The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival (35 page)

She lightly kissed the back of his neck and
rubbed his shoulders and pressed her body against him. “Excellent.
Let me know whenever you’re ready. I’ll be on the patio.”

The bathroom door was open slightly. Matt
knocked. “Hey, Amy? You alright?”

“No.” she groaned.

Dana opened the door. Amy was on the floor
next to the toilet. Her nose and the side of her face were crusted
with snot. Dana knelt down, “Oh, ugh.” she put her arm in front of
her nose.

“Sorry about that smell.” Amy mumbled. “Can’t
help it.”

Dana inspected Amy and put a hand on her
chest. Dana could feel her heart racing. “Well, girl, you are
nowhere near death’s door physically, I can feel that, but man,
there’s not much
you
left.” She stood up and looked at Matt
and shrugged.

“Well?” he asked. “What’s your take?” They
stepped out into the hall.

Dana said, “I really don’t know. When I do
readings, all kinds of people stop in. Believe me, there are lots
and lots of addicts walking the streets that are otherwise normal
functioning adults. They all feel the same: nobody home in there.”
she patted his chest and left her hand there. “You, or Johnny, or
Telia, I feel a presence. With
you
, it’s really strong.”

Matt asked, “What did you do for them?”

She furrowed her brow. “Unfortunately, they
are really hard to reach and pull back. I did work with a college
girl who was an Adderall tweaker. It was like she had to work her
way out of a maze, and eventually she did. But, she was
really
intelligent.”

“Alright, so I guess it really depends on
her. We can try to help, but maybe not expect much.”

Dana nodded, “seems about right. Anyway, good
luck.”

Dana grabbed a couple pieces of now cold
toast and walked out toward the Flying Fox. Telia was on the patio,
stretched out luxuriously on a lounge chair.

“Dana!” she called out.

Dana stopped in her tracks. She rolled her
eyes, then turned around. “Yeah?”

“Oh come here, girl!” she beckoned.

Dana took a bite of the toast and walked over
to the patio. Telia was stretched to her full length on the lounge
chair. She was wearing a light weight T-shirt that hugged her
curves and some light weight white linen pants. She shifted
languidly onto her side and patted the lounger.

Dana sat down. Telia rubbed her back and
said, “I am in the mood to do some clothes shopping today. I know
it’s not your normal thing, but I think it would be really fun for
us to go together. I’ve always liked your style. Maybe you can help
me try something new. A real change of pace.”

Dana laughed, “You mean hipster pin-up girl
with practical shoes?” She put her arm on Telia and kicked one leg
in the air, striking a pose.

Telia laughed and Dana put her hand on
Telia’s chest and looked at her. Telia smiled slyly, “Aren’t you at
least going to pinch my nipple?”

Dana laughed. “Tee, you sure turned over a
new leaf! Why don’t we go this afternoon?”

“OK. It’ll be fun!” Telia said.

Dana continued on to the Flying Fox. Johnny
was on the computer answering some emails. She kissed his head.
“Hey, I’m going shopping with Telia later, she likes my style,
now.” she chuckled.

“I thought you didn’t get along?” He said.
“Is she always like this? I mean, extremely, well, what’s the word,
aggressively affectionate?”

“As long as I’ve known her, she’s been really
square, I mean totally constrained. Maybe we finally rubbed off on
her.” Dana smiled.

“Well, she almost rubbed off on my back this
morning.” he laughed.

“Oh reaaalllly, whatever do you mean?” she
asked coyly and wrapped her arms around his head and pressed her
womanhood against him.

He laughed, “a little like that, but not that
much.”

“Maybe she just likes your man stank.” She
inhaled.

Telia walked slowly around the reflector
while Johnny booted up the computer and powered up the control
electronics. The quiet warehouse hummed with the sound of cooling
fans. He kept a wary eye on her. Telia had dropped all boundaries
she had with him previously and he still wasn’t sure how to
respond.

She made her way around and stood behind him,
“hey can you show me how to do all this myself?” she gestured at
the controller.

“Oh sure, it’s really easy. I’ll walk you
through the steps.” he shut the systems down.

“Really, all you need to do is power up this
panel,” he flipped a switch on the controller, which was mounted in
a tall narrow rack. “Wait a few seconds until this light turns
green.” He pointed at the light. It changed color from yellow to
green. “Then power up the computer. It’ll start the right program
automatically.”

She nodded. He plopped down in the chair by
the computer. He pointed at a notepad on the right of the computer
and said, “These are the coordinates.”

She sat on his lap and said, “let me see.
Then put them in here?” She typed in the terminal tower
coordinates.

“Yep. Click on the ‘GO’ icon. Then the system
will point the reflector. It’s that easy.”

She clicked the mouse button and the gimbals
swung the reflector and chair around.

“I feel something else pointing.” She laughed
and wriggled her butt. She put her arm around his shoulders. “I’m
going to go over now.” she took a swig of the peyote tea. “It’s an
acquired taste.” she kissed him on the lips.

“Ugh, yeah.” he wiped it off. “Hey, by the
way Telia, I really
like
your openness, but I’m not sure
what it means. I’m not too swift when it comes to these
things.”

She pointed at the reflector. “Did anything
ever happen to you that completely changed your perspective, that
totally rendered your prior beliefs ridiculous?”

He nodded. “Yes. Really that’s why I’m
here.”

“Going over there makes everything
here
seem so extremely real and beautiful. I can barely
stand it.” she embraced him with all her strength. He squeezed
her.

She climbed up into the chair. “See you
soon!” she waved at him in a few moments she connected to the other
side.

Robbie called Matt, “I got your text about
Amy. I know a guy in Phoenix that does an intensive addiction
recovery program. Does stuff with psychedelics and meditation, but
that’s about all I know.”

