Crazy Nights - Chapter 2
Same disclaimers as Prologue apply.
Chapter Two
“That sounds great, Peter,” Paul said into his phone. “I’d love to go over to your place for a barbeque on Sunday. But I can’t speak for Gene. I doubt he’ll have the time.”
“It’s Sunday!” Peter exclaimed. “Surely he sets one day a week aside to plant himself in front of the television.”
Paul managed a laugh. “If he didn’t have appointments on Sunday, do you really think you stand a chance to get Gene away from the television?”
“I can entice him with enough sweets if that was the problem,” Peter replied with a snicker.
“Thank you,” Paul remarked heartfelt. “So you do see a problem.”
“I’m thinking it’s a problem if it’s worrying you. So what is with Gene lately?”
“He’s burying himself in work, and I hate to think it could be literal one day. But between you and me, as much as we know Gene loves to keep busy and come up with new ways to make money, this time I think he’s trying to forget something. Something is bothering him, and I’ll be damned if I can get it out of him. Whatever it is, it’s eating him up inside and he’s responding the only way he knows how. If he was a drinking man, I should suppose I’d have worse problems than scheduling in some down time with him.”
Peter let out a short laugh. “Things to be thankful for. If he’s doing what he’s doing to himself now, I’d hate to think what he’d be like with drink if that was his way. Anyway, I’m going to take your enthusiasm to my invitation as a yes, whether Gene comes or not.”
“Count on it,” Paul agreed. “I’ll ask him, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m amazed I was able to get him to drop plans to take some fans out tonight.”
“Fans? They must be special fans if you’re taking them out.”
“It’s Stephanie and Gena. We ran into them before our photo shoot today. And met two lovely friends of theirs who just came into LA today from Brazil for a vacation.”
“At least some people are taking vacations,” Peter snorted. “Hey, just in case Gene will say no, do you mind if I join tonight? Or would that be a problem?”
“No,” Paul agreed. “I think that’s a great idea. The girls would love it being out with three-fourths of the original KISS. And maybe you might have better luck face to face convincing Gene to join us for the barbeque on Sunday. When can you head on this way?”
“I’m only in Santa Ana,” Peter remarked. “Give me an hour and I’ll be on the road to your house.”
“Great. Hey, have you heard from Ace lately?”
“Funny you should mention him,” Peter replied annoyed. “He woke me up the other night saying he saw a UFO. I don’t think he’s so happy with me right now, because I hung up on him. I tried to call him earlier today, but he was short and told me he had things to do and hung up on me. He hasn’t answered his phone since.”
Paul laughed. “I can only imagine what Ace having things to do means.”
“Hopefully planning more on what he wants to do on our joint tour later this year.”
“You guys play LA, I better be on the list,” Paul said, smiling. “I’m glad to see the two of you on the road together. That would be great to see. Gene tried working something out with Ace a couple of times, trying to get Frehley’s Comet on the bill, but things didn’t work out.”
“You mean more like Gene and Ace didn’t work out,” Peter corrected.
“What else? I swear one moment they are all buddy buddy acting like nothing happened between them, and the next they are at each others’ throats. But Gene refuses to give up on whatever friendship there could be between them, not matter how bad things get. Or even how much shit he talks about Ace.”
“Gene talks shit about Ace, and me, in an attempt to prompt us into action to prove him wrong. He still hasn’t learned the only action that will be prompted that way will be getting his ass kicked. But he’s been quiet about me, and we even had some pleasant phone calls in the last few months. And he doesn’t wake me up in the middle of the night with strange sightings.”
“If he did, it’ll be something we’d want to hear about,” Paul laughed. “’Cause you know it’d involve a female.”
“Definitely. But no, I get awakened by Ace and his UFOs. Anyway, I miss you guys, which is why I was thinking about this barbeque.”
“I’d love it. We can plan more later on the way to meet the girls.”
“Cool. I’ll see you later, Paul.”
“Bye Peter.” Paul hung up the phone and continued his way through his house. The phone just started to ring after he entered the house. He looked forward to seeing Peter again, and knew the girls would love the chance to have Peter along. In the meantime, Paul decided to go back to planning the vacation he was forcing on Gene.
** ** ** **
Gene got out of the shower and put on his robe, going to his closet to find something comfortable to wear around the house until it was time to get ready for dinner with the girls. Dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a gray cut-up shirt, Gene wandered around the house.
As hard as he tried, he could not put the incident from the day before out of his mind. It was not so much the fact of how close he came to being in that pile-up had he not slowed down and managed to pull over. He tried convincing himself the reason why it bothered him so much was because it was a stupid stunt he pulled of the caliber he was not known for. 95 mph on the 101 freeway, he reflected. Indeed he was losing every ounce of common sense he ever had. He supposed he should sit down and ponder why he was suddenly doing all these crazy things, some of which could not only harm him, but harm someone else. He thought about doing just that, so when he figured out the reason, he could stop it.
He let out a sigh. It was not that easy, he realized. The truth was, when he allowed himself to think about it, why he had suddenly slowed down and what made him pull over. From the shoulder, he watched the truck, already knowing what it would do and what some of the other cars would do. The red Caddy was exactly in the place he should have been and he knew the car in the other lane was going to slam into it.
He knew and he could not do a thing to stop all the injuries and the two deaths from happening. It shook him to be so helpless. Yet that was not the actual reason it bothered him.
He did not dare explore that area yet. He needed distraction, someone to talk to. Someone to maybe tell what really happened to him, and hopefully to make him laugh. It could not be Paul. His friend was already concerned he was going off the deep end. Telling Paul the truth would only make him more worried than he was. He needed someone who would not question his sanity, someone who would listen to him. Someone whose mind was open to the bizarre and unexplained. Suddenly he had an urge to call someone he had not spoken to in a long time. He found himself picking up the phone and dialing a number he hoped he remembered without looking it up.
** ** **
Ace let out a growl of annoyance, as he turned to give the ringing phone a dirty stare. He was currently balancing a book, a bottle of water and a notebook and about to sit at his desk by his computer. Thinking it was Peter again, Ace debated for a couple of rings if he was ready to allow Peter to apologize. Making his decision, Ace dropped his armload onto the desk to answer the phone.
It was not who he expected.
“Hi Ace,” he heard Gene’s voice. “How are you doing?”
“Uh…Gene?” At the grunt of acknowledgement through the phone, he replied, “I’m fine. You?”
“Doing okay, though people are telling me I’ve been better.” He heard Gene let out a snort.
“Everything okay?” Ace asked.
Ace caught Gene’s hesitation. “I’m not so sure anymore,” Gene admitted. “I just felt like talking to someone and since we haven’t spoken in a few months, I thought why not. If you’re busy, I can call back at a better time.”
Ace sat down. “What do you want?”
He had a feeling that Gene was up to something. As the hesitation on the other side stretched, Ace wondered if there really was something wrong.
** ** **
Gene stood holding the phone, feeling like an idiot. What am I doing? He thought. “I just wanted to catch up on things,” he found himself saying and was thankful when Ace launched into his plans to tour with Peter. He let Ace talk on, sensing Ace’s excitement, until the other finally fell quiet.
“Sounds like you have it all together,” Gene said into the silence. “Good for you.”
Ace let out a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, I guess.”
“You guess? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing serious, I suppose,” Ace replied. “I’m sure we’ll have it worked out by then.”
“Have what worked out?” Gene asked, confused by the sudden change in Ace.
“He already tried calling me several times since,” Ace mumbled to himself.
“Ace, you’re starting to babble again. You and Peter have a falling out?”
“Not really. I pissed him off last night and he hung up on me. But he called me several times already. And I’ve been being stubborn and stupid by hanging up on him because he hurt my feelings.”
“You pissed Peter off to the point of him hanging up on you, but he hurt your feelings?”
“Yeah.”
Gene waited for further comment and when it wasn’t coming, he carefully asked, “How did he do that?”
“Uh…”
Gene picked up the hesitation and started to grin. This was why he needed to call Ace. The man would drive Gene right up a wall at times, but others he always managed to make him laugh. “What did it look like this time?” Gene ventured a guess on what had happened the night before.
“What did what?” Ace asked absently.
Gene bit his lip to keep from laughing. Doing his best to sound serious, he stated, “The UFO.”
He got the response he hoped for. Ace launched into a description. “It was right here, Gene. Hovering over my back yard. I was getting some water from the fridge and glanced out my back door, and there it was, plain as day. It was almost Pleiadian in style, but with more curves than angles. Lots of flashing lights and windows - portals…whatever they call them on spaceships. And it was there over my yard.”
Gene shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he heard about the Pleiadians from Ace. At least Ace talked about others who claim to channel Pleiadian mentors, instead of claiming to be able to channel one himself. The style of the ship was also familiar to Gene. Once Ace drew a sketch for him of what Pleiadian ships supposedly looked like. Gene liked the design enough that he used the general form in several sketches of his own. This was reality they were discussing now, not some sci-fi story. Still, Gene found it fun to go along with it for a while longer. “How close was it?” he asked, then bit the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing.
“It almost landed - it would have, if not for the pool,” came Ace’s response.
Gene was thankful they were speaking on the phone and not face to face. He was finding it hard to sound serious, forget the straight face. “You mean it can’t float on water?” Gene asked innocently. Then a chuckle slipped out.
“Damn you, Simmons! I should have known you were not taking me seriously,” Ace growled.
Gene choked on a fit of laughter, knowing if he let it go, he would not be able to say what he wanted - or anything else. “I would,” he managed to say deadpan, “if only you could answer one question I’ve always wondered about.”
“What’s that?” Ace asked suspiciously.
“Whatever did you do back on Jendell that they are sending spaceships after you?” Gene replied smoothly.
