Caroline and the de'ja vu

A Caroline story

Caroline, Annie, Richard and Del were walking down the street. They had just celebrated the success of Dels new business. Charlie was not with them, he had a late date with a washer and dryer. It was singles night at the local laundry. The evening was also so that Caroline would have a place to go to forget about Joe and his new fiancee. Annie and Richard got along for the first time in weeks. They had a very nice dinner which Del encouraged them to splurge and eat whatever they wanted. It was very nice but now it was time to go home. Caroline and Richard walked silently as Del and Annie chatted through the night.

Caroline darted to the left to avoid a sandwich board sign in the middle of the sidewalk. Richard narrowly missed it himself.

"What is that thing?" Del said as they slowed down to look at it.

Caroline tipped her head to read the print in the dark. "Psychic Madeline Carzinsky will tell you your fortune and much more."

"Sounds like fun." Annie said. "Lets go in."

"Come on guys." Del said. "You know this is an industry of phonies."

"I have to agree with Del here." Richard shook his head. "Who said that?"

"Guys." Caroline squinted at the storefront that the sign pointed to. "If I don't go I'll wonder for the rest of my life whether or not I did the right thing."

They all looked at one another. When Caroline didn't get an immediate answer from then she walked in the door. With no other option they followed her inside. A young woman around their age sat the table around a very large crystal ball. She looked up from it and called them to sit.

"I am Madeline. I took this business over from my grandmother last month." She explained away her youthful appearance. "What can I do you for?" She asked politely.

"Well." Caroline said. "The sign outside says that you can do our fortune."

"I don't usually do groups but..." She looked intently at all of their faces. "this is a special circumstance." She nodded quietly. "Yes, very special." She waved her hand and the lights went out. Annie let loose a small scream and clutched for Richard's hand. Only she missed by a mile. They now paid attention to the ball as it glowed a bright green. The only kind of green you would find in a shag rug. Madelines voice intoned over the bright glow of the ball. "You have all known each other before but not in the way you are thinking of." She spoke slowly, it sounded as she was no more than whispering the words. "You have all known one another in a different life. Yes, I will show you know of the life that was for you four." She raised her hands and spoke some very gibberous language aloud, then she spoke some Latin and French.

"Oh my god." Richard moaned for some of the words were familiar to him. He had picked up a mediocre amount of French in his exile in that country.

Caroline looked around the room. It seemed to be spinning. She held onto the chair tightly with a hand. Richard's worried glance was the last thing she saw before passing out.

A few seconds later she awoken. She was being splashed with some very cold water. She blinked quickly so she could get rid of the droplets in her eye lids.

"That was close. " She heard nearby. "We nearly lost you Gloria"

She froze for a second. Gloria? Who the hell was Gloria????

Caroline sat up slowly and looked around her. She realized that they were no longer at the psychics store front place. She held her hand up to her head and looked around at her surroundings. It appeared she was a very swanky dinner. She squinted as she looked. The other guests were wearing period clothing. She judged by the style that it was the early 1920's.

"Wheres Richard? And Annie and Del?" She demanded as she rose. Two men helped her to her feet. She looked at one of them. "Richard what is going on?"

"Richard?" He asked. "Gloria you know my name is Elliot. And that.." Elliot pointed at a man who looked like Del. "That is Peter, your fiancee!"

"What about Annie?" She murmured still slightly disorientated.

"Annie?" Elliot asked. "Who is Annie?"

"Only my best friend in the whole world."

"No, Marty is your best friend in the whole world." Elliot shook his head and brought Peter aside. "God she hit her head harder than I thought." Elliot took him.

"When is she going to recover. I'd hate to think it could happen again at our wedding."

"Peter, I'm a jazz singer, not a doctor." Elliot said as he returned to Carolines side. "Gloria, what do you remember before you passed out?"

"Well we were walking home from dinner and we went to a fortune teller." As she recounted the events leading up to the moment Elliot stared at Peter.

"Gloria." Peter put his arms around her. "You passed out because you discovered that your younger brother was stealing your inheritance to finance Al Capone. You don't remember that?"

She shook her head. "Course not." Peter said. "You don't even remember me. Elliot I'm going to hire a taxi and send her home. Marty can meet her there."

Before she knew what happened Caroline found herself whisked off into a car. The driver had strict instructions to drive her to her place. Caroline felt the car stop. She climbed and the driver drove away. "This must be a dream. " She muttered to herself. "But it can't be. It feels too real. What were the names of those two men again? The ones that resembled Richard and Del? Elliot and Peter? What's going on?"

The door swung open and a woman in a elaborate dancer costume stepped out and hugged her.

"Honey you'll be all right. You just need to calm down and you will regain your wit."

Caroline stepped back. The woman looked like Annie, but this was not Annie. "Who are you?" She whispered.

The woman was taken aback. "Gloria! It's me, Marty. Marty O'Sullivan. I've been friends with you since the beginning of time! I run the brothel on fifth street! I dance there too. Remember?"

Marty looked at Caroline. "Who are Elliot and Peter?" Caroline asked.

"Elliot O'Sullivan is my husband. Remember? No you don't. And Peter Maxwell is your fiancee."

Caroline held her head. Her vision became suddenly blurry. Marty looked at Caroline with concern. "Gloria?" She asked. Her voice was the last thing she heard before she passed out.

"Caroline?" she heard Annies voice. "CAROLINE!" She said louder and started shaking Caroline by the shoulders. "Are you there?"

Caroline opened her eyes and looked around. She saw Del sitting by her side and Richard for an odd reason was stroking her hand. She sat up and saw Annie sitting in front of her. Annie hugged her.

"God we thought we lost you there." Annies said as she sighed in relief.

"What happened?" Caroline asked.

