21
Kerry Hennessey passed through the Detroit Municipal Airport tired and wrought from her trip to the west coast. She felt emotionally wrought, but she wasn't sure why. Elaine Flockhart had tried to cover their hotel bill, but the hotel staff said another party had already covered it. She wondered if the law firm had paid for it, but they said they didn't do it. Not exactly in the mood to question someone else's generosity, she and Kerry flew back home. When she asked Kerry where her research for her sister had gone, her protégé described having met actress Penny Parker and commented on her similarity to her sister, but no, she was not nor had she ever been Bridget Hennessy. It was an odd wrap-up to an adventure Kerry was starting to challenge. Why did she connect this struggling actress she'd never met to Bridget? What was Bridget's connection to Billie Daniels, the daughter of Linda Kent? Something was missing. Her life suddenly felt faked. Something was off. What had happened to her? Picking up her car from the underground garage at her law firm, Kerry drove home trying to piece together the puzzle pieces in her mind. She felt as if she was recalling a dream. What had happened to her in Pasadena? She pulled into her driveway, took her briefcase and overnight bag and re-entered her home.
"I'm home…" Kerry entered through the back door and placed her briefcase down first. Her mother whirled around from washing the dinner dishes, and her father quickly hugged to have her home. Beyond CJ sitting at the counter looking at the newspaper, her grandfather turned from watching television and waited for big news from her.
"Well, well…" Cate was feverishly anxious for good news. "Did you find her?"
"Who?"
"Your sister!" Paul was on the proverbial pins and needles to hear some good news about his lost daughter.
"You didn't find her?" CJ asked inquisitively.
"Don't keep us in suspense…" Her grandfather asked from his chair than stand up. "Was this girl in Pasadena Bridget?"
"Oh, Bridget…" Kerry was uncharacteristically distracted for the first time from finding her sister. "Um, uh, no…" Kerry stood and looked around the room. Everyone was here except Rory, and he was back to college. "I met Penny, and she looked a lot like Bridget, but she wasn't her. Sorry…"
"Sorry?" Cate and Paul exchanged puzzled looks. "But you were so sure."
"No, I wasn't."
"Yes, you were." Paul reminded her then noticed CJ. "Didn't you say you had a date?"
"Oh, she's not going to show up." CJ rationalized.
"What if she did?" Ed loved to mess with his grandson's mind. "Maybe she's waiting for you right now?"
"How much trouble could she get into by standing in front of the bar with a bunch of hookers?" CJ grinned like a young boy and crossed his arms across his chest. He looked to his Grampy, to Paul then back to his grandfather. He looked up and realized how hard it was to get this date with the hot school receptionist.
"Crap…" He realized he couldn't blow this thing and hastened to leave. "If she calls, tell her I had to stop and help a little lady across the street. She loves stuff like that." He grabbed his jacket, fished his car keys from his pocket and opened the front door to step out on the porch. As soon as he closed the door behind him, a thought hit his head, and he felt as if he was conned. Why couldn't he see they were trying to get rid of him? Turning around again, he used the keys already in his hand to unlock the front door he had just come through.
"Wait a minute!" He called out as Paul and Cate turned away suddenly from Kerry. "You're going to talk about the family secret!"
"CJ!" Paul took charge. "Finding Bridget has nothing to do with our old house on Carradine Drive!"
"The old house on Carradine Drive!" CJ had it figured out. That was what the family secret was about! "I knew it! I'm going to figure this out!" He rushed back out of the house. A couple seconds later, they heard his van hurriedly backing out of the driveway. Kerry and Cate looked confused, and Ed was chuckling enough to actually pat Paul on the back.
"Brilliant." Ed chuckled.
"What old house on Carradine Drive?" Cate asked her husband. "There is no Carradine Drive."
"It will be hours before he figures that out…" Paul chuckled at his plot to get rid of CJ to talk about Bridget and turned back to Kerry. "Now, Care Bear…" He looked at his little girl and held her before him to talk straightly with her. "You said you had traced Bridget to Pasadena by a photo on your friend's Facebook page."
"I know…" Kerry responded. "But I was wrong… she wasn't Bridget."
"But you said she was."
"No, I didn't."
"Kerry…" Cate paused and walked around in a small circle before turning back to Kerry. "Look, you called me and said you found your sister, but by time I got your message, you were on the flight home." Why did they seem to be in two different worlds?
"Kerry…" Paul felt as if he was going to need more heart surgery. "Did you find Bridget or not?"
"Okay…." Cate turned around. "What is going on here? You said you found Bridget!"
"I know I did, but when I got there and…"
"Not before! When you called me!"
Kerry paused. She looked at her father then to her grandfather and back to her mother.
"Kerry…" Cate looked for her cell phone in her purse. "You called me from California and said you found your sister. Now, which is it? Did you find her or did you not find her?"
"I called you?"
"Is this your voice?" Cate replayed the message on her cell phone.