“Wha…?!!!”
At Ace’s indignant sputter, Gene lost it, and fell into hysterics.
“I knew it. You don’t believe me.”
“Oh… I-I believe you’re from another planet,” Gene choked out in laughter. “That’s the only way to explain….”
Suddenly he felt the world shift like it had back in the car the other day. “Oh no….” he mumbled in panic, not realizing he did so aloud.
“Huh? Gene, what’s going on….”
Gene barely heard Ace’s voice and it seemed to come from a distance. Next thing he knew, he was in Ace’s yard. He had just stepped out the back door from the kitchen. Someone was standing close to him, but he could not make out who. Cautiously his eyes took in the yard, noticed some uprooted shrubs and the strange scorch marks on some shrubs, the shrubs in half. There were signs of a struggle from the marks on the ground and the upturned patches of grass. He looked everywhere but at the pool. There was a stench in the air that he was able to partially identify. Sulfer, and something alien to his senses. Beyond the pool the ground was seared, almost looking like a pattern to Gene’s eyes. Not wanting to look too closely at what it could be, he finally looked at the pool. He let out a strangled cry. The person with him started to throw up.
Ace’s shredded body was alongside the pool, limbs missing. Next to his body, half in the pool and half out was the remains of his longtime live-in girlfriend.
“ACE!!!” he cried out as he fell to his knees, about to throw up himself. He wanted to turn away, cover his eyes from the sight, but he found he was frozen with horror.
“Gene!” he heard as he felt the world shift on him again. He found himself on his knees, the receiver on the floor and Ace’s frantic voice asking if he was all right.
He picked up the receiver with shaky hands. “I’m okay,” he managed. But will Ace? he thought. Quickly, he mentally went over his schedule for the next week. Tuesday and Wednesday he was going to be in New York City. He considered renting a car and going to see Ace in between his schedule, since it was not so heavily booked.
“You gotta get away from there,” he stammered.
He heard silence for a few minutes, then Ace said in a puzzled tone, trying for normal, but not succeeding, “If the UFO wanted me, Gene, they could have had me last night.”
Gene realized Ace was reaching for humor while trying to make sense out of his sudden bizarre behavior. Oh great. This is more serious than I thought, because now I have Ace probably thinking I’m losing it. Trying to grasp for something sensible, he cringed inward when he heard his reply. “No,” he blurted out. “Not yet.”
“Not yet? Gene, stop that shit right now. It’s not funny.”
“No it isn’t,” Gene agreed. “It probably won’t be extraterrestrials….” His mind pictured the strange scorched areas where Ace’s arms should have been, whatever remained of his clothes seared, and those neat incisions dissecting his body in places. Then there was that smell. Not human murder…. Gene shook his head to clear them of the mutinous thoughts. “Ace,” he tried, hoping to start sounding sane to the other man. Hell, he’d be happy to start sounding sane to himself. And he thought telling Ace about what happened the day before was going to be weird. What will kill Ace and Astroel? Gene thought, all too aware that Ace was holding his breath, waiting for Gene to continue. Most probably at this point, Ace was hoping for the punch line, knowing Ace.
Gene did not acknowledge how he could know, but he did accept that he knew Ace and Astroel were going to be killed - on Tuesday or Wednesday. “Maybe you and Astroel should take a vacation next week,” he blurted out.
“Ummm…. I’m trying to follow you, Gene, but you lost me.” Ace was sounding genuinely confused.
Oddly, in Gene’s dementia - what else can he explain it as? - he found a strange satisfaction in finally being the one to boggle Ace’s mind with strangeness. “Vacation,” Gene repeated. “Next week. Out here, in California. We can come up with a way to get back at Peter for laughing at you.”
“And you too?” Ace asked cautiously. “Can I get back at you?”
“Maybe….” Gene said hesitantly, “you saw something and having no idea what it was, that qualifies it as an unidentified flying objects. I’ve seen a few of those myself, and turned out to be military aircraft.”
“You believe that?” Ace laughed, as if Gene was the one taken with flights of fancy. “It was a spaceship, Gene. I’m serious.”
“Fine. It was a spaceship. I’m not laughing. Okay?” Suddenly Gene did not feel like teasing Ace, even if he could not share his enthusiasm. Still, there was something lingering on the edge of his mind. The marks on the ground, the smell in Ace’s backyard. I’m looking too much into it, Gene reasoned. Considering what they were talking about, while Gene was certain it had happened to him again, he figured some of conversation found its way into his vision. If he could not get Ace away from there, he knew he’d find Ace dead. But he doubted it would be exactly as Gene saw it minutes ago.
“Right.” Ace didn’t sound convinced, and seemed to still be waiting for Gene’s punch line.
“Ace, lemme tell you what happened to me yesterday.”
“You saw something,” Ace replied doubtfully.
“Not an UFO, but yeah, I guess you could say that I saw something. I saw my death. I was on the freeway and suddenly this truck has a blowout and skids across the freeway and in my way. I’m going too fast and trying to avoid it, I swerve into another car and it sent me flying into the truck. Total accordion. I was wearing my seat belt and my head still went through the windshield.” Gene knew he was babbling, but he wanted to get it out before either he lost his nerve or Ace cut him off. “I was killed on the spot.”
Ace let out a snort. “You sound pretty good for a dead guy,” he replied nervously.
“Listen to me, okay. Next thing I know, I’m back where I was, about a few seconds before it all happened. So I slowed down and changed lanes, then pulled into the shoulder. The car that was behind me went into my spot and suddenly the same truck has a blow out. I watched it all happen, knew what was going to happen. Only it was that poor guy behind me because I took myself off the road in time to avoid everything. But if I didn’t, and kept the speed I was going, I know that would have been me.”
“You’re saying you had a premonition?” Ace asked slowly, sounding half in shock, half suspicious.
“I don’t know. Maybe. But I knew ahead of time. And stopped myself. I wish I could have been able to do the same for that poor other guy. He was killed on impact.”
“I understand you, I think. But why….” Ace stopped, then asked, “Gene, what did you just see now?”
Gene shivered. Somehow he knew Ace was intuitive enough to catch on where he was leading. Not exactly how he wanted to tell Ace what had happened if he decided to tell him. “Just get away from there and take Astroel. Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m not sure which day it happens. But I’m supposed to be in New York those days. I’m canceling my trip. Paul’s been trying to get me to take a vacation. I was thinking of using my New York trip as a vacation of sorts. I don’t have much to do, and thought about hanging out with you for some of the time. But now… Monday night we’ll be on our way to...” inspiration struck him, “Mt. Shasta. If there’s any UFO’s to be seen for you to prove they exist to us, it’ll be there.”
“I… Gene, I can’t take a vacation next week. I have too much lined up - interviews, photo shoots. Astroel worked hard to get it all lined up for me. There’s no way I can clear next week.”
“Reschedule them. At least you’ll be alive to reschedule.”
“You realize what you - YOU! - are telling me?” Ace sounded flabbergasted.
“Yes,” Gene replied emphatically. “I do. So you know this is important. Drop everything and get out here. Maybe we can go to Santa Ana and nab Peter and bring him along.”
“What happens to me?” Ace insisted.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Gene…” Ace warned.
“I already told you. You want to be alive the end of next week, get away from there. Both you and Astroel.”
Ace let out a sigh. “Okay. I promise I won’t be here on Tuesday or Wednesday. I’ll stay in the city.”
“The further, the better,” Gene insisted.
“I can’t…”
Gene let out a frustrated moan. “Ace. I couldn’t save the guy on the freeway. Give me this. Please.”
“I’ll think about it. That’s the best I can promise you. Give me confirmed plans of where and how and maybe I’ll say yes.”
Gene nodded, his mind in motion. His eyes on his computer in the corner of the room, he had an idea. Most of the rambling on one of those Usenet mailing lists were fiction anyway. What was one more email of the type? “Okay. In the city is a definite and maybe going on a UFO watching trek on Mt. Shasta.”
“Fine,” Ace sighed. “Damn, you know I hate it when you get weird on me.”
“Don’t forget Astroel too.”
“Yes, Gene. Astroel too. I’ll take her to the city with me. And you’ll be lucky if I come up with an excuse rather than tell her the truth.
“Tell her whatever you want, even the truth, just as long as both of you are away from that house.”
“Gene, if this is a joke, now is the time to pull the punch line. Because you’re scaring me now.”
“So long as you’re not scared for me, but for yourself and Astroel. I’ll call you tomorrow when I have better plans.”
“Okay. Gene, do me a favor now please. You have me really freaked out here.”
“Good. Then you’ll listen.”
“I will. But just one thing. Tell me you don’t believe in UFOs.”
Gene managed a laugh. “I don’t believe in UFOs.”
“Serious.”
“Dead. No pun intended.”
Ace sighed. “Thank you. I’ll talk to you soon, Gene.”
“Bye Ace.”
When Ace hung up, Gene realized he was still on the floor. He stood up and went to the bathroom to pour some cold water over his suddenly sweaty skin.
What’s happening to me?
** ** ** **
Ace hung up the phone with a frown. Now that was strange, he thought. He continued to frown as his eyes went from his book to his computer monitor. Absently he took a drink from his bottle of water, trying to puzzle out what exactly happened during that phone call.
Gene going to Mt. Shasta to go UFO watching. He shook his head. Despite his frustration, Ace had to laugh at the notion. Gene only said those things to convince him to go running around the mountains in California. That was not funny. He was not too sure if he really wanted to go to some mountain resort with Gene and Paul. Getting together for a few hours here and there was fine, but to be stuck with them for days, Ace was not sure he would survive.
Gene seemed desperate enough to get him away from the house. He would give Gene that much. Most of what he had planned on those days were in New York City, so it would make more sense to stay there, rather than go back and forth. He might even hit up a few clubs and check out the new bands.
