Chapter 33
A Bittersweet Reunion
Alyndia gazed out the window as the 737 descended into Newark Liberty International Airport, where Gerald Layton was waiting for her. This was her second flight, the first one being from New Jersey to Wisconsin. She still could not fathom how technology alone could accomplish such wondrous feats, such as transferring a large group of people through the atmosphere over such long distances. Not a day went by since she entered the world that she wasn’t astounded at the technological marvels that surrounded her. Each day brought a new discovery. Gerald had done an admirable job describing it all to her, but to see it and experience it was something else. Why couldn’t the people of her world build a metal craft that could soar through the sky without any use of magic?
As luck would have it, Joy was able to get her a window seat this time. Because of this, she spent most of her flight with her forehead pressed against the plastic window. The view from such a high altitude fascinated her. Then the reminder came to fasten seat belts and prepare for arrival. The faraway buildings that had appeared as mere tiny rectangles on earth at 30,000 feet now began to take on shape as the plane descended.
Her heart began to race as the ground grew closer. This would be the first time that she and Gerald would be able to spend time together alone since she entered the world. The body she possessed was not that of his beloved Elise, but she was young and fit. She was confident she could love him well with Connie’s body and fulfill all of his earthly carnal desires, and he could fulfill all of her off-world desires. More than anything, though they would finally have a chance to speak and interact face-to-face without the aid of magic or machinery. This was something she greatly looked forward to, for while she stayed at Joy’s house, Gerald had avoided talking on the phone for long periods, claiming his line might be bugged. This was despite the fact that he’d had no further contact with the CIA or other law-enforcement agencies since he was released from their custody. She did not think he should be concerned as to whether the CIA was monitoring his phone calls if he were innocent.
Still, something about their last conversation with Gerald bothered her. Something had changed in his tone, and he had seemed a bit more distant than she’d expected. When she asked him about it, he’d said he was just tired but was glad to talk to her just the same. She accepted his explanation, but something about the whole thing still niggled her, even though she could not quite put her finger on what it was.
The plane landed, and she passed through the gate. At that point, she followed the signs to the long corridor that led to the baggage collection area. Finally, she left the secure zone and entered the baggage carousel area. She scanned the crowd of fellow travelers but could not find him. He said he would meet me in the baggage claim area. Am I in the right place? She checked her ticket again.
Just then, she heard him call out. “Alyndia!”
She turned to see him approaching her, arms outstretched. In a second, she was in his arms. They embraced and held each other tightly.
“Oh, Gerald! It’s been such a long journey!”
“It’s over now. You’re with me.”
“Yes, I’m finally home.”
He took a step back to look at her. “You look different from the last time I saw you.”
“Better or worse?”
“Well, different.”
“If you’re talking about the hair, I dyed it back to her natural color. I didn’t like the red she wore. I hope you don’t mind.”
“The red hair did make Connie look rather severe.”
The sudden mention of Connie’s name from his lips jarred her. She frowned at him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing. Where is my bag?”
“How many do you have?”
“Just one, plus my purse here.”
“He pointed. Over there. It looks like they’re just starting to come out.”
They left the terminal and found his SUV in short order. Soon, they were on the highway leading to the northern suburb where he lived.
“Nice vehicle you have here,” she said, stroking the edge of the leather seat.
“You like it?”
“It’s very spacious. I like the leather, too.”
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
“Of course. I’ve had one since I was sixteen, although not in my name.”
“Can you drive?”
“I think I can. That part of my body remembers. It’s funny. Some things come automatically to me. I know how to do them without thinking. Other things I have no clue about. It’s like communicating in your language. I don’t remember learning to speak, read, or write your language, and yet I find I can.”
“Interesting. It might have something to do with the brain hemispheres.”
“Yes. Sometimes, I don’t know what I know. For example, I could not tell you how to drive a car right now except from what I’ve observed, but I’ll bet if you put me in the driver’s seat, I could drive.”
“Do you want to try? I can find an empty parking lot somewhere. You can show me.”
