Dr. Todd Coleman arrived home around 8.30 that night and as Edith stood at the sink washing the plate
from her husband's supper, she thought about her life and how she'd arrived at where she now stood.
The man who she'd married nine years ago sat snoozing beside the only item of furniture they had brought
with them from their first home in Idaho, a bureau-sized radiogram.
A low-volumed programme called 'The Eternal Light' murmured in from the front-room that was occasionally
disturbed by a soft snore from Dr. Coleman, a sound that unconsciously drew a smile from the nearly-thirty
year-old woman in the kitchen.
The winter hadn't fully set itself in yet and as Edith reflected on Boy In A Dress and his words from earlier,
she gazed past the small dark rock on the window ledge and out at the cold evening in a similar manner that
Colonel Bevan was doing at that very same moment back at the base.
She missed Idaho and it's cooler air. Edith had always loved her hometown of Boise and when her father
had told her that they had to move to Milan when she was four years-old, Edith had hid her disappointment
and promised herself that one day, she'd return.
Who'd have thought that after fifteen years of exile, she would have stood outside of Falks Department Store
on Boise Main street on her first day back in the States and after pondering the 'Last Chance Sale' sticker on
a large radiogram, Edith had turned and bumped into the man that was now sleeping in the next room.
A month later, the up-and-coming physicist had asked for her hand in marriage and three months after that,
they had bought a small house in a street called 'Kirtland Lane'... the same name as the Air Base where her
husband worked now.
The smiling Man-Girl with the long hair had spoken of synchronicity and how its tentacles touched us all and
Edith had to agree that life certainly did seem to have a pattern. ""Oh you have no idea, my friend" BIAD had
said and giggled then.
Her only brother James Jnr, who worked in England for the war effort, had recently returned to Italy in his lofty
position as Commander of something called 'Unit Z' and Edith smiled again as she imagined her wiry-framed
brother's new office door sporting their family name.
Angleton.
....................................
"I have no name..." Boy In A Dress said softly through the plate-glass. "...Titles are what humans use" he added
and tilted his blind-head to indicate that he hoped the open-mouthed woman would understand.
"But I will let you in on a secret, my fine muffin-maker" BIAD whispered and curled a long crimson-nailed finger
to draw Edith Coleman nearer.
Professor Levinson was shouting again and it seemed that his theory of 'Ghost-Files' was becoming more
prominent than ever. "It was here...!" he roared and pushing his thumb-smudged spectacles back up his pinched
-nose, he leaned over the table on the far-side of the hanger and scattered papers everywhere.
Even Watkins, the nose-picking sentry came out of his semi-stupor of boredom at the scientist's action.
"...I read it this morning and placed the documents back into this blue folder" Albert said between fuming gasps
and brandished the empty sheath above his head. The three assistants emulated Edith's puzzled features and
waited for the tirade to be over.
They'd also noticed that the many documents compiled during the evaluation of the creature had been going
missing. The only difference was they thought that their superiors had them.
Levinson glared at Munson, Peters and Johnson. "This is going to stop and from now on, I'll check every evening
that they're all here and heads will roll if any of them are missing" Albert hissed.
BIAD smiled at the vociferation going on across the far-side of the hanger, but kept his face towards the woman
on the other side of the glass. "Some will call me the Devil..." he breathed "...and some will think I'm from
another planet, yet both will be wrong"
Edith Coleman's eyes widened as she fell into the smiling face of the hermaphrodite of the silicon cage.
As she leaned closer, she was sure she could smell onion flowers that used to grow along the
river back at Biose. The tall cedars that kept the wind from coming down to the where the boulders
met the water, swayed as if to say that they agreed that she should come here again.
The bluebells along the slender unpaved track nodded their consent that today was a magical day
for the young Edith Angleton to be here.
"This world is slipping and there are forces at work to send it another way, we cannot allow that. Can we Edith?"
he continued and waited for the woman to agree with his suggestion. BIAD knew he wouldn't have much time to
pull this off and he really needed that Dragon stone.
The pungent aroma of the onion flowers swirled around her as she passed under a naturally-formed
lychgate that implied a doorway from her world to another. Yet, just like the bluebells, Edith nodded
and followed the little path towards where someone wearing the same coloured attire as herself waited.
Rooks cawed from the high trees and the small girl in the dark-red dress knew that it was wrong to
disobey her father's warnings about being near the river, but she had to go there... she had to listen
to the smiling stranger.
The dissipating foam formed happy faces across the Boise river's surface as Edith quickened her pace
towards where Boy In A Dress waited.
The Man-Girl glanced again at the other people in the room and saw the bored sentry and the two military men
standing at the hanger door weren't looking this way. The Professor was instructing the trio of assistants on how
to file the silly paperwork and there it was, nobody was watching.
"I can leave here any time Edith, but this world doesn't work that way..." BIAD said to the mesmerised Mayoress
of Muffin County, "...I need a gift to assist me, a gift that only you can provide" he added and allowed his hair to
sway rhythmically.
