My Summer Part 2
"Wow," Maria said, looking around as she entered the sweet-smelling shop. "This place looks amazing."
And despite all her doubts about horoscopes, tarot cards and aromatherapy, which was Maria's forte, Liz had to agree. The tiny shop was crammed to the ceilings with antique clothes, tiny bottles of essential oils, beaded bracelets and ornaments. She slowly walked over to a rickety shelf and picked up a minute carving of a devilish looking pixie. Its wooden eyes were strangely expressive, giving off an air of mischief and misbehaviour. Her attention was soon diverted by a flicker of light to the right of her, where stood the most amazing object that she had ever seen.
It was a spherical shape, and was made out of a substance that Liz couldn't quite identify. What was the most amazing thing about it, however, was the colour of it. One moment a midnight-blue, the next, a deep, violent purple. It didn't even have to move for the colour to change, the swirls seemed totally natural.
"Wow, look at this, Maria," Liz said softly, calling her friend over from the aromatherapy olis. "What d you think this is?"
Maria came over and looked at the item. "I don't know, but it's beautiful. Look inside it, Liz. You see all the shapes?"
"That is a dangerous object," said a voice from behind the girls. "It can do so many things, yet on some days none at all."
Liz and Maria turned quickly; if there was one thing that the past year had taught them, it was to be alert of strangers. The woman standing behind them didn't seem a threat to them, however. She was fragile-looking, with waist-length silver hair. She wore long flowing purple cotton trousers, and a beaded waistcoat.
"Do you like my shop?" the lady asked them. Liz and Maria nodded, and she smiled. "A lifetime of wares to be sold...some of these are my own possessions, yet why should I let them go to waste at my home, when new people can gain enjoyment from them?"
"Did you ever own this?" Liz asked eagerly. Something...something that she couldn't define was drawing her to it, it seemed to be that it was her own.
The owner of the shop inclined her head. "Yes, yes that is my own. I found it when I was travelling through the desert, many years ago with my husband."
"You found it in the desert?" Maria gasped. "Isn't that a bit..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Liz knew what she was thinking. The aliens in the community had found so many things to do with their background in the desert. Could this mysterious object have anything to do with their friends?
"Oh no, not actually in the desert. In a little shop, a lot like this one actually. I saw it, and just knew that I had to have it." She sighed, her eyes faraway as if focusing on a time gone before. "Henry bought it for me straight away. It had pride of place in our family room for such a long time."
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to sell it if it has so much sentimental value?" Liz asked quietly. The lady smiled, and said,
"I just thought that someone else might like it. After all, I'm just an old lady, and I have so much to try when Henry retires. We're going to go paragliding for our fortieth wedding anniversary."
"Wow, that's great," Maria said.
"I think I'll buy this, if that's okay," Liz said, turning it over and over in her hands, fascinated by the inner swirls inside the circle.
"Of course it's okay, my dear. And call me Sylvia. I feel as though you two girls are my friends. That will be $30, please."
Liz rifled through her purse,and eventualy came up with the thirty dollars she needed. Handing it over, she said, "I'm Liz,and this is Maria."
"Nice to meet you Liz and Maria." Sylvia said. "Here is your purchase, Liz," she said, handing over the bag with the sphere inside.
"Do you have any idea what it's called?" Maria asked. "I'm going to feel really stupid if I say 'Please can I see the weird circle thing?'"
Sylvia laughed. "The man that I bought it from over thirty years ago told me it was called a 'Truth-teller'. If you have a certain inner spirit, or gift, you can look into it's depths and find out anything that you wish to know about what has gone before, but never the future."
"Did you ever see anything?" Liz asked excitedly.
"Oh yes, but only once." Sylvia said mysteriously. "My husband had told me that he'd gone to the bowling alley, but I was suspicious to say the least. I looked into the Teller, and behold! I saw that he had been planning a surprise to celebrate the anniversary of our first kiss."
Maria and Liz looked at each other, wondering if maybe the Teller wasn't all they had thought it would be.
"Or maybe it was the fact that I have an exceptionally honed wife's intutition, and a fantastic memory for dates," Sylvia said. "I always confuse the two. Anyway, I'll be seeing you again, girls. Have a nice day!"
