Sparks flashed, and Wiley appeared under the tripod, and he rolled, smoldering. He tumbled onto oak leaves, acorns, pine needles, and grass. Wiley stopped on his back and took a deep breath of Earth’s heavy air. He went into a coughing fit like the time he tried to smoke a cigarette. He braced one hand on a nearby pine tree until he could breathe.
Then his thoughts shifted to the ruby. With steam rising from him, he hurried and untied the ruby shard. He worried a mirror copy of the tripod might still exist on Deamlon, and he didn’t know what Amora might try. Relieved that he had possession of the red glass, he put it in his pocket.
The familiar firm, square smartphone, bulged his back pocket, and he retrieved it. The time on the face read, May 4th, 2018, 10:16 P.M.
“What?” He had made sure to note the time when he left. He had memorized it – May 4th, 2018, 10:15 P.M. “How long did the trip to Deamlon take?” Wiley asked himself. “From the time I met Yini, through the fight with Amora, and back here, how much time passed? Two hours?” Wiley nodded. “I’m sticking with two hours.” Wiley prided himself on having a good sense of time.
The smartphone read one minute had passed – one minute.
Yini! The last he saw, she battled Etter birds, and one had lifted her by her bedroll and carried her over the treetops. “I need to get back to Deamlon and find her,” he said in the darkness. He could still taste her kiss and remember her soft lips – a kiss that put stars in his eyes.
The Queen’s fireball burned away Wiley’s blue shirt and half his blue jeans. Red skin on his back and leg shined in the moonlight and stung in the damp air. It hurt to move, but he limped to his trailer. After hiding the ruby shard, he stumbled down his plywood ramp and went around the corner of the trailer. The hospital lights shined through the trees.
“Yini called me ‘young sorcerer.’” Wiley said and scoffed. His burns didn’t hurt much until he tried to move or the wind blew over them. I need to see a doctor. “You can’t find a good sorcerer when you need one.” He laughed, then grimaced, but couldn’t go to the hospital – they ask too many questions, and he didn’t have Obamacare.
He held his phone and touched the icon for Rhonda, and her bright smiling face glowed in the dark while he waited. She answered.
“Wiley! How did it go, Rocket Man?”
“Rhonda! I need your help.”
“I’m off work, and I’m in the rear parking lot by my car. What’s up?”
“The tripod worked. I went to the planet Deamlon, and the Witch Queen blasted me with a fireball. I’m injured. Amora burned me. She scorched my back and down my left side.”
“Wiley, are you hurting yourself and making this up? Never mind. I’m coming. Look for my headlights on the fire trail. I’ll take you to the ER,” Rhonda said.
“No! No Emergency Room. I can’t apply for Medicaid or Obamacare tonight. I’m a ghost. They’ll ask questions.”
“Okay. I’ll take you home with me.”
***
Rhonda’s Mom, June Funkhouser, a scrub nurse at the hospital, also had red hair and freckles all over. Wiley connected the dots about how Rhonda got the volunteer job. June removed Wiley’s ruined clothes and put him in the bathtub. She concluded Wiley had small patches of second-degree burns, but he didn’t need a hospital.
June washed his back and leg with a soft surgical scrub pad of antimicrobial soap from her first aid kit. She said she did it to remove the burnt skin cells and blisters. She rinsed him well, dried, and smeared his back and burned thigh with bacitracin.
Standing nude in the bathroom, Wiley closed his eyes and held the towel over his privates. June applied ointment to his butt cheek and the back of his leg. She smiled and said, “This is no time for shyness, Wiley. Your body needs medical care.”
Wiley took a deep breath and sighed.
“Goodness! What was that about?”
“Every woman I meet tells me to grow up. It’s not that, though. They either read me wrong, or I’m making the wrong impression. I’ve lived alone for so long; I don’t know what to do or say. It’s frustrating.”
June stood and faced Wiley cocking her head and looking like Rhonda. “Relax, Wiley. Since you’ve stopped living like a hermit, your romantic life will catch up soon. If you share your feelings like you did with me right now, you’ll make up for the lost time, I’m sure.” She smiled and left.
