Time Out

     

An Important Notice to Readers...

     Although this fiction blog is illustrated with photos of dolls, and dollhouse miniatures, the language and content of the storyline is intended for an adult audience.  Please be advised.

Thank You,

The Author

                       

A meeting at the church

       She blinked several times, her eyes dark, a pair of wet marbles in a pale saucer face.  Then, without warning, she threw herself at him, gripping his arms with more force than expected from someone so frail.

      "Oh, Kev!  Kev!  Is it really you?  I don't understand any of this!"

      Her words were lost in a jumble of sobbing, and sniffling, and Fr. Kevin was both relieved and horrified to find that Roxanne had "traveled" with him.  He was also very much aware of the spectacle they were making in the crowded street, and the disgruntled stares thrown their way was creating an uncomfortable sense of anxiety in him.

       He pushed her away from what surely appeared to the rest of the world as an intimate embrace. "We need to talk, Rox.  But not here, okay?  Wait about ten minutes, then follow me back to the church.  We'll have privacy there."  He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a handful of coins, and placed them in her palm.  Those watching walked away, wagging their heads and smirking at their assumed understanding of the situation.  It turned his stomach to have them think such vile thoughts about he and Roxie, but it couldn't be helped.  Attention from strangers was a problem they didn't need.


        She nodded her understanding, wiping tears and snot from her face with the sleeve of her coat.  Kevin could feel her eyes on him as he turned and walked back in the same direction he had just come.  This time the wind was at his back, and he could feel the icy bite at his neck, but he resisted the urge to increase the speed of his steps, lest it appear as if he was running away from the encounter.

       As expected, the church was empty and quiet.  Without the candles and the body heat of the congregation, the air was damp and cold, and he could see his breath in the frigid air.  He rubbed his hands together for warmth, wishing he could bring Roxanne back to the relative comfort of the rectory. The absurdity of that thought almost made him smile.  He could just imagine trying to explain to his overbearing housekeeper why he was having private conversations, in the rectory, with the Italian laundry girl.  He had only known Birdie McBride for a few hours, but there was no doubt that she'd rain fire and brimstone on the both of them.  The little voice in the back of his head concurred, and crazily, seemed to chuckle at the thought.

         He wandered over to the darkest corner of the church, and positioned himself at the end of a pew.  Even though it must be well after 11:00 AM, the gray skies made the light streaming through the grimy windows only a thread, and the building appeared about as friendly as tomb.  He sat in silence and worried, the minutes passing slower than what felt normal.  Eventually, he saw the church doors open with a sliver of daylight, and then close again.  He could see a slight figure standing in hesitancy, peering into the gloom.

           "Rox...over here."  The whisper echoed, sounding loud and intrusive to his ears.

            The figure hurried over toward the direction of the voice, and slid into the pew next to him, face red and chapped from the brutal weather, and a shower of tears.  She looked nothing like the Roxanne he knew.  This girl was smaller, gaunt with a pointy chin, and hollows where cheeks should be.  Her hair was a mousy brown, thin, wispy, and pulled into a small bun at the back of her head.  Bt the eyes?  The eyes were all Roxanne Spinelli.  Soft, brown and round, like those of a fawn, with every emotion reflected in their mirrored surface.  He wondered if when she looked at him, she saw Kevin O'Kenney's eyes, and not those of his surly host, a comment the inner voice found insulting.

           "Is it really you, Kevin.  Can any of this be possible?  How?  Why"  She rubbed her hands together, wringing them in worry, and with the need to warm them up.

           "It's me, Rox.  As far as I can tell.  I think like me.  Speak like me.  But...damn...I know this going to sound crazy...it seems like there's someone else in my head.  The person who belongs to this body.  Somewhere inside.  Kind of guiding me along."  He saw a frown cross her face, and felt embarrassed.  "See...I told you.  You think it's insane.  Two of us being in here."

