Alice 1 (17 page)

David and I wanted to try astral sex tonight,
but decided to wait until we learn more about the Shadow World. Not
to worry, in the meantime we will carefully tend the many gardens
of carnal delight.

CHAPTER 42

The next morning there were bowls of grapefruit,
oranges and tangerines on the table from the citrus grove behind
the house. Johnny went clamming in Sarasota Bay and as a special
treat for me cooked clam omelets. Just like in Carmel, they bombed.
I mean really bombed. Everybody tried to keep a straight face and
eat at least a little. I think Johnny got the message. God, I hope
so! Not only does it taste terrible, that yellow, reddish-gray mess
looks like vomit.

Along with the clams, he brought back a large
sea trout for Maggie to cook for supper. He went to the end of the
Ringling Bridge, waited for a fat one to swim by, squeezed its
brain stem, and scooped it out.

After breakfast we’ll move into our Shadows
and learn to create things in the Shadow World.

____________________

Can’t be hard if frat boys do it, and it isn’t.
When in your Shadow, the greater the desire the more quickly your
creation appears in the Shadow World and the longer it lasts. David
found if you wind up your desire like a spring and then suddenly
release it your creation immediately pops into Shadow reality.

The things created are well formed. You don’t
have to desire what your want very clearly, just the general idea.
The details are stored in your brain or wherever.

And you don’t need to know how desire works. I
desire to raise my arm and desire to create a cute, little puppy
dog. My arm goes up, and the puppy dog comes over and licks my
hand.

We spent the rest of the day creating everything
we could think of, and at the grand finale went out to the lake and
created a herd of elephants. We sent them charging in a mighty
cloud of Shadow dust toward downtown Sarasota, five miles away. I
wonder if they made it to Main Street and if anybody noticed. What
we create in the Shadow world lasts from a few seconds to an hour
or so, depending upon how strong the desire.

The sea trout was delicious.

____________________

The next morning we practiced changing the
appearance of our Shadows. Easy, just desire again. I changed into
a pretty good Devil. Maggie changed into a duck, quacking and
flapping around the room. Lots of fun.

Soon we began to show off. I went to the center
of the room, created a big clap of thunder and appeared as the
Devil in the middle of a pretty good flash of fire and black smoke.
The sequence was a bit off but not too bad. Darryl’s Devil at the
Crowley’s was better. I forgot the brimstone.

Doris and Maggie changed into Scarecrow and the
Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked Witch ran around tossing balls
of fire from her broomstick at poor Scarecrow. I shifted to
Dorothy, created a bucket of water, and that was the end of the
Wicked Witch of the West.

So far we’re able to do everything the Merry
Jesters do except materialize objects and ourselves from the Shadow
World into the solid world. No problem. The greater the desire the
more solid the creation becomes in the physical world.

Nothing seems to harm our materialized Shadows,
but the more materialized they become the more we experience
pleasure and pain. The feelings can be turned off by using the
usual desire. Shadows can also feel pleasure and pain but not
nearly as much, and can also be turned off and on.

Late in the afternoon Maggie found her Shadow
can glide above the floor, so tomorrow we go flying. I wonder how
far we can fly and still get back to our bodies. And what happens
if the Holy Warriors of God from Walton come by and give our empty
bodies the Squeeze. We dead.

Hell of a lot better than dying a sad,
lingering death, strapped to a hospital bed with steel needles and
plastic tubes sticking into what used to be human.

CHAPTER 43

Well, Johnny didn’t get the message. He went
clamming again and served his culinary masterpiece for breakfast.
We rebelled. It was his feelings or our stomachs. His feelings
lost.

We went Shadow and out to the lake for flying
lessons. A little jerky at first but smoothed out and by afternoon
we were playing tag in the sky.

I wonder how fast I can fly, so I chased a jet
circling Sarasota-Bradenton International. No problem. I perched on
the wing and watched downtown Sarasota go by.

You should try it.

Wonderful view.