Rhonda and her Mom fixed a bed on the sofa for Wiley. He lay on his face with his arms stretched over the sofa’s arm. He thumbed the smartphone and stared at the home screen. Wiley pondered the events on Deamlon when a fact landed in his thoughts as powerful as one of Amora’s fireballs.
He talked to himself. “The trip to Deamlon took two hours, and when I crossed back, it read that the trip took one minute! One minute on Earth equals two hours on Deamlon. It’s 12:15 A.M. Two hours have passed, so an hour on Earth breaks down into one hundred and twenty minutes. If one minute here equals two hours there, then ten days have passed on Deamlon in these two hours since I left!”
Rhonda touched Wiley’s shoulder, and he jumped. “Damn, scaredy-cat!”
“It’s dark in here. The only light comes from the streetlamp.”
“It’s midnight. Why are you still up and talking to yourself?” Rhonda asked.
Wiley twisted and rolled over, making a distressing face, but he managed to get on his side to talk. She sat on the edge of the cushion. “Why are you up?” he asked.
Rhonda wore a long, loose t-shirt and pajama shorts. Wiley wore a t-shirt and clean jeans he retrieved from the trailer. “Couldn’t sleep thinking about what it felt like, going there and fighting the Queen,” Rhonda said.
“You believe me? Look, we need to whisper, or we’ll wake your Mom and Dad,” Wiley said.
“Yeah. It’s why I’m here. Come on up to my bedroom so we can talk,” Rhonda said.
Wiley tossed back the comforter, then Rhonda offered her hand to help him stand. They tip-toed down the hall toward the main bathroom and turned up the staircase. A couple of steps squeaked, and they paused, listening.
Once inside her room, Wiley had to stop to get his bearings. It appeared like Rhonda had set off an Elvis bomb in her bedroom. She had put Elvis posters on the wall. She put Hawaiian leis over a small lampshade with a Blue Hawaii movie motif in the far corner. A velvet Elvis tapestry hung on the wall above the headboard. And, above the small lamp, Rhonda tacked up pamphlets from the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club.
Her thick, soft duvet had a giant print of Elvis from pillows to the footboard. He sang into a microphone in a white, glittered jumpsuit. “So, you’re a Beatles fan,” Wiley said, grinning.
Rhonda slapped his arm. “It’s ELVIS, asshole.” She went to her nightstand and slipped out a pack of cigarettes. She raised the window beside the nightstand and sat on the edge of her bed. Wiley went to the other side and took a seat.
“Let’s talk while you smoke,” Wiley said.
“Sure,” she said and snapped her lighter shut. She blew smoke out her window.
“The trip to Deamlon took two hours, but when I got back, my phone said one minute passed. One minute, Rhonda. A minute passing here means two hours on Deamlon. In the two hours here, having my wounds dressed, ten days have passed on Deamlon. Ten days! I’ve got to go.”
Rhonda pronounced the syllables. “Deem-lon. Is that the name of the planet?”
“Yes. And the Queen, my Mom, her body has changed,” Wiley said, shaking his head, “How it happened, I don’t know. Anyway, I need to go. Where are my shoes?”
“Your Mom, for real? You told the truth about the fight,” Rhonda said. Wiley headed out of the room.
Rhonda put her cigarette out and hurried around the bed, and grabbed his arm. “Wait, Mr. Spaceman. You’re not going anywhere because I need to put some more ointment on your back. You’re in no shape to face down the dragon-woman again.” Rhonda searched his eyes trying to catch his stare, to calm him, but he looked down and away. She turned him by his shoulders.
“Rhonda,” he said, now giving her a level stare. “Staying is not an option.”
She studied him for a moment. “I get it. You’re not telling me everything.”
Wiley bit his lip, frowned, and locked eyes with her. He nodded. “Yes, I’m not telling you everything.”
“You met a space girl out there, didn’t you,” Rhonda said, arching one eyebrow. She sighed and touched Wiley’s cheek with her fingertips. “It’s okay if you have, sweet thing. Why should I mind? I’m proud of you for taking the step. We’ll drive back to your tripod, but you’ve got to do something for me first.”
“Sure, Rhonda, what do you want?”