            She chewed on a strand of stray hair that had escaped the bun, a gesture he watched Roxie do a thousand times as a kid, and one that gave him a great deal of comfort amidst all the strangeness.  "No.  I don't think you're crazy at all.  It's the same with me.  There's this...this inner voice.  It keeps whining at me to be careful.  To take things slow, and stay in the shadows.  Frankly, it's driving me out of my mind.  You know me, Kev.  I'm a do-er.  I take action when needed."  She tapped a finger toward her forehead, and grimaced.  "Miss 'fraidy cat up here...she's constantly telling me to...well...behave.  If it weren't for her interference, I would've come out to you this morning.  When I delivered the laundry.  But the damn bitch was screaming 'No...no...no'.  So I held off.  And for what?  The sooner we figure this all out, the sooner we can go home."

       He wanted, with every ounce of being, to believe that it could be that easy, but knew for no specific reason he could pinpoint, that it would not.  "How did you know it was me, Roxie?"  He waved his hand in front of his face.  "Fr. Murphy and I don't look anything alike.  Was it that easy to recognize my eyes?"

       She smiled, and for a second, the face looked pretty.  "Of course not.  It was the pocket watch.  It vibrates when we're together."

        "The watch?  You mean you still have it?  Here?  With you?"

        She pulled the time piece from her pocket, the tattered coat a strange home for such an opulent item.   "Yup!  It was clutched in my hand when I woke up.  And let me tell you...that whole experience was insane.  One minute I'm in the bank vault with you...and poof!  Next thing I know, I'm waking up in some strange, dirty bed with three other chicks I've never seen before.  All of us piled on top of one another trying to stay warm.  I'll tell ya, I just about freaked out right then and there.  Then I saw the pocket watch in my hand, and things...well...started coming back to me. When I realized it wasn't 2014,  I guessed that I had somehow...unbelievable as it sounds... time traveled.   I prayed you were some where safe here too.  I know...I know.  That's really selfish of me.  But the thought that I might be stuck here by myself was too horrible to think about."

        Kevin reached out, and took the watch from her open hand.  He could feel the vibrations she had described, heavy and pulsating in his hand.  To think this odd piece of jewelry had the power to conquer the laws of physics.  It hurt his head to even consider it.  "I see what you mean.  I can feel it too."  He rubbed his finger of the gold face, and a thought came to his mind.  "Do you think, if we both held it at the same time, like we did at the bank, we'd go back?  Home, I mean?  To our own time?"

       "That was my reasoning too.  It's why I wanted to try earlier this morning.  At the rectory.  But the Chicken Shit voice wouldn't let me.  Plus, for some reason, I seemed to be talking in a weird accent at that moment.  Here with you...and the watch...my voice sounds the same.  Normal like.  It's pretty creepy."

      "Probably a good thing you didn't.  Can you imagine what might have happened if we disappeared in front of my housekeeper?  Would have sent the poor woman right over the edge.  Plus, I remember reading somewhere that you're not supposed to disrupt anything in the time line.  Supposed to have terrible consequences."

      "I don't know about you, Kev, but I don't want to change anything...anywhere.  I just want my ass back where it belongs.  In Boston.  Or even Dollyville.  Anyplace in 2014. I'm not a big fan of this time period, especially ending up in this body."  She frowned, and shook her head.

      "What's wrong?"

     "It's nothing.  Just the voice.  Gives me some kind of mental 'pinch' when I say something she doesn't like.  I will be so glad to be back to myself."  She moved closer to him, and grabbed the chain to the watch.  "So, let's give this a try.  If I remember correctly, you and I both were holding it at the same time."

      "Should I be...like concentrating on anything specific?"

      "How the hell should I know?  I never took a course on quantum physics.  Shit, I don't even like science fiction, or Star Trek...or any of that crap.  Just hang on to your end, Kev, and we'll see what happens."
                                 

The watch returns

Copyright Victoria T. Rocus 2014
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