Category: Fiction Factor

Mount Laurel, New Jersey, would be the last stop before Ace and Shelby arrived in New York City, and the Silver Rodeo was just off I-295.

Home of the “Endless Fondue Fountain,” and, no doubt, endless stomach distress, it was a cheesy all-you-can-eat franchise but a place where Ace and Shelby could sit, talk and be ignored.

No one would care what they said or how loud they said it since the Silver Rodeo clientele consisted primarily of people seeing how much fried turkey, brisket, mac and cheese and potatoes and gravy they could stack on a plate – topped by that “Endless Fondue” abomination.

Those folks were on a mission to eat, not to eavesdrop.

“This really is gracious living,” said Shelby as they entered the restaurant, which was decorated in the style of an old west saloon – if old west saloons had steam tables, drink stations and wait staff who wore cowboy hats, chaps and name tags.

“It’s so authentic! It’s like being back in a frontier lunchroom.”

Ace snickered as the two made their way through the buffet line, trying to separate the barely edible from the inedible.

He loved a smartass and Shelby was most certainly that.

“We have one of these on the outskirts of Sevierville,” Ace said. “You don’t come to a place like this for the food … you come here for the atmosphere. And food poisoning.”

The two made their way to a booth, which featured a wooden table adorned with an oil lamp and a carving of a Native American woman holding a baby while a wolf and what appeared to be a platypus looked on.

“So,” Shelby asked, spinning her fork in a glop of what was probably (but by no means definitively) mashed potatoes. “Are you going to be straight with me? I trusted you enough to bum a ride with you, so you need to trust me enough to talk to me. Tell me the truth.”

Ace ran his left hand through his graying hair, pausing to try to find just the right words to describe how things had gotten so sideways during his four decades on the planet.

He was a desperate man, sure, but at no time did he think he was acting like one – until recently.

“It’s my family,” Ace said. “When I heard about this year’s Thanksgiving plans, the big feast and then Black Friday, something just finally clicked that this was the time for me to do something I’ve never done. I’ve never gone on vacation by myself. I’ve never gone to the Empire State Building before. I’ve sure as hell never even considered picking up a hitchhiker, and still can’t explain why I broke that rule for you. I just wanted to hit the road and now I want to see where that road leads.”

“And?”

“And just get away from my family.”

“And?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Ace said, his voice slightly raised.

“I want you to tell me what the end game is,” Shelby said. “I want you to tell me what your grand plan is. The whole time we’ve known each other – which isn’t very long, I admit – you’ve never mentioned anything beyond going to the Empire State Building. Are you gonna live there? Can you even live there?

Ace looked straight into Shelby’s eyes.

“I just want to run away and see what happens,” he said. “I might keep driving until I get to Canada. I just don’t know. I only know I can’t be part of my family anymore. I just can’t, and there’s no way I can make you understand why.”

Shelby reached over and grabbed his hand.

“Try me. What is so bad about your family that you drive thousands of miles to get away from them? Every family has issues … problems. How is yours different than any other?”

Ace leaned back and sighed.

“Trust me … you’ll just think I’m out of my mind. Look, it’s Thanksgiving. Let’s just eat this turkey-type thing and get back on the road. I enjoy your company and you seem to enjoy mine, so let’s make the best of it.”

The pair finished their meal, Ace paid the cashier, and then excused himself to wash up. He held his hands under the cold water and splashed his face, leaning close to the mirror and examining his eyes.

The full moon was still a day away, so he could safely take Shelby a bit further before putting her in danger.

He might be leaving his werewolf family behind, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to leave the werewolf life behind.

And he was really starting to like Shelby.

“You ready?” he asked.

As Shelby and Ace slowly walked to the car, she paused to look at the sky.

“You know there’s a spell,” she said.

“What?”

“There’s a spell I can cast … one that can help control the transformation.”

“I don’t … I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ace said, unconvincingly.

“Witches have been helping lycanthropes for as long as there have been witches and lycanthropes,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “There’s a reason you picked me up and a reason I let you. No more secrets, OK?”

The faded silver door to the exploration craft groaned and whistled as it slowly opened, hesitating slightly before finally – and violently – swinging upward and coming to a grinding stop.

The travelers on board, Dr. Glandick 871 and Dr. Torlock 6096, gingerly stepped to the edge of the Class G vessel and jumped to the ground.

