Sunday, November 25, 2018

PLANET OF GOLD part 3

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.



Keeper and the
PLANET OF GOLD
Part 3

By R. Peterson

            The hologram didn’t do justice to the Gorwat flagship’s reality. As soon as Leika and I were transported aboard I noticed the density of the hydrogen and oxygen swirling around our feet. It felt so strange, as though we walked, or rather, paddled through warm water. Naturally this created condensation, humidity was off the scale and we might as well have been inside a Turkish steam room. This wasn’t at all where I wanted to be but Leika’s mother was onboard and where Leika went … I followed. Lizard-like crew members crowded us. I felt like a meal-worm about to be eaten by these creatures. Leika had to push her way through to where Delicia was.
            The queen looked to be more than half plant. Stems and leaves had replaced several fingers and one half of her face was a yellow blossom. “Momma!” Leika cried throwing her arms around the mutant creature that lay on the hospital bed.
            “Your dear mother has lost the ability to correspond vocally,” Gugo Ventbong, the military leader of the Gorwat, said. “Perhaps if you try some other method of communication?”
            “What have you done to her?” Leika’s eyes were like laser beams coming to full charge.
            “I only tried to make her comfortable while we journey to Viridio.” Ventbong held his webbed hands outstretched as if in surrender. “You and your friend ….” The War Chief glared as if daring me to suggest there was more to our relationship and be killed on the spot. “are of course welcome to come along.”
            “Thanks,” I said. “But I think Organic Science Officer Leika, her mother, and I, will all be returning to our own vessel.”
            “What are these?” Leika pointed to a cluster of what looked like IV tubes connected to her mother’s veins.
            “Nutritional feeding lines,” Ventbong said. “Your mother’s new chlorophyll structures need a constant supply of nutrients to grow and flourish. Queen Delicia is now a composite of two distinct species groupings plantae and animalia …. Kill one and the other will die.”
            “The only thing your mother has going for her on this ship is fertilizer,” I told Leika loud enough so all the Gorwat could hear. There was a humming sound … laughter … and then everything went black.

-------2-------

 Leika was standing over me wiping my face with a damp sponge. That wasn’t like her! “Where are we?” I tried to sit up but she pushed me back onto a bed.
            “About three-hundred and eighty-five light years from Promo 4,” she said. “Ventbong Left about two-thirds of his armada blockading Midas 7; the rest of his ships are traveling with us. They just enabled their reverse light engines so we’ll be much farther away in a few seconds.”
            “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” I moaned.
            “What’s a truck?”
            “Never mind.”
Leika finally allowed me to sit up once she was sure I would crumple to the half-liquid floor. “I’ve been examining my mother. I think Lizard breath is right. She needs help from someone who understands this cross species mutation. The Viridians evolved much faster than any other plantalia life-forms in the galaxy. Their vastly superior technology is far reaching and difficult to understand. If only I could communicate with my mother. She might be able to tell us what’s going on with her body.”
            “Do you think your mother knows you’re here with her?’
            “I’m sure she does. She only has one working eye. The other side of her face is a blossom but that eye follows me as I move around the room.”
            “Ventbong said for you to try another form of communication. What did he mean by that?”
            “I don’t trust this king of lizards,” Leika said. “Obviously Ventbong has tried to communicate with her, but my mom probably resists. I think they want to use my mother as an interpreter when they enter the Viridio galaxy.”
            “I guess returning to our own ship is out of the question.”
            “The Gorwat know I won’t leave without my mother and they’re right … she won’t survive unless we get her to Viridio.”
            “Why didn’t they kill me?”
            “I told them you were my servant.”
            “Thanks.”
            “Don’t thank me. I’m a harsh and demanding mistress. When you’re able to walk I’ll have you running errands all over the ship.”
            “How is your mother doing?”
            “Not good. I was glad when Ventbong increased his ship’s velocity. The leaves where my mother’s fingers used to be … are turning brown!”

