Spirits in the Material World

Sonya placed her hand on top of Trish's. It felt as light and soft as the clouds Sonya's soul now slept in.

"Now you kindly stop that, Trishy. I won't have you verbally kicking your own ass. That's my job."

"Heh...well, please at least let me explain that...I dunno, honey, I guess...my folks never really got after me to clean my room, or do chores around the house. I guess..." She sighed. "I'm-I'm not trying to throw the blame on them, I just...never had that maintenance 'gene' drilled into me. I...feel like I should at least apologize to your feet, for making you step on stuff and stub your toesies."

"Well, I'm in no danger of that now. But, um..."

She smiled coyly, lifting her ghostly, pristine size 8 peds up onto the table, and impishly waving them.

"...You can kiss 'em anyway, if you want."

Though this whole situation still seemed quite...weird...Trish went with it. For some reason or other...she loved Sonya's feet. She loved rubbing them, kissing them...even orally "worshiping" her toes. She guessed, like she'd remarked to Sonya earlier in the afternoon...maybe it was a foot fetish. Odd, but interesting. She admired them.

"Really?? Aw, sweetie! Okay...oooh, they're so silky! They're like...baby soft! They...oh my gosh, they even smell sweet! Does the rest of you feel and smell this nice too?"

"Oh, I should say so; you do get nicely pampered when you're an angel. In f—he-ey! Trishy! You're nibbling my toes! That tickles!"

"Angels're ticklish? Ghosts're ticklish?"

"When their name's Sonya Ross and you nibble on their little piggies, they are!"

Trishy felt a trifle freer to loosen up and have some flirtatious fun.

"Well, you were wiggling them at me!" Trish countered, now indeed giving Sonya's soles the ticklin' she'd been cruisin' for. Sonya laughed out loud, pulling away her feet and whipping them back off the table. "They were begging for it, being all adorable like that!" her girlfriend went on. "It's like you flashing me that ultra-sexy grin, winking at me and just daring me to resist kissing you."

"You think it's easy holding back from absolutely smothering you with my lips?"

"Sonya, when you turn your charm on me, I can literally barely keep my clothes on. And I mean 'literally' correctly, by the way. Although, I'm...I'm not sure if I should be saying that in the...present tense..."

"No sweat, sweets. Just pretend I'm sitting here with you like everything's, like, totally normal. Whenever you need a little time with me, just look in your heart and your memory, Trishy. I'll always be there."

Trish caught and swallowed a considerable lump in her throat.

"Oh, Sonya...now I wish I'd sat here and talked to you so many times like this when you were...y-y'know..."

Sonya's gentle eyes shimmered as Trish gazed into them. They were filled with sympathetic love and limerence.

"Baby, don't focus so much on regret. It's crummy for your complexion. Everyone knows smile lines are prettier than frown ones.'"

It took a moment, but Trish cheered up a little.

"Okay, well...if you'll always be 'with' me, and we can still 'talk' anytime we want...then, good; let's talk about nicer stuff."

"Like the song on the radio right now," agreed Sonya, gesturing toward the kitchen. "'Mo-ving, side-walks, I don't see under my feet...' 'S a cool song. Dunno who sings it."

"His name's Dan Hartman."

"Oh, okay, cool. See? I just posthumously learned something. 'I can dream about you...if I can't hold you tonight...'" Sonya sang along. Sigh. "I've always admired that about you, Trishy, if I never told you before. You know everything about this stuff."

"Well, it's...easy to know when you have such a mondo fond interest in it. 'Course, we were given a lotta good stuff last year. Y'know, if he was still alive, I'd wanna write a letter to George Orwell and say sorry, bud, but you were kinda off. I know it wasn't exactly the point of your book, but 1984 was awesome. Then again, if he was still alive, he'd know that already."

"I think he'd be 84."

"Close enough. Seriously, though, look at all the neat stuff that happened last year," elaborated Trish. "We got to go to New York for the first time, and we got that big ol' 'I-heart-N-Y' snow globe and that incredibly cute rocking horse—along with those other couple souvenirs...I started taking karate after that wicked cool movie..."

"Yeah, the Juniper Mall expanded; there's an arcade in there now," Sonya contributed. "We saw Bruce Springsteen live...even if we didn't get to dance on stage with him..."

"Oh, I'd have died. Oops, uh...I-I didn't mean that. Oh—speaking of The Boss and Who it is, though, Tony saw Angela naked..."