Do something nice with Astroel, he thought, finally smiling. She had put up with so much for so long and never stopped believing in him. She was there for him every step of the way when he decided to clean up his life - again. He thought he would take her out for a special night in style.
He took a deep breath. Damn Gene got him all tense now. It was unnerving. If Gene was serious, and the more Ace thought about it the more he believed Gene, then Gene had some premonition of his death. Of Astroel’s. Even if this was some elaborate joke Gene cooked up at the spur of the moment and used his acting skills, Ace figured it was better to be the butt of a practical joke than risk Astroel’s life, or his.
Speaking of Astroel, he wondered when she would be home. He found himself anxious to firm the plans he already had half formed since hanging up with Gene. Feeling better putting some of his plans in action, Ace made a couple of preliminary phone calls that would give them the option of staying in the city.
Deciding he did not want to wait until the next week to do something nice with Astroel, he called her cell phone and got her voicemail. “Hi sweetie. I hope you don’t stay out too late. I want us to go out somewhere tonight. I’m not sure where, but I just want us to do something together. Call me when you have a chance. Love you. Bye.”
With nothing else to do at the moment, but wait for her call, Ace settled down at his computer, deciding to make an attempt at relaxing by working on some graphics.
+ + + + +
“Hey hon,” Gene spoke into his phone, standing in his kitchen. “It’s been a while since I heard from you. I’m hoping maybe we could find some time to get together for dinner or something. I could make some time on Sunday. Well, call me back and let me know. If I don’t hear from you, I’m going to take it as….” Gene swallowed and changed his thoughts, “…that you’re too busy for not only getting together on Sunday, but to call me back. Bye. I love you.”
He hung up the phone after leaving his message, feeling the fool. This was not like him, he said, sitting at the kitchen table and picking up the remote control to the television in the kitchen. Without seeing what flickered on the screen, he changed channels absently, his thoughts on the woman he just left a message for. What was it about her that attracted him so strongly? He had to correct one of his earlier thoughts. In the last few years, playing the fool to Samantha Samuels’ whims was just like him. There was something about her… if only he could figure out what, perhaps he could finally end things between them once and for all and move on with his life. He dropped the remote, realizing he did not want things to end. He was only fooling himself further convincing himself he wanted to end things. He stood up and slowly walked through the empty house, becoming lost in his thoughts. The house was too silent to Gene. The staff had the day off; no maid cleaning, no gardener working on the landscape, no pool maintenance to clean the pool. He realized in the last few weeks, more and more he was giving them days off, telling himself he did not want to deal with them around.
He let out a snort. As if he was home enough to notice them. Funny how now that they were not there, he noticed the lack of them. He noted the clutter in the room, not taking the time to clean up after himself and realized he had not had the house cleaned in over a week. He walked through the ornate French doors from the living room onto the patio that overlooked his land to that side of the house. Walking around the house, he dropped into a lounge chair that was poolside. The pool was covered since it had not been used in so long.
The house seemed so empty, he thought again, staring out at the tarp stretched across the pool. It did not seem natural, as if he was missing something. In the last few days, he thought he heard echoes of voices in the house. Of a woman calling them to dinner, of children playing. Of his own happy laughter of a family life.
A family life? Gene thought with a frown. He was not a family man. He could not settle down enough to have a relationship that could lead to a family. He had no intentions of becoming a father. Not even with Sammi. That was one thought that never occurred to him in all the years he had known her. So why was he imagining such things?
You’re working yourself too hard, Simmons, he told himself. Paul’s right, you know. Slowing down a bit does not mean sitting around and doing nothing all day. He shook his head. Like you’re doing right now. Sitting here doing nothing more important than talking to yourself.
Hah!
Paul warned him to start clearing his calendar starting the week after this one. He was still not set on where, but he intended they were leaving a week from this Saturday for a vacation. He hoped Paul did not find anything and confirm before he had a chance to speak to him later that night. Paul would think him crazy for wanting to go where he would say they are going, but Paul was already thinking he was slightly unhinged. Gene did know that was the only place he could entice Ace enough to convince him to get as far from New York as he could. Well, he thought, that or Roswell.
He wondered what Paul would say when he found out Gene’s vacation was to start that Monday. If Paul could not make it, but Ace agreed, he’d leave without Paul. Paul could join them later, if he wanted. Gene vowed he would do anything it took to save Ace and Astroel. He felt a terrible guilt whenever he thought of the poor guy driving the red Caddy, and that was a total stranger. He’d never forgive himself if he had to watch someone he knew and cared about get killed, knowing it was going to happen.
What was wrong with him?
Gene got up and wandered back into the house through the kitchen door and shook his head at the mess there. He decided to clean up a little later when he got back from dinner, and then tomorrow he’d call the staff to all come in and do their job on making this place livable again. He picked up the remote and caught himself changing channels absently again, this time standing next to the table. He turned off the TV and leaving the remote on the kitchen table, he went into his study.
He started to go through some of his notes and papers, and finally with a sigh leaned back in his chair. Start working on anything on his desk, and he’d end up not making it to dinner in time. Worse than what Paul would say to him, he decided he did not want to disappoint Gena and her friends. His original plan to spend the evening was to work through the piles on his desk and work on a few ideas. Until Paul suggested taking the women out to dinner. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he realized he could not refuse Gena. Something about the way she looked up at him, the look of her eyes and set of her mouth, he found he could not refuse her. He probably should finish canceling appointments, or looking more into where they could stay in the Mt. Shasta area. He already inquired two places, and one was a possibility. He could also send out the email he had already written, planning to send it under an email address only he knew about. His instincts told him to send it out now would be too soon. He did not want to make Ace suspicious. Later that night, before he went to bed would be the best time to send it out.
He stood up and went upstairs to his bedroom. After putting on the stereo, he picked up the book he was reading from the end table, moved aside some clothes thrown on the bed and went to sit down on the bed. As he started to read, he settled himself more comfortably and reached out with his free hand to push aside the items more, some items fell off the edge of the bed. His hand caught on something, and he lifted it for inspection. Looking at the bra, he let it drop and his head dropped onto his pillow. The book fell to the side of him, as Gene shut his eyes. There was a reason why he ended up walking around his house restless when he was home with nothing to do. Why he made sure he had as much of his waking time with something to do as possible. Why he ended up going out and using the power of his charms of being a rock star, he would manage to spend the night in the bed of one of his fans, rather than come home and sleep in his own bed.
Even after five months, he was still finding her stuff among his house. He wondered how she felt finding his at her place. That he had left items there, Gene had no doubt. For one thing, one of his favorite shirts went missing shortly after she broke up with him again. Gene still did not know why they broke up. Everything was perfect between them. They spent so much time together, had so much of their belongings at the other’s house, it only made sense to once again ask her to move in with him. Things between them seemed so different than the other times, even if those times seemed like nothing was wrong. Oh, they would have their differences and get into it with each other. Never anything physical. Gene never caught himself raising his hand to her. He did not believe in striking a woman, especially if she was someone he loved. But their fights would be like nothing he ever experienced without her, like everything about her. Usually it was Sammi who ranted and raved, but many times Gene would find himself finally raising his voice as they locked in heated verbal battle. Then when they made up, that would be twice as heated.
This last time they were on again, they still had their disagreements, but not as often. And Gene was finally getting glimpses of Sammi’s vulnerable side. They managed to stay together for 4 years without any threat of needing to take a break. He was certain this time when he asked, she would say yes. They were practically living together for the last two years they were together. He was willing to move out of his place into hers when she hesitated in giving up her home. She did not say no right away, but had excuses why they should not. In the weeks that followed, he felt her distance herself from him. He’d been there before with her, knew what it mean. She was trying to let him down easy, hoping he’d take a hint and end things between them. Probably tell her this would be the final break, that he did not think it wise to treat it like a break with hopes of a next time, which there always was, and to be friends in between. Each time she gave him the chance to end it completely between them with no hope of getting back together, not even as friends. He should have. He knew maybe he still should, since he was currently feeling like he was in limbo. He should. He knew it would be best for him. Don’t worry about her, she’d be fine. She always did fine without him. She would move on with no problem.
He should.
He couldn’t.
+ + + + +
Cynthia cursed out yet another native LA driver who cut her off. She looked ahead, hoping to see a sign telling her the exit was not far ahead. Then let out another curse as the traffic seemed to come to a halt. She checked her map. It should not be that far. At least on the map it did not look so.
She was running late from the moment she woke up in her motel room in Barstow that morning to realize she overslept. She should have continued on to LA last night instead of stopping. Barstow was only a few hours drive, and Gena assured her she’d be up late if needed to meet her.
When Cynthia pulled into Barstow, she made a stop intending for it to be just long enough to fill up on gas, freshen up a bit, and get a snack to have for the final leg of the trip. As she got back in her van, she realized she was way too tired to drive further. She had been driving practically non-stop across the country, and only a few hours from her destination, exhaustion caught up with her. It could not wait for a few more hours until she was in a bed in her friend’s house and it did not matter if she slept late, so long as she was out of the house with Gena to meet Ana and Helo at the airport. Taking the wise course, she found a motel to check into, and called Gena saying she was going to stay there for the night. Gena calculated how long it would take her to get to LA, and they worked out a meeting place, since Gena said she would probably be out and about until everyone was finally in LA.
Now Cyn was running 35 minutes late and traffic seemed to be at a crawl. She was about to attempt to get into the exit lane and find the first phone off the freeway ramp to call Gena and tell her not to worry. Maybe if it was not that far, Gena would tell her to stay where she was and they’ll meet her.
