She picked up her bag, grabbed her car-keys from the rack and opened the front door to leave. Whoosh! Two large balls of fur ran past her legs, nearly taking her feet from under her in their haste to reach the kitchen. ‘Bloody cats,’ laughed Max, ‘I suppose I’d better feed them before I leave.’ Walking back through the house, she saw Shibby 1 and Shibby 2 sitting on the breakfast counter waiting for her; one washing himself, the other looking at her expectantly with his big green eyes. ‘Get down, you naughty boys,’ she said, sweeping them off the counter with one hand as she opened the pantry with the other. The two Shibbys had been a “gift” when an old boyfriend had moved out two years ago. She doubted the Shibby boys could even remember their old owner, but she loved having them around, they were good company and amused her with their antics, especially when she was down or feeling lonely. Her ex-boyfriend had liked the name Shibby so much he thought it would be an excellent idea to give both cats the same name, it was Max who had named them Shibby 1 and Shibby 2. When both cats were eating contently from their bowls on the kitchen floor, Max checked that the cat flap on the back door was unlocked, that way the Shibbys could come and go as they pleased after she left. Locking the front-door behind her she got into her car to drive the ten miles to the festival. The engine was slow to start, ‘I must get that fixed soon’, she thought, as she reversed out of the drive-way. As she drove away, two strange men moved out of the shadows and headed towards the backdoor. Arriving at the festival Max saw that the radio announcer had been right, there were people everywhere. ‘Thank god the exhibitors have their own car park,’ she thought, ‘or I’d have one hell of a hike.’ She parked her car, removed her massage table and some towels from the boot and took note of the number of the parking spot (she was always forgetting where she parked) and started walking towards the foreshore. Reaching the entrance she stopped to look in awe at the spectacle spread out before her. ‘Jeez, there must be at least three hundred booths,’ she thought to herself. The stalls and booths spread haphazardly in all directions seemed to go on forever; it was like a bazaar from some far off exotic part of the world. The sound of flags and banners flapping gently in the on-shore breeze was almost identical to the snapping sails of the boats in the nearby marina. Making her way past the entrance gate Max flashed her exhibitors id card. She thought the first thing she’d better do was start looking for her own booth; who knew how long it would take to find in all this wonderful, colourful chaos. Off to her left she could see a small stage with belly dancers dancing; hips swaying sensuously in time to the middle-eastern music, small cymbals on their fingers, chiming, bells tinkling around their ankles and sequinned costumes sparkling in the sun. Opposite them was another small stage with a Tai Chi exhibition in progress, their music trying to outdo the belly dancers but not succeeding. She passed booths selling scented candles and soaps, oils and oil-burners, CD’s of relaxation music, Chinese herbalists, iridologists and much more. The sights, sounds and colours surrounding her were almost overwhelming in their diversity. She continued on. As she neared the centre of the festival she could smell the wonderful aromas coming from the food area; tables and chairs were circled by the foods stalls and all were doing a roaring trade. Her mouth began to water but food would have to wait, she needed to find her booth and set up her stall for business. Her booth was number 124. ‘Hope my booth is closer to the edge,’ she thought, trying to block out the din of the food area, ‘it won’t be very relaxing doing a reiki session for someone if it sounds like this.’ She continued to wander around looking at the booth numbers, searching for 124. The uncomfortable feeling began as a prickly sensation down her spine; the hairs on her neck stood up, someone was watching her. ‘Here we go again,’ she thought. She scanned the crowds for anyone who might be out of place. Then she noticed a couple standing next to a colourful booth selling falafels, they seemed to be staring intently in her direction. There was nothing that made them stand out in the crowd, but for some reason Max felt her eyes drawn to them. It was impossible to tell their age, they had a timelessness about them. Both were short in stature, probably no more than five three at the most. He had brown, wavy hair, a goatee beard and was wearing blue board shorts and a lighter blue t shirt, she had short brown hair swept back off her round, chubby face and