went for a ride into the universe and I think that maybe I just got lost. Every other time that I have had that out of body experience, I’ve gained consciousness in about an hour.”
Charlie stopped chewing and just looked at me. “God Dammit, woman, you are crazy.”
He spit the words out along with some of his omelet.
“Are you angry at me Charlie? You’ve always known that I’m crazy. Have I become too crazy for you?”
“No woman, its not anger, its fear; I’m afraid for you.”
Charlie wiped his mouth with his napkin and looked down at his hands. He waited.
To remove that fear and to replace it with something else, I went and insinuated myself onto his lap by straddling him and wrapping my arms around his neck. I whispered in his ear.
“Tell me you love me Charlie, please.”
He whispered back.
“I love you. I worry about you. I need you. I love you.”
“Ok, everything will be fine. Are you finished with breakfast?”
Charlie nodded. I put our lips together and we smooched. Charlie put his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me so sweetly. He kissed me several more times before he had to get or we would end up back in bed. He was a delicious part of my life.
On the front porch Charlie took me in his arms again for our parting, good bye kiss.
“Maybe you could take an extra long lunch today,” I suggested.
“Crazy woman, you are insatiable. I really like that.” Charlie said.
“See you at lunch.”
He patted me on the butt and then ran to his truck. I stood there to watch because I knew he’d jump the fence for me. Every time he jumped that fence I was impressed all over again. Charlie was a big man at 6 foot 4 inches and weighted about 280 pounds so to see him jump that fence was something special.
Tut came to chat with me while I cleaned up from breakfast.
“Charlie’s gone?” He questioned me.
“He’ll be back for lunch. Did you want to talk to him about something?” I asked.
“Crazy love.”
Tut squawked back to me using Charlie’s voice. Charlie and Tut had a good relationship because Charlie could sound just like Tut and vise versa. Crazy Love was the song that they played well together on the guitar. So Tut was saying that he wanted a little guitar time.
Tut continued to follow me around while I made short work of the rest of the chores that took up my morning. Those chores included house hold work as well as the work needed for the designs I was developing.
At 11 o’clock Tut went to the guest room for his morning nap and I went to the garden. Carrying my produce basket and a tall glass of iced tea, I sat for a moment at the table. The day was warm but not too warm. Breathing deeply I took in all the love that my garden was dishing out to me by way of new clean oxygen and our unique communication.
Were they concerned for me? On a general basis I’d say they were always concerned for me. We had a strong bond that garden and me. Through that bond I would know if there was true danger in my experiments with universal travel; I was just sure of it.
Sipping my tea and feeling content, I watched as Ricky’s particles started their inviting dance again.
“Not today, I need to speak to Michael before I do that again, but keep inviting me, please.”
I gathered the produce for our noon meal and sang a song to my rooted friends before we parted. I sang because they liked it; plus I sounded fabulous and I liked it, too.
‘I’ve got the world on a string
I’m sitting on a rainbow
Got that string around my finger
What a world, what a life - I’m in love
I’ve got a song that I sing
And I can make the rain go
Any time I move my finger
Lucky me, cant you see - I’m in love
Life’s a wonderful thing
As long as I’ve got that string
I’d be a silly so-and-so
If I should ever let you go
I’ve got the world on a string
I’m sitting on the rainbow
I’ve got that string around my finger
Oh, what a world, what a life - I’m in love’
When Charlie got home, lunch was ready. He came into the house carrying his beautiful smile and a need to kiss me. But first he went to clean up and then came to me for a proper hello and the yummy food he knew would be waiting for him.
“Oh my God, my favorite.”
Charlie practically giggled at the sight of the special garlic mushroom burger and salad, no fries. I’d also poured him a glass of iced tea.
We enjoyed our meal and I had the benefit of hearing all of the sounds of appreciation that Charlie moaned over the burger.
“You are too good to me woman.” Charlie said as he hugged me to him.
“Ditto lover,” I said.
“Helen, looking at the calendar, you’ve marked that you’re going to London next week. Is that still on?”
“Yeah, it’s a song writing week.”
When I said it, I had a flash.
“Charlie, would you like to go with me to London?”
“Maybe sometime, but not next week; I got a project and can’t leave for awhile.”
“Charlie, I just thought about how nice it would be to travel with you. You could meet Wyatt and we could just play and sight-see together.”
“Your friends Michael and Lu don’t like me.”
Charlie knew that Michael and Lu still held a grudge because of the way we met. Charlie was my kidnapper. There was no ransom or anything like that because money had nothing to do with it. Charlie was only trying to protect his sister Amanda. Since then Charlie saved my life by throwing himself in front of me when someone tried to kill me and nearly lost his own life in that effort to protect me.
“We don’t have to stay with them. Charlie, we got options.”
I snuggled in close and hugged him to me.
“We could have adventures together.”
“I like the adventures we already have.”
Charlie said as he brought his lips to mine.
“I gotta go.”
That afternoon I called Michael.
“Hey Baby, I was just thinking of calling you. What’s up?” Michael answered.
As soon as he answered the phone I felt the reconnect reaching out to me and bringing me, at first an intense and taboo longing that always took my breath away then surrounded me with the most glorious softness and peace.
“Oh sweet reconnect, thank you.”
I took the second to recognize the goodness that our connection brought to me, even through the telephone.
“Hi Baby, I’m calling because I saw on my calendar that we have a session planned for next week. Is it still on?”
“Yeah, we gotta stick to the schedule we set or things get too screwed up.”
I appreciated that about Michael. He was ever punctual and