One more lane to go, after much cursing and wondering about the general rudeness of LA drivers. As she started to put her blinker on to get into the slow lane, she noticed the sign telling her she had three exits to go. With a groan, she decided to deal with the traffic and get off at the appointed exit. At least the others will be there already. She only hoped they weren’t getting worried.
+ + + + +
“I hope nothing happened to her,” Stephanie said from the passenger side of Gena’s van, glancing up one more time at the traffic coming from the freeway.
Gena had managed to find a parking space a half block down from the ramp and they settled in for the wait. “If she continued on last night, something might have happened,” Gena replied. “She sounded like she was going to fall asleep on the phone.” She looked again at the traffic, then looked behind her to smile at her other two friends. “Nah. This is LA. I really didn’t account for traffic when we set up the time.”
“But this is not normal rush hour is it?” Ana asked.
“No. But this is LA. Who knows when someone will decide to stop and stare at the sights, and cause a traffic jam,” Stephanie replied. “Our freeways are well known for that.”
“No kidding,” Gena sighed. “I’ve been late more times than I want to think about because of traffic being backed up when it shouldn’t be. Some of the streets are no better. Thankfully I got to know the back streets shortly after moving here.”
“Do we know what we’re looking for?” Helo asked.
“Yeah, a black van,” Stephanie replied.
“Cool. You just described half the vans I’ve seen since getting here,” Ana remarked. “And the other half is white.”
Gena laughed. “Some of us have other than black or white here.”
“There’s another black van pulling off the freeway,” Helo pointed out.
The four women watched as the van cruised off the freeway ramp, going along La Cienega. The van was not crawling, but not speeding either, as if looking for something the driver did not know where the something was.
“Just the driver, female,” Stephanie remarked, “brown hair…” she started to smile. “It could be.”
Gena opened her door and got out as the van was almost up to them. She turned and faced the van.
“I hope this is the right one for your sake,” Ana laughed. “Of else, you’d be looking awfully silly.”
“I can’t be a beggar dressed like this,” Gena shot back, then waved as the driver’s mouth opened wide and started to wave to her. “It’s her.” She gestured for Cyn to pull alongside the car behind them. Cyn did so, putting her hazard blinkers on, while Gena got back into the van and pulled out, making sure Cyn was behind her. She lead her to a parking lot of the first shopping plaza they approached. The two vans pulled into whatever spaces they could find, then doors flew open as the four in Gena’s van rushed out to greet Cyn, who was already out of her van and meeting them halfway.
“What happened to you?” Ana said, going up to Cyn. “You’re late.”
“I’m sorry,” Cyn drawled in her southern accent. “I overslept and then got stuck in traffic.”
“That’s fine,” Gena laughed. “As long as you’re finally here. Welcome to LA.”
“Is it too much to hope for a quiet rest of the day relaxing and going to bed early?” Cyn asked as Helo greeted her.
The four women looked at each other with knowing grins on their faces.
“Not a chance,” Stephanie said. “We should have thought of that but, well… we did originally plan to take the rest of the day as it comes once we got to Gena’s, but something came up.” She grinned and let out a chuckle.
“You’re gonna shit,” Helo said, shaking her head, still not believing how they were going to spend the night herself.
Cyn looked from one beaming face to another. “What’s going on? KISS isn’t doing an appearance somewhere, are they?”
“Better,” Ana said.
“What?”
“Well, Gene and Paul were doing a photo shoot earlier,” Stephanie started. “Outside a 50’s diner, complete with the Caddy convertible. I got wind of it through my connections.”
“The same diner the four of us met up in to eat,” Gena said.
“Yeah, you should have seen me put Gene in his place,” Ana laughed.
“And they came in to talk to us for a bit before they started the shoot,” Stephanie added.
“And we told them about how Ana and I just got into LA,” Helo said.
Cyn’s head was spinning. Dammit, she thought. If she did not stay over in Barstow, she could have been with them when they saw Paul and Gene.
“Both were really nice,” Helo said. “And Paul looked so sexy.”
“Gene wasn’t looking bad himself,” Ana remarked. “A bit tired, but I’m sure he’s keeping himself busy these days. But he was still looking good. Especially the way he looked at Gena.”
“Paul seemed to have a few good looks for Stephanie,” Heloisa said. “But I got a few sweet smiles from him too.”
Cynthia went to open her mouth and ask for them to slow down. This was too much. Imagine Ana and Helo just arriving in LA and already they saw Paul and Gene. And if she did not stay overnight in Barstow, she could have been babbling along excited with them. It was always her worst luck, she reflected grimly, then decided it might be okay because if she did run into Paul and Gene unexpectedly, she probably would have made a fool of herself.
She started to speak when she heard Stephanie say, “And they both are taking all of us out to dinner tonight.”
“Who is?” Cynthia asked, not daring to believe she heard right.
“Paul and Gene,” Ana grinned.
“Us,” Helo added.
Cyn looked up to Gena, who decided to pull back at bit and enjoy the show with a satisfied smile on her face. “Is that true?”
Gena nodded. “Yes. Paul and Gene are taking the five of us out for dinner tonight. Gene should be calling me early evening so we can work out the details.” She glanced at her watch and opened her mouth to say something when her pocket started to ring.
Cyn frowned. Cell phones were only making their way across the United States and only those able to afford them owned one. Gena let out a curse, pulling a blocky looking thing that was ringing out of her pocket. “Excuse me,” she said, and turned around to speak into the phone. “What? Today? I can’t. I have friends from out of town. I told you that.” She let out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll be there. But it better be quick.” As she turned back to the others, who stared at her in concern, she shrugged. “It obviously wasn’t Gene. That was my work. I have to do something this afternoon. It shouldn’t take me too long. So how about we get back to my house, and everyone can get settled. There should be enough time to rest up a bit before we should be getting ready for tonight. I should be back by then.”
Stephanie looked at Gena. “Are you sure nothing is wrong?”
“I’m sure. You know better than that. I’m always getting called at the most unfortunate times for a consultation. This time it’s my company that wants to see me.”
Stephanie continued to stare. Gena laughed. “I’m not getting fired if that’s what you’re worried about. And if it was, which it’s not, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like it’s the only job I have. Probably they want to run a new account by me and see if I’ll take it. You know how the rich can be at times. They don’t want to wait, they want everything yesterday. C’mon and let’s get going. The sooner I see them, the sooner I could be back and getting ready.”
“Guess you’re right,” Stephanie said. “That company of yours tend to forget that you have a life other than for them.”
“She always does this?” Ana asked.
“Once in a while,” Gena replied.
“Lately too many times you have to change plans because of them,” Stephanie pointed out.
“I’m popular, what can I say?” Gena said with a smirk. “Besides, I’m not really on vacation, remember. I’m hanging out with everyone during my free time in between clients. But I did manage to clear away a day or two for all day excursions.” Gena looked at Cyn. “Steph is going to go with you so if we get separated on the road, she knows where to go. I don’t live very far from here.”
“Well then I’ll see you at your house,” Cyn said. “And I’m so glad to finally meet everyone.”
“We’ll have an awesome time,” Ana said, as her and Helo followed Gena to her van.
As Cyn got into her van, she thought that just dinner that night would make the entire trip awesome. She smiled at Stephanie and started her van up and waited for Gena to pass to follow her.
** ** * ** **
“I'm almost afraid to see the houses in Beverly Hills," Cyn groaned to herself as she followed Gena into a driveway to what looked to her as a Mediterranean villa.
Stephanie just smirked. “Quite a quaint little cottage, wouldn’t you say?” she asked in amusement.
“Well, I can most certainly see why Gena puts up with the strange hours her company demands if she can afford this. Lord have mercy! Look at that.”
“It is rather rustic compared to some of the homes in Beverly Hills. This is only West Hollywood,” Stephanie laughed.
Gena stopped her van alongside the two car garage in what was a carport. Rushing out of the van as the garage doors opened, she came up to Cyn’s van. “You can park in the garage since we’ll be using my van,” she said.
Cyn carefully pulled the van into the garage, alongside the metallic ruby red Mustang convertible. “That one of your toys?” she asked as the other women joined them in the garage.
“That’s what I normally drive. The van is for long distance driving, or jaunts out to the desert.” She lead them out of the garage through a side door while the main doors were closing. “C’mon into the house, and get comfortable for a while.”
Gena and Stephanie grabbed luggage from their guests to give them a hand. They stepped into a courtyard where colorful stone tiles made walkways through the lush green grass, and large pottery urns lined the edges of the courtyard holding various plants. In the far corner was a water fountain surrounded by a cacti garden. The courtyard led into an area decorated much the same, but narrower and wrapped around to the front of the house. They could not see the street because of the wall that lined half of the front property. Gena led them to the kitchen door where she let them in the house.
“Just drop everything here for now. Let me show you around the house and where your rooms are, then I can be on my way. Make yourselves at home. If there’s anything you can’t find, ask Stephanie,” Gena stated, leading them through the kitchen into a sunken living room.
“If you leaving sooner gets you back sooner,” Stephanie offered, “I can give them the grand tour and let you get on your way.”
“If you don’t mind, I think that’s a great idea,” Gena agreed. “Sorry to run like this, but hopefully I won’t be too long. If I’m still out when Gene calls, I’ll call here with the details.”
Ana and Helo agreed, saying goodbye to Gena as she dashed back into the kitchen and out of the house. Cyn was standing in the middle of the lush living room that almost seemed like an indoor forest. “Lord have mercy,” was all she could say.
“If you think this is something, you should see Sammi’s house near Malibu,” Stephanie said.
“You’ve been to Sammi’s house?” Helo asked.
Stephanie nodded. “A few times when Sammi was out of town, she allowed us to throw a party there. This,” Stephanie gestured with her hand, “is a shack in comparison to Sammi’s house.”
