A Place Called Paradise. Honey Perkel
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candy stores. Kite, ice cream, and t-shirt stores. Miniature golf and bumper cars. Trendy cafe´s, dusty antique shops, and book stores. Lulu smelled doughnuts, popcorn, and salt air as she walked through town. Milling with the people. Locals. Tourists. One could hardly tell them apart.
As she walked, Lulu reflected on what had happened the night before. The black form in the mirror, the flash storm, and the fact that Halley Bee denied knowing about it. There was a lot she didn’t know about the girl, about everything. There was so much to work out in her mind, and she couldn’t do any of it without discussing the matter with Bernard.
Strolling through town, Lulu moved in and out of the shops. The storefronts were old, but most appeared freshly painted and in good shape. Business for the main street was brisk. Soon school would be out and families would flock to the beach en masse. The danger that was encroaching on Seaside, whatever it might be, would multiply ten-fold with hundreds of out-of-towners.
After awhile, Lulu decided to make her way back towards the cove. She was getting hungry. Turning left onto the south prom, she glanced over her shoulder and what she saw made her gasp in horror. Broadway, busiest of the tourist and business streets lay crippled! In ruins! Bodies were strewn haphazardly outside the crumbled shops. Dust and debris was thick upon crushed cars and sidewalks. Lulu choked from the stench of doom.
It’s not real! she told herself. It can’t be real! Someone wanted her to see this.
Was this a prediction for the future? Lulu closed her eyes, trying to clear the horrendous vision from her sight. She hiccuped.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that the town had been restored; healthy, happy people were going about their morning business. Tourists were banging their bumper cars into one another and squealing with delight. She heard cars tooting their horns and chatty shoppers making their way up and down the street. Normal. The ocean breeze played with her hair once more, innocently tossing it across her brow. Lulu took a deep breath and relaxed.
Lunch At Annie Rose’s
It was after noon when Lulu made it back to the cove and the charming eatery Molly had suggested. Annie Rose’s was packed with lunchtime customers. Lulu eyed the dessert cart as she stepped inside and decided to order the chocolate mousse and the berry cobbler. Still a bit shaken from her experience in town, she needed to calm her uneasiness.
The attractive young hostess informed her there would be a fifteen minute wait until she could be seated. The smells that were coming from the kitchen were intoxicating, so Lulu was only too happy to wait in the elegant little restaurant.
Her eyes wandered, her mood soothed by the soft piped-in music that filled the room. She looked past the cloth-covered tables with bud vases of roses. Past the windows and stone fireplace. And … was that Bernard painted in shades of blue above the mantel? Why would his portrait be here?
People were lingering over their coffees, enjoying their meals with family and friends. Lulu’s eyes stopped on a familiar figure sitting below the painting. Bernard! He was sitting at a table, motioning for her to join him. Lulu stared. Was this really him? She looked from the portrait to the man at the table, trying to convince herself that he was, in fact, sitting here.
Lulu nervously crossed the room and sat down.
“I know this is happening, but I’m finding it hard to believe.” It was unsettling enough to be sitting with such a handsome man, but to know that man was a ghost was unbelievable. My God, she could reach across and touch him! Lulu forced down a hiccup.
Always before, she’d seen him wearing a navy blue sports jacket, ecru shirt, and burgundy tie. It was how he’d been reported to be dressed at other sightings as well. Today he wore crisp khaki slacks and a white short-sleeved polo shirt.
Lulu leaned over and whispered. “You’re not in your usual clothes.” She looked around to see if anyone was watching. “And I can see you. Can others?” She was actually talking to an apparition!
“Would I wear all new clothes and remain invisible?” Bernard smiled in return.
Lulu giggled nervously. “Uh, ... I’m kinda wondering who I’m having lunch with, you know. Animal or mineral? Visible or ghost?”
“Visible.”
“Good, because it would hurt my reputation if I’m seen in public talking to myself.” Lulu giggled again. “So, how do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You know, change to a solid so that we can see you.”
“It’s a matter of physics. To change from one state of matter to another is called phase transition. Matter and energy are interchangeable. Variations of the same. Photons are quantum units of light that are …”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lulu said scratching her head. “English, please.”
“That was English,” Bernard responded. “To simplify things, it’s an issue of mind over matter.”
“You will yourself to appear and you do?”
“Well, yes, more or less, with a little science thrown in. Let’s put it this way. You see me today. Tomorrow, I’ll be lying in the dark staring up at the ceiling, regaining my energy.”
Holy whoop! Lulu picked up her menu. Deciding what she wanted for lunch was so much less complicated.
“Say,” she added, “since you haven’t had a job for more than a half a century, which of us is picking up the check today?”
“Well, you are, of course. But I don’t eat much.” He chuckled.
“That’s good news.” Lulu set down her menu. She looked at him.
Bernard was glowing with some inner light, looking ethereal, radiant, in an aura that surrounded him. Could others in the dining room see that this man’s appearance was different?
An attractive woman came to their table. Bernard introduced her as his cousin Caroline, the owner of Annie Rose’s. She greeted Lulu warmly, took their orders, and left.
Lulu was beginning to relax. “Do you have a large family here in Seaside?”
Bernard grinned. “I do have several cousins here.” He gestured to a table near the window. “Today is Tuesday. Cousins Tilly, Iris, Molly, and Molly’s mother, Janet, meet here at Annie Rose’s for lunch each Tuesday.”
Lulu gazed at the table that Bernard was referring to. Four women. Talking. Laughing. Enjoying one another’s company. She recognized Molly Spencer and an older woman who was the spitting image of her. Both had Bernard’s piercing blue eyes. Another woman at the table was tall and lanky, and still another had jet-black hair. It was quite obvious they all resembled Bernard in some way.
Looking at Bernard’s hands, Lulu asked, “Who has your extraordinarily long fingers?”
“That was Elizabeth,” Bernard spoke quietly, reverently.
Caroline brought Bernard’s cup of red pepper bisque and Lulu’s plate of ratatouille with grated parmesan cheese. Lulu gazed across the table at Bernard’s soup. Where did that soup go after it passed through his lips? She quickly dismissed the thought. Maybe she didn’t want to know.
As it was, Bernard only took one spoonful of the bisque, then turned his full attention to Lulu.
“I’m glad you came.”
“I still don’t know why you called me here.”
With steady fingers, Bernard stroked the handle of his spoon. “Something is going to happen. There is bad energy beginning to invade the town. People feel it, and they are talking. Awful things are occurring.”
“Sewers backing up, roofs falling in, weather changes,” Lulu interjected. “And last night there was a black shapeless figure moving across my mirror.”
“Yes.”
“Walking