(This story begins immediately following the events in Caleb Jones' story, "Gidget Surfs Up at Bikini Beach" and involves Gidget's dad and Gidget, from the TV series, as well as mentioning the character, Biff, from Caleb Jones' story.)
Bikini Beach: If I Should Die Before I Wake by: Jezzi Belle Stewart © 2000
July 2, 1968, 5:15pm: Gidget slammed the door to her room, fuming. How dare her dad tell her she couldn't see Biff anymore! Biff and she were well on the way to becoming much more than surf buddies, and now her dad had destroyed the possibility of any future relationship. SHE had certainly never taken drugs, and while there had been hints that Biff did, he had not done so in her presence. Now her dad was saying that Biff was a major dealer! Ridiculous! She would follow her heart. Her dad just didn’t understand a teen-age girl's feelings!
The proverbial light bulb went on over Gidget's head. Maybe if her dad WAS a teen-age girl for awhile, he would understand. The theme park at the beach. Biff had certainly seemed to benefit from his experience as Gidget; he certainly knew all the places on her body that made her tingle! Maybe her dad would benefit from a little change, too. She had no desire to be male again, but from what she knew, that shouldn't be a problem; her dad would just be as if he had been born female, only he would become younger - her age. She pasted a smile on her face and headed back downstairs.
July 2, 1968, 10:00pm: Feeling every one of his almost 40 years, Professor Russell Lawrence poured himself a drink from the bottle of Johnny Walker Red, took the drink back to his favorite lounge chair, and eased himself down into it. He took a long swallow from his glass and sighed. Everything had turned out all right, but it had been touchy there for awhile. He had wanted this ever since Francine - Gidget, he reminded himself; she had asked that he call her Gidget - had stormed out of the den earlier in the evening, but had held off, hoping she would come back.
It was hard being a single parent. Particularly a male single parent of a cute popular teenage girl like his daughter. He just didn't understand her! If only her mother were still alive, but, then, he hadn't understood her mother all that well, either, just loved her. Women were a mystery, and perhaps it was better that way. He certainly preferred the cool logic of his male university colleagues.
Why couldn't she trust him? He had to admit to himself that he had liked Biff at first, also, but, like any responsible parent of a teenage daughter, he had had his FBI contacts run a thorough background check. He had even shown Fr... Gidget the rather thick file the FBI had provided, loaded with documentary and photo evidence of Biff's drug dealing. Biff would, in fact, be arrested next week when the full FBI net was in place. Instead of being impressed at the steps her father had taken to protect her, she had been outraged that he had "violated Biff's space" and had practically accused him, her father, of lying!
Oh, well. He took another long swallow of scotch. Everything had turned out all right, though. Gidget had come down from her room an hour later and apologized for her behavior and said that of course he was right. She had even suggested that they spend tomorrow, his birthday, together - that there was a new theme park on the beach and they could go together, just like old times. He really shouldn't take the day off, he thought, but the times when Gidget wanted to do things with him were so few anymore that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to have his little girl back, even if only temporarily. He picked up the phone to call his graduate assistant and tell her that she would be taking the classes tomorrow.
July 3, 1968, 9:30am: It was a beautiful day, and as he pulled the Mercury into the parking lot of the theme park, Russ was looking forward to a fun day with his daughter. He looked across the seat at Gidget. *She may be sixteen,* he thought, *but she's still my little girl!*
July 3, 1968, 9:31am: Gidget looked across at her father behind the steering wheel. *I wonder what "she", my new temporary best girlfriend, will look like .* she thought. She leaned over and kissed her dad on the cheek. "Happy birthday, Daddy!" she said. "I'm buying, and I guarantee that this park will make you feel young again!" *And that's not all!*
July 3, 1968, 9:40am: The attractive middle aged woman behind the ticket counter watched what was obviously a father and his daughter approach. This theme park was her first attempt to use magic to create a place where women could get away from the lascivious attention of men, and she was thinking more of the mechanics of the park rather than attempting to "read" the two of them. Besides, she could tell the great love between them, and she recognized the girl as the one who had come with the surfer awhile ago and had changed places with him, thanks to some help from her wizard friend. She assumed the dad knew about the park and was indulging his daughter, so sold the daughter - Gidget, yes, Gidget; she remembered the unusual name - two two day passes without any qualms.