Chapter Two
“That sounds great, Peter,” Paul said into his phone. “I’d love to go over to your place for a barbeque on Sunday. But I can’t speak for Gene. I doubt he’ll have the time.”
“It’s Sunday!” Peter exclaimed. “Surely he sets one day a week aside to plant himself in front of the television.”
Paul managed a laugh. “If he didn’t have appointments on Sunday, do you really think you stand a chance to get Gene away from the television?”
“I can entice him with enough sweets if that was the problem,” Peter replied with a snicker.
“Thank you,” Paul remarked heartfelt. “So you do see a problem.”
“I’m thinking it’s a problem if it’s worrying you. So what is with Gene lately?”
“He’s burying himself in work, and I hate to think it could be literal one day. But between you and me, as much as we know Gene loves to keep busy and come up with new ways to make money, this time I think he’s trying to forget something. Something is bothering him, and I’ll be damned if I can get it out of him. Whatever it is, it’s eating him up inside and he’s responding the only way he knows how. If he was a drinking man, I should suppose I’d have worse problems than scheduling in some down time with him.”
Peter let out a short laugh. “Things to be thankful for. If he’s doing what he’s doing to himself now, I’d hate to think what he’d be like with drink if that was his way. Anyway, I’m going to take your enthusiasm to my invitation as a yes, whether Gene comes or not.”
“Count on it,” Paul agreed. “I’ll ask him, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m amazed I was able to get him to drop plans to take some fans out tonight.”
“Fans? They must be special fans if you’re taking them out.”
“It’s Stephanie and Gena. We ran into them before our photo shoot today. And met two lovely friends of theirs who just came into LA today from Brazil for a vacation.”
“At least some people are taking vacations,” Peter snorted. “Hey, just in case Gene will say no, do you mind if I join tonight? Or would that be a problem?”
“No,” Paul agreed. “I think that’s a great idea. The girls would love it being out with three-fourths of the original KISS. And maybe you might have better luck face to face convincing Gene to join us for the barbeque on Sunday. When can you head on this way?”
“I’m only in Santa Ana,” Peter remarked. “Give me an hour and I’ll be on the road to your house.”
“Great. Hey, have you heard from Ace lately?”
“Funny you should mention him,” Peter replied annoyed. “He woke me up the other night saying he saw a UFO. I don’t think he’s so happy with me right now, because I hung up on him. I tried to call him earlier today, but he was short and told me he had things to do and hung up on me. He hasn’t answered his phone since.”
Paul laughed. “I can only imagine what Ace having things to do means.”
“Hopefully planning more on what he wants to do on our joint tour later this year.”
“You guys play LA, I better be on the list,” Paul said, smiling. “I’m glad to see the two of you on the road together. That would be great to see. Gene tried working something out with Ace a couple of times, trying to get Frehley’s Comet on the bill, but things didn’t work out.”
“You mean more like Gene and Ace didn’t work out,” Peter corrected.
“What else? I swear one moment they are all buddy buddy acting like nothing happened between them, and the next they are at each others’ throats. But Gene refuses to give up on whatever friendship there could be between them, not matter how bad things get. Or even how much shit he talks about Ace.”
“Gene talks shit about Ace, and me, in an attempt to prompt us into action to prove him wrong. He still hasn’t learned the only action that will be prompted that way will be getting his ass kicked. But he’s been quiet about me, and we even had some pleasant phone calls in the last few months. And he doesn’t wake me up in the middle of the night with strange sightings.”
“If he did, it’ll be something we’d want to hear about,” Paul laughed. “’Cause you know it’d involve a female.”
“Definitely. But no, I get awakened by Ace and his UFOs. Anyway, I miss you guys, which is why I was thinking about this barbeque.”
“I’d love it. We can plan more later on the way to meet the girls.”
“Cool. I’ll see you later, Paul.”
“Bye Peter.” Paul hung up the phone and continued his way through his house. The phone just started to ring after he entered the house. He looked forward to seeing Peter again, and knew the girls would love the chance to have Peter along. In the meantime, Paul decided to go back to planning the vacation he was forcing on Gene.
** ** ** **
Gene got out of the shower and put on his robe, going to his closet to find something comfortable to wear around the house until it was time to get ready for dinner with the girls. Dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a gray cut-up shirt, Gene wandered around the house.
As hard as he tried, he could not put the incident from the day before out of his mind. It was not so much the fact of how close he came to being in that pile-up had he not slowed down and managed to pull over. He tried convincing himself the reason why it bothered him so much was because it was a stupid stunt he pulled of the caliber he was not known for. 95 mph on the 101 freeway, he reflected. Indeed he was losing every ounce of common sense he ever had. He supposed he should sit down and ponder why he was suddenly doing all these crazy things, some of which could not only harm him, but harm someone else. He thought about doing just that, so when he figured out the reason, he could stop it.
He let out a sigh. It was not that easy, he realized. The truth was, when he allowed himself to think about it, why he had suddenly slowed down and what made him pull over. From the shoulder, he watched the truck, already knowing what it would do and what some of the other cars would do. The red Caddy was exactly in the place he should have been and he knew the car in the other lane was going to slam into it.
He knew and he could not do a thing to stop all the injuries and the two deaths from happening. It shook him to be so helpless. Yet that was not the actual reason it bothered him.
He did not dare explore that area yet. He needed distraction, someone to talk to. Someone to maybe tell what really happened to him, and hopefully to make him laugh. It could not be Paul. His friend was already concerned he was going off the deep end. Telling Paul the truth would only make him more worried than he was. He needed someone who would not question his sanity, someone who would listen to him. Someone whose mind was open to the bizarre and unexplained. Suddenly he had an urge to call someone he had not spoken to in a long time. He found himself picking up the phone and dialing a number he hoped he remembered without looking it up.
** ** **
Ace let out a growl of annoyance, as he turned to give the ringing phone a dirty stare. He was currently balancing a book, a bottle of water and a notebook and about to sit at his desk by his computer. Thinking it was Peter again, Ace debated for a couple of rings if he was ready to allow Peter to apologize. Making his decision, Ace dropped his armload onto the desk to answer the phone.
It was not who he expected.
“Hi Ace,” he heard Gene’s voice. “How are you doing?”
“Uh…Gene?” At the grunt of acknowledgement through the phone, he replied, “I’m fine. You?”
“Doing okay, though people are telling me I’ve been better.” He heard Gene let out a snort.
“Everything okay?” Ace asked.
Ace caught Gene’s hesitation. “I’m not so sure anymore,” Gene admitted. “I just felt like talking to someone and since we haven’t spoken in a few months, I thought why not. If you’re busy, I can call back at a better time.”
Ace sat down. “What do you want?”
He had a feeling that Gene was up to something. As the hesitation on the other side stretched, Ace wondered if there really was something wrong.
** ** **
Gene stood holding the phone, feeling like an idiot. What am I doing? He thought. “I just wanted to catch up on things,” he found himself saying and was thankful when Ace launched into his plans to tour with Peter. He let Ace talk on, sensing Ace’s excitement, until the other finally fell quiet.
“Sounds like you have it all together,” Gene said into the silence. “Good for you.”
Ace let out a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, I guess.”
“You guess? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing serious, I suppose,” Ace replied. “I’m sure we’ll have it worked out by then.”
“Have what worked out?” Gene asked, confused by the sudden change in Ace.
“He already tried calling me several times since,” Ace mumbled to himself.
“Ace, you’re starting to babble again. You and Peter have a falling out?”
“Not really. I pissed him off last night and he hung up on me. But he called me several times already. And I’ve been being stubborn and stupid by hanging up on him because he hurt my feelings.”
“You pissed Peter off to the point of him hanging up on you, but he hurt your feelings?”
“Yeah.”
Gene waited for further comment and when it wasn’t coming, he carefully asked, “How did he do that?”
“Uh…”
Gene picked up the hesitation and started to grin. This was why he needed to call Ace. The man would drive Gene right up a wall at times, but others he always managed to make him laugh. “What did it look like this time?” Gene ventured a guess on what had happened the night before.
“What did what?” Ace asked absently.
Gene bit his lip to keep from laughing. Doing his best to sound serious, he stated, “The UFO.”
He got the response he hoped for. Ace launched into a description. “It was right here, Gene. Hovering over my back yard. I was getting some water from the fridge and glanced out my back door, and there it was, plain as day. It was almost Pleiadian in style, but with more curves than angles. Lots of flashing lights and windows - portals…whatever they call them on spaceships. And it was there over my yard.”
Gene shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he heard about the Pleiadians from Ace. At least Ace talked about others who claim to channel Pleiadian mentors, instead of claiming to be able to channel one himself. The style of the ship was also familiar to Gene. Once Ace drew a sketch for him of what Pleiadian ships supposedly looked like. Gene liked the design enough that he used the general form in several sketches of his own. This was reality they were discussing now, not some sci-fi story. Still, Gene found it fun to go along with it for a while longer. “How close was it?” he asked, then bit the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing.
“It almost landed - it would have, if not for the pool,” came Ace’s response.
Gene was thankful they were speaking on the phone and not face to face. He was finding it hard to sound serious, forget the straight face. “You mean it can’t float on water?” Gene asked innocently. Then a chuckle slipped out.
“Damn you, Simmons! I should have known you were not taking me seriously,” Ace growled.
Gene choked on a fit of laughter, knowing if he let it go, he would not be able to say what he wanted - or anything else. “I would,” he managed to say deadpan, “if only you could answer one question I’ve always wondered about.”
“What’s that?” Ace asked suspiciously.
“Whatever did you do back on Jendell that they are sending spaceships after you?” Gene replied smoothly.
“Wha…?!!!”
