Page 31 of Shifting Years
Was she actually flirting with me? I wasn't ugly but girls knew making a move on me was a waste of time. Her thin hand rested on my shoulder but not touching my skin. "Have we met?"
"I have a girlfriend," I said, too loudly, since other people glanced up from paperback books and newspapers.
Her tiny nose wrinkled. "I smell garbage!" Her hands went up to her face and she jumped up and down in place. After screaming into her mouth, she smiled. "No, you don't."
"Ihavea girl," I said.
"Funny, so do I. Except…" She panned around in a quick circle. "She's wearing black, but I don't know what she looks like."
"Right…"
An older woman's voice called out from behind me. "It's me, Penny." From the tired tone, I expected a woman in her fifties or forties, but Penny's tallgirlfriendwas thirty at most. Unlike Penny, she wore no makeup but was still pretty. The short, curly brown hair suited her.
She held out a necklace with a metallic 'Mary' at the end.
"Oh good. I remember my mate's hot, and I was hoping it was you. Come here, beautiful."
I came to the bookstore looking for something I needed but didn't expect two women kissing while a gay man stared. "You're, uh…"
Mary's eyebrows rose.
"Lesbian?"
She smiled. "Thought you might go for the other word."
Penny whispered with a smile. "I smelled garbage the moment he lied!"
Politeness said I should introduce myself. I held out my hand to Mary, and Penny slapped it away, frowning. Her shoulders slumped. "Sorry."
"It's fine," said Mary slowly. "If he's what I think he is, we don't have what the other wants." She turned to me. "Just let Penny shake hands for us, it's better that way."
With most women, I've felt nothing from their touch. Slight tingles went up my arm while the blonde's face twisted in concentration. "I heard this gets easier." After mumbling more to herself, she spoke. "You're afraid… of being alone. You want a man to hold, love, and care for you."
Mary glanced at the books in my hand. They were the ones I intended to turn in for store credit. "Chariots of the GodsandHow to Make ESP Work for You." She turned to her girlfriend before facing me again. "Well, I don't know about aliens, but if you want magic…"
I repeated her last word as a question.
Instinct had me grab a loose paper and pencil for her. Quickly, she drew a simple roadmap ending near the Texas-Louisiana state line with 'Whispering Hills' written at the end.
"No address?"
"Comes from living in LA," she explained. "Best way to give directions."
"I lived there too," I said. "We still gave out street addresses."
She smiled, maybe from a shared bond as a former LA resident. "If you're meant to be there, you'll find it. Sometimes people need a nudge: like a thought, a postcard, or even a vague map."
"What is this place? A commune?" I came here to forget about the sixties, so was it pulling me back?
Penny whispered, "It's a way for people to pull each other. If someone is waiting for you, you don't have to be alone anymore." She shrugged. "If you're the first, you can call him there."
Mary had a serious but still friendly aura, except now. "Either I did the best thing to give you a happy life, or I'll make you miserable if you find us again. If so, I'm sorry."
Penny said nothing but hugged Mary hard as if imagining a universe where she never found her girlfriend.
***
"Right," said Kim. "The Blessing or The Curse depending on who you talk to."
