A Passing Pair in Portland's Past

They met for the first time as they came from opposite directions on the coastal walk.

It was an oasis of solitude. No one else was present, despite there being the usual crowds where he had come from.

There was a bench between them as they approached each other. She reached it first and sat, then with an enticing smile she beckoned him to sit down beside her amidst the gorgeous greenery of the grass and the beautiful blue skies and billowy white clouds above.

'It's déjà vu all over again.'

She answered him with a questioning expression.

'It seems that every picture I've ever seen of Maine seems to have been taken here; by the lighthouse and the sea.'

He had come from the Portland Head Lighthouse next to the white building with the red roof set on the craggy Cape Elizabeth coast facing the endless blue sea and white capped waves.

She gleefully told him that he was quite correct; they both agreed that they had at last visited a destination that they were destined to travel to. She added,

'All the images you've seen have led you here...there's a reason for it that you'll find out soon...'

Their conversation became the usual one of two people meeting, though he was the type who rarely met new people without an introduction.

Again, she spoke the unexpected,

'Are you as alone in the world as I am?'

'I am.'

'You won't be anymore.'

Both walked together arm in arm.

'Would you like to see me again?'

'I really would.'

'I have an important engagement that I can't get out of this evening.'

He performed one of his corny old movie star impersonations,

'Abssssence makesss the heart goooo Hennnry Fonnnda!'

She genuinely laughed, but her eyes were wistful,

'Are you really sure that you would like to see me again?'

'I really, truly rooly would.'

Her eyes laughed twice as much as her facial expression or her small laughter.

'I haven't heard "truly rooly" in a very long time...'

'A very long time ago is the place I most want to visit.'

Her smile grew into new heights of ecstasy.

'Me too...Did you have a wonderful childhood?'

'I did! Did you?'

Her eyes changed to sadness; though her expression seemed the same, as if she were in the hospitality or human resources industries. She was attractive, gracious and well-spoken.

'I didn't really have a childhood. My parents were professional entertainers who moved around a lot. They entertained everyone except me...until now...When they were together offstage, they bickered and fought...They took their unhappiness out on me rather than each other...They weren't deliberately cruel...they just took ill-will towards record breaking depths...they stuck their cutting remarks into me, rather than pins, as if I were an emotional voodoo doll. They worked together, so they no doubt didn't want to hurt each other that would break up their act, so they hurt me...I was sent away to boarding schools; you really don't have a childhood when you're sent away. Now I'm finally making up for those days. I can't grow younger, but I can look at things through the eyes of the childhood I should have had...and now I can make my childhood endure...'

Her eyes reverted to happiness,

'You're a very good listener...I think that's who I most need.'

'I can listen to you forever', he replied.

Again, her facial expression preceded her voice, her eyes made speaking unnecessary, just a matter of courtesy.

'I'm glad you've said that...you don't know how glad I am...Now! Tell me true...', she held his hand and slightly shook it, 'If you weren't meeting me tomorrow what would you be doing?'

'I hope you're used to boys who'll never grow up...'

She became more jubilant,

'I want to be...What do you plan on doing tomorrow? I'd love to do it with you...'

* * *

That evening he dined in an economical restaurant near his hotel. As is the custom of the day, it had a giant plasma television screen for the benefit of the diners so they wouldn't have to do the dreaded old-fashioned things of conversing with each other or reading.

It was the time for the local news that everyone hushed up for with the same reverence as Sunday morning church services, though there was no audience chanting or singing. A story that gathered attention was the disappearance of a well-known local comedian who frequently acted as an emcee. In the television tabernacle the males ventured he probably had gambling debts; the females speculated he had a new younger girlfriend; yet celebrities don't deliberately disappear...unless they desire to appear in the proverbial limelight of publicity.

They met for early morning tea.

She had been in blue jeans on the day they met; now she was dressed as if she were a child from an older time going to a party and wore a matching sun hat.

'Take me to your long ago.'

She said it like the 1950's spacemen saying, 'Take me to your leader.'

They wandered to his stated destination...what was left of the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad that now was a small working museum with the highlight attraction being a steam train ride along the coast. The steam train permeated the air with the aroma of the past; the yearningly romantic sound of its whistle promised memorable languid journeys to distant adventures and dreams beyond the far horizon.

As there was time to kill before their train ride, they viewed the old station buildings and water tower. They wandered through some of the restored old wooden rolling stock with comfortable old seats and pot-bellied stoves. She loved it as much as he did.

'I've always wanted to go inside a caboose!', she laughed. ‘Even the name sounds fun…caboose!!!’