was wearing a long, floral, summery dress. Both had smooth, ageless and if truth be told, rather bland faces, which was what made it difficult to tell their age. If Max had been asked to describe them she felt she wouldn’t have done a very good job. After studying the pair intently for a few minutes, her eyes suddenly unfocussed and passed over them, continuing to scan the crowds; the strange couple melted back into the shadows and were gone from her sight and her memory. She carried on walking up and down the rows of booths, looking at the numbers until she finally found 124. “Ah, here it is,” she said putting her bag and massage table down in the back corner of the tent. ‘Thank goodness my booth is on the outer rim, and close to the beach, I couldn’t have asked for a better position.’ ‘Hello Max,’ said a voice so close to her ear that she visibly jumped. ‘Sorry,’ she began, turning around with a friendly smile ‘I’m not open yet, I’ve still got to set up.’ It was the odd couple that had been near the falafel stand. ‘Do I know you?’ she asked, feeling that she should but not able to place the faces. For some reason she felt uncomfortable and wanted them to leave. ‘That’s perfectly alright,’ said the female. Her words were polite, but her tone suggested otherwise, ‘we are not here for your assistance, we have come to pass on the information that you will require to fulfil your destiny. We are the Guardians,’ she finished grandly. The small man turned towards his female companion. ‘That’s not entirely true Freya,’ he said, ‘we do need her help, you must learn to be more humble’. The small woman turned away, her nose in the air. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said loftily, ‘I am one of the Guardians.’ Max was so stunned by this odd, little couple; she just stood with her mouth agape, unable to speak. Realising they were in fact, quite serious, she had to struggle to hold back the laughter that was bubbling to the surface. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, as a giggle threatened to escape, ‘I think you’ve made a mistake, I don’t know anything about any Guardians, you must have me confused with someone else.’ The male smiled serenely, and continued as if addressing a small child. ‘Of course you know nothing of us, no one does and that is as it should be. We have been waiting centuries for the right person to appear so we may pass on our knowledge and now you have arrived.’ Max felt as if she had walked onto the set of a movie or something, she couldn’t help looking around for a camera. ‘What the hell is going on,’ she thought as she looked at the small couple standing in front of her waiting for some sort of response. ‘I really think you have the wrong person,’ she began again, but they would have none of it. ‘You are the one who has been chosen, you must fulfil your destiny or your world will die.’ ‘What! I’ll die, is that some sort of threat.’ She felt the adrenalin begin to course through her body. ‘Not just you,’ snapped the woman named Freya, ‘your whole world will die; every living thing in your world will die and it will be your fault because you didn’t listen, so be quiet and listen to what we are telling you. ‘There are people who will try to stop you meeting the Chosen from the other worlds, your life is in danger.’ ‘STOP,’ said Daria, holding up her hand, ‘stop right there, what is this, some sort of joke? Have some of my friends put you up to this? Come on,’ she said laughing, turning around in the booth, ‘come out, I know you’re here somewhere, you’ve had your fun.’ Nothing stirred, not even the sounds from outside the booth reached her ears; it was as if time had stopped. The small man spoke, ‘we do not have much time, I feel the others are close.’ Max began to laugh again. ‘Well it’s certainly an elaborate joke, I’ll give you that,’ convinced now it was a ruse pulled by some friends. The small man began to grow in stature while the woman held the booth flap closed. He grew taller and taller, beginning to glow with a shining light that surrounded his entire body, he became so unbearably bright Max could no longer look directly at him, throwing up an arm to protect her eyes. A voice boomed. Max winced. ‘My name is Janus and my partner is Freya, we are Uthians,’ he said, as if that explained everything. ‘We have come to you for help and to also offer you help, you are one of the Chosen and you must listen if we are all to survive. There are people coming from another world, one of them is Chosen like you, you must find them and move on to the next world, then hopefully, if you can all work together you may save us and yourselves.’ He told Max about the Uthians and about the Chosen ones, he explained about the assassins sent by Anubis, how they were people of her own world who had been corrupted and how they would be looking for her; trying to find out where she lived, waiting for the others to arrive so they could all be destroyed, thus stopping any chance of saving Janus, Freya and the other Uthians who needed help. As ridiculous as it all sounded, Max, for reasons she couldn’t name started to believe him. She tried to remember as much of the information Janus was telling her, as possible. After many minutes, he finally told her she must find a piece of old parchment before she entered the portal. He gave her a small key and told her she would know when to use it. She put it in her pocket, patting it for reassurance as she did so. ‘You will not be able to read what is written on the parchment,’ he said ‘but there is someone who can, you must find them in one of the worlds you will visit. Keep it safe, it is very important. And last of all, to reach the next portal you will need to find the temple inside the mountain.’ Max awoke to concerned faces bending over her. What was she doing on the ground? Someone gently lifted her head and gave her a sip of water; someone else was patting her hand softly and calling her name. ‘Max, Max, are you ok? Boy, did you give me a scare,’ said a worried but familiar voice. It was a friend of Max’s named Jason, he’d always had a “thing” for Max but nothing had ever come of it, and so they remained just good friends. ‘I stopped by to see how you were doing and there you were flat out on the floor, I couldn’t wake you so I called the paramedics.’ A young woman taking Max’s pulse gave her a smile and a nod. The older paramedic, a man with a shiny bald head and tribal tattoos on his arm said, ‘nothing wrong here, but I think it would be best if you didn’t open your booth today, perhaps go home, have a break and see how you feel tomorrow.’ They helped Max to her feet and as the paramedics packed up their bags, Jason walked her outside the booth and put the closed sign up. Max complained, saying she was fine, but Jason would have none of it. ‘No, you’re not fine,’ he said, ‘I’m going to take you home. I’ll drive your car so you won’t have to worry about picking it up later, I can always get a taxi back if I need to.’ On the drive home Max was very quiet; looking out of her window she thought about Janus and Freya and all that they had said. Jason hadn’t asked her any questions about what had happened for which she was grateful. She had decided not to tell him about the odd couple, not sure if he would laugh at her or perhaps worse, believe her. She still couldn’t quite believe it all herself, but she had the key in her pocket, so something must had happened, it wasn’t just a dream. Was it a hoax? The closer she got to home the better she felt. By the time they pulled into her drive-way Max had almost convinced herself, again, that it had been a joke perpetrated by some friends who had filmed it all, put it on “youtube” and were probably having a great laugh about it at her expense. Never mind, she’d get her own back as soon as she found out who it was that organised it all. She had to admit, that bit with the person called Janus appearing to get bigger and brighter was really good though, she must remember to ask how it was done. As they got out of the car, Max said again how well she felt. ‘I think by the time we’ve had lunch and a coffee I should be ok to go back.’ Jason finally relented when Max said she would not go back to work, she would only have a wander around the booths instead. She didn’t tell him about the feeling she was getting, a feeling that she must go back or she would miss something important. The house was dark and quiet, when Max opened the front door. The Shibby boys must be out, that’s unusual though,’ she thought. They usually stayed in during the day and slept on her bed, and they always greeted her when she came home. Perhaps they were off chasing something, who knew with cats, they did whatever they pleased, their sense of independence was one of the things she loved about them. While making lunch for Jason and herself, she caught up on all his news. He’d started a new job, moved house and had his eye on a new car. Max nodded and ooh’ed and ah’ed in the appropriate places, but her mind was on other things. They washed up the dishes, tidied up and left the same way they had entered, out the front door. Max felt slightly uneasy about not seeing the boys as she locked the door, but she didn’t have the time to go and look for them now.
Altered America by Ingham, Martin T., Kuhl, Jackson, Gainor, Dan, Lombardi, Bruno, Wells, Edmund, Kepfield, Sam, Hafford, Brad, Wallace, Dusty, Morgan, Owen, Dorr, James S.