July 3, 1968, 9:55am. Russ looked at himself in the mirror of the rather small men's locker room. He admired his lean but muscular thoroughly masculine 6'2" body, the result of constant working out at the university gym. The black hair on his head held just a few streaks of gray, mostly added since Gidget turned thirteen. *Not bad!* he thought, thinking that he really should ask that cute new redheaded philosophy professor out for coffee when he returned to the University after the Fourth of July holiday.
As the warm water of the shower washed over his body, he closed his eyes. He never noticed the pink mist rise up around hi... her.
July 3, 1968, 10:00am: Gidget, who had worn her bathing suit to the park, sat at a table a short distance away from the exit from the men's locker room and waited for her new girlfriend to emerge. In her mind, despite his occasional periods of unreasonableness, like yesterday, her father was a kind and wise man, larger than life, who had always embraced diversity. It never occurred to her that her father would not be able to handle his temporary teen womanhood; in fact, as a professor, she rather expected him, after the initial shock, to view it as the learning experience she intended it to be. She expected Biff to be back in her life July 5! That is, that is what she expected until she saw the young, bare breasted woman stalk from the men's locker room, anger radiating from her every pore.
July 3, 1968, 10:00am: Russ Lawrence was mad: really, really, REALLY mad! The reason, of course, was that he really wasn't Russ Lawrence anymore. He was a girl, and he definitely didn't want to be a girl. He liked being 6'2"; he didn't want to drop a foot or more. He liked his short, easy to care for gray streaked hair; he didn't want this unruly shoulder blade length mass of blonde curls. He liked his slim muscular build. He didn't want this soft curvy physique ... and he definitely did not want the twin mounds of soft flesh on his chest - nor the empty feeling between his legs. Russ Lawrence had been very, very satisfied with his body and had worked hard to keep it in shape. Now it was gone, and he was going to find that ticket lady and demand an explanation and his body back! How dare she! And what would Francine think? Outraged, just like him, he thought. She'd want a dad who was a dad. But how could he convince Francine that this little slip of a girl was her dad?
Just then his whole perspective changed. He saw Gidget - and she was looking right at him and smiling, although the smile was beginning to falter. SHE KNEW! And in that instant HE KNEW; she had set this up. His own daughter had tricked him into becoming a girl!
July 3, 1968, 10:01am: As the new, young teenage girl stood with hands balled into fists, in a very masculine primal attack posture, staring straight into her eyes, Gidget cringed. She knew she had made a very very VERY bad mistake. Despite the cute outward package, this was her father, and he was PISSED!
July 3, 1968, 10:02am: All Russ said to his daughter were three words: "How long?" and "Why?" And then he listened as Gidget stammered a relatively true explanation, her practiced "welcome to young womanhood" speech totally discarded. His anger grew. BETRAYAL! This really was all about that low life scumbag, Biff! His daughter thought so little of him that she would believe Biff, not him, would not believe all the evidence his FBI friends had so carefully collected. He had to get away! Had to think this trough! He snarled at his daughter: "Find your own fucking way home! Call your goddamn asshole drug dealing boyfriend, if he means so fucking much to you that you would do this to me!" He whirled and ran toward the exit from the park, snatching the bikini top from the ticket lady who, finally sensing something was wrong, was approaching the pair. He stopped momentarily, as "she" unconsciously put it on as if he had been doing it all his life, and then continued out into the parking lot toward where the Mercury had been just a half hour earlier. Now there was a cute yellow VW convertible with the top down in that spot. *Even a damn girly car!* he thought, as he yanked open the door, slid into the drivers seat and - *something's working right!* - started the engine with the keys left in the ignition.
