Bill had his whole family. He could hear Bill talking to Will about something, something he couldn’t quite make out…
”If we could just talk to him…I don’t see…I’d be most apprecia…”
Kevin thought it was safe and headed downstairs. Katie looked up and saw him, and was on him as he hit the bottom floor. Her arms went around Kevin’s neck by the time Judy had started down the stairs.
“Wow you’re fast. I can’t leave you alone for one minute without you being in someone else’s arms, huh Kev?”
He spun to the sound of Judy’s voice and kind of took Katie for the ride along with him.
“Hi honey, look who I found, Katie, Bill and the kids!”
Judy had a huge grin but she felt like playing the part a few seconds longer, “Well I can see you found Katie. The others I can’t see. You should get a better cover story than that next time.” The fact was, the ceiling was still blocking Judy from seeing Bill and the kids until she went down a few more steps.
“HI PUMPKIN,” Bill yelled out and waved to Judy.
Judy instantly turned a color that Kevin hadn’t seen yet.
“AHA, pumpkin is it? Maybe you need to do some explaining yourself young lady,” he said.
Now everyone was laughing as Judy flew down the rest of the stairs. Judy and Katie almost simultaneously sung out each other’s names and hugged each other. As things got back to order, Katie stepped back from Kevin and handed him his money.
“Kevin, we can’t accept this, please, here, we have an arrangement with Will that suits all of our needs: his and ours alike. It’s not that we don’t appreciate it, believe me, we could always use it, but not this way, we work for what we have and we just can’t accept such a large sum of money. Please take it back will you?”