At Ace’s indignant sputter, Gene lost it, and fell into hysterics.
“I knew it. You don’t believe me.”
“Oh… I-I believe you’re from another planet,” Gene choked out in laughter. “That’s the only way to explain….”
Suddenly he felt the world shift like it had back in the car the other day. “Oh no….” he mumbled in panic, not realizing he did so aloud.
“Huh? Gene, what’s going on….”
Gene barely heard Ace’s voice and it seemed to come from a distance. Next thing he knew, he was in Ace’s yard. He had just stepped out the back door from the kitchen. Someone was standing close to him, but he could not make out who. Cautiously his eyes took in the yard, noticed some uprooted shrubs and the strange scorch marks on some shrubs, the shrubs in half. There were signs of a struggle from the marks on the ground and the upturned patches of grass. He looked everywhere but at the pool. There was a stench in the air that he was able to partially identify. Sulfer, and something alien to his senses. Beyond the pool the ground was seared, almost looking like a pattern to Gene’s eyes. Not wanting to look too closely at what it could be, he finally looked at the pool. He let out a strangled cry. The person with him started to throw up.
Ace’s shredded body was alongside the pool, limbs missing. Next to his body, half in the pool and half out was the remains of his longtime live-in girlfriend.
“ACE!!!” he cried out as he fell to his knees, about to throw up himself. He wanted to turn away, cover his eyes from the sight, but he found he was frozen with horror.
“Gene!” he heard as he felt the world shift on him again. He found himself on his knees, the receiver on the floor and Ace’s frantic voice asking if he was all right.
He picked up the receiver with shaky hands. “I’m okay,” he managed. But will Ace? he thought. Quickly, he mentally went over his schedule for the next week. Tuesday and Wednesday he was going to be in New York City. He considered renting a car and going to see Ace in between his schedule, since it was not so heavily booked.
“You gotta get away from there,” he stammered.
He heard silence for a few minutes, then Ace said in a puzzled tone, trying for normal, but not succeeding, “If the UFO wanted me, Gene, they could have had me last night.”
Gene realized Ace was reaching for humor while trying to make sense out of his sudden bizarre behavior. Oh great. This is more serious than I thought, because now I have Ace probably thinking I’m losing it. Trying to grasp for something sensible, he cringed inward when he heard his reply. “No,” he blurted out. “Not yet.”
“Not yet? Gene, stop that shit right now. It’s not funny.”
“No it isn’t,” Gene agreed. “It probably won’t be extraterrestrials….” His mind pictured the strange scorched areas where Ace’s arms should have been, whatever remained of his clothes seared, and those neat incisions dissecting his body in places. Then there was that smell. Not human murder…. Gene shook his head to clear them of the mutinous thoughts. “Ace,” he tried, hoping to start sounding sane to the other man. Hell, he’d be happy to start sounding sane to himself. And he thought telling Ace about what happened the day before was going to be weird. What will kill Ace and Astroel? Gene thought, all too aware that Ace was holding his breath, waiting for Gene to continue. Most probably at this point, Ace was hoping for the punch line, knowing Ace.
Gene did not acknowledge how he could know, but he did accept that he knew Ace and Astroel were going to be killed - on Tuesday or Wednesday. “Maybe you and Astroel should take a vacation next week,” he blurted out.
“Ummm…. I’m trying to follow you, Gene, but you lost me.” Ace was sounding genuinely confused.
Oddly, in Gene’s dementia - what else can he explain it as? - he found a strange satisfaction in finally being the one to boggle Ace’s mind with strangeness. “Vacation,” Gene repeated. “Next week. Out here, in California. We can come up with a way to get back at Peter for laughing at you.”
“And you too?” Ace asked cautiously. “Can I get back at you?”
“Maybe….” Gene said hesitantly, “you saw something and having no idea what it was, that qualifies it as an unidentified flying objects. I’ve seen a few of those myself, and turned out to be military aircraft.”
“You believe that?” Ace laughed, as if Gene was the one taken with flights of fancy. “It was a spaceship, Gene. I’m serious.”
“Fine. It was a spaceship. I’m not laughing. Okay?” Suddenly Gene did not feel like teasing Ace, even if he could not share his enthusiasm. Still, there was something lingering on the edge of his mind. The marks on the ground, the smell in Ace’s backyard. I’m looking too much into it, Gene reasoned. Considering what they were talking about, while Gene was certain it had happened to him again, he figured some of conversation found its way into his vision. If he could not get Ace away from there, he knew he’d find Ace dead. But he doubted it would be exactly as Gene saw it minutes ago.
“Right.” Ace didn’t sound convinced, and seemed to still be waiting for Gene’s punch line.
“Ace, lemme tell you what happened to me yesterday.”
“You saw something,” Ace replied doubtfully.
“Not an UFO, but yeah, I guess you could say that I saw something. I saw my death. I was on the freeway and suddenly this truck has a blowout and skids across the freeway and in my way. I’m going too fast and trying to avoid it, I swerve into another car and it sent me flying into the truck. Total accordion. I was wearing my seat belt and my head still went through the windshield.” Gene knew he was babbling, but he wanted to get it out before either he lost his nerve or Ace cut him off. “I was killed on the spot.”
Ace let out a snort. “You sound pretty good for a dead guy,” he replied nervously.
“Listen to me, okay. Next thing I know, I’m back where I was, about a few seconds before it all happened. So I slowed down and changed lanes, then pulled into the shoulder. The car that was behind me went into my spot and suddenly the same truck has a blow out. I watched it all happen, knew what was going to happen. Only it was that poor guy behind me because I took myself off the road in time to avoid everything. But if I didn’t, and kept the speed I was going, I know that would have been me.”
“You’re saying you had a premonition?” Ace asked slowly, sounding half in shock, half suspicious.
“I don’t know. Maybe. But I knew ahead of time. And stopped myself. I wish I could have been able to do the same for that poor other guy. He was killed on impact.”
“I understand you, I think. But why….” Ace stopped, then asked, “Gene, what did you just see now?”
Gene shivered. Somehow he knew Ace was intuitive enough to catch on where he was leading. Not exactly how he wanted to tell Ace what had happened if he decided to tell him. “Just get away from there and take Astroel. Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m not sure which day it happens. But I’m supposed to be in New York those days. I’m canceling my trip. Paul’s been trying to get me to take a vacation. I was thinking of using my New York trip as a vacation of sorts. I don’t have much to do, and thought about hanging out with you for some of the time. But now… Monday night we’ll be on our way to...” inspiration struck him, “Mt. Shasta. If there’s any UFO’s to be seen for you to prove they exist to us, it’ll be there.”
“I… Gene, I can’t take a vacation next week. I have too much lined up - interviews, photo shoots. Astroel worked hard to get it all lined up for me. There’s no way I can clear next week.”
“Reschedule them. At least you’ll be alive to reschedule.”
“You realize what you - YOU! - are telling me?” Ace sounded flabbergasted.
“Yes,” Gene replied emphatically. “I do. So you know this is important. Drop everything and get out here. Maybe we can go to Santa Ana and nab Peter and bring him along.”
“What happens to me?” Ace insisted.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Gene…” Ace warned.
“I already told you. You want to be alive the end of next week, get away from there. Both you and Astroel.”
Ace let out a sigh. “Okay. I promise I won’t be here on Tuesday or Wednesday. I’ll stay in the city.”
“The further, the better,” Gene insisted.
“I can’t…”
Gene let out a frustrated moan. “Ace. I couldn’t save the guy on the freeway. Give me this. Please.”
“I’ll think about it. That’s the best I can promise you. Give me confirmed plans of where and how and maybe I’ll say yes.”
Gene nodded, his mind in motion. His eyes on his computer in the corner of the room, he had an idea. Most of the rambling on one of those Usenet mailing lists were fiction anyway. What was one more email of the type? “Okay. In the city is a definite and maybe going on a UFO watching trek on Mt. Shasta.”
“Fine,” Ace sighed. “Damn, you know I hate it when you get weird on me.”
“Don’t forget Astroel too.”
“Yes, Gene. Astroel too. I’ll take her to the city with me. And you’ll be lucky if I come up with an excuse rather than tell her the truth.
“Tell her whatever you want, even the truth, just as long as both of you are away from that house.”
“Gene, if this is a joke, now is the time to pull the punch line. Because you’re scaring me now.”
“So long as you’re not scared for me, but for yourself and Astroel. I’ll call you tomorrow when I have better plans.”
“Okay. Gene, do me a favor now please. You have me really freaked out here.”
“Good. Then you’ll listen.”
“I will. But just one thing. Tell me you don’t believe in UFOs.”
Gene managed a laugh. “I don’t believe in UFOs.”
“Serious.”
“Dead. No pun intended.”
Ace sighed. “Thank you. I’ll talk to you soon, Gene.”
“Bye Ace.”
When Ace hung up, Gene realized he was still on the floor. He stood up and went to the bathroom to pour some cold water over his suddenly sweaty skin.
What’s happening to me?
** ** ** **
Ace hung up the phone with a frown. Now that was strange, he thought. He continued to frown as his eyes went from his book to his computer monitor. Absently he took a drink from his bottle of water, trying to puzzle out what exactly happened during that phone call.
Gene going to Mt. Shasta to go UFO watching. He shook his head. Despite his frustration, Ace had to laugh at the notion. Gene only said those things to convince him to go running around the mountains in California. That was not funny. He was not too sure if he really wanted to go to some mountain resort with Gene and Paul. Getting together for a few hours here and there was fine, but to be stuck with them for days, Ace was not sure he would survive.
Gene seemed desperate enough to get him away from the house. He would give Gene that much. Most of what he had planned on those days were in New York City, so it would make more sense to stay there, rather than go back and forth. He might even hit up a few clubs and check out the new bands.
