A Perpendicular Universe

"Sleepwalking!” the absurdly young cop exclaimed. “Maybe you sleepwalked into Mr Johnson's house”

Translation: I don’t want to put the handcuffs on this nice lady wearing a floral nightdress and arrest her for trespass.

Flo Evans took a breath as was her custom when forced to repeat herself multiple times.

“This is my house. I was asleep on my sofa.”

Lionel sniggered, shaking his head.

“It is my ex-husband who is the intruder,” she said without pause for breath this time, because if she were in the habit of exercising pause where Lionel was concerned, she would never have married him in the first place.

“I have never seen this woman before. Besides,” Lionel indicated the woman who had joined them from upstairs. “Why would I settle for dog roll when I have prime beef. I would never marry this… housewife.”

Lionel’s wife, Prime Beef, was half Lionel’s age. Blonde, tan and bust augmented to the point to the point she was weighed on a lean.

Flo knew that was an unkind thought but focusing on the child bride helped her ignore how Lionel’s words stung. She didn’t think he had the power to still hurt her.

“We have a daughter,” Flo started and resented the faint tremor in her voice. Lionel was oblivious to her tone, but the young police officer bit his lip as if he felt her pain. Flo held out the worn flier with Kayla’s picture she had been clutching when she fell asleep. “Kayla. She has been missing for a month.”

One month. Two weeks and four days. Seven hours. Flo had been counting the minutes.

Lionel spun his finger near his ear in the universal sign indicating that Flo was crazy.

The cop held out his hand for the flier and gazed at it murmuring, “Kayla.”

“Yes,” said Flo eagerly. “You must know the case. Young women don’t just disappear in Salado.”

“Exactly,” said Lionel. “There’s no case. Get her out of my house. Lock her up or take her back to the asylum.”

Flo stood to her full height. She was an intimidating 5 foot 12. Two inches taller than Lionel. Although she was careful to round down when referring to her height, it was another reason for Lionel to resent her.

“This level of antagonism towards a stranger isn’t usual. Lionel clearly knows me.” Flo pointed out.

“She’s a strange woman in all sense of the word,” said Lionel. “Get her out.”

“Ms. Evans there is some kind of mix up. This is not your beautiful house. Lulu Johnson is Mr Johnson’s beautiful wife,” the police officer said, shepherding her towards the door.

Petey Campbell! Flo had been trying to think of his name. She’d been a high school teacher in Salado for nigh on twenty years and it was getting harder to remember all the names but this was definitely Petey. He had a mildly annoying habit of singing snatches of songs in conversations. Particularly Talking Heads. And song lyrics peppered his essays. Oh yes, this was definitely Petey. He could have been a hard-working B average student but his habit of leaving quotes unattributed to the source material saw him graduate her class with a C+.

Petey nursed a huge crush on Kayla. Well huge enough that Flo noticed it, but Kayla, one of the most popular girls in school, was oblivious. He didn’t give up easy and Flo had benefited from Petey’s attempts to woo Kayla. Just after she kicked Lionel out, Petey began to show up at the house, offering to run errands, pick up groceries, mowing the lawn, all in the hope of a second glance from Kayla. He faded out of their lives when Kayla left for college - until the disappearance - and then Flo was told he had been the first to set up a search party, handing out fliers across four counties every day for a month asking people if they had seen her.

But he wasn’t a police officer. Although, the boy she’d known would make an ideal officer of the law. He was tenacious. The local police had gradually given up on ever finding her daughter, but Petey was still driving around looking for Kayla every chance he got. Yet here he was in a police uniform, staring at the flier with that same smitten expression he'd gaze at Kayla in class… It was Petey, but not Petey. What in tarnation was going on?

“I feel I know…Kayla,” said Petey. “But we don’t have an open case on any girl missing here.” He gestured for Flo to get into the police car. “There isn’t a girl living around here called Kayla. I swear I would remember if there was.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not arresting you for trespass. All this worry about your daughter, you’re tired and confused. Tense and nervous. Can’t relax…”

“Oh please,” exclaimed Flo. “Would you stop with the Talking Heads lyrics.”

Petey smiled. “I don’t mean to do it. When I was little I used to day dream so hard, I’d forget the world and stop speaking for hours. My Aunt taught me to start humming when I felt it coming on and now its got to be a habit. Ms. Evans, do you mind if we get a coffee? I want to find out more about Kayla.”

“About one third of the worlds coffee comes from Brazil,” said Flo.

“You always got to share a fact, Ms. Evans. That’s why you’re such a great teacher…” Petey’s voice trailed off. “I don’t know how I know that.”

“Maybe we can stop by your house on the way so I can borrow a coat. It’s kind of chilly in this nightdress, Petey.”

Petey started the car. “It’s Pete,” he muttered. “I haven’t been Petey since 9th grade.”

#

Petey found Flo a warm jacket to cover up her night dress and a pair of sneakers for her bare feet. Petey was a man-sized 12 and annoyingly Flo found the shoes were a close fit. She had always been embarrassed of the shoe size that went with her six feet – apologies, five foot 12 inches –height. Her mother told her to treasure her duck feet because they won the Texas State Under 21 swimming championship. All the same Flo would have preferred tiny feet and ballet slippers. And wished her mother did not call her Duck Feet.

