Chapter 8

I introduced Brenda to Ben first, and then Courtney later on a Thursday. She seemed to like them, and thought they had an interesting home. A weekend get together was out of the question. Brenda had to work weekends, to give lectures to young children. Weekends were a busy time for her.

Brenda and I started doing things with both Ben and Courtney, going out as a pair of couples. Ben decided to move things along at a faster rate than I would have. What he did was to start asking, 'What's your favorite period in history?'

I said I liked two different periods: the old wild west, and the days of knights. Courtney went with turn of the 20th century, around 1900. Ben replied he liked several periods but his favorite was a toss up between the 1600's and also the specific historical era of the Age of Sail, roughly: 1571 to 1863, when the greatest ships were powered just by the wind. Brenda got into it and decided she would love to have lived around 1780, in either Boston, or London. The lady's dresses of that time were simply fantastic.

"Brenda, we are going to a costume party in a few days. It is 'period costume', of the time you are interested in. Would you care to go along?" Ben asked.

I was instantly suspicious, but Brenda's eyes lit up.

"Oh, yes! I can probably get the day off," her expression fell. "But I have nothing to wear," I laughed when she said that.

"That's not a problem. We have costumes of varying sizes. Well, access to them anyway," Ben replied with a way of his hand.

Courtney and Brenda disappeared into the kitchen, to make a salad for our meal. I looked at Ben.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hissed at him.

"Calm down, Scott. I am going to introduce Brenda to our world. I am going to take her to an English Ball, thrown by a Lord of that period, who doted on his wife. It will be easy to get invitations. What better way to let her confront the concept of 'talents'?" he asked reasonably.

"Well, I don't know. What if she freaks out? I'm not sure this is the right time or venue to do this," I said worriedly.

Ben chuckled. "You were supposed to win her over, Scott. I think you have fallen for her, as hard or harder than she has for you. Remember the big picture, Scott. Don't lose sight of it," Ben finished with a gentle warning.

"Yeah, I like her a lot. You said to go out and win her over, but that's a two-edged sword. I could never just lead her on. I respect her too much," I replied.

"Yes. Just remember why we started this," he said. "Here come the ladies," he added, and that stopped the conversation.

The girls put us to work helping to move everything outdoors, as it was still nice. They had decided on yet another outdoor eating adventure. Brenda was talking about the supposed costume ball, not knowing it was the real thing. I felt torn between warning her, and surprising her. She was an adventuresome person, I remembered. She should take it without too great of a kick-up.

Tom went into the house, and was gone for a few minutes. When he came back out, he told Courtney he had moved a few costumes out of storage. He said he had put them on the bed. The girls could try them on and choose an outfit, after they ate.

"You would wait until I stuffed myself before you mentioned that, wouldn't you," Courtney muttered in a dire voice.

We all laughed.

After the meal, we men would be put to clearing the debris. The girls disappeared into the house. After a goodly amount of time, both of the women returned. They were transformed into 18th century woman of high fashion. They were breath taking, really. It was a shame that some of that had been lost in today's standards. Ah, well. Fashion takes its toll.

"This could get uncomfortable," Brenda was saying as the girls returned from changing.

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"Did you know they have something called foundation garments, which are not conducive to breathing?" Brenda said a bit breathily.

"Well, just don't tighten them so tightly," I answered with a brilliant smile.

"Well, I can think of something to correct it. Just build in a bra, and disguise it to look 'period'. As for trying to squeeze my waist smaller, forget it," Courtney stated calmly.

The time for leaving for the ball was fast approaching. We were all dressed in our 'period' finest. I felt awkward, to say the least. Courtney and Ben carried it off like they were old hands at it. For all I knew, they were.

"Ok, Brenda, now comes the tricky part," Ben said.

"What do you mean? We do have invitations, don't we?" she asked, suddenly nervous.

"Oh, yes. The invitations are very real, and so is the party," Ben said, looking intently at Brenda.

"What do you mean? It's a costume party," Brenda said a bit confused.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Ben said.

With that, he moved us from 'here and now', to 'London of 1789'. We were in a different house, in a totally different location and time! I was still in awe over what he could do.

Brenda gasped. She looked around everywhere, wide-eyed at everything. She started to speak more than once, but nothing came out. She just looked and looked... then she fainted! I caught her just before she hit the ground. I carried her to a bedroom. I lay her on a bed, as we all gathered around her.

Five minutes later, she awakened. She was still wide-eyed, though. She looked at all of us, but didn't say anything. Courtney had told us to wait. We were to let her assimilate, before we tried to tell her anything.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on, and how you did this?" she whispered.

"We both seem to be with some very talented men, Brenda. My Ben can do several things, one of which is to move through time and space. Yes, he moved us to 1789 London. He has spent some time here already, establishing a house and making it ready for his use.

"Your man has the ability to 'remote view', and do a bit of telekinesis," Courtney continued, "which leaves you and I out of this club of theirs. Well, me, anyway. It seems you might have a strong 'talent', yourself. This is Ben's way of introducing you to the concept and possibilities of having a 'talent'," Courtney said gently.

"What's 'remote viewing' mean? I understand telekinesis, but I don't think I have ever heard of 'remote viewing'? And traveling in time? Isn't that impossible? Are we really, truly, back in time?" Brenda was full of questions.