Reasons Only Time Allows

by Micah Thomas

  “What? You’re not too thrilled with the guy you turned out to be? Loaded with nice car and clothes and apparently a job where you can just fuck off for a while?”

  “It’s not that, man. In Eden, I was in party promotions. Life was easy. I had lots of friends and good times.”

  “Oh shit, that reminds me. You said ole’ Officer Sanderson arrested you for murder.”

  “Sanders. His name is Sanders. It was…” Thelon remembered prison, his escape, but before that, there had been a party where something terrible happened. “It was an accident. No. It was…there was, like, shit. There was a demon or something, like what I’ve been telling you, and it possessed people and made them do things. Monstrous things.”

  “Say no more.”

  “Thanks, man. It’s hard to talk about.”

  “No, I mean, Cassie’s here. Shut the fuck up about killing some chick.” Henry stood up and waved her over. “Heeeey! You actually came!”

  Cassie, still dressed in scrubs, let her hair down out of the tight ponytail and released a big sigh as she sat down. “And you’re actually here,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “What are we drinking?”

  The waitress appeared as if on cue. “Do you want to hear about our specials?”

  “I’ll have the house marg,” Cassie said.

  “Make that two,” Henry added with a smile.

  Thelon said, “Oh, uh…a water, please.”

  The waitress smirked and before she walked away, Cassie said, “Hold up. What the fuck is it to you if he’s not drinking? For all you know, he could be a recovering alcoholic who doesn’t need to take shit from a waitress in Mesa, Arizona.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You bet you are. And he’ll take a bottled water. The water here tastes like salty piss.”

  “Jesus,” Henry said once the waitress retreated.

  “You didn’t need to do that,” Thelon said.

  “Today has been a day,” was all the explanation she offered. “So, what are you two chucklefucks really about? Is your dad even sick?”

  Thelon coughed then said, “No.”

  “Insurance scam? Drugs?”

  “No and no,” Thelon repeated.

  Cassie sipped her margarita, which had magically appeared during the conversation. “What then?”

  Thelon took a deep breath and Henry nervously laughed.

  “We are here for you,” Thelon finally said.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you.”

  “Go on. Wait, what is your name again? Hank and Felon?”

  “I’m Thelonious. People call me Thelon. This is Henry.”

  “Weird, but got it. Okay. Now go on.”

  “This is where I say something crazy and you get up and leave.”

  “Try me.”

  “How about I go first,” Henry offered.

  “You two are buying the drinks, go right ahead.”

  Thelon thought, she’s amused. This is a fuck up, but she is laughing at us. All right.

  “A week ago,” Henry began, “I didn’t know this guy. I was minding my business in Seattle.”

  “And what is your business?” Cassie asked.

  “I dabble in this and that, but that’s not important. So, there I was, and this dude shows up, says he’s looking for me. Naturally, I thought he was some 21 Jump Street five-o messing with me, so I ran.”

  “Not far or fast enough, apparently,” Cassie said.

  “Well, no. He caught up and spun this yarn. I imagine it’s the same one he was gearing up to tell you. Is that right, Thelon?”

  “Yeah,” Thelon mumbled. “That’s about right.”

  “Okay, you’re building it up now. Just spill it while I’m getting buzzed.”

  “Thelonious?” Henry glanced at him. “You ready?”

  Oh boy. Here I go. T, wish me luck. “A month ago, I wasn’t here. Not this me. I was in a Chicago that doesn’t exist. It was beautiful; a city made of light and air and magic. A God had come to save us—not a metaphor. It was like living in a dream.”

  “Sounds pretty.” Cassie sipped her drink and tied a knot in the straw wrapper, then another, and pulled at each end until it broke.

  Thelon continued, solemn and steady. “It was gorgeous. A place of wonders we took for granted after the initial magic settled down. At least, I did.”

  Henry’s nervous leg vibrated the whole table.

  Cassie put both hands on it and gave him a look that said knock it off.

  Henry shrugged and smiled.

  Cassie looked back to Thelon. “Past tense. Got it. I’ll play along. What happened to it?”

