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OLD DREAMS
By
Debra A. Soles
© copyright by Debra A. Soles, March 2008
Cover art by Eliza Black, March 2008
ISBN 973-1-60394-169-3
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
Chapter One
Growing up in Roswell, New Mexico wasn’t like anyone would imagine. It was just like living in any other small town in the good ole U.S. of A. except everyone was alien crazy and proud of it. There were restaurants themed around alien sightings by way of alien burgers and novelty shops with everything from t-shirts with little green men to bouncy balls and plastic earrings.
There were kids that dressed up as aliens for parades, school events, and such. It seemed little aliens were everywhere and no one seemed to think it odd in the least. It was as if the whole town thought of aliens as little green cartoon characters who could sprout out of teapots at any given moment if it meant more money for their different trades.
When in all actuality, Arlene figured if there were really any aliens there was a better chance of them looking more normal and human than half the freaks in the world who claimed to be human beings. Hey, for all she knew an alien could walk up to people everyday. An alien could be your mother, your best friend, even your boyfriend and no one in the town would know the difference.
Boy was she ever glad she was getting out of that town. She was off to Charlotte, North Carolina on a partial scholarship to attend college at the University of North Carolina, her outstanding grades and years of hard work busting her butt, and a major lack of friends, Arlene had completely earned the chance to go to college on this partial scholarship.
Packing her few second hand possessions, she wished her well below middle class family goodbye with a reassuring smile on her face. Though school wasn’t going to start for two more weeks, Arlene thought she would go ahead and fly over, having earned the money for a plane ticket at her part time job. These two weeks would give her an opportunity to get accustomed to her new town, find a new part time job to balance out tuition costs and find an affordable apartment as close to campus as possible.
At the main office she actually had to acquire a map with her registration papers in order to find all her wayward classes across the huge campus. On another day she would have to come back and take time to tour the campus to memorize the placement of every room of importance to her along with each different spread out building.
Outside the office was the main entrance lobby where bulletin boards had been set up for important notices. Although it was surrounded by a few other early arrival students, Arlene thought it would be the best place to start looking for an apartment. Seeing a few interesting notices for ‘Roommates Wanted’ Arlene scribbled each notice down. Then with another map, this one of the surrounding streets, headed out toward the nearest of the three she had found.
The first place she tried was a three bedroom apartment. At her insistent knock two half-drunken guys that looked as if they had just rolled out of some wild frat party opened the door with drooling grins. Less than five minutes in their rude, drunken, and sexist pig environment and Arlene knew she would be better off headed to the second apartment to look for a roommate.
The second place was a good ten minute hike away, though easy enough to find. The building was old, but looked rather swanky, very old money. The young girl that answered the door had to be a cheerleader. She looked like all the popular girls back home—blond, big boobed, perky and quite rich enough to think her family was better than anyone else’s.
One fleeting glance over Miss Perky Pom Pom’s shoulder and Arlene realized even if she wanted to live with every nightmare from her childhood, she would never even be able to sniff the rent money on such an apartment. There was no way any part time job she could find would earn enough money for tuition and such a classy joint.
Arlene said a quick apology and a mumbled, ‘wrong apartment’, before turning around and heading back out to the street. Miss Perky had taken one look at Arlene’s old secondhand mostly ragged jeans, old pocket tee, which had belonged to her father, the dusty flannel shirt tied around her waist and sniffed as if Arlene were something absolutely disgusting she had managed to step in.
Next to Miss Perky’s perfectly pressed pink country club number, Arlene could well imagine why. Miss Perky’s one outfit had probably cost more than every piece of clothes owned by Arlene’s entire family.
Back on the street Arlene consulted her map and notebook for the third and final notice for people in need of roommates. Just as her luck was going that day the address was shown on the other side of campus, a couple of miles walk away.
A couple blocks away from the last address Arlene walked by a store front. The enticing aromas of pizza, burgers and fries sent Arlene’s stomach into a loud chorus of reproach for its hours without nourishment. Using the need for information she let her stomach talk her into going in to the loud, friendly environment that made her mouth water and visions of heaven dance through her tortured brain.
Arlene slid into the last remaining booth and, catching the waitress’ eye, picked up a menu. Surprisingly for a college area the food was reasonably cheap, which explained why the place was so packed. Service seemed rather slow, though, but Arlene figured it was because there only seemed to be three people working in the place. Over the din of happy customers Arlene could hear a cook in a grease stained apron swearing under his breath in the kitchen. An older lady in an over sized faded uniform and graying light brown hair firmly lied back in a disheveled bun was frowning at the cash register behind the counter. The one lone waitress was bustling back and forth between tables like an exhausted pro, carrying two trash laden trays and an order book above everyone's heads.
After an uncomfortable ten minute wait the waitress finally made it to her table with an apologetic smile on her young, yet tired, slightly freckled face twining an escaped wisp of reddish-brown hair behind her tiny right earlobe. Then with a sigh, she said, “Normally service is a lot better around here. Our other regular waitress quit after transferring colleges. So now I’m stuck covering every table on my own.”