The three had been there for three hours, searching through the vast expanse of New Mexico desert. Isobel had found an arrowhead and some beads, Max had found a tiny knife, and Michael had found nothing at all. They were getting desperate, the June day was so humid that already they were exhausted.
"Look, I know we said a week out here, but this is ridiculous Max," Isobel complained, wearily running a hand through her sweat-soaked hair. "It's June, boiling hot, and we've found enough things to make me believe that we're not searching an alien crash site but a Native American burial site, or war site, or something. As much as this is important to me..."
"We just want to go home, Max," Michael finished. "We all have issues back at Roswell that we shouldn't have left this long. You know that as well as I do. Perhaps we can come back later in the month."
"There'll be too many tourists here by then, all wanting to see some authentic desert," Max replied tersely, digging up a small patch of dirt next to a low hanging cave entrance. "We can't just give up now. If we leave it too late, then some unsuspecting housewife from Ohio will pick it up and use it as a doorstop or something."
"Isabel, can you think of anything distinctive about the area where you saw it in your dream?" Michael asked impatiently. Even though he would have died rather than admit it to anyone, he wanted to see Maria. He knew that she would have loved to come along and help with the search, and have made it more fun, no doubt. And even though he was normally terrible at picking up emotions from other people, he knew that Isobel and Max were missing Alex and Liz too, more than they would care to let other people know about.
"I can't think of anything, except that it was quite near civilization. I could see something that looked like a chimney in the distance. Not industrial though. Just a regular chimney."
The dream had scared Isobel when she had dreamt it the previous night. All about a heavy orb-like object that pulsated with shimmering, moving colours. When she had drawn closer to it, she had seen something that still haunted her over twelve hours later.
She had seen what could only have been her home planet. Sulphur yellow skies with red clouds floating lazily across it. Orange trees growing from arrid ground. And standing right in the front of her view, two figures. Staring at her, with a look of recognition. Her parents.
Isobel could have stayed in her dream forever, taking in the first view of home that she had ever seen. And she had stayed in her dream for what seemed like hours, watching as her parents vainly tried to communicate with their daughter in a language that she didn't understand.
But then, a loud, long boom had sounded. It nearly took Isobel off her feet, but her parents seemed unaffected. They walked away, bringing Isobel and the Truth Teller with them. After walking a short distance, they arrived at a huge transporter. The spaceship which had crashed in Roswell. In the year 1947.
Just as her parents turned to say goodbye to her, Isobel woke in her bed, at the Evans's house. Knowing what she must tell Max and Michael, and what they must find. They had left Roswell less than an hour after Isobel had woken from her fateful dream. Only time for Isobel to pack a bag, write the notes to Alex and Liz and ask her adoptive mother to take them to the Crashdown Cafe. Time for Max to invent a Science experiment that meant taking the three of them out of town for a week, under the pretense that they wanted to get all their homework out of the way so that they could enjoy the summer. Time for Michael to write a letter to Maria, which said so little, but conveyed so much.
Max looked at Isobel, and sighed. Why was this only important to him? It seemed that Michael would rather be at his job at the Crashdown where he could stare at a certain Miss DeLuca all day. Despite Isobel being the person who had actually seen the Truth teller, she was also being unusually vague, wanting to be home with Alex, listening to his testing of all the novelty cheese snacks specially made to sell in Roswell. And yes, there was no denying it. Max missed Liz so much that it made his heart hurt.
They hadn't been together as a couple for some time, about five months. Yet still the hurt was there as acutely as it had been the day that Max told Liz it was too dangerous for them to be together. He only wanted to protect her, but he ended up causing her more hurt than he would have done if they had stayed together. In the past two months, they had endeavoured to be friends, but it wasn't working. Their names were still linked together, and both of them still believed that they were linked. Linked by the soul.
Decisions, decisions. His heritage, or his only love?
"Look, this obviously isn't working," Max said heavily. "None of us want to be here, and it's too hot to do anything really."
Michael snorted, and dug out a waterbottle from his battered rucksack. "You can say that again, Maxwell. I know we want to find the Truth Teller, but can we please go home?"
Max sighed. "Let's get back to the truck."