July 3, 1968, 10:15am: Gidget watched her father run, frozen in shock and horror. Her father had swore at her! Used the "F" word twice! He had never done that before! Had she hurt him that badly? As the ticket lady reached her, she watched the VW spin out toward the exit, spraying gravel as it went, accelerating all the way through the main gate ................ right into the side of the huge green semi, uselessly blaring it's air horns and unable to stop!
July 3, 1968,10:16am: Russ Lawrence, or whoever "she" was, died almost instantly, without pain.
July 3, 1968, 12:16pm (Central Standard time): In the delivery room of Cook County General Hospital in Chicago, Mrs. Anita Lawrence gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl. Her only unusual feature was her hair - jet black, naturally streaked with blonde. Anita and her husband, Jim, had decided on the name Elizabeth if the baby was a girl, but when the nurse asked her the name of the child for the record, Anita found herself saying, "Rose. Rose Francine Lawrence." Jim went to call his older brother Russell in California to tell him the good news.
July 3, 1968, 11:00am: The Ticket Lady watched through her office window as the dead wagon from the county morgue pulled away with the body of Rose Lawrence, Gidget's sister in this reality that had been created while Russ was in the shower being changed. A heavily sedated Gidget lay snoring softly on her couch. Over and over and over the thought ran through the Ticket Lady's head. OHMYGAWD, OHMYGAWD, how am I going to fix this one???
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July 6, 1974, 1:00am: Six year old Rose Francine Lawrence slept soundly in her bed in her home in Niles, Illinois. Her Sleeping Beauty bedspread had been tucked lovingly around her. Clutched tightly to her chest was her first Barbie doll given to her by her much older cousin Francine who had moved from California to live with her when Mommy and Daddy had gone to Heaven. Rose wasn't sure what "cousin" meant, but she loved Francine and knew Francine loved her and would take care of her.
July 5, 1984, 10:00pm: Gidget watched her come through the O'Hare terminal gate and thought that the Ticket Lady hadn't aged a day. She got out her compact from her purse, opened it and looked in the mirror at her 32 year old face. She had certainly aged! The two women greeted each other. The bond between them was one of shared guilt, now sixteen years old, and love on the part of one and responsibility on the part of the other for Rose Francine Lawrence, just recently turned sixteen. both knew that today was critical. The Rose Lawrence that had been Gidget's father had emerged from the pink mist of the early Bikini Beach prototype's shower on her 16th birthday to begin a two day pass. At 1:00am the next morning Rose Francine Lawrence would be sixteen years, two days and twelve hours old, and there was the possibility that the two day pass might finally expire. The ticket lady had told Gidget that she didn't know what would happen if it did, but that she would be there with her to handle whatever developed.
Rose was out on a date that night, but was due home at 12:30 "Sharp, young lady!"
July 6, 1984, 12:29am: One minute ahead of curfew, Rose Lawrence drifted through the front door of her home. *Wow, that James is some kisser!* she thought. She thought that if he kissed her like that again on there next date, tomorrow night, she might let him touch her breasts - through her blouse, of course! As she passed the entrance to the living room she saw Francine beckon to her. Her cousin was seated on the couch across from a slightly older woman dressed in what Rose and her friends called "California clothes". She willingly entered. She was feeling really good and wouldn't mind a little girl talk with Francine, whom she viewed more as an older sister than her cousin and guardian. Francine introduced her companion as "Mrs. Beach" a friend from, sure enough, California. At Francine's urging, Rose settled in to give a blow-by-blow of her date with James.
July 6, 1984, 2:30am: Gidget watched as a completely unchanged Rose yawned and stretched. "Mrs. Beach" had just finished a description of the new water park for women only she would shortly open, and it was clear it was everyone's bedtime. The two older women looked at each other over Rose's head. The message, "Till next time." was sent and received.
