Killed Once, Lived Twice by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

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Chapter 22

 

Dinner was over at the Osborne house.

Abby was in Michael's bedroom, getting changed for the party. Martha had washed then ironed one of Abby's dresses for her to wear tonight.

After Abby got redressed in this dress, she walked over to the bedroom window and peeked out the curtains. She glanced at the garage for a few seconds and hoped the time machine would reappear tomorrow night. That was her only savior for Kenneth forcing himself on her.

Back outside, Kenneth still sat in his car down on Dorothy Avenue and again spied on Jennifer and Michael's houses. 

His eyes widened when a horizon blue 1960 Nomad Chevrolet station wagon pulled into Jennifer's driveway. It had five women, all twenty-seven years old, inside and parked next to Jennifer's Corvair.

Maris drove her dad's Nomad station wagon with Linda Maharis in the passenger seat and Diane Turley, Elaine Smith, and Gail Abbott in the backseat.

Kenneth watched while the five girls got out of the Nomad with wrapped presents in hand.

The girl's looked excited while they walked to Jennifer's front door.

Back at Michael's house, Harry sat in his chair and watched the local news on the TV.

Martha sat in her chair and read her Ernst Hemmingway book.

Abby stepped into the living room. "I'm off to Jennifer's party."

Martha looked up from her book. "Have fun, dear."

"Yes. Have fun," Harry added with a smile.

Abby's eyes widen with concern. "I'm so embarrassed. I didn't get her a present. I completely forgot," she added.

Martha's eyes widened, remembering something. "I'm glad you said something, I almost forgot. Don't leave yet," she said while she got up from her chair.

"Figures," Harry replied in a jokingly manner.

Martha playfully stuck out her tongue at Harry while she placed her book in her chair.

Harry returned to watching the news on the TV while Martha rushed out of the room.

Abby waited and wondered what Martha was doing.

Martha returned with a small wrapped present. "It's a book. I figured you might need this."

Abby gave Martha a warm smile then kissed her on her cheek. "Thank you for being so thoughtful."

"Oh, my pleasure. Now, go have fun."

Martha headed back to her chair while Abby headed to the front door.

Over in Kenneth's Bel-Air, he watched while Abby walked out of Michael's house and walked Jennifer's front yard.

Abby walked over to Jennifer's front door. She knocked.

The door opened. Jennifer appeared in a blouse and Capri slacks. "Abby!"

Jennifer moved to the side, and Abby went inside the house.

The door closed.

Abby saw Maris Sommers, Linda Maharis, Diane Turley, Elaine Smith, and Gail Abbott all sitting around the living room.

"Abby, meet my friends that I grew up with. You know Maris from human resources, and you met Gail at dinner the other night. The other girls are Linda, Sandy, Elaine, and Linda."

All of the girls gave Abby a little wave when Jennifer called out their names.

"For those of you that don't know, Abby works at the college as a secretary like me."

Linda leaned over to Gail. "Abby looks like she could be Jennifer's twin sister."

"I was thinking the same thing when I met her at the rehearsal last night," Gail replied.

Jennifer saw the present in Abby's hand. "You can place that over there," she said and pointed to the five other presents in a pile by the wall near the couch.

Abby walked over and placed her present on the pile.

"Let's go to the movies," Jennifer said all excited.

All the girls jumped up from their seats, and they all headed to the front door.

Outside in Kenneth's Bel-Air, he watched while the five girls walked out of Jennifer's front door.

They walked over to Maris' Nomad.

Maris, Abby, and Jennifer got in the front seat.

Linda, Gail, and Sandy got in the back seat while Elaine crawled into the rear of the Nomad.

Kenneth started up his car and waited.

Maris backed her Nomad down the driveway and drove away down Dorothy Avenue.

Kenneth put his Bel-Air in gear and slowly drove down Dorothy Avenue and trailed Maris' Nomad.

He kept a safe distance behind the Nomad so they would not realize he was following them.

Out of town on the northwest side of the Brandywine Lake was Michael's cabin.

The cabin was log construction and built by Harry and his father back in 1939.

The front had a wooden porch with a roof.

The inside had a living area and kitchen that was in one big space. Upstairs were three bedrooms with a bathroom with shower. It was a quaint cabin that the Osborne family spent many summer weekends lounging around and fishing.