-------3-------

Leika was good for her word. In less than twelve hours she had me running errands to all parts of the ship while she was attending her mother or arguing with Ventbong on the bridge. I brought her costly pilfered Disperian designer shoes from a storage level dozens of times that were either too large, too small or the wrong color. I took demanding instructions to the ship’s galley about how she wanted her food prepared along with numerous complaints and ended up being chased through six levels by a Master Chef with centipede legs and twenty rows of teeth. Before twenty-four hours had elapsed, I was exhausted and took her flashing pager from around my neck and flung it across the room as I collapsed on my bunk.
I was back on Earth dreaming …. Before …
Leika was shaking me. “I just need a few minutes sleep,” I told her.
            “You’ve been out for twenty-two hours,” she said. “I told Ventbong you passed out from one of my beatings.”
            “That’s one of your most endearing qualities,” I told her. “You never lie.”
Leika ignored my sarcasm. I was beginning to believe that being prisoners of the Gorwat had changed her for the better.  “I’ve had a breakthrough communicating with my mom,” she said.
            “You spoke to her?’
            “Not exactly.”
Leika pushed me to one side and lay beside me. “I was holding and stroking the leaves where my mother’s fingers used to be until I became exhausted,” she whispered. “I went to sleep and my mother appeared to me in my dreams. I know what you’re thinking … but I’m sure it was really her. It makes sense. You make contact with plants by touching their light-receptors and then they communicate to you via your subconscious. Mom said it is very dangerous going into Viridio and that we have to watch out for something called carriers.”
            “I wonder what she meant by that?”
            “I don’t know. Her leaves are very brown now and are turning brittle. It’s getting very hard to make contact with her.”
            “I’m sure that once we get to Viridio your mom will recover …. Although you might be taking a large house plant back to rule Promo 4.”
I was expecting at least a slap or a large chunk of my hair pulled out for my insensitive humor but Leika just snuggled up next to and went to sleep holding my hand. Leika was changing. Who would have thought that on a ship filled with Gorwat lizard warriors … she could become so human.

--------4-------

When I woke up Leika had peeled my clothes off and was shoving me into a cleansing chamber. “I’m going to send you to the engine and navigation levels today,” she said. “I want you to become familiar with every part of this ship. When the time comes for a mutiny, we have to know exactly where we’re going and what we’re doing.”
            “Mutiny?” I laughed. “There must be ten-thousand Gorwat aboard just this ship. If you can’t control Ventbong with your charms, how do you expect to control his crew?”
            “Ventbong wears a Bosh armband that blocks almost all of my seductive powers,” Leika said. “So far, I haven’t been able to persuade him to take it off.”
            “So what’s your plan?”
            “The Bosh armbands are insanely expensive. Only Ventbong and a dozen of his highest officers wear them. I’ve already caused a few accidents with his lower ranking crewmembers.”
            “Accidents?”
            “Yeah. Yesterday an airlock and an exterior hatch came open at the same time and sucked about a dozen lizards out into space before the emergency systems kicked in and sealed everything.”
            “Gorwat system controls are almost impossible for humans to learn. How did you manage that?”
            “I didn’t have to,” Leika smirked. “I promised I’d kiss the first crew member who brought me a rock from a small moon we were passing. How was I to know they would be so competitive?”
I laughed. “This is indeed … a ship of fools.”
            “Not really,” Leika said. “One very large lizard with a very long tongue actually held his breath and did return with a rock when the others didn’t. Uggghhh I still can’t get the taste out of my mouth!”
She was silent for a long time. I was almost asleep when I heard her whisper. “You don’t have a moon rock, do you?”

-------

Leika began to spend more and more time in her mother’s medical chamber. Days passed, and I didn’t see a glimpse or hear a whisper from her. I couldn’t believe that I was actually missing her. The atmosphere inside the Gorwat command ship began to change. Crew members were on high alert. I knew we were getting close to Viridio.