There was a time a few centuries earlier when journeys to Original Earth were considered prime missions. Not only were the top Voyagers from Replica Earth dispatched, but the inhabitants of RE anxiously awaited their return. Clues to what happened to the dead planet might help to determine the ultimate fate of its namesake.

But over time, it became apparent the missions were yielding nothing of intrinsic value. Scientists were unable to determine the nature of the extinction level event, and the fact that it was little more than a burned-out shell meant most evidence of civilization was wiped out.

Oh, there had been bits and pieces of structures salvaged, along with skeletal remains of ancient humans and animals to make for an interesting display at the Replica Earth Interactive Museum. And some literature was found, enough to speculate about the forms of religion and government that had been practiced. But Genus Homo Prime had limited knowledge of who they once were and what their purpose was, and with each decade that passed, there was less curiosity about it.

Thus, those who chose to continue to make the star flight back and forth from RE to OE had to do so on decommissioned shuttles using discretionary funds – funds that would soon be gone. Ambassadors of the Replica Earth Collective saw such anthropological work as little more than vanity projects for researchers.

Glandick 871 remained curious, though. There were once philosophers and faith leaders – who were they and what did they teach? And millions of people on RE called “Cinder Heads” had ushered in a retro phase in which they spent time celebrating OE for what it was, or at least what they thought it was.

It might not matter to the majority of Genus Homo Prime anymore, but any information gleaned could still prove to be worth studying. And after this latest mission, perhaps a glimpse into its long-extinct inhabitants might be at hand.

Torlock 6096 had unearthed what appeared to be the full text from an ancient printed work on a dig, and – to date – it was the only one of its kind ever recovered. There were examples of artwork that had been found on OE, but never more than a few pages of written words. This discovery was unprecedented and truly remarkable.

Glandick 871 had placed the find in a transparent, element-proof cube and clutched it tightly as he made the dusty walk from the craft to the laboratory with Torlock 6096.

“So,” Torlock 6096 asked, “from a philosophical standpoint, this could be the greatest find in Genus Homo Prime history, could it not?”

Glandick 871 sighed.

“Could be … could very well be – to those who think like us. The problem is, I don’t think it much matters to the Collective. Every time we make a trip to OE, they keep telling us how many trillions of Currency Units have already been wasted and they’re weary of wasting it on us because we learn nothing new. But who knows? If we can figure out what this means, we can pass it on to those who participate in Knowledge Symposiums. If they find it useful in some historical or kitschy sense then maybe – maybe – they’ll at least give us a stipend for more missions.”

Once inside the lab, Glandick 871 placed the cube on a luminosity table and carefully lowered a translation scope over the text. The scope was able to reconstruct parts of what had been written and drawn, and the cleaning process helped remove the centuries of debris that had collected.

Translation protocols were initiated, and the pair of scientists were excited to learn they had uncovered – in chronological order – 388 pages. What they read, however, could best be described as fictitious prose.

“Considering what is written, I posit that this must have been a popular story among ancient Earth dwellers,” Glandick 871 said. “And while that has great meaning to you and I and likely the Cinder Heads, I doubt seriously that the Collective would see it as worthy of additional subdizizing. But – and just hear me out – what if we can convince them that this is the holy text to one of Earth One’s religions? There are trials, tribulations, good, evil … this is a cautionary tale, and one that ends in a measure of redemption. Let’s prepare a brief and present it to the Collective.”

Torlock 6096 was stunned.

“But we don’t really believe this, do we?” she said with brows raised. “I mean, this is a monumental discovery in its own right, and we should celebrate it. But presenting it as anything else is being deceptive. It’s not a holy book, it’s just … a book.”

Glandick 871 shrugged.

“Deceptive? I believe deception for the greater good is merely guilelessness in disguise. We know there is more to be learned about OE, but we also know we won’t have the opportunity again if we don’t take some liberties.”

The next morning the pair appeared before a small assembly of ambassadors via hologram.

“Eminences, we deeply appreciate your time today and we think it’ll be well worth it,” Glandick 871 said. “As you know from the advance material you received, our latest trip to Original Earth resulted in the discovery of 388 pages of what we  believe to be an authoritative book of scripture. After this find, we would request that we be able to return in hopes of uncovering even more books representing more faiths. There is obviously much more to the lost civilization and we feel there might also be invaluable artifacts to be uncovered.”

Members of the collective read the first passage:

The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail. The mouth was open just enough to permit a rush of water over the gills. There was little other motion: an occasional correction of the apparently aimless course by the slight raising or lowering of a pectoral fin—as a bird changes direction by dipping one wing and lifting the other.

