FROM THE CROMWELL porch, Alisha watched as Dorian and Luke exited their vehicle. Both appeared relaxed and hopelessly in love after their two-week moonhoney. She thought of Celeste’s words before the wedding…
We must stay in our time, Lisha. I know you hoped otherwise because of the miniscule probability that we could go back, but you’re going to have to adapt. Open yourself to new things.
I learned how to drive one of those awful vehicles.
What about people? You have to make friends.
I have you and Dorian. Jess and Helen. That’s enough.
But as she watched the newlywed couple unconsciously lean into each other, touch as if they craved contact, a tiny kernel of jealousy formed inside her. The red-eyed monster. Or was it yellow? (Neither made sense.) In any case, she’d never before felt the emotion.
Spotting her, Dorian broke away from Luke and ran up the sidewalk. Alisha met her friend at the bottom of the steps and they embraced warmly. Her earlier feelings of loss combined with the relief and joy at Dorian’s return made Alisha dizzy.
“It’s so good to see you,” she told Dorian when they drew back from each other. She eyed her, then leaned in closer. “Megadamn you for getting sex for a week straight. I so miss the SexLine.”
Dorian linked arms with her. “We’re going to have to find you a guy.”
“Ditch that idea right away.”
Dorian stopped. “Ditch, as in forget about. Luke’s been teaching me several idioms a day.”
He appeared behind Dorian and settled his hand on her shoulder. “Did I hear my name?”
With good-natured snarkiness, because that was their relationship, Alisha said, “The world doesn’t revolve around you, Lieutenant.”
He pulled her into an unexpected hug. “I missed you, too, Lisha.”
In truth, she’d felt the same about the obstinate guy.
They all trekked inside to find Jess and Helen sitting on the couch, his hand on her belly. Alisha turned away from the sight. There was something about this having-a-child business that destroyed all her walls.
Jess looked up, tears in his eyes. “Hey, welcome back. You gotta come here and feel Jessica. She’s doing somersaults in Helen’s stomach.”
A glowing Helen with a cute, little, rounded stomach grinned. “Yep, she is.”
After greetings, everyone took a turn touching Helen’s child in the womb. Except Alisha.
Dorian approached her. “No interest, Lisha?”
“It’s not that. It’s odd to touch her and feel that movement. She convinced me to once, and I found it spooky.”
“I think it’s lovely.” She practically sang the words.
“Don’t tell me you’ve conceived, too, like Celi.”
“We aren’t using birth control. But no, not as far as I know.”
To get away from all the baby stuff, Alisha brewed coffee and tea—she wished like hellor Dorian wouldn’t drink the unhealthy product of beans. Once they were settled in, had discussed the trip Luke and Dorian took to the Caribbean Sea, Alisha said casually, “I’d like to discuss something with you.” As quickly as she could and with a tone that brooked no argument, she filled them in on her plans.
Jess vehemently shook his head. “Don’t move out, Alisha. Please, we love having you here.” His eyes got misty again. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even…” His words trailed off. This happened every time they discussed how she, Celeste and Dorian were sent to this time to save his life. And had.
“I enjoy being in your home, but you need privacy. Some space.” She stared at them pointedly. “And so do I.”
“We hardly know you’re here.”
“Helen, please, don’t fight me on this. I want a dwelling of my own. Though I prefer to rental it.”
Luke said, “Dorian and I can help you look for one. Maybe located between us and Jess.” Both resided in Brooklyn, about a thirty-minute drive apart.
“Thank you for the offer, but David Ryan has agreed to assist me.”
“Did you ask him to do that?” The question came from Dorian.
Glancing at her friend, Alisha didn’t like the look in Dorian’s eyes. “Of course. Why?”
“No reason. I just thought I saw some sparks between you.”
“Those sparks are emanating off you.”
Helen added, “I invited David for lunch so he could visit with Luke and Dorian.” The doorbell rang. “That must be him.” She struggled to her feet. Even the tiny belly she sported caused awkwardness.
“Have you heard from Celi?” Dorian asked as Helen left the room.
“They’re back from Hawaii. The kids are overjoyed to have them home.”