-------5-------

The entire Gorwat command vessel began to shake rattle and roll as ear-shattering sirens exploded on every level. I was on my way from the engine levels and searched for Leika but couldn’t find her as I transported to the bridge.
Ventbong and his commanders had turned the ceiling and all the walls into a three-dimensional holographic display so that they could watch the ongoing battle. The Gorwat armada was being attacked by what looked like giant insects. Interplanetary rhizomes connected hundreds of planets called hives. We watched what looked like a giant bee land on a Gorwat Destroyer, pierce the hull with a humongous stinger and fill the insides with explosives. The tremendous blast that followed made the power in our ship flutter for a few seconds. This same thing was occurring hundreds of times as we watched. The distant stars were suddenly blocked out by constant explosions and massive clouds of flying monsters.
            “What are they?” I yelled.
Ventbong was too busy frantically directing his fleet’s defenses to answer. His warships were sending out thousands of decoy vessels to try to keep the invaders at bay. Exploding rings a thousand kilometers in all directions were not enough to stop the onslaught.
            “Carriers …these are creatures that prevent harmful species from entering Viridio.”
Leika spoke from somewhere behind my shoulder. I spun around and stared. Leika’s anxiety over her mother had revealed her softer side. Although we’d not even exchanged a kiss, over this past few weeks I’d come to know the Organic Science Officer more intimately than any lover.
 Stems and leaves had replaced several of her fingers … and a small part of her face was now a yellow blossom.

TO BE CONTINUED …

           


Sunday, November 18, 2018

THE PLANET OF GOLD part 2

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.



Keeper and the
PLANET OF GOLD
Part 2

By R. Peterson

Gary Manning, Todd Baker and George Goldman all sat in the front of the twenty-two foot boat as it sped across Pal Sadie’s lake. They were laughing over one of Todd’s jokes. A flock of swallows swooped and dived over the glistening surface catching insects. It was a hot August day and the sky above was a deep sapphire blue. I dangled my fingers over the side and the green water that sprayed on my face and neck felt fresh and clean. “Look at that!” Todd gasped as he pointed toward a rift that appeared to be opening in the sky. Unfiltered light shone through like a torn page in reality and then spread …
I opened my eyes and the duty-call light above my sleeping-quarters door was flashing. The inside of the gigantic spaceship, traveling at reverse light speed, a billion light years from Earth, felt strangely cold as I dressed. I was being summoned to the bridge of the Centurion … so much for dreams.
Keeper was talking to the ship’s navigator, Teuth, when I transported to the command level. “Your bio-monitor said you were dreaming,” Keeper was almost but not quite apologetic, “and you appeared to be having some good ones. I hated to wake you, but we’ve just received new destination instructions from Maltese 17 that I thought you should hear.”
“Pal Sadies’ Lake … before …. all this.” I told him. My mind felt like it was still stumbling out of a fog.
“Memories replaying in the mind are like favorite movies that can be enjoyed over and over again,” Keeper mused. “and we always have the best seat in the house.”
“Land-adapted cephalopods don’t dream,” Teuth said. “But I enjoy the holographic adventures in biosphere nine when I’m in a relaxation cycle.”
I looked at Teuth and laughed. With eight enormous tentacles covered with suction cups he looked like a nineteen fifties drive-in movie - second feature. “Creature from the black lagoon?”
His look said he needed an explanation. I didn’t have the time.
Keeper ignored us and went on. “We received this transmission more than an hour ago. It was heavily encrypted and took our system computers more than twenty minutes to decode.”
Teuth waved one of his tentacles through a series of colored light beams and a holographic image appeared. It was Admiral Yoádem Frizge, an  Anuran (frog) species, from the command center on Maltese 17.

“As you know, the Interplanetary Consortium has been extremely agitated ever since you towed the planet Midas 7 to our closest Mateuse 14 military base.”
We watched Yoádem’s long tongue reach out and slap at a Vesuvian fruit-fly buzzing past the recorder.
“Like setting a block of cheese next to a mouse hole and waiting for the rats to come out!” I scoffed.
Keeper put a finger to his lips and shhhhhhssst me. What was coming next would be important.

 The Consortium along with their allies the Gorwat have set up an aggressive perimeter around Midas 7 and refuse to let any federation-friendly ships past their blockade. Our military response at this time is severely limited and it will be more than a thousand hours before we are able to assemble a valid defense.”

