Chapter 13

Flipper

Bert blinked. “Where’d they go?” he asked himself. “Do we have a deal or not?” he shouted to the empty air. There was no answer so he looked to Merlin. “Well, do we have a deal?”

She shrugged. “Not for me to say, boss. We can’t keep on going after them and we can’t stand around in here. We’ve covered their main haunts .. excuse the pun, so let’s go back to the diner and wait to see what they decide to do next. Let them find us.”

“Did I screw up?” Bert wondered as she opened the restroom door. “Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t think you did, no.”

“Then why did they just .. disappear like that?”

“Cos they can?” she suggested, glancing back with a quick grin.

“Peri, c’mon. I’m seriously outta my depth here. I need .. guidance.”

“Okay.” She pushed open the door to the diner and cast a swift look down to the far end. The sleeping beauties were still sleeping but that didn’t mean a whole lot … “Coffee? I think better on coffee an’ cigarettes.”

“Sure,” Bert accepted.

“Don’t sound so miserable. You can’t expect developments to run smoothly. This is real life, Bert. It isn’t real life packaged to fit into forty minutes. Sometimes .. you have to wait. Think of this as a break for commercials.”

Merlin filled two mugs and returned to the booth, sliding in opposite him. Bert was staring gloomily at the window, his chin in both hands.

“Stopped snowing,” he remarked. “Looks pretty deep. Think we’ll get out?”

“Oh, sure. Few hours, we’ll have left this behind us. Here, coffee. C’mon, concentrate.”

He focused. “Why’d they do it?”

“Put yourself in their place. Use that powerful imagination of yours. You’ve been here a long time, bored to death .. kinda, an’ you’re desperate for new experiences. Then, one night, this group of strangers turn up, break in, make the place their home, and amongst this group of strangers is one guy with .. an exotic career.”

“Nick.”

“No, Bert! It’s you. Nearly everyone watches TV, an’ most people wonder how it’s done. Well .. you know the answers to the questions. So, putting yourself in their place again, you’re curious and you want to ask this guy all those questions .. but he tells you later. He gives you a deal, take it or leave it.”

“Right. So .. why’d they disappear?”

“They’re thinking it over. C’mon, if you really had been stuck somewhere for .. half your life, wouldn’t you get used to the routine? Same thing, every day. Nothing ever changes. You’re even wearing the same clothes. Those kids have forgotten the priorities. You haven’t because, to you, it’s new, it’s fresh. Why are they here? Why didn’t they go on? Ask yourself that question for over seven thousand days, you give up trying to find the answer .. till someone like you comes along.” She lit a cigarette. “Sit tight. They’ll be back soon an’ they’ll take the deal.”

“They will, huh?”

“Sure.”

“Then why are you looking just slightly worried?” he asked.

“Because it’s four in the morning an’ Derek isn’t gonna sleep forever. Sooner or later, he is gonna wake up .. and he will shout at the both of us unless we can prove we’ve been using our time so wisely we forgot to wake him.”

“But we have.”

“I know that, you know that, yet we have no proof. And, without proof, Derek will shout. And then Nick will wake up. And Nick doesn’t shout, he just gets physical.”

Bert looked at his watch. “C’mon, c’mon, what’s keeping you ..?” he muttered, sounding just slightly worried.

*****

“Shit, where did he learn to negotiate?” Flipper muttered, pacing the janitor’s storeroom. “He must be one tough bastard in Hollywood.”

“You think?” Skippy wondered hesitantly, not quite able to reconcile the weed actuality with the tough bastard description.

“Later?” Flipper repeated, not hearing Skippy’s remark. He raked a hand thru his hair. “Later? What the hell does that mean? We don’t have later.”

“We do. We have a whole lot of later,” Lassie pointed out. “Bert doesn’t. And, guys ..?”

They looked at her.

“I think Bert has it right. Solve the mystery first, while he’s here. If there’s time, we use it .. for other stuff. Flipper, I know you wanna know about Hollywood. It’s your dream, an’ it’s a good dream. I wanna know too, but I really wanna know is why I can’t leave this diner and how I came to be here in the first place.” She gazed at them and shrugged slightly. “I would rather spend my eternity here by choice than by force.”

