All of the alien-earthling kids had drilled into them from their youngest days the necessity of keeping their “not of this earth” origins and powers concealed from the public, and as Isabel questioned her niece, she was impressed at just how well she had done that, particularly for an operation put together by one lone teenage girl in less than an hour.
She had penetrated the hospital security only enough to get the information she needed. Even if she were on some surveillance video, a tearful young student getting close to an injured classmate was unlikely to attract much attention. She had left to get her dirt bike, and driven two miles through the desert to intercept the abandoned railroad track, and then ridden three miles on the rail bed to the road crossing. Neither the EMT nor the paramedic had seen her before losing consciousness, and both had been blindfolded and tied before awakening. She’d loaded her small dirt bike and used her powers to erase all tracks as she entered the ambulance, just as she had near the pod chamber. A mile down a deserted dirt road near the railroad crossing, the white civilian jeep had become a camouflage military jeep and had stayed that way until she had abandoned it several miles across the desert from the Guerin residence on her return from the pod chamber.
The only real evidence left was the gurney, respirator, and neck immobilization equipment, all safely behind four feet of stone in the pod chamber. Even the transfer medical records and x-rays were no more, converted to a small pile of white ash and bagged with a spare portable toilet bag, for later disposal.
Isabel knew that there were still computer records of the boy’s neck and perhaps even another copy of the films, but she could call Ava to come down from Albuquerque and the two of them could make a light night foray to the hospital radiology department, erase the files and destroy the films, probably tomorrow morning. That’d actually be kind of like old times, and really shouldn’t be that difficult. It had actually been an exceptionally clean operation, Isabel had to admit.
But as she looked at her young niece and this young man, she had one concern. She knew that Joey was…, well, somewhat of a tomboy, and knew she had never dated. When Max had healed Liz many years ago, they had already been friends since the third grade, had been lab partners for three years, and still teenage Liz had freaked when told the secret, had in fact run from Max, and ultimately spilled the secret to Maria as well.
Andrew was an unknown factor. Joey seemed to trust him, but Joey had never done anything like this in the past, she didn’t necessarily have the experience to really judge him. How certain was she that Andrew was comfortable with the secret? How much could they really trust the young man? As she was wondering this, Isabel was watching the two teenagers, listening to them, trying to assess just how stressed Andrew was with all that had transpired.
“You say you duct taped them to fence posts?” asked Andrew. “Why? Why not just tie them up on the ground?”
“I was going to,” Joey replied. “…but have you ever driven out to the airport after dark? The ground crawls with tarantulas, and even scorpions. It was arachnid city. I wouldn’t tie up my worst enemy and leave them on that ground at night.”
Isabel smiled, remembering her niece’s spider phobia.
“What’s wrong with tarantulas,” asked Andrew, “They really aren’t harmful, they won’t even bite you unless you mishandle them.”
Joey responded, “They are so ewww…., so icky, so strange, so…….”
As Andrew suddenly said, “So alien??” Isabel’s eyes went wide with alarm, and looked quickly at the young man to see him…struggling not to laugh.
Joey fixed him with an icy glare that Isabel had seen Maria use on Michael many times over the last twenty plus years, and watched as Joey punched Andrew lightly on the shoulder, before both teenagers started laughing together. Apparently this relationship was a very comfortable one, Isabel decided.
“Out of curiosity, just how long have you two been a couple?” she asked. Joey looked at her aunt open mouthed, speechless as color rose in her cheeks, but Andrew looked up at Isabel and said, “About 18 hours I think. When I woke up strapped to that gurney, with Joey asleep on my chest with her arms around my neck, I decided it probably wasn’t going to get much better than that.”
Isabel watched her blushing niece beaming at the young man, her eyes sparkling. She’d really give a lot to be a fly on the wall when Michael heard about this…..Oh, oh, she might be the one who’d have to TELL Michael about this. This day just kept getting better and better she decided.
Joey (AA/CC teen) [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
An hour later, Isabel stood in the doorway of the pod chamber, and watched her niece riding off on her dad’s dirt bike, an empty pack on her back. She’d spent most of the sixty minutes trying to convince the teenager to leave the young man in the chamber, and come back two days later to retrieve him. Joey had maintained, perhaps correctly Isabel believed, that immediately upon contacting her parents she would likely be grounded for the rest of her natural life. Before that happened, she said, she intended to get Andrew back to his home safely. Joey said she had abducted him, and she would dang well un-abduct him.
The cover story that Andrew had decided to use was that he simply woke up out in the desert, and had no idea how he’d gotten there, or what had healed him. If they could make the actual x-ray records disappear, most people would eventually decide there had been a misdiagnosis. Anyone not believing Andrew had a real problem, because he had certainly been unconscious when the actual abduction occurred, and no one could prove he wasn’t ignorant of everything that subsequently happened.
Isabel had sent Joey off to her car, telling her to get cold sodas and some snacks and sandwiches out of the ice chest in the back seat. The twins had stocked the ice chest for a picnic scheduled for this afternoon, but Isabel could restock it at the first market she came to after getting back within cell phone range of a cell tower and calling the likely frantic senior Valentis. A second call to the junior Valentis, would get Ava southbound to help her out in the hospital radiology record search and destroy mission.
But while the kids could certainly use the food (Joey really hadn’t taken enough in the backpack for a three day stay), the real reason she’d sent Joey out was to talk to Andrew alone.
Andrew seemed like a good kid, and it was clear he and her niece had become close, surprisingly close, in a very short time. Looking back at the two sleeping bags adjacent to each other on the floor, Isabel wondered if they hadn’t gotten too close, too fast. At least, she thought, there were TWO sleeping bags, and not one. Or two zipped together.
Isabel needed, she decided, to do a number of things. She needed to know that Andrew really understood that Joey’s life, the lives of all of the aliens and their families were at risk. His easy acceptance of their alien status mustn’t deceive him that others would be equally as tolerant. Her own family was at risk if Andrew didn’t understand, and before she left she needed to be sure he realized the likely consequences of any break in the secrecy.
She also needed to understand that Andrew really knew what he was getting in to, if he continued down the road of a relationship with her niece. There were big rewards, Isabel reveled in her love for all of her family, all of her nieces and nephews. But there were costs too. And if Andrew were to make that decision, to continue down that path, it needed to be out of love, not out of gratitude for his healing.
Right now Andrew could walk away, and not become enmeshed in alien intrigue. But if he stayed with Joey, he would be drawn deeper and deeper into the whole alien experience. He might anyway, she thought briefly. When Max had healed Liz, she had somehow developed some powers of her own. Kyle too. No one knew just how much healing was necessary for this to happen, or if anyone but Max could do it. It certainly never happened with the scratches, cuts, strains, and sprains that Michael and Isabel healed, but neither had ever done anything nearly as extensive as what Joey had somehow pulled off.
Before she left, she really needed to get to know the young man, without her niece there to influence the conversation and that was the real reason she’d sent Joey off on the dirt bike.
“Andrew,” she said, “I know you’ve been through an awful lot, in a very short time, but I have a few very important things I’d like to discuss with you and then maybe I can answer any questions you have for me.”
Andrew turned away from where he had been watching Joey ride off into the distance and looked at Isabel. “First,” she said. “it is important to me that you really understand why the alien business must be concealed. It’s clear to me you are very comfortable with the concept, but many people are not. At your age Joey’s father and my brother and I were pursued by people who feared us, people who envied us our powers. Of the eight children who came from this and one similar pod, only four still remain, and three of those deaths were at the hands of those people who feared us.