  Thelon rubbed his eyes with his knuckles and again wanted a drink more than anything. I hope to God she’s remembering something, but if she is, she’s not letting on. “It ended. A week ago, I was on the Moon. Me and this guy here, Henry—well, the version of this guy that was there with me—we destroyed the world.”

  Silence. Henry’s leg stopped shaking. Goose flesh rose on his bare arms and he rubbed at them.

  Thelon had a minor jolt of chills, and knew Henry remembered something there. Does she?

  Cassie coughed to break the silence and muttered, “Heavy.”

  A new song started playing in the restaurant as if needing to remedy the awkwardness.

  Thelon let out a breath, held back his urgency. He wanted to know how she was interpreting this stuff, but restraint won and he remained calm while so awfully close to talking about how he’d died. “Yeah.”

  Cassie perked up with a smile that got them back on track. “So, what about me?”

  Henry laughed and punched Thelon gently on the arm, but not too gently. “Yeah, Thelon. Tell her.”

  Thelon gave Henry serious side-eye but continued, “You were there, in the city. Henry—not this clown, but another Henry—was trying to get back to you. You two were connected somehow.”

  Cassie raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips but said nothing.

  Her look dripped skepticism and Thelon thought it funny .Magical cities were fine, but this is too much?

  Thelon smirked with just one side of his mouth as if he was embarrassed to say it. This is the big one. “Is it too corny to say soul mates? The greatest love story ever told. Tragic, too.”

  Cassie scoffed through her teeth and accidentally sent a mist of booze across the table and Thelon.

  Thelon wiped his face with a cocktail napkin and squinted one eye closed. “He—that Henry—sent me here. He sent every soul on the planet here, I think. Except he couldn’t come, and neither could the other you. He was searching for Cassie when I left. I remember that much.”

  Cassie gazed at Henry, who stared at the drink menu. “Soulmates? You’d think I’d remember that. No offense.”

  Henry cocked his head and avoided eye contact, letting his long, dark lashes half close over those blue eyes to an effect he’d practiced. “None taken.”

  Thelon tapped the table with his index finger. “Yeah, well, the other you and other him are still out there, but you saw that news thing about the Energy Portal?”

  “The Cheeto Commander bullshit?” Cassie asked. “I figured it was fake news.”

  “It’s not. It’s dangerous. I saw the other you and the other him in the portal. Just a flash. It was enough to prove to me that I’m not completely insane.”

  “Wait. This has something to do with the EP?” Henry asked. “You never said anything about that before.”

  “Wait your turn,” Cassie said and raised her hand to stop him from talking more. “So, what am I supposed to do, fall in love with this guy? Again, no offense. And what then? What is the point of this story?”

  Thelon shook his head and wished for magic words to say. “I don’t know about the love part, but there is a place in Illinois that can help us. If you come with, just…I don’t know. It’s a stretch, but I believe we can help prevent the end of the world.”

  Cassie finished her drink and signaled the waitress for another. “You were ri
ght. This is fucking insane. Beyond any conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard. Like, you two could be writers for Netflix.” She laughed and noticed they weren’t. “You’re serious?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s serious. I’m Henry.” He had found his pluck again when conversation wasn’t about soulmates.

  “Ha ha, funny guy. I mean, do you have any proof or like, anything else to show me?”

  The waitress came by with Cassie’s drink. “Would you like another round?” she asked Henry.

  “Yes, please,” Henry said.

  Thelon wanted one, badly. He wondered if these two went to the bathroom at the same time could he stop himself from sipping their drink? “No. I don’t have any proof,” he said.

  “This was your plan?” Cassie raised a brow. “Ask me to go to Indiana, take time off work, and just fuck around with two dudes I don’t know? Ballsy.”

  “Illinois,” Thelon corrected.

  Henry chimed in, “I know, right? I thought he was off his rocker and not much has changed in that regard, but an all-expenses paid vacation? See more of the country? Why not? This good-looking man is loaded and hasn’t shown any psychopathic signs yet.”

  Cassie leaned back in her seat and let her gaze bounce back and forth from Henry to Thelon. “You’d pay for separate rooms? We can do some sight-seeing? All that?”

