Mike & Karen Ch. 25

Sotheby's really did sell that Botticelli painting for a cool ninety-two mill. I may be avoiding Covid in the Alexaverse, but I do enjoy keeping other real-life events out there in the world intact. I admit I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. It might be a problem. No, I don't want to seek out help.

So Freja and Jeanie are out from under the oppressive thumb of Jeanie's parents. Don't worry, Vince and Jocy will still be around, but I enjoyed writing that section. People have told me that Jeanie's raw emotion is very touching. I find that gratifying. Thank you.

I'm bringing Blackwell Manor to life, because at least one other series will take place there constantly, that being the upcoming 714 Bridle Path story, about the staff and their lives and adventures. Also, the various miniseries about Mona, Janet, and Lisa will also feature the Manor heavily, so I'm having a great time fleshing it out and introducing other aspects of it. It's not just the Hall of Ancestors, after all.

As young Karen has noted, she seems to be getting a case of the sillies with the approach of spring. After the devastating trauma with Jenny, she's more than entitled, I figure. And frankly, she keeps her case of the spring sillies right through to the present, hence flashing her husband in the middle of a lecture.

Yes, I intend to keep inserting complex physics into the story. If Lewis Carroll can stuff a kid's book full of algebra and equations, then I reserve the right, dammit. No matter how much Groucho may whine about it.

Yes, stegosaurus spikes are really called a 'thagomizer'. It's originally from a Far Side cartoon from 1982. Prior to that, paleontologists had no actual name for the spikes. But Gary Larson's quip tickled them so much that they adopted the name and it is now scientific fact. There are very few stegosaurii in my story, however, so you'll need to make do with Morgenmuffel displaying his thagomizer.

My apologies to Diana Ross. That may be one of the sharpest lines I've ever written into this story. I laughed and laughed and laughed...

In my continuing quest to make Alexa less of a MacGuffin, I decided to show off her ruthless Blackwell side in trapping that professor and nearly destroying him in order to help Alex wage their war against the bad guys. Expect the young couple to go on the offensive now, even if it's in subtle ways. Neither of them is the least bit interested in obstacles to their love. Watch out, world.

Okay, music...

'A Place In The Choir' is an older tune, certainly, recently made popular again by Celtic Thunder, I believe. But it dates back to the 1970s, courtesy of Bill Staines. Credit where it's due.

Mike and Karen play Enrique Granados' 'Villanesca for Guitar and Harp' in the ballroom. Look on the Tube of You for the version by Konstantin Vassiliev if you want to know what I had in mind. The piece was composed in 1903. It's quite lovely.

Handel's The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba was arranged on orchestral harp by Rachel Ann Morgan, if you want to know how it sounded in my head.

Hymn For The Heartland is a lovely tune that was one of Miranda's favourites. It's by the Irish composers and musicians James Galway and Phil Coulter. If you want to know what Alexa was playing for Jordan, give it a listen. As he observed, this is a very musical family.

The brief reprise of the chorus of Without Me by Eminem was just fun. And well within the Lit rules for copyright. Don't crap yourself. No one will notice if you do.

Yes, there is waltz-y music in the anime The Slayers, specifically Season 2 ('Slayers Next'), and it's called 'Twinkle-Twinkle'. Thanks to his father, Alex knows this music, of course, and abuses said knowledge accordingly.

And lastly, the amazing song Twilight by ELO. It's my fave song by them because in 1983, it was the soundtrack music for the seven most important minutes of anime ever- Daicon IV. If you claim to be an otaku and don't know what it is, shame on you. You are now a mere weeb. Daicon IV is literally all about what it means to be an otaku. Go watch it and let your geek flag fly.

Also be prepared for Twilight to be your earworm for days on end. Just warning you now.

Okay, time to get ready for Jenny's visit. Everybody stay safe, get vaxxed, and wash your hands, we're nearly through this.

- Management.

***

A club downtown, the present...

