Alice 1 (3 page)

“We really have to go.”

“
God Damn it
, don’t you get it?! I’m
asking you nicely to come join us. I won’t ask nicely a second
time!”

Perhaps you remember I don’t take threats well.
Calling me names is also not a good idea.

“Who the hell are you, you ugly bitch. Get your
fat ass out of here before I dump a big
Cone-of-Shit
on your
stupid head.” I learned a lot of fun words walking the streets
around my foster homes. My guardian didn’t care how bad the
neighborhood. He’d probably get a cut of the estate if I died.

Her face turned a glorious purple, and with eyes
bulging, tiny breasts quivering, belly bouncing, she made great
circles in the air with her hands, and threw whatever she gathered
at me. I laughed in her face, which didn’t seem to calm her much.
She screeched a few truly vile threats, and left.

Just outside the Purple Onion the Shirley Temple
look-a-like from the courtroom, ran up, jumped in my arms, and gave
me a big kiss.

“Hello Alice, you’re so pretty. We’re going to
have such fun together in Sedaria.” Jumped down and started to run
away.

“
Hey!
What’s your name? And where is
Sedaria?”

“
Ashara,”
and disappeared around the
corner.

Who the hell is Ashara? Linda and Molly never
saw her before and never heard of Sedaria.

____________________

Santa looked worried when we told him about
Betty Bradenton. “Alice, you must control your temper, you must. We
will not harm you, but others will”.

“What others?”

“It’s late and you’ve had a long day.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about a visit from John the Baptist.”

CHAPTER 5

The next morning we went out to the veranda with
our coffee, tea, scrambled eggs, and waffles smothered with real
Vermont maple syrup. The fog had rolled back out to sea and the sun
was warm and lovely.

“About a year ago an old man came to the door.
He said he was John the Baptist so I figured I had a nut case. But
then he touched my shoulder with his Shadow hand and said we need
to talk. He’s from the Dancers, who make sure groups like ours
don’t go crazy. Few believe Shadow hands exist and the Dancers want
to keep it that way. Back in 1857 in Hangtown, a couple of guys
were using their Shadow hands to steal gold from the other miners.
They got greedy and were warned, but kept on stealing so the
Dancers sent in their assassin.

“They are very concerned about Alice Shannon, a
young girl they’ve been watching for a long time. She’s
self-centered, immature, and uses her Shadow hands to get even with
people. But they’re reluctant to get rid of her. She’s highly
intelligent with enormous potential. Would our group take her in
and see if we can grow her up? I said we’d take a look and let him
know.”

“So you were telling the truth the first time. I
am being tested to see if I live or die. Are the rest of you in on
this little secret? Linda? Molly?”

“No they aren’t, and I’m not sure I made the
right decision. I was afraid knowing your life really was in danger
would put too much strain on everybody. I care for you Alice, and
I’ve been worried how you’d react when you found out the
truth.”

“Damn straight you should be worried. Except.
Except. If you care, I can take all the lies and games you can
throw at me.”

And in the warmth of the sun, the sound of the
sea, the fresh ocean breeze, and a few sand fleas, we had a lovely
group hug. Yeah, yeah, I know. Too soupy for some of you.

Wanna kiss my pretty kitty?

“We’ve always known we must not be the only ones
with the Gift,” Johnny said, “but I don’t like the idea we can be
killed anytime the Dancers decide our behavior is unacceptable.
Maybe the guy was just spinning a story. It’s pretty far out to
think the Dancers were in California during the gold rush and sent
an assassin to Hangtown to do in some greedy miners. What do you
think?”

”He was very convincing, but that doesn’t mean
he was telling the truth.”

“The hell of it is,” Johnny continued, “we have
no idea what kind of threat we’re dealing with or how to protect
ourselves. If he’s telling the truth, the Dancers know a whole lot
more about Shadow hands than we do.”

“He left a phone number to call when we feel
Alice is no longer a danger. We can ask a few questions when he
comes to check her out.

“I’m ready now. Call him.”

They looked so worried, but didn’t say anything.
“Look. Ten foster homes taught me how to survive. Call him!”

They still looked worried. “Ok, ok, you doubt
I’m ready but don’t want to say so. It’s my life. I take
responsibility.
Call him
.”

Santa called him. John the Baptist will come
this Friday evening, and bring a woman with him.

____________________

Molly and I were in the kitchen getting
refreshments ready as the minute hand moved closer and closer to
seven. The guys were in the living room going over questions they
want to ask.

I’m cool. I’ve faced so many crises in my life I
stopped worrying long ago. I will survive or I will die. So be it.
Makes me strong. Maybe foolish.

The doorbell rang.

Everything was ready, so we loaded trays and
brought them into the living room. The old man introduced himself
as James Benson and the woman as Maggie O’Flanigan. He must have
just been having a little fun with his John the Baptist routine.
He’s old all right. White hair, wrinkled skin, and half-asleep.

Maggie is maybe in her 40’s, red hair, green
eyes, and not much bigger than the leprechauns that haunt the Irish
countryside. She looked up as I gave her a cup of tea and I
suddenly felt very sad. I turned away so nobody would see I was
starting to cry, and went into the kitchen.

Damn!
Where’s the tough broad who chewed
out a high school principal, and shoved a couple of big bastards
off the pier, and laughed as they splashed into the cold Pacific?
When I dried my eyes and went back, Maggie got up and invited me to
walk with her along the shore.

We walked for a while beside the hissing surf,
watching seagulls take off ahead of us.

“Is the story about the Dancers sending an
assassin to Hangtown true?”

“No.”

“Do the Dancers exist? Are you a member?”

“Yes, they exist. I lead them.”

“I don’t like that. Do I have to bow, say sir,
or something?”

