A Crossed Reality. Gerald Pruett

while asking, “Are you okay?”

      “Of course, Melissa. Why would you ask me if I’m okay?”

      Melissa continued to give Alex a curious look while asking, “Since when have I become Melissa and not Aunt Melissa?”

      Alex thought for a second before saying, “Oh that. I figured since I’m twenty-one now and was legally an adult, it would be okay to call you Melissa. But now as I say it, it really doesn’t sound right, so I’ll go back to Aunt Melissa.”

      “I prefer that you call me Aunt Melissa anyway. So why are you two here and not at Harvard where you two belong?”

      Alex was trying to think of an answer when Doug said, “A friend of ours is turning twenty-one today and he really wants us here for his party. He even bought our plane tickets.”

      “Do your parents know that you two are here?” Melissa asked.

      “It was really a last minute thing, so we didn’t get the chance to say anything to them,” Alex said.

      “Our tickets are round trip, so we were only going to stay long enough to make an appearance; stay for a short time and then catch the next flight back to Boston,” Doug added. “So I was thinking that telling our parents would be a waste of time anyway.”

      “Your parents are going to want to know that you two are in town.”

      “Since we aren’t going to be here long enough to visit them, could you turn a blind eye to our visit?” Doug asked.

      “No, sir!” Melissa quickly told him. “I want you or Alex to call your parents right this instant and let them know that you two are in town.”

      Alex pulled out her phone from her purse and said, “I’ll call mom.”

      “Good,” Melissa told her.

      After calling her mom’s cell phone, the phone went to voicemail. Alex left the message, “Mom, call me after you get this message. Doug and I are in St. Louis. We just got off the plane. We came home to wish a friend ‘Happy Birthday’, and then we’re returning to Harvard. Bye.” Alex hung up before facing Melissa again. “Mom’s phone went straight to voicemail, and as you witnessed, I left a message explaining everything.”

      Melissa gave Alex a skeptical look before saying, “Just to be safe, call your dad.”

      “Fine,” Alex said before dialing Avery’s office. Within a few rings Tiffany answered the phone. “Tiffany, is my dad busy?”

      “He’s again with a patient,” Tiffany said.

      “Well, tell my dad that Doug and I are in St. Louis. We just got off the plane. We came home to wish a friend ‘Happy Birthday’, and then we’re returning to Harvard.”

      “Okay, I’ll give him the message, but he’s going to flip when he gets it,” Tiffany said.

      “Okay thanks,” Alex said.

      “Is there anything else?” Tiffany asked.

      “That’s it for… ” Alex was able to get out.

      “Alex, I want to talk to Tiffany,” Melissa interrupted with.

      “Tiffany, Aunt Melissa is with me and she wants to talk to you.” Alex then held out the phone for Melissa to take.

      After taking the phone Melissa asked, “Tiffany, are you there?”

      “I’m here. What’s going on?”

      “I’m not quite sure myself, but make sure my brother gets Alex’s message,” Melissa said.

      “I will,” Tiffany said.

      “Bye.” After Melissa hung up the phone she handed the phone back to Alex.

      As Alex was putting her phone away, Doug asked, “So are we free to go and wish our friend ‘Happy Birthday’?”

      “Go,” Melissa said.

      Alex and Doug waved bye to Melissa before walking away. Melissa returned the wave and then skeptically watched as Alex and Doug walked away.

      Alex and Doug walked up to the cab stop and stepped up to the first available cab. After getting in they told the cab driver the address.

      Minutes later, the cab driver was pulling up in front of a house on Victoria Place. Once Doug paid the cab driver he and Alex got out.

      As the cab driver was driving away Alex watched for a moment before saying, “Maybe we should have told him to wait.”

      Doug looked towards the cab before saying, “It’s too late now.” He and Alex then turned and walked towards the house.

      Once Doug and Alex stepped up to the door, Doug pressed the doorbell.

      After Randy’s mother, Phyllis, opened the door, she saw Doug first and then Alex. As she looked at Doug again she asked, “Yes? May I help you?”

      “Hi, Ms. Miller, you may not remember me, but my sister Alex and I are friends of Randy’s.”

      Phyllis leaned against the doorjamb before asking, “You two know Randy?”

      “We do,” Doug said. “Is he here by any chance?”

      “How is it that you two know him?” Phyllis asked.

      Doug gestured towards Alex while saying, “Alex and I met Randy in first grade. All three of us had several classes together since then too.”

      “And what are your names again?”

      “I’m Douglas Larson and this is my sister, Alexandra. Ms. Miller, it’s very important that we talk to Randy.”

      “Well, I’m afraid you are three years too late,” Phyllis said.

      “What do you mean?” Alex quickly asked.

      “A day after his high school graduation, he packed a bag with a few days worth of clean clothes and left. I haven’t heard from him since.”

      “Did he say where he was going?” Doug asked.

      “He never told me that he was leaving, but the last discussion Randy and I had before he disappeared was about him finding his dad. I thought I’d talked him out of it, but I’m sure that is what he left to do.”

      “Do you know where Randy’s dad is?” Doug asked.

      “No, I don’t. I haven’t seen or heard of Randy’s dad since I told him that I was pregnant,” Phyllis said.

      Before Doug was able to ask another question, Alex said, “Thanks for the information, Ms. Miller. Doug and I should be on our way. Goodnight.”

      “Goodnight,” Phyllis said before re-entering the house and shutting the door.

      As Alex and Doug were slowly walking away, Doug said, “If you allowed me to ask a few more questions, I might’ve been able to get a clue to where he’s at.”

      “Doug, I have a clue to where he’s at.”

      “Where?” Doug quickly asked.

      While the two were leisurely walking away from Phyllis’s house, Alex said, “Two weeks before graduation, Randy told me that he had met someone who knew his father. Randy was told that his father lived in Mexico City, Mexico. I was the one who talked him out of going to Mexico. Chances are we never met in this reality, so I wasn’t here to talk him out of it. In fact, the day I talked him out of going to Mexico was the same day he started doing research on alternate realities.”

      An amused grin came across Doug’s face before he accused jokingly, “Oh, so our predicament is actually all your fault for talking Randy out of going to Mexico to find his dad.”

      Alex gave Doug a smirk before saying, “I’m so glad that you are enjoying this.” Before anything else was said, Alex’s phone rang.