The Wounded World
A Story of Mantra
By Aladdin
Originally written 2006
Posted May 21, 2022

Edited by Christopher Leeson
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Chapter 23

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

In the universe,
There are things that are known
And things that are unknown,
And in between, there are doors.

William Blake
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Up to this point, I’d been carried along by pure adrenaline, but now my reserves were running low. After Strike had been lost to view, I stood there shivering, not from cold but from emotional overload. I shouldn’t be feeling what I was feeling. I had lost thousands of comrades across the centuries, sometimes under terrible circumstances. But losing a child was something new to me. One who has never lost a child of his own doesn’t know the meaning of tragic death.

But I had to hold together; others were still depending on me. I clicked into automatic and mounted the air currents, gliding across them to Barbara Freeman's home. There, after switching into civilian garb, I entered via the front door.

With the first words out of her mouth Mom asked me who was taking care of the kids. That broke the dam and my cover story came out in a jumble. The flinty old lady, the leather-tough army wife, was shaken. But as bad as she was having it, I knew that the news would come even harder to Evie. And I was the one who would have to tell a second grader one of the worst tidings that she would ever hear for the rest of her life.

The grandmother, sobbing, sagged to the couch. With no words to comfort her, I drifted to the window. Along the street, I knew, I would soon see the lights of the Aladdin van. Part of me was hoping that they wouldn’t show up before the next calendar year.

What now?

I needed to go home. I didn’t belong here. As long as I stayed here I could support Evie in her grief. But there were other hearts that would be broken if I couldn't get back to them.

Dilemma!

The street outside looked so empty. The moon was casting its glow through a mask if green vapor, but for the first time I spotted a couple of e bright stars blinking through verdant occlusion.

Did that mean that the evil blanket of magic was ebbing away?

But the next thing I saw was myself backing away from myself.

Not again!

I was time-shifting again!

My last shift had come only a few hours earlier. Was my condition worsening? Was I totally losing my anchorage in time? Would I be a leaf in a hurricane, blown about helter skelter – a few minutes here, a few minutes there – until something – maybe even my own hand – would finally intervene to put an end to the madness?

#

The next thing I knew, the lights were bright. Everything changed. I was surrounded by a crowd of strangers. Startled, my lurching left arm struck something.

"Hey, Mom, be careful!" someone said.

I recognized the voice and glanced back.

I froze in place.

Gus was alive again.

I was seated across from my son. And Gus wasn’t a deformed dwarf anymore. He was simply Gus!

And he was scowling.

"You're looking spacey, Mom! You’ll make people think you're spooky."

Evie was there, too, to my right. Then it dawned on me. We were back in The Mall in Canoga Park. I had on the same shirt and jeans that I’d worn there on Thursday the 14th.

Had I really come home? I was afraid to let that hope escape – afraid that I’d jinx myself and make a perverse universe snatch me away again.

I extended shaking fingers to touch my little girl's arm, wanting tactile proof that she was really there. Her flesh felt soft and warm. Barely able to speak, I asked, "B-Button, what d-day is this?"

"Ahh... it's Thursday, Mommy."

"Thursday the fourteen?"

She looked to her brother. "It's the fourteenth, isn't it, Gus?"

"Yeah, it is," the boy said.

I was suddenly sensible of a cold, clammy spot on my lap. Coca Cola was dribbling off the table. I pushed my chair back, stood up, and attacked the wetness with a Kid’s Club napkin.

Evie let out a little coo of sympathy. How different she was from the totally different woebegone, tragedy-plagued tyke I’d left behind in that other world.

"Mommy, why are you looking that way? Are you mad about something?" Evie asked.

Shaking my head to clear it, I said, "No, Pumpkin. H-How could I be mad? Here I am with the girl and boy I love most."

She gave back an uncertain smile.

"Kids," I began slowly. "I think I must have blacked out for a few seconds. I'm still a little mixed up. We were just shopping for school supplies, weren’t we?"

"Yeah," replied Gus, looking at me like some odd amphibian specimen from his nature-studies class.

"And then we got into the lunch line, right?"

"Yeah! Mom,” said the boy. “Are you putting us on?"

"Have I been with you the whole time, or did I go off somewhere for a while?"

"You were with us, Mommy," replied Evie. "You said, 'Let's eat at this one,' and we all sat down. Then you looked around and spilled your drink."

For the two kids, no time at all had passed. But hadn’t I lived for days in an alternate world? What did it all mean? What did anything mean?

Whatever you do, Lukasz, keep calm. Don't scare the kids.

"Umm,” I began, “have I been acting funny at this table, or saying things that didn’t make sense?”

"Not until now," Gus opined.

I took a deep breath.

This was incomprehensible.

What, exactly, had happened?

#

"If you're going to get another Coke, Mommy, can I have one, too?" Evie asked hopefully.

