Subj: Twylyght Tyme Part 6
Date: 8/10/00 9:27:43 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Kallie
"Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking?"
Time: December 2, 1969
Even before she opened her eyes she knew something just wasn't right. She could feel the weight of something on the bed beside her, gently shifting up and down as it drew in and released its breath. Whatever the thing was, it had warmth emanating from it. Lucie Suffern ignored her sore achy bones and managed to slowly push herself up and off the bed away from the invader. "Great Day In The Morning!" She exclaimed in horror, as she discovered the rather unexpected form of Otis Stoolfire, hibernating in her boudoir. He was only wearing a nightshirt leaving his nether regions exposed. Lucie had to turn away in embarrassment. Why do these things always seem to happen to me, she thought to herself? Then he began to snore.
It caused her to wonder if she had been in the wrong apartment all along. She had wandered into other people's rooms before. There were a lot of times lately she had been so confused she didn't know where she was. But she knew if Mildred Stoolfire ever caught her with her husband, there would be hell to pay. So avoiding the wrath of Mildred, Lucy carefully teetered over to the chair where her robe lay. Then making only a minimum of grunts and groans. Crept out of the room, mumbling under her breath, "It's no fun being eighty-eight years old."
She was still quit a bit sleepy and confused, so when she came to the first open door she paused a moment to try to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, "I am so sleepy, sleeeepy!" Then walked right on in as if she owned the place. She went straight to the bathroom. Nature called quite frequently these days. But as she looked at her toothless reflection in the mirror she was disgusted to discover that she had forgotten to put in her choppers. She looked all over the bathroom for her missing teeth; however, nothing seemed to be in its place. Finally she spotted the elusive dentures soaking a cup. Quickly putting them in, she admired the improvement they made in her reflection. But Lucie was getting tired again, so she found a chair that she couldn't remember acquiring, and before too long she was nodding off. She never noticed that there had been another presence in the room observing her activities.
She awoke with a start in unfamiliar surroundings. Not quite sure how she had got there, Lucie quickly got up and left the strange apartment. Holding on to the handrail along the hall she gradually made it back into her own room. But something still wasn't right. She just knew it. On an impulse she checked her bedroom, but no one was there. Then she realized her mouth felt wrong, as if her teeth were too big to fit. "Oh dear, those darned tooth doctors never seem to get the fit of my dentures right," She complained. So she took out her teeth and hid them in the back of the breadbox, behind her favorite cookies. After all you never knew when someone might want to steal them.
Then directly in back of her she heard the fatal sound, "Hum-hum, hum-hum. Hum-hum, hum-hum." Lucie could see the distorted face of her assailant's anger reflected in the shiny metallic surface of the breadbox. "Help us Hanna!" She cried out in fear, but it was too late. A second later there was a sickly crack as the crowbar came down crushing the back of Lucie's ancient skull. Lucie Suffern was suffering no more.
The police came to investigate, but could find no clue as to who the killer might be. They did find, however, after a thorough search of the room, some twenty-three sets of dentures that didn't belong to Mrs. Suffern. Squirreled away like nuts for the winter they were hidden amongst the nooks and crannies of the old girl's treasures. The recovery of Lucie's pilfered collection of dental appliances created a major nightmare for the nursing staff. How in the world were they going to figure out whose choppers were whose?
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By the afternoon Willie had decided that his dream girl was just that, a lovely phantom of his drug induced dreams. Instead he began to worry about how he was going to pay for all of this, as he had no health insurance.
To get his mind off his troubles he decided to call Julia and check on things back at Collinwood. He pushed the button to move the bed up into a sitting position. And when the grating mechanical noise had stopped, he found he could easily reach the phone by his bedside. Especially since all the tubes from the previous day had been removed.
He eagerly dialed the number, and then studied the metal track for the privacy curtain on the ceiling. Following its trail around his bed as the phone rang at Collinwood.
"Elizabeth Stoddard speaking," She barked as if annoyed at the intrusion into her day.
"Is Doctor Hoffman there?"
"No! She is not!" And she slammed the phone down in anger.