Michael just parked his car near the front porch of the cabin. He got out and walked to the cabin with a bag of groceries in one hand and his suitcase in his other hand

He opened the front door and went inside.

Once Michael entered the cabin, he went to the kitchen area and started putting away his groceries. But left out a TV dinner box.

He turned on the oven and took his suitcase to one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Over in town, Maris' parked her Nomad in the parking lot of the Barbourville Theater located on Woodland Avenue near Montvale Circle.

The girls got out and headed to the front entrance under the lighted marquee that had The Absent Minded Professor Fred MacMurray in black letters.

Kenneth parked his Bel-Air at the other end of the cinema parking lot.

Kenneth got out of his Bel-Air and took his sweet time going into the theater.

Inside the Barbourville Theater, it was crowded tonight. The previews had already stared to entertain everybody before the main feature.

Jennifer, Abby, Maris, Gail, Linda, Elaine, and Sandy sat in the middle of the theater.

Kenneth entered with a bag of popcorn and sat in the back row by the aisle. He kept watchful eyes on Jennifer and the girls while he munched on some popcorn.

The last preview was for The Time Machine movie starring Rod Taylor and Alan Young.

Jennifer leaned over to Abby. "Michael heard about this movie. He actually believes time travel is possible. I guess that's why he's a physics professor and I'm a secretary," she whispered.

If she only knew! Abby thought in her mind while she watched the preview.

Back at the cabin, Michael ate dinner alone at the table by the kitchen. His TV dinner consisted of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, peas and carrots mixture, and peaches. It was a bachelor's easy meal to cook.

Back at the Barbourville Theater, Kenneth kept an eye on the girls while all other eyes in the theater were on The Absent Minded Professor movie.

An hour passed, and Michael passed the time by sitting on the front porch drinking some coffee. He decided on some caffeine so he would not fall asleep on his buddies later tonight. So he drank coffee and listen to the sounds of the countryside. He looked happy, as all he could think about was his joyous event coming up tomorrow morning.

Back at the Barbourville Theater, the second the movie ended, Kenneth got up and made a beeline to the exit door.

He rushed out of the theater and over to his car.

He got inside his Bel-Air and waited. He eyed all the people while they exited the theater.

He saw Jennifer and the other girls walk out of the theater and head over to Maris' Nomad.

He started up his car.

Back at Michael's cabin he was finished with his coffee, so he went back inside.

He went upstairs to his bedroom and got undressed.

He walked naked out of the bedroom and headed into the bathroom.

Back on Dorothy Avenue, Kenneth parked his car four streets down from Jennifer's house.

He eyed Jennifer's house where Maris' Nomad was parked in the driveway. The girls were all inside Jennifer's house to start the party.

He took drinks from a Jack Daniels bottle while he eyed Jennifer's living room window where the lights were on.

Back at Michael's cabin, he finished with his shower and got dressed in a pair of slacks and a nice dress shirt. 

He heard a knock on the front door of the cabin.

Michael walked out of the bedroom.

The knocking on the front door started to turn into pounding.

"I'm coming," he yelled out while he walked down the stairs.

Michael rushed to the door and opened it.

Outside where his buddies Mark, Joe, Wendell, and Jack. The guys were all excited, and each had two six-packs of bottled beer in hand.

These guys had been buddies of Michael's since Kindergarten. They have worked on the assembly line at the General Motors Plant right after they graduated from high school.

"It's party time," Wendell called out while he held up his two six packs.

Michael smiled and motioned for them to come inside.

They all entered doing a little party dance.

"Place the beers in the fridge," Michael told his buddies while he closed the door.

The guys walked over to the kitchen area and placed their six-packs into the fridge. They headed back to the living area.

Jack looked around. "Where's Kenneth?"

"Probably running late chasing after the bad guys," Wendell said.

"Maybe he's out picking up the stripper?" Joe said, and got excited.

Mark, Jack, and Wendell all looked excited. Michael did not look thrilled.

Jack' eyes widened when he remembered something "I need to run out and get the projector and film out of the trunk," he said then rushed off to the front door.

"I'll help," Mark called out then rushed after Jack.

"Let's crack open some beers," Wendell said and looked thirsty.

"Yeah, let's get this party started," Joe added, and he also looked thirsty.

Joe and Wendell walked into the kitchen area.

Michael walked over and sat down on the couch.