“It appears that the deity of OE worshippers are what scientists once called Carcharodon Carcharias,” Glandick 871 said. “But more importantly, we have  learned the title of the book is JAWS, which we believe is an acronym for Journal Attesting Worship Sects. It is written by Peter Benchley, who we assume was most likely a highly placed spiritual leader. With your support – and your funding – we are confident we can excavate even more of his teachings and, thus, uncover the secrets of Original Earth.”

Carlton looked at Talia sitting on the church pew and wished he could somehow comfort her. Instead, he found himself trying to process the off-kilter thoughts that popped into his head.

The way he balled up his socks and launched them into the dresser in the bedroom, basketball style, always bemused his wife. Then again, the list of his quirks – and minor transgressions – was a long one.

Aside from the Sock Incident of 2004 (“I was aiming for the top drawer and didn’t mean to break your cherub figurine,”) there was the Failure To Put  A Second Coat of Paint On The Garage Door Incident of 2007 (“I know it looks streaky now, but after it dries it’ll probably be fine”); the Undercooked Chicken Incident of 2009 (“I’m pretty sure the meat’s supposed to be purple and slightly cool when you cook it on a gas grill”); the I Didn’t Realize Mrs. Marsh Was Looking Out Her Window When I Peed By The Side Of The House Incident of 2011 (“I’m not sure I want to live in a country where a man can’t drain the weasel without some busy-body spying on him”); and the Whole Milk Incident of 2015 (“I swear to god, I thought it was 1 percent.”)

Carlton was careless and never had an eye for details. He probably deserved to be yelled at for some of the stupid things he’d done – although Talia never yelled because she wasn’t that kind of person. She was, in fact, about the best human being he’d ever met. He, on the other hand, wanted to be a better man but just didn’t quite have the energy to get there.

Oh, over the years he’d thought of himself as a relatively funny guy, and was convinced that was his best quality. But there was more to being an adult than making people laugh (although he truly wished that was all that was required).

Beyond that, he valued his abundant leisure time, which hardly lined up to the constantly-in-motion Talia. While she could always think of things that needed to be done and was ready to jump on any task, he was thinking of ways to put off doing them.

If he wasn’t getting paid to work, he surmised, he didn’t see much reason to work at all. And once he retired from the insurance agency, he figured he had a license to flop.

Lazy streak notwithstanding, he knew he was annoying. He absent-mindedly made a whistling noise while he read, smacked his lips when he ate, slurped when he drank and had a talent for finding that last nerve to get on.

What bothered him today, though, was how little he had cared about “couple time.”

He recalled a conversation he’d had with Talia just a couple of weeks earlier.

“I’m headed to the outlet mall. Why don’t you tag along?” Talia asked.

“Nah, I’m gonna hang around the house,” Carlton whined. “Just don’t have any interest whatsoever in peopling.”

“So, in other words, you’ll just sit around, drink beer and think deep thoughts?”

“Well, actually, most of the deep thoughts will be about beer. But you know I hate shopping, so there’s no point in me going … I’d just slow you down. And, I always get distracted by that cinnamon roll store. Man, those cinnamon rolls are so good they’re sexy.”

Talia shook her head and laughed.

“Well, sorry you aren’t going with me. Maybe next time. I’ll bring you back a cinnamon roll, though.”

“Thanks, hon,” Carlton said, while grabbing for the TV remote. “You’re the best.”

Carlton’s routine involved popping open a beer at noon, eating a frozen pizza, and then concentrating on sports – or one of those ubiquitous man vs. nature shows. It was how he capped off almost every day of retirement.

While Talia liked to hole up in the den to watch something on the Hallmark Channel, Carlton much preferred to sneak away to his man cave to drink more and watch men in caves.

He knew Talia had no interest in seeing a pair of modern day pioneers kill, roast and eat Bigfoot and then wash it down with a piping hot cup of repurposed urine, so he never asked her to join him. And he had no interest in sitting through a show about star-crossed opposites who hooked up during a meet-cute, had no money, but survived on the currency of love.

Thing is, she never complained – not once. She had always accepted him the way he was, even though he had a hard time doing the same.

Especially today.

So here he was, watching her grieve at his funeral, wishing he would’ve lived long enough to say, “Sure, I’ll watch that Hallmark Christmas movie with you. It’ll be fun.”

Sadly, those were words she’d never hear from him because ghosts can’t talk to the living.

Even worse, they don’t get do-overs.