Page 6 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
“What if we tape you back together?” Delia asks, eyes wide with hope.
“Tape? As in Scotch tape? Oh boy, do I feel silly.”
“Just let me try, okay?” Delia scurries over to one of the desks where the disturbingly glowing machines sit.
She pulls out a roll of clear tape, returns, then begins to very carefully put me back as I was.
“What are those things on the desk? The glowing things?” I ask. Might as well find out in case I’m in danger.
“Oh, uh, there are a few different things. The big, flat one with the movie playing on mute right now, that’s the television. And—”
“That can’t be a television. I was an actress, did you know that? Sometimes I’d get offers from people who wanted me to return to the screen. Once a gentleman in television invited me to his home to show me the latest devices. They looked nothing like that.” I laugh at the thought. If we had to do our hair and makeup to be in pictures likethat, then some of the gals I worked with would quit. You can see the pores in their skin! They already grumbled enough about Technicolor.
“You forget that it’s been eighty years, Pearl. Technology has changed. Makeup technology too.”
“Oh, right.” I laugh to try to cover up my embarrassment. “Well, what about that other thing. The smaller one?”
“That’s my computer. I mostly play games on it, but it can do a lot of stuff. Honestly, Idon’t even know where to start. I’d have to explain the Internet first, I think.” Delia closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Wow, where to begin?”
“Alright, well, what is the computer itself? You can start there. I know a television is for watching shows, but I’m not understanding what a computer is. I’ve heard the word, but I don’t know how it applies to games and nets.”
“It’s—okay, you see, when you—uh, fuck, I have no idea how to explain a computer. You just turn on the power and type and it does a bunch of stuff…I don’t know. That’s not my area of expertise.”
She scrunches up her face in clear embarrassment before letting out a laugh that has a hint of a sea lion bark to it. It’s such an odd laugh that I can’t help but to laugh in return.
She shakes her head at me. “Why are you laughing?”
“You sound a bit like Sparky, the sea lion I worked with on the film ‘Here Comes Mister Fish!’ I won an award for that one.”
“Hey!” Her eyebrows pinch inward as she frowns. “Don’t make fun of my laugh.”
“I’m not making fun. Well, not too much fun. I like your laugh.” I rest two flat fingers under her chin and look her directly in her lovely green eyes. “I think you’re sweet, Delia. You've got pretty peepers too.”
Fast as can be her face turns hot, red as the devil’s underwear. My goodness. When I pull my hand away, I can see her pulse racing in her long, thin neck. Her eyes have stayed locked on mine, but her pupils have certainly grown.
She slides the edge of her thumb along the thin side of my hand without looking away from me for even a second. Her voice has a breathless quality to it when she says, “No papercut. Nice.”
My goodness indeed. Delia here has a crush on me, despite my dimensional predicament. I clear my throat. Back in my day the good citizens of Ghostlight Falls were very clear about how we felt about that sort of thing. She didn’t tell me how long she’s been living here; she may be new to town for all I know. I don’t know if she knows our ways. Best she knows now how things work around here.
“Delia. I need to ask you something. Be honest.” I smooth the skirtof my light pink baseball uniform and straighten my posture. “Are you—well, do you play for theother team? If you understand.”
Delia only looks confused. “I have no idea what you mean. Iworkat the Wonder Balls stadium; I don’t actually play baseball.”
“No. I mean—well, I’ll just say it. Honey, are you queer? It’s alright to tell me. You have my full support.”
Delia starts laughing so hard she falls backward. She lays on her back until her laughs turn into coughs. I, on the other hand, do not find it amusing in the slightest.
“I don’t see why it’s funny. I’m asking a serious question. If you aren’t willing to answer, that’s fine, I understand, and apologize for overstepping. I do not, however, apologize for taking the subject seriously.”
“I just didn’t expect it,” she replies, out of breath.
She sits back up, her expression much more appropriate. “It’s not really something you blurt out to people you’ve just met, you know? I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. Oh, I finished with your shoe by the way.”
I look at my foot and see that it’s taped back together quite well. Obviously, you can see the tape, but Delia matched up the torn places seamlessly. I flex my foot, and everything moves together just fine. An extra crunchy sound from the cellophane, but nothing I can’t tolerate.
“Why, thank you! It really worked!”
“No problem!” She grins wide before squinting sheepishly. “And yes, I’m queer. I’m happily gay and everyone around here knows it. Does that bother you?”
