Prom Night in Purgatory(62)

“The girl was dressed in the style popular around the turn of the century, and my grandma realized she had woken up in the same room, but not the same decade. She was afraid, both for herself and the girl. The girl was about eighteen or nineteen and was apparently engaged to be married. The man who had attacked her was the girl’s uncle, and the girl knew it would destroy her mother, embarrass her fiance and his family, and probably cost her her engagement. The girl was more afraid of losing her fiance than she was of her uncle, and she promised my grandma that she would 'be more careful' in the future.

“A black woman, a servant, walked into the room while my grandma was trying to calm the young woman. She apparently worked in the house; my grandma said she was certain it was a young version of her grandmother. Of course the woman who walked in didn't recognize my grandma and demanded her name and who she was, tellin' her to leave at once, puttin' her arm around the young woman, who protested in defense of my grandma. The servant hurried the young lady out of the room, telling my grandma she was sending for the authorities. My grandma got in the rocking chair and pulled her Saint Christopher necklace out, and started rubbing it and rocking in the chair, holdin' my grandfather's face in her mind. She said she came abruptly awake, back where she'd been when she'd fallen asleep, thankfully back in her own time."

"She saved the girl, Gus! How could that be a bad thing?" Maggie interrupted.

Gus looked at her for a long moment, his eyes grave. "My grandma was shaken up and didn't want to be alone. She wanted to go home and went lookin' for her employer." Gus reached for his hat and pulled it off his head, rubbing the brim and twisting it between his long fingers. Maggie didn't like the way he'd paused in the story, as if trying to find the courage to continue.

"What's wrong Gus?" Johnny asked softly. "What aren't you saying?"

"When she found the lady of the house....she didn't recognize her," Gus whispered. "Her voice was almost the same, but the woman was tall where her previous employer had been short - her hair dark where the lady of the house had been blonde."

"I don't understand. What changed?" Johnny questioned.

"Was the house owned by a new family? Did that event cause some kind of rift that changed the history of the house?" Maggie asked.

"Nope. The woman had the same name," Gus answered. "She was married to the same man. Nothing had changed but her appearance."

Maggie and Johnny stared at him, dumbfounded.

"The woman had a different father," Gus said flatly.

"The girl your grandma helped didn't marry her fiance after all?" Maggie guessed.

"No..that ain't it," Gus retorted. "She married him and she had a daughter...the lady of the house was her daughter."

"Your grandmother prevented a rape that resulted in the girl becoming pregnant by her uncle." Johnny's face was grim as he supplied the correct answer. He looked at Maggie and then back at Gus. Gus nodded, and Maggie breathed a whispered exclamation. The three of them sat in contemplative silence.

"But Gus...your grandma helped the girl," Maggie repeated, insistent.

"Yes she did, Miss Margaret - and in that moment she altered circumstances dramatically enough to make one woman completely disappear and another take her place. Do you understand what I'm tellin' you?"

Johnny reached out and touched Maggie’s hand again, almost as if he was suddenly afraid to lose her. Maggie clasped his fingers and wrapped her hand around his.

"You might have the very best of intentions, Miss Margaret, but this is life we're talkin' about, and you can't play with it. What was and what is can be changed in an instant. Sometimes people's memories are a little slow in keepin' up. All those things you don’t understand? That’s just time changing its mind, like I told ya. Time is shifty...like those fun house mirrors, but it ain’t a game, girl. It’s for real. "

***

Johnny helped Maggie with her janitorial duties that day, and it was almost like the old days when he was invisible to everyone but her, the imaginary friend only she could see. She told him how he had been able to accomplish things that took her hours, simply by wishing it so. He just shook his head in amazement and tried to make the floor clean itself, only to have the floppy mop fall to the floor in a wet heap.

“So Purgatory had its advantages,” he sighed, and Maggie laughed at his glum expression.

“It did - but I don’t think you’d go back - not for all the power in the universe. You were like a genie in a bottle - completely trapped.”

“Would you have me go back?” he queried softly.

“To Purgatory?” she squeaked, incredulous.

“Yeah. I get the feeling you’re in love with the ghost, and the real guy is a bit of a disappointment.”

Maggie stared at him and then looked away guiltily. She mopped silently for a moment, trying to put her thoughts in order before she spoke them.

“No. I wouldn’t. But I....miss you. I miss the Johnny that read to me and made me laugh and thought I was....something special. I miss your affection and your touch. I miss being able to touch you in return, to dance when I know you’re watching. I miss my friend.”

Johnny felt her yearning, and it echoed painfully in his chest. He had tasted what loving her could be like. He’d only had the one perfect night under the stars, with her in his arms, but it had given him a glimpse of the love affair that was possible, and it had been enough to keep him looking for her when he thought she had run out on him.