He agreed; the red caboose with its small, raised cupola that always appeared at the end of American trains was as much as a part of his childhood picture books as tugboats. Once inside, he was disappointed in how small the cupola actually was; for some reason he expected a higher-level lounge, like a double-decker railway carriage. He did agree that people were smaller in the old days, and small things were cute...

'Small things are easy to take with you, wherever you go', she smiled.

Their cute railway excursion to nostalgia and back spent as much time stopping and starting as it did travelling. The pair didn't mind because they agreed that their journey was their experience, not merely their destination. They had a wonderful coastal view and enjoyed the enthusiasm of their railway conductor who communicated his happiness to his passengers. It was a journey of the mind more than one of distance...He was feeling close to her spiritually as well as in physical nearness.

With the happy mood of holiday makers, they walked arm in arm,

'We've just arrived from our railway journey to the big city. Do you wish to come shopping with me?'

'Clothes or shoes?'

'You'll be surprised...but now it's time for refreshment.'

* * *

Vena's Fizz Bar was a red brick building that combined a soda fountain with a cocktail bar. He had his first cherry phosphate since his childhood. She was fascinated as he explained phosphoric vs. citric acid and his memories of traditional drug store soda fountains. Her memories of them had only been when she viewed them as a child in the old black-and-white Golden Years of Hollywood films where they were the quintessential meeting place for romantic trysts.

The pair were truly on a nostalgia road trip together; a road paved with good intentions...

III

The Toy Shoppe earned its quaint spelling by being filled with amazing goods inspired by happiness rather than television advertising; it was for nostalgic adults rather than pestering children.

'Everyone finds what they want here', smiled the proprietor. 'They find things they loved and lost long ago and now have a chance to get them back.'

All agreed that visiting a good toy shop was a fine stress breaker.

She told of her collection of dolls and that she was looking for one very special one to complete her collection.

'I think everything about you is very special.'

Her eyes said everything as she gave him a warm smile; then they went their separate ways in the Shoppe.

He wandered amongst the aisles on the traditional wooden floor and found a strong bit of new nostalgia to purchase. Two sets of Safari Federal Civil War PVC toy soldiers in clear plastic 'Toobs' that took him back to his childhood, though his own unpainted blue and grey plastic armymen never looked that good. His new miniscule Army of the Potomac version of F Troop had a very small cannon with its cannoneer holding a very large ramrod that was twice as long as the cannon's barrel, a gallant colour bearer holding the Stars and Stripes and six stalwart soldiers firing kneeling, firing standing and loading their rifled muskets; all wore blue uniforms and kepis. Sadly, there wasn't a third set with a bugler, a drummer boy and three more riflemen. To lead them he had a brave officer brandishing a sword riding his pony. He vowed to later stick a feather in his cap and call him Major Macaroni, as well as paint light blue Sergeant chevrons on the colour bearer's arms. Rally 'Round the Flag, The Battle Cry of Freedom played in his mind. It was the very first record of his very own, his mother had bought it for him in the basement of a Neisner's dimestore. The toy shop had taken him to his past as their railway journey had...

Her voice attracted his attention,

'Did you buy yourself a train?'

She smiled serenely at his selection, then softly and sexily sang The Shirelles' Soldier Boy,

'A soldier is exactly who I need! Mind the music and the step and with the girls be handy!'

'You're not going to war, are you?'

She smiled with her eyes again and shook her head.

'Do you need someone to free the slaves?'

Her eyes were startled as if she had been jolted with an electric shock, but she maintained her composure. He waited for her to speak but her mood passed and returned to happiness.

She opened the box that she carried...her doll was dressed in a blue Federal Civil War Major's uniform with sword, but there was no pony. To his surprise, her doll had no face; the head was devoid of features.

'I've never seen a doll like that before. He looks like a bureaucrat...how can you tell what he's thinking or if he is thinking?'

'I make the heads myself. Would you like to see me do it?'

'I'd love to.'

The eternally smiling proprietor gift-wrapped their parcels for them.

'Colourful gift-wrapping fastened with ribbon is far more of a favourite thing than a brown-paper package tied up with string', she laughed.

They walked to her car.

'Do you want to know another of my favourite things?’

She coquettishly whispered into his ear,

‘Would you spend the night with me? You can check out of your hotel and save some money.'

She waited in her car as he came out of his hotel dressed in his travelling suit and carrying his suitcase.