My brother and I, and the girl who has been his wife these last two decades, were almost killed at his high school graduation, killed by people who were terrified of us, because we were …different.. My husband, as kind and gentle a soul as you have ever met once killed a man to protect me, to protect us from those who would destroy us. I can’t go back to those days, Andrew, I can’t have my children put at risk. I need to make sure you understand how important that is, how Joey would be put at risk, how all the people she loves would be put at risk if this got out. Even you, because there are those who would want to experiment on you, to take you apart to try to figure how she healed you.”
Andrew looked into the eyes of this handsome woman, a woman who looked younger than her years, but whose eyes now somehow looked much older, like they’d seen too many terrible things. There were tears glistening there as she seemed to be looking back into time, remembering battles fought and the prices paid for those battles. Without conscious thought he put his hand on top of hers.
As she looked at him he said, “Mrs. Ramirez I would NEVER do anything that would cause harm to Joey or to the people that she loves.” She looked into his eyes and smiled, wiping away a tear. “I know you wouldn’t, Andrew.” Then she continued, “but it’s also important that you understand the price that you might pay if you choose to be with Joey. Her dangers all become your dangers, if you stay with her. She was born into this situation, she has never had any option. She is what she is. But in a day or two, when those marks fade, you can walk away from this world and never look back. You can go back to being a normal high school kid living a normal life whose only mystery is that a doctor once misdiagnosed him and that he lost a few days wandering around the desert after someone dumped him out of a stolen ambulance. That’s not a bad life, Andrew. No one would blame you if you traded the friendship of a girl you had been seeing for…” looking at her watch, “..nineteen and a half hours for a normal life.”
It was Isabel’s turn to watch as Andrew’s eyes focused out on the desert, his mind going back years. She could almost see what he was seeing, almost feel what he felt. An image came into her mind of a young girl playing soccer, a girl with blonde curls flying, and eyes that were ever so blue. “She pushed me away once, you know”, he said. “I don’t think it was because she didn’t care. I’m not sure if she was afraid of me, or afraid for me. But I could never leave her now, Mrs. Ramirez. I could never be complete if I did.”
Isabel looked at the young man beside her as he stood looking out at the desert, out to where Joey had ridden away. She rubbed another tear away from her eye as she also looked out at the desert that was still so familiar to her, seeing the sand, the Yucca plants, the lava flow of the Malpais. When she finally spoke she smiled and said, “I think maybe you should start calling me Aunt Izzie, Andrew.”
The cover story that Andrew had decided to use was that he simply woke up out in the desert, and had no idea how he’d gotten there, or what had healed him. If they could make the actual x-ray records disappear, most people would eventually decide there had been a misdiagnosis. Anyone not believing Andrew had a real problem, because he had certainly been unconscious when the actual abduction occurred, and no one could prove he wasn’t ignorant of everything that subsequently happened.
Isabel had sent Joey off to her car, telling her to get cold sodas and some snacks and sandwiches out of the ice chest in the back seat. The twins had stocked the ice chest for a picnic scheduled for this afternoon, but Isabel could restock it at the first market she came to after getting back within cell phone range of a cell tower and calling the likely frantic senior Valentis. A second call to the junior Valentis, would get Ava southbound to help her out in the hospital radiology record search and destroy mission.
But while the kids could certainly use the food (Joey really hadn’t taken enough in the backpack for a three day stay), the real reason she’d sent Joey out was to talk to Andrew alone.
Andrew seemed like a good kid, and it was clear he and her niece had become close, surprisingly close, in a very short time. Looking back at the two sleeping bags adjacent to each other on the floor, Isabel wondered if they hadn’t gotten too close, too fast. At least, she thought, there were TWO sleeping bags, and not one. Or two zipped together.
Isabel needed, she decided, to do a number of things. She needed to know that Andrew really understood that Joey’s life, the lives of all of the aliens and their families were at risk. His easy acceptance of their alien status mustn’t deceive him that others would be equally as tolerant. Her own family was at risk if Andrew didn’t understand, and before she left she needed to be sure he realized the likely consequences of any break in the secrecy.
She also needed to understand that Andrew really knew what he was getting in to, if he continued down the road of a relationship with her niece. There were big rewards, Isabel reveled in her love for all of her family, all of her nieces and nephews. But there were costs too. And if Andrew were to make that decision, to continue down that path, it needed to be out of love, not out of gratitude for his healing.
Right now Andrew could walk away, and not become enmeshed in alien intrigue. But if he stayed with Joey, he would be drawn deeper and deeper into the whole alien experience. He might anyway, she thought briefly. When Max had healed Liz, she had somehow developed some powers of her own. Kyle too. No one knew just how much healing was necessary for this to happen, or if anyone but Max could do it. It certainly never happened with the scratches, cuts, strains, and sprains that Michael and Isabel healed, but neither had ever done anything nearly as extensive as what Joey had somehow pulled off.
Before she left, she really needed to get to know the young man, without her niece there to influence the conversation and that was the real reason she’d sent Joey off on the dirt bike.
“Andrew,” she said, “I know you’ve been through an awful lot, in a very short time, but I have a few very important things I’d like to discuss with you and then maybe I can answer any questions you have for me.”
Andrew turned away from where he had been watching Joey ride off into the distance and looked at Isabel. “First,” she said. “it is important to me that you really understand why the alien business must be concealed. It’s clear to me you are very comfortable with the concept, but many people are not. At your age Joey’s father and my brother and I were pursued by people who feared us, people who envied us our powers. Of the eight children who came from this and one similar pod, only four still remain, and three of those deaths were at the hands of those people who feared us.
My brother and I, and the girl who has been his wife these last two decades, were almost killed at his high school graduation, killed by people who were terrified of us, because we were …different.. My husband, as kind and gentle a soul as you have ever met once killed a man to protect me, to protect us from those who would destroy us. I can’t go back to those days, Andrew, I can’t have my children put at risk. I need to make sure you understand how important that is, how Joey would be put at risk, how all the people she loves would be put at risk if this got out. Even you, because there are those who would want to experiment on you, to take you apart to try to figure how she healed you.”
Andrew looked into the eyes of this handsome woman, a woman who looked younger than her years, but whose eyes now somehow looked much older, like they’d seen too many terrible things. There were tears glistening there as she seemed to be looking back into time, remembering battles fought and the prices paid for those battles. Without conscious thought he put his hand on top of hers.
As she looked at him he said, “Mrs. Ramirez I would NEVER do anything that would cause harm to Joey or to the people that she loves.” She looked into his eyes and smiled, wiping away a tear. “I know you wouldn’t, Andrew.” Then she continued, “but it’s also important that you understand the price that you might pay if you choose to be with Joey. Her dangers all become your dangers, if you stay with her. She was born into this situation, she has never had any option. She is what she is. But in a day or two, when those marks fade, you can walk away from this world and never look back. You can go back to being a normal high school kid living a normal life whose only mystery is that a doctor once misdiagnosed him and that he lost a few days wandering around the desert after someone dumped him out of a stolen ambulance. That’s not a bad life, Andrew. No one would blame you if you traded the friendship of a girl you had been seeing for…” looking at her watch, “..nineteen and a half hours for a normal life.”
It was Isabel’s turn to watch as Andrew’s eyes focused out on the desert, his mind going back years. She could almost see what he was seeing, almost feel what he felt. An image came into her mind of a young girl playing soccer, a girl with blonde curls flying, and eyes that were ever so blue. “She pushed me away once, you know”, he said. “I don’t think it was because she didn’t care. I’m not sure if she was afraid of me, or afraid for me. But I could never leave her now, Mrs. Ramirez. I could never be complete if I did.”