The recording played back. "Mom, I found Bridget…" Kerry heard her own emotional voice from her mother's cell phone. "I think… but she did it to me again… She didn't want to talk to me. She practically tossed me out of her apartment and pretended she didn't know me. Please call me."
Kerry looked terrified and confused. She didn't recall making that call. What was going on here? Did she find Bridget? All morning, her life was feeling a bit off. Between the research she had and her encounter with Penny Parker, something felt off. It seemed like a play. She replayed the message on her mother's phone.
"Mom, I found Bridget… I think… but she did it to me again… She didn't want to talk to me. She practically tossed me out of her apartment and pretended she didn't know me. Please call me." Her voice sounded emotional and full of sorrow. Why was she crying? What had happened? She had a fleeting image of her sister before her in that costume. She felt holding her close once more. Her memories weren't all erased.
"Oh-my-God!" Kerry reacted upset. "She hypnotized me! She hypnotized me to forget I found her! I can't believe this!" She paused in disgust turned toward the kitchen then back to her mother. "She did it again!"
"Cate, recall back when I said this keeps getting scary." Paul mugged a bit and sat down near his father-in-law. "Well, it's scary again?"
"She hypnotized you?" Cate was skeptical. "No, not your sister…"
"I believe it…." Ed looked away and back again. "Cate, I was right next to her in that drug store, and I'll tell you… that girl was Bridget. Stone cold… but her presence… It was like when I met Marilyn…"
"You've met Marilyn Monroe?!" Paul was incredulous. He wasn't sure if Ed was exaggerating or telling the truth.
"No, Lipschitz…" Ed antagonized his son-in-law for doubting him. "Of course, Monroe!" He paused. "She had this… godly presence about her when I met her, and when I saw Bridget again… she had it too."
"Kerry…" Cate turned to her daughter. "What makes you think Bridget hypnotized you?"
"Mom, it's the only thing that makes sense." Kerry turned to take a bottle of water from the refrigerator then turned back around. "She couldn't possibly let me come home knowing where she was!" She shook her head and opened her water, but as she looked at it, another memory crept back. "Oh my god, she was also crying…."
"Crying?" Her father looked up wanting to hear more.
"Why was she crying?"
Kerry paused without answering.
"I don't know…" She shook her mother's phone in her presence. "But this is proof! I found her! We know where she is! I may not recall what happened to me, but I found her!"
"Is this Penny Parker on Facebook?" Cate hastened for the family computer by the front door. "I'm so giving her a good talking to..."
"Bridget's on TV…" Her father remarked. Ed's show had ended as anther one took it's place. Paul did a double take and came around first joined by Cate and Kerry who came around to check it out.
"False alarm." Ed looked again. It was a teenage sketch show on Disney Channel starring young comedians influenced by their encounter with the Kryptonian heroine's real life counterpart.
"If Bridget wants to keep her life secret," He turned up the sound on the TV. "I wonder how she's going to feel about this. " On the show, teenage comedienne Tawni Hart was impersonating Bridget as Supergirl with wildly exaggerated hair but her costume had a big question mark instead of the logo of the Kryptonian character Bridget pretended to be. Zora Lancaster and Nico Harris played bandits robbing Grady Mitchell and Chad Dylan Cooper, a replacement to the series now that cast member Sonny Monroe was off on her musical career. Still starring concurrently on "MacKenzie Falls," the teen heartthrob was stretching his acting skills by doing comedy and pretending to be held up on his girlfriend's old sketch series.
"Oh my God, it's Superior Girl…" Chad saw Tawni run into the sketch located in a fake alley. "She'll save us."
"Do your stuff, Superior Girl." Grady announced.
"What's she going to do?" Nico asked.
"She's super-strong, really fast and she beats criminals up; she's like Lindsay Lohan in a department store!"
"Like Amanda Bynes on the highway!"
"Like the cast of Jersey Shore everywhere else…"
"Excuse me guys…" Tawni chewed gun and waved her fingers. "But finger nails haven't dried yet."
"It looks like blondie isn't going to be saving you." Zora waved her fake gun on her co-stars.
"Help us, Superior Girl!" Chad pretended to be in duress. "Help us!"
"Okay, just a minute…" Dressed in her weak superhero costume, Tawni moved as if she was going to throw Nico into the wall then stopped as her cell phone rang. "Oh wait…" She stepped back. "I gotta take this." She answered her phone. "Who is this? Wondrous Woman? On my god, girl… No, I'm not doing anything. What you doing?"
"Thanks for your money and valuables, creeps…" Zora laughed and waved her prop gun around. "Let's go, Muggsy!" She and Nico ran off camera as Grady and Chad sighed upset and let down. They groaned and wandered over to Tawni in the cape and short skirt with the red question mark on her chest. Pretending to have an inaudible conversation, she looked up to Chad and Grady.
"You have got to be the worst superhero in the world!" Grady yelled at her.
"Are you even a real blonde?" Chad shook his finger at her.