They had a splendid lunch in a charmingly decorated café, with an even more charming conversation. He discovered that as he deduced, she indeed had once been an airline stewardess, dabbled in acting, then did well financially in both the hospitality and human resources fields. She travelled around living out of suitcases until she decided it was finally time to settle down.

'Like my parents, I discovered that you could make a very good living in appearing to give people what they believe that they want.'

'I never gave anyone what they wanted, so I never made a very good living. I went a few times around the world, but I never got anywhere.'

'Tomorrow's the first day of the rest of your life...'

He preferred her communicating with her eyes rather than quoting greeting cards and bumper stickers.

She revealed the reason that he was in tune with her was because they both wanted to return to their childhoods. Neither of them was married, and neither had an objection to beginning a serious long-term relationship together. Each said that was exactly what they were looking for and what they needed.

She drove him to her home.

'I'll brew some tea...have a seat.'

She returned,

'I love unwrapping presents, even if I buy them myself, but it's still special because you're with me.'

He was curious to see her 3D printer, and she didn't disappoint.

'I've never seen a 3D printer like that. Lots of bells-and-whistles; it looks super futuristic.'

'It's a 5D printer.'

'"5D"??? Let me see...the first three dimensions are length, breath, height...H.G. Wells and George Pal said the fourth dimension was time...what's your fifth parameter?'

'Emotions...feelings...the soul...'

Leave it to a woman to come up with that one...

'My machine takes and imparts a lot more that the normal three dimensions. Sit down right...here.'

He sat still as the machine took his details and began work on the head of her new soldier doll.

On the wall opposite were several dolls the same size: a clown, a hobo, a ballerina and a Scottish bagpiper. He felt another feeling of déjà vu, but he couldn't explain it.

'Won't you try some of my herbal tea? You've never had anything like it.'

It certainly did taste wonderful as it was sweetened with honey. They sipped from their mugs as she introduced her 'family'. First was the hobo, carrying a bindle, or a parcel wrapped in a blanket on a large stick.

'Rags, or Mr. Ragamuffin is my first family member. He has a wonderful sense of humour, and he travelled around by freight trains...he's my symbol of adventure and going places in the days when travel was an adventure instead of a chore...It was wonderful how the two of us travelled by the old steam train this morning. Rags was really an experiment, and he turned out so well that I knew I was on the right track...no pun intended. I didn't know who he was at the time, but I've come to know him very well.'

'This is Miss Starlight, my symbol of grace and beauty. She's a perfectionist, but she's really very loving. She dances to Mr. MacDuff, her piper who makes beautiful music...they're a team!'

He had placed his mug down on a table to look at the fine features on their faces. As he returned to pick up his mug, he looked at a wedding portrait on her wall; Miss Starlight and Mr. MacDuff had the faces of her parents...

'Is something wrong?'

'No, not at all...'

He decided to let her bring up the resemblance between her two parents if she so chose; perhaps she had bad memories of her parent's break up.

'This is Uncle Funnybone. He always made me laugh since I first saw him!'

He looked closer at Uncle Funnybone in his clown costume. The facial features were exactly the same as the missing local comedian.

'I see your mind working...what are you thinking?...Tell me true...'

'I....', he felt strange.

He couldn't bring up what was in his mind, but as always, when he thought of one puzzling question, a previous one answered itself,

'I've just remembered...a clown, a hobo, a ballerina, a bagpiper and an army major...it's rather like an episode of the original Twilight Zone...'

He was growing dizzier.

'Right on the bell! "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" It was my favourite episode of The Twilight Zone. You're my soldier doll, my Major brave handsome lover...but there's no exit...we'll always be together in my family, that's finally all together so we all can have a wonderful childhood where everyone will be happy! Forever and ever!!!'

He crashed to the floor.

POSTLUDE

He awoke to view her placing a body inside a polythene bag. He couldn't make out the face, but it was his clothing and his suitcase...he could see weights inside the bag.

She wrapped it up inside brown carpet matting and tied it up as she sang My Favourite Things...he couldn't move, but he felt a hand clutching his. He looked out the corner of his eye to see a tear coming down Miss Starlight's face as she held his hand...

FIN

Author Notes: I am the author of three Extra Dimensional/Ultraterrestial military science fiction novels MERCENARY EXOTIQUE, OPERATION CHUPACABRA and WORK IN OTHER WORLDS FROM YOUR OWN HOME! as well as two travel books THE MAN FROM WAUKEGAN and TWO AUSTRALIANS IN SCOTLAND (all from Lulu.com). I live happily ever after with my wife in paradise (coastal Kiama, NSW Australia).

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