“That’s all right. Maybe another time.”
“You know, that was a long flight. Are you hungry? We can stop off for a bite.”
“I ate on the plane. I’m all right.”
“Are you sure?”
“All I want is to go home right now.”
She put her hand on his knee and squeezed. She looked up to check his reaction. She could not see his reaction behind the dark, wraparound sunglasses he wore.
“Next stop: home,” he said.
They pulled into the driveway of his two-story house in a suburban neighborhood. She stepped into the home. To her delight, it was tidy and in order.
“Nice home we have here,” she said.
“Not bad,” he said, tossing the keys on the table. “The place usually gets kind of disorganized, but the cleaning lady was here yesterday.”
“You have a cleaning lady?”
“Yes. Doesn’t every bachelor?”
“I don’t know.”
“Take me to the lab.”
“You want to see the lab? Why?”
“I want to see the place where we first met.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
They went out to a specially constructed cinder block building in the yard, some distance from the house. They went inside. The windows were covered by black cloth, making it dark, so he flipped on the lights. On different tables were parts of the equipment that he’d used to contact her. In one corner was the chamber where they’d first seen each other in the flesh, the place where she had sat in her natural form. She entered the room. He stood just inside the doorway with his arms crossed.
“I remember this room being a bit different,” she said, walking idly between the tables. “Something has changed.”
“Maybe it looks empty since the CIA confiscated my equipment.”
“Why did they do that?”
He shrugged.
“Didn’t they give it back?”
“Why didn’t they give it back, you ask? The question is why they took it in the first place.”
“Good point.”
She went over to the chlorine chamber. She ran her hand over the smooth metal frame. On the floor next to the chamber was a circular imprint in the dust where a tank of chlorine used to sit. She looked inside the chamber. Of course, it was dark and empty. She rapped on the glass a few times with her knuckle.
“I remember being in here,” she said. “I remember looking at you through this very glass. Do you remember?”
“Of course.”
“What did you feel when you first saw me? Was it love at first sight?”
“That’s a hard question to answer.”
“Did you think I was beautiful?”
“Yes.”
“Am I beautiful now?”
He didn’t answer right away. “Yes,” he said finally.
She turned to him. He stared back at her impassively, his arms still crossed.
“Is everything all right, Gerald?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Okay. I was just wondering.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s go back to the house now.”
They went out to a specially constructed cinder block building in the yard, some distance from the house. They went inside. The windows were covered by black cloth, making it dark, so he flipped on the lights. On different tables were parts of the equipment that he’d used to contact her. In one corner was the chamber where they’d first seen each other in the flesh, the place where she had sat in her natural form. She entered the room. He stood just inside the doorway with his arms crossed.
“Is this Elise?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“She was beautiful. You two look happy together. I can see why you loved her.”
“She was a good woman.”
Alyndia put the picture back on the mantel. “Why do you keep her picture?”
“She was precious to me.”
“I don’t look like her now.”
“It’s not important.”
“It isn’t? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t kiss me when you first saw me at the airport.”
“So? What does that mean?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just felt awkward.”
“Awkward? Why?”
“I can’t explain.”
“Is it because I look like her, that CIA agent?”
“I can’t say that’s the reason.”
“Then what is it?”
“Alyndia, I cannot say.”
“I want you to know something. I met her. I met her in person.”
“You did? How?”
“I met her in the Wild. I saw her spirit. I felt her. My energy mingled with hers.”
“So, you did. What does it matter?”
“Gerald. I saw what she’s like. I’m nothing like her.” She took a few steps toward him. “Whatever experience you had with her doesn’t matter. I’m the one who is here with you now. I’m the one who loves you.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“I think you misunderstand me, Alyndia. I already know you’re not Connie Bain.”
Again, the utterance of her name from his mouth jarred her. He finished the glass of water and returned to the kitchen. When he came back, she was no longer in the living room.
“Alyndia?” he called out, but she didn’t answer. “Alyndia?” he called out again.
