Page 12 of Shifting Years (Whispering Hills #5)

"Goodbye, sixties," I whispered from a suburb on the outskirts of Dallas.

The cheers died down, and nearly everyone had another hand to hold.

If Bobby hadn't left for Vietnam, I might have gone back to LA.

Guilt washed over me as I thought about his letter in my backpack.

He finished Basic, and he'd go off alone.

He needed someone to look out for him, but I just couldn't bring myself to go.

What's braver? Going to war or telling a friend… a brother, no?

Please universe, can you send someone like Bobby to protect him?

No answer came. All I sensed was the smell of alcohol on people's breath and what had spilled on the sidewalks. I scratched my arms. Todd always said ESP wasn't real, but it felt like I was close to something.

Todd? He couldn't be here. He must have already signed up.

Why am I even thinking about him? We had one experience in a bar and later a few hours together. It wasn't enough time to know a guy.

I fidgeted in place, which almost turned into a small hop.

I had to get away and do something Todd would admire.

John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.

' A lifetime would pass, no matter what.

Hitchhiking was fun, and I met interesting people, but I couldn't do this forever.

I thought I'd find that special something or someone, but like with the sixties' utopia, it never happened.

Kennedy and King were supposed to lead us into a new brotherhood, and both got shot in the head.

Singers who spoke to me via music died from overdoses.

Vietnam continued, police dogs attacked college protesters, and I never discovered ESP.

Is it time to give it all up? Learn a trade or something?

Asking around gave me directions to a bookstore still open late on New Year's Day. I could turn in my books and study something practical.

The bell dinged softly as I entered the carpeted store.

Overhead fluorescent lights buzzed, and the place had to be a repurposed grocery store.

The faint fruit and vegetable smell confirmed it.

Handwritten signs in bold black paint advertised everything from sci-fi to mystery.

I didn't see as many psychedelic or mental power selections as I did a few years back.

The world moved on, so I'll join them. Get a job somewhere and put all this magic behind me.

I wouldn't change who I really was, but I had to adapt.

If it weren't for a twenty-year-old blonde bumping into me, I might have thought about it more.

She was pretty, just a bit shorter than me, with a flower-child aura about her, even if she didn't dress like one.

Her tight blue jeans had faded, and her pink top was loose for comfort.

She smiled with gleaming white teeth.

"Sorry," I said.

"Do we know each other?"

Was she actually flirting with me? I wasn't ugly but girls knew making a move on me was a waste of time. Her thin hand rested on my shoulder but not touching my skin. "Have we met?"

"I have a girlfriend," I said, too loudly, since other people glanced up from paperback books and newspapers.

Her tiny nose wrinkled. "I smell garbage!" Her hands went up to her face and she jumped up and down in place. After screaming into her mouth, she smiled. "No, you don't."

"I have a girl," I said.

"Funny, so do I. Except…" She panned around in a quick circle. "She's wearing black, but I don't know what she looks like."

"Right…"

An older woman's voice called out from behind me. "It's me, Penny." From the tired tone, I expected a woman in her fifties or forties, but Penny's tall girlfriend was thirty at most. Unlike Penny, she wore no makeup but was still pretty. The short, curly brown hair suited her.

She held out a necklace with a metallic 'Mary' at the end.

"Oh good. I remember my mate's hot, and I was hoping it was you. Come here, beautiful."

I came to the bookstore looking for something I needed but didn't expect two women kissing while a gay man stared. "You're, uh…"

Mary's eyebrows rose.

"Lesbian?"

She smiled. "Thought you might go for the other word."

Penny whispered with a smile. "I smelled garbage the moment he lied!"

Politeness said I should introduce myself. I held out my hand to Mary, and Penny slapped it away, frowning. Her shoulders slumped. "Sorry."

"It's fine," said Mary slowly. "If he's what I think he is, we don't have what the other wants." She turned to me. "Just let Penny shake hands for us, it's better that way."

With most women, I've felt nothing from their touch. Slight tingles went up my arm while the blonde's face twisted in concentration. "I heard this gets easier." After mumbling more to herself, she spoke. "You're afraid… of being alone. You want a man to hold, love, and care for you."

Mary glanced at the books in my hand. They were the ones I intended to turn in for store credit. " Chariots of the Gods and How to Make ESP Work for You ." She turned to her girlfriend before facing me again. "Well, I don't know about aliens, but if you want magic…"

I repeated her last word as a question.

Instinct had me grab a loose paper and pencil for her. Quickly, she drew a simple roadmap ending near the Texas-Louisiana state line with 'Whispering Hills' written at the end.

"No address?"

"Comes from living in LA," she explained. "Best way to give directions."

"I lived there too," I said. "We still gave out street addresses."

She smiled, maybe from a shared bond as a former LA resident. "If you're meant to be there, you'll find it. Sometimes people need a nudge: like a thought, a postcard, or even a vague map."

"What is this place? A commune?" I came here to forget about the sixties, so was it pulling me back?

Penny whispered, "It's a way for people to pull each other. If someone is waiting for you, you don't have to be alone anymore." She shrugged. "If you're the first, you can call him there."

Mary had a serious but still friendly aura, except now. "Either I did the best thing to give you a happy life, or I'll make you miserable if you find us again. If so, I'm sorry."

Penny said nothing but hugged Mary hard as if imagining a universe where she never found her girlfriend.

***

"Right," said Kim. "The Blessing or The Curse depending on who you talk to."

"Curse if people are still waiting or don't know where to look for their mate," said Todd.

There were other curses too, like mating with the wrong Alpha, but I said nothing.

"That's the thing about magic. Sometimes, you don't know if it's doing something. When you try to figure it out early, you make mistakes." Todd's face reddened, and he turned to me. "I hate this part."

"It's important. You don't want it to happen to him, do you?"

"So, what happened?" asked Kim.

"I found what I thought I wanted."

"I was forced from my town," said Todd. "Mike had a point. My plans got me nowhere, so…" My Alpha jerked his thumb in the universal hitchhiking gesture. "After trying to be what other people wanted, it was my turn to be myself. So, I went off to find him."

"How long did it take?" asked Kim.

Todd took a deep breath, his eyes glistening. "Far too long."

***