Isabel looked at the young man beside her as he stood looking out at the desert, out to where Joey had ridden away. She rubbed another tear away from her eye as she also looked out at the desert that was still so familiar to her, seeing the sand, the Yucca plants, the lava flow of the Malpais. When she finally spoke she smiled and said, “I think maybe you should start calling me Aunt Izzie, Andrew.”
As Isabel prepared to leave the pod chamber to convey the news of Joey’s safety and whereabouts to her family, she thought that she’d best have some serious talk with both of the youngsters. She still was not convinced that the two of them spending perhaps another 36 hours by themselves at the pod chamber was a good idea, but Joey remained adamant. 'Imagine that,' she thought with a smile. 'The child of Maria and Michael, and she is stubborn. Whoever could have predicted that?'
As a mother with two soon-to-be teenagers, she had long thought about the transition kids made from children to adulthood, and just how quickly that transition could sometimes occur, especially for alien hybrids. She had herself been married at eighteen, and her parents had been so convinced she was making a mistake that they had nearly boycotted their own daughter’s wedding, probably would have boycotted it, had not her brother convinced them finally to attend.
Before leaving two teenagers alone, she wanted to at least try to give them counsel that might keep them from doing anything foolish, anything they or their parents would regret. She told them that they needed to take time, to control the emotions that they now felt, and that, if they were truly meant to be together that would eventually happen, but that this weekend was not the time and the pod chamber was not the place for passion. Both blushed intensely, but nodded their heads.
Although they both did agree, Isabel could not help but notice that each held the others hand as they did so, their fingers interlaced. She anticipated that both of the two teenagers would provide some interesting moments for Maria and Michael in the not too-distant future, and left with an unspoken prayer that nothing excessively romantic happen between the two in the next 36 hours.
Getting back to the car, she drove back towards Roswell, calling Amy and Jim first, then Ava.
Throughout the morning the two teenagers talked. They talked of their hopes, they talked of their fears, they talked of what they would do once the handprints had cleared.
Joey had brought her father’s helmet and riding leathers, and he would wear these when they left the pod chamber together on the dirt bike. Unfortunately he would have to change back into his hospital gown once Joey dropped him off, to be consistent with his cover story, and to insure that there was nothing that might direct investigators towards joey or her family. During the nights the temperature was getting down into the forties, so Joey would drop him off as close to his home as possible while ensuring no possibility of her detection. The advantage they had was that the police were unlikely to expect a paralyzed kidnapped victim to be riding on the back of a motorcycle toward his home.
If Andrew could reach his home without detection, that would be fine. But even if he was detected walking around in a hospital gown, it would be consistent with his cover story, as long as Joey was out of the area when he was detected.
They tried to anticipate the reception Andrew would get when he got home, the lost sheep now found, in unexplainably good health.
Joey tried not to anticipate the reception she would get from her grandparents, and dreaded even more the inevitable punishment she would get once her parents were home. Her dad, she assured Drew, would storm and rage, but in the end he really couldn’t stay mad at “his princess.” Mom, however, would be tougher to handle.
At lunch, Joey brought out the sandwiches and chips she had gotten from Isabel’s car. “Let’s see,” she said, “we have one PBJJ and one ham on rye with swiss cheese. I think maybe you better take the ham and cheese.”
“What is a PBJJ?” asked Drew. “That would be a peanut butter and jam, with jalapeno slices. It’s kind of an acquired taste that you probably have never acquired,” said Joey. She wondered suddenly if he WOULD acquire a taste for “sweet and spicy,” as Uncle Kyle and Aunt Liz had, after they had been healed. She decided that was a subject she would discuss with Drew after she had discussed it with Uncle Max.
After lunch they poured over the Saturday newspaper that had been in Isabel’s car, looking at pictures of the football game on the sports pages, including one showing Drew’s mother and father watching as he was loaded on the ambulance at the football field. Joey looked at the picture and an idea crossed her mind. She would discuss it with Drew later.
As evening came, they ate two of the last six remaining microwave meals, Joey heating them with her hand. She then put on a quick magic act, showing Drew molecular manipulation, telekinesis, and other alien powers.
Her father, Max, and Isabel had avoided using their powers as children, to avoid being discovered. Living in a safer world, surrounded by others who shared the same secret, the next generation of alien-human children had been encouraged by their parents to discretely practice their powers. Joey had always applied to this practice the same energy and perseverance she had given to cross-country running, to motocross, to competitive swimming, and to soccer, and had outstripped her peers, her powers being at 15 nearly the equal of her full grown father and Isabel in many ways, and apparently well beyond theirs in healing.
Andrew watched her practice in the pod chamber with interest and amazement. She then talked to him about her idea, for checking on his parents.
As a mother with two soon-to-be teenagers, she had long thought about the transition kids made from children to adulthood, and just how quickly that transition could sometimes occur, especially for alien hybrids. She had herself been married at eighteen, and her parents had been so convinced she was making a mistake that they had nearly boycotted their own daughter’s wedding, probably would have boycotted it, had not her brother convinced them finally to attend.
Before leaving two teenagers alone, she wanted to at least try to give them counsel that might keep them from doing anything foolish, anything they or their parents would regret. She told them that they needed to take time, to control the emotions that they now felt, and that, if they were truly meant to be together that would eventually happen, but that this weekend was not the time and the pod chamber was not the place for passion. Both blushed intensely, but nodded their heads.
Although they both did agree, Isabel could not help but notice that each held the others hand as they did so, their fingers interlaced. She anticipated that both of the two teenagers would provide some interesting moments for Maria and Michael in the not too-distant future, and left with an unspoken prayer that nothing excessively romantic happen between the two in the next 36 hours.
Getting back to the car, she drove back towards Roswell, calling Amy and Jim first, then Ava.
Throughout the morning the two teenagers talked. They talked of their hopes, they talked of their fears, they talked of what they would do once the handprints had cleared.
Joey had brought her father’s helmet and riding leathers, and he would wear these when they left the pod chamber together on the dirt bike. Unfortunately he would have to change back into his hospital gown once Joey dropped him off, to be consistent with his cover story, and to insure that there was nothing that might direct investigators towards joey or her family. During the nights the temperature was getting down into the forties, so Joey would drop him off as close to his home as possible while ensuring no possibility of her detection. The advantage they had was that the police were unlikely to expect a paralyzed kidnapped victim to be riding on the back of a motorcycle toward his home.
If Andrew could reach his home without detection, that would be fine. But even if he was detected walking around in a hospital gown, it would be consistent with his cover story, as long as Joey was out of the area when he was detected.
They tried to anticipate the reception Andrew would get when he got home, the lost sheep now found, in unexplainably good health.
Joey tried not to anticipate the reception she would get from her grandparents, and dreaded even more the inevitable punishment she would get once her parents were home. Her dad, she assured Drew, would storm and rage, but in the end he really couldn’t stay mad at “his princess.” Mom, however, would be tougher to handle.
At lunch, Joey brought out the sandwiches and chips she had gotten from Isabel’s car. “Let’s see,” she said, “we have one PBJJ and one ham on rye with swiss cheese. I think maybe you better take the ham and cheese.”
“What is a PBJJ?” asked Drew. “That would be a peanut butter and jam, with jalapeno slices. It’s kind of an acquired taste that you probably have never acquired,” said Joey. She wondered suddenly if he WOULD acquire a taste for “sweet and spicy,” as Uncle Kyle and Aunt Liz had, after they had been healed. She decided that was a subject she would discuss with Drew after she had discussed it with Uncle Max.