“I get the feeling that .. even if Bert goes,” Skippy commented, “he’d come back to fulfill his side of the deal.”

“So do I,” Lassie nodded.

Flipper’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah. You’re right, both of you, about everything.”

“We accept the deal,” she urged.

“Yeah. We’ve got nothing to lose an’ a whole lot to gain.”

“So .. is the show over?” Skippy asked.

“The play’s over. The show .. well, that may be set to run an’ run.”

“Can I get outta this costume an’ make up is what I mean.”

“Sure,” Flipper nodded, his expression tired.

“Great. My jaw feels like it’s gonna drop off.” Skippy shook himself like a dog and was a regular looking guy again.

Lassie closed her eyes and concentrated until the bruises and blood disappeared and her clothes were clean again. Flipper passed a hand over his face and wiped away his injuries.

“Let’s go get our answers,” Skippy grinned.

*****

Merlin was facing the door and glanced up as the three drifted in. “What’d I tell you? Bert, we have company.”

He twisted round and smiled. “I’m glad you chose to accept.”

“Yeah, well .. I want your word of promise that, if there isn’t a later now, there will be a later .. at some future time,” Flipper responded, sliding in next to Merlin and refusing to say ‘later later’.

“I’d shake your hand but .. I don’t think that would work,” Bert remarked. “So .. I promise you all, faithfully, that, if I don’t get time today, I will make time very soon to come back.”

Lassie and Skippy sat down next to Bert.

“Okay. Where do we start?” Flipper asked.

“Names,” Bert replied. “I’m Bert. This is Peri.”

“I’m Lassie.”

“Skippy.”

“Flipper.”

“Oh, come on! TV animals?” Bert exclaimed. “Are you pulling my chain?”

Merlin cleared her throat. “People in glass houses an’ all that. Until only a few hours ago, you had the nickname Buck, and that is the male of any number of animals.”

“Sorry,” Bert mumbled.

“Cassidy Renman,” Lassie said.

“Skip Delaware.”

“Philip Jones-Harwood,” concluded Flipper.

“I’m pleased to meet you,” Bert responded. “Where are you from, originally?”

“Up the coast. Northern California,” Lassie replied. “Small college town. Nothing special.”

“You all lived there.”

“Uh huh,” Skippy nodded.

“Were you all in college?”

“Cass and I were in the same year. Different classes, although we did share some of ’em,” Skippy answered.

“What about you?” Bert asked Flipper.

“I graduated the year before an’ I was working in the local theater. I majored in drama and film.”

“And you were working in theater? Doing what?”

“I’m an actor,” Flipper replied.

“Ah .. that explains a lot,” Bert grinned. “You’re very good, y’know.”

“Thank you, but .. it doesn’t really help knowing that now when I can’t do much about exploiting it.”

“Kind of a .. Tom Cruise look about you.”

“Who’s he?” Flipper inquired.

“Ah .. after your time.”

Merlin cleared her throat again. “Let’s try an’ stay on the subject, shall we?”

“Oh, right. Okay.” Bert looked around the table. “So .. you were all upstate. What time of the year was it?”

“Summer recess,” Lassie replied.

“I .. wanted to get away from home for a while,” Skippy said. “I was not getting on so good with my folks an’ I thought time away would give us all a chance to cool down. Never expected it to be this long though. My brother’s friend’s friend was heading down to LA – ”

“You?” Bert queried but Flipper was shaking his head.

“Not you?” Skippy asked, his eyebrows rising.

“I don’t know your brother. I know Harley.”

“Oh … Harley who is my brother’s friend’s brother’s girlfriend’s sister. I think,” Skippy nodded. “Well, anyway, I asked Flip if he could give me a ride as far as San Luis Obispo. I got family there.. Cousins. Flip said, provided I paid toward the gas, sure, no problem. I asked my friend Tommy to come with me an’ he said yes an’ then he pulled out at the last minute .. so I asked Cass if she’d come.”

“I have family in Santa Barbara an’ getting away for the summer sounded good so I agreed,” Lassie said.

“We met up, got in Flip’s car, an’ set off,” Skippy went on.

“It was a good trip,” Lassie smiled. “We got on really well. Flip’s an amazing mimic.”

“I had noticed,” Bert remarked.

