With that, Jessica lifted the tote bag full of cash into the tunnel opening, and eased herself into the opening. In an instant, she was whisked away at an exhilarating speed down the iridescent, light-filled, wormhole tunnel…”
Danny and David had already completed Bill Thomas’ transfusion several hours earlier. The medical procedure was a total success, and Bill was eager to return back home. After Danny explained to him, “Your original world lies at the end of the tunnel we just came from. You’ll be exiting the wormhole tunnel and end up inside a private laboratory at the University of Washington. You already met my mentor, Professor Aldo Paganini, last time we passed through here. There’s no need for you to worry about inadvertently ending up in the frozen wasteland of the north or south-pole.”
A skeptical Bill asked Danny, “Well, if you’re so sure we’re not going to end up at either of the Earth’s poles, then why are you wearing a parka and winter boots?”
David interrupted by saying, “My friend, Danny Donaldson, is foolish enough to brave going down the other tunnel to the parallel universe.”
“Why the hell would you choose to go that way?” asked old Bill. “You don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.”
“That’s an interesting choice of words,” said Danny, “but as they say, ‘love is blind’. The girl I’m madly in love with is in deep trouble, and she needs my help.”
“Well, I hope that love conquers all,” said Bill. “I wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you, Bill. By the way, you’re going to be in for quite a culture shock. Things have changed a lot since 1890. You’ll see what I mean.”
“After being stuck here for what seems like an eternity, anything would seems like an improvement to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for solving the riddle of how I can finally leave this dungeon.”
With that, David led Bill Thomas to the correct tunnel entrance. He helped the elderly Bill to climb gingerly into the mouth of the wormhole tunnel. As soon as Bill was whisked away, Dave turned around to wave to Danny while saying, “I’m an atheist, but I’ll still pray for you that you live to be reunited with Jessica. She sounds like a very special girl – one who is clearly worth risking your life over.”
“Jessica is the love of my life,” replied Danny, “and I’d gladly risk anything and everything to be with her again – and David, may you have a safe journey back home as well.”
“Thanks, my dear friend. We shall meet again,” said David before climbing feet-first into the wormhole tunnel’s opening.
Poor Danny was now all alone inside the central black hole. He sorted through his equipment while he was psyching himself up for facing the frigid cold when he returned to the parallel universe.
“Gee, I hope I end up at the north-pole. It’s summer-time, so at least the Sun is out 24 hours and the temperatures might be somewhat more bearable. If I end up at the south-pole, it will be dark, and particularly cold down there. I’ve heard the temperatures there can be colder than 100 degrees below zero during the winter.”
Danny feared the possibility of the south-pole, but he was determined to go help his beloved Jessica. Just as Danny had positioned his backpack of supplies by the tunnel opening on the opposite side, he noticed a sudden increase in the tunnel’s luminosity. Just as he leaned forward to study the situation, he was suddenly knocked backwards when he was hit squarely in the chest by a pair of feet. He had the wind knocked out of him, and he labored for several seconds before his breathing returned to normal. At first, his vision was blurry, but a few seconds later he was able to focus his eyes once again. Danny couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that he had been bowled over by his beloved Jessica.
She was clueless as to where she was. She felt kind of dizzy at first, but moments later she was able to regain her equilibrium. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Danny lying down on the floor. He had the wind knocked out of him when she collided with him. Mixed tears of joy and concern formed in her beautiful eyes as she knelt down to comfort Danny. He was conscious, but still incoherent. Jessica held him in her loving arms as she gazed around at the unfamiliar sight of swirling lights surrounding them. She quickly came to the wrong conclusion…
“I guess I must have died, but everything is perfectly fine now that I’m reunited with my true love. Oh, Danny – I love you so much. I’m so overcome with joy to end up with you in my heaven.”
As soon as Danny regained his breathing, he stood up and helped Jessica up from the floor. He embraced her, and gave her a sweet kiss before explaining, “Jessica Sweet Hart – you are not dead – and this is not heaven. You and I are very much alive. We miraculously made it to the crossroads between the two parallel universes – we are at the central black hole.”