Flo glanced at her watch it was just coming up 6am. “Muscovy Coffee roasters on North Church will be opening round about now.”

Obligingly Petey took the route suggested but as they came up to the address Flo groaned. “Oh my good Lord, they turned it into a Starbucks. Is nothing sacred?”

“Well, Ms. Evans they had a Starbucks here since I can remember,” said Petey driving past the green Cthulu logo. “But let’s carry on to Longbows.”

“Wait a second,” said Flo. “Greenfield Coffee Cocktails and Brew are still in operation I hope?” Her second home on weekends.

“Greenfield Coffee and Weed, yes?”

“Maryjane is legal?” Flo asked.

“Marijuana?” Petey glanced at her. “Well yes but it’s a little early in the morning for…”

“Never mind,” said Flo. Whatever was going on was not all bad if she had never been married to Lionel and could take a hit of marijuana when her rheumatism played.

“Tell me more about Kayla,” Pete was saying when they got to Longbow’s and he’d got them coffee and hotcakes.

Flo took her handkerchief out ready to dab at her eyes when the tears came as they did whenever she talked about Kayla. The last conversation with Lionel he told her to let go of Kayla.

“Stop crying, dammit. You talk about nothing but Kayla. She’s not coming back and you need to move on."

“How can you talk about anything else?” Flo asked.

Lionel looked at her with pity and she had never hated him more.

“Kayla was so smart,” Petey said and then put his hand to his mouth. “I know that but I don’t know how”

“She won a scholarship to Stanford and then went to work at CERN as an intern.”

“CERN?”

“It’s a physics project in Switzerland. LHC,” Flo prepared for a long and detailed explanation. “Patricle colliders…”

“Higgs Boson,” said Petey. “And, Ms Evans, you mean the SSC - Superconducting Super Collider.”

“LHC. Large Hadron Collider. You know about particle accelerators?” Flo took herself to task for expecting less of Petey. Just like her mother and the duck feet.

“Nope, but I do know they built one over at Waxahachie,” said Petey. “Desertron the locals call it. It’s been in operation since 2009.”

Florence took this information in and ordered another cup of coffee to caffeinate her thought process but the information was unlinked pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

“Kayla,” said Petey bringing the conversation back to the topic he cared about most. “Did she disappear in Switzerland?”

“No,” Florence said. “She was about to start at Rice University. She was homesick so moved back here…”

“And her, uh, husband?” Petey asked.

Florence shook her head and he breathed an audible sigh of relief. “We were going to do some travelling together. We…” Flo sniffed. Time to change the subject. “Petey, are you married?”

“Well, Ms Evans,” said Petey taking a sip of coffee and smiling. “I always thought a person should be with their soul mate. I appreciate people get lonely and companionship seems better than being alone. But my soulmate is out there. I know some day I’ll find her.”

“Where were you when I was seventeen and married Lionel.” Flo sighed. “I was tall as a giraffe and awkward. Boys didn’t like me. I wanted to got to college and study history and politics - but my mother told me to marry Lionel. I wouldn’t get another chance. I was unlovable.”

A life of loneliness in hindsight was infinitely preferable to the affairs, the harsh words and occasional slap she endured from Lionel.

“Without Lionel, I wouldn’t have had my Kayla.” Petey’s eyes were shiny listening to her, bless his heart. “Fair trade.”

“Ms Evans,” said Petey with a heavy weight of earnestness in his tone. “You will find your soulmate one day.”

“Petey,” Flo said. “I think I’ve found my soul mate. He’s waiting for me back home.”

“Oh, Ms Evans,” said Petey, he patted her hand. “I am so glad for you.”

It would be churlish to tell him her soul mate was her cat Jericho. A fat, tabby who would lay on her lap for hours and kept her feet warm in bed at night.

“So, the SSL over at Waxahachie,” said Flo. “Can that badge of yours get us in the building?

It was too much of a coincidence that Kayla worked at CERN and just outside of Salado an hour and a half drive away there was a Supercollider, that had not been there yesterday, .

“If getting into that building will help you find Kayla, we’re getting in,” said Petey. “Badge or no badge.”

#

True to his word, by lunchtime Petey had found someone in the Police Department who had set up an interview . They passed through some heavy security where they were greeted by the head of PR.

He thinks this is a waste a time, thought Flo, within two minutes of the meeting, His disparaging tone and frequent glances at his watch made her heart drop.

“I just want to find my daughter!” Flo burst out when she couldn’t take the patronizing tone a second longer. She thrust the flier towards the executive.

He looked at the photograph and was silent.

“Excuse me,” he said and abruptly left the office.

“Maybe we should make a run for it,” Flo said. “That can’t be good.”

Petey shook his head. “My boss knows where we are. Nothing is going to happen to us.”

Flo wasn’t so sure but she had a feeling Kayla was close by. She closed her eyes and disappeared into a memory of Kayla. Laughing and hugging her mother tight.

“Come with me please." PR man was back.