“We got as far as here. It was .. nearly nine thirty. We’d driven all day an’ had only stopped for a few hours the night before. None of us had a lot of spare cash. We thought going over the mountains here would be scenic cos we’d had enough of concrete roads, then, we’d go onto San Francisco, stop there for a day, then on down the coast road to LA,” Flipper related. “When we saw this place, it seemed perfect. We stopped for coffee and something to eat, rest up for a while. We thought it was open twenty four hours but they were due to shut. We just had time for coffee an’ to visit the restroom, an’ then they threw us out. Not nasty about it, but they were closing an’ waiting to get home.”

“We should’ve slept in the car,” Lassie continued. “We were all tired, not just Flip.”

“I said we’d stop once we were over the mountain,” Flipper said on a sigh. “It gets cold up here at night, even in summer. I screwed up. I was asleep at the wheel .. an’ I killed us.”

“Hindsight’s always twenty twenty,” Merlin remarked softly. “Don’t beat on yourself.”

“Next thing, we all woke up back here,” Skippy concluded. “We thought we’d dreamed leaving an’ getting into the car .. but we hadn’t. Next morning, when the diner opened at seven, no one could hear us or see us. That’s when we knew something had gone very wrong.”

They all looked hopefully at Bert. Bert frowned slowly and looked hopefully at Merlin.

“It might be useful to know what you remember about the accident,” she said. “It may have seemed or felt like a dream but share whatever you can. Least little detail might be the key.”

“Well .. I remember getting in back an’ laying down cos I was so tired,” Lassie said. “I think I remember hearing the tires crunch on the gravel of the parking lot, but that’s all. I was asleep.”

Skippy nodded. “Much the same for me except I was in the front. I was beat. It’s very faint but I remember .. I think .. the sound of the engine. Rest is a black hole.”

Flipper hesitated, obviously unwilling to return to what was a painful time. Eventually, he drew in a deep breath.

“I remember leaving here, getting behind the wheel, starting the engine, knowing I shouldn’t even be thinking about it. I steered outta the parking lot, onto the road. It’s fairly straight from here over the pass. I'd done the trip before. It was warm. I don’t remember driving. I do remember hearing the shriek of metal. I think it had to be the barrier as we hit it an’ scraped along it. Then silence and a falling, dropping sensation. Finally, a flare of sharp pain. That’s all. I didn’t see any of it. It all seemed to happen at a distance.”

Bert glanced at Merlin. She was frowning quite hard, her eyes narrowed. “Does that help?” he asked softly.

“It all helps, Bert. It’s like .. pieces of a puzzle. You have to have all the pieces before you can make them into a picture.”

“Do we have all the pieces?” Lassie asked.

“Not sure. What about your backgrounds? Family. Friends.”

“How does that solve anything? They weren’t here,” Flipper responded. “The facts are we drove when we should’ve stayed. I drove. I killed us because I slept at the wheel. We went over the edge .. an’ crashed. We woke up here an’ we can’t leave. Why?”

“The others were talking this over before,” Bert relayed. “Rachel – who is a doctor – thinks that you’re here because it’s the last place you truly remember being. She believes that, once you’d steered out onto the road, you were asleep. Your eyes may have been open but your mind had switched off. If the road had been straight, you probably could’ve driven for miles an’ not realized it. But the road isn’t straight. You never had a chance.”

“It does curve just the other side of the pass,” Flipper nodded.

“The diner is the last true memory that you each have,” Merlin added. “The last place .. you were real human beings. You drank coffee, used the restrooms. Human things to do. You were tired, it was a warm summer night but it’d get colder later. The heat made it worse. You hadn’t given yourself enough of a break from the road … Your minds were dreaming so, when your bodies died, your spirits returned to the last place you truly remember.”

“Why can’t we get out?” Skippy asked.

“Because ghosts haunt a location. You’re bound by the outer walls of the diner.”

Lassie leaned forward. “How can we get free?”

Merlin lit another cigarette. “By breaking the ties holding you here.”

“Oh, I know this one!” Bert said. “Violent death.”

“You don’t get much more violent than a car wreck,” Skippy remarked.

“Yeah, but we don’t remember the wreck,” Flipper pointed out.

“Unexpected death,” Bert went on.

“None of us expected to die that night,” Lassie sighed.

