Hi all and here's Chapter 5 in the continuing adventures of our Ms. Bessie Howard, intrepid time-traveler and courageous crosser through outer space to other planets! 'course she has yet to start doing any of this amazing stuff until Chapters 10 and 11, so be patient. Oh and another thing. It always happens that after I've posted this stuff I re-read it later to find that - oh nuts! - there are typos in it which I missed before sending it out. In any case, by the time this epic masterpiece finally is between two covers it'll be free of my errors. Mostly. And so, faithful readers, meantime enjoy!

Chapter 5; Stopping for Bessie’s New Sorceress Staff

The trees lining each side of the street the girls were following still held most of their autumn leaves. Dappled by the sun the great-sized oaks were clad in warm tans and browns and the tall maples wore glowing oranges and yellows sprinkled with flame-reds. The unusually warm weather had practically every house they passed decked out with garden flowers in full bloom and green lawns giving off the sweet fragrance of being freshly cut. 

Inhaling deeply, Nina threw out her arms. “Oh-mi-god, don’t you just love it? If only it would stay like this!”

Bessie nodded appreciatively at the homes they passed. “Some of these houses sure have. For over a century.”

Many of Covington’s homes in this older part of town actually were Victorian in age, their ornately decorative exteriors speaking volumes about a more privileged class back in that earlier time. Farther north where the girls lived, the homes weren’t half so large and of a far more modern variety.

Nina asked Bessie, “So you’ll be busy tonight with your Dad’s latest VI thingy?”

Already thinking about little else, she nodded, “Uh-huh, I should hope so.”

Lulu said, “I’m not surprised. My mom says your dad and his partner has her research team going 24/7 with upgrading this newest one.” It so happened that her mother, Kathy Chen, headed Virtual-Scope’s technical research and development section. Quite the cyber-tech in her own right, Lulu added disgustedly, “And Neen, they’re full immersion virtual reality units, not ‘thingies’, all right?”

Unfazed Nina retorted, “I know that. But I’m as clued in as your average rock with that stuff so I keep it simple. Anything having to do with computers, including my own VI thingy… is a thingy!”

          Lulu came back, “You say it just to annoy us tech nerds, right?”

Nina nodded, “Absolutely.”

Bessie went on, “Anyway Lu, Dad says that along with more apps, this latest one has enormously upgraded neural sensors. So he’ll want us to play around with them while he’s setting up for production. In fact, he says that with Butt Brain and me being so good at this, it saves him a ton with using his R & D people. At any rate, I got so buried with mid-terms that I forgot he’s bringing them home. Suddenly, I’m pretty excited about it.”

          Nina asked, “What about the one you’ve been using and the one before that? You’ve told us bunches of times about those odd sensations you get. Anyway, how long’s that been going on now, since middle school?”

          Bessie said, “I’ve had those ever since VI’s were the helmet kind. I was ten and my head was so small that our original one fit me like a bushel basket.”

          Nina persisted, “How’s your head been since your injury? Whenever you wear your thingy, I mean.”

          Bessie’s reply was oddly short for her. “A little achiness but no problem.”

          Lulu joined in, “You said they found something unusual with your head scan but you’ve hardly mentioned it since.”

          Indeed, Bessie had passed on only the sketchiest details to her friends about what Dr. Meyers discovered. Nor had she disclosed to anyone his asking her to participate in the work conducted at UW’s Computer Research Center. She recalled leaving the hospital wondering if she was some sort of mutational freak they wanted to tie down and study like a lab rat. Disinclined to speak of it back then, she was even less so today. “Let’s drop it, OK?”

Hearing the untypical brusqueness, the other two immediately did. Moments later they reached a cross street, Lakeside Drive. This one ended a block to their right at the public beach on Covington Lake’s western shore.

          Bessie asked, “You guys mind if we detour over to the lake? I need to find something and it won’t take long.”

Today Nina and Lulu were more eager than usual to get home. They both asked together, “Find what!?”

Bessie held up both hands, “You’ll think it’s stupid but…” Pausing, she eyed them rather embarrassedly and finished, “…I need a new sorceress staff.”

 After the groans from the other two, Nina asked, “Well Hermione, what’s wrong with your old one?” Hermione Grainger of course was the young trainee wizard-girl in the old Harry Potter movies.

