Mrs. Dellarambo (Ann Champion) enters the Wish Machine. She discovers what would have happened if she had accepted the movie offer.
An hour passed as I watched over my sleeping subject. I looked in on her every 15 minutes but Mrs. Dellarambo slept soundly. Toward the end of her trance she moaned and spoke inarticulate disjointed phrases I could not decipher.
When she woke I helped her from the padded chair. Although I tried, I could not read meaning from her pensive mood. Her eyes were filled with pain.
I took her hand and helped her to a chair. Mrs. Dellarambo stared around at the room and her astonishment was plain. I think she recognized, for the first time, that she was back in R-Prime. Finally she spoke and I switched on the recorder.
“I’m really back,” she said. “It was so real. It was more real than this. While I was there I thought this was a dream.”
I answered in what I hoped was humorous fashion. I wanted her to relax and recover from the trauma of the experiment.
“Do not be too certain that it was not, my dear. One of our great physicists has said that our three-dimensional world is an illusion. However, this one is all we have for now so we must make the best of it.”
She smiled. It was the first time I had seen her smile since she rose from the chair.
“I’m really home. Thank God. Thank you, doctor. I’m so glad I came.”
“While the experience is still fresh in your mind, please speak into the recorder and relate, from the first moment, what happened to you.”
Her garbled speech and mumbling during the time her mind had been transported into another reality was frustrating. It hinted of wonders. I had to compare few words and phrases that I was able to understand with her account of the trip.
“For my record, how long were you in the other world?”
I heard a dry laugh.
“About 25 years; more or less. An entire life time, Dr. Candella.”
Her eyes had taken on a thousand-yard stare.
“The last 10 years are a little hazy.”
She gave me a look of dread.
“Have you a mirror, Doctor Candella?”
I brought her one. When she saw her reflection she visibly relaxed. Her words reflected irony.
“Well, doctor, I’m still 50 but I look a hell of a lot better now than I did at 50 in that other life.”
“Please explain.”
“When I awoke I was 26 again. After I got over my surprise and remembered I was in your machine. I looked around.”
She hesitated, whispering to herself.
“God, it was so real.”
“I was in my old apartment; the one I had before I met Bernard.”
She looked straight at me with a look that was almost accusatory.
“I lived in that world 25 years and it changed me into a hag.”
Recovering from her small outburst, she shook her head in disbelief.
“I lived an entire life a second time, doctor.”
She broke into tears, sobbing and shaking. Mrs. Dellarambo’s attitude disturbed me. I could not allow that. The last thing I wanted was for any of my volunteers to come out of the Wish Machine as schizophrenic invalids that no longer knew what was real and what was an illusion. I dealt with the potential problem swiftly.
“Please pay close attention to what I am telling you. The Wish Machine is only a machine. What happened to your mind, what you experienced had no validity. It has no relevance to our world. For you and I there is only this reality. You and I are forever stuck in this one like flies in amber. Have I been clear?”
She grew calm.
Taking in a long, shaky breath, she said, “Of course, doctor. I understand.”
Collected and in charge of her emotions once more she continued.
“In my ‘dream’ Mr. Gentry was the same agent that said I should be tested for the motion picture screen. He wanted me to come with my band to Hollywood to audition for an important part in a new motion picture. The letter said it was a romantic story about a female bandleader who doubled as a secret spy for the CIA. Gentry was convinced that I could be that star. There was a check for $1,000 written on the RKO account. When I drove to my bank they said it was genuine. I cashed it. There were tickets for United Airlines.”
“I had a moment of regret. I had promised Bernard I would meet him at his hotel that afternoon at 3 p.m. At the time, 30 years ago, I really liked him from the first moment I saw him. He had come to one of my shows and asked me for a date. I had refused him at first and then when he called me again I agreed to have coffee. He was tall and nicer than most men I have known and I thought he was interesting. But I was determined to know what would happen in Hollywood.”
Next episode: Ann is on her way to fame, fortune and something less attractive.
Gene Paleno is an author and illustrator living in Witter Springs.