Gerald searched the entire first floor of the house. Not finding her, he climbed the stairs to the second floor. There, he found the door to the master bedroom closed. Normally, he left it open. He rapped gently on the door.
“Alyndia? Are you in there?”
On hearing no reply, he slowly opened the door to discover her lying on the bed in a seductive pose, wearing nothing but a gauzy, green nightie.
“Alyndia!”
As he stood there frozen at the doorway, she rose to her feet, walked over to him, and kissed him passionately. Slowly, and with little effort, she guided him over to the bed.
It was already dark when she awoke. For a moment, she felt disoriented, as one does when she dreams deeply. She looked over at Gerald. He appeared to be sound asleep. She felt an urge. She got up and went in the bathroom. When she returned, she saw in the dim light that he had awoken and was staring at the ceiling.
“Very nice,” he said when she returned.
“Did you like it?” she asked in response, taking her place in the bed beside him.
“I did. And you?”
“Of course. I’m with the man I love.”
She snuggled close to him beneath the covers. “Think about how far I traveled to be here and all those things that kept us apart, and now we’re together.”
“Yes, I have been waiting so long for this day.”
“I have to. We have to enjoy it while it lasts. We have to make every moment count.”
She drew back and looked into his face on hearing that. “What do you mean? You’re not going anywhere, are you?”
She gave him a warm smile. “Oh, Gerald. I would rather not talk about it right now.”
“No, really. I’d like to know.”
“Please. I don’t want to talk about it. Kiss me like you did earlier.”
“Just wait a minute. I want you to explain what you’re talking about. Where are you going?”
“Why is it so important to you to know that right now? The sheets are still warm from the first time we’ve made love. This is a special moment.”
She tried to kiss him, but he turned away from her. She stared at him, nonplussed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you realize, Alyndia, what I gave up to be with you right now? I’ve lost practically everything. This house is pretty much all I have now.”
“And you don’t think that I have made sacrifices to be here too?”
“I just want to make sure that you are going to stay with me.”
“I will if I can, but there’s a situation in Cerinya.”
“Is it a magical problem?”
“Not exactly. Well, it is.”
He sat up and looked at her levelly. “I don’t know why, Alyndia, but I get the feeling you’re being evasive with me.”
“I’m not being evasive, Gerald. I just want to enjoy our time together. That’s all.”
“Just tell me: Is there a chance the spell reverse will itself and you will become Connie again?”
“No, not on it’s own.”
“Okay. So you’re saying I won’t wake up one day to find Connie lying in my bed?”
“Will you please stop mentioning Connie? I hate it when you mention her name.”
“Why?”
“Because she has nothing to do with us.”
“Except we’re using her body.”
“It’s my body now. Not hers. At least for now. She gave me the right to use it when she put on that bracelet.” Alyndia turned away from him and clutched the bedsheets against her chest. “You’re making me very angry, Gerald.”
“I just want to get to the bottom of this.”
“Just tell me whether you plan to leave me.”
“No, I don’t plan to leave you, Gerald. I told you that I love you. Why would I willingly leave you if I love you?”
“All right, then. That’s all I wanted to know. I just need to know you’ll always be with me.”
On hearing those words, Alyndia let out a heavy sigh. She did not wish to broach that topic at that moment, but it was one she would have to discuss nonetheless.
“Gerald, as much as I’d like to deny it, it’s not my decision whether I stay here with you.”
“You just said the spell will not reverse on its own and that you did not plan to leave me. That’s enough for me.”
“No, no, no. There’s more.”
Alyndia told him about Calicus visiting her and notifying her that she had violated Spiritual Law. She also told him about the failed attempt to return Connie to Earth and her own spirit back to Cerinya, along with her tragic encounter with Connie’s spirit in the Wild. Gerald listened to her in silence, nodding every so often.
“…And that’s why I said to you what I did.”
Gerald rubbed his face with his hands. “What a mess. We just got the CIA off our backs, and now we’ve got this Council judgment against you. Can we appeal it?”
“Not from here, we can’t.”
