that Charlie moaned over the burger.
“You are too good to me woman.” Charlie said as he hugged me to him.
“Ditto lover,” I said.
“Helen, looking at the calendar, you’ve marked that you’re going to London next week. Is that still on?”
“Yeah, it’s a song writing week.”
When I said it, I had a flash.
“Charlie, would you like to go with me to London?”
“Maybe sometime, but not next week; I got a project and can’t leave for awhile.”
“Charlie, I just thought about how nice it would be to travel with you. You could meet Wyatt and we could just play and sight-see together.”
“Your friends Michael and Lu don’t like me.”
Charlie knew that Michael and Lu still held a grudge because of the way we met. Charlie was my kidnapper. There was no ransom or anything like that because money had nothing to do with it. Charlie was only trying to protect his sister Amanda. Since then Charlie saved my life by throwing himself in front of me when someone tried to kill me and nearly lost his own life in that effort to protect me.
“We don’t have to stay with them. Charlie, we got options.”
I snuggled in close and hugged him to me.
“We could have adventures together.”
“I like the adventures we already have.”
Charlie said as he brought his lips to mine.
“I gotta go.”
That afternoon I called Michael.
“Hey Baby, I was just thinking of calling you. What’s up?” Michael answered.
As soon as he answered the phone I felt the reconnect reaching out to me and bringing me, at first an intense and taboo longing that always took my breath away then surrounded me with the most glorious softness and peace.
“Oh sweet reconnect, thank you.”
I took the second to recognize the goodness that our connection brought to me, even through the telephone.
“Hi Baby, I’m calling because I saw on my calendar that we have a session planned for next week. Is it still on?”
“Yeah, we gotta stick to the schedule we set or things get too screwed up.”
I appreciated that about Michael. He was ever punctual and reliable, well where work was concerned anyway. I was still smarting from him and Lu not scheduling a real physical hook up between the three of us.
“Let’s schedule our meeting on the current so that I don’t upset Charlie. He worries so much about me.”
“Baby, you are easy to worry about because you give us so much to worry about.”
“I didn’t call for a lecture.”
“When we meet up on the current, how soon are you conscious after your return?” I asked.
“You mean, how much time does it take for the process?” Michael was getting clarity.
“Yeah.”
“It’s about an hour from beginning to end. So let’s schedule the space hook up for the night before you leave. Why don’t you call me just before you’re ready and we’ll go from there?”
“Ok,” I said as I put it on the calendar.
“Michael have you given any thought to the red sparks that we’ve seen coming from Ricky?”
“Not really, about the only thing that I can come up with is that maybe they’re a warning.”
Not being known for beating around the bush, I jumped right in.
“Yesterday while I was in the garden, Ricky invited me and even sent her red spark. I accepted and jumped in. There was a red feel to everything and there was spinning and turbulence and chaos, so different than the regular party.”
Michael was listening and barely breathing while doing so.
“Anyway, when all the craziness stopped, I was in pitch black and on the balcony of the ship during that horrible storm. Somehow Ricky had taken me into the past. I heard myself offer you a drink of my scotch and then we got hit by that big ball of wind that slammed us into the window.”
Michael hadn’t made a sound and his breathing nearly stopped.
I continued.
“When I woke up, I was on a stretcher in the garden with an oxygen mask over my mouth, like I’d need oxygen when I was in the oxygen capital of the world. What I’m saying is that I was still in the garden unconscious when Charlie came home at 5:30. I’d been there for 8.5 hours. I’m not telling you this to scare you. I just want it chronicled that your take on the ‘red warning’ may have been right on.”
I stopped and wasn’t going to say another word until I heard from him.
“For Christ’s sake Helen, we should talk about this. Someone needs to know when you are taking off into the universe. I always thought that that someone should be me. So the next time you decide to do that, please call me first.”
“Unclench, would ya, I’m alright. Poor Charlie was nearly beside himself and kind of freaked out when I told him that I’d gone to visit the universe. We just need to use this information to figure out the rest of the riddle. 8.5 hours is a long time to be out of commission. But I want you to know that my interest is peaked and I am going to explore this new development.”
“Are you trying to give me a freaking heart attack?”
“Michael, if I wasn’t an exploring kind of person, we would never have discovered the universal travel in the first place. You got to know me by now.”
“Oh Baby, I get it. You’re going to do as you damn well please, even if it scares the hell out if me.”
“Michael, you sound like you need a reconnect. I’m sorry if I frighten you by my behavior; but Baby I gotta be who I am. You want to hook up now?”
“I’m not home and if I passed out here there’d be a stink for sure.”
Michael chuckled at the thought of it. How about tomorrow at about 2 or 2:30?”
“I can make that happen.” I assured him.
“Can you promise me that you won’t jump the sparks until after we see each other next week?”
“Can’t make that promise but I will promise to be careful and to think of how much I love you if I do accept another invitation from Ricky and her red sparks.”
“Hellie,” he used my nickname as a coddle.
“Please