“She loves her new family.”
“She adores those younglings.” Dorian rolled her eyes. “Oops, sometimes I still slip.”
Alisha didn’t really want them to forget their future language.
David entered the room with Helen. Today, he wore tight jeans and a white over-shirt. Hugs and greetings again, then David took a seat by Alisha. “Hi, there.”
“Hi.” She’d seen him twice to view dwellings in multiple-family buildings. They were called apartments. Neither time had she found anything that appealed to her. They all had a closed-in feeling, and since she’d come to this time period, she’d gotten used to open spaces.
“Doing well?” he asked her.
“Of course. You?”
He shook his head. “Still no good leads on the arson. I’m afraid the trail’s gone cold.”
“I’m sorry.” And she was. She knew how bad he felt about the church fires and how fearful of future ones he was. She wished she could help.
After a friendly—and somewhat boisterous—lunch, she and David found themselves alone at the table. “I have another place for you to look at. It’s half of a house. Spacious and airy.” He drew the keys out of his pocket. “Want to go check it out now?”
“Sure. As soon as Dorian leaves. But David, I don’t need much room.”
“It’s a ranch house. Small but cozy.”
“There are cattle and horses there?”
He laughed at her again. “Ranch in this sense means one floor.”
“Oh.” She needed to study more. But who the hellor would understand that one? It made no sense. “In any case, I’ll view it, but don’t…hold your breath.”
They both laughed at the idiom she got right.
o0o
AS DAVID AND Alisha approached the duplex, he hoped he’d made the right decision. He hadn’t shown her this property right away. “Is the dwelling empty?” she asked.
“Yes. The tenants left suddenly. The wife got a job in Manhattan and they’ve moved to the city.”
Tucking a piece of shiny, light brown hair behind her ear, revealing the fullness of her cheeks, she looked cute today in white shorts and a red-striped top. “The city is so crowded. I like the neighborhoods of Brooklyn.”
“Me, too.” He unlocked the door and they stepped inside. The smell of cleaning fluid stung his nostrils. But the lemony scent beneath it was pleasant.
The foyer opened up into a large room. Its floor and ceiling were made entirely of wood. As she peered up at the ceiling—higher than most she’d seen so far—she shook her head. “I still can’t get used to the wood.”
David felt sad, as he often did around this woman. “I’m sorry we’ve been so careless, Lisha. Hopefully, our society will do better this time around.”
“I don’t want you to feel bad. I hope things change, too.” She waved to the room. “It’s very spacious. My whole dwelling in my time would fit in here.”
“The dining area is right through that archway, and next to it, a kitchen and laundry room.”
She scanned the many windows. “So much light. When the far windows open there must be a lovely breeze.”
Knowing how much all three women loved the outdoors, he said, “Let’s try it.” He walked to the broad expanse of glass in the front, pulled away the sheer curtains, and slid the panes back. When he turned, he saw she’d done the same with those on the opposite wall in the dining room. Warm air invaded the cool house, but the breeze that blew felt good.
“I like the real air better than the conditioned air.”
“You’d get a lot of fresh air with these babies.”
She was staring out the back, which was his favorite part of this location. “Oh, look, David. There’s a deera in the woods. A deer. And, oh—a fawn.”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” He came up behind her. “Again, I’m sorry you had no real animals in your time.”
“I’m stunned every time I see one, especially these in the wild.”
The kitchen was small to him but huge to her.
The two bedroom were spacious, the bigger one with another view of the woods.
“Two bathing rooms?” she asked when they checked them out. “Why would I need two?”
“One for you and one for guests.”
She leaned against the counter and reiterated, “I don’t require all this space.”
“Alisha, the place is not that big.”
“To me, it is.” She smiled. “But I love the windows, and the woods and the breeze.”
They walked back out to the kitchen and he gestured through the doors. “There’s a nice glassed-in porch off the back.”
Peering out another big window, she craned her head. “I don’t see a porch.”
“It’s at the very end. Built off of the other half of the house. From here, there’s outside access to it.”
“I wouldn’t want to use someone else’s porch. But there’s that beautiful stone area right behind this dwelling. I could sit out there.”