Arlene nodded in understanding, then just as quickly her mind picked up on what the girl had really asked, “Does that mean you are hiring part-time waitress?”
The girl nodded back enthusiastically. “Most definitely! The sooner I get some help in here the better.”
“In that case, I’ll take a cheeseburger and an application.”
An hour later after eating the best burger she had ever had, the older lady at the counter, who she learned was the owner, Ida, told her to fill out the application for emergency purposes and firmly to forget the interview. The job was hers if she was willing to start the next night. After promising to return at 5 p.m. the next day to help with the evening rush that usually started at six, Arlene took a seat and waited to thank the waitress for her help.
The waitress sat down with her for a minute at Arlene’s persuasion, running a hand down the front of her peachy pink skirt of her uniform. “I just wanted to thank you for all your help. I’m Arlene Garnet by the way.”
They shook hands and the girl replied, “No problem, as you can tell I need the help. I’m Ginger Hardigan, by the way.”
“Well Ginger, I hate to really put my foot in it here, but you wouldn’t happen to need a roommate, too, would you?”
Ginger laughed sweetly, “No sorry! I’ve been living with the same girls for the last two years and we thankfully get along ok.” But after a second she held up a finger. “Oh wait! I’m not, but my cousin is looking for a roommate, that is if you don’t mind living with a guy. He isn’t one of those grabby pigs, so don’t worry about that. Brian is actually a really nice guy.”
Ginger gave her the information and as Arlene started to write it down realized her last notice was actually Ginger’s cousin. Arlene pointed out to Ginger and the two girls had a good laugh about it. Ginger told her to tell her cousin Brian that she insisted he make Arlene his new roommate.
Arlene grasped her backpack, wearily hiked it back on to her shoulder and waved goodbye as she walked out of the tiny restaurant. In five minutes she was knocking on Brian’s second floor apartment door with a pleasant smile on her face and her fingers crossed behind her back for luck.
At her second persistent knock Brian answered the door with an apologetic grin on his… well rather handsome face. His skin seemed to be almost flawless with its healthy peach glow, all except for the long angry cut zooming down his proudly rounded chin. His nose was strong without being overly large. Next were a pair of sparkling blue-green eyes and above those were thick, yet not bushy, but still an admirable quantity of eyebrows.
Lips slightly parted, a dimple appeared in his left cheek as he grinned down at her, startling her back into awareness. Yeah…ha… awareness that she had been staring up at him for a good five minutes with her mouth open in a rather undignified gape.
“Oh sorry… em, well the thing is, I’m here about your notice.” She managed to squeak out around her tightly closed throat, feeling like a total idiot.
Brian nodded his understanding, “You must be Ginger’s new friend.” At her look of confusion he continued, “Ginger just called me. I was getting off the phone with her. That’s why it took me so long to answer the door just now.”
Arlene sighed in relief. “Yes, I’m the new waitress at the diner.” She held out her hand and once he had taken it into his much larger one, added, “I’m Arlene Garnet and I was hoping to find an affordable apartment and a roommate.”
Brian laughed softly, his eyes crinkling up with amusement. “What you mean is a cheap apartment, the cheapest possible so you can pay college loans, keep a roof over your head, and still manage to eat. I understand completely and so does most of the people in this area you’ll soon find out.”
With a quick wave and a gesture of his head, he motioned her in and had her drop her bags on the old decrepit green salvation army find of a couch in the tiny living room. The shabby carpets were the color of dirty chocolate and had seen better days maybe forty years before. The only other furnishings of the room was one ancient looking box television set, which looked like it had been manufactured when color TV’s were first invented, and a rather soggy looking cardboard type square cube like table.
Brian pointed at two doors on the back wall and pulled her toward them, the heat from his hand blazing energy through Arlene to settle like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She could fill her face flushing as a blush spread across her cheeks that she knew she would be unable to hide on her pale face.
Brian either didn’t notice or wanted to spare her the embarrassment, because he ignored it and simply pointed at each door. “The one on the left is my room and the right will be yours if you decide to take it.”
In each room was a tiny twin sized bed covered in plain, but clean sheets and blankets over those, plus one standard sized pillow. There was a small ancient looking dresser in each room with four square drawers for their clothes. Except for those there was no other furniture, just a minuscule lamp on top of each dresser.
Brian pulled her back to the living room, then pointed out another door leading off of the living room. This door lead into a cramped taupe colored kitchen stuffed with a refrigerator, stove and an old once white plastic lawn set, which consisted of one round table and two wide chairs.
One last door led off into an even smaller bathroom. There was a toilet, one tiny chipped sink with a white plastic mirror hanging over it and one white, yet yellowing, plastic bathtub that was in major need of a thorough cleaning.
With a shrug Brian stated, “It’s not much, but it’s a roof over my head and it’s cheap. With a roommate it’s only $175 a month for each of us. At $350 it’s heaven.”
Arlene turned and looked up at Brian. “If you think we can live together comfortably, then I would be more than willing to become your new roommate.”
With a grin Brian pretended to wipe a hand over his forehead as if in relief. “Finally, I thought I would never find a roommate.”