After lunch they poured over the Saturday newspaper that had been in Isabel’s car, looking at pictures of the football game on the sports pages, including one showing Drew’s mother and father watching as he was loaded on the ambulance at the football field. Joey looked at the picture and an idea crossed her mind. She would discuss it with Drew later.
As evening came, they ate two of the last six remaining microwave meals, Joey heating them with her hand. She then put on a quick magic act, showing Drew molecular manipulation, telekinesis, and other alien powers.
Her father, Max, and Isabel had avoided using their powers as children, to avoid being discovered. Living in a safer world, surrounded by others who shared the same secret, the next generation of alien-human children had been encouraged by their parents to discretely practice their powers. Joey had always applied to this practice the same energy and perseverance she had given to cross-country running, to motocross, to competitive swimming, and to soccer, and had outstripped her peers, her powers being at 15 nearly the equal of her full grown father and Isabel in many ways, and apparently well beyond theirs in healing.
Andrew watched her practice in the pod chamber with interest and amazement. She then talked to him about her idea, for checking on his parents.
That evening, Michael and Maria were relaxing in their portside stateroom after dinner. Maria looked over at her husband. He’d really been a dear. He’d escorted her all over Grenada, even going shopping with him. Formal dinners were definitely not Michaels style, but he’d looked quite dapper in his tux, and hadn’t complained once. They’d danced in the ballroom for almost an hour, at least for the slow dances.
Her spaceboy had been attentive all day, and she smiled indulgently at him sitting on their bed watching the cruise ship oldies channel’s current movie. Maria was sure that he’d seen ‘Braveheart’ a thousand times, but it always seemed to hold his interest. She was puzzled as the phone rang but watched as he picked it up mechanically, his eyes not leaving the carnage on the TV screen.
'This was so unfair,' thought Isabel. But she HAD gotten the short straw she thought, although she was suspicious that Ava had used some molecular manipulation to lengthen hers as it was pulled from Jim Valenti’s hand. Heck, she wouldn’t put it by either Jim or Amy to have somehow cheated either. The stakes had been high. Nobody wanted to make this call.
The overseas operator finally got the ship and the switchboard operator said she would ring the cabin. Isabel heard the signal of the phone ringing once and then a voice said “Hello.”
“Michael!”
“Isabel? What do you want?”
“Michael…….I need to tell you…..that is,…..uh... I need to talk to Maria!”
After listening to the first sentence Maria took the phone off to the side of the room and talked quietly with Isabel for almost 30 minutes.
Michael, oblivious to the conversation, watched another 22 Scotsman and over 60 English soldiers meet their ends in a variety of gory ways. As the troops of Robert the Bruce charged the English, and the movie credits began to play, he looked up to find Maria looking at him somewhat wide-eyed.
“What did Isabel want?” he asked her.
“Honey,” she said, “”I’ve got some good news and some bad news. First of all, it appears our daughter has found herself a boyfriend.”
“and what would the good news be?” Michael said with a sudden frown.
“Now that’s not fair, Michael. Joey has always been too much of a loner. She hasn’t even had any real girl friends other than her cousins. It’s good that she’s starting to meet other people.”
“So what’s the rest of it?”
“It would seem that last Friday night her boyfriend was tackled at the football game and broke his neck.”
Michael’s expression seemed to soften slightly and he said, “and the bad news?”
“Michael! That’s horrible! The boy could have been killed. He was almost paralyzed for life. It’s a miracle he’s going to be OK,” said Maria, hitting him with a pillow.
Michael saw that he was getting the ‘Maria-look’ and tried to quickly change the subject.
“Well if he’s OK, what’s the problem?”
Suddenly he felt his heart drop as he saw Maria get a deer-in-the-headlights look and take a deep breath before saying in one high-speed run-on sentence.
“He’s better because Joey skipped curfew, assaulted two ambulance attendants, stole their ambulance, kidnapped the boy, took him up to the pod chamber, healed him, told him everything, refused to leave when Isabel found the two of them together and they are right now spending their second night together waiting for the handprints to go away until she can take him home.”
Maria finished so out of breath that she couldn’t resume before Michael said, “I’ll kill him. She is sooo grounded.”
Fifteen minutes later, Michael was laying flat on the bed. Maria was lying on her side next to him looking at him with a smile.
“What kind of home-training is that,” he said indignantly, “to take a 15 year-old girl up to a cave in the hills and spend two nights with her. What kind of parents would not teach their son better behavior than that?”
“Now spaceboy,” said Maria. “you have to admit that Joey might bear just some little teeny weeney bit of the responsibility here. You know, considering he was drugged, restrained, paralyzed, immobilized and unconscious when it all happened.”
“She’s only 15 years old. He’s older. He should have known better.”
Maria placed her hand under Michael’s chin and turned him toward her, giving him a slow long kiss. “...and the fact that he couldn’t even open the door to get out if he wanted to leave is no excuse?”
“if he’d cared anything about her at all, he’d have never broken his neck in the first place….”
Maria decided that she had best get Michael’s mind off the whole Joey situation.
Well, this was a second honeymoon after all......
Her spaceboy had been attentive all day, and she smiled indulgently at him sitting on their bed watching the cruise ship oldies channel’s current movie. Maria was sure that he’d seen ‘Braveheart’ a thousand times, but it always seemed to hold his interest. She was puzzled as the phone rang but watched as he picked it up mechanically, his eyes not leaving the carnage on the TV screen.
'This was so unfair,' thought Isabel. But she HAD gotten the short straw she thought, although she was suspicious that Ava had used some molecular manipulation to lengthen hers as it was pulled from Jim Valenti’s hand. Heck, she wouldn’t put it by either Jim or Amy to have somehow cheated either. The stakes had been high. Nobody wanted to make this call.
The overseas operator finally got the ship and the switchboard operator said she would ring the cabin. Isabel heard the signal of the phone ringing once and then a voice said “Hello.”
“Michael!”
“Isabel? What do you want?”
“Michael…….I need to tell you…..that is,…..uh... I need to talk to Maria!”
After listening to the first sentence Maria took the phone off to the side of the room and talked quietly with Isabel for almost 30 minutes.
Michael, oblivious to the conversation, watched another 22 Scotsman and over 60 English soldiers meet their ends in a variety of gory ways. As the troops of Robert the Bruce charged the English, and the movie credits began to play, he looked up to find Maria looking at him somewhat wide-eyed.
“What did Isabel want?” he asked her.
“Honey,” she said, “”I’ve got some good news and some bad news. First of all, it appears our daughter has found herself a boyfriend.”
“and what would the good news be?” Michael said with a sudden frown.
“Now that’s not fair, Michael. Joey has always been too much of a loner. She hasn’t even had any real girl friends other than her cousins. It’s good that she’s starting to meet other people.”
“So what’s the rest of it?”
“It would seem that last Friday night her boyfriend was tackled at the football game and broke his neck.”
Michael’s expression seemed to soften slightly and he said, “and the bad news?”
“Michael! That’s horrible! The boy could have been killed. He was almost paralyzed for life. It’s a miracle he’s going to be OK,” said Maria, hitting him with a pillow.
Michael saw that he was getting the ‘Maria-look’ and tried to quickly change the subject.
“Well if he’s OK, what’s the problem?”
Suddenly he felt his heart drop as he saw Maria get a deer-in-the-headlights look and take a deep breath before saying in one high-speed run-on sentence.
“He’s better because Joey skipped curfew, assaulted two ambulance attendants, stole their ambulance, kidnapped the boy, took him up to the pod chamber, healed him, told him everything, refused to leave when Isabel found the two of them together and they are right now spending their second night together waiting for the handprints to go away until she can take him home.”