He ushered them out of the office down a long corridor. The floor was tiled, not the carpeted executive office floor. This was the operational part of the facility. Reaching a door, the PR man pushed a button.

“This is far as my clearance gets me,” he said.

The door opened and two soldiers in khaki stood there with rifles casually slung across their shoulders ready to escort Petey and Flo to an office down the restricted corridor, waiting outside as Flo nervouslypushed open the door.

A rotund man with a greying beard, glasses and white lab coat was seated at the desk. His hair was frosted white with stripes of grey, black and ginger hair. He stood when Petey and Flo came in and shook their hands.

“Kayla interned for me up until a month ago,” he said. Flo handed him her flier. “The resemblance is extraordinary,” he murmured. “But our Kayla has brown eyes and short, very red hair. A few more visible tattoos than your Kayla. Security turned away a girl claiming to be Kayla when the iris scan didn’t match. I wasn’t here but I wished I’d seen her for myself.”

“Kayla disappeared a month ago?” Petey asked. ‘But we never got a police bulletin on a disappearance.”

“Well to be clear,” said the scientist. “We didn’t know for certain she’d disappeared Kayla had a habit of disappearing for days at a time. Music festivals. Military tend to get overexcited over the smallest breach in protocol and I decided to wait rather than have them decide she was a spy.”

“Kayla was a workaholic…”started Flo.

“To be specific, your Kayla was. My Kayla is similar but not the same. Have you heard of the possibility of the multiverse, madam congresswoman?”

Madam what the what now? Petey glanced at Flo and shrugged. Right, Petey. Being mistaken for a congresswoman was the least batshit crazy thing today.

“Multiverse?” Flo said. “Like a parallel universe?”

“Not parallel so much as perpendicular. Occasionally intersecting into a world that is so similar to your own that people see no difference. It’s a theory and not all that popular with scientists, but I don’t wholly dismiss it.”

“But something down inside me makes me think there's something more. And I don't have any proof, but I'm sure…” Petey sang.

The scientist blinked. “Yes very good. Eels. Parallels. Hugh Everett III son.”

“Kayla and I have intersected a world…” Flo trailed off because her words sounded ridiculous but the tubby little physicist was nodding desperately. “In this world I’m a congresswoman?”

“Yes, yes, yes…” He rubbed his hands through his head. Probably a gesture he undertook frequently judging by how messy his hair was. “Have you ever noticed a tree that has always been on the corner of the street is suddenly gone but nobody else remembers it. ever being there. Something changes and nobody notices.”

Petey nodded vigorously but Flo was not entirely sure this had happened to her before this day. She reached for her phone to google perpendicular universes.

“Google’s down,” she said.

“Google?” Petey asked blankly.

“Ask Jeeves - if you are trying to find a search engine.” The physicist suggested.

Flo tossed her phone across the room. “My phone plan isn’t recognized.” She stood up, smoothed down her borrowed coat. “So do you think my Kayla is somewhere here but your Kayla is in another universe?”

“It is a valid hypothesis, it suggests a rule of only one Kayla per universe, energy neither created not destroyed… ” The scientist stood, shrugging off his lab coat and pulling on a somewhat tight leather jacket. “I did a little LSD in the late 80s and lets just say although I doubt the AIP would entertain such a hypothesis, I’m open to it.”

“Right on,” murmured Flo.

“We should undertake a search of the city,” said the scientist. “That is, if you would like my help finding your daughter, Ms Evans.”

“That’s very kind of you, Doctor…”

“Jericho,” he said reaching out to shake her hand again.

#

Doctor Jericho made copies of the flier and the three of them walked door to door for hours. Petey’s shoes were giving Flo blisters, but Flo felt sure Kayla was close by. Finally as night had closed in, Petey let loose with a loud “Whoop!”

“Some guy at that club said that he thought he’s seen her. She’s three blocks over living on the streets.”

Flo gasped. “Kayla had a credit card, she always carried an emergency Fifty dollar bill with her.”

Doctor Jericho reached into his wallet and pulled out a handful of dollar bills. “Daresay, your money’s no good here.”

Flo looked at the banknotes. Different Presidents – McKinley, Lincoln, Kennedy – apparently not assassinated in this world. The hundred dollar bill featured Hilary Clinton.

“Huh,” said Flo. “Guess who won in our world.”

Petey was sprinting towards the last sighting. Flo ignored her blisters and ran after him her heart was beating fit to burst. Rounding the corner she saw her half way down the street with long legged Petey already there.

Hiding under a hoody, muddy faced and painfully thin was Kayla. Petey was shyly holding her hand singing softly, “It's alright now, don't you stop and wonder why…”

In a thin, tired voice, Kayla sang too. Just as Flo dropped down next to her. “Baby, oh my baby…”

“Momma,” said Kayla in a croak of a voice. “Momma, I knew you’d find me.”

“Course I would, honey,” said Florence holding her tight. “I would cross a Universe to find you.” She glanced at Dr Jericho who had finally caught up. “A parallel universe.”

“Not parallel and probably not a universe either,” he murmured. “But impressive nonetheless.”

End