  “Absolutely,” Thelon said.

  “I don’t know, guys.” She cast a glance back towards the entrance and chewed her lower lip.

  She’s hesitating, but she didn’t just walk out. She’s amused but there’s something. I just know it.

  A loud group—louder than the TVs—howled as they bowled into the restaurant.

  Cassie glanced over and gasped. A fleeting vulnerability fell across her face and was quickly replaced by a scowl. “Hold up.”

  The seven of them took a long table on the other side of the restaurant. The three women were fashionably dressed as if walking here from Scottsdale—a version of Los Angeles lite: tight dresses, revealing necklines; cloned from the Kardashian mold. The men wore polo shirts and shorts showing too much leg above the knee.

  “You know them?” Henry asked and took big-eyed sip of his drink.

  Cassie’s grimace deepened as she scooted out of the bench seat. “No fucking way.”

  “Wait,” Thelon said, sensing imminent danger. We were making progress. Fuck.

  A man with glossy curls of blond hair sat at the large table with his back to Cassie, arm around a woman. His hand openly stroked her arm. As Cassie approached, he leaned over and kissed the woman, which she returned to the cheers of the friends at the table.

  “Andrea,” Cassie said to a woman facing her way, opposite the kissing couple, “and Ryan. Hi. How are you?”

  Andrea startled and spit out her drink.

  “Oh, don’t do that on my account,” Cassie said.

  Now the curly blond man turned in his seat. “Cassie. Uh, hi. I thought you were, uh…working tonight.”

  “Aaron, you are an asshole.” Cassie reached between him and the woman and dumped the pitcher of beer from the table over Aaron’s lap. “How about you let that cool your junk.”

  The table ate this up like reality tv; they oohed and awed. Henry strode up beside Cassie with Thelon in the rear, nervously standing in an awkward pose.

  The woman with Aaron said, “So rude,” as she tried to dry Aaron’s crotch with a napkin.

  Aaron pushed her away and tried to stand. “Cassie, don’t make a scene. Let’s go outside and talk about this.”

  Cassie shouted, “Am I embarrassing you? Is this embarrassing?”

  Henry gently, without any push or pull, stepped between Cassie and Aaron. Then he ever so politely pulled out Aaron’s chair so he could properly stand.

  “Outside,” Henry said.

  Cassie led, followed by Henry, Thelon, Aaron, and half their table. Outside the restaurant, people smoked and milled about in self-segregated groups in the parking lot. The energy spiked, palpable, and talk passed through the crowd like chum in the water. There was going to be a fight.

  Aaron said, “Cassie, can we talk about this? Like, privately? Do we really need this?” He hung his head but was far from abashed.

  Cassie’s jaw worked, tendons sticking out in her neck and posture straight as an iron rod. Though a foot shorter or more than Aaron, her five-foot nothing body was a spear ready to strike.

  Thelon watched, shifting his weight from leg to leg. He didn’t like this. “You know, maybe he’s right? We’ve all been drinking…” he said even though he hadn’t been.

  Henry nodded at Thelon then pivoted on his heel, once again smoothly getting between Cassie and Aaron. “Talk’s done. Square up, motherfucker.”

  “What?” Aaron said and puffed out his chest. “You got a problem, bro?”

  Henry’s footing was immaculate: one leg back to support his weight, one just a bit ahead, well short of a lunge.

  Aaron went to shove Henry, both hands extended. There was no way he could miss with Henry so close to his personal space, but Henry let those hands brush his slightly turned body, weight still on his back leg. In the space of a second, he shifted forward, fist traveling a perfectly straight line from heel to Aaron’s jaw.

  Thelon’s mouth plopped open and he heard his words tumble out in slow motion. “Holy shit!”

  Aaron crumpled to the ground. His gal pal freaked out screaming while cellphones clicked. Someone shouted, “Worldstar!”

  Henry grabbed Thelon’s arm and pulled him away from the crowd towards their parked car. Cassie spat at Aaron then followed. It was over and no one really wanted to face bouncers or cops.

