Chapter 4

Strangers in the Night: 4.

The rest of the family went home. They created quite a ruckus but they left. The girl, Wendy, stayed.

"What was your name before?" I asked.

"Wendy," she said.

"That's convenient," I said.

"Yah," she agreed.

"Your English is excellent, but you have an intriguing accent." I asked, "Where were you from in the States?"

"Lesson time ... I'm not from your Earth."

"How do you mean that?"

"When they talk about parallel universes," she began, "What they really mean is sequential planets."

So ... she explained it like this; there are many earths ... the dimensions of each earth are such that they lag behind or jump ahead depending. There's no real beginning and no real end. The earths are so close but in different planes of existence that it's like trails of light.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He's wearing a white dress shirt and khaki pants.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He is wearing a light grey dress shirt and tan pants.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He's wearing a pale blue dress shirt and khaki pants.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He is wearing a light green dress shirt and dark brown pants.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He's wearing a white tee shirt and khaki shorts.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He is wearing a light grey tee shirt and tan knee smalls.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He's wearing an orange dress shirt and khaki pants.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He is wearing a light green sweater and jeans.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He's wearing a white dress shirt and khaki pants and he's picking his nose.

"David is walking on the sidewalk. He is wearing a light grey dress shirt and tan pants and he trips on a broken side walk." She explained, "His sidewalk is the first one that is broken. He tripped because the booger in his nose was stuck.

"Is David on the sidewalk? No ... his earth has gravel paths.

"David lives on an earth that has purple grass and blue trees.

"Each David is just the slightest bit different ... the same but not the same. They are all walking ... their feet step in the same place but not simultaneously ... there is the tiniest bit of lag from the David that went first. They all have free will and things change as the movement works its way to the end ... or beginning.

"David was walking through a field in Finland when he was struck by lightning ... you were walking through a field in ... where?"

"Michigan," I said.

"Michigan is in the United States?"

"Looks like a mitten surrounded on three sides by water."

"Ah ... Mishigama on my earth. It's part of Louisiana France. My accent ... as you call it ... is French ... My family lived close to West York Britain. I had to learn English ... my teachers insisted.

"Which direction were you walking?"

"North."

"David was carrying a scythe, you were carrying clippers, you were both walking north ... both struck by lightning."

"What about you?" I asked.

"I was ... umh ... fucking and there was a tiny fault in a blood vessel my brain. The pleasure was too intense ... my vessel broke ... I died during a massive orgasm."

"I'll bet that was ... intense."

"First time, too. I was an exchange student and there was this boy..."

She blushed, "Getting used to the mode of dress here ... I wear more than most."

The explanation took most of the night ... and I am doing my best to tell it like I understand it ... I'll find out I'm wrong eventually ... I'm sure. But that's how I understand it.