had a catered buffet set up in the kitchen and we sat around the big round table. Even though the settings were ornately elegant, the ambiance was cozy and assisted in the ease of our conversation.
Charlie responded to a summons from Wyatt to talk about some equipment that had arrived for him and wanted to take the time to show him where it was located; so, while that was going on, I prepared plates for both Charlie and me, sat down at the round table, and saved a place for Charlie with his plate of food.
When Charlie returned to his soup and sandwich, his soup was cold but he wasn’t interested in it anyway. He wolfed down the sandwich and told us that he had to take a couple of hours to fix a problem with the supplied equipment and would be working in the basement until it was time to go to Michael and Lu’s in the late afternoon.
The last thing he did before he took off to the basement was to kiss me a sexy parting kiss so that I’d think of him while we were apart. It worked every time. That time he added something new. Our noses touching and side by side after the kiss Charlie whispered in a whisper so quiet it was almost not hearable but his lips moved just enough to reveal his words, ‘I love you’ in his breath on my cheek.
When I was able to take my eyes off of Charlie’s retreating backside, I turned to see that all eyes were on me. They were probably waiting for me to answer a question that I didn’t hear or maybe I was saying the thoughts about Charlie out loud. I love you, too Charlie. Lover, you are my treasure and I promise you some outrageous lovin’ tonight, that lovely butt is all mine’.
Just smiling and waiting for someone to instigate dialogue that I understood seemed the right thing for me to do. Eventually Michael finished what he was saying.
“…and we’ll be seeing you at our place.”
“Whoa,” I said.
“Please back up, obviously I missed something.”
“We got a call about the house, water in the basement, something about the pool. We’ll see you at the appointed time.”
They each kissed me and then took off out the front.
Millie excused herself to go back to the office; there was more to do before the day was out. She wanted everything to be just right for a visit from Denice and Amanda who were arriving in the late afternoon the following day. With Charlie’s electronic help, it looked to me that she was on the right track. It was kind of sweet to see her worrying about pleasing my sister. Eventually she’d learn that my sister was a kind and caring person who would never hurt your feelings intentionally but would only encourage you to do your best and not to limit yourself. Denice’s own personal way to motivate you was to believe in you. She’d do nothing to break someone’s spirit; she’d only be optimistic and coax you into a more positive direction.
Wyatt only had a minute but he barely took that. He gave me papers to read while telling me that there were rumors stirring that Cary Colton was gathering information to launch a huge law suit against me and all the corporations that I hold title to or holdings within. He also told me not to worry so I planned to do just that and not worry.
Back in the ‘servant’s quarters’ alone, I began to go through the tiny compartments in Miles’ antique desk. It took a long time to go through each drawer. Starting at the top left corner; I figured that going from left to right was a natural way to look at things and a good process that would help keep my place during a break. The first compartment/drawer was nearly filled to the brim with a strange combination of paper clips, safety pins, rubber bands, and long cylindrical sticks of lead for ‘Ever Sharps’. The reason it took so long to go through the drawer is that I could see that there was some kind of paper at the bottom of the compartment; the mission was to get a look at that paper. After sticking myself with an unhooked safety pin a couple of times trying to get past everything to get to the ‘something’ at the bottom, I dumped the entire contents in a box lid that was plenty big enough. The focus of my attention turned out to be a small beat up picture of Tut and Cleo, Tut’s mate from all those years ago, with the date ‘January 1, 1963’. I slipped the picture into my shirt pocket and organized the rest of the contents. I saved the office supplies but threw the junk into the trash box and moved on to the next compartment. Handling each drawer and each item within each of the drawers with great scrutiny; I felt a responsibility to Miles to give his belongings their due respect as I went through all of it.
Actually I hadn’t gotten through but a few of the desks little compartments when Charlie came in through the side hallway moving fast. He smiled big when he saw me and came to me for a hello kiss.
“Hello,” I said.
“Sorry I’m so late, thought you might go without me,” Charlie apologized.
“What time is it?” I asked, having lost all track.
“Time for us to go.” Charlie said.
“Let’s go the back way.”
I pulled Charlie through the side door and back through the greenery on our side of the fence to the ‘garden wall’. Climbing that wall had always been a breeze but standing there holding Charlie’s hand and looking up at it, I was unsure how I could have climbed it so many times. Not wanting to show Charlie any skepticism, I took the wall like it was nothing to climb and he followed me. We stood together at the top of the wall and took a moment to honor the strange vista of ominous looking clouds that got darker in the distance. I knew better than to stay too long on the wall; time played tricks on all of us while at the top of that wall.
When we jumped to the other side onto the path that led to Michael and Lu’s place, Charlie stopped for a moment and held me in his arms for a time and then kissed the top of my head. I showed him my watch so that we both knew that we needed to pick up the pace if we didn’t want to be too late.
I’d run that distance many times and knew all of the plants along the way. Charlie and I had made love in a small outcrop of dense trees on the path between the estates and wanted to repeat the act. We made each other a silent promise that we would see to it at another time, but for sure during that trip. We were running full out by the time we rounded the last bend before catching sight of the back door and Michael and Lu both standing there waiting for us.
Their house was like a home to me. I’d spent many months there using their home as a sanctuary and a place of peace.
Once seated in the music room around the coffee table, Michael started the conversation with a bit of a confession.
“Lu and I have done some experimenting on our own with the ‘particle travel’ and have met with limited success. Lu was unable to jump the particles and we were thinking that Helen may be able to help explain things to her better than I’ve been able to.”
“Charlie and I have also done some experimenting but we have been quite successful so maybe we can help. Show us how you went about the process.”
Even though Charlie and I had already gotten past where they were, we were willing to go through all of it slowly to bring them along.
Michael and Lu took up positions next to each other on the sofa. Michael was holding ‘Hellie’ (Hellie is the personalized ‘catch object’ that has my cartoon face – Michael used it because I’d taught him the ‘universal travel’ using it) in his left hand and both of them were staring at it waiting for its magic to take over. When the particles finally appeared, Lu never saw them.
No thinking was even required to figure out the problem. They were using the wrong catalyst to assist