Mrs. Stoddard had always been such a kind and fair lady. And when she had been rude to him in the past there had always been a reason for it. But now it just seemed wrong. Perhaps she was just going through "The Change". It was a mysterious time women went through, according to Jason. During this time he recommended giving the woman in question as wide a berth as possible. He took Jason's recommendation and called Melanie Hendersen instead.
This time the phone was picked up by Todd Henderson, Melanie's Neanderthal brother, "Yeah." Todd was a creature of very little words.
"Is Melanie there?"
The phone was dropped on the counter as Todd turned around and bellowed in a voice so loud and obnoxious it could rival Tarzan's fiercest jungle yell, "MELONIEEEEEE! PHOOOOOONE!
"Sorry about that," Melanie said slightly out of breath from running for the phone. "So how's life been treatin' ya?"
"Well ya know how there have always been a lot of people in Collinsport who said I was headed for a fall?" Willie joked. "It seems they were right, but I bet they never thought it would be from a ladder." He took a small sip of water from the plastic cup beside his bed and continued, "Yeah, I busted my leg up good and everything." He told her about waking up in the hospital and the drug induced illusion of the mysterious and beautiful girl. He didn't tell her, however, about his insurance worries, or that he didn't not really fall off the ladder, as he'd let on. He had been pushed. Of that he was sure.
"So anything interesting going on in the old neighborhood?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Well, the Todd's antique shop was burned down. They suspect arson, but you know how the Collinsport police are at solving crimes." Willie smiled in spite of himself.
"Do they have any suspects?" He inquired, glad that he wasn't around to point the finger at this time.
"Oh! I almost forgot. One of the owner's of the Antique confessed to killing Paul Stoddard. Wasn't that the name of Carolyn's father?"
"Yeah, he used to be an old friend of Jason's." Willie had met Paul Stoddard before in his travels, and had always been fascinated how much Paul and Jason looked alike. A fact they often used to their advantage. He didn't really care much for the man himself one way or the other, but Stoddard's death represented yet another piece of his former life lost forever. He was grateful he had not been around to see it.
Melanie continued now with the newspaper in hand, "The article makes it sound like Mr. Philip Todd went quite mad. After he killed Paul Stoddard he went after the special investigator they sent. Now what was his name? Oh yes, here it is, Guthrie, Inspector Lawrence Guthrie. He must have really had it in for the police, because then he murdered Sheriff Davenport himself." Melanie paused as she quickly scanned the newspaper article. "Oh yes, and the weirdest part of all, neither Philip or the police were able to explain a strange putrid slimy substance they found at the scene of all three murders."
"Hey, I've got to go now. A nurse just came in the room and it looks like she means business." He laughed. "I'll catch ya later"
The nurse in the properly starched white cap did mean business. With a pleasant smile on her face, she went about measuring him from armpit to toe, to find out what size of crutches he would need. Then a short time later they took him down to physical therapy where he tried them out for the first time. Once he got the hang of things, it was time to leave.
Nurse Porter came to pick him up and he was relieved to learn that, Twylyght Tyme would be picking up the bill because his injury occurred on the job. "Mr. Applegarth insisted." She said with a smile, which was quite unusual for her.
Although Willie had been checked out on crutches, they insisted that he leave the hospital in a wheel chair. Standard procedure they said. Nurse Porter had already left to get the van to bring it around to the front of the hospital entrance. It was weird to have to have the nurse push him along the gleaming waxed floor. Even weirder was having his leg sticking straight up in front of him. Looking as if he were doing some bizarre sitting version of the goose step.
He couldn't wait to get back to his little place. It wasn't much, but it came with the job and it was peaceful there. He wondered how long he would be able to stay there, now that he had been injured.
They arrived at the entrance and the nurse swung the chair around backwards for a smoother exit. As he was being wheeled out the door, he saw her. His dream girl, not an illusion this time, but a real living breathing woman. She was talking on the phone and seemed even more beautiful than the night before. He wanted to talk to her, to touch her and confirm that she was real. He tried to ask to go back in side. But the nurse was in control of his movement right now and he felt totally helpless as he was pulled farther and farther away from any hope of ever meeting. Then the doors slid shut, as if they were an impenetrable barrier. Forbidding his reentrance and keeping the mysterious girl as little more than the stuff of dreams. Nurse Porter was in a hurry. And it was not wise to keep her waiting.
Kallie >^,,^<