Jessica felt some mixed emotions at hearing Danny’s explanation, since spending eternity with Danny in her heaven didn’t seem like such a bad idea. However, right after she understood the fact that they both were still alive, she was puzzled as to why Danny was wearing a thick parka. She asked him, “Danny, angel – why are you dressed so warmly?”
“Meeting you right here and now is truly miraculous – and your arrival here at this precise moment in time most likely is a lifesaving miracle for me. I was preparing to return to your world to try to help you at all costs, even though I faced the likely prospect of ending up at either the north or south-pole.”
Jessica caressed Danny’s face and kissed him again before saying, “Oh, Danny – that’s so heroic of you to risk death to come rescue me, but I can tell you that we better never go back down the tunnel from which I just came. My evil husband woke up from his coma, and he told the authorities that I was an accomplice in helping you and Aldo to kidnap him. He also told a police detective that I was directly involved with the burying of the limo driver in our excavated swimming pool pit. It’s been very arduous and stressful to deal with the police and the persistent, sudden appearances of the paparazzi – and it was extra difficult to deal with them all by myself, while not knowing whether or not you were still alive. But I can thank God that it’s all behind us now. Let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m just overjoyed to be reunited with you again, my true love – but I know that hell awaits for us at the end of the tunnel from which I came. We’re just lucky to get away from there, alive and well, and to be together in each other’s arms again.”
“Somehow, my consistently bad luck has improved dramatically. I must have gained some of your husband’s positive ions of luck when Aldo gave me a transfusion with his blood.”
“Yes, that certainly makes perfect sense to me, Danny dear.”
A curious Danny noticed that she had brought a tote bag with her. He asked her, “Jessica, honey, what’s in the bag?”
“Nothing much,” replied Jessica with a playful smile. “It’s just a million dollars. I figure we could use it to start another life.”
“Wow, you have brains and beauty – Jessica you truly are the ultimate girl for me. You’ll be glad to know that Aldo made it back to the other world. We happened to find the missing physicist, David Dawson, over there as well. Actually, now there are two guys named ‘David Dawson’, and they are pretending to be twins. Together, they found a way to keep the communication chamber’s electro-magnetic coils from overheating when left on at the max power setting for lengthier periods of time. I know he’s waiting right now at an identical physics lab in the other universe. We don’t have to worry about ending up at the north or south-pole anymore, since his communication chamber – now called, The Paganini Inter-dimensional Teleporter – is permanently locked onto the wormhole tunnel.”
Danny carried the tote bag of money towards the tunnel opening at the other side of the spherical room, but Jessica tugged on his arm playfully from behind…
“Well, Danny angel – if there no longer is any problem with the overheating of the electro-magnetic coils, why do we have to be in such a hurry back? I’m feeling a little overheating myself, if you know what I mean,”
said Jessica with a sultry look in her eyes.
Danny could read her mind – and he suddenly felt very amorous too.
Jessica sweetly caressed him while saying, “Danny angel – this has to be the most romantic, private, and spectacular place in the entire universe – make that two universes, for us to make passionate love. Just look around at the wonderful, swirling light show we have.”
With that, she removed Danny’s puffy parka and spread it out on the floor. Next, she helped to disrobe Danny, while he slowly began to undress his dream girl. There, on top of the cushioned parka – beneath the magnificent, swirling lights of the universe, the two, hot lovers pleasured each other to their heart’s content. When they were finished Danny helped Jessica up to her feet, and then he knelt down on one knee…
“Jessica, my one and only angel. We are at the most special place of all. We are literally at the crossroads between two universes. I don’t want to miss the once in a lifetime chance to propose to the girl I love in the most romantic setting one could ever imagine, so Jessica honey, will you marry me?”
Jessica broke out into tears of joy while stammering out, “Of course, Danny dear. I definitely want to be your wife.”
