Chea Thomas and Karen Galloway lounged on two striped deck chairs on the beach in front of their place. They had only lived in the house two or three months, but it already had the feel of "home" to them. They worked for weeks to afford the first months rent. The boys found them a place next door. No sooner than you left their place that you were already in the guys place.
Chea and Karen had been in the Monkee dimension for two months prior. Cheas late Uncle Jessup had devised a time gadget that took him to another dimension on television. The Bonanza dimension. The two girls used the device into a dimension of their own, the world of the 60's group the Monkees. After some trepidation on Karens part and help from a few Friends, they grew to like this world. Soon after Karen and Chea got involved with Mike and Micky respectively, although they both decided to wait for a bit before they could declare themselves officially their girls.
Two mysterious agents from the X-files world, Mulder and
Scully, came to take the gadget away, for they feared that the girls were using it way too much. After a heavy choice was laid before them, whether to go back to reality or to remain in the new world where they felt like they fit in better, they decided to stay.
And that was that, or so it seemed.
Karen put down the book she was reading. She looked around for a minute, enjoying the smell of the ocean. Admiring the vast sea that rose and fell before them. She sighed.
Chea looked up from her copy of "Look" magazine.
"What’s wrong Karen?" Chea asked.
"This whole scene, the ocean, the birds...You know what’s missing?" Karen asked.
"What?" Chea asked.
"One of those little drinks with the umbrella in it." Karen said sitting up. She grabbed a silver little bell that was sitting in the dirt. She rang it, a shrill note sounding from the instrument. "Cabana boy!"
Davy came out of his place with a red jacket and white shorts on, he had a little towel draped around his left arm. He walked up to the girls.
"Oh please tell you actually want something from me this time." He said. "You been ringing that all morning!"
"We just wanted to test you. See how fast you would move in a emergency situation. Like now." Karen said.
"Davy we want two umbrelly drinks." Chea said. She thought for a minute. "Green."
"Yes, ma'am." Davy bowed and turned away, carrying his marching orders with him.
"Winning him as a slave for a week was the best thing we ever did." Chea said. "How did you ever dupe Mike into making that bet?"
"I have my ways." Karen said. She laughed. "You know what?"
"What?"
"As much as we are having fun here, I can't help but feel that we've forgetting something." Karen said.
"Hmm." Chea agreed. She sat up. "Davy, we want some baby back, baby back, baby back ribs too!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Davy called. "You only needed to say it once!"
"Yeah Chea, he never saw that Chillis commercial." Karen said.
Chea shrugged, then went back to her magazine.
2000
The two people went up to the front door to the apartment. The door jiggled slightly then it unlocked. A man and a woman came into the room. Sunlight filled the room as they entered.
"Well ma'am its not much." He said.
"The ad said this apartment is not furnished." She said referring to her want ads section of the local paper. "It still looks like someone is living here."
"To tell you the truth, the last tenants simply vanished." He said. "They paid up two months but then simply whoosh."
"Gone? How could they just simply leave everything?" The woman asked.
"Well, what’s your name miss?"
"Brianna Lewis." Brianna said. Brianna was 5'1, very small compared to the pudgy potbellied landlord. He smelled of last weeks cat litter box. Brianna had strawberry blonde hair that becomes even more blonde after she had been swimming, which was very seldom. She wasn’t sure she knew how anymore.
"I was hesitant to throw anything out in case they returned. Their name is still on the lease, that is unless you decide to take the apartment." The landlord said.
"It's so much money." Brianna said. "But I can afford it. I'm a intern at the hospital. I probably wouldnt be here much anyway, even if these mysterious women came back."
"How do you know they were women?" The landlord said.
"Look at this place. This woman here..." Brianna opened the door to one room. "...was obviously a Monkees fan. Micky no doubt was her favorite. She even has his bio. And here..." She opened the other door. "A friends fan, mainly Matthew Perry. If she was such a fan she would be back for the new season. Chandler and Monica are getting married." Brianna said. "Womens intuition." She finally explained.
"Tell you what." The landlord said sleazing her way. "You look like a good kid."
"I try." Brianna said. "I don't party, or drink."
"As I was saying, how bout you stay here the night." He said. "Think it over. Then you can decide for yourself whether to ditch all this other crud or not."
"Wow, thanks." Brianna said. "I'm on a two week vacation, I get promoted next week, so it would be great if to see if I can live here." Brianna said as the landlord left. "Not everyone would do this in todays world. Course hes just concerned with the bottom line." Brianna said closing the door. She yawned. "I'll go back to my place in a few minutes and grab some overnight stuff."
After rushing over to her place she grabbed her clothes and some food. The fridge was full of outdated yogurt. She flicked the button on the tv and sat down. The cable was out, due to the last tenants failure to pay but she did get some "primary" channels, that came in although there were some static buzz over the sound. Brianna had trouble deciding if she would ever like them if she met them. Guess that won't happen since they were gone.
Brianna browsed through a TV guide in a paper she had brought with her to the apartment.
"Hey they Poseidon Adventure is on." She said. She looked around. Brianna got up and opened the cabinet doors and searched. Finally she found an elaborate looking gizmo.
"Real expensive looking for a crud tv." She mused. She hit "12". After a second, and a weird burst of light around her she stood up.
"What?" She demanded. The tv didn't even change to the channel she wanted it to.
"Great." She muttered. "Superior technology my butt." She turned the gadget over. It looked like it needed new batteries.
"I guess I gotta go to the store." She said and bounded down the stairs out of the apartment. "I wonder if Radio Shack is still open."
Chea drank her drink while Karen sampled her baby back ribs. There was a generous amount of barbecue sauce. She visibly shuddered. Davy noticed.
"Me cooking, its not THAT bad is it?" He whined.
"No, I just got the weirdest feeling." Karen said.
"I felt it too." Chea said.
"Eh, its getting cold out. Probably nothing." Karen shook it off.