Though still in a daze, I forced myself to answer. “I don’t know, Evie. You drank the first one so quickly. If you do the same with another one, you could get a tummy ache.”

“No I won’t!” she said emphatically.

“All right, but I’m only being lenient because this is a time for celebrating.”

"Celebrating what, Mom?” asked Gus. "Are you talking dopey because of PMS?"

Ignoring his question, I said, "Gus...you're so handsome. How do you stay so handsome?"

"Uh?"

Don’t lose it, Lukasz. Wake up. Act like nothing’s happened.

"Ah, how long have we been at this table?" I asked Evie.

"Not too long."

Suddenly, paranoia clutched at me.

"Evie, Gus," I said, "do you two know who Contrary is?"

Gus made a face of bemusement, but Evie answered politely. "Yes, Mommy. She's the UltraForce lady that all the fourth graders like so much. Don’t you remember when we talked about her before? Is that something you forgot?"

I exhaled with relief.

Then a chill coursed through my blood.

Tomorrow would be the Ides of September. I couldn’t give up the idea that what happened to me in that other world had really happened. What if I’d had a premonition of events that were soon to happen in the world I knew?

I glanced up. "Gus, are you and your Dad still going to go to the Sharks' game tomorrow?"

"Yeah! It's going to be great!"

I didn't like it. I didn't like it. I didn't like it.

In that other world, it had been Gus Sr.’s reneging that appointment that had sent the other Gus over the top. To keep that from happening, I had to prepare Gus for possible disappointment. "You know, Gus, it might be a waste to go to the first football game of the fall. The teams won't be in shape yet. Those kids’ll have a ton of summer fat to work off before they start playing well. Wouldn’t it be better if your dad took you to see the Sharks next month? That will leave tomorrow free for all of us to take a really fun trip over to the Universal theme park."

"Universal?" chirped Evie. "Yay! Can Daddy come with us?"

Gus frowned. "It'ld be nice, but let's do that Saturday morning instead. That’ll give us the whole day there. I really want to go somewhere with Dad. It’s been months since we‘ve done anything important together."

The boy was always desperate to have a closer relationship with his father. But my concern was that there might really be some sort of unknown energy sweeping in from outer space. If that happened, I didn't want the Blakes to be anywhere near Leadwell Street at a quarter after seven on Friday.

"Gus, I have to tell you’re something that I’ve been putting off. I called your father while you were at school today, to talk about our usual business." This was a fib, of course, but I was angling to prevent disaster." He mentioned how excited he was to be taking you to the game, but he was having a problem."

"What?" Gus looked like I'd just given him a hotfoot.

"An important client of his is giving him mixed signals. They'd been planning to visit a sale property on Saturday morning. But that was before the fellow got a call about an emergency back in Chicago. Now he doesn’t want to stay in California that long and wants to take a Friday night flight home. He’s asking your dad to show him the property tomorrow afternoon instead. It's a very important deal and a lot depends on your father bringing it off. But your dad is worried that if things don’t go smoothly, if delays happen, he might get tied up with the client for hours. That could make him too late to attend the Sharks game."

"No!" Gus declared. "He's not going to cop out again!"

I took his wrist and squeezed it. "It might not happen, precious. Your Father said he’s doing everything possible to make things work out, but he's just not sure if they will. He wanted me to warn you ahead of time. It would break his heart if you got mad at him for something that he simply couldn’t help."

Gus set his jaw resentfully. "There's probably no client at all," he muttered. "I bet he met some slut he wants to go out with."

"Gus, it's not nice to call strangers bad names. Anyway, I'm sure that there's no lady involved. Bad things just happen sometimes.”

The boy’s face, glowering down at his ketchup-smeared paper plate, was a mask of disgruntlement.

"Gus, you can't believe that your dad would fib about anything so important."

"If you think Dad's so great, why did you divorce him?" the boy suddenly challenged.

Always that question. In truth, the divorce had been Eden’s idea and it had happened a year before I’d ever come upon the scene. That was at least one guilt trip I didn’t have to bear.

"Grownup love is something hard to understand,” I explained. “I don't know why, but too often married people stop loving each other after a while."

"Dad didn't stop loving you!" Gus declared. "He says he wanted things to stay the same, but you made him go away."

I didn’t know a lot about that divorce, so I had to ad lib. "That's true. But a marriage isn't good if it doesn't make both people in it happy. Your dad and I were having grownup-type problems. We tried to fix them, but nothing we tried worked. I’m sorry that everybody ended up getting hurt."

"Were those problems about sex?" Gus asked.

"We'll talk about sex when you get older, darling," I punted. "But when moms and dads stop loving each other, they almost never stop loving their kids. The two of you mean as much to us both as you ever did."

"Then why doesn't he come see us every other Sunday? Did you tell him not to? Jeff said at school that his mother told his dad to keep away -- or else she'd lie to the judge and have him put in jail."