They kissed and made love one more time before eventually making the journey back to Aldo’s laboratory…
20
“Oh, mama mia – Grazie a Dio – Danny, you and Jessica both made it here alive,” said Aldo excitedly as he helped them climb out of the teleporter. “Tell me, how on earth did you return so soon? Was there a time warp whereby you shortened the amount of time lapsed? We expected you to be gone for a much longer period of time.”
“Well, Aldo – somehow I must have benefited from the transfusion I received from my lucky, alter-ego which added positively charged, ions of luck to my blood. If my luck were still as bad as it originally was, I would certainly have exited the wormhole in the middle of Antarctica during the dark, frigid, winter season. However, I was fortunate enough that I didn’t even have to travel to the parallel universe at all.”
“How’s that so?” asked a curious Aldo.
Jessica came over to give Aldo a warm, hello hug. She said, “I’m so glad to see you again, Aldo. To answer your question, I made Danny’s rescue mission way easier since I found a way to transport myself to the central black hole. You see, my husband emerged out of his coma, and he had already told the police that I was guilty of co-conspiring with you and Danny to kidnap him, and help you pilfer money from his bank account. I’m so happy to get away from all the lies, all the headaches, the police, and the paparazzi. I can finally relax, and I look forward to begin a happy, normal life with my true love, Danny.”
Aldo watched as Jessica and Danny shared a nice, long kiss.
“You know, Aldo,” said Danny, “Jessica had no other choice than to leave the control dials of the communication chamber in the other world already set to the correct frequencies and power settings. To eliminate any possible chance that the authorities would actually send a task force to come after us, I suggest we keep your teleporter’s power turned off unless we are actively using it. That way, even if some brave fool comes after us, let them end up in the middle of a frozen Antarctica.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” said Aldo as he immediately began to shut down the teleporter.
A moment later, Dave and David walked into their lab with Bill Thomas. Bill looked way different since he was now dressed in modern, casual clothing. He had received a haircut, and his lengthy beard had been shaven off. He actually looked like a handsome man in his mid-forties, even though his actual age was closer to 140 years old.
Bill ran over to hug Danny as he proclaimed to the gang, “This is the special man who came to rescue me from my own, private hell. If not for you, Danny, I might have been stuck there for an eternity, since time effectively ceases to move forward at the central black hole.”
“Danny, I know you are an excellent writer,” said Jessica. “Why don’t you get together with Bill and write his biography? You can include some of your own experiences in the book as well, although I’d leave out any parts about us burying the Samoan limo driver alive. Besides, now that you have at least normal luck, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty in finding a publisher.”
“That’s an excellent idea, as long as it’s OK with Bill.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Bill. “After being stuck there for so long, I’d like for people to read about my story. I’m sure my situation was rather unique.”
Aldo noticed that Jessica had transported a tote bag with her. He asked, “Did you bring some personal items with you to our world?”
“The day before I left, I raised a million dollars in cash,” said Jessica as she opened up the bag. She removed a bundle of hundred dollar bills and asked the guys to look at it. “Is this money from another world any good over here?”
They took turns studying the money, and comparing it to cash from David’s wallet. They came to the conclusion that the money looked perfectly similar.
“Great,” said Jessica. “Well, in that case, I’m feeling quite famished. Let’s all go out to celebrate – and dinner is on me.”
They went to a nice restaurant overlooking Lake Union, and were fortunate to be seated in a private banquet room so that no one would hear their private discussions. After ordering food, they became engrossed in a very deep conversation…
“Jessica, are you interested in meeting your mother from this world?” asked Danny. “I recently stopped by her old house in Lynnwood.”
Suddenly, Jessica felt a twinge of jealously since she knew her alter-ego was Danny’s first love. She asked, “Danny angel, why did you go visit her? Are you still in love with her daughter?”