Matt sighed, “She’s a wreck right now. It’s
hard to imagine a cross country trip in that condition. She’s
basically living in the bathroom.”

Robbie grunted. He scratched his head and
asked the question that puzzled him since he got the text. “How did
this happen? What’s your connection to this girl?”

“I really don’t know how it did. She seemed
completely lost when I met her, and I thought we could help her
out. I mean, that’s what we do, right?”

“I can’t argue with that.” Robbie said. “So
have you put the work with the reflector on hold?”

“I’m taking a little break. I hit a mental
roadblock on it, but Johnny is refining the thing and Telia’s been
helping him out.”

“Really? Telia helping. That’s great!” he
laughed. “Is she building the thing? It’s hard to imagine her
wrenching on a project.”

Matt laughed, “yeah, I guess she was actually
really good at it. She’s also made a couple of trips to the other
side.”

Robbie frowned, “You think that’s wise? We
really don’t know what might happen, Matt. She’s totally new to
this world. She hasn’t seen what we’ve seen.”

Matt was quiet for a few moments. “Who am I
to prevent her from trying it? I think it’s OK, anyway. It’s been a
life changing experience for her.”

Robbie sighed, “I guess you’re right. I’m
going to head back home tonight. David’s going to stay out here,
but I need a break from the road. Is there room?”

“Oh yeah, plenty. Johnny and Dana stay out in
their tour bus.”

When Telia arrived on the shore, the scene
was almost as vivid as real life. The gray sky was now a dark blue
and high wispy clouds rolled by. She imagined the computer screen
back in the warehouse, and she saw a ghostly image of the room and
saw Johnny sitting there making notes.

“Johnny, you should shave your beard.” she
thought. She tried to run a hand through his beard, but it was like
touching vapor.

“Hallooo.” She heard voice call her. She
returned her attention to the caller. It was Louis and Samantha.
She embraced them both and held onto Samantha’s hand.

“You seem different!” Samantha said.

“People keep telling me that.” She
smiled.

Louis held his arms out and breathed deep.
“Oh, you bring that breeze. It is wonderful.”

Telia asked, “You mean it’s not like this all
the time?”

“No, you bring this with you. Usually it is
very dim and dull.” Samantha said. She stroked Telia’s arm, then
pulled her close. “Let’s go back toward the city. We have some
plans to talk about.”

The walk to what they called the city seemed
much shorter than last time. There were a few houses with walls of
white stacked stones that were built into the hillside.

Louis sat on a rock and invited Telia to sit.
Samantha sat next to her.

“We think your machine could help it be like
this all the time here. It would heal this land, which is so sick.”
Louis said.

Samantha hugged her, the touch was electric
again, “If we heal this place, we heal your world, too.”

Telia’s face became serious. “We do have
plans to make another one. I’m not sure what it will take…”

“Money?” Louis asked.

“That’s part of it. We usually don’t need any
money to do these projects, but it makes it much easier.” She
said.

Samantha chuckled, “Oh dear thing, money’s no
problem.” She stroked Telia’s thigh.

Louis laughed and nodded and held his two
fingers close together. “Tiny problem. Money is as fake as this
place!”

Samantha asked, “Do you remember that trick
with the crow?”

Telia nodded and smiled, “I tried something
else today. I could
see
into the other world. I tried
sending a thought to my friend. When I get back, I’ll see if it
worked.”

Samantha’s eyes grew large, “Oh my goodness!
You are a truly amazing woman.” She kissed Telia on the lips.
Samantha’s lips were warm and soft. Telia felt a soft surge through
her whole body, like she’d been suddenly immersed in a tub of warm
honey. “You are halfway there.”

Louis held Samantha’s hand, and Samantha held
Telia’s. He said, “A lesson, If I pull Sam’s arm, does she not pull
yours?” He leaned over and pulled Samantha and she leaned over and
pulled Telia.

Samantha said, “In terms of
connections
, your world is actually very small. You could be
a queen of influence, see?”

Telia nodded. “I do understand that.”

Louis said, “So really, there is no problem,
right? Especially if you have any wealthy friends already.”

“I actually do.” Telia nodded. She thought
about the parents at Tweedy Pines.

Samantha and Louis both smiled.

“Maybe next time you come, you should bring
such a friend? It couldn’t hurt. We can’t see where the road leads
until we start down it.” Samantha looked deep into her eyes.
Samantha stroked Telia’s hair, then kissed her again.

Telia regained normal consciousness. She felt
a strong, lingering, sensual energy like she’d been the object of
hours of foreplay. She could almost taste the sensation. She held
up her hand to see if she was in the real world. She climbed down
the ladder.

“Oh my god…” she said. Her pupils were
dilated and she was flushed and sweating lightly. “It was
more
intense than last time.”

“I guess it all goes on up there.” he pointed
at her head. “Your heart rate and breathing were normal until the
very end, then shot up. Then you woke back up.”

“How long was I over there?” she asked.

“Just like five minutes. Actually 5:45.” he
looked at his notes.

“It seemed like an hour, at least. Whew! That
time it was like I closed my eyes and was somewhere else, it was
like real life.”

Johnny smiled. “I think we’re perfecting this
technology and the technique.” He scratched his beard.

“Is that thing bothering you?” She ran her
hand over his beard.

“I’ve been farming this thing for about a
year, now. It is really scratchy this afternoon. Maybe it’s time
for it to go.”

She smiled impishly. “Maybe it is...”

Matt spent part of the morning in the library
researching opiate addiction and part of the day playing nurse to
Amy. She could keep a dilute sports drink down for a while, but
couldn’t eat anything. They were keeping the washing machine
running continuously. He feared he’d probably have to take her to
the hospital, she was getting so weak she could barely stand
up.