Rhonda gripped Wiley’s blue jeans by the waist and took two steps backward, pulling him toward the bed. Wiley grinned.
“You’ll figure it out.” Rhonda crossed her hands at her shirttail and snatched her sleeping shirt over her head. Her huge freckled and bouncy boobs fell free. Her voluminous, silky red hair fell on her face.
Wiley raised his arms, letting Rhonda pull off his t-shirt. She let out a satisfied sigh as she pressed her breasts onto his bare torso. “See?” she asked. “It’s not so hard, but you are.” Rhonda pressed her palm against the bulge in Wiley’s jeans.
“Oh my God, Rhonda,” Wiley said with his eyes closed. He had never had a woman’s body pressed on his, and she nibbled his neck while she squeezed and stroked his crotch. “I can’t do this. I need you to stop, please.”
“Stop? Why?” she asked and stroked him through his jeans. She kissed his lips, inserting her tongue, then unsnapped his jeans and pulled down the zipper. She slid her hand down the top of his underwear and said, “Ooops.”
“Wow, Wiley. I thought it would be an apple stem, but you’ve got a banana in there.” She took her voice down to a whisper. “Let me peel it back.” She started giving him slow strokes. Wiley started rocking his hips with her strokes, and it made her smile. “You like that,” Rhonda said and kissed his neck.
I want Rhonda, but it feels wrong. Damn it! I can’t betray Yini! Wiley squeezed his eyes shut and pulled out her hand. “Stop! That’s enough!” Wiley stepped back and said, “I have, I mean, we have, um, the space girl. Rhonda, her name’s Yini, and we kissed. Give me a chance to see if I… if I love her.” Wiley said, gesturing “stop” with his palm.
***
Rhonda grabbed a light jacket and her small knapsack from the top of her closet. “Can I get you a sleeping bag from the garage?” she asked.
“No, I’m going to grab my ruck from the trailer. It’s a ‘go bag’ I keep handy in case I ever need to jump and run,” Wiley said, using air quotes on ‘go bag.’
“That’s smart, living the way you do. Okay, I’m ready. Why didn’t you take the go bag the first time?”
“I left in a hurry and forgot. Look, I’m glad you’re coming, Rhonda. Remember, you can check out the planet, walk around a bit, and return if you want to.”
Rhonda smiled. “I didn’t want to at first, but you convinced me. Anyway, how many girls in my high school can say they went to another planet?”
“I’d keep that to myself,” Wiley said. “Your folks will have you in therapy,” he said, smiling.
Rhonda stood in front of Wiley, holding her bag, ready to go. “Look, Wiley, about before when I pressed my tits on you and seduced you. I’m proud you shut us down, shut me down, I mean. A man has never told me no, and it shocked me. You stayed faithful to your Yini, and I love you even more for it,” Rhonda said as her blue eyes grew wet. She turned her head and swiped a tear.
Wiley gripped her shoulders and turned her facing him. “You said you love me more for it, and I want you to know you have a place in my heart, too, Rhonda.” He pulled her to him, and they hugged while Rhonda sniffed.
As they parted, Wiley kissed her forehead as she smiled at him. Wiley said, “You know what? You’re brave for trying this.”
Rhonda sighed and said, “Brave, me? Let’s go before I change my mind.”
They parked in the hospital back parking lot, and Rhonda killed the lights. “I’ll leave the car here since I’m coming right back. I don’t want to leave it down there in the fire lane. If it’s private property, it will get towed.”
“Private property? I never checked. Anyway, I know how you hate tromping through the brush. It’s dark, so I’ll guide you.”
The light from the two flashlights bobbed through weeds and forest as they walked the fire road. Wiley took her hand at the blackberry vines that had tangled her before. He held her hand high and walked her around them, carrying the flashlights with the other. “See, it’s not so hard.”
They laughed. “I said that didn’t I?” Rhonda asked, “GOD! I say dumb things when I’m hot.”
“I didn’t mind. Let me run in the trailer and get the ruby and my rucksack.” He did, and they stood at the tripod in the dark. Rhonda held the flashlight while Wiley tied the ruby to the cord. She handed him his phone.