“No one does. Very few are prepared for it when it happens,” Merlin commented. “That’s why so many people are so scared of dying, an’ why they never live life to the full. Death is a .. dark shadow at the back of their minds. They know it’ll happen one day but not today. They make plans. They should live instead. Make each day count for something. This isn’t a rehearsal, guys. We only get one time thru the loop. I mean, here we all are. We don’t expect to die, do we, Bert?”

“No,” Bert agreed.

“We’re in a diner about .. two thirds of the way up a mountain. It’s been snowing. It is not unreasonable to think that an avalanche could be dropping down on us as we speak. The trees’ll slow it some but it’d bury us alive. We’d be crushed. This place’d fall like a house of cards.”

Bert angled his head to listen to the deep silence outside. “O-kay, I think I’ve learned that particular lesson. There isn’t an avalanche about to crush us to a pulp, is there?”

“It was just an example,” Merlin replied.

“And I thank you for it.”

“But a reasonable one, in the circumstances,” she added.

Bert swallowed. “Okay, what else is there ..? Unfinished business.”

Flipper laughed softly. “I still haven’t made it to Hollywood for my big break.”

“I can’t imagine what I might have left unfinished,” Lassie commented, “unless it’s to get my degree an’ live the rest of my life.”

“Same goes for me,” Skippy shrugged. “But I guess that doesn’t count.”

“Not really,” Merlin said, shaking her head. “It’s just .. bad timing.”

“That just leaves passing on information,” Bert concluded.

The three ghosts sighed.

“No information to pass on,” Bert said, sighing as well. “Dammit, it has to be one of those reasons. There are no others.”

“Bert, don’t be so rigid,” Merlin scolded. “There is always a reason. Often .. it’s a long chain of little things which combine to make a reason. That’s why we need all the pieces, an’ something in my gut says we don’t know everything, not yet.”

“We don’t know what else to tell you!” Skippy erupted. “Each of us has been over an’ over that night. It’s kinda been a hot thing for us. We’ve talked it out. We’ve talked it to death.”

“Yeah, but, Skip, it was only tonight that we learned Flipper could remember something of the .. just before the crash. He remembers pain,” Lassie pointed out. “We don’t.”

“But only distantly,” Flipper defended. “It’s .. it’s like it happened to another person. I wasn’t really aware of it.”

“Your mind was dreaming. Elsewhere,” Merlin explained. “Takes two to tango, Flip. Mind an’ brain. If you think of your brain as your body’s control computer, your mind is the guy at the keyboard. Computers, once told to do something, don’t always need someone there to watch them do it. You’d stepped out for a coffee an’ a smoke. You were too far away to hear clearly the buzzer warning you the system had suffered a fatal error an’ was crashing.”

“So .. do we go over it again?” Bert asked.

“We know what happened that night,” Merlin replied. “Going over it again isn’t gonna do much except get us cranky. Okay. I’m gonna go visit the restroom. I want you all – not you, Bert .. no, including you, Bert – to think about before that night. Something happened or didn’t happen that should’ve happened. Maybe you each have something more to contribute to the reason. You must have, otherwise one or more of you would’ve gone on. You didn’t. You all came back here.”

“Peri .. I was like three years old an’ in LA,” Bert commented. “I don’t think I can remember what I was doing nor how it could possibly be relevant to this situation.”

“Bert, I want you to use your imagination. You’re good at coming up with ideas. No matter if they’re wild or wacky. If it serves to jog someone’s memory, it has to be worth it. Okay? I know you can do it. Skip .. this might be tough on you but I need you to be honest.”

“Why you picking on me” Skippy demanded.

“Because Philip an’ Cassidy are prepared to sacrifice the freedom of eternity an’ stay in this prison because you don’t wanna leave. There’s a reason for that too .. an’ it may play a part.”

Skippy hunched his shoulders. “What if I can’t say?”

Merlin leaned toward him. “These people are your friends. You’ve lived over twenty years with them. If you can’t talk to them now, after so long, you don’t deserve their friendship an’ they don’t deserve to stay here an’ keep you company.”

She straightened. “You gotta think, guys. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

*****

Flipper stared at the table top. He thought hard but not fast. He didn’t look at the others, he knew they didn’t want to be disturbed.