Edith watched as Boy In A Dress leaned against the boulder that -if you squint, looked a bit like her
brother's sad face when he used to read his poetry to her. The likeness caught Edith off-guard for a
moment as she stood waiting for the taller Man-Girl to ask his request.
"There's a type of stone that I need, Edith... a rock that you call 'Lodestone' and it's very important to me" the
whispering BIAD told the hypnotised creator of the gorgeous cakes. "You can find this for me, you can save the
world" he cooed softly and suddenly looked up at the silhouettes at the hanger door.
Bevan and his underling.
Edith turned her head to follow where Boy In A Dress' blood-red-nailed finger was pointing and there,
under the calm waters, swaying weed roiled and twisted with unknown torment. The sky was still blue,
yet the colour failed to transmit to the surface of the Boise and as Edith leaned further to examine
something that she thought she'd spotted among the weed, those young eyes widened as she saw the
reflection of a uniformed man behind her.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Colonel Bevan boomed and the loud query drove any magical influences away like
Rooks roosting in a tree-top. The serious-looking man stormed forward and for a moment, left Capt. Ramey standing
with the sentries.
BIAD stepped back from the glass and watched as the Colonel ripped into everyone who was there. If it was a contest
of who could shout the loudest, an adjudicator would be hard-pressed to decide between Bevan's outrage of the
facility's failing security and Albert Levinson's rant at a conspiratorial plot to steal the information he and his fellow
academics had collated.
Watkins, the bored nose-picking guard got some of the rage and the remaining trio of assistants accepted the rest.
By the time the point-scoring had stopped and the Colonel was ready to speak to the woman who had ignored all the
protocols her husband had been warned about when he first came here, Edith had gone.
"She's not allowed on this side of the Base, you got that...?" George Bevan warned and tossed a rage-dripping glance
at the lanky guard near the table covered with papers. Watkins gulped, saluted and drew a sigh of exasperation from
his superior.
Jamming his chin out and checking that the knot of his tie was straight, Colonel Bevan added "...And get this mess
cleaned up, no wonder you're losing paperwork" and mentally chalking a bonus point on his imaginary blackboard,
he marched back towards the Hanger doors with a silent James Ramey in-tow.
....................................
Edith sighed softly and placed the dried plate back into the cupboard above the draining sink. The ticking clock with
the black cat's whiskers told her it was time to wake her husband and get him to bed. It was another working day
tomorrow and they had a war to win.
Without looking, she took the black stone she'd found (was it in the water...? she couldn't recall) -from the window
ledge and switched the kitchen light off. In the back of her mind, she wondered if a chocolate cake along with the
muffins would be a good idea on her next visit to the Base.
There was a war to win.
(To be Continued)
from her husband's supper, she thought about her life and how she'd arrived at where she now stood.
The man who she'd married nine years ago sat snoozing beside the only item of furniture they had brought
with them from their first home in Idaho, a bureau-sized radiogram.
A low-volumed programme called 'The Eternal Light' murmured in from the front-room that was occasionally
disturbed by a soft snore from Dr. Coleman, a sound that unconsciously drew a smile from the nearly-thirty
year-old woman in the kitchen.
The winter hadn't fully set itself in yet and as Edith reflected on Boy In A Dress and his words from earlier,
she gazed past the small dark rock on the window ledge and out at the cold evening in a similar manner that
Colonel Bevan was doing at that very same moment back at the base.
She missed Idaho and it's cooler air. Edith had always loved her hometown of Boise and when her father
had told her that they had to move to Milan when she was four years-old, Edith had hid her disappointment
and promised herself that one day, she'd return.
Who'd have thought that after fifteen years of exile, she would have stood outside of Falks Department Store
on Boise Main street on her first day back in the States and after pondering the 'Last Chance Sale' sticker on
a large radiogram, Edith had turned and bumped into the man that was now sleeping in the next room.
A month later, the up-and-coming physicist had asked for her hand in marriage and three months after that,
they had bought a small house in a street called 'Kirtland Lane'... the same name as the Air Base where her
husband worked now.
The smiling Man-Girl with the long hair had spoken of synchronicity and how its tentacles touched us all and
Edith had to agree that life certainly did seem to have a pattern. ""Oh you have no idea, my friend" BIAD had
said and giggled then.
Her only brother James Jnr, who worked in England for the war effort, had recently returned to Italy in his lofty
position as Commander of something called 'Unit Z' and Edith smiled again as she imagined her wiry-framed
brother's new office door sporting their family name.
Angleton.
....................................
"I have no name..." Boy In A Dress said softly through the plate-glass. "...Titles are what humans use" he added
and tilted his blind-head to indicate that he hoped the open-mouthed woman would understand.
"But I will let you in on a secret, my fine muffin-maker" BIAD whispered and curled a long crimson-nailed finger
to draw Edith Coleman nearer.
Professor Levinson was shouting again and it seemed that his theory of 'Ghost-Files' was becoming more
prominent than ever. "It was here...!" he roared and pushing his thumb-smudged spectacles back up his pinched
-nose, he leaned over the table on the far-side of the hanger and scattered papers everywhere.
Even Watkins, the nose-picking sentry came out of his semi-stupor of boredom at the scientist's action.