“I’ve had the phone six months now. It couldn’t have been coincidences. Someone from Deamlon, my father, for example, must have put this phone where I’d find it. How long are six months on Deamlon? Can you do the math?”
“You think the phone is magic. How did an android phone wind up on another planet? Anyway, the math’s not that hard. If a minute equals two hours as you said, then six months here works out to sixty years on Deamlon,” Rhonda said. “I figured it out. If they abandoned you when you were six, that’s one thousand, six hundred and eighty years ago on Deamlon.”
“Dang, you’re like the hot girl calculator or something.”
Rhonda giggled. “I’ve got more than a hot bod and red hair, you know.”
“I remember. You’re going to make the big splash!”
“Don’t make fun of me!” She stepped toward him with her lips pooched.
“Okay, okay, don’t get mad,” Wiley said with his palms up in a fake defensive pose. He went to the apparatus and studied the stars. How can Mom still live after a thousand and some odd years? And how can Yini claim the phone belongs to her? Yini!
“We need to go if we’re going,” Rhonda said. “It’s 2:30 A.M. Four hours have passed now, twenty days on Deamlon. Your girl will have married somebody else and have gotten pregnant by now.”
“I pity the fool,” Wiley said and laughed.
Rhonda laughed. “I’ve not heard that in a long time.” Wiley walked over and stood behind Rhonda.
“Are you ready?”
“Okay, remind me again. There’s Rabbits, Myn, and Elves on Deamlon,” Rhonda said.
“Correct.”
“What do Elves look like?” she asked.
“I haven’t seen one, but Yini said they are all tall, thin, and have blond curly hair, and they look like clones of one another. Yini said you can’t tell girls from boys. All right, we’re ready,” Wiley said.
“You said I must run and push. Which way do I go?” Rhonda asked.
“You’ll do fine. I’ll guide you. Wait for the clock alarm,” Wiley said. He stood behind her listening to the night sounds – the night birds and mice, a hoot owl in the distance.
RIIIIING! The blaring alarm drowned the forest sounds and filled the night. The ruby shard popped toward the North Star, Polaris.
“Now?” Rhonda asked, looking over her shoulder at Wiley.
“Second star to the right, and straight on till morning!” He pushed Rhonda’s shoulders, guiding her. When they ducked under the tripod, sparks jumped, and Rhonda screamed. They ran headlong into the rainbow pane, pushed, and sparks flew.
“Cover your hair!” Wiley shouted. He pulled her denim jacket over her hair from behind and continued to pump his legs.
They popped through the rainbow membrane, and he pulled Rhonda close. They fell, bouncing and tumbling through the spacetime tunnel. Rhonda buried her face in his chest and squeezed her eyes shut as they plummeted, twirling.
They fell into the stretchy membrane on Deamlon. Once their feet landed on the ground, they pushed under the tripod in the pristine forest. The rainbow membrane wrapped them. “Push through it!” Wiley shouted. Sparks crackled as they both pressed hard, and they grunted as the rainbow tore, and it popped.
They rolled onto lush green grass in the same place Wiley had landed before. The white star shined bright, peeking through the trunks of the trees. The big silver star had risen moments ago – dawn on Deamlon – and the beauty overwhelmed him. It sliced the forest with sparkling light, making the green grass shimmer and glint from the dew.
Rhonda broke her fall with her hands and rolled. On her knees, she raked her fingers through her steaming hair. Wiley tumbled on his back and slapped out a few smoky sparks on his blue jean cuffs. Rhonda took a deep breath and coughed.
He rose and looked around. “We’re here, on Deamlon! You’ll get used to the light air in a minute,” he said. He frowned, realizing the pain from having rolled on his burnt back and leg. “It’s morning.”
“We did it!” Rhonda said, getting to her feet. “Wow. We’re on another planet. And look at the gorgeous grass and sunshine! Now I wish I’d brought my blanket and sunscreen. I could lay out for a while and work on my tan.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled at him. “You could do my back.”
“Rhonda, twenty days have passed! I need to look for Yini.”
Rhonda paused, holding up her hand. “Hush! I hear something. It’s a man singing!”
Wiley corrected her. “It’s a Myn singing. And I hear it, too.”