July 5, 1990, 3:30pm: Gidget watched from the front pew as Rose became Mrs. Jeffrey Lawrence. She had known this day was coming that day two years ago when Rose had come home from college bringing a boyfriend with the same last name.
July 5, 1998, 11:15am: The twins, Frank and Francine took their first communion as their proud parents Rose and Jeff and their proud godmother Francine looked on. The twins called Francine "Aunt" Gidget. At age 30, Rose had come from the coltishness of youth to a mature beauty and grace; Jeff and the twins adored her, as did her many friends. As a teacher of English at Oakton Community College, she was a positive influence on her students and well respected by her colleagues. Unknown to her, of course, she was fast becoming the female equivalent of Russ Lawrence. Gidget could see it. At age 46, Gidget herself was still quite attractive. Everyone wondered why she had never married. She lived with her cat, Jez, in an apartment in Lincoln Park, with a view of Belmont Harbor through her front window. She visited Jeff, Rose and the twins several times a month, and often did lunch and shopping with Rose when she came into the city on weekends.
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January 1, 2008, 12:02am: Rose reluctantly pulled herself out of the embrace of her husband, and as the strains of "Auld Angh Syngh" died away began to make her way to the ladies room of the Palmer House ballroom, waving to her many friends and colleagues as she went. As she peered in the gilt-edged mirror, repairing her lipstick, a victim of Jeff's New Years' kiss, she smiled at herself. At 39 years old, she felt pretty good. She still felt a thrill when Jeff kissed her, and their love making was still passionate and if anything, had become better and more satisfying to both over the years as each had slowly and pleasantly learned the intimate secrets of each other's bodies. They were best friends as well as lovers.
Frank and Francine were her joy and treasure, both had graduated early, with honors from New Trier High School, both with full scholarships. Both were this night in a little town in Honduras working with Habitat For Humanity building homes. They had decided together that since they had, in effect, a bonus year for graduating early, they would spend it helping others. She would call them at 2:00am, their midnight, to wish them a Happy New Year. They had agreed to be at the local Catholic Church, the only place with a phone.
Looking in the mirror, she drew her hands along her hips, past her waist and cupped her breasts. *You go, girl!* she thought as she smiled again. Hips hadn't spread, waist hadn't bulged, boobs hadn't sagged - well not too much, she admitted to herself.
As she turned to leave, she almost bumped into Francine entering. "Happy New Year, Cuz." she greeted her as she left. Life was good! She wasn't dreading her upcoming 40th year at all.
January 1, 2008, 12:10am: Gidget managed a smile and a "Happy New Year" back to her cousin, but both were forced. She WAS dreading Rose's 40th year.
April 1, 2008, 4:30pm: Half an hour earlier, Gidget, having just arrived home from work, had found among the mail the envelope with the return address that read simply, "Mrs. Beach". "Mrs. Beach", whom she hadn't heard from for 24 years. Now she sat at the kitchen table with a mug of rapidly cooling coffee at her elbow, rereading the letter for the 3rd time:
Dear Francine,
I know this will reach you on April Fools' Day; forgive my macabre sense of humor, but as Jimmy Buffett sings, "If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane." As you have probably realized, this is THE year for Rose. If what I, and you probably also, suspect happens, the situation could go very weird very fast, and we could lose either one or both of them. Remember the reaction forty years ago! As we discussed at her sixteenth birthday, I can't use my magic for fear of making a bad situation worse - later perhaps I can, but not now. As it is, I will not be with you this time. If what I suspect happens, I need to be here at Bikini Beach. I'm sure you know why. I could leave my granddaughter in charge, but she knows nothing of this affair, and, after all, it is my responsibility. I suggest you get Rose away from everyone else on The Day, and just be there for her ... or him. If it is him, it must be his decision to seek me out.