"Ha! Oh yeah! Let's see, what else...Alexis got arrested...Sam and Diane got together and broke back up...everybody cut Footloose...we found out what it sounds like 'When Doves Cry'...which is apparently when it Rains Purple on 'em..."

"Heathcliff's back on TV...Bill Cosby's on TV, playing someone named Heathcliff...all the most recent stuff on my tape—Never-Ending Story, Kate and Allie, all those Ghosts we Busted...oh, erm...whoops. Uh, again, honey, I didn't mean you. I meant Slimer, and the...big Marshmallow guy."

"It's okay, sweetheart," assured Sonya, flashing between opaque and transparent states. "We ghosts ain't afraid of no ghosts either."

"Hee hee, that's good. And along with all the other stuff, my parents got me the new Teena Marie album for Christmas..." Trish went on musing. "...And, you got me all that My Little Pony and Rainbow Brite stuff. And it's gonna take me till next Christmas to play with it all...'cause you somehow never minded that little part of me that never grew up."

"And Madonna somehow managed to convince us she was Like A Virgin."

"Oh, I know! Talk about pushing it over the 'Borderline!' Gosh, I..." Trish dreamily let her eyes wander. "I can't wait to see what happens in '85. I wonder if that's when 'Ahnold''ll be 'bahck.'"

"And once again in spirit, I'll be with you every step of the way."

Trishy dropped her eyes and poor achy head. A wayward tear plinked into her cocoa.

"...God...Sonya, I'm...I'm gonna miss you so damn much!"

"Awwww, Trishy..." Sonya slipped both of her angel-soft hands around Trish's. "I'm gonna miss you too. I love you more than anything in the world...though to be honest, you've got me a little torn with all those tears. On the one hand, they're breaking my ghost-heart. I can't stand seeing you suffer. On the other, they're...kinda flattering."

"Hee hee...even stone-cold, you can make me giggle."

Sonya batted her eyelashes.

"When you laugh, I just wanna roll you over on your back, and blow raspberries all over your tummy. When you cry, I wanna literally hold you forever, and figuratively go get the heart glue so we can fix everything together."

Trish felt she could certainly use a bottle of heart glue right about now.

"...If you're trying to make me stop crying, you're failing miserably."

"I'm not, baby. I just want you to know you can still talk to me whenever you want. Just trust me and be patient, Trishy: we're gonna have a thousand of these conversations before you're in heaven with me."

Trish tried to hold off on any more crying, if only to keep her headache at bay.

"I just can't believe I'm never gonna see you again, Sonya. You dunno how much this hurts. I'm so sad! I wanted to share the rest of my life with you! You're so much more than my partner. You're my soulmate. You're the other half of my heart! I wanted us to hold hands and take on all these challenges together. Especially our biggest one of all. It was gonna be you and me against this cold, cruel, not extremely gay-friendly world. How the hell'm I gonna go on without you?? Even if I wanted to see anyone else, I don't know how to meet any other lesbians. Let alone one that could come close to you."

"I know, Trishy. I feel the same way. I'm sad too. I'd do anything to keep you from feeling the least bit of pain. Seeing you like this just kills me. Uh...no, eh, pun intended."

Again, Trish couldn't help but chuckle the slightest bit. As destroyed as she was, she nonetheless felt so charmed and elated by this little extra Sonya-sugared time. Her beloved was doing just as she did best: sitting and hanging with Trish, seducing her mind with quirky wit, and her heart with effortless beauty and sensuality. As they talked and talked and talked some more, long, long into the small hours of twilight, their electronic kitchen companion took them, amongst many others, through a series of love and lust songs: "What's Love Got To Do With It," "Centerfold," "Jump" (by Van Halen), "Jump (For My Love)" (by the Pointer Sisters), "Just What I Needed," "Careless Whisper," "Oh Sherrie," "Heart Of Glass," "You're The Inspiration," "Here Comes The Rain Again," "Can't Fight This Feeling." Ad infinitum. And Sonya went on sending Trish through emotional rollercoaster loop after loop after loop.

"...You're making me laugh and cry at the same time."

"...What're girlfriends for?"