Do something nice with Astroel, he thought, finally smiling. She had put up with so much for so long and never stopped believing in him. She was there for him every step of the way when he decided to clean up his life - again. He thought he would take her out for a special night in style.
He took a deep breath. Damn Gene got him all tense now. It was unnerving. If Gene was serious, and the more Ace thought about it the more he believed Gene, then Gene had some premonition of his death. Of Astroel’s. Even if this was some elaborate joke Gene cooked up at the spur of the moment and used his acting skills, Ace figured it was better to be the butt of a practical joke than risk Astroel’s life, or his.
Speaking of Astroel, he wondered when she would be home. He found himself anxious to firm the plans he already had half formed since hanging up with Gene. Feeling better putting some of his plans in action, Ace made a couple of preliminary phone calls that would give them the option of staying in the city.
Deciding he did not want to wait until the next week to do something nice with Astroel, he called her cell phone and got her voicemail. “Hi sweetie. I hope you don’t stay out too late. I want us to go out somewhere tonight. I’m not sure where, but I just want us to do something together. Call me when you have a chance. Love you. Bye.”
With nothing else to do at the moment, but wait for her call, Ace settled down at his computer, deciding to make an attempt at relaxing by working on some graphics.
+ + + + +
“Hey hon,” Gene spoke into his phone, standing in his kitchen. “It’s been a while since I heard from you. I’m hoping maybe we could find some time to get together for dinner or something. I could make some time on Sunday. Well, call me back and let me know. If I don’t hear from you, I’m going to take it as….” Gene swallowed and changed his thoughts, “…that you’re too busy for not only getting together on Sunday, but to call me back. Bye. I love you.”
He hung up the phone after leaving his message, feeling the fool. This was not like him, he said, sitting at the kitchen table and picking up the remote control to the television in the kitchen. Without seeing what flickered on the screen, he changed channels absently, his thoughts on the woman he just left a message for. What was it about her that attracted him so strongly? He had to correct one of his earlier thoughts. In the last few years, playing the fool to Samantha Samuels’ whims was just like him. There was something about her… if only he could figure out what, perhaps he could finally end things between them once and for all and move on with his life. He dropped the remote, realizing he did not want things to end. He was only fooling himself further convincing himself he wanted to end things. He stood up and slowly walked through the empty house, becoming lost in his thoughts. The house was too silent to Gene. The staff had the day off; no maid cleaning, no gardener working on the landscape, no pool maintenance to clean the pool. He realized in the last few weeks, more and more he was giving them days off, telling himself he did not want to deal with them around.
He let out a snort. As if he was home enough to notice them. Funny how now that they were not there, he noticed the lack of them. He noted the clutter in the room, not taking the time to clean up after himself and realized he had not had the house cleaned in over a week. He walked through the ornate French doors from the living room onto the patio that overlooked his land to that side of the house. Walking around the house, he dropped into a lounge chair that was poolside. The pool was covered since it had not been used in so long.
The house seemed so empty, he thought again, staring out at the tarp stretched across the pool. It did not seem natural, as if he was missing something. In the last few days, he thought he heard echoes of voices in the house. Of a woman calling them to dinner, of children playing. Of his own happy laughter of a family life.
A family life? Gene thought with a frown. He was not a family man. He could not settle down enough to have a relationship that could lead to a family. He had no intentions of becoming a father. Not even with Sammi. That was one thought that never occurred to him in all the years he had known her. So why was he imagining such things?
You’re working yourself too hard, Simmons, he told himself. Paul’s right, you know. Slowing down a bit does not mean sitting around and doing nothing all day. He shook his head. Like you’re doing right now. Sitting here doing nothing more important than talking to yourself.
Hah!
Paul warned him to start clearing his calendar starting the week after this one. He was still not set on where, but he intended they were leaving a week from this Saturday for a vacation. He hoped Paul did not find anything and confirm before he had a chance to speak to him later that night. Paul would think him crazy for wanting to go where he would say they are going, but Paul was already thinking he was slightly unhinged. Gene did know that was the only place he could entice Ace enough to convince him to get as far from New York as he could. Well, he thought, that or Roswell.
He wondered what Paul would say when he found out Gene’s vacation was to start that Monday. If Paul could not make it, but Ace agreed, he’d leave without Paul. Paul could join them later, if he wanted. Gene vowed he would do anything it took to save Ace and Astroel. He felt a terrible guilt whenever he thought of the poor guy driving the red Caddy, and that was a total stranger. He’d never forgive himself if he had to watch someone he knew and cared about get killed, knowing it was going to happen.
What was wrong with him?
Gene got up and wandered back into the house through the kitchen door and shook his head at the mess there. He decided to clean up a little later when he got back from dinner, and then tomorrow he’d call the staff to all come in and do their job on making this place livable again. He picked up the remote and caught himself changing channels absently again, this time standing next to the table. He turned off the TV and leaving the remote on the kitchen table, he went into his study.
He started to go through some of his notes and papers, and finally with a sigh leaned back in his chair. Start working on anything on his desk, and he’d end up not making it to dinner in time. Worse than what Paul would say to him, he decided he did not want to disappoint Gena and her friends. His original plan to spend the evening was to work through the piles on his desk and work on a few ideas. Until Paul suggested taking the women out to dinner. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he realized he could not refuse Gena. Something about the way she looked up at him, the look of her eyes and set of her mouth, he found he could not refuse her. He probably should finish canceling appointments, or looking more into where they could stay in the Mt. Shasta area. He already inquired two places, and one was a possibility. He could also send out the email he had already written, planning to send it under an email address only he knew about. His instincts told him to send it out now would be too soon. He did not want to make Ace suspicious. Later that night, before he went to bed would be the best time to send it out.
He stood up and went upstairs to his bedroom. After putting on the stereo, he picked up the book he was reading from the end table, moved aside some clothes thrown on the bed and went to sit down on the bed. As he started to read, he settled himself more comfortably and reached out with his free hand to push aside the items more, some items fell off the edge of the bed. His hand caught on something, and he lifted it for inspection. Looking at the bra, he let it drop and his head dropped onto his pillow. The book fell to the side of him, as Gene shut his eyes. There was a reason why he ended up walking around his house restless when he was home with nothing to do. Why he made sure he had as much of his waking time with something to do as possible. Why he ended up going out and using the power of his charms of being a rock star, he would manage to spend the night in the bed of one of his fans, rather than come home and sleep in his own bed.
Even after five months, he was still finding her stuff among his house. He wondered how she felt finding his at her place. That he had left items there, Gene had no doubt. For one thing, one of his favorite shirts went missing shortly after she broke up with him again. Gene still did not know why they broke up. Everything was perfect between them. They spent so much time together, had so much of their belongings at the other’s house, it only made sense to once again ask her to move in with him. Things between them seemed so different than the other times, even if those times seemed like nothing was wrong. Oh, they would have their differences and get into it with each other. Never anything physical. Gene never caught himself raising his hand to her. He did not believe in striking a woman, especially if she was someone he loved. But their fights would be like nothing he ever experienced without her, like everything about her. Usually it was Sammi who ranted and raved, but many times Gene would find himself finally raising his voice as they locked in heated verbal battle. Then when they made up, that would be twice as heated.
This last time they were on again, they still had their disagreements, but not as often. And Gene was finally getting glimpses of Sammi’s vulnerable side. They managed to stay together for 4 years without any threat of needing to take a break. He was certain this time when he asked, she would say yes. They were practically living together for the last two years they were together. He was willing to move out of his place into hers when she hesitated in giving up her home. She did not say no right away, but had excuses why they should not. In the weeks that followed, he felt her distance herself from him. He’d been there before with her, knew what it mean. She was trying to let him down easy, hoping he’d take a hint and end things between them. Probably tell her this would be the final break, that he did not think it wise to treat it like a break with hopes of a next time, which there always was, and to be friends in between. Each time she gave him the chance to end it completely between them with no hope of getting back together, not even as friends. He should have. He knew maybe he still should, since he was currently feeling like he was in limbo. He should. He knew it would be best for him. Don’t worry about her, she’d be fine. She always did fine without him. She would move on with no problem.
He should.
He couldn’t.
+ + + + +
Cynthia cursed out yet another native LA driver who cut her off. She looked ahead, hoping to see a sign telling her the exit was not far ahead. Then let out another curse as the traffic seemed to come to a halt. She checked her map. It should not be that far. At least on the map it did not look so.
She was running late from the moment she woke up in her motel room in Barstow that morning to realize she overslept. She should have continued on to LA last night instead of stopping. Barstow was only a few hours drive, and Gena assured her she’d be up late if needed to meet her.
When Cynthia pulled into Barstow, she made a stop intending for it to be just long enough to fill up on gas, freshen up a bit, and get a snack to have for the final leg of the trip. As she got back in her van, she realized she was way too tired to drive further. She had been driving practically non-stop across the country, and only a few hours from her destination, exhaustion caught up with her. It could not wait for a few more hours until she was in a bed in her friend’s house and it did not matter if she slept late, so long as she was out of the house with Gena to meet Ana and Helo at the airport. Taking the wise course, she found a motel to check into, and called Gena saying she was going to stay there for the night. Gena calculated how long it would take her to get to LA, and they worked out a meeting place, since Gena said she would probably be out and about until everyone was finally in LA.
Now Cyn was running 35 minutes late and traffic seemed to be at a crawl. She was about to attempt to get into the exit lane and find the first phone off the freeway ramp to call Gena and tell her not to worry. Maybe if it was not that far, Gena would tell her to stay where she was and they’ll meet her.
