SImp

Our house was a typical bungalow; white clapboard siding, a shake roof that overhung the building, a huge covered porch and the ever-present white picket fence. You could still see brown leaves under the skiff of snow that had recently fallen, and the garden trellis had dead vegetation climbing towards the sky.

Around the back, I could stand on the garden toolbox and work my bedroom window up enough to slide in. I quietly and quickly changed into my nightgown and slipped into bed as if I had been there all night. Yes, I had been granted permission to have a late night at the malt shop with Barbara my friend and next door neighbor, but coming home at dawn probably was a bit later than a 'late night' at the Malt Shop. Dad considered that Barbara was a good influence on me as we both were in competition for graduating summa cum laude, so he did not wait up for me like most parents. Besides if I looked up at dad with my best puppy dog eyes, he could not say no.

I was not tired in the least even though last night was beyond my imagination. What was that saying? Truth is stranger than fiction? I got the cold chills just thinking back on what could have happened to Barb and me last night. We had been walking to the malt shop just down from the high school, at that we were lucky as there were not much more than a thousand people in the whole town, so to be in walking distance to school and have a malt shop close by? Anyway, those bikers did not give us much choice. Either hop on and go for a ride or else. I was never very clear on what or else meant, but I was confident that Barb and I together would be safe.

Had I ever been so wrong? We pulled into that clearing and had no sooner hopped off the bike when I saw a practically naked girl lying bloodied on the ground with a group of bikers moaning in pain laying on the grass surrounding her. The sight of the girls almost naked form, her clothing having been obviously torn literately from her body—well I started to panic. Panic, what a pitiful word for my feelings right then.

Then this dark foreboding statue formed out the dust of the ground, and my first thought was Lewis Wilson as the batman in a movie that I had seen a few years ago at the local theater. It had taken a lot of clean dishes to earn that 30 cents so I could go see it. And if Hollywood could create the Batman in real life, this was it. He just stood there while the guy who I had ridden behind suddenly spit rocks from under his wheels, his tailpipes roaring, and tried to run this guy down.

Fire blasted from the back of whoever it was that was standing there in that dark suit. I really doubted that any man could have muscles like he appeared to have, but when that Harley slammed into that fiery apparition, the bike stopped as if hitting a brick wall. Then when that heroic figure picked the Harley up and folded it in two with his bare hands well, I knew it was Superman, not Batman who was standing there. I'd spent many a Saturday afternoon at the drug store reading their comic books while sipping a cherry phosphate or a lime rickey. So the concept of real-life superheroes was something I was sure existed somewhere.

Then that woman! Did anyone really have a rack like that? And her muscles were on an equally heroic scale as his. Seeing sanctuary, I grabbed Barb's hand, and we ran towards that female version of Batman. When I turned to look back, it was if every move I had ever seen in those comic books came to life. Those Bikers were trashed and on the ground almost faster than I could follow. It was when I looked at the two girls lying bloodied and naked that my fuzes finally blew. They could have been me, and the rainfall started as if I was still a baby blubbering.

But that ship, it was a real honest to god flying saucer, and suddenly my Batman heroes turned out to be bug-eyed monsters who wanted me to go to Mars with them? Thinking back on my mental replay I knew it had to have been a bad dream. And just as I was deciding that I was going to give up Astounding Science Fiction Magazine, I heard Barbara's voice as clear as a bell as she said, "Ashley does this thing really work?"

I was grateful that I was lying down otherwise I would have fallen to the floor with surprise. It was not a dream!

"Barb?" I whispered.

"Yes, it is me. Was last night real?" Barbara responded.

"I was wondering the same thing until I heard your voice. What do you say to breakfast and we can talk about it?"

"Can you give me thirty minutes to clean up?"

"I need to grab a quick bath myself. I'll head over to your place as soon as I am dressed."

"Ok, hurry!"

I started the water running, then ran back to my room to select an appropriate dress. Mom called out to me as I passed her bedroom, "Ashley, weren't you out late last night?"

"Yes, Mom. But Barbara wants to go to the diner for breakfast."

"Ok, dear. We can talk when you get back."

"Love you, mom." And I jumped in and out the tub so fast that I am not sure all of me got wet; slipped on my dress and shoes, and was out the door almost before you could have unscrambled your eyes from watching me.

The food was excellent as always, but as we ate, I noticed some guys that I had never seen before walking the sidewalks. "Bit?" I whispered.

"Yes, Ashley? How may I help you?"

"Can you let me talk to Lance?"

"Certainly, please hold for a moment."

"Hold? Hold what?"

"Oh, sorry. It means would you wait until I can get Lance for you."

"Oh, …"

It was moments only before I heard Lance say, "Good morning Ashley. Jane is with me. How are you doing this morning?"

"I am as good as one can expect considering what happened last night. Can you link Barb in on this?"

Lance said, "Bit, please link Barbara."

Jane said, "Alright girls what is on your mind?"

"We are worried," Barbara said. "We are having breakfast, and there are men that we have never seen walking the streets of our city."

I interjected, "We only have around a thousand people in the whole city. New faces are very noticeable, and after last night we are almost scared out of our minds."

Jane said, "Keep that thought, we will be there in a few minutes."

A few minutes later I heard a couple of loud booms which caused us both to jump up like frightened deer. Moments afterward Jane and Lance walked through the door. Jane was in a little black dress, she walked with such a regal stature and poise that it made me think she was a princess. Jane looked nothing like the destroying angel she was last night or the bug-eyed monster that I had thought about this morning. And yes Jane was built, she was so beautifully constructed that I could see why Lance had paid no attention to us when we were naked last night.

Lance was in what looked like a type of black uniform; black with an opalescent stripe running down the outside seam of the pants. His shirt was crisply white with ruffles of all things, covered by a waist-length jacket of the same material as his trousers. The way that they walked they looked like royalty sedately sailing into the room. Lance glanced over at Jane, and you could see in his eyes the love that he had for her. I felt that this was why We had trusted him after such a nasty encounter with men. The knowledge that not all men were like those creatures from last nights nightmare made me feel good inside.

Both Barb and I rushed to their embrace. Lance was on my side, so I got him, while Barb hugged Jane. Somehow in Lance's arms, I felt safe and protected in a way that I had never in the past experienced. Looking over a Barb's face, I could tell she felt the same. There was something in the way that Jane and Lance carried themselves that made you feel warm and fuzzy when they held you.

Reluctantly, we let them guide us back to our table. Mable came to see if they wanted anything, and I popped off that their ham and cheese omelet was my fave. And that is what they ordered. Then as if in sync with each other Barb and I stuck our feet in our mouths and said in unison. "I'm so glad that you are not bug-eyed aliens." The laughter turned the heads of the others in the diner but didn't really draw much attention to us. Barb and I were here so much that we might as well been part of the wallpaper.

"Ok, what is going on? Lance asked.

I said, "Just what I said, too many men that we have never seen before."

Barb added, "Kind of scruffy looking guys."

Jane comforted us by saying, "We are here, and nothing is going to happen to you if we have any say in the matter."

Lance continued on as if the two of them were one, "And Bit is invisible above us. You have nothing to worry about. Trust us."

And you know I did. I relaxed at that moment, and I felt that for once in my life all was right with the world. We all chatted while we finished eating. Just their manner of eating reminded me of royalty they were so correct and precise. Afterward, Barb walked with me back to our neighborhood. We had just walked abreast of an alleyway that served the business in that area when five guys accosted us. Two in the alley were just waiting for us with drawn knives, and three others appeared from behind bushes in the area.