“What are our options?”
“There are no options. We just love have to love each other.”
“But how much time do we have together?”
“I can’t answer that. I haven’t heard from Calicus since he appeared to me at Joy’s place, and I have no way of contacting him to find out anything. I don’t know what’s going on in Cerinya right now. At any time, he can show up to tell me I’m going back. In fact, he doesn’t even have to warn me. He has no obligation to do so.”
“Are you saying that one minute I could be sitting with you, and the next minute you could be Connie?
“Yes, it’s a possibility.”
“That kind of uncertainty bothers me.”
“How do you think I feel, Gerald?”
“So, what do you think she’s going to do to me when she comes back and finds out I’ve been making love to her body? What if she comes back unexpectedly while we’re in bed together?”
“Gerald, she’s already accused me of wrecking her life, so I can’t imagine her thinking any less of you or me than she already does. In any case, if she does come back, she’ll probably have bigger things on her mind than harming you, like how to get her job back at that dreadful agency she worked for.”
“Still, the fact that she can come back at any time pretty much puts a halt on things between us.”
“What?” Alyndia sat up and turned to face him. “What do you mean by that?”
“Maybe we should do some damage control right now, not get involved any further.”
“How could you say that? We love each other. We’re together now. It’s all that matters.”
“Yes. And what are we doing together? We’re just going to sleep together and hang out like a couple of roommates until somebody in Cerinya decides to call you back? At least if you’d taken over the body of my Elise, we would have had a legitimate relationship.”
“So, what are you saying, Gerald? That you don’t want me now because I inhabit Connie’s body?”
“But what do we have between us?”
“We have each other!”
Alyndia got out of bed, wrapped a sheet around herself, and sat in an armchair facing the bed. A tear ran down her cheek.
“You have a lot of nerve invalidating our relationship just because you can’t own me.”
“I didn’t say I had to own you, but where is our future if you could disappear at any moment?”
“That’s a ridiculous way of looking at things, Gerald. You never have guarantees when it comes to fate. You could die, I could die; either of us could die at any time for any reason, accident, disease, or whatever. We would then be separated just the same. What difference does it make that I can be called away at any time?”
“Because you will be replaced by a bitch.”
“Don’t you call her that!”
“Why? I thought you didn’t like her.”
“I just want to say—she’s not that. She’s not a bad person.”
“What? Are we talking about Connie Bain?”
“Yes. And let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want to talk about her with you while I’m using her body.”
“In any case, she killed my Elise.”
“She did not kill Elise. Elise died in the hospital.”
“Had Connie put that bracelet on Elise, she would be here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Alyndia narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m starting to think that you wanted me only because you wanted your Elise back. You don’t care about me, my spirit, or my background.”
“That’s not true. I—”
“I came to this world to love you, Gerald. That’s all I came for. If I had occupied the body of an 80-year-old woman, I would have expected you to love me the same.”
“Now I get the feeling that maybe you just wanted to escape from Cerinya. You said the world was doomed, didn’t you? Maybe you used me all along as an escape route.”
“My intentions for coming here were sincere.”
“But how do I really know what was going on with you there in Cerinya? I can only take your word for it.”
A moment of silence passed between them. Gerald sat coldly scrutinizing her from the bed, making her feel wretched and defeated. The room suddenly felt chilly. She wrapped the sheet more tightly around Connie’s naked body, which she now felt ashamed of sharing with him. Finally, he spoke.
“Maybe the next time Calicus contacts you, you should ask him to bring you back as soon as possible.”
Alyndia felt the strongest urge to cry on hearing that. “You actually want me to leave?”
“Not indefinitely. Once you go back, you’ll have your spells again, and then we can try getting you here again using some other method.”
She shook her head. “No, Gerald,” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “When I leave here, I will not return. I assure you. I realize now that my reason for coming here was just a pipe dream.”
“That’s your assessment, Alyndia. Not mine.”
“Let me ask you straight out, Gerald: Do you still want me to be here with you?”