Then my evil brain created a leprechaun in
the Shadow World and began to materialize it on the wing. One of
the passengers saw it, and soon there were many faces peering out
the windows. He waved politely, but then became too materialized
and was swept off the wing.

__________________

The next morning the Herald Tribune had a short
report on the bottom of page 1.

GREMLINS ON FLIGHT 241

Yesterday, passengers on Flight 241 from
Atlanta, on its final approach to the Sarasota-Bradenton
International Airport, report seeing an object on the wing of the
plane. A World War II veteran said it reminded him of the pictures
of Gremlins, mischievous elves supposedly infesting military planes
of that era.

The captain of the flight was contacted. She
said air turbulence, window distortion, and sun glare are the usual
explanation for such occurrences.

____________________

Today we explore some more.

Doris held a Godzilla, King Kong fight. Poor
King Kong didn’t have a chance.

I had Socrates and Wittgenstein go at it.
Socrates’ eternal forms got demolished. What a howler as
Wittgenstein put it, trying to make a thing out of a concept, a
mere abstraction. Ludwig is not nice, not even to the great
Socrates.

Johnny played the Red Baron in his Fokker
Triplane and David played Snoopy in his Sopwith Camel. The Shadow
bullets from the machine guns damaged the Shadow planes until one
or the other began that long, smoke trailing dive.

Johnny became a fish in the lake. Betty
became a squirrel running through the trees. Ralph became a rock.
Weird, but he said it was so relaxing and time moves very, very
slowly. Who knew?

____________________

In David’s lovely bedroom overlooking the lake,
in the light of the moon, with crickets chirping and owls hooting,
we undressed and went Shadow.

We felt like a couple of shy virgins looking at
each other, not knowing what to do. Then I became aware of a tiny
sexual feeling, but it was so different. My sexuality is partly
whole body but primarily centered around my nipples, behind my ears
and between my legs. The sexuality I felt was not centered
anywhere. It was sexuality itself, not a part of my body feeling
sexual.

Sexual energy began to flow between us. So many
fairy bells. So many flashes of beautiful blue and green fairies
swirling around and around us.

The sexual energy began to throb as it flowed
from me to him and him to me. The throbbing became more intense and
moved back and forth faster and faster, until, in a marvelous
explosion, our Shadows became one. It was the most profound
experience of my life.

It went on and on, and then we slowly
separated and watched the moon move across the sky.

CHAPTER 44

Back to Berkeley tomorrow for the fall
semester. I’m a senior thanks to hard work and support from Karla,
Jimmy, Mary and Dr. Crowley. It helps to have the dean of the
faculty on your side.

And then the next year I’m off to Paris with
Mary. Her mother has a large penthouse right on the Seine but I
courteously declined the invitation to stay with them. That would
seriously cramp fulfilling numerous fantasies involving
super-sensitive, super-skilled Parisian men.

A wonderful thought. Millions of very
creative humans have lived for centuries in Paris. Must be quite a
Shadow show. And I’m so attracted to Montmartre, a place of
marvelous creative frenzy in the second half of the 19th century,
on a bluff high above Paris.

____________________

No clam omelets for breakfast. Johnny would end
up in the lake if he tried to feed us that awful mess again. I got
a phone call. When I got back, I must have looked worried because
everyone stopped eating and waited.

“That was Karla. The Holy Warriors of God from
Walton bought our cover story that the Spengler group, now part of
the Crowley group, killed the Holy Warriors from Plattsburgh. They
also learned the leader of the Crowley group is the grandson of
Aleister Crowley. They are coming to Berkeley for revenge and to
cleanse the world of that evil filth. Karla has requested we be
ready. The Crowleys are no match for the Holies from Walton.”

Ralph stood up. “Are we now Karla’s assassins,
killing wherever he points his bloody hand? How do we know the
Walton group is so much worse than the Crowley’s that they deserve
to die? Do we kill so easily? Do we so easily risk our lives, and
start an endless vendetta between ourselves and all the other Holy
Warrior groups?”

“So we just watch the Holies kill the Crowleys?”
I asked.