Hugs, and be brave,
Betty Beach
June 1, 2008, 4:30pm: Laying the early birthday card down on the kitchen table, Rose looked at the gift certificate. She gave a sigh of relief as she stepped out of her shoes. A weekend at the Wagon Wheel Resort up in Rockton, including a day of pampering at their spa. She hoped they did foot massages. "Just us girls;" had been written in the card in Gidget's large loopy handwriting, "no men or children allowed!" It sounded wonderful. It was a shame that her Francine couldn't join them, but she and Frank had re-uped for a second six months in Honduras. Oh, well, she and Gidg would have fun all by themselves. Jeff had been talking about a fishing trip with his buddies up in the Minnesota boundary Waters, and now he would have time to plan it all out. Yes, indeed, turning forty wouldn't be so bad at all!
July 3, 2008, 6:00pm: Rose stood in the doorway and waved goodbye to Jeff as he backed the vintage '68 Mercury, loaded down with fishing gear, out of the driveway. Just for a moment, looking at the Mercury sitting on the blacktop of the driveway there had been an overwhelming feeling of dejavu, but it had passed quickly and Rose shrugged it off. She turned and reentered the house. Her 40th birthday party had been nice. The kids had called in the morning, and then Jeff and Gidg had taken her into the City to Ann Sather's on Belmont for lunch. She'd had lobster, which she loved but almost never had because of the price. Gidg had given her a beautiful blue caftan nightgown for their trip to Rockton. It was made for comfort, Gidg had said, rather than sexiness; just the thing to snuggle into after a day of total feminine pampering, with no male to impress. Jeff had given her a locket on a chain, and she was now wearing it around her neck. Inside were two pictures one of her and Jeff and the other of Frank and Francine. She glanced at herself in the hallway mirror. *Forty or not, you've still got it, girl!* she thought, tingling a little as she remembered the send off she'd given Jeff just a short time ago, just to remind him of what he'd have waiting for him at home and what he could expect when he returned! She continued into the bedroom to continue packing so as not to keep Gidg waiting. She was humming "I Feel Pretty!".
July 5, 2008, 11:30pm: A continuing series of silent taps on her wrist brought Gidget reluctantly awake from a very pleasant dreamless sleep. She felt better than she had in a long time, the result of a day of feminine pampering her 56 year old body had absorbed gratefully. Yawning contentedly, she turned off the silent alarm on her alarm watch, purchased especially for this occasion so she wouldn't wake Rose. Rose! Remembering why they were here, all her pleasant contentedness vanished. She glanced over at the other double bed. Yes, it was still Rose, but then, nothing should happen, if anything would happen, for awhile yet. She had given herself an hour leeway, betting that nothing would occur before midnight. If nothing had happened by 2:00am, she figured, nothing would. 1:00am was magic time - quite literally. Finally, forty years, two days and twelve hours past Russ Lawrence's emergence from the showers of "Mrs. Beach's" theme park the two day pass would be up.
And what would happen to Rose? Rose was sleeping peacefully. She was wearing the large blue caftan that she had given her for her birthday - a caftan big enough to accommodate Russ Lawrence's bigger 6'2" frame. Gidget moved quickly. From her suitcase, she removed two long cables, each with padded cuffs on the ends. She attached one of the cuffs to Rose's right wrist and drew the cable through the gaps in the headboard of the bed , finally attaching the other cuff to Rose's left wrist. Using the other cable, she did the same to Rose's ankles, running the cable through the foot board. She left the cables loose enough so that Rose, while spread-eagled on the bed, would not be uncomfortable, but the considerably larger Russ, if he emerged, would be snugly bound and unable to thrash around enough to hurt himself. Thank heaven the sleeping pill she had broken open and poured in Rose's nightcap was keeping her out like a light. If Russ didn't emerge, by 2:00 - * Better make it 2:30.* she thought. - she would simply remove the cuffs and cables and Rose need never know. Gidget, clutching a gag to use if needed, settled down in a chair by Rose's bed to wait.
July 6, 2008, 1:00am: A low groan and a rustle of bed linens jerked Gidget out of her fitful doze. Her eyes darted to the bed, and widened. She moved her hand quickly, jamming the gag into the figure on the bed's mouth just in time to muffle a scream of fear and rage begun 40 years previous in the driver's seat of a yellow VW convertible. One word burst from Gidget's lips: "DADDY!"