Maria finished so out of breath that she couldn’t resume before Michael said, “I’ll kill him. She is sooo grounded.”
Fifteen minutes later, Michael was laying flat on the bed. Maria was lying on her side next to him looking at him with a smile.
“What kind of home-training is that,” he said indignantly, “to take a 15 year-old girl up to a cave in the hills and spend two nights with her. What kind of parents would not teach their son better behavior than that?”
“Now spaceboy,” said Maria. “you have to admit that Joey might bear just some little teeny weeney bit of the responsibility here. You know, considering he was drugged, restrained, paralyzed, immobilized and unconscious when it all happened.”
“She’s only 15 years old. He’s older. He should have known better.”
Maria placed her hand under Michael’s chin and turned him toward her, giving him a slow long kiss. “...and the fact that he couldn’t even open the door to get out if he wanted to leave is no excuse?”
“if he’d cared anything about her at all, he’d have never broken his neck in the first place….”
Maria decided that she had best get Michael’s mind off the whole Joey situation.
Well, this was a second honeymoon after all......
Last edited by greywolf on Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Looking out through the cabin window at the moon lighting up the waters of the Caribbean, Michael smiled as he thought how lucky he was.
He couldn’t believe how much he loved the woman snuggled against his chest sleeping quietly. He had no idea why she loved him as much as she did, as much as she had for almost 25 years. She had given him a great life, and two fine children.
He’d known when Mark had chosen to go to college in Albuquerque that the deciding factor in choosing a college had never been their great business school, but rather the proximity to Kyle and Ava’s oldest child, their daughter Karla. But he’d actually thought that he might continue to be the most important man in Joey’s life for a few more years. Apparently not, he thought.
He hoped that young man was up to what was ahead of him. If Joey decided to approach romance the way she did sports, the young man was going to have a very interesting time indeed. So was Joey’s father, he thought with some foreboding.
Michael was actually quite proud of how well she’d covered her tracks abducting the boy, and amazed that she’d been able to heal him. But she should have dreamwalked her father, her mom, the grandparents, or for that matter, anyone in the alien community to let them know she was OK.
He was very suspicious that if Isabel hadn’t caught her with the young man, no one in the family would have ever heard the story of the abduction and healing, although they might well have guessed it once Joey started dating the young man.
She’d have to be punished of course. He’d go into full raving maniac alien dad mode when he saw her, and ground her for a few years. She’d do the puppy dog eyes and get him to commute the sentence to a couple of weeks eventually, he knew. She always did. Assuming Maria didn’t object, that is.
The kids would have to stay away from each other for three months or so, once he became the kid with the mystery cure. If Isabel and Ava could destroy the records, maybe a couple months would be enough. They ought to be hitting that hospital right about now.
In any event, it wouldn’t kill the kids to not date for three months or so. He remembered a couple of times when Maria’s mom had grounded her. Dreamwalking was the quintessential safe sex. It hadn’t taken Michael and Maria long to realize that, and he figured Joey would figure it out too.
Of course, he was sure this Andrew kid wasn’t good enough for Joey, however much Isabel thought of him. But then no kid was, or ever would be. ‘Andrew just has to make Joey happy,’ Michael thought, ‘not her dad. I’m already a lot happier than I could ever deserve’.
He couldn’t believe how much he loved the woman snuggled against his chest sleeping quietly. He had no idea why she loved him as much as she did, as much as she had for almost 25 years. She had given him a great life, and two fine children.
He’d known when Mark had chosen to go to college in Albuquerque that the deciding factor in choosing a college had never been their great business school, but rather the proximity to Kyle and Ava’s oldest child, their daughter Karla. But he’d actually thought that he might continue to be the most important man in Joey’s life for a few more years. Apparently not, he thought.
He hoped that young man was up to what was ahead of him. If Joey decided to approach romance the way she did sports, the young man was going to have a very interesting time indeed. So was Joey’s father, he thought with some foreboding.
Michael was actually quite proud of how well she’d covered her tracks abducting the boy, and amazed that she’d been able to heal him. But she should have dreamwalked her father, her mom, the grandparents, or for that matter, anyone in the alien community to let them know she was OK.
He was very suspicious that if Isabel hadn’t caught her with the young man, no one in the family would have ever heard the story of the abduction and healing, although they might well have guessed it once Joey started dating the young man.
She’d have to be punished of course. He’d go into full raving maniac alien dad mode when he saw her, and ground her for a few years. She’d do the puppy dog eyes and get him to commute the sentence to a couple of weeks eventually, he knew. She always did. Assuming Maria didn’t object, that is.
The kids would have to stay away from each other for three months or so, once he became the kid with the mystery cure. If Isabel and Ava could destroy the records, maybe a couple months would be enough. They ought to be hitting that hospital right about now.
In any event, it wouldn’t kill the kids to not date for three months or so. He remembered a couple of times when Maria’s mom had grounded her. Dreamwalking was the quintessential safe sex. It hadn’t taken Michael and Maria long to realize that, and he figured Joey would figure it out too.
Of course, he was sure this Andrew kid wasn’t good enough for Joey, however much Isabel thought of him. But then no kid was, or ever would be. ‘Andrew just has to make Joey happy,’ Michael thought, ‘not her dad. I’m already a lot happier than I could ever deserve’.
Back in the pod chamber Joey described dreamwalking to Andrew. She was reasonably certain that, if she were less tired, she could pull him along on a dreamwalk, to see his parents. But she realized that she was not really recovered from the energy it had taken to heal Andrew, and she decided instead to attempt to visit the dreams of one or both of his parents by herself, hoping to find out how they were doing. Then perhaps she could dreamwalk Andrew and share that information. As Andrew lay back quietly on his sleeping bag, Joey stared at the picture of his father and mother. The picture of his father rippled, but nothing happened. She next tried his mother.
Roger Douglas was in the middle of the most terrifying weekend of his life. Either the devastating injury to his son or his later kidnapping would have been horrible, the two occurring together were mind numbing. But now things were even worse, as he looked at his wife.
It was late Sunday night and she had just fallen asleep, for the first time since this terror began Friday morning. She had been desperately tired, but goaded on by her fears, had been unable to sleep. She had wept until tears would no longer come, and when she had finally fallen off to sleep, was crying out in terror, with an apparent nightmare. Roger was torn between his desire to see her sleep, and his desire to rescue her from the nightmare. He was having difficulty deciding what course of action to take, his fatigue and stress level nearly as high as that of his wife. Suddenly, she appeared to calm. A small smile appeared on her lips, and she became quiet, resting deeply.
When Joey entered the dream orb of Barbara Douglas she thought she had entered Hell. Surrounding her were a kaleidoscope of scenes, the tackle on Andrew, his helmet snapping back sickeningly, Dr. Reilly pointing to an x-ray with damage visible even to a lay person, Andrew immobilized, being carried off the field, Andrew in the halo device, it’s points screwed into his head, Andrew immobilized in the ambulance being driven from the hospital, a shocked and disbelieving Roger and Barbara Douglas packing for the trip to El Paso as a phone range to tell them of the kidnapping, the ambulance where Joey had abandoned it, cordoned off with yellow tape saying crime scene, and many more, some representing terrors that Barbara was dreaming were being done even now to her only child. All of the horrors of the weekend, all of her worst fears, all were projected in a bewildering array of scenes and sounds.