“How many Consortium ships are in the blockade?” Keeper asked.
Teuth had obviously anticipated this question, and was already calculating the defensive strength of all Federation friendly ships in the area.
“At last count more than eight-hundred thousand …with more ships arriving by the hour.” Several flies were now buzzing around his head, but Admiral Yoádem kept his mouth closed and looked grim.
            “My God! That’s an armada the size of the one that invaded the Viridio Galaxy” I blurted. “They must want that Planet of Gold pretty bad!”
“As you know their invasion of Viridio was a disaster of epic and historic proportions,” Admiral Yoádem said. “Unfortunately we don’t have the massive firepower and superior energy shields that these plant-based worlds displayed. And the Consortium is obviously counting on our lack of technology to seize what they want now.”
          “We’re just a rare-species acquisitions ship with relatively little firepower or defense,” Keeper told him. “What can we do against an enemy force of that magnitude?”

For the first time in several minutes Admiral Yoádem looked hopeful and he snatched up another fly as it buzzed past.
            “As you know Midas 7 wasn’t the only thing you and your crew towed back to its present location…”
            “Unknown to us, plant seed-spores were hidden deep inside the planet and they started a Viridian colony growing on nearby Promo 4,” Keeper said. “An impervious plant shield now protects that planet allowing Queen Delicia who is delighted with her new green allies to decide who interferes in their world …. and who is not allowed.”
            “Exactly,” Admiral Yoádem said. “I believe you have a very connected Porosities crew member serving on your ship … is that correct?”
            “Leika is our Organic Science officer,” Keeper told him.
            “Make due haste to Promo 4 and have your Leika use her substantial influence to persuade her mother Queen Delicia and the Viridians to place a protective shield over Midas 7,” Admiral Yoádem said. “It is our only hope.”
It was the first time I’d ever seen Keeper really agitated. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
            “We’re as you sometimes say on Earth … screwed,” he moaned.
            “We’ve been in worse spots,” I told him. “Where is my darling Leika?”
            “She’s locked in a detention level on Biosphere six for lewd or lascivious interactions with that last group of cadets we transported to Voldor 7. One of those young officers, the ambassador to Vesuvius’s son,  who by the way is still in therapy, cut off one of his nine ears and mailed it to her  along with a dozen Falapian orchids and a large bottle of Jotimo nectar … Leika has almost 6 days left on her sentence,” Keeper said.
            “Jotimo nectar! Wow!” I stammered, then remembered the trouble we were in. “She’s not going to be happy,” I shook my head.
 “That’s an understatement!” Keeper laughed as he looked at me. “I’m just glad I’m not the one going to release her!”

-------2-------

Leika lay near naked on the sandy white beach, basking in the artificial sun light. A crystal glass filled with ice and expensive Draconian bourbon was in her hand. Every half minute a wave brought bubbling water to caress her toes as birds sang in the tree tops. “Are you here to gloat over my torture?” Her voice was filled with venom and her eyes were like fangs … ready to deliver the fatal poison. I had to look away. Even with all my defense instincts on high alert she was still captivating.
“Keeper is commuting your sentence to time served,” I told her.
“Really?’ she said downing the fragrant liquor and smashing the glass on a rock. “How foolish of him!” She snapped her fingers and one of a dozen flightless birds, acting as her servants, ran to fetch her another drink.
“The Federation is in trouble,” I told her. “The Gorwat and a thousand other low-life planetary systems are trying to steal Midas 7. Keeper wants you to influence your mother and her green friends to intercede.”
Leika had her face buried in a lounge-chair pillow and was shaking all over when the chicken brought the tray. There were two drinks, so I took one. The drink was gone and the ice nearly melted by the time she finally stopped the hysterical laughing.
            “This creates some problems,” she said, her voice still bubbling with laughter.
            “How’s that?” I looked around. The place looked like paradise to me but I knew Leika was used to better … a lot better.
            “Now I have to figure out what I get in return for his generosity,” she said. She smiled and rose to her feet. Lacey white wavelets lapped around her shapely legs, reluctant to release this modern day Venus. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. Not that breathing mattered, there was no place to run.