  On his way, Henry bummed a cigarette from someone, who handed it to him with shaky hands and a laugh. “You fucked him up, bro!”

  A collective release passed through the crowd and their conversations resumed.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Cassie said and accepted the smoke from Henry.

  “Someone had to,” he said resolutely.

  “Think they’ll call the cops?” Thelon asked.

  “I doubt it. Aaron has a record. Fighting would violate his parole.” Cassie shook, breathing rough as she exhaled the tension.

  Henry rubbed his hand and examined his knuckles for signs of bruising or fracture. “I beat up a criminal? I feel like Captain America.”

  Thelon, ever nervous, said, “Still, I think we should leave.”

  “Where are you two staying?” Cassie asked.

  “Scottsdale? Some swanky resort. Is that right?” Henry asked Thelon.

  “You could crash on my couch,” Cassie offered. “After that display of chivalry, shit, I don’t even know.”

  “Wait, are you in?” Henry asked. “You want to join our merry band?”

  “I’ll let you know in the morning. You earned some points tonight.” She hesitated, perhaps remembering that they were total strangers, or perhaps not quite wanting to go home yet. “On second thought, let’s stop at another bar for one more drink. What do you say? Tell me more about this bullshit adventure?”

  “Cool with me,” Henry said.

  Thelon evaluated the situation. On one hand, staying out meant more opportunity for unseen trouble, but hadn’t the worst already happened? Wasn’t he trying to form a bond with these people? Wasn’t this going great after all the fuck-ups? “Yeah, yeah. Get in and tell me where to go.”

  They piled into the rental car and Cassie, sitting shotgun, directed Thelon through a maze of streets and fast-moving highways to a bar called Casey Moore’s. Despite Thelon’s anxiety, the attitude of the establishment was infinitely more relaxed. His internal threat meter dropped to almost nothing and he finally relaxed.

  Thelon sat a table outside and even through the cigarette smoke and beer piss odors wafting from the nearby men’s room trough, he smelled citrus and sage. He watched Henry and Cassie sidle up to the bar and order a bag of ice. Henry’s hand. Hope it’s not fucked up…

&nb
sp; Where did that fidgety junky go? Thelon marveled at Henry’s easy smile and eye contact with Cassie. She brought something out of him. He seemed like another person with her—more like the Henry he’d met before. They are beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Completely themselves.

  Thelon cringed at the pain of loss over his confused identity. He’d had good times like this. He’d had friends and lovers in both worlds. Who am I? A chauffeur on a major detour from life. With Henry and Cassie near him, this part almost complete, his own role failed to come into focus. I’m doing something—compelled to do something—but what is this all about?

  Cassie and Henry danced together and gestured towards Thelon. With a shake of his head and then a shrug, he joined them on the dance floor, and it felt good.

  ~

  AROUND MIDNIGHT, THELON corralled the tipsy pair to his car as they belted the last notes of the last song playing in the bar. While driving, Thelon had a sudden sense of déjà vu. No. Not my memory, but one Henry shared when their minds had merged the day they first met. When Henry met Cassie; a mentally downloaded movie for my own private viewing.

  She had cradled him as he had a seizure. A fire he unknowingly caused engulfed the Circle K. She was brave and caring and when it was over, Cassie had taken Henry back to her place. Not in a sexy way, but she’d let him shower and rest. It was part of their connection, their bonding. And here we are, this same place.

  They hadn’t made love then, or even been in love. No, that happened much later, but they’d connected. I’m doing it. I did it. It’s just like before. Only it wasn’t. This is better. I’m part of the story now.

  Thelon followed Cassie’s directions, navigating deep into a maze of apartment parking lots where every structure was identical; wide lanes and wide sidewalks. All this space, and no one out and about. This was fine by Thelon. He was more than ready for the night to end.

  At Cassie’s unit, they all got out of the car and she stopped short of taking them up the flight of stairs. “I’m thinking.”

  Henry guessed, “You’re thinking we should sleep in our car? Or fuck off?”

  “Well, yeah. Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but you are textbook stranger danger.”

  Thelon said, “Remember, we have a hotel room. It’s no problem.” This doesn’t have to happen now.