"I'd never do that, Gus," I assured him. "I want you and Evie to spend lots and lots of time with your dad. He loves you both hugely and I know how much you love him back."

"That’s what grownups always say," groused the younger Gus. I glanced to his sister to see how she was reacting. The tyke was wearing a serious expression and I felt sorry for her. Girls need a father at home just as much as boys do. Back in the Dark Ages, a terrible world outside made people stay together and family meant everything to them. Now people were ready to divorce for the pettiest of reasons.

I decided to mollify him with bribery.

"You know what, Gus? Your dad told me that if things don't work out tomorrow, he’ll pay for show tickets for me, you, and Evie. If I can get off early, we’ll all go over to the Van Nuys multiplex. We can take in two movies, if you feel like it. Your Dad made it very clear that he'd want to make it a really big night for you. Like, there'd be no limit to the candy, soft drinks, and popcorn that you and Evie can buy."

Fluttering eyelids told me that Gus was weakening. I gave him a coaxing smile and squeezed his hand. "Well, think about it -- just in case. And remember, the ball game might come off after all. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the subject at all.”

Fat chance of that! I was going to have to get in touch with Gus Sr. lickety-split and find out what exactly his intentions were.

The children, made somber by the topic of our conversation, resumed their dining in silence. The lull gave me time to think. It was a no-brainer that I had to get the two of them away from Canoga Park. In fact, even if Gus Sr. was still planning to come on Friday night, I thought it would be smart to get the kids out of the house as early as possible. I could take Gus and Evie to a restaurant near the ball field and have Blake Sr. pick Gus up there. Then I’d go to the movies with Evie and take her home to bed when I was sure it was safe.

But wait a minute! Gus wouldn’t be the only one in peril. I had to keep Heather's fan club from turning into the monster Coven. Nor could I forget about Lauren. If she got empowered at her excitable age, she might get herself killed fighting some ultra-villain – maybe even N-ME. On top of that, Necromantra might also be coming to town. Then, too, there was the threat hanging over New York City. Warstrike had to be warned not to get involved in that!

What a multiplicity of quandaries! How could I juggle so many threats while giving priority to Gus and Evie?

But hope springs eternal. There was still the possibility, even the probability, that there wasn’t going to be any worldwide catastrophe. But for safety's sake I had to be prepared.

What I needed more than anything just then was a drink. "Evie," I murmured, "I'm going to refill my cup. Do you still want more pop? "

"Yeah! Only, can I have Sprite this time?"

"You surely can, Dumpling!"

#

That night, with the kids abed, I lingered in the living room, still anxious and haunted. I stood over the phone, needing to call up Gus Blake Sr. Regardless of how the conversation went, I doubted that I’d be getting much sleep afterwards. How could I could breathe easily until the Ides of September had come and gone peacefully?

My perplexed glance fell on Mr. Paws, across from me on the easy chair. He had fallen forward onto his nose. Usually, Evie went to bed with her stuffed pet tucked in beside her. Tonight, unfortunately, she’d come home with a bellyache and so I’d put her to bed immediately with a spoonful of bicarbonate.

Contemplating the teddy bear, I remembered the wrenching events that the other Mr. Paws had undergone with his family. On a whim, I crossed over and transferred the little fellow to the couch in front of our smart TV. In the morning, Evie would find her friend sitting there and probably make up an imaginative story about how teddy bears like to watch secret bear-only streaming services that only play after midnight, the hour when all the teddies come alive.

It occurred to me then whether I shouldn’t first get in touch with Warstrike. With his psychic talents, he might be able to look ahead and see whether something wicked was coming our way. With all the federal phone surveillance, I would have to contact him telepathically. Both of us needed to be careful about keeping the feds off the trail of our secret identities.

But Warstrike wasn’t the only friend at risk. There was the matter of Penny. Had she emotionally crashed in this world the way she’d done in that other? Was she in a near-suicidal state? If she was in crisis, I’d I have to go up to San Francisco and give her some moral support before something tragic happened.

Suddenly the front doorbell rang.

I turned about and went to answer it, but my hand refused to touch the knob. It was as if some inner voice was warning me that if I opened this particular door something very, very significant was going to happen.

And that something wasn’t going to be anything good.

But when the bell chimed for a second time, I told myself that I was just being silly. My enemies certainly weren't of the type that came ringing doorbells. Nonetheless, I wrapped myself in a sturdy force field before peering through the door’s small security window.

An attentive figure stood on the welcome mat, a hopeful smile on his fleshy lips.

I gaped, goggle-eyed.

It was the Little Man Who Wasn't There.

Only, he was there.

I was looking at the same stranger who had jabbed me at the Kids’ Club before, inexplicably, disappearing.

I hate to say it, but we’ve come to the part of the story where things really get crazy.

The End