“Of course I do. I believe we are meant to be together. I told you that when you were in the chamber. I still mean it.”
“Well, I don’t feel that from you right now.”
Gerald pulled the covers over himself and leaned back in the bed. “I’m sorry, Alyndia, but his issue with the spells was not part of our plan. We now need to approach things differently. I’m surprised you lack the insight to understand that.”
“You know, Gerald,” she said after a pause, “Once I woke up from that coma, all I could think of was you. When I was living with Will, while I was in the mental hospital, all I dreamed about was being in your arms—having you hold me tight, telling me that you love me. You were my strength, the one thing that kept me going through all of that. Now, I feel broken inside.” She looked at him in the eyes. “I certainly didn’t expect this from you when I got off that plane this morning. Why are we having the conversation? How did things get this way?”
Before he could reply, the phone rang. It rang five times before either of them acknowledged it.
“Aren’t you going to answer the phone?”
Gerald picked it up. “Hello?”
Someone spoke. Alyndia could not make out who it was, but she heard that the voice was feminine. Gerald handed the handset to Alyndia.
“It’s your new stepsister, Joy,” he said. “She wants to talk to you.”
Alyndia took the handset. “Hello?”
“Hi, Alyndia,” came Joy’s soft voice on the other end of the line. “I was thinking about you and wondering how you were getting along there. Did you have a good flight?”
* * *
Alyndia took the keys for the SUV and left in the driveway. Just as she had thought, driving the vehicle was easy, unlike her relationship with Gerald was turning out to be. She backtracked on the road they’d taken from Newark. She was lost in thought as she drove. She did not know where she was going, but she had to go somewhere. She needed some time to think. Along the way, she kept glancing at the gauges in the dash, trying to figure out what they meant. The indicator for speed was readily understood, and she knew where it needed to be as she drove on the highway. As for the others, they were a mystery to her.
She arrived in the downtown area and parked the SUV in a convenient spot next to another vehicle. She noticed a metal device at the curb with a metal knob on it. In the glass was a red tag. EXPIRED it read. Probably, that was for the last person who had parked here, she thought without putting money in it.
Now she walked slowly down the sidewalk, taking in her surroundings. The sidewalk was crowded with people. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere. She moved aside to let them pass. As she walked the shops, she would often stop to look in the display windows. There she saw a fantastic array of goods, everything from jewelry to equipment needed in order to play sports. It was dazzling how many different kinds of goods a person could buy. Everywhere, she saw signs advertising prices. Such signs were rare in the cities she knew of. It was a society in which no price was fixed and anything could be purchased at any price.
She stopped at the crosswalk and waited with a group of pedestrians for the light on the other side of the street to turn green. On the opposite side of the street was a park. She took a moment to gaze up at the buildings high above. Such an incredible city it was. And just as in every other city she’s visited, people walked on stones. It was easy to stay clean.
She crossed the street, and on a lark she decided to stroll through the park. She walked down a stone path that wove through a green area, flat grassy fields peppered with leafy trees. In some places, people sat in the shade of the trees on blankets. Some of them read, others ate, and others merely slept. She passed a few wood-and-metal benches where older people sat, holding their canes, feeling the birds seeds and bread from paper sacks. A man in shorts and a t-shirt threw a red spinning disc. A large orange dog ran after it and retrieved it after it landed. Everyone seemed relaxed and content, and she felt it in herself. She only wished Gerald could enjoy this moment with her.
Along the path was an ice cream vendor standing in front of a white metal box on wheels. She bought herself a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cone using the money in her purse that Joy had given to her, and then she headed for the lake up ahead. There was an unoccupied bench along the stone walkway that surrounded the lake. She took a seat there and took in the surroundings, watching some water fowl swimming across the water. The word came to her: ducks. So, that’s what they were. Ducks.
She allowed her mind to wander. She wondered what Connie was doing at that moment. Aches and pains were absent on this day, so she assumed that Connie was not injured or engaged in any strenuous activity.