-------3-------

            I learned from several other crew members that Leika had composed a list of over three-hundred demands and submitted them to Keeper in return for her help. The Centurion’s captain barely glanced at them … and agreed. “We are flying into unimaginable danger,” Keeper told the crew as we assembled on the bridge. “The Gorwat are our fiercest enemy and the Viridians are at best unpredictable.
            “I have plotted a course for the Mateuse 14 military base closest to Midas 7,” Teuth continued addressing the ship’s personnel. “We should enter their gravitation fields in less than fourteen hours. I would suggest that any crewmembers, not on active duty, use this opportunity to occupy a sleep chamber and become fully rested … we’re going to need it.”
I was suddenly tired and was entering my code into the systems array for a sleep assignment when Leika approached me. Her quills were out and she looked ready for a fight. “Where do you think you’re going?” It wasn’t a question … I could see a smirk on her face.
            “I’m tired Leika,” I told her. ‘I don’t have time for your games!”
            “Oh! But you do!” she cooed, allowing one of her spines to softly caress my neck. All the hairs on my legs began to dance at the same time. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She handed me a copy of the demands she had given Keeper. “Read number twenty-five!”

-------4-------

            We entered the Maltese 17 military base with an escort of fourteen Federation destroyers and it was still like running a gauntlet. The number of enemy vessels was unbelievable. We were hit and lost all power to our shields a dozen times by what Keeper called warning shots. “They don’t want a war any more than we do,” he said. “They just want us to understand what will happen if we try to stop them from taking Midas 7.”
The base itself was an exercise in controlled panic. Military personnel rushing about to complete their assignments still took time to shake hands, render hugs and more or less say goodbye to old friends as if it was going to be the last time they would see each other.
We assembled in a briefing room and Admiral Yoádem outlined our plans … this time in person.
            “The Gorwat and their allies have blocked all communication with Promo 4 so your mother won’t know you’re coming,” he told Leika. “We know it will be very dangerous flying through their blockade so we’ve secured a Porosities diplomatic vessel to transport you and hope they don’t want to risk war with the Viridians.”
            “Fine,” Leika said. “I want an open channel connected to Gugo Ventbong’s flag ship at all times. I want to see the look on that lizard’s face when he sees it’s me he’s dealing with!”
            “We have a team of the Federation’s best pilots and security personnel standing by whenever you’re ready,” Keeper said.
            “I won’t need them.” Leika said. She was teasing one of the soldiers guarding the transporter platform with her spines. “I’m sure First Officer Jeff Bland can fly a Porosities cruiser …. “ She stopped and licked her lips. There was an audible moan from the bridge. “and what he doesn’t know … I’ll teach him.”

-------5-------

As if flying through the blockade wasn’t enough, Leika kept teasing the Gorwat by substituting pictures of mice, a kangaroo and even a rabbit on the identification screen each time she was asked to identify herself. I felt the tiny ship shudder from several near miss impacts. Finally she switched the camera to giant magnification and pressed her face as close to the camera as possible so that her holographic image would fill the entire bridge on the enemy command ship.
            “Tell your lizard leader, Ventbong, to eat a box of breath mints before he comes crawling to me,” Leika said.
The War Chief of the Gorwat  appeared as a hologram a few seconds later dressed in priceless Tanarium silk and wearing dozens of campaign medals. His green hair looked to have been expertly tinted and styled.
            “Leika, my dear!’ he cooed. “Always such a delight to bask in your incredible radiance.”
            “I always feel dirty when I hear someone spit your name,” she said. “Looking at your unmated, leering, lizard-face I now know why!”
Gugo Ventbong smiled and closed his eyes as if relishing the moment. “Like a rare Falapian orchid, our love may take many years to grow. But all the best things in the universe are worth waiting for … are they not?”
            “Wind your worm back into its hole,” Leika said. “I’m on my way to see my mother. She won’t be happy if she finds out you’ve delayed me!”
Ventbong was smiling again …. and he was making me nervous.
            “Your mother very much wants to visit with her only daughter,” he said. “I was going to wait until you transported aboard … but why wait?”
The holographic camera zoomed out to show a mobile hospital bed being rolled out onto the Gorwat control room. The creature strapped to the bed was barely discernable as a woman. Several fingers had been replaced with stems and leaves and one side of the face was a yellow blossom.
            “It appears that Queen Delicia has allied herself much too closely with the Viridians,” Ventbong declared. “We have agreed as part of a new non-aggression agreement to transport her back to the galaxy of Viridio for treatment.”
            “Mother!” Leika gasped.