July 6, 2008, 1:00am: Russ Lawrence's mind didn't register anything but a great green wall looming up in front of him. He began a scream, high pitched from his newly feminized body. Then the blackness closed in. And almost immediately receded. The continued scream was blocked by something thrust into his mouth. He was no longer in the seat of the VW, was in fact lying down, and, he could immediately tell, he was male again. What the hell was going on! He tried to move, but found he was quite effectively restrained. He looked to his left just in time to see a middle aged woman - mid-fifties he judged - put her hands up and sob "DADDY!". Daddy? He was that little brat Francine's Daddy. Boy would he have a few things to say to her now that he was back to his real self. But why was he restrained like this? And suddenly he realized that he wasn't alone. In his head. A female voice shrieking, *Who are you!? What have you done to me!? OHMYGAWD, OHMYGAWD, OHMYGAWD* till it was both of them silently, mentally screaming it. Russ Lawrence's body jerked upward against the cables and then fell back unconscious. A totally distraught Gidget had enough presence of mind to check for a pulse; finding one she collapsed sobbing into her chair to wait.
July 6, 2008, 2:00am (Bikini Beach time) The old woman jerked awake as a blast of silent pain tore through her brain. It had happened; "he" was back! She did a quick mental survey. Not quite a worse case scenario; Rose was still there, too, but both had blanked before she could tell much more than that. She reached out mentally to link with Gidget. *Gidget! It's me, Mrs. Beach.* She cringed at her desk as a mental cacophony of questions from Gidget flooded her mind. *WAIT!* she sent, and waited till Gidget calmed herself. *Listen. I am going to create a mental link from you to Rose ... Yes, she is still present, but so is your father, and the body is now his, as it should have been 40 years ago. But now is not then, and we have to consider the lives of both. You need to tell Rose the whole story. I think it would be best if you could convince Rose to keep a low profile for now and let Russ adjust. Remember, to him it is July 3, 1968, and you are sixteen. Assure Rose I will do my best for her.* She mentally paused, and Rose could sense it. *Here's the uncertain part: I know reality was changed upon your father's return, but I'm not sure how. All I know is that if he had not died all those years ago, it would have returned to what it had been before the change. But because he did die, and die as woman, a woman created from him by magic,while that female body did die, "he" did not; his spirit animated the body of his brother's baby girl, who otherwise would have been stillborn. Rose, though, is equally a person, having lived the same span of forty years as your father, but the body is no longer hers. You and your father will have to examine this new reality and see what's best for him, you, and ultimately Rose. Remember, Bikini Beach exists in this reality, and I will plant the knowledge of how to find it in your mind; you can tell them if the necessity arises.. Farewell for now, Francine; may the Goddess bless.* She forged the link from Gidget to Rose, and as gently as possible awakened Rose.
July 6, 2008, 4:00am (Chicago time) *OH ... MY ... GAWD.* Gidget slumped in her chair, exhausted. It had taken an hour just to calm a justifiably hysterical Rose, then another hour to "Tell the Tale". Finally, a third hour to convince her to stay in the background while she worked with her father. Now all she had to do was try to get some sleep before she tried to convince her father that the 56 year old woman talking to him was his sixteen year old daughter!