To be continued...
"Wow," Maria said, looking around as she entered the sweet-smelling shop. "This place looks amazing."
And despite all her doubts about horoscopes, tarot cards and aromatherapy, which was Maria's forte, Liz had to agree. The tiny shop was crammed to the ceilings with antique clothes, tiny bottles of essential oils, beaded bracelets and ornaments. She slowly walked over to a rickety shelf and picked up a minute carving of a devilish looking pixie. Its wooden eyes were strangely expressive, giving off an air of mischief and misbehaviour. Her attention was soon diverted by a flicker of light to the right of her, where stood the most amazing object that she had ever seen.
It was a spherical shape, and was made out of a substance that Liz couldn't quite identify. What was the most amazing thing about it, however, was the colour of it. One moment a midnight-blue, the next, a deep, violent purple. It didn't even have to move for the colour to change, the swirls seemed totally natural.
"Wow, look at this, Maria," Liz said softly, calling her friend over from the aromatherapy olis. "What d you think this is?"
Maria came over and looked at the item. "I don't know, but it's beautiful. Look inside it, Liz. You see all the shapes?"
"That is a dangerous object," said a voice from behind the girls. "It can do so many things, yet on some days none at all."
Liz and Maria turned quickly; if there was one thing that the past year had taught them, it was to be alert of strangers. The woman standing behind them didn't seem a threat to them, however. She was fragile-looking, with waist-length silver hair. She wore long flowing purple cotton trousers, and a beaded waistcoat.
"Do you like my shop?" the lady asked them. Liz and Maria nodded, and she smiled. "A lifetime of wares to be sold...some of these are my own possessions, yet why should I let them go to waste at my home, when new people can gain enjoyment from them?"
"Did you ever own this?" Liz asked eagerly. Something...something that she couldn't define was drawing her to it, it seemed to be that it was her own.
The owner of the shop inclined her head. "Yes, yes that is my own. I found it when I was travelling through the desert, many years ago with my husband."
"You found it in the desert?" Maria gasped. "Isn't that a bit..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Liz knew what she was thinking. The aliens in the community had found so many things to do with their background in the desert. Could this mysterious object have anything to do with their friends?
"Oh no, not actually in the desert. In a little shop, a lot like this one actually. I saw it, and just knew that I had to have it." She sighed, her eyes faraway as if focusing on a time gone before. "Henry bought it for me straight away. It had pride of place in our family room for such a long time."
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to sell it if it has so much sentimental value?" Liz asked quietly. The lady smiled, and said,
"I just thought that someone else might like it. After all, I'm just an old lady, and I have so much to try when Henry retires. We're going to go paragliding for our fortieth wedding anniversary."
"Wow, that's great," Maria said.
"I think I'll buy this, if that's okay," Liz said, turning it over and over in her hands, fascinated by the inner swirls inside the circle.
"Of course it's okay, my dear. And call me Sylvia. I feel as though you two girls are my friends. That will be $30, please."
Liz rifled through her purse,and eventualy came up with the thirty dollars she needed. Handing it over, she said, "I'm Liz,and this is Maria."
"Nice to meet you Liz and Maria." Sylvia said. "Here is your purchase, Liz," she said, handing over the bag with the sphere inside.
"Do you have any idea what it's called?" Maria asked. "I'm going to feel really stupid if I say 'Please can I see the weird circle thing?'"
Sylvia laughed. "The man that I bought it from over thirty years ago told me it was called a 'Truth-teller'. If you have a certain inner spirit, or gift, you can look into it's depths and find out anything that you wish to know about what has gone before, but never the future."
"Did you ever see anything?" Liz asked excitedly.
"Oh yes, but only once." Sylvia said mysteriously. "My husband had told me that he'd gone to the bowling alley, but I was suspicious to say the least. I looked into the Teller, and behold! I saw that he had been planning a surprise to celebrate the anniversary of our first kiss."
Maria and Liz looked at each other, wondering if maybe the Teller wasn't all they had thought it would be.
"Or maybe it was the fact that I have an exceptionally honed wife's intutition, and a fantastic memory for dates," Sylvia said. "I always confuse the two. Anyway, I'll be seeing you again, girls. Have a nice day!"