Over on the other side of the lake, there was some sort of exhibition going on. It appeared that many pictures or paintings were on display. It looked interesting.
Once she finished her ice cream, she casually strolled around the lake to the other side. There, she found row upon row of paintings. Some had price tags on them, some did not. The paintings covered every subject imaginable, from portraits to pastoral scenes. She saw a few people standing around an artist who was in the process of painting. She went over to have a look. The female artist, and woman in her forties, was painting the exact scene of the park that could be seen from her vantage point. She had completed perhaps fifty percent of the scene, but it was already evident that she painted accurately but with emotion, as revealed by her brush strokes and her choices of color. Alyndia watched her as she worked carefully, dipping the brush in the paint and applying it ever so carefully to the canvas. A few of the people around her left; others came, and they too left to be replaced by others. But Alyndia stayed there, watching the woman, astounded by the rendition of the scene on the canvas and how lovely it looked.
After a while, the woman noticed her standing there. She didn’t say anything to Alyndia until the other spectators wandered off and they were alone. The woman spoke to her without looking up from her work.
“You like it so far?”
“Yes, it’s very nice.”
“I noticed you watching me. You’ve been standing there for a long time.”
“I’m just fascinated at how you can do that.”
“It’s not my best work, I should say,” the woman said.
“I used to paint many years ago, but I’ve lost the skill.”
“Anything can be relearned,” she said. “It just takes a desire.”
Alyndia watched the woman dip the brush in the blue paint, and with it added gentle ripples in the water of the like on the left side of the canvas. She’d thought that the water of the lake looked fine as it was, but now that she saw the slight shade of ripples that the artist was adding, she admitted that it looked even better.
“How do you know when it’s done? I mean, the painting?”
“You never really finish it. You just get to the point where you abandon it.”
“They say that about poetry.”
“It’s like that with any artistic work, I think.”
The woman smiled. “Conceivably, I could paint and repaint this scene over and over again all my life, maybe even on the same canvas, but if I did, I’d never paint anything else.” She dipped the brush in the thinner. “At some point, you just have to let go and move on.”
Now the woman mixed a shade of green, and she began adding detail to the leaves in the trees surrounding the lake using tiny, short brush strokes. Alyndia was mesmerized.
“I’d love to learn how to paint again,” she said finally.
“As I said, you can relearn.”
“How?”
“I give lessons.”
“Really?”
“Sure. If you want to learn.”
“But I’ve completely forgotten everything. I’d be starting from scratch.”
“That’s even better. It means you don’t have any bad habits or preconceived notions. You will paint with a blank canvas. You know what I mean? Why would you want to imitate Rembrandt, Monet, or Picasso just because someone else says they’re good?”
“Do you think they are good?”
“I’m not an art critic, dear. I can only say what I like and do not. Sometimes, what’s considered good and what isn’t come down to a matter of taste. To me personally, art is at its best when it touches the spectator on an emotional level, regardless of the technique. The emotional part is easy if you are sincere in your approach and paint from the heart. That’s what I’ve always thought, anyway.”
“I really want to learn from you. Will you teach me?”
“Certainly, if you’d like.”
“I have an idea of what I want to paint. I have images in my mind of faraway places.”
“You can learn to paint those places, too, if that’s what you want.”
The woman put down her brush and picked up a small, leather purse speckled with paint of every color. That’s a real artist’s purse, Alyndia thought, flush with admiration. The woman withdrew a card from the purse and gave it to her.
“Here’s my card. There are two numbers there. Better to reach me by my mobile number.”
“Thank you.” Alyndia looked at the card and nearly did a double-take. She looked up at the woman. “Your name is Rose?”
“My friends call me Rosie. And you?”
“I’m Alyndia.”
“Oh, that’s an unusual name.”
“Thank you. It’s Cerinyan.”
“Ah, I see,” the artist said, nonplussed. “I’ve never heard of that country. Where is that?”
“It’s a long story. Maybe I can tell you about it some time.” She slipped the card into her purse. “I’ll call you this evening. I’d like to begin as soon as possible.”