July 13, 2008, 4:30pm: As he attempted to download the Map Quest program into the autopilot of what Gidget swore was still an automobile, Russ Lawrence swore. He'd been doing a lot of that this past week. He suspected that it was either that or suffer a complete nervous breakdown. He'd finally come to accept the reality of his situation, but it was still hard. He knew magic worked; he HAD been a sixteen year old girl after his shower at the theme park - his daughter's sister he had found out! Now, his teenage daughter was a 56 year old woman, 16 years older than him, and it was the year 2008. He had been DEAD for 40 years, but his spirit/soul had been alive in the body of a woman who was the daughter of his late brother, Jim. When that woman had reached 40 plus two days and twelve hours, her body had changed to his still 40 year old body, and he had "come back". In this new reality, the physical Rose never existed, and Russ was his brother's son, named after his brother's older brother Russ - him - who had died in a car crash in California. When he had asked Gidget about old friends, she had gently reminded him that his contemporaries were all in their late seventies or eighties, or were dead - and, as far as those left alive knew, their friend and colleague Russell Lawrence had died in that car crash 40 years ago. And, he couldn't seem to master the new technology *Like this so-called car!* he thought, as he still wrestled with loading the Map Quest program. He was running out of time.
Gidget had dropped a bombshell on him today. She was giving him a few new facts every day, but this had been a real shocker; he had a wife and two kids! Supposedly he had been away on a business trip this past week, and he was due home tonight! Details about his family had been popping into his mind, but he had sort of filed them off to the side to bring out as needed when the actual meeting took place.
*Finally!* The drive screen's kitty logo lit up green as the car's AI logged into CATS (Chicago Area Transportation System), the twin safety belts automatically locked around him, and the car pulled itself out of the driveway onto the road. *At least it's a Mercury!* he thought.
July 13, 2008, 4:35pm: As Gidget watched her father pull away, she began to experience chest pains. She had a bad feeling about this, but also the feeling that whatever was about to happen NEEDED to happen. She went to her desk and picked up the envelope lying there addressed to "Daddy/Rose". Into it she slipped the card she had received in the mail yesterday from "Mrs. Beach"; there had been no note attached to it. She sealed the envelope and placed it on the father's bed, where he couldn't miss it. Gasping a little now from the pain, she moved her favorite recliner around so that seated, she could look out over Belmont Harbor and Lake Michigan. She eased herself into the chair, and Jez jumped into her lap. Gradually Belmont Harbor and Lake Michigan faded out, replaced by the beach, the blue Pacific, and the sounds of the Beach Boys' "Endless Summer". The pain was getting worse, but she made no move to call 911.
July 13, 2008, 5:15 pm: Russ set his suitcase (He had no idea what was in it.) down right inside the front door of what was supposed to be his home in Niles. He could hear the sounds of three voices in conversation coming from the living room. Rose and the kids, he supposed. *Let's do it!* he thought, and turned the corner into the room. A woman was seated in an easy chair, and two young adults in their late teens stood on either side of the fireplace. As he entered all turned toward him, smiles on their faces. He took it all in and ...
... SHE came out! Inside his mind, all Hell broke loose as an emotionally overloaded Rose surged forward, forgetting all about Gidget's advice to stay in the background, eclipsing the Russ personality. THOSE WERE HER KIDS! Frank and Francine stood by the fire place. She could see the little scar on Frank's left cheek from when he had fallen out of the backyard maple tree when he was six. She watched as Francine flipped her hair back in the unusual way she had seen only HER Francine ever do. Those were her kids - and the mother smiling fondly at them wasn't her! Her life was GONE!
She couldn't take it! Oblivious to the shocked looks appearing on the three faces, Rose whirled Russ's body around and ran for the car. They were in Chicago before Rose's breathing slowed and Russ was able to pull himself from under Rose's emotional debris:
*OHMYGAWD!*
*I agree; OHMYGAWD! What the hell are you and I going to do.*
*My life! It was MY life! You stole it! You bastard; you stole it! ............... I know, it wasn't you're fault; but I can't hate Gidg. She raised me. I don't KNOW you!*
*I can't hate her either. Jeez, she was only sixteen! If I'd only made more effort to understand her... never did understand women; didn't understand her mother either.*
*Wouldn't have worked. She was a teenager; no one understands them.*
*I think the guilt she feels is killing her though. I think we need to get back to her and take this whole thing up then. You be in charge; I've got some private thinking to do.