He hesitated, but he had to tell her. “You’d be able to use the glassed-in porch.”
“Repeat please.”
David took a deep breath. “Alisha, I own this double house. Both units.”
“Earnestly?”
“Yes. What’s more, I live on the other side of the duplex.”
o0o
“BLESSED LORD,
I know the existence of Satan is why you’ve called me to do your work with fire, with the embers of hell. I know that, through me, you will punish the wicked and reward the good. Thank you, Savior, for allowing me to be a part of your grand plan. I understand places of worship have become tainted. I understand churches must be razed and built back up by you. Give me the strength and courage to follow your commands.
Your loyal Servant, always.”
o0o
ALISHA COULDN’T SLEEP the night David invited her to live in his house—separate from him, of course. The concept was both appealing and anxiety producing. Did she want proximity to him? No—because closeness with men made her uncomfortable and edgy. Yes—because he was such a nice guy. Alisha knew she could be abrasive and being around him made her…softer.
And she liked debating religion with him. Unbeknownst to him or the others (except for Dorian who saw the tomes she’d taken from the library in Virginia), Alisha had been devouring chips…books and studying the religions of the Ancients up until this time period. She was searching for answers: why had society lost its belief in god, and why did people cling so badly to religion today?
Calling up the latest notes she’d taken on a series she’d found online under the search topic, The Future of Religion, she scanned them. She made it a practice to jot down her own notes on everything she read, analyzing the points in a journal.
Six predictions for the future of religion:
1. Sectarianism, an obsessive devotion to a particular sect, will become more pronounced.
That had happened before the cyber wars and chemical warfare. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, members of society had become fiercely Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist or Jewish. Why, though?
2. People will no longer accept the authority that most religion asserts. They will think more for themselves and this will lead to a demise of religion.
That happened to the Catholics. By the end of the twenty-third century, there was no Pope, no Rome, no dominance of the High Church.
3. The patriarchy that is the core of many religions will contribute to its demise.
This one still astounded her. Today, many people believed men and women were not equal. In her time, there was complete and utter equality, not only between men and women, but among all sexual orientations, races and social strata. All had to contribute to society to survive.
4. Social networking will bring people of the same religion together.
Again, this did happen in the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Eventually, though, all religions began to die out, despite the improvements in technology that gave people even more remote access to each other.
5. Religion will decline when people put their faith in science and technology.
Unfortunately, society had done this. And to a very bad end. Technology had wreaked havoc in the years preceding the creation of the Domes, and scientific research, aka Alex Lansing’s work, had caused sterility. By the twenty-fifth century, much of that progress had been reversed, rightfully so.
6. Given the tenuousness of life (disease, natural disasters and accidents), people will turn more to God.
How wrong this prediction was! The exact opposite had occurred because no one could answer the question, How could a good god let such atrocities occur?
Alisha yawned and glanced at the clock. Midnight. The house slept and she should, too. But contact with David always made her come back to her research. He was smart, insightful and open to everything. When he found out who they really were and what their mission was concerning Jess, he’d easily accepted Alisha’s explanation as to why they’d come to this time period. If he believed in this deity, was he correct?
And did it matter in regards to moving into the duplex? Probably not. Even more restless now, she left her room and walked outside through the basement exit. Still in her short nightclothes made of cotton—she’d never get used to natural fibers—she sat on a chair and looked up. Each time she did this, the stars were breathtaking to her. She’d seen them reproduced in her time’s planetariums, but the fake ones didn’t quite capture how the real bodies of light twinkled and seemed to wink at you, how they faded in and out. How brightly they shone.
Alisha’s heart clenched. She would acclimate to this time period and hope hers and Dorian’s and Celeste’s actions had given the future some of those stars.
Maybe she would move in next to David, seek his help in becoming more settled. Maybe he could also help her find some life’s work that was meaningful and contributed to society. That had been the orientation of all people in the future. There was some altruism in existence today, too, though not as widespread. She’d just have to discover what suited her.
Having made her decision, she stood and went inside. She fell asleep with visions of stars in her head.