Party Favors and Real Prizes
Chapter 9
IX
Michael and Max walked back toward town together. It took forty-five minutes, but there was no hurry now.
"You came to make sure I wasn't getting in trouble, didn't you, Max?"
Max grinned. "You? Get in trouble? Whatever would make you think that, Michael?"
"I've been known to be a little impetuous I guess… when I was younger."
"Aw, I wouldn't say that, Michael. Bullheaded maybe… act first and think later maybe…"
Michael lunged suddenly and grabbed Max by the throat, shaking him playfully. "Like this? How long till I'm supposed to think about it and let you go?"
Max made choking sounds. "Yeah, that's it! And now would be a pretty good time!"
"Yeah, well, I wanted to do that to Hank a little while ago."
Max smiled. "But you didn't. You've changed, Michael."
"I just took the abuse when I was a child. I didn't fight back at all."
"That's not what I meant," Max said, shaking his head. "When we were in high school, if you had seen Hank about to smack a child in the head with a vodka bottle –not you, I mean, but another child- what would you have done?"
Michael thought about it. "I don't know. My first thought probably would have been to vaporize him… then I would have thought about the options."
"Exactly. I'm not saying that that would have been a bad option of course…"
Michael smiled.
"But you handled it so much differently today… better."
Michael nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, but I still don't know who 'I' am, Max. I guess I just know who I'm not."
Max stopped and looked at his best friend… "That's a start, Michael."
"Do you want me to stay a while?"
Michael shook his head. "No. Go on home, Max. You came, you 'rescued' me, now in those immortal words, 'Go home!'"
"Who said that?"
"The French, I think… or the Arabs."
Max laughed. "Portal!"
"Bye, Michael. I hope you find what you're looking for."
Michael smiled and raised his hand slightly to say goodbye… then the portal closed.
Michael stood there alone for a moment thinking then turned and walked back towards the center of town. As he neared the place where he had first appeared earlier through the portal, he saw the sheriff's car in front of the CrashDown. At first, he thought something might be wrong, but then a small boy ran out and jumped into the car with the sheriff.
"How was the party," the sheriff asked, as the boy jumped in.
"Great, Dad. Look! I won a prize!"
"Well alright! Way to go, Kyle!"
The sheriff looked back towards the door. "Alex, you want me to drop you off at your house on the way?"
"No thanks, Mister Valenti. My Mom's comin' to get me."
The sheriff waved at the other 6-year-old then drove off with his son. Michael looked down at his feet for a moment and swallowed a small lump in his throat.
"Get real, Michael," he said to himself. "How would a kid living in the trailer park at the edge of town with a drunk like Hank ever have known someone like the Parkers? Max and Iz maybe… The Evanses were good, decent, social people… but, of course, Max and Iz would have just been found in the desert a week or so ago, like I was, so they wouldn't know Liz or the Parkers yet either, I guess… We didn't even meet Liz and Maria until third grade."
Michael sighed then smiled. "All those years, Maria and I were ships passing in the night… just like Max and Liz… never knowing what the future held for us."
As Michael thought about it, he began to feel better. "Alex and Kyle knew Maria and Liz way back then… but I've got Maria now… Max has Liz. Alex and Kyle were at that party and won the party favors, but Max and I won the real prizes."
Michael smiled widely for a moment then stopped suddenly.
"Wait. Alex wound up with Isabel in the end, so I guess he won, too… and I've never seen Kyle happier than he's been with Jeliya, so I guess we all won." Michael thought about it for a moment.
"Okay, so what's wrong with everyone winning," Michael asked himself. "I can live with that!"
Michael smiled again. For a while, he began to think that maybe he did know who he was. If it just weren't for the dreams. He stopped and thought about the dreams. He knew that they would continue to dog him. Coming to terms with his early life in Roswell… and Hank… if indeed he had, would be nice. But Michael knew that the answer to the dreams would not be found here. Ultimately, it would only be found on Antar… in his previous life. But that's the last place in time he wanted to go. Something about going back there terrified him like nothing else in his life ever had, and he didn't know why.
tbc
Coming next: "Not in a Million Years"