TO BE CONTINUED …



Sunday, November 11, 2018

CHRISTINE part 3

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.



CHRISTINE
Part 3

By R. Peterson

          Christine was amazed by the other student’s reaction to her showing up at school after more than a month away. Before she had been a loner with no friends, now she was treated like a celebrity. Students lined the corridors to gape as she walked beside the vivacious Chloe O’Brian. The school secretary caught her in the hallway and told her that because of her long absence, paperwork would need to be filled out. “You’re on your own doll,” Chloe said as she pushed her toward the principal’s office.
            Principal Dunn had someone in his office so Christine sat in a chair to wait. The voices were loud and she couldn’t help but eavesdrop.
            “We’ve made repeated requests for your transcripts and so far have received nothing. Where did you say you last went to school?”
            “Koo-Ka-mon-ga.”
Christine gasped. It was Johnny Lang’s voice!
            “I have three undelivered letters that have all come back from Kookamonga.” Principal Dunn sounded like he was getting angry.
            “Did you address the envelopes in English?”
            “Of course I did! What difference does that make?”
            “There’s only one postman in town; he rides a donkey and can only read Kookamongeese. Better get it right this time!”
Mr. Dunn’s voice exploded. “I don’t care how good you are at sports. If we don’t have your school records by Friday, you’ll no longer be a student here!”
The door opened and Johnny smiled when he saw her. His smile turned serious as if he just remembered her troubles. “Sorry about your stepfather … I’m sure your mom is okay … and she will turn up.”
Nothing anyone had ever said to her since that night had made her feel this good. “Thank you!” she gushed.
Mr. Dunn stood up and closed the door behind her as she entered his office. She could feel his broom-bristle eyes sweeping up and down her body. “I’m so very sorry,” he whined. “Having one dear parent murdered and another in jail for the crime is more than any student should have to bear …”

-------2-------

            Principal Dunn kept her until the second hour bell rang. Christine noticed the banners strung across the hallways advertising HOMECOMING DANCE FRIDAY NIGHT as she walked to her second hour class. She caught at least a dozen boys all staring … she could almost tell what they were thinking. Chloe was in her second-hour English class and Christine sat next to her. “Been asked to the dance yet?”
            Christine smiled and shook her head … if it was her choice Johnny Lang would be her date. She noticed Nancy Storms and Susan Foster glaring at her from across the room. Several boys began showing-off, trying to catch her eye.
            “Good,” Chloe smiled and handed her a ballot. “The Homecoming Queen comes to the dance single and then selects whoever she wants to dance with … and more.”
Christine was stunned. Her name was on a list with three other girls as candidates. “I don’t believe this!” Christine stammered. “Who nominated me?”
            “The entire football team and half the guys in the senior class during an assembly first hour,” Chloe said. “You made the entire school shake when you walked in this morning.”
Christine felt like she was in a dream as she put an x next to her name and dropped it in the ballet box as it was passed around. “I’m sure some other girl will get more votes than I will.”
Chloe laughed. “I wouldn’t bet on that,” she said.

