started to put me down while saying that he was going to see about lunch. I clung to him and kept my arms around his neck. I drew him to me and kissed him several times. We weren’t done with our hello and welcome back which I’d grown accustomed to and I wanted more. He could read me and kissed me back until I was willing to let him go. Charlie laughed and left for the kitchen.
“So tell me,” Michael began.
“Where did you go and did you get to hear more of my stupid thoughts?”
“Baby, remember I said that I have a bit of control. I stopped the decent of the red spark at a ledge. I’ll have to give it some thought but I think that the ledges in the decent are spaces in time.”
Michael just sat there with a dumbfounded look on his face and had no comment.
“We’ll try again tomorrow but first we need to have a thorough conversation so that you are aware of everything that I can think of and we shouldn’t be so far apart – we should be connected and close so that I can keep you with me. I suggest that you don’t close your eyes. You need to see where you’re jumping. The red current is a bit frightening because it looks down right evil and other-world at first.”
“Baby, I say again, where did you go this time and what did you see?”
Michael was like dog with a bone that he could not be distracted from.
“The red current took me to Charlie and the woman he left me for. I don’t want to talk about it without Charlie being in the room. I might tell you after I’ve talked to Charlie about it.”
“Didn’t you tell me that it was all about me?” Michael asked.
“Before my interference the episodes were about you but really it’s the ‘connect’ that’s all about you. I’m not sure the space travel has anything to do with the connect except possibly that the connect may give us the added boost to even be able to see the particles. Charlie has never seen them.”
I tried to explain.
“Have you had other rides that weren’t about me or involved me?”
Michael, chomping on the same bone, needed clarification.
“No baby that was the first. But it was also the first time I was able to slow and then stop the decent. You’ll understand that better when we go for a ride together.”
The following day, Michael and I having had a very thorough conversation about what could happen, prepared ourselves for the red spark jump. We were in the center of the bed close, very close. We even linked our arms in our effort to be as close as we could get.
“Michael, I’m going to stop the decent and not let us fall all the way because the recovery time is longer with the greater decent. But know this, I am still flying by the seat of my pants and have no control over where we land, understand?”
“Yeah, I’m with you.”
Michael’s voice betrayed his fear.
“The worst that could happen is that we’ll sleep for awhile, right?”
“That’s the worst that’s happened to me.”
I assured him.
“Woman.”
Charlie answered my call.
“Hey lover, we’re ready and plan to jump as soon as Ricky presents her red sparks. You got us covered?”
“Yeah, I gotcha,” Charlie said.
“B-bye.”
Michael and I made eye contact and received an unexpected reconnect which made us laugh; we already had tight physical contact.
We both focused on Ricky and her particles. We waited for awhile and just when I thought that maybe Ricky wasn’t going to present her red sparks to us, we saw them. We squeezed into each other, kept our focus on the red and jumped. Just as we jumped I felt Michael wrap his loose arm around me. The move seemed to stabilize our union.
Michael was right with me, I could feel his reaction to the chaos and turmoil but our connection I think was what enabled me to slow and then stop the decent as easily as I did. Michael felt like a rider in my sidecar but around my neck. The red haze cleared and we found ourselves at the Marin Center with David and Alan during the very beginning of our ‘dueling piano’ routine.
We floated as one to the stage and everything was background to the thoughts of David.
“What is Michael doing with this woman? Yes, she can sing and they have an amazing sound together but I mean, come on. She’s definitely not a looker and oh my god, she’s so aloof and annoying. She could be a real detriment to Michael; an albatross around his neck.”
After that the darkness fell over me and time didn’t exist.
I opened my eyes to see Charlie sitting next to me on the edge of the bed and I smiled at him; happy to see him. He just looked at me for a moment and then he extricated Michael’s arms from around me and took me into his lap. He held me close until I gained back my strength and I was able to put my arms around his neck and bring him to me for his kiss.
The emotion I felt after hearing David’s thoughts about me was surprising. I needed reassuring that I was loveable even if I wasn’t a looker.
I whispered in Charlie’s ear.
“Tell me you love me please Charlie. You love me, right, even if I’m not pretty. Please tell me.”
My sweet, sweet Charlie kissed me soundly and whispered in my ear.
“Helen I love you and woman you are beautiful to me. You are the most beautiful woman in the whole world.”
“Thank you Charlie,” I said smiling because Charlie loved me.
Charlie asked, “How long do you think before he comes around,” nodding to Michael.
Right about then Michael came round. I knew he couldn’t move but I wanted him to experience the feeling of not feeling before I would reconnect with him. Things were always made easy for him and he needed to really know about the travel and the toll it takes on a person and there it was available to him first hand. It would be wrong to rob him of the experience.
Finally Michael could speak. “Wow, everything comes back in increments. It’s good to have a voice.”
Another minute or two passed and Charlie looked at me.
“Come on, have pity on the poor guy.”
I snuggled in closer to Charlie and bit him in the chest.
Charlie laughed.
“You little vixen. You want me now?”
“Always lover, I want you always, remember?”
I reminded.
Charlie surprised me when he looked at Michael.