Caroline now sat at her apartment on the sofa while Del tended to her. Annie had gone to the store and planned to buy some aspirin for the powerful headache Caroline suddenly had. Caroline looked at Richard and he was working on a couple of panels. Richard returned her glance.

"I would love to be paid to pamper you." He thought to himself before shaking his head. "It'll never happen."

Annie came in through the door. "What do you think made you faint in that psychic place."

"I have no idea." Caroline gulped two aspirins and a glass of water. "I had a very strange dream." She pointed to the gang. "You were there, Del. And so were Annie and Richard."

"Why is that?" Annie said.

"Maybe her dream was about two people Annie will never date." Richard balndly said.

"Good one!" Del said. Richard ignored him.

"You were all there but you were not at the same time. Richard was a guy named Elliot, Del was Peter, and Annie was Marty, the owner of the local brothel."

"Why does that not surprise me." Richard said loud enough to be heard.

Annie didn't react. "Oh my god. Caroline. I think you had a dream about something that happened but not to you."

"Say again?" Caroline said.

"Caroline, what do you think of the phenomena known as a past life?"

"Well, theres not much to prove that kind of silly stuff...."

"Annie. What are you talking about?" Del asked.

"I think Caroline had a dream about something that happened to her in a previous existence. And from what she says, we all had a part in whatever that was. I think we ought to find out who Gloria, Marty, Elliot and Peter are and what they mean to the timeline you were experiencing." Annie took a breath. "I look like I actually know what I'm talking about."

"Keep going. You'll get there." Richard said.

"What do you remember?" Del asked. Richard reluctantly came over.

"Well, who is who?" Annie said.

"Del and I were married in this lifetime." Caroline started. "Some things never change i guess. Del was Peter, Richard was Elliot and Annie was Marty." She winced expecting an answer from her next statment. "In this life Marty and Elliot were married."

"Oh MY GOD!!!" Richard said.

"Talk about things you'd rather forget." Annie agreed.

"Anyway, when I woke in their time, I was told that I found out that my brother was collaberating with Al Capone. I don't know what use I can make of with this information. Maybe if we go to the library and look up ourselves we can find out the ending to this tale."

"And maybe I can prevent something horrible from happening." Richard thought as he thought bitterly of what a marriage to Annie/Marty would have been like. "I wonder what we were like."

Caroline suddenly spoke. "Margaret and Elliot had an open marriage, in which she slept with 5 people a night while he remained eerily faithful to his one true love, Gloria who married Peter out of respect for a strange family matter." Caroline spouted off with ease.

"Oh my god." Annie said.

"Does this mean I've always desired Carolines spirit? And if we never get together, this same longing could last another lifetime? I can't let that happen." Richard thought to himself. "I'll go with you to the library, Caroline."

"You Richard?"

"I know where to look and where we can examine this stuff without being bothered."

"Okay, its a date." She said then saw the shocked look on his face. "Its a deal I should say."

"Thank you." He said aloud but thought. "Oh I wish it was a date."

The Library

Richard and Caroline picked a empty room to do their research in. Caroline locked the door behind them so they will not be disturbed in their search for the truth. Prior to finding the room Caroline found some local newspapers slides that were printed around the time period that Caroline recalled from her dream. They started to look.

"Heres something." Caroline pointed and Richard looked. "Gangland murder in New York implicates Jazz artist in murder of local socialites husband."

"What does that mean?" Richard said and Caroline turned her face at the same time he did. Their faces were inches from touching. Richard could feel the tiny hairs on his neck stick up as he felt her breath on his cheek.

"It means that..." She read further. "The husband of this Gloria, Peter, was allegedly murdered by you in your past life."

Richard jumped back. "Now wait a minute I could never hurt anyone, then or now." He declared. "There must be more to the story than a gangland grudge!"

"You're right." Caroline said turning to the consel. "Fifteen years later the real killer, a young boy who picked up a gun that shot off by accident was found. But no real charges were made against the lad." Caroline pointed out. "But then why would I have the dream of this so many years later."

"I think I know why." Richard sighed and turned off the consel. "If we really were Elliot and Gloria, then there is a reason why we met again in this lifetime."

"Yeah, just plain old stinking luck, and the fact that you needed a job."

"I think its bigger than that."

"What is your theory?"

"I think Elliot had an unrequited wish."

"What do you mean?" Caroline said.

"I believe that Elliot was in love with a girl of his friends." Richard sighed and took his glasses off. Only so that she would know she was serious. He couldn't joke like this when he was as blind as a bat. "I think Elliot was in love with Gloria."

"I don't understand this."

"Then understand this." Richard boldly declared and put his hand on her chin and pulled her close to him. He kissed her. The pure heat of the kiss could melt icebergs and the force of it could lower mountains. She felt like she had been sucked into a river of passion and could not get out. Not like she wanted to.

"I love you, Caroline Duffy. I always have and I always will." Richard declared while letting her go. "I always thought that Julia was my sincere amore but I was wrong." Richard said putting his glasses on. "If you don't feel the same way I understand."

Caroline put her hands on his mouth to stop him from talking. "I feel the same way. What took us so long?"

"We must have been lusting after each other for centuries." Richard said as Caroline embraced him. "We are finally here, together."

"What about Peter and Marty?" She asked as they returned to the consel.

"Peter dies and Marty married a sucessful man named Hefner. But its not clear on his first name."

"Could it be?" Caroline gasped.

"Impossible." Richard said as he got up. He pulled the shade on the window. He walked over to the desk. "I do know what is possible though." He finished as he turned off the light.

"What if someone comes in?" Caroline said.

"I paid the guard a 50, we'll be in here a long time."

Caroline laughs as the last lights fade in the room.

THE END