-------3-------

Christine was sitting with Chloe in the cafeteria when Johnny appeared and plopped down beside them. “I hear you’re going to be the new Homecoming Queen,” he blurted.
            “My name is on the ballet; that doesn’t mean I’m going to win.” Christine felt herself getting lost as she stared into his eyes.
            “That’s too bad for me and a hundred other guys,” Johnny said. His voice held a whisper of sadness. “I was going to ask you to the dance.”
Christine was in shock as Johnny leaned over and gave her a long, lingering kiss. “Perhaps you’ll save at least one dance for me.”
There was the sound of dishes breaking. Christine looked up in time to see Nancy, Beth and Susan stomping out of the lunch room. Their dinner-trays lay shattered next to their overturned table. When she turned back Johnny was leaving with some of his football buddies. He waved.
            “I wouldn’t get too hung up on that boy.” Chloe told her.
            “Why not?” Christine felt more than stupid. Of course a guy like Johnny would have a steady girlfriend.
            “We’ll talk about it tonight while we’re dress shopping.”
            “Dress shopping?”
            “Yeah. We’ve got to allow at least three days for alterations. That reminds me. I’ll have to call and see if a couple of my father’s pilots can fly us to New York. I know some very nice formal dress shops that will stay open all night if we ask. We can sleep on the jet.”
Christine shook her head as she took a bite of her cheeseburger and washed it down with milk. What a difference five weeks could make.

-------4-------

The Lockheed JetStar landed at LaGuardia International Airport in New York City at a little after nine PM. A white limousine picked them up by the front gates and whisked them to Style et Ä–légance an exclusive Fifth Avenue dress shop. Christine was giggling from the complimentary Veuve Clicquot champagne they drank on the way. “Don’t get me going,” Chloe pinched her. “My father had to pay this French sheepherder a thousand bucks an hour extra to keep his stalls open.”
            The tiny bald man bowed low when he met them at the door. “Nous avez été vous attend et avoir toute une équipe à votre disposition!”
            “We both want to look stunning,” Chloe told him. “If you can’t do that it one hour we’re going someplace else.”

-------5-------

            “So tell me about Johnny Lang.” Christine whispered as Claude De Amore and three seamstresses ran to the back room to bring out more gowns.
            “My mother doesn’t know him but she knows someone who does. That witch woman, Melania Descombey who lives on the corner of Main Street and Galbraith. They’ve been spotted riding together in that old Buick she drives. Johnny isn’t real,” Chloe told her blowing a pink bubble with her gum. “He’s a dream and all … but he’s phantom. He’s made of moisture and air and vanishes with the first rays of dawn.”
            “But he’s on the football team!”
            “Doesn’t matter,” Chloe said. “He’s like the weather. When the storm leaves … so does he.”
            “But I love him!”
            “I know … we all do.” Chloe sighed.
Claude held a designer dress up to Christine and his eyes sparkled. “This dress in in love with you,” he said. “You will break its heart if you don’t wear it!”
The gown was a sand-gray cashmere with oyster-shell buttons and real 14 karat gold thread, cut low in front and even lower in back. The bland color fanned Christine’s red-hair into flames.
            “You look damn hot in this!” Chloe gushed. “How much is it?”
Claude turned up his nose. “Si vous avez à poser... alors vous ne pouvez pas vous le permettre!” Chloe giggled, and whispered a translation: “If you have to ask then you cannot afford it!”

-------6-------

Christine tried to connect with Johnny every day during the week, but just as Chloe said, every time she caught a glimpse of him he’d seem to vanish into thin air. She knew Dunn was looking for him too and thought that might be why Johnny was so elusive.
            The formal gowns were delivered Friday morning. Christine’s fit perfectly but Chloe’s needed a few last-minute fixes. Christine used the extra time to take a walk. The large mansion on the corner looked imposing. If there was a real witch in town she probably did live here. Christine remembered running past this place out of breath as a child trick-or-treating. Those courageous children who did brave the stone walkway and scary shrubs were always rewarded with the best goodies in town but she wasn’t one of them. The iron doorknocker was in the form of a gargoyle and she let it fall on a tarnished brass plate three times. She was just turning to leave when the heavy, carved-door opened.

