Escaped . . . but to what reality?

Part Two

The world spun before Gael's eyes, bobbing and twisting as though she were riding a poorly built roller coaster while wearing a pair of cheap 3-D glasses.

Reality left her totally behind . . . or was this reality? Had she left some sort of parallel universe to return to what was true? Was any existence certain?

Her brain felt as though it had been invaded by a number of very small, evil, gnome-like philosophers who were rapidly taking over the library of her mind and inconsiderately re-arranging books but forgetting to update the card catalog. Silently, she swore off late night Kant-and-Twinkie binges.

Unsettling as the situation was, Gael didn't mind. She was happy to be away from Big Ralph. He'd taken her in years ago under mysterious circumstances. She'd never believed the story about the exploding radioactive Bundt cake, but she smiled and nodded each time he told it. She was surprised someone like him could be so creative.

Ralph belonged in a monkey house, where visitors could "ooh" and "aah" at his ability to scratch himself - for him an intellectual feat. He left hair on everything he touched, as though even his hair wanted away from him. His beer-scented drool trails covered the floor.

Despite his foul ways, Gael didn't mind their living arrangement - until he found out about her experiments. Was it her fault things just happened when she was around? Unfortunately, the latest escapade involved Ralph's newly-waxed Harley and a flock of rabid seagulls. The incident left the Neanderthal-wannabe in a less than cheery mood.

Let him stew in his primordial hot tub, she thought. She might never change his thinking but there were billions of others in the world.

Yes, she'd get her way soon enough.

Her musings were cut short as she landed with a dull squish in some sort of mottled green goo. She was covered in the stuff, and it was filling every orifice she had. She would have yelped in protest, but her brain was moving as quickly as a three-legged arthritic camel with a case of the bends.

"Do not worry," said a pleasant, musical voice somewhere to her left. "You won't have to think for much longer."

"What in the ...?" Gael wondered just seconds before everything went black.

To be continued ...

Copyright 2000 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.