Sitting in the middle of this kaleidoscope was a wide-eyed Barbara Douglas, whimpering pitifully with a look on her face approaching madness. Joey saw the terror in her eyes, and her heart came close to breaking. This was Andrew’s mother, she had given his soul life, and she appeared to be suffering the tortures of the damned. Not quite sure what she would do, she entered the dream orb and stood before Barbara Douglas, her eyes filled with compassion. Joey concentrated hard, and brought into her mind a picture of Andrew lying on the floor of the cave, sleeping quietly with a smile on his face. She looked into the face of the dream-Barbara Douglas, then looked to the side and smiled as she projected the image of Andrew into the dream orb.
Dream-Barbara’s eyes went wide at the sight of her lost child. Joey looked into those eyes, looked at this woman that loved the same person she loved, and said, “He is safe. He is well. He is loved. I need him now, but I will bring him back to you soon.” Then she smiled at dream-Andrew, and said softly, possessively, “..at least for a few more years.”
She couldn’t tell if dream-Barbara heard or saw her, but the kaleidoscope changed, and now each view mirrored her projection, all of Andrew, all softly sleeping with the gentle smile on his face. The face of Dream-Barbara lost its terror. She smiled up at Dream-Joey, and closed her eyes to fall into deep untroubled sleep. Joey left the dream orb.
In the radiology department Isabel found the last hard copies of the x-rays and CT scans done on Andrew. With a wave of her hand, Isabel turned them to ash, and the ash was quickly flushed down a commode in the changing area. Ava had already erased the digital memories from the computer. It was time to leave.
Roger Douglas was in the middle of the most terrifying weekend of his life. Either the devastating injury to his son or his later kidnapping would have been horrible, the two occurring together were mind numbing. But now things were even worse, as he looked at his wife.
It was late Sunday night and she had just fallen asleep, for the first time since this terror began Friday morning. She had been desperately tired, but goaded on by her fears, had been unable to sleep. She had wept until tears would no longer come, and when she had finally fallen off to sleep, was crying out in terror, with an apparent nightmare. Roger was torn between his desire to see her sleep, and his desire to rescue her from the nightmare. He was having difficulty deciding what course of action to take, his fatigue and stress level nearly as high as that of his wife. Suddenly, she appeared to calm. A small smile appeared on her lips, and she became quiet, resting deeply.
When Joey entered the dream orb of Barbara Douglas she thought she had entered Hell. Surrounding her were a kaleidoscope of scenes, the tackle on Andrew, his helmet snapping back sickeningly, Dr. Reilly pointing to an x-ray with damage visible even to a lay person, Andrew immobilized, being carried off the field, Andrew in the halo device, it’s points screwed into his head, Andrew immobilized in the ambulance being driven from the hospital, a shocked and disbelieving Roger and Barbara Douglas packing for the trip to El Paso as a phone range to tell them of the kidnapping, the ambulance where Joey had abandoned it, cordoned off with yellow tape saying crime scene, and many more, some representing terrors that Barbara was dreaming were being done even now to her only child. All of the horrors of the weekend, all of her worst fears, all were projected in a bewildering array of scenes and sounds.
Sitting in the middle of this kaleidoscope was a wide-eyed Barbara Douglas, whimpering pitifully with a look on her face approaching madness. Joey saw the terror in her eyes, and her heart came close to breaking. This was Andrew’s mother, she had given his soul life, and she appeared to be suffering the tortures of the damned. Not quite sure what she would do, she entered the dream orb and stood before Barbara Douglas, her eyes filled with compassion. Joey concentrated hard, and brought into her mind a picture of Andrew lying on the floor of the cave, sleeping quietly with a smile on his face. She looked into the face of the dream-Barbara Douglas, then looked to the side and smiled as she projected the image of Andrew into the dream orb.
Dream-Barbara’s eyes went wide at the sight of her lost child. Joey looked into those eyes, looked at this woman that loved the same person she loved, and said, “He is safe. He is well. He is loved. I need him now, but I will bring him back to you soon.” Then she smiled at dream-Andrew, and said softly, possessively, “..at least for a few more years.”
She couldn’t tell if dream-Barbara heard or saw her, but the kaleidoscope changed, and now each view mirrored her projection, all of Andrew, all softly sleeping with the gentle smile on his face. The face of Dream-Barbara lost its terror. She smiled up at Dream-Joey, and closed her eyes to fall into deep untroubled sleep. Joey left the dream orb.
In the radiology department Isabel found the last hard copies of the x-rays and CT scans done on Andrew. With a wave of her hand, Isabel turned them to ash, and the ash was quickly flushed down a commode in the changing area. Ava had already erased the digital memories from the computer. It was time to leave.
Awakening in the pod chamber, Joey looked across to a sleeping Andrew and smiled. She didn’t need a picture to dreamwalk him, she had him right in front of her. And more than that, just as she had been able to conjure an image of Andrew to project to his mother, she felt that she had Andrew’s image engraved in her soul, and that she would be able to dreamwalk him no matter if she could see his picture or not. Closing her eyes, she felt his dream orb and joined it.
Dream-Andrew was reclining on a beach chair as dream-Joey approached. The sun was high overhead, and the waves were lapping gently on the beach in the distance.
As dream-Joey strode up behind dream-Andrew she could see over his head the object of his attention. Another dream-Joey lay on a beach towel a dozen feet in front of dream-Andrew. She was wearing a white bikini, not much of a bikini Joey noted with a smile. Joey had several bathing suits at home, mostly competitive Speedo racing suits. Her father complained that they fit her like they were painted on, and they almost did, designed to get her through the water with little resistance. She did have one two-piece bathing suit, she recalled. Her father thought it was a little on the scanty side as well, but looking at the bikini covering (barely) dream-Joey, it would seem Joey’s two-piece or Speedos were tents by comparison.
Projecting herself into the dream she stood beside dream-Andrew, intentionally casting a shadow upon him. As he turned and looked up at her she said, “I’m only 15 you know. If this dream is going to be R or NC-17 rated, I’ll have to go.” As he smiled up at her, the bikini-clad dream-Joey rippled and disappeared. “A man can still dream, can’t he?” asked Andrew. “Well, yes, but it’d be just like Aunt Izzie to pop in to check up on us. My cousin Karla once told me that dreamwalking is the ultimate safe sex, but that probably doesn’t include when you are actually sleeping side by side two feet apart. We’d best not let things get too heated right now,” said Joey, smiling broadly, perhaps hinting of other times with fewer restrictions.
“I dreamwalked your Mom, and I hope I quieted her fears some. We need to get you home though. It looks like this has been the worst weekend of your parents’ lives.”
“I wish it could have been different for them,” said dream-Andrew.
“While parts of it were certainly terrifying, I think this is going to turn out to be the best weekend I’ve ever had.”
They clasped hands and walked along the beach, wading in the water. They talked again about their families, their dreams, and their hopes.
They were still wading when Isabel walked up to them from out of the sand dunes. “The x-rays are taken care of,” she said. “And it’s probably time for you two to say goodnight to each other. By the way, Joey, you will be excused from school tomorrow….female problems. And your mother says you’ll be grounded for quite awhile, so enjoy your last day of freedom tomorrow” Isabel smiled at the young couple, walked back into the dunes and was gone.
Dream-Joey and dream-Andrew met for a gentle kiss, and then Joey wavered and disappeared, leaving dream-Andrew standing alone on the quiet beach. In the real world of the pod chamber, Joey continued to sleep, but somehow her right hand found Andrew’s left hand, and they touched each other softly as the night passed.
Dream-Andrew was reclining on a beach chair as dream-Joey approached. The sun was high overhead, and the waves were lapping gently on the beach in the distance.