-------7-------

            The Homecoming dance was the most enchanting night of her life even if she couldn’t spot the one boy she wanted to see. A local band called The Bathtub Ring played an assortment of fast and slow songs and Christine was so out of breath from dancing that she had to beg a long line of boys for a rest.
            Principal Dunn wrapped his fat fingers around the lead singer’s microphone and the resulting feedback from the PA system made everyone hold their ears. “I told you guys to turn it down!” He glared at the band. He cleared his throat and waited for the crowd to become silent and expectant.
            “The winners of the nineteen sixty-nine Homecoming royalty are …” He paused for so long obviously cherishing everyone’s agony that a rough voice in the back finally yelled “What’s the matter old man … the cat got your tongue?”
He harumped his throat again and finally went on … as if he hadn’t heard.
The Homecoming Queen is … Christine Louise Brown … and the Homecoming King is … Johnny Lang!”
The band began to pay a cover of Judy Henske’s High Flying Bird and suddenly she was in his arms.
            “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she whispered. Thousands of pin-points of euphoria ran over every inch of her body as they touched.
            “I know,” Johnny said. “Melania told me you paid her a visit.”
            “I’m sorry,” she said. He smelled like spring flowers. “I had to know the truth.”
            “It’s not so bad,’ he said. “This way I think I’ll not live … but still be around forever.”
A tear rolled down Christine’s cheek as he kissed her. The night was too perfect.

-------8-------

At least a dozen boys begged to drive her home but Christine told them she wanted to walk … alone. Chloe had left early with this year’s crush … a cute boy named Jesse Paco. Christine tried to stay out of the streetlamps as she walked across town. There were too many boys who would not take no for an answer. Her life had changed dramatically for the better but it was like Melania told her – the only two real things in the universe are dark and light everything else is an illusion created by imagination. There is a balance in all things, the old lady had explained … and a dear price for everything worthwhile … especially love.
            Christine wasn’t surprised to see the garbage truck parked under the ladder that led to the top of the water tower. A breeze came up and blew her dress almost to the top of her nylons when she had climbed only a hundred feet but she didn’t care. Johnny was close now, she could feel him. A touch like no other … living or dead. The last hundred rungs were too easy … she couldn’t climb fast enough.
            Christine Louise Brown, a living legend, stood on top of the railing and scanned the lights on the horizon. She thought she saw her mother sitting there in the stars. Those lights would travel forever and so would she. The moon slid from behind of bank of clouds where it had been hiding and just behind her and to the side she could see Class of 70… and Christine glowing in the reflected lunar light. The yellow words were no longer smeared but bright and eternal. Johnny had fixed it … he had fixed her whole world! She closed her eyes … thought about their first kiss … and jumped.

-------9-------

            It was almost Christmas and people still talked about the tragic suicide that took the life of the beautiful young girl. Such a loss for the entire community. A light powder of snow covered the ground as Melania backed the 1949 Buick Roadmaster out of the garage and let it warm up. It was twenty minutes to midnight … she would have to hurry.
            Her car lights flickered on a lone figure standing next to the Townsend Street Bridge. She stopped and Johnny Lang climbed in next to her. “Where to tonight?” he grinned.
            “I’ve got something special planned,” she told him. “We are no longer alone!”
Johnny turned on the radio as they turned onto Vineyard road and roared toward Black Rose Cemetery. The late night DJ, Rocky Dawn, was just finishing playing Buddy Holly’s "Not Fade Away" when they stopped near the cast iron gates. The clock in the dash ticked off the seconds as they waited. Exactly at midnight the radio began to play the haunting theme from A Summer Place and she appeared walking through the tombstones. Johnny gasped as moonlight reflected off from her gray formal gown and seemed to make her hair catch fire. The weathered grass, three inches below her feet, turned into emerald carpet as she moved toward them. Christine smiled as Johnny opened his door and she slid next to Melania. He closed the door and kissed her. This time she knew it was forever. “Where are we going?” she asked.
            “A Chevy Bel- Air just around the next curve,” Melania said slowing to a stop. “His name is Thomas … he’s sixteen, drowning in pimples, has never had a date and has been thinking about climbing his own tower. He has a flat tire on his dad’s car but can’t get the jack to work.”
The old, classic Buick vanished a second after Christine climbed out.
Tommy Nelson dropped the lug-wrench and almost ran when she appeared, walking down the center of the road as if she owned the world. The girl was probably the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life. When she smiled, he knew she was. “Can I help?” she asked.
He was in love …

THE END.