“Leadership doesn’t require such nonsense. We
are equal in every way except I have more experience. If my
experiences are useful to you, learn from them. If they aren’t,
don’t.”

“And you kill people who misuse the Gift?”

“Yes.”

I waited, but she didn’t continue.

“Ok then, how come you look like a nice lady
instead of the leader of Killers International?”

“For the same reason nice people kill rabid
animals.”

“Oh no you don’t, bad analogy! It’s one thing to
kill an animal frothing at the mouth and attacking everything in
sight. Quite another to kill a guy because he’s greedy.”

“Ah young lady, you are so correct. The analogy
is a bit of a stretch.” She was becoming irritated and the nice,
nice was slipping away fast. “Ok then, how about this? We have a
big edge and not about to let anybody blow it.”

“At least honest, but that makes you just as
greedy as the people you kill.”

“
Yes!
” Her face twisted, and her voice
grew ugly and hard, “and if we have to kill to protect our edge
that is what we will do.
And that is what you will do!”

I felt myself grow strong in a very deep, quiet
way. “
No!
I won’t do that. If that’s your test, I
failed.”

I closed my eyes, felt my body grow warm, and
knew my life was ending. I have no regret for the choice I made,
but regret not knowing what might have been.

Nothing happened, and I opened my eyes. Hers
were full of tears.

“No Alice, you didn’t fail, you passed.
Welcome to the Dancers.”

CHAPTER 6

When we got back, everyone was so relieved when
they saw Maggie smiling. What a weird bunch of loveable lunatics,
but then I remembered those Russian dolls within dolls. I looked
around the room at the smiles, the caring, maybe even love, and
wondered how long before the next doll pops.

“Are you all Dancers?”

“All Dancers,” Skinny Santa answered.

“Do the Dancers kill people who misuse the
Gift?”

“No.”

“Then what do you do?”

“Support. Training. Missions. And lots of fun
and games.”

“Missions?”

“Yeah, like finding lost Gold Rush coins for a
friend.”

“
Bullshit!
You’re holding something
back.”

Skinny Santa laughed. “You’re going to be very
valuable. We need a good lie detector. Yes, we sometimes take
risks, like once retrieving documents from a Russian courier.”

“That sounds right, and buttering me up will get
you nowhere.”

“Sure I was buttering you up. I was also telling
the truth.”

“God knows what the truth is in this group. The
only way I might find out is to be around you for a while. Am I
invited to become a full member of the Dancers, or are you going to
play some more games with me?”

“You are invited to be a full member and no more
games. And you’re right. The only way you’ll know if we’re telling
the truth is to join. Do you accept our invitation?”

“I do.”

“Good! Maggie is holding a class for Molly,
Linda and Johnny tomorrow morning at nine on the veranda. You’re
free to attend, and the room you’ve been using is yours if you’d
like to stay for a while.”

____________________

Another warm, sunny day by the sea. We ate a
delicious bacon and cheese omelet breakfast, and went out to the
veranda.

“Today we’ll practice temperature control,”
Maggie said. “Most people can learn to make their hand warmer or
colder, especially if they use biofeedback.” She opened her bag and
passed out little black boxes with silver wires ending in gold
rings.

“Put the ring on a finger and watch the number
on the box.

“Notice the number is going up as the
temperature of the ring matches the temperature of your finger.

“Ok. Now just play around changing the
temperature of your finger. Just intend the change and it will
happen.”

After a remarkably short time, we could all move
at least a degree up and down.

“Good. Pair up. Molly, Johnny. Linda, Alice.
Take turns increasing and decreasing the temperature of your
partner’s finger.”

My Shadow hands hovered over Linda’s finger and
sent down waves of heat and then waves of cold. I don’t know how I
do that. I intend it to happen and it happens. I have no idea how I
raise my hand, but I want it to go up, and up it goes. I have no
idea how all those neurons, muscles, and tendons are
coordinated.

We all succeeded after an hour or so.

“Good,” and took an ashtray and piece of paper
out of her bag. “Now everyone, increase the temperature of the
paper.” After a few minutes there was a little puff of smoke. “A
bit more concentration.” After another minute or so it burst into
flames. I suspect she did most of the work.

“Ah, what a talented group. Here are more ash
trays and paper. Go to it.” Heating the paper was so much harder
than warming fingers. But by lunch most at least smoked the paper
and a couple of us got that marvelous flame burst.

After lunch Maggie brought glasses of water and
by the end of the day we could all at least float a few ice
crystals.

“Good. Tomorrow we go to Cannery Row and have a
little fun.”

____________________

Click
Cannery Row
.

Maggie picked a pastry shop near the
aquarium.

“Linda, see the guy in the blue shirt over
there? Heat his fork just enough to get his attention.” The guy
looked puzzled, and dropped the fork. After a few seconds the guy
carefully picked up his fork, shook his head, and went back to
eating.

We spent the next couple of hours practicing.
No problem, except Molly upset a lady when she cooled her cup of
tea. The lady started screaming and screeching that her tea was
cold. Molly quickly got the tea boiling as the waitress and manager
came hurrying over. Oh I wish you had seen the expression on the
lady’s face when she looked down and saw steam rising from her
cup.

____________________

There was cold rain the next morning and we
could barely see the hills surrounding the Carmel Valley. We met in
the cozy den with a log burning in the fireplace.

“Ok Johnny, take this briefcase and walk past
Alice. Alice, there’s an envelope inside. As he goes past zip the
envelope from the briefcase into this handbag.”

Piece of cake. At school I zipped lots of
goodies out of lunch bags into mine with my Shadow hands. Good
thing I have a high metabolism or I’d be big as Dumbo. Did it for
their own good too. I only stole from fat boys and girls. Oh
Yeah.