*OK, and I guess I need some time to mourn my husband and my children.*
Separate in their thoughts, united in their love for Gidget, the two personalities inside the body of Russ Lawrence made there way back to Gidget's apartment.
Gidget was dead. Somehow they knew she was somewhere on a beach, forever now sixteen in an endless summer. The cousin deferred to the father and it was Russ/Rose who pulled the Afghan up over her lifeless body. Jez refused to move. The paramedics came but it was a formality. Heart attack was listed as the cause of death. Russ/Rose knew better. They found the letter an hour and a half later, after Gidget's body had been taken to the mortuary:
Dear Daddy and/or Cousin Rose,
Do not cry for me. I love you both so much! I screwed up both your lives, but maybe this can make up for it.
Love, Gidget
The rest of the letter was directions. The card was a lifetime pass to Bikini Beach.
July 28, 2008: sunset (Pacific time): Russ/Rose stood on the deck of the small boat and, as per her wishes, scattered Gidget's ashes out over the Pacific. The next day, they caught a flight to the East coast.
August 3, 2008, 9:30am: The old woman looked up from her account book, at the man framed by her ticket window. "Mr. Lawrence - or is it Mrs. Lawrence - I've been expecting you.
August 3, 2008; 10:00am: When Russ/Rose had presented the lifetime pass to the old woman, she had made it clear to Russ that while he would not disappear, he would become a set of what she called "pre-memories" in Rose's mind. Did he still agree to the use of the pass? Russ had explained to the old woman that neither of them wanted to remain in this body. Russell Lawrence's time had passed. All his friends were either senile or dead, and the world of 2008 was too different from that of 1968 for him to really want to adjust even if he could. his one anchor to this world, his daughter Gidget was dead. (While she didn't say so, the old woman had expected this. With the need for Rose/Russ to reach a decision, Gidget's time was up. Had she lived, she would have been torn apart as realities changed once again. she simply offered her condolences.)
Rose Lawrence, on the other hand, had a life. They both hoped that by changing this body back to her body, reality would snap back to her reality. She wanted her husband, her kids, her home, and her life. The old woman had assured Russ that to the best of her knowledge that was what would happen.
Russ Lawrence looked in the mirror of the mens' locker room and said goodbye ... to himself. For the second time in his life, with a smile on his face, turning the knob, Russ Lawrence stepped under the shower at Bikini Beach.
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EPILOGUE
August 3, 2008; 10:30am: The old woman watched the attractive middle aged woman get into the car (a Mercury) and drive away. With a sigh, she went into her office and opened the back closet. Reaching into the back, she pulled out a dusty leather bound Journal with "1968 - 1973" written on the cover. Taking the book to her desk, she opened it to the page for July 5, 1968. There was one blank space on the page, following the name "Lawrence" She stared at it for several minutes, letting 40+ years of memory roll. *I'll show this to Anya* she thought; *She needs to know.* Then she wrote "Completed successfully" in the blank and closed the book.
August 5, 2008: 4:30pm: Rose Lawrence put down her suitcase just inside the door of her home in Niles, Illinois, at the same moment that her husband, Jeff, came around the corner from the living room. She straightened up into his embrace, and without waiting for him to take the lead, gave him a more heartfelt kiss and hug than she had ever done before. After a minute or two, a happily surprised Jeff stood back. "Honey, go away more often; it's so great when you come home!" was his comment. "Come into the living room for your surprise." Given the last month or so, Rose didn't know if she could deal with many more surprises, but she followed him anyway. Entering the living room, she didn't see anything, but was suddenly attacked from behind as two pairs of arms wrapped her in a hug. "Welcome home, mom!" Frank and Francine back from Honduras early! Tears rolled down Rose's cheeks as Jeff joined in the hug. A few minutes later as the four broke apart, Jeff looked at his wife. "You look like you could use a drink, hon." he said. "Your usual chardoney?"
"No," she replied thoughtfully, "I believe I'll have a scotch: Johnny Walker Red."
THE END
©2000, Jezzi Belle Stewart
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