Trish let herself fall into Sonya's cherub eyes. She was indeed unable to resist. She laid one paw on Sonya's arm, the other aside her breast, and kissed her. Caught a bit off-guard, Sonya again glowed at the feel of the kiss. The celestial aura of neon color surrounded her. Her halo shone, and her wings flitted with excitement. She palmed Trish's jaws, as on the floor they played footsie. Trishy's tears turned joyful. When she sensed the moment was right, she cautiously opened her mouth, entreating entry with her tongue. Sonya granted. Trish worked up more moxie, took Sonya's silky hand mid-kiss, slipped it between her thighs, and they stroked and fondled one another. The kissing and pussy-stroking went on and on...on and on...on and on...until to their amazement, the lasses achieved a quasi-tantric...dual orgasm. Neither could believe it. They kept going. Post-climax. The glorious spiritual romance lingered several more brilliant moments...till both needed to breathe. Especially the stuffy-nosed Trish. Sonya gazed lovingly back at her.

"That was nice."

"And...fascinating," Trish added. "I've never kissed—or felt up—an angel before."

Sonya caressed Trishy's temple with the back of her hand.

"I have."

Her words reached inside Trish, took hold of her heart and squeezed it.

"Oh god, sweetie," she murmured. "I never realized how much I really did lose everything...when I lost you."

Sonya leaned in and hugged her again.

"You may have lost my physical being...but you'll never lose my spirit.

"...

"...Hey. Hey. Sweetheart..." Sonya gingerly patted her thigh. "Stand up with me a minute."

"Huh?...W-why? What for?"

"Just get up with me real quick." Trish did as asked. Sonya pointed her thumb in the direction of the kitchen and radio once more.

"You know every song that's ever been recorded. What's that one?"

"Uh...'Into The Night,' by Benny...something. I dunno, I can't remember his last name. But it's over."

"Exactly. Now what's this one?..."

They paused. Trish pensively cocked her head as "Into The Night" faded out...and as a short series of warm piano chords opened the next song. It took all of two bars for the familiarity to trigger. Trish closed her eyes as she felt her heart squeeze again. As if she hadn't been overcome by enough emotion tonight. Speaking of "Tonite"...

"No way."

Sonya soothed her fingers over Trish's cheek. She opened her mouth and took a breath, softly singing along to her.

"I know it's late...I know you're weary..."

Trish shook her head. "I don't believe it..."

"I know your plans...don't include me..."

The non-ghostly heart melted.

"...It's our song..." The lump caught in her throat again. Sonya nodded, seeing her own eyes mirrored in Trish's.

"It is. ...May I please have this dance?"

Trishy chortled. Sonya just kept upping the emotional—and romantic—ante on her.

"Why, yes...we can dance if we want to. The night is young, and...so am I."

So Trish and Sonya clasped opposite paws, rested their other hands on one another's shoulders, and began to sway, to and fro. Fluff eventually returned to "dance" with them, routinely figure-eighting their gams. Just a few measures later, Trish sat her head on Sonya's free shoulder. Sonya couldn't blame her. The poor girl needed some rest after everything she'd been through. And as wistful and dejected as Trish still felt, dancing one more dance with her beloved, to their song...made her so happy. She wanted these blissful couple minutes to last forever. She still couldn't believe it.

"...How'd you know??"

Sonya smiled.

"It's like I told you, baby. Some things can simply not be explained in the rational universe."

"Hmm...y'know, Sonya, when Kenny Rogers and that Sheena what's-her-name chick recorded this song, I couldn't decide which one I liked better for a while. But eventually I decided: Bob Seger's forever. The one from when we got together."

"Totally," Sonya whispered, just before she resumed singing along.

"...Still, here we are!...Both of us lonely...both of us lonely...

"We've got tonite...who needs tomorrow..."

Trish raised her head and joined in.

"Let's make it last...let's find a way...

"Turn out the light...come take my hand now...we've got tonite, babe..."

The lyrics finally clicked in Trish's mind. She realized her eyes weren't done. One more bitter sting of tears needed out. She cried out those last four heartbreaking words, stretching them all into multiple syllables.

"Ohhhhhh...why don't you stayyyyy..."

Their song ended. Sadly and ironically, Sonya kissed Trish on top of the head, and lamented to her—

"I'm sorry, sweetheart...I have to go now."

Trishy's stained eyes opened. Her face fell.

"What?? Oh no! Sonya, why??"

To her dismay, Sonya let her go, and faded translucent again.

"I'm afraid it's just time, Trishy. We'll meet again soon."

"But-but...no! I...I don't wanna say goodbye! Please don't go!"

Sonya let the linen billow over her limbs again, shining luminescent just as when she'd first appeared. She continued to fade.

