Chapter 8

"Louis," Alicia insisted, "What is happening to your eyes?"

My arms were still around Alicia, yet several things were different about the situation. First, it was the middle of the afternoon, rather than the dead of night. Second, I was in business casual clothing with a sports jacket instead of just boxers, and Alicia was wearing a very familiar pink high-low sweetheart chiffon cocktail dress rather than just her Shorty nightgown. Third, we were no longer upstairs in the guest bedroom, but were standing with our arms around each other next to a very familiar potted plant just off the front hallway on the ground floor.

I felt my wrist and the Nasiib stone bracelet was still there!

My heart jumped when I noticed that Alicia was still wearing the Bahati stone pendant. Yes! It had come back with her to a time and place where we were together, so 'this Alicia' was more than likely 'my Alicia'! But I wasn't one-hundred-percent sure just yet.

All around us, there were people moving around and chatting as they shared hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. This was a party!

But not just any party ... This was THE party ... at which Alicia and I had first met!

And yet, I had distinctly heard her call me by name, as if she already knew me. I tried to clear my head and my vision as I remembered very well the effects that the Nasiib stone could have on my vision for a few moments after it did its thing. As I looked into Alicia's eyes I saw her pupils beginning to stabilize in the same manner I had witnessed mine doing in that mirror the first time this phenomenon had happened to me.

"Alicia?" I asked tentatively as I loosened what must have appeared to be an intimate embrace of the young lady in my arms. "Is it you? Or..." I halted, fearful that I might have somehow lost contact with 'my' Alicia; my love.

"Lou," Alicia answered. "Of course it's me, Sugah. Who else would it be, Silly?" Then, as her vision cleared, I could detect the beginning of panic in her eyes at what she was seeing ... and remembering about the horrors we had just experienced together in the other time line right before we showed up here. Before she could say anything, I had to act.

"Don't say a word," I ordered her softly and firmly. I offered her a smile in an attempt to calm her. "Just come with me to the patio and I will explain these strange things to you."

Alicia was still shocked at the unusual nature of what she was experiencing, but she evidently recognized me and trusted me; and she nodded, following me without a word as I held her hand and led her out the French doors to the patio beyond. There, I had her sit down and went over to one of the bartenders to get her a Manhattan, just a bit extra strong, and a CC and ginger for me. I felt the need for a bit of fortification, and I was sure that it would help to steady Alicia's nerves, and ... what the hell, the booze was free at Thompson's party.

I had her take her Bahati stone pendant in her hand as I spoke to her. I quickly, yet quietly gave her the short version of just what type of power her pendant apparently possessed. When she asked how I knew that, I showed her my Nasiib stone bracelet and explained that it had been given to me with an explanation of its power; and that I had doubted the story I had been told as simple superstition ... until I had needed to use it. I told Alicia that my stone had saved me from difficult situations on more than one occasion and I promised to tell her more about the current situation in which we now found ourselves once we could get away from the crowd and her family to talk at length.

That was when Francine stepped out onto the patio and made a bee line toward us.

"Alicia, what do you think you are doing?" Alicia's older sister scolded. "Don't think that I will not mention to Daddy that you are doing more underage drinking in public."

Before Francine could say another word, and before Alicia could respond to her sister in anger, I interjected, "I got it for her, Francine. After all, she's eighteen, in her own house, and handling herself as a responsible adult so far. What's got your panties in such a twist?"

Francine Thompson--this one--had obviously never had anyone challenger her in a manner such as this. And by one of Daddy's underlings, no less!

"Mr. Chandler," Francine said frostily, "I would recommend that you make your respects to my mother and father and leave the premises immediately."

This all sounded familiar, and rightly so. What happened next in no way resembled what I remembered from the first time.

"Francine," I told her with a snort and a shake of my head, "I will be glad to leave the premises. But when I do, Alicia is coming with me." Francine and Alicia both turned to look at me in surprise.

Francine reacted first. "You, Sir, are sadly mistaken. My little sister is going nowhere with the likes of you..."

"Blow it out-cher ass, Francine!" Alicia said to her older sister. Then turning toward me, she said, "Lou, you wait out front, Sugah! I'm goin' upstayuhs to pack a few things and then you can git me the hell outta heah."

Francine came out of her surprised stupor, put a superior expression on her face, and said, "Alicia, you have absolutely no right..."

Alicia cut her off with, "Look, Bitch! Get out of my way and let me get my things and get out of here, or I will make sure that everyone here knows that you've been fucking your daddy!"

Francine's face completely drained of color. She did not say anything, but I heard her try to make vocal sounds as Alicia stormed off toward the stairs.

I went over to where Mrs. Thompson was standing after just finishing a conversation with an older couple who had just walked off. "Mrs. Thompson, you probably do not remember me, but I am Louis Chandler. I am afraid that I must leave a bit earlier than I had planned. But I want to thank you for hosting me here at your lovely house."

"Why, thank you, Mr. Chandler," my hostess said with what appeared to be a genuine smile. I felt a bit sad as I thought about the difficulties she unknowingly faced at this point. For I had made up my mind not to wait even a bit in 'this' existence to be the instrument of her husband's undoing with what I knew of his business practices ... and his 'other' practices.

And, while his moral depravity was reprehensible, it would serve just as well to have him face the prospect of prison for illegalities in business as it would to put his wife and family's reputation through the sewer of an incest accusation and its repercussions. I would have to ask Alicia to keep what we knew to ourselves for now. Francine might be aware that we knew, and her mother would surely need to know everything eventually, but it was no one else's business; at least until we could get the girl some professional help.

I was waiting just below the front porch when Alicia appeared from the side of the house. She had changed from her party dress into pants and a sweater top suitable for a mild winter's day in Georgia. She had evidently wanted to avoid any contact with either of her parents in her haste to depart. I smile broadly and held my hand out to take her bag; but she would not relinquish it until she had given me one of her trademark hot kisses.