As dream-Joey strode up behind dream-Andrew she could see over his head the object of his attention. Another dream-Joey lay on a beach towel a dozen feet in front of dream-Andrew. She was wearing a white bikini, not much of a bikini Joey noted with a smile. Joey had several bathing suits at home, mostly competitive Speedo racing suits. Her father complained that they fit her like they were painted on, and they almost did, designed to get her through the water with little resistance. She did have one two-piece bathing suit, she recalled. Her father thought it was a little on the scanty side as well, but looking at the bikini covering (barely) dream-Joey, it would seem Joey’s two-piece or Speedos were tents by comparison.
Projecting herself into the dream she stood beside dream-Andrew, intentionally casting a shadow upon him. As he turned and looked up at her she said, “I’m only 15 you know. If this dream is going to be R or NC-17 rated, I’ll have to go.” As he smiled up at her, the bikini-clad dream-Joey rippled and disappeared. “A man can still dream, can’t he?” asked Andrew. “Well, yes, but it’d be just like Aunt Izzie to pop in to check up on us. My cousin Karla once told me that dreamwalking is the ultimate safe sex, but that probably doesn’t include when you are actually sleeping side by side two feet apart. We’d best not let things get too heated right now,” said Joey, smiling broadly, perhaps hinting of other times with fewer restrictions.
“I dreamwalked your Mom, and I hope I quieted her fears some. We need to get you home though. It looks like this has been the worst weekend of your parents’ lives.”
“I wish it could have been different for them,” said dream-Andrew.
“While parts of it were certainly terrifying, I think this is going to turn out to be the best weekend I’ve ever had.”
They clasped hands and walked along the beach, wading in the water. They talked again about their families, their dreams, and their hopes.
They were still wading when Isabel walked up to them from out of the sand dunes. “The x-rays are taken care of,” she said. “And it’s probably time for you two to say goodnight to each other. By the way, Joey, you will be excused from school tomorrow….female problems. And your mother says you’ll be grounded for quite awhile, so enjoy your last day of freedom tomorrow” Isabel smiled at the young couple, walked back into the dunes and was gone.
Dream-Joey and dream-Andrew met for a gentle kiss, and then Joey wavered and disappeared, leaving dream-Andrew standing alone on the quiet beach. In the real world of the pod chamber, Joey continued to sleep, but somehow her right hand found Andrew’s left hand, and they touched each other softly as the night passed.
Barbara Douglas awakened with a strange sense of calm, remembering the peculiar dream of last night. It had started out as a nightmare, but suddenly a vision of a young girl had appeared to her and then a vision of her Andrew. The young girl looked at Andrew with obvious love, and then had turned to her and said that Andrew was safe, that he was well, and that he was…loved. It was strange how that dream had comforted Barbara. She realized that Andrew was not fine, that although the dream had again given her faith that Andrew would be found alive, he would still have his injuries and still have a long road of rehabilitation and coping with his disability. But Andrew did indeed have people who loved him, people who would help him get through this. And strangely, she couldn’t shake the faith that Andrew would be returned to her, that she had been promised that her son would come home soon. As illogical as it sounded, to get comfort from a simple dream, Barbara knew that she had somehow turned a corner emotionally. There was much hard work ahead, but things would soon be better somehow.
As Barbara prepared to go downstairs she looked down the hall at Andrew’s room. Yesterday she could not have borne the pain of going in and seeing a room full of his things, full of memories, but devoid of Andrew. Yesterday she would have collapsed in tears at the sight of his empty bed, but the young blonde-haired vision had somehow given her new strength.
She entered Andrew’s room and went to his bookcase, seeking the book she knew would be there. It was his yearbook from his last year in junior high school. She could not remember the girl’s name, but she knew that would not be a problem. Setting the book on its spine, gravity pulled it open to the proper page. And there she was, …Joelle Guerin.
Barbara smiled, wondering why her subconscious had chosen the image of this girl to give her reassurances. Andrew had such a crush on her in the eighth grade, he’d almost worn this book out staring at her picture. When the girl had turned him down, Andrew had been crushed, moping around for weeks. She’d almost hated the girl then, which of course was silly. Drew had only been fourteen, the girl perhaps thirteen. It wasn’t like either of them were really mature enough to really care about each other, or to make any kind of commitment to one another. Even now, they were both children.
Still, just looking at the picture of Joelle Guerin brought back memories of the girl in the dream, the girl who radiated love and caring for her son. The girl whose assurances even now seemed to warm the soul of Barbara Douglas. As she looked at the black and white picture in the yearbook she decided that Miss Guerin was blonde, much like the dream girl. The dream girl had the bluest eyes that Barbara had ever seen. Looking at the picture again, she wondered idly what color Miss Guerin’s eyes were.
As Barbara prepared to go downstairs she looked down the hall at Andrew’s room. Yesterday she could not have borne the pain of going in and seeing a room full of his things, full of memories, but devoid of Andrew. Yesterday she would have collapsed in tears at the sight of his empty bed, but the young blonde-haired vision had somehow given her new strength.
She entered Andrew’s room and went to his bookcase, seeking the book she knew would be there. It was his yearbook from his last year in junior high school. She could not remember the girl’s name, but she knew that would not be a problem. Setting the book on its spine, gravity pulled it open to the proper page. And there she was, …Joelle Guerin.
Barbara smiled, wondering why her subconscious had chosen the image of this girl to give her reassurances. Andrew had such a crush on her in the eighth grade, he’d almost worn this book out staring at her picture. When the girl had turned him down, Andrew had been crushed, moping around for weeks. She’d almost hated the girl then, which of course was silly. Drew had only been fourteen, the girl perhaps thirteen. It wasn’t like either of them were really mature enough to really care about each other, or to make any kind of commitment to one another. Even now, they were both children.
Still, just looking at the picture of Joelle Guerin brought back memories of the girl in the dream, the girl who radiated love and caring for her son. The girl whose assurances even now seemed to warm the soul of Barbara Douglas. As she looked at the black and white picture in the yearbook she decided that Miss Guerin was blonde, much like the dream girl. The dream girl had the bluest eyes that Barbara had ever seen. Looking at the picture again, she wondered idly what color Miss Guerin’s eyes were.
It was 10:00 AM, and Andrew was sitting on the back of a dirt bike behind Joey, her back pressed tightly against his chest, his hands around her waist. The wind was blowing hard, whipping her blond hair back around her helmet, brushing it against his face. The sun was high, and they were speeding through the desert, and Andrew felt so incredibly alive.
They’d discussed doing this earlier this morning when they saw how much the handprints had faded during the night. It was not as irresponsible as it might at first have seemed. His cover story for his return was thin, basically that he had awakened in the desert and just walked home. If he appeared looking like he had just spent three days in a cave, even the most gullible people would be doubtful. But they could go out on the bike, get some sun, avoiding roads, at least any major roads, and he could be out in the wind and the dust and hopefully get a slight sunburn.
As they sped along feeling the closeness of each other, enjoying the beauty of the sunny desert, both really were wondering if they hadn’t just rationalized doing what they had wanted to do all along. This was heaven, they both thought. Andrew had been on dirt bikes a few times, not enough to be skillful, but enough to be impressed by the easy way that Joey rode, weaving through arroyos, skirting the fringes of the malpais, taking small jumps. She was good at this Drew appreciated, and the large dirt bike responded quickly to her skill.
It would be a long and difficult night tonight when he returned home. There were many unknowns. He knew that whatever happened to him, Joey’s secret was safe. But he wanted more. He wanted to be able to be with her, not just to view her from afar, too much of a threat to her to be with her perhaps for years. He prayed they could pull this off.