“
Yes!
Otherwise killing goes on forever.
It has to stop! Every war, every revolution, every sanctioned
killing is always called the last, with the promise that this time
peace will come. What an awful, evil, bloody lie! We always fall
for that stirring rhetoric, and create another river of blood.”

Doris slowly stood up. “Like Ralph, I’ve been
troubled by what the Vigilantes have done over the years. Like him,
I think we made serious mistakes. But I believe protecting the
Crowleys is justified for two reasons. We killed the Holies from
Plattsburgh not the Crowleys, and Alice cares enough to risk her
life. She won’t be alone, I will be with her. Others are free to
join or not.”

They all agreed to come, including Ralph.

“Alice, don’t tell Karla we learned to activate
our Shadows.”

“I won’t. I don’t want any government to have
that kind of power.”

____________________

It’s harder and harder to leave David and the
Gang, and I can’t wait to get back to Berkeley. How’s Arlene? Maybe
Brother Timothy has a good deed and Karla a bad. I bet the Merry
Jesters of Darkness call. And what happens when Mary gets around to
stimulating the pituitary?

Maybe I’ll revisit the Hairy Women of Apollo.
There is a high probability that this time the Great God will
materialize in a great flash of light, fully aroused and needing
many females to satisfy his powerful desires. He will be truly
outstanding, but I’m a little concerned the dear ladies will not be
up to the challenge.

____________________

While waiting in Atlanta for my flight to San
Francisco the same group of Shadow passengers I saw before came
through the check point and into the boarding area. They acted so
normal, doing what they must have done just before they went down
the ramp.

I went Shadow to learn more. There was a little
Shadow girl over by the gate.

“Hi, my name is Alice. What’s yours?”

“MaryAnn. Are you going to Denver?”

“No, I’m going to San Francisco. Why are you all
alone?”

“I’m going to visit my daddy. He doesn’t live
with my mommy. I get to go visit him sometimes. I love my daddy.
Why do people get divorced?”

“I guess your mommy and daddy don’t like each
other anymore.”

“Maybe they won’t like me anymore.”

“You are a very nice little girl. They will love
you forever.”

“Time to get on the plane, MaryAnn.” A Shadow
flight attendant led her to the ramp. She turned with a big smile,
waved goodbye with her little fist, and disappeared down the
ramp.

It broke my heart, but what could I do? I
thought about replacing the Shadow worker at the check-in counter
and announcing the flight was canceled. But what would that do, the
plane crashed long ago. But that might have stopped the
reenactments. Would that be good or bad? I have no idea. I need to
ask Brother Timothy what I could have done, and the reason for this
obsessive need to relive a horrible experience.

CHAPTER 45

Arlene is getting bigger and bigger, and
eating like two starved pigs. Her doctor says all’s well. Renters
are staying and paying more, so she added 5 rooms in the attic.
With the extra rooms she was able to afford a part-time helper.
It’s a cheerful place now and attracting cheerful people. Not like
the old days, full of sullen faces and an empty TV room.

____________________

Brother Timothy waved me over as I walked though
Sather Gate. I sat on a nearby bench and went Shadow.

“Sister Alice, can you help me. There is a poor
woman who is stuck between Heaven and Hell.”

“Sure, glad to. How can I help?”

“It would be best to help now if you are free.
She is an older, devout Christian who believes deeply in the
literal interpretation of the bible. She is standing next to the
bed where she died, awaiting the appearance of the Devil and
Michael the Archangel. They will decide if she goes to Heaven or to
Hell. I will play the Devil and you Michael, and we will have a
lively battle over her soul. You will win and let her know she is
worthy.”

Wow, Michael the Archangel. How high I have
arisen! “Sure, let’s send the poor woman to Heaven.”

“Well no, let her know that a holy monk, Brother
Timothy, will soon come to guide her along the path of
righteousness.”

“Where will you take her? And where did you take
that poor girl who kept jumping off the Campanile?”

“To a resting place.”

“We will have to go into that a little more
sometime.”

“Yes we will. Let’s meet in Karla’s office.”

“Why do you always take me to his office, and
why is he never there?”