Philip Jones-Harwood had gotten a good degree because he’d known from a young age exactly what he’d wanted to do with his life. Act. It was the flame which burned steadily in his heart. School plays – he was always the first to volunteer. He hadn’t cared if he got the part of a tree, or a horse, or third man from the right in the crowd scene. He was the best damned tree or horse or third man he could possibly be. Hollywood was a dream for a lot of people and Flipper knew his chances of breaking into movies weren’t great. But he had a chance. He’d worked in the small theater in town, taking small parts but learning each time and getting experience. It was mostly amateur but Flipper had been part of the staff and it was a wonderful time of his life. Yet his pay wasn’t a lot so he’d hoarded and saved until he felt he had enough to make that break from home and head south for his other break. His big break.

It was Harley who’d mentioned the kid needing a ride. Harley was an old girlfriend, and even that was pushing the definition. They’d hung together in High School as part of a crowd. She was a friend who was a girl. She wanted to be an attorney. She’d said that maybe she’d specialize in entertainment law and they could meet up from time to time in LA when they were both rich and famous. Harley hadn’t demanded that he stay in town. She had her own life to lead. They’d parted as friends. But she had heard that someone called Skip Delaware wanted to quit town for the summer and head down the coast. Flipper had seen a way to save on his expenses so he’d said okay, tell the kid to call me. Skippy had made contact, the arrangements had been made and Skippy had turned up with a girl. A traveling companion. Flipper hadn’t minded about that either; he could save more money with two contributing to the costs.

Lassie had told the gospel truth – it had been a fun trip. They’d started out a little quiet. It had seemed that Skippy and Lassie, while knowing each other, didn’t know each other well. Neither of them had known Flipper, but, as the miles rolled by, they had loosened up and .. yeah, it had been fun.

By the time they approached the diner, they’d felt like they were friends. It was only after that night that they had come to feel they’d known each other forever.

Flipper laughed silently. Merlin was right about not expecting death to happen. They had made plans. A day in San Francisco, then on down the coast to San Luis Obispo to drop Skip at his cousins. Then onto Santa Barbara, maybe stay over for the night, then head on alone to LA. Plans. Big plans. And .. ultimately useless plans. They’d agreed to visit Flipper in Hollywood before they took the bus home. They’d given him their phone numbers so he could tell them where to meet up once they got to the city. Of course, if he was working, it might be difficult …

He hurt when he thought about that. All those hopes, those dreams, carefully nurtured over the years, they’d all come to an abrupt end just a little way up the road and due to sheer stupidity. It did help to know there was a reason why he hadn’t gone on to whatever awaited people after death but not much. Flipper was ever an optimist yet this … He sensed it was something small. Something so trivial, so inconsequential, that, when it finally crawled into the spotlight of examination, they’d all say .. ‘is that it? That’s what brought us back here? Jeez … ’

I’m sure it’s nothing I’ve done or not done. I covered all the loose ends before I left.

“I’m gonna go .. take a walk,” Skippy muttered. “I think better on my feet.”

Lassie nodded.

Bert heard the door close. “Does he?” he asked softly.

“No. He just wants time alone,” Flipper replied.

Lassie smiled to herself. Skip has his own questions to ask, she thought, and he doesn’t want to ask them here. I hope he gets the answers he wants …

*****

“What do you think about all this?”

It is a mystery which can be solved once all the information is volunteered. Not all of it has been.

Merlin shook her head. “You get the feeling it’s something simple?”

Yes, I do, Aquila replied.

“No one person is at fault?”

No. It’s a group effort. Some .. unguessed, as yet undiscovered combination of simple events.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

“Peri .. you talking to yourself?”

She turned as Skippy warily entered foreign territory. “Often, it’s the only way to have an intelligent conversation,” she smiled. “Hey, come on in. No one’s gonna bite you. What’s on your mind, Skip?”

He carefully closed the door. “When you get judged .. do people who’ve done bad things go to Hell?”

Merlin leaned against a cubicle wall. “Is that why you wanna stay here?”

Skippy hesitated then nodded.

“You’re scared of the judging.”

“No. I’m terrified of the judging. I’d rather stay here alone than face that.”