The three had been there for three hours, searching through the vast expanse of New Mexico desert. Isobel had found an arrowhead and some beads, Max had found a tiny knife, and Michael had found nothing at all. They were getting desperate, the June day was so humid that already they were exhausted.
"Look, I know we said a week out here, but this is ridiculous Max," Isobel complained, wearily running a hand through her sweat-soaked hair. "It's June, boiling hot, and we've found enough things to make me believe that we're not searching an alien crash site but a Native American burial site, or war site, or something. As much as this is important to me..."
"We just want to go home, Max," Michael finished. "We all have issues back at Roswell that we shouldn't have left this long. You know that as well as I do. Perhaps we can come back later in the month."
"There'll be too many tourists here by then, all wanting to see some authentic desert," Max replied tersely, digging up a small patch of dirt next to a low hanging cave entrance. "We can't just give up now. If we leave it too late, then some unsuspecting housewife from Ohio will pick it up and use it as a doorstop or something."
"Isabel, can you think of anything distinctive about the area where you saw it in your dream?" Michael asked impatiently. Even though he would have died rather than admit it to anyone, he wanted to see Maria. He knew that she would have loved to come along and help with the search, and have made it more fun, no doubt. And even though he was normally terrible at picking up emotions from other people, he knew that Isobel and Max were missing Alex and Liz too, more than they would care to let other people know about.
"I can't think of anything, except that it was quite near civilization. I could see something that looked like a chimney in the distance. Not industrial though. Just a regular chimney."
The dream had scared Isobel when she had dreamt it the previous night. All about a heavy orb-like object that pulsated with shimmering, moving colours. When she had drawn closer to it, she had seen something that still haunted her over twelve hours later.
She had seen what could only have been her home planet. Sulphur yellow skies with red clouds floating lazily across it. Orange trees growing from arrid ground. And standing right in the front of her view, two figures. Staring at her, with a look of recognition. Her parents.
Isobel could have stayed in her dream forever, taking in the first view of home that she had ever seen. And she had stayed in her dream for what seemed like hours, watching as her parents vainly tried to communicate with their daughter in a language that she didn't understand.
But then, a loud, long boom had sounded. It nearly took Isobel off her feet, but her parents seemed unaffected. They walked away, bringing Isobel and the Truth Teller with them. After walking a short distance, they arrived at a huge transporter. The spaceship which had crashed in Roswell. In the year 1947.
Just as her parents turned to say goodbye to her, Isobel woke in her bed, at the Evans's house. Knowing what she must tell Max and Michael, and what they must find. They had left Roswell less than an hour after Isobel had woken from her fateful dream. Only time for Isobel to pack a bag, write the notes to Alex and Liz and ask her adoptive mother to take them to the Crashdown Cafe. Time for Max to invent a Science experiment that meant taking the three of them out of town for a week, under the pretense that they wanted to get all their homework out of the way so that they could enjoy the summer. Time for Michael to write a letter to Maria, which said so little, but conveyed so much.
Max looked at Isobel, and sighed. Why was this only important to him? It seemed that Michael would rather be at his job at the Crashdown where he could stare at a certain Miss DeLuca all day. Despite Isobel being the person who had actually seen the Truth teller, she was also being unusually vague, wanting to be home with Alex, listening to his testing of all the novelty cheese snacks specially made to sell in Roswell. And yes, there was no denying it. Max missed Liz so much that it made his heart hurt.
They hadn't been together as a couple for some time, about five months. Yet still the hurt was there as acutely as it had been the day that Max told Liz it was too dangerous for them to be together. He only wanted to protect her, but he ended up causing her more hurt than he would have done if they had stayed together. In the past two months, they had endeavoured to be friends, but it wasn't working. Their names were still linked together, and both of them still believed that they were linked. Linked by the soul.
Decisions, decisions. His heritage, or his only love?
"Look, this obviously isn't working," Max said heavily. "None of us want to be here, and it's too hot to do anything really."
Michael snorted, and dug out a waterbottle from his battered rucksack. "You can say that again, Maxwell. I know we want to find the Truth Teller, but can we please go home?"
Max sighed. "Let's get back to the truck."
To be continued...