Joey loved riding through the desert. She had ridden her father’s bike a few times before, and she loved the acceleration it could provide. All the better today, when a quick burst of acceleration would cause the rider behind her to grasp her waist just that much tighter. She enjoyed the feeling and had done sudden accelerations several times for no other purpose than to feel those hands squeeze her. A guilty pleasure filled her. She wondered if Andrew knew he was being used, or just thought it was normal riding technique.
As she skirted a rock, a yucca bush scraped against her riding leather pants. Andrew had chosen not to wear her dad’s, saying a few scratches would be expected after two days of wandering in the desert, but she was still riding carefully, unwilling to be the instrument of any injuries to him. 'After all,' she told herself, 'I promised his mom to get him back in good shape'.
She realized that today would be a make or break day for the two of them. If they could credibly pull it off, they could be together before too long, probably as soon as she could talk her dad into commuting her grounding. It was her mom she was really worried about though. But she knew that, given time, she could usually get what she wanted.
And in her whole life she had never wanted anything more than she wanted Andrew.
They’d discussed doing this earlier this morning when they saw how much the handprints had faded during the night. It was not as irresponsible as it might at first have seemed. His cover story for his return was thin, basically that he had awakened in the desert and just walked home. If he appeared looking like he had just spent three days in a cave, even the most gullible people would be doubtful. But they could go out on the bike, get some sun, avoiding roads, at least any major roads, and he could be out in the wind and the dust and hopefully get a slight sunburn.
As they sped along feeling the closeness of each other, enjoying the beauty of the sunny desert, both really were wondering if they hadn’t just rationalized doing what they had wanted to do all along. This was heaven, they both thought. Andrew had been on dirt bikes a few times, not enough to be skillful, but enough to be impressed by the easy way that Joey rode, weaving through arroyos, skirting the fringes of the malpais, taking small jumps. She was good at this Drew appreciated, and the large dirt bike responded quickly to her skill.
It would be a long and difficult night tonight when he returned home. There were many unknowns. He knew that whatever happened to him, Joey’s secret was safe. But he wanted more. He wanted to be able to be with her, not just to view her from afar, too much of a threat to her to be with her perhaps for years. He prayed they could pull this off.
Joey loved riding through the desert. She had ridden her father’s bike a few times before, and she loved the acceleration it could provide. All the better today, when a quick burst of acceleration would cause the rider behind her to grasp her waist just that much tighter. She enjoyed the feeling and had done sudden accelerations several times for no other purpose than to feel those hands squeeze her. A guilty pleasure filled her. She wondered if Andrew knew he was being used, or just thought it was normal riding technique.
As she skirted a rock, a yucca bush scraped against her riding leather pants. Andrew had chosen not to wear her dad’s, saying a few scratches would be expected after two days of wandering in the desert, but she was still riding carefully, unwilling to be the instrument of any injuries to him. 'After all,' she told herself, 'I promised his mom to get him back in good shape'.
She realized that today would be a make or break day for the two of them. If they could credibly pull it off, they could be together before too long, probably as soon as she could talk her dad into commuting her grounding. It was her mom she was really worried about though. But she knew that, given time, she could usually get what she wanted.
And in her whole life she had never wanted anything more than she wanted Andrew.
Andrew had stayed in concealment in the arroyo as Joey drove in to the small truckstop in the middle of nowhere to buy fuel. She’d been there before, she’d done quite a lot of motocross very near here. Unwilling to leave the electronic signature of her credit card, she had fed the last large bill she had in the gas pump and filled the tank, not quite to the top. She would go back and pick Andrew up and go back to the open desert. There were too many roads, and too many people around here.
Officer Ortega was the senior Border Patrol Agent manning the roadblock that was currently on State Highway 14, a two lane road 15 miles Southwest of Roswell. The roadblocks were moved constantly, since the coyotes, the people who smuggled illegal aliens from Mexico northward, would quickly spread the word, once they knew the location of the roadblock. There hadn’t been a car or truck at the roadblock in the last 15 minutes. Monday afternoons were sometimes like that.
He heard the dirt bike off in the distance, long before it came up out of the arroyo, riding parallel to the highway. He picked up the large binoculars next to him and turned them on the bike. A couple of kids, he saw, the small one in front obviously a young woman or girl, her sweaty t-shirt pushed back by the wind, leaving no real doubt as to her gender. At first Ortega thought it was some teenage kid teaching his girlfriend how to ride, but it was quickly apparent that the rider had a skill that went far beyond the novice range. He would have thought the bike was too big for her, but she handled it masterfully, even with the added weight of the passenger behind her. Ortega had a dirt bike. He’d even done a little motocross. That girl was good, ….real good.
Ortega smiled looking at the taller boy behind the young girl, as her blonde hair streamed back around the facemask of his helmet. That was one lucky guy, thought Ortega. Two kids out skipping school, he thought. Well, that wasn’t his worry. And there damn sure wasn’t a truant officer that’d be able to catch that rider on the open desert, he thought.
Ortega’s face darkened when he remembered the State Patrolman who’d asked them to be on the lookout for that injured football player who’d been kidnapped. Damn, life could be unfair. To be critically injured, abducted, probably even dead by now, on such a beautiful day.
Ortega found himself wishing that instead of his being kidnapped and injured, the young footballer had been out there on that bike, behind the blonde haired girl, racing through the desert with the wind in their faces. That’s how life ought to be, thought Ortega.
He watched the dust settling from the departed dirt bike. 'Have fun kids,' he thought. 'You may be the truant officer’s problem, but you sure aren’t my problem.'
Ortega didn’t know much about the young couple, but he was pretty sure that the young man wasn’t any paralyzed missing footballer and that the blonde girl sure wasn’t any alien.
Officer Ortega was the senior Border Patrol Agent manning the roadblock that was currently on State Highway 14, a two lane road 15 miles Southwest of Roswell. The roadblocks were moved constantly, since the coyotes, the people who smuggled illegal aliens from Mexico northward, would quickly spread the word, once they knew the location of the roadblock. There hadn’t been a car or truck at the roadblock in the last 15 minutes. Monday afternoons were sometimes like that.
He heard the dirt bike off in the distance, long before it came up out of the arroyo, riding parallel to the highway. He picked up the large binoculars next to him and turned them on the bike. A couple of kids, he saw, the small one in front obviously a young woman or girl, her sweaty t-shirt pushed back by the wind, leaving no real doubt as to her gender. At first Ortega thought it was some teenage kid teaching his girlfriend how to ride, but it was quickly apparent that the rider had a skill that went far beyond the novice range. He would have thought the bike was too big for her, but she handled it masterfully, even with the added weight of the passenger behind her. Ortega had a dirt bike. He’d even done a little motocross. That girl was good, ….real good.
Ortega smiled looking at the taller boy behind the young girl, as her blonde hair streamed back around the facemask of his helmet. That was one lucky guy, thought Ortega. Two kids out skipping school, he thought. Well, that wasn’t his worry. And there damn sure wasn’t a truant officer that’d be able to catch that rider on the open desert, he thought.
Ortega’s face darkened when he remembered the State Patrolman who’d asked them to be on the lookout for that injured football player who’d been kidnapped. Damn, life could be unfair. To be critically injured, abducted, probably even dead by now, on such a beautiful day.
Ortega found himself wishing that instead of his being kidnapped and injured, the young footballer had been out there on that bike, behind the blonde haired girl, racing through the desert with the wind in their faces. That’s how life ought to be, thought Ortega.
He watched the dust settling from the departed dirt bike. 'Have fun kids,' he thought. 'You may be the truant officer’s problem, but you sure aren’t my problem.'
Ortega didn’t know much about the young couple, but he was pretty sure that the young man wasn’t any paralyzed missing footballer and that the blonde girl sure wasn’t any alien.