Chapter 4

Shirley drove the sedan up the driveway, and parked to the right of the garage. It's interesting, she thought, getting out, what silly traditions families build up. They had a garage ... but never put the car in it. Why? Well ... just because. There was space for two cars side by side outside the one-car garage, and neither she nor Tom wanted to appear weak by insisting they couldn't deal with the weather, thus...

She felt wet snow fall on her nose, and looked up into the sky. Yup. She was probably going to have to dig her car out tomorrow, or at least give it a good brushing off. Lets hear it for her ego!

Walking into the garage through the side door, another tradition (was there anything wrong with the front door? Nope), she slowly approached the plain wooden door leading into the Den. Today, Shirley thought, was going to be another "interesting" day. She just knew it. There hadn't been an unexpected revelation in almost twenty four hours, and as it was Tom's poker night he wouldn't be home till late, so the timing was perfect for some sort of emergency. Was she ready?

Nope.

Time to open the door then.

Shirley entered the Den, surprised, and yet not, to see Bill and his two girl harem sitting on the couch waiting for her. She closed the door, put her briefcase down, took off her coat, and stood with arms crossed looking at the trio. They stood.

"Um, Mom? Something has come up."

"I'm sure it has," she sighed.

Betty came down the stairs two at a time, landing with a plop by the front door. Homework was done, diary was written in, music was listened to. Time to see what Mom was getting ready for dinner! Maybe, if she offered to help, it would turn into a good time to ask about going to a movie this weekend with Thomas ... and a half dozen others! Had to be make sure to mention that, even if they'd be pairing up once they got there. It was all in how you asked her parents...

The kitchen was empty. Hmm ... she had heard her mom come home. Turning her head, she saw the bedroom and bathroom doors were open so she wasn't in there. However, the basement door was also open ... approaching it, she heard voices. It was Mom, yes, and ... Julie, which means Bill and Ai were probably there was well.

She sighed. Why, oh, why did this have to happen to her? She had been happy. Life, for the most part, had been good. Lots of friends, no real problems, parents who for the most part left her alone because she had proven their trust was justified. Everything was something she could deal with. But, THIS! What the hell was going on?!? Blue aliens, Bill with a girlfriend ... her world was crashing in on her. Perhaps worst of all was knowing she wasn't involved in any of it. Things were being said beyond her range of hearing.

Well, whose fault was that?

She looked at the basement stairwell. If it was a private conversation, they would have closed the door. So...

" ... it's so much to take in at once."

That was her Mom. Betty took a couple more steps down, then stopped and sat just where the side of the stairway disappeared and she could get a look at them. They were in beanbag chairs. Mom had hers up against the support pole, giving her back support, while the three teens (well ... two teens and a 'what the fuck?') sat in front of her. They were sharing two beanbags between them, in a way Betty was shocked to see them doing in front of Mom. If she was sitting with a boy like that, Mom would freak! Or ... would she? Hmm...

"How do you think we feel?" Bill replied, leaning forward. His eyes, Betty could tell even from here, were troubled. "Every time I think, 'OK, we have things pretty well worked out', this kind of thing happens." He looked over at Ai. "I just want us to be happy."

"Happiness from being ignorant is rather short term," Mom replied, understandingly. "We're starting from a base of zero knowledge, so just have to accept that there's a lot we don't know, and learn to not form any firm theories. Or, at least, be willing to change them easily as new facts show up." She stretched her arms. "Sorry, long day."

"That's OK, Mrs. Darrow," Julie said. Betty's eyes took in her best friend's sister. She looked excited, and nervous, eyes always on Mom. Julie had always had a thing for Betty's mom. Even as a kid, she'd go on to the other three about how pretty Mom was, how smart, how ... how unlike her own. Not that Mrs. Cutter was ugly or dumb. Far from it! But, it was for certain a different kind of smart and pretty, and for whatever reason Julie was drawn to the simple, direct, logical woman before her.

"I have come up with a theory," Julie went on, biting her lip. Her eyes sought approval from Mrs. Darrow, and smiled when she got it. "See, we now know there's lots of creatures like Ai, doing lots of things. Some good, some bad."