One more lane to go, after much cursing and wondering about the general rudeness of LA drivers. As she started to put her blinker on to get into the slow lane, she noticed the sign telling her she had three exits to go. With a groan, she decided to deal with the traffic and get off at the appointed exit. At least the others will be there already. She only hoped they weren’t getting worried.
+ + + + +
“I hope nothing happened to her,” Stephanie said from the passenger side of Gena’s van, glancing up one more time at the traffic coming from the freeway.
Gena had managed to find a parking space a half block down from the ramp and they settled in for the wait. “If she continued on last night, something might have happened,” Gena replied. “She sounded like she was going to fall asleep on the phone.” She looked again at the traffic, then looked behind her to smile at her other two friends. “Nah. This is LA. I really didn’t account for traffic when we set up the time.”
“But this is not normal rush hour is it?” Ana asked.
“No. But this is LA. Who knows when someone will decide to stop and stare at the sights, and cause a traffic jam,” Stephanie replied. “Our freeways are well known for that.”
“No kidding,” Gena sighed. “I’ve been late more times than I want to think about because of traffic being backed up when it shouldn’t be. Some of the streets are no better. Thankfully I got to know the back streets shortly after moving here.”
“Do we know what we’re looking for?” Helo asked.
“Yeah, a black van,” Stephanie replied.
“Cool. You just described half the vans I’ve seen since getting here,” Ana remarked. “And the other half is white.”
Gena laughed. “Some of us have other than black or white here.”
“There’s another black van pulling off the freeway,” Helo pointed out.
The four women watched as the van cruised off the freeway ramp, going along La Cienega. The van was not crawling, but not speeding either, as if looking for something the driver did not know where the something was.
“Just the driver, female,” Stephanie remarked, “brown hair…” she started to smile. “It could be.”
Gena opened her door and got out as the van was almost up to them. She turned and faced the van.
“I hope this is the right one for your sake,” Ana laughed. “Of else, you’d be looking awfully silly.”
“I can’t be a beggar dressed like this,” Gena shot back, then waved as the driver’s mouth opened wide and started to wave to her. “It’s her.” She gestured for Cyn to pull alongside the car behind them. Cyn did so, putting her hazard blinkers on, while Gena got back into the van and pulled out, making sure Cyn was behind her. She lead her to a parking lot of the first shopping plaza they approached. The two vans pulled into whatever spaces they could find, then doors flew open as the four in Gena’s van rushed out to greet Cyn, who was already out of her van and meeting them halfway.
“What happened to you?” Ana said, going up to Cyn. “You’re late.”
“I’m sorry,” Cyn drawled in her southern accent. “I overslept and then got stuck in traffic.”
“That’s fine,” Gena laughed. “As long as you’re finally here. Welcome to LA.”
“Is it too much to hope for a quiet rest of the day relaxing and going to bed early?” Cyn asked as Helo greeted her.
The four women looked at each other with knowing grins on their faces.
“Not a chance,” Stephanie said. “We should have thought of that but, well… we did originally plan to take the rest of the day as it comes once we got to Gena’s, but something came up.” She grinned and let out a chuckle.
“You’re gonna shit,” Helo said, shaking her head, still not believing how they were going to spend the night herself.
Cyn looked from one beaming face to another. “What’s going on? KISS isn’t doing an appearance somewhere, are they?”
“Better,” Ana said.
“What?”
“Well, Gene and Paul were doing a photo shoot earlier,” Stephanie started. “Outside a 50’s diner, complete with the Caddy convertible. I got wind of it through my connections.”
“The same diner the four of us met up in to eat,” Gena said.
“Yeah, you should have seen me put Gene in his place,” Ana laughed.
“And they came in to talk to us for a bit before they started the shoot,” Stephanie added.
“And we told them about how Ana and I just got into LA,” Helo said.
Cyn’s head was spinning. Dammit, she thought. If she did not stay over in Barstow, she could have been with them when they saw Paul and Gene.
“Both were really nice,” Helo said. “And Paul looked so sexy.”
“Gene wasn’t looking bad himself,” Ana remarked. “A bit tired, but I’m sure he’s keeping himself busy these days. But he was still looking good. Especially the way he looked at Gena.”
“Paul seemed to have a few good looks for Stephanie,” Heloisa said. “But I got a few sweet smiles from him too.”
Cynthia went to open her mouth and ask for them to slow down. This was too much. Imagine Ana and Helo just arriving in LA and already they saw Paul and Gene. And if she did not stay overnight in Barstow, she could have been babbling along excited with them. It was always her worst luck, she reflected grimly, then decided it might be okay because if she did run into Paul and Gene unexpectedly, she probably would have made a fool of herself.
She started to speak when she heard Stephanie say, “And they both are taking all of us out to dinner tonight.”
“Who is?” Cynthia asked, not daring to believe she heard right.
“Paul and Gene,” Ana grinned.
“Us,” Helo added.
Cyn looked up to Gena, who decided to pull back at bit and enjoy the show with a satisfied smile on her face. “Is that true?”
Gena nodded. “Yes. Paul and Gene are taking the five of us out for dinner tonight. Gene should be calling me early evening so we can work out the details.” She glanced at her watch and opened her mouth to say something when her pocket started to ring.
Cyn frowned. Cell phones were only making their way across the United States and only those able to afford them owned one. Gena let out a curse, pulling a blocky looking thing that was ringing out of her pocket. “Excuse me,” she said, and turned around to speak into the phone. “What? Today? I can’t. I have friends from out of town. I told you that.” She let out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll be there. But it better be quick.” As she turned back to the others, who stared at her in concern, she shrugged. “It obviously wasn’t Gene. That was my work. I have to do something this afternoon. It shouldn’t take me too long. So how about we get back to my house, and everyone can get settled. There should be enough time to rest up a bit before we should be getting ready for tonight. I should be back by then.”
Stephanie looked at Gena. “Are you sure nothing is wrong?”
“I’m sure. You know better than that. I’m always getting called at the most unfortunate times for a consultation. This time it’s my company that wants to see me.”
Stephanie continued to stare. Gena laughed. “I’m not getting fired if that’s what you’re worried about. And if it was, which it’s not, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like it’s the only job I have. Probably they want to run a new account by me and see if I’ll take it. You know how the rich can be at times. They don’t want to wait, they want everything yesterday. C’mon and let’s get going. The sooner I see them, the sooner I could be back and getting ready.”
“Guess you’re right,” Stephanie said. “That company of yours tend to forget that you have a life other than for them.”
“She always does this?” Ana asked.
“Once in a while,” Gena replied.
“Lately too many times you have to change plans because of them,” Stephanie pointed out.
“I’m popular, what can I say?” Gena said with a smirk. “Besides, I’m not really on vacation, remember. I’m hanging out with everyone during my free time in between clients. But I did manage to clear away a day or two for all day excursions.” Gena looked at Cyn. “Steph is going to go with you so if we get separated on the road, she knows where to go. I don’t live very far from here.”
“Well then I’ll see you at your house,” Cyn said. “And I’m so glad to finally meet everyone.”
“We’ll have an awesome time,” Ana said, as her and Helo followed Gena to her van.
As Cyn got into her van, she thought that just dinner that night would make the entire trip awesome. She smiled at Stephanie and started her van up and waited for Gena to pass to follow her.
** ** * ** **
“I'm almost afraid to see the houses in Beverly Hills," Cyn groaned to herself as she followed Gena into a driveway to what looked to her as a Mediterranean villa.
Stephanie just smirked. “Quite a quaint little cottage, wouldn’t you say?” she asked in amusement.
“Well, I can most certainly see why Gena puts up with the strange hours her company demands if she can afford this. Lord have mercy! Look at that.”
“It is rather rustic compared to some of the homes in Beverly Hills. This is only West Hollywood,” Stephanie laughed.
Gena stopped her van alongside the two car garage in what was a carport. Rushing out of the van as the garage doors opened, she came up to Cyn’s van. “You can park in the garage since we’ll be using my van,” she said.
Cyn carefully pulled the van into the garage, alongside the metallic ruby red Mustang convertible. “That one of your toys?” she asked as the other women joined them in the garage.
“That’s what I normally drive. The van is for long distance driving, or jaunts out to the desert.” She lead them out of the garage through a side door while the main doors were closing. “C’mon into the house, and get comfortable for a while.”
Gena and Stephanie grabbed luggage from their guests to give them a hand. They stepped into a courtyard where colorful stone tiles made walkways through the lush green grass, and large pottery urns lined the edges of the courtyard holding various plants. In the far corner was a water fountain surrounded by a cacti garden. The courtyard led into an area decorated much the same, but narrower and wrapped around to the front of the house. They could not see the street because of the wall that lined half of the front property. Gena led them to the kitchen door where she let them in the house.
“Just drop everything here for now. Let me show you around the house and where your rooms are, then I can be on my way. Make yourselves at home. If there’s anything you can’t find, ask Stephanie,” Gena stated, leading them through the kitchen into a sunken living room.
“If you leaving sooner gets you back sooner,” Stephanie offered, “I can give them the grand tour and let you get on your way.”
“If you don’t mind, I think that’s a great idea,” Gena agreed. “Sorry to run like this, but hopefully I won’t be too long. If I’m still out when Gene calls, I’ll call here with the details.”
Ana and Helo agreed, saying goodbye to Gena as she dashed back into the kitchen and out of the house. Cyn was standing in the middle of the lush living room that almost seemed like an indoor forest. “Lord have mercy,” was all she could say.
“If you think this is something, you should see Sammi’s house near Malibu,” Stephanie said.
“You’ve been to Sammi’s house?” Helo asked.
Stephanie nodded. “A few times when Sammi was out of town, she allowed us to throw a party there. This,” Stephanie gestured with her hand, “is a shack in comparison to Sammi’s house.”