Somewhere else in the world, a steel-tipped shoe smashed into a TV screen and shattered it, creating a small explosion and a lot of smoke. In her Pasadena apartment, Bridget waved the smoke awake from her TV with a magazine. She had seen the sketch, and she was not amused.
"I can't believe I saved their lives." She continued fanning, but Leonard and the guys rushed to the rescue. Hearing the explosion, Leonard fretted about her safety and saw a chance to be her knight in shining armor. Howard and Raj were right behind, but Sheldon only casually wandered along out of curiosity. They looked at the shattered picture tube of the TV then back to Bridget trying to look casual as she waved the smoke away from it.
"Oh crap…" Bridget stood and fanned the smoke from her TV's picture tube.
"What happened?" Leonard asked worriedly. Howard unplugged it for her.
"I, uh, accidentally kicked my shoe off into the TV." Bridget claimed nonchalantly. Sheldon smirked nearby as if this incident verified his opinion of Bridget's reputation as Penny being less than intelligent.
"Supergirl…" Sheldon scoffed with a covert chuckle at Howard's beliefs. More than convinced that Penny was not the Girl of Steel in the tabloids, he looked at Howard and smirked derisively then turned and left.
"This must be yours…" Howard produced her partially blacked and scorched boot from the picture tube. "But that TV's shot. I would love to take you out to get a new one."
"That's okay…" Bridget grinned at his effort to charm her. "I'll just take Bernadette."
"I could take you!" Leonard quickly volunteered then realized he sounded too eager. "I mean… I could take you…" He tried to be more casual. Behind Bridget's back, he waved at Howard and Raj to leave the apartment. At first, they didn't get it, but after some gesturing and posturing, they looked at each other and wandered out on their own. It was not much of a disaster, but at least they proved they could stand up to anything that happened.
"You didn't think that was going to work, did you?" Raj spoke of Howard's attempt to bond with the girl they knew as Penny Parker.
"It was a reflex…" Howard mumbled as Leonard tried to get rid of them. Dressed in his khakis and white shirt with a green sweater, Leonard turned round as Bridget placed her shattered TV in the corner by the door. She had a smaller one in her bedroom she carried out and started hooking into her cable line.
"So…" Leonard helped her plug her smaller TV in to her stereo system. "That was a nice time we had with Howard and Bernadette the other night, huh…"
"Yeah, it was…" Bridget looked at him.
"So…" Leonard hedged and hesitated as if he was still a teenager. She smelled incredible. Her perfume wafted through his nose and took over his senses. Her presence exuded like roses and cinnamon wafting on a breeze through the room. It practically had a taste. "What are you doing tonight?"
"I don't know…" Bridget heard a fire engine from twenty-four blocks away, but it was just following an ambulance to a medical emergency. "But something could come up…"
"Why don't we go out and do something?" Leonard asked nervously. Turning around from picking up her apartment, Bridget turned to the short curly-topped physicist. He was finally gaining some confidence. Looking back at Bridget, Leonard stood fearful of her response.
"Leonard, are you asking me for a date?" Bridget asked him to confirm.
"I guess…" He blinked a few times and looked away like a small boy. "You want to go see a movie?"
"It's kind of late…" Bridget checked her clock on the wall.
"How about tomorrow?"
Bridget checked her visions. She had colliding visions of a stoned truck driver driving through the front of a store, a small aircraft stalling in Canada, a rainstorm flooding Pawkett, Ontario, and kids playing with matches in a Minnesota school. She wasn't sure which one of any of them was going to occur, but she couldn't risk it.
"That's not good for me."
"How about Monday?"
One Amber Alert, three police chases, a landslide, five boys in an unstable abandoned home and an angry ex-postal employee occurred in visions.
"Actually worse." Bridget remarked.
"Tuesday. How's Tuesday?"
More incidents occurred in Toronto, London, Sydney, Fall River in Texas, Snow Valley in Vermont and Quitique, Oklahoma.
Bridget embarrassingly shook her head.
"Wednesday?"
Bridget rolled her eyes to the side and searched her head for images. Either it was too far ahead or nothing major was happening, but she smirked, grinned and looked back to Leonard.
"Looks like we have a date on Wednesday." She lit up but not as much as Leonard. "It will also give me a chance to get a nice dress."
"Perfect!" Leonard cheered like a small boy on Christmas. "How about Risotto's. I'll get us a reservation."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Bridget kissed him to the cheek. She heard another boyish burst of glee from him, and he turned away to head out, briefly smacking into the wall and fumbling with the door as he headed out of her apartment.
"See you there…"
"I'll be there." Bridget responded. Picking up her magazines off the floor to recycle, she heard her door click shut and then an overly joyful jumping and cheering in the hall. Someone was really happy to have been accepted by her. She smiled and turned to face her kitchen counter as more sirens echoed from beyond the building. Distant voices echoed from afar…
"People trapped in the basement… source of fire unknown… could be arson…"
"Could be a long night…" Bridget pulled her sweater over her head to her blue, red and yellow and got ready to go to work.