"Don't worry. We'll always be together, Trish...I'll always be with you..."

Trish wanted to run after her, but she couldn't move. She dropped on her knees, reaching desperately to get her back.

"Sonya, honey, please don't leave me!"

"I'll always be with you..."

"Please!" Trish sorrowfully repeated. "Stay!"

"Always be with you..."

"Bu—...n—..."

At last...Sonya vanished. The final vestige of a cold breeze brushed by. Trish finally had to resign herself. She slowly, slowly sank into the carpet, suddenly feeling very dizzy. She had to pay the toll the evening had taken on her. She felt her system shutting down. There was no want of a pillow or blanket. She merely settled on the floor, let her head down, shut her stingy red eyes...

...And gave up consciousness.

*****

Total Eclipse Of The Heart (Faster Than The Speed Of Night)

Saturday, January 5th, 1985, 9:06 p.m.

Somewhere between asleep and awake, Trish Lowery flailed about, jerking her legs and reaching with both arms, amid whines and whimpers. She struggled through a stupor of turmoil and distress, until her surface of wakening was forced through. She gasped and jarred herself up, wearing a necklace of cold sweat. She could not think, see or feel through her initial disorientation. Only once she collected back her bearings did she realize what must have happened.

She heard the toilet flush. Three seconds later, a yawn floated from around the corner. Back in wandered Sonya, holding a glass of water, rolling her head around her shoulders and counting the cricks. She stumbled to the bed, rubbed an eye with a knuckle, set the water on the nightstand, and about-faced to lay back down.

"Damn," Sonya uttered to herself, noting the time. "Long week. Guess we needed more sleep than we thought."

Behind her, Trish took deep breaths, waiting for her heart to calm, feeling an intense surge of relief set in.

"S—...Sonya??"

Sonya let her eyes roll back in her girlfriend's direction.

"...Trishy?..."

"Ohhh..."

Trish shot both arms around her and clutched on for dear life.

"Oh, thank god!"

"Errrrgh!" said Sonya, feeling herself practically crushed in a bear hug—which she quite veritably was. But her mind was taken off Trish's vise-like embrace, as she heard weeping.

"Thank god, thank god, thank god, oh, thank god..." Trishy repetitively rejoiced. She proceeded to wrap both arms—and legs—as far and tight around Sonya as possible, covering the back of her head in kisses. Sonya felt a trifle alarmed, but concluded Trish was happy to have her back in bed. And yet...her curiosity remained less than satisfied.

"Tr—...Tr-Trishy, wha—...sweetheart, like...what on Earth's the matter??"

Trish sighed and exhaled, loosening her grasp. She eased and coaxed her to roll over so they could speak face to face.

"Turn around, bright eyes...I really need you tonight. More than ever. Every now and then, I...kinda fall apart."

Sonya arched her brows in a blend of heartfelt affection and amusement. She ran a hand through Trish's puffy, fluffy hair.

"And...lemme guess: if I only hold you tonight, we'll be holding on forever. Right, Bonnie?"

"Oh, Sonya, my baby...I just had the most heartbreaking dream I can remember in...in...ever."

"Awww! I'm sorry, darlin'!" said Sonya. She wiped and kissed away some of Trish's conscious tears. "What happened? Y'know, in it?"

"It was so horrible," Trish confessed, again pulling Sonya closer until they were literally touching nose to nose. "I dreamt my stuff was all over the floor...like usual...and you got outta bed, and stubbed your toes really bad on my shoes."

Sonya winced. "Ouch."

"To say the least. And...you went off on me. You yelled at me, berated me, you almost kicked Fluff...and you said, 'Fuck you, Trish.'"

"Mon dieu. How harsh of moi."

"It gets worse. Then I got mad at you too, and you got dressed and stormed out. And, I called you a fucking bitch and screamed at you to go to hell. But...you ended up going to heaven instead, 'cause...you got hit by a car and killed. Drunk driver. Apparently, some scuzz-bucket who didn't just say no. And I only resort to nasty names 'cause it only happened in my dream."

Sonya's eyes widened, making an empathetically frightened face.

"Yikes. Well, I can certainly see how losing me would positively devastate you. Not to mention virtually all of humankind."

"So after a cop came to the door and told me, I...just lost it for a while. But...then you came to me as a ghost."

"Whoa...fuckin'-A."

"And...and at first it just scared the hell outta me, but then I got really sad, then really happy, then sad again, and...and..."