While Kira played familiar, spacey chords on her synthesizer, the other girls all waited as Alexa, dressed in tight black leather while kinetic makeup sparkled on her lovely face, addressed the crowd from the microphone at the front of the stage. She strummed a note slowly and repeatedly on her guitar as she spoke to them in her lyrical voice. She winked at her husband, sitting nearby in the audience.

"Just on the border of your waking mind,

There lies... another time.

Where darkness and light are one.

And as you tread the halls of sanity,

You feel so glad to be

Unable to go beyond.

I have a message

From another time..."

The girls broke into the song, people already cheering in anticipation. Revelling in their energy, Alexa began singing while playing actively, her voluminous golden hair swirling about her radiant features, the kinetic makeup dazzling under the lights.

"The visions dancing in my mind

The early dawn, the shades of time

Twilight crawling through my windowpane,

Am I awake or do I dream?

The strangest pictures I have seen

Night is day and twilight's gone away,"

The crowd in the club was singing back to her as she hit the famous chorus, joined by the girls in singing.

With your head held high and your scarlet lies

You came down to me from the open skies

It's either real or it's a dream

There's nothing that is in between,

Twilight,

I only meant to stay a while,

Twilight,

I gave you time to steal my mind away from me!"

***

A study hall in a certain dormitory, 1987...

Clad in a slinky red dress that Cyd Charisse would envy, Karen careened and spun around the empty hall, losing herself in the music playing on the stereo nearby. Throwing herself into her movements, arms writhing about her in a sensual, balletic manner, she closed her eyes, aware of her body in relation to the walls and furniture. She didn't need to see them to be clear of them, no matter how wild her dance seemed. The music was the only companion she needed.

"Across the night I saw your face (time)

You disappeared without a trace (time)

You brought me here, but can you take me back?"

It felt so good to dance! To want to dance, to... need to dance. It didn't matter what brought on the urge, she just gleefully indulged it. The movement of her body in the complex patterns, the demands on her muscles, the liberation they represented. She almost craved the release. Maybe it was the general feel of spring all around, but it could very well be so much more, if she dared face that possibility...

"Inside the image of your light (time)

That now is day and once was night (time)

You leave me here and then you go away,"

She stopped in front of the study room's mostly ornamental piano, standing and gracefully playing the brief solo that marked the halfway point in the iconic early Eighties song. Her fingers rippled over the glissade before she spun away from the old instrument and resumed her dance, once again losing herself.

"It's either real or it's a dream,

There's nothing that is in between,

Twilight, twilight, twilight

I gave you time to steal my mind away from me,

You brought me here, but can you take me back again?"

The bronze-haired goddess let out a cry of elation as she flung her dress off, pirouetting exultantly, her arms wide as she let the chorus carry her body away. Clad only in her lace underwear, bra, stockings, and ballet shoes, she spun about the space, thanking God for the gift of dance.

With your head held high and your scarlet lies

You came down to me from the open skies

It's either real or it's a dream

There's nothing that is in between,

Twilight

I only meant to stay a while

Twilight

I gave you time to steal my mind!"

She opened her eyes through a spin and lurched to an awkward stop, staring in shock at the door to the room.

Standing in the aperture was DeBourne, leaning against the frame and watching, his eyebrow raised. They stared at one another for some seconds before Karen's eyes left his and looked down her body, as if noticing her own near nudity for the first time. Her hands and feet felt cold, while her cheeks were burning. Only the loud music echoing around the study hall could be heard.

Karen somehow forced herself to move forward woodenly.

Twilight

I only meant to stay a while

Twi-"

She turned off the boombox that was sitting on the small table near the door before slowly turning toward the room's other occupant. Mike still leaned in the doorway, towering over her, his eyes glinting in amusement, his mouth creased into a hint of a smirk. With the music gone, the only thing Karen could hear was her own heart pounding and her blood rushing. She slowly looked up at him.

The insufferable blond giant was still smirking at her.

"You realize, of course, that now I'm going to have to kill you..." she sighed.

***