“You’re not evil. I can tell these things. Skip, truly evil people go to Hell. Bad people .. it depends. Let’s describe it like this – how are you with geography?”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Don’t think I’m saying this is really what it’s like. It isn’t. I’m just using these countries as an example. Canada, the States, Mexico. Now, Canada is Heaven. Saints go to Canada. Mexico is Hell. Evil people go to Mexico. The US is where most of us go when we die. Bad people may go to northern Mexico or that part of the US along the border. It’s called the badlands. It depends how bad they’ve been which side of the border they end up. What have you done that’s so bad you think you’ll go to Mexico?”

“I was in school. I got in with the wrong crowd. Underage drinking. I shoplifted once an’ got caught right outside the store. I smoked dope. Dropped acid.”

Merlin nodded. “Skip, I really hate to tell you this … ”

His shoulders sagged and his face crumpled.

“But you have nothing to worry about.”

His eyes rose, full of suspicion and doubt.

“I won’t lie to you, not when you’re so worried about your soul. Your drug use .. was it minor?”

“I guess so. It was never a regular thing anyway. I was just .. experimenting.”

“A lot of people that age do. A lot go on to do hard drugs. Experimentation isn’t evil. Experimenting with drugs isn’t good but it isn’t totally bad. Being a teenager kinda means learning about this stuff. Making mistakes and growing from them. You won’t be judged harshly for it, Skip. You were a kid. Did you supply anyone? Introduce anyone to drugs?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“It was just you. Your .. friends suggested it an’ you wanted to be part of the crowd.”

He nodded. “I was too weak to say no, to .. go my own way. When I went to college .. I shared the occasional joint but I never did my own. An’, when I started my sophomore year, I didn’t do drugs at all.”

“Then, honest to God, you’ll go to America an’ nowhere near the border. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Really?”

“People who end up in the badlands south of the border are those who plan mass murder an’ carry it out. People who trap others into being bad, who corrupt their souls an’ make lives miserable. It’s people who, faced with a choice to back off from shooting an unarmed, defenseless person or shooting them in cold blood, choose to shoot. North of the border, it’s people .. who you’d instinctively avoid. You’d cross the road rather than walk by them. Skip, it isn’t people who steal food because they’re hungry an’ have no money. It isn’t people who don’t go to church Sundays. It isn’t those who are weak and who are curious. It isn’t people like you, Skip. I promise.”

She watched the terror slide from his expression to leave him drained.

“What do you hunt?” he whispered.

“The other kinda people,” she answered. “But I’m damned good at making threats I never intend carrying out.”

Skippy laughed faintly. “All these years … ”

“You still can’t leave here. It was never as simple as that, Skip. Something’s holding you back.”

“And it isn’t cos I .. thought I’d done some bad things.”

She shook her head. “Would’ve made no difference if you’d done them or not. The way it goes is .. you die, you pass over, you get judged, you go into eternity, you do whatever you want. If you die and come back somewhere like this .. there’s a glitch in the system. All we have to do is find out what that glitch is.”

“Don’t you mean was?”

“Uh uh. You’re still here. The glitch is still working.” Merlin glanced at her watch. “It’s been over five minutes. Let’s go see if anyone’s thought of something.”

*****

Bert had gotten more coffee and emptied the plate Merlin was using as an ashtray. He worked as quietly as he could so not to wake Nick. He told himself that they really needed to sleep. They had a long drive ahead of them. And, in the back of his mind, there was a little voice that said one will shout but that’s okay cos you’re used to being shouted at. The other won’t shout .. an’ judo just ain’t gonna be enough.

Merlin and Skippy came back in together and Bert studied the blond haired ghost. He looked different. Lighter in his step. A more ready smile. A lot more relaxed. Bert frowned. They hadn’t made out .. had they? His gaze switched to Merlin.

“What’s bothering you?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said quickly.

“You’re not a natural born liar, Bert. Don’t try to start now.”

He flushed scarlet. “I .. don’t like to say, not in company.”

“Later then.” She sat down. “Okay, what have you come up with?”

Flipper, Lassie and Skippy glanced at each other.