Arlene laughed. “Well you did, so when will be a good time to move in?”
Brian shrugged. “Any time is fine with me. You can move in tonight if you want to.”
Arlene sighed gratefully. “That’s great. Tomorrow I have to call my folks and tell them where to send the rest of my stuff, but until that gets here that one bag and my school bag are the only things I have with me.”
Together they sat on opposite ends of the couch with only a foot separating them. For about an hour they talked over the basics, when rent was due, usual routines, work hours (him being a cook and her a waitress at the same restaurant) and their agreement to no parties, studies being too important.
Brian was a science major, saying he wanted to have first hand information about everything Earth knew about their planet and space. Arlene thought Brian would look great in a NASA uniform one day. Hey… she thought he would look great in her dead granny’s oldest pink nightgown. He had brains as well as good old fashion rustic manly looks.
When Arlene climbed into bed later that night she lay with her eyes open wide staring at the ceiling. She could tell living here was going to be great, a new start with real friends and a chance at a brighter future.
But what kept her awake was her new roommate. Brian was a great guy, but there was just something about him that just seemed so familiar. It was almost as if she had known him before meeting him today, like she had always known him.
Her eyelids slid closed in exhaustion.
Everything was a soft, silky, silvery gray—the walls, the floor and ceiling—even the huge silk covered bed their closely linked bodies were lying in.
Two silver strands linked and swirled together around her left middle finger and glinted from the light of the two moons of Adrivar, which each strand represented. The moons of Adrivar were known as Hope and Faith, which represented the Zogone people’s belief of love within their marital unions. The ring on her finger showed the Zogones had blessed her union with the man lying so close beside her.
A slow rumble shook the ship called Kastin, making the three rectangular lights on the walls blink on and off consecutively for a few seconds. The ship wide intercom system came on with a loud screech, jerking Brian out of his deep sleep.
“Hsrkdrwv vilvitvmxb ….” There was a minute’s panicked pause. “Hsrk fmwi zggzxp.”
Arlene turned to Brian in concern. “What did he just say?”
Brian jumped out of bed, pulling his clothes of long silk textured green robes on in agitation. “He said, ship wide emergency. Ship under attack.”
Arlene followed behind him, pulling a blue silk toga like slip dress over her head as the intercom sounded again. “Zoo zylziw kvzw uli vhxzku kywh.”
Brian grabbed Arlene’s hand and pulled her out the door as he explained. “They are saying that everyone aboard needs to head for the escape pods. Whatever is happening must be bad if the whole crew is being evacuated.”
They were running down a deep lavender colored hall that turned dark blue every other second as the lights placed on the walls every few feet blinked their red warning lights. The ship began to vibrate and shake harshly as if it were caught in a rush of stormy waves.
Up ahead Arlene could see the door to the nearest escape pod and, as they reached the door, there was a great flash of red as the hallway in front of them exploded after the ship had been directly hit by a missile.
Brian pushed her roughly into the square inside of the escape pod and quickly followed behind her as a wall of flames licked at the metal door. On the outer wall Brian touched a small digital keypad and entered the coordinates for Earth. As they sped away, the large ship they had only moments before vacated, exploded into billions of small particles and large chunks of debris. Obstacles were everywhere, making their escape route a deadly maze.
Arlene could hear her own sobs as she asked, “Oh Brian, what will we do? Who can save us? I’m scared Brian. I’m scared.”
* * * *
Arlene’s sobs woke Brian from the other side of the thin apartment wall. Her whispered words ripped at his heart at the memory of the escape they almost hadn’t survived. It had started! Only one night with him and her memories of their past life together had already started showing itself through her dreams.
From the moment he had opened the door to her he had known it was her, he would have known her anywhere. Height, weight, hair, eyes, everything was the same. She was the same woman she had been over five hundred years before.
Her long hair was like strands of fire that turned to spirally curls in all their thick red glory highlighted with brown strips. Emeralds didn't sparkle quite as lovely as her green expressive eyes. Her body was lean and her waist slender like any athlete normally would be. And as it was supposed to be, how it had always been, Arlene fit perfectly under his chin being a foot shorter than him. Her body lined up perfectly to fit against his as if they had been made to fit together like two pieces of an intricately designed puzzle.
It had taken every ounce of his strength and patience to not just simply pull her into his arms. He wanted to kiss her and hold her more than anything he had ever wanted before. Since the night he had awoken to learn they had found her, he had missed her desperately and he could only think of how desperately he loved her.
The only thing that stopped him from pulling her against him right now was the fear of scaring her away before she had a chance to remember everything that had happened in her last life. In the short, yet beautiful life they had shared together in unequaled bliss.
In time Arlene would remember everything they had shared together and then she would return to her rightful place in his arms and back amongst the Zogone people in space. But for now Brian would have to wait and use this time to learn everything about her new life where she had grown up in New Mexico. There was sure to be differences between the Scottish lassie she had been and the American teenager she was today.
Time, patience, and a little help from a few friends and Brian would have his wife back in no time, then they could go home together. They could finally be man and wife once more.
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