Tipping her head, Lulu frowned, “I thought you gave up all that wizardry and sorcery nonsense. Especially now that you’re so into physics.”

Bessie shrugged, “Guys, I know and you know all that witches and wizards rigmarole for what it is - strictly kid-stuff. And yes, same as everyone else, I did enjoy Harry Potter. When I was ten! In fact back then my stupid brother even made me the staff as a gag. But I’ve had it ever since and I’m used to it. Anyway, when Butt Brain was screwing around with it last week he broke it! So have me put away or something, but I mean to make a new one!”

Always practical, Lulu persisted, “But why? I haven’t seen you use it or carry it around since we left fifth grade.”

Nina said, “The only place I’ve seen it is standing up in the corner beside your home PC.”

Giving them her patented look as a professor at the lectern, Bessie held up a finger. “Indeed it is, class! But you see, the staff is an all-important adjunct for integrating myself with the…!” Sputtering, she broke out laughing. Then she got serious again. “Or whatever. Just bear with me for a few minutes over there and then we’ll scoot, OK?”

Sighing, Lulu nodded, “You lead - we’ll follow.”

Nina quickly started off. “No, I will! That way we’ll be there and gone so I won’t get home too late! Come on!”       

Scattered along the lakeshore were pieces of driftwood and shortly, Bessie discovered one that looked promising. Sun-bleached, fairly straight, and about her height, its entire length was polished from waves rubbing it against the sand. Picking it up, she brushed off the sand. First turning it this way and that, she next gripped it beneath a gnarled knot at one end. “Good, here’s the top.” Turning it upside down, she nodded at the other end narrowed to a rounded point. “Perfect for the bottom.”

Ignoring the bemused smiles of the other two, she hefted it to judge the weight. “It’s not pine, too heavy. I think it’s oak.” Holding the branch horizontally and bouncing it in her palms, she nodded, “Feels right too.”

          Nina glanced at her watch. “OK sorceress girl, now can we go?”         

“Give me a second here.” Gripping it one handedly, Bessie lightly ran the fingertips of her other hand over the surface. Then holding it toward the sky, she laughed, “I’m only kidding so don’t call the nut wagon, okay?” Taking a deep breath and deepening her voice, she intoned, “Oh Mighty Force! Bring this staff to life so I may bring Truth to our world! Oh – and to keep getting A’s in Physics!”

Half turning, she grinned, “Not bad, eh? I just now made that up!” Before they could answer she raised the branch even higher, her face tipped up to the sun, and stayed that way. And stayed and stayed.

          Lulu muttered to Nina, “She’s really into this, isn’t she.”

          Restlessly shifting from side to side, Nina again peeked at her watch. “Hey, mighty sorceress, let’s go! I’m late as it is!”

          Unhearing and still motionless, Bessie kept staring up.

Nina said it louder, “Hey! Earth to Bessie! Are you there!?”

Startled, Bessie said - “Oh!” Shaking her head a few times, she blinked, then faced them. Eyes wide and wearing a puzzled expression, she answered shakily, “You guys, something very strange just happened.”

“What did?” Nina asked.

Slowly lowering the branch, Bessie looked down at it. “I’m not sure. This felt perfectly OK at first. But suddenly it was I was totally connected to….” She stopped, then went on. “…I don’t know how else to put it. Like I was a living part…” This time she swept out her arm. “…of everything! For a second I felt almost close enough to…” Again she stopped.

Harry Potter’s world was so far outside of Lulu’s own with cybernetics that she had no idea what Bessie was trying to say. “Well, you were just now like a statue or something. So explain it, Bess! You know, scientifically!”

Quite simply, Bessie could not. How could she even begin to describe the absolute oneness she felt only a moment ago with the totality of everything; the blue water of the lake, the countless sand particles beneath her feet, all the leaves in the nearby trees, the gulls circling overhead, the surprisingly close physical presence of her two friends, of the sky and the sun and countless other things much, much farther beyond. She felt a shiver go up and down her spine.

Starting to say so to her friends, she saw the looks on their faces. No if I don’t get it neither will they. Holding up the branch and starting toward the street, she said as off-handedly as she could, “Never mind, I’m being an idiot. Let’s go!”

Nina nodded, “Well good!” Stopping her impatient toeing of the sand, she took each of them by an arm. “Because, my dah-lings, I really do hear that fashion world calling me!”