“I’ll go first,” Flipper offered. “I’m an only child. My parents travel a lot an’ I’ve been used to looking out for myself since I was seventeen. To be honest .. I don’t think they really understood why I wanted to be an actor, y’know? They tried to get me to change my mind an’, when I wouldn’t, they kinda gave up on me. I worked to put myself thru college. I had no family to speak of. As for friends .. no one I’d call close. I guess Harley is a friend, or was. I didn’t want any ties. I was going to Hollywood. All my energy was directed at that. When I left, I really left. I didn’t anticipate ever going back.” He shrugged. “And that doesn’t help, does it?”

“On the surface, no,” Bert replied. “But it could still be useful.”

Lassie leaned forward. “I have a sister – ”

“You do? Wow, you never said,” Skippy grinned. “Younger or older?”

“Younger,” she laughed. “I lived at home at weekends an’ with a friend during the week. It was more convenient for college an’ then I got used to .. a level of freedom, y’know? So it carried on during recess. I worked evenings in a coffee bar to help pay rent to my friend. When Skip said about going south, sure, I jumped at the chance. I figured a few weeks, couple of months, then I’d head home again for my junior year. As for friends .. there’s Bonnie whose apartment I share. No boyfriends although I had friends who were guys. People I went to class with.”

Merlin nodded slowly.

“I got a brother, older than me by a few years,” Skippy said. “Lived at home. I had a few friends. Like Cass, the people I went to college with. I preferred spending my time with them. My home life wasn’t easy. My folks kept me on a tight leash. I used to experiment with drugs when I was in school an’ I was a bit wild so I guess they didn’t really trust me when I said I was over all that.”

Lassie squeezed his hand. “Was that why, Skip?”

He nodded. “Yeah .. but I know now I don’t have a thing to worry about. It’s a load off, believe me. Anyway, I had to cut loose. I was being stifled at home. A trip south .. just what the doctor ordered.”

“Okay. Bert? You come up with any ideas?”

He hunched his shoulders. “No. Not really,” he confessed.

“Nothing at all?” Merlin inquired. “Your creative mind has completely failed you?”
“I think I’m getting tired, Peri. It’s almost five in the morning.” He shook his head. “The one thing which just came into my head doesn’t help at all. A comedy of errors. A sitcom. How can this be a sitcom, for God’s sake? None of it is funny, not in the least. Well .. maybe the cake,” Bert conceded, then sighed. “I’m sorry. We’re running outta time here an’ that’s all I could think.”

“What about you?” Flipper asked Merlin.

“Every one of you has told the truth as you remember it. I think the reason you didn’t go on is made up of something small which you all did or didn’t do but, like three snowflakes at the right point an’ the right time can start an avalanche, they’re important.”

“Can we please stop with the avalanches?” Bert pleaded, glancing uneasily at the ceiling.

Merlin grinned at him. “Whatever these things are .. I don’t think we’ve gotten them yet. I just feel we’re very close.” She shook herself. “Maybe we’re too close to it. Or maybe we’re not close enough. Bert, get your coat.”

“Why ..?” he asked.

“We’re going for a little walk.”

“Out there?” he exclaimed.

Merlin looked at him. “Fresh air will sharpen you up. C’mon. Coat. Now.”

“I don’t have a coat,” Bert pointed out. “I live in LA. I have a sweater .. which isn’t mine and which I have to give back.”

“Go borrow Nick’s jacket,” she ordered.

Bert’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding? Or are you just crazy?”

“Bert, I know what I’m doing. Trust me. Okay? Go borrow Nick’s jacket. You already have one of his sweaters. Go.”

“What about us?” Flipper asked as Bert reluctantly got to his feet.

“Stay here. You can’t do a lot more, can you? Actually, you can. They won’t be sleeping for much longer,” Merlin remarked, gesturing with her head down to other end of the diner. “When they wake up, no tricks, no funny business, just .. tell ’em who you are, why you’re here, answer their questions. Yeah, it’ll be a lotta repeating yourself but those are smart people. They’ll probably solve it real quick.”

“Do we tell them where you’ve gone?” Lassie inquired. “They’re bound to ask.”

“Sure. Tell ’em we’ve gone for a little walk to check out the pass.”

“Okay,” Skippy agreed.

Merlin got up just as Bert, wincing, pulled on Nick’s jacket. “An’, Skip, if you know what’s good for you, you do not confess to throwing the cake. Okay?”

He grinned. “You got it.”

Continue to Chapter 14 Return to Home