"...I read it this morning and placed the documents back into this blue folder" Albert said between fuming gasps
and brandished the empty sheath above his head. The three assistants emulated Edith's puzzled features and
waited for the tirade to be over.
They'd also noticed that the many documents compiled during the evaluation of the creature had been going
missing. The only difference was they thought that their superiors had them.
Levinson glared at Munson, Peters and Johnson. "This is going to stop and from now on, I'll check every evening
that they're all here and heads will roll if any of them are missing" Albert hissed.
BIAD smiled at the vociferation going on across the far-side of the hanger, but kept his face towards the woman
on the other side of the glass. "Some will call me the Devil..." he breathed "...and some will think I'm from
another planet, yet both will be wrong"
Edith Coleman's eyes widened as she fell into the smiling face of the hermaphrodite of the silicon cage.
As she leaned closer, she was sure she could smell onion flowers that used to grow along the
river back at Biose. The tall cedars that kept the wind from coming down to the where the boulders
met the water, swayed as if to say that they agreed that she should come here again.
The bluebells along the slender unpaved track nodded their consent that today was a magical day
for the young Edith Angleton to be here.
"This world is slipping and there are forces at work to send it another way, we cannot allow that. Can we Edith?"
he continued and waited for the woman to agree with his suggestion. BIAD knew he wouldn't have much time to
pull this off and he really needed that Dragon stone.
The pungent aroma of the onion flowers swirled around her as she passed under a naturally-formed
lychgate that implied a doorway from her world to another. Yet, just like the bluebells, Edith nodded
and followed the little path towards where someone wearing the same coloured attire as herself waited.
Rooks cawed from the high trees and the small girl in the dark-red dress knew that it was wrong to
disobey her father's warnings about being near the river, but she had to go there... she had to listen
to the smiling stranger.
The dissipating foam formed happy faces across the Boise river's surface as Edith quickened her pace
towards where Boy In A Dress waited.
The Man-Girl glanced again at the other people in the room and saw the bored sentry and the two military men
standing at the hanger door weren't looking this way. The Professor was instructing the trio of assistants on how
to file the silly paperwork and there it was, nobody was watching.
"I can leave here any time Edith, but this world doesn't work that way..." BIAD said to the mesmerised Mayoress
of Muffin County, "...I need a gift to assist me, a gift that only you can provide" he added and allowed his hair to
sway rhythmically.
Edith watched as Boy In A Dress leaned against the boulder that -if you squint, looked a bit like her
brother's sad face when he used to read his poetry to her. The likeness caught Edith off-guard for a
moment as she stood waiting for the taller Man-Girl to ask his request.
"There's a type of stone that I need, Edith... a rock that you call 'Lodestone' and it's very important to me" the
whispering BIAD told the hypnotised creator of the gorgeous cakes. "You can find this for me, you can save the
world" he cooed softly and suddenly looked up at the silhouettes at the hanger door.
Bevan and his underling.
Edith turned her head to follow where Boy In A Dress' blood-red-nailed finger was pointing and there,
under the calm waters, swaying weed roiled and twisted with unknown torment. The sky was still blue,
yet the colour failed to transmit to the surface of the Boise and as Edith leaned further to examine
something that she thought she'd spotted among the weed, those young eyes widened as she saw the
reflection of a uniformed man behind her.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Colonel Bevan boomed and the loud query drove any magical influences away like
Rooks roosting in a tree-top. The serious-looking man stormed forward and for a moment, left Capt. Ramey standing
with the sentries.
BIAD stepped back from the glass and watched as the Colonel ripped into everyone who was there. If it was a contest
of who could shout the loudest, an adjudicator would be hard-pressed to decide between Bevan's outrage of the
facility's failing security and Albert Levinson's rant at a conspiratorial plot to steal the information he and his fellow
academics had collated.
Watkins, the bored nose-picking guard got some of the rage and the remaining trio of assistants accepted the rest.
By the time the point-scoring had stopped and the Colonel was ready to speak to the woman who had ignored all the
protocols her husband had been warned about when he first came here, Edith had gone.
"She's not allowed on this side of the Base, you got that...?" George Bevan warned and tossed a rage-dripping glance
at the lanky guard near the table covered with papers. Watkins gulped, saluted and drew a sigh of exasperation from
his superior.
Jamming his chin out and checking that the knot of his tie was straight, Colonel Bevan added "...And get this mess
cleaned up, no wonder you're losing paperwork" and mentally chalking a bonus point on his imaginary blackboard,
he marched back towards the Hanger doors with a silent James Ramey in-tow.
....................................
Edith sighed softly and placed the dried plate back into the cupboard above the draining sink. The ticking clock with
the black cat's whiskers told her it was time to wake her husband and get him to bed. It was another working day
tomorrow and they had a war to win.
Without looking, she took the black stone she'd found (was it in the water...? she couldn't recall) -from the window
ledge and switched the kitchen light off. In the back of her mind, she wondered if a chocolate cake along with the
muffins would be a good idea on her next visit to the Base.
There was a war to win.
(To be Continued)
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.