Five

Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

I awoke from a dream of me standing onstage at Carnegie Hall with people throwing roses at my feet.

“Weird.” One habit I’ve fallen into since I moved into my own condo about a year ago is talking to myself. When I’m in a good mood, I sing. At this moment, I was still trying to shake off the remnants of the hangover.

“That was the weirdest dream I’ve ever had.” I muttered, thinking of the strange lady who’d magically appeared in my kitchen. Something about choices and alternate universes. And the flute.

I rolled over and looked at the clock. “Three o’clock. Time to get up.” I had to meet the girls at four for our weekly Sunday session of Bitch Bash, a tradition we’d started during our senior year of college.

“Up and at ‘em, Betsy girl. Nothing can keep you down!” I’d found that giving myself little pep talks sometimes helped me get out of bed. Not always, but seeing as it was late afternoon already, it actually worked.

It wasn’t until I was in the shower that I noticed the charm bracelet on my hand. I stood there, staring at my wrist in disbelief. “It couldn’t be true. No way. That so did not happen.” I was completely flabbergasted, and probably would have stood there forever had I not promptly gotten shampoo in my eye.

I quickly finished showering, put on my robe and walked into my kitchen. There it was: all the evidence that Fatima and the whole situation had not been a dream. I headed towards the table, where a large book, bound in purple, sat looking very important.

“Ouch! Shoot.” I’d managed to step on a broken bowl that I’d knocked to the floor earlier when I’d been reaching for the Advil. The bottom of my foot was bleeding profusely. I grabbed some paper towels, wrapped them around my foot and half hopped, half hobbled back to the bathroom. I’d just had new carpet installed, and I was not about to get blood all over it!

After bandaging my foot, I went back to the kitchen and picked up the glass from the Pergo floor. Finally, I made it to the guidebook. The cover was a deep, royal purple, and embossed in gold was a human form surrounded by many intertwined ovals. I looked at my bracelet again – each charm had the same emblem stamped into it. There were no words anywhere on the outside of the book, nor was there any publishers information or date of publication anywhere on the first few heavy cream-colored pages.

I’d just reached the “Table of Contents” when my phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Betsy! Bring cookies! I need cookies. Chocolate chip and walnut. Get them from that bakery on 9th street, O’Connor’s, they make the best ones. Oh, and could you stop by Trader Joe’s and grab some pickles, too? Sweet, not dill. Fred got the wrong kind. And if it isn’t too much trouble, could you get some guava juice, too?”

“Edie, if I didn’t know that you were pregnant, I’d think you were crazy.”

“Thank you so much Betsy! I know that Fred would go out and get these things for me – he’s been so great to me. But I feel bad taking advantage of him like that, you know?”

“You are carrying his child, after all.”

“Oh, I know, but you know how busy he gets. Plus, he and Jack are having some troubles right now, and I don’t want to make it any worse.”

“Fred and Jack are always having problems! The function best that way.”

“I know, I know. Just get the stuff for me, will you? And hurry up! It’s already 3:40!”

“Alright, Edie, darling. Anything for you! I’ll be there soon.”

I put the guidebook down. I guess it would have to wait until later.