"'Bad' is a loaded term," Shirley replied, and Julie's expression fell.

"Sorry!"

"That's OK. This is just a first brainstorming session, but we should still try and avoid labels like that as they'll influence how we interpret later data."

"Right!" Julie nodded, and felt Bill put an arm around her waist as she leaned forward. It felt good. "Anyways, we have all these events in the 'real' world, that we know have scientific causes that we've studied and proven. And, we seem to have otherworldly creatures who are ... well, 'causing' the same things! How can this be?"

Good question, thought Betty. She could see her Mom nodding for Julie to continue.

"Well ... what if what we have is two parallel realities. Two reasons for every action, equally true. I mean, we can influence and solve problems just using science and medicine, so it can't be the ghost thingies that are causing heart attacks and broken legs. When someone gets a pill or whatever to stop their heart attack, you'd think that wouldn't affect the ghost. Yet, their actions can't be meaningless. To Bill, it clearly seemed like Ai was causing his boners."

Julie stopped, realized what she just said, and had the presence of mind to blush. Bill's mom just sighed.

"Go on."

"Um, well, what if neither is the cause, or both? A blood vessel being blocked happens at the same time a creature reaches in to stop the heart. Hormones give boys erections at the same moment blue girls start fondling them. So long as you have knowledge of one reality, what happens in the other ... doesn't matter."

Betty sat back on the stairs, eyes wide. Man, she was way out of the loop! What the hell was going on in her house? Creatures like Ai everywhere? She spun her head. Nope, nothing. Or, was there...

"That's ... an interesting concept," her Mother said, considering it. "Probably wrong, but that's going to be the case with any theory. I like the logic behind it, though. We'll definitely keep it in play as a reasonable hypothesis."

Julie smiled, pleased, and Bill's arm gave her a squeeze.

"I just wonder if anyone got it right."

"What?" asked Bill, a quizzical look on his face.

"Well, I've gotten into the Occult as of late, just for the fun of it, but found you couldn't take any of it seriously because everyone had different contradictory ideas and systems. Only one could be right, so since you couldn't know which that was they all had to be treated as wrong. Fun, though!"

"I went through that stage," Mrs. Darrow admitted, "and actually still like Crowley's stuff." Julie's eyes widened at that revelation, and she went on excitedly.

"So! Given what we now know to be 'real' ... was anyone right? Is there one system of magic or religion that in fact was based on knowledge of this, but just got lost in the noise of other beliefs? I mean, given nobody can see them, most people would have to take it all on faith and so wouldn't know it was true!"

Mrs. Darrow leaned forward, hand on her chin, thinking.

"That, children, is a good question..."

Dinner was pizza and wings, and after a quick call Julie found she could stay. Shirley had extended the invitation to her mother, Gretchen, and Jenny, but to Julie's great relief the two were going out to do some shopping. She really didn't think either could deal with any of this, for all Mrs. Darrow didn't seem concerned. She obviously didn't know her mom as well as Julie did!

"Now," Shirley said, putting down her half eaten slice and picking up her drink, "I'm going to assume you two haven't done much actual experimentation with Ai." Bill looked at her, confused.

"Experiments?"

"Well, like, for example ... do we know what she eats yet?"

Ai jumped down from the kitchen counter she was sitting on, and happily gave the answer.

"Bills shoots his love into me!"

There was a moment of silence, filled only by the sound of blood rushing into the faces of Julie and Bill. Betty looked between them in amazement. So ... THAT'S what they'd been doing! Oh, they were so in trouble!

"Of course," Shirley finally said, putting her drink down untouched and turning to Ai. "It would be that. How often do you have to ... eat?"

"Ate twice yesterday ... once from Bill ... once from Julie after Bill fed her!"

Shirley's head slowly turned to the two teens, faces now even redder as their eyes tried to be anywhere other than her face. Bill finally found the courage to glance at her, seeing ... not quite disappointment, which was a relief, but more resignation. Knowing what her main concern would probably be, he spoke up.