“I went there out of morbid curiosity – besides, I wanted to show Mrs. Hart that I could walk again. When I spoke to her, I was shocked to learn that her daughter recently committed suicide. She shot herself over a cheating fiancé – apparently on the exact same day I prevented you from killing yourself on the day I first met you.”
“Oh my – that’s unbelievable how closely connected the two parallel universes must be,” commented an astonished Jessica, although secretly she was glad to hear that her main completion for Danny’s love was permanently gone.
“Jessica, honey, do you feel like you want to meet your alter-ego’s mom?” asked Danny.
“Definitely not at this time – if she’s like my mom from the other world, she will have a very hard time going through the rollercoaster ride of attending her daughter’s funeral one day, and then here I am back in the flesh. Let her have some time to heal emotionally. Maybe in a year or so she’ll actually be delighted to see me. Right now, I think she just needs some peace and tranquility.”
“Bill – what about you?” asked Danny. “Are you ready to dig up your family members?”
“Danny, are you trying to be funny?” replied Bill. “Of course I don’t want to dig my family members since certainly they are all dead and buried, unless you’re into Voodoo or some such thing.”
“That was just a figure of speech – I chose my wording poorly. What I meant was, do you want to find any living relatives you might have? Finding people through the internet is quite simple these days.”
“What’s an internet?” said a confused-looking Bill. “I never heard of it.”
“Maybe we’ll search for your relatives at a future time – after we write a fascinating book about your past experiences.”
“What about you, Dave?” continued Danny. “Did you ever meet David’s family?”
“Actually, yes – our dad passed away over ten years ago, but our mom’s still alive. The first time she saw both of us together, she fainted, but after we revived her, we carefully explained the truth to her. She’s a pretty cool lady, and now she welcomes the notion of being the proud mother of twin, physicist sons.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” replied Danny.
Their discussion was interrupted
when the waitress delivered their main courses. Not surprisingly, Dave and David had identical tastes in food as well. Both chose to have the King Crab legs. Bill was eager to eat his first steak and potato meal in over a century – and he eagerly drank some beer as well. Jessica and Danny both selected an Italian dish: seafood fettuccine – while Aldo chose prime rib.
“Aldo, I’m surprised you didn’t choose one of their fettuccine dishes since you’re Italian,” said Jessica.
“I’ve learned to avoid eating any Italian foods in America,” replied Aldo. “American restaurants can’t hold a candle to authentic, Italian cuisine. In my honest opinion, the Tuscany region where I was raised has the finest Italian food in the whole world.”
“Say, Danny – I just got the wildest idea,” said Jessica. “To be sure, we just narrowly escaped all sorts of disasters in the other world. Any one of a number of things could have killed us, or sent us away to prison for a very long time. Why don’t we all take a vacation – just to get away from it all – to celebrate a new start and a new life?”
“Where do you think we should go?”
“Why don’t we take a trip to Italy?” said Jessica. “Aldo can be our interpreter and travel guide. It would be a lot of fun to catch a flight to Rome, and we can rent a car to go visit Aldo’s childhood home.”
Bill was the first to speak, “Oh no – I thought you were talking about taking an ocean liner to Italy. David told me that people can now fly in some scary, death contraption called an airplane. There’s no way I will ever go to Europe in anything other than a seaworthy ship. If God intended for man to fly, he’d have given him wings. No thanks, but I choose to stay.”
“Actually, the dean just approved a contract for research on the Paganini Inter-dimensional Teleporter,” said David, “so I’m not available to go at this time.”
“Me neither,” added Dave.
However, Aldo openly embraced the idea. He said, “Jessica, I would love to serve as your travel guide and interpreter. Frankly, the biggest disappointment in my entire life is failing to find a way to communicate with my mother’s spirit. I’ve often heard about family members having positive results in speaking to family spirits at the place of their burial. My family has owned the same piece of land for more than ten generations, and all our family members are buried in our private cemetery. I would very much like to return to Italy to visit my Mama Cecelia’s grave.”
Ions Of Luck Page 15
