Sun of Zartha/4

Suddenly, as if to answer his call, Jay saw what looked like several fireflies appear in the darkened foliage. They darted and danced before him with their greenish-white glow. They moved forward a bit, and then they stopped. Then they moved forward again.

Jay was mesmerized by the fireflies’ light, the same way he was by his mother’s eyes.

“Jay, follow the fireflies. Follow the light, baby,” he heard Laura say in his head.

Jay proceeded forward and followed the fireflies. They led him to a clearing. He was now on the banks of a river, languid and shimmering. Jay followed this bank for about 20 minutes.

“Laura, where are you, girl?”

“Keep going, baby. Just keep going.”

After a while Jay came to a bend in the river. Around this bend was a lagoon with a waterfall. A female figure was bathing in this lagoon.

“Laura!” Jay yelled, and he took off on a dead run down the bank.

“Over here, baby! Come on!” Laura yelled back.

Damn, I hope this ain’t a mirage, Jay thought. He stopped at the bank. Laura was in an NYU t-shirt and she was waist deep in the water.

“I like this dream, baby,” Jay said.

“I was kinda hoping you would,” Laura replied with a smile. “Get your butt in this water.”

Jay took off his shoes and waded into the river.

“Damn, I’m glad to see you again,” he said with a huge grin.

“It wasn’t THAT long ago, Jay.” A giggle erupted from Laura’s lips.

They embraced and shared a long, deep kiss in the cold water.

After that, Jay said, “Where are we?”

Laura giggled. “In your dreams.

“Technically, we’re on Zartha. This is the river Wu’suu’bo. The Zarthan natives bathe in this river to purify themselves.”

“That’s kind of cool,” Jay replied, and his stare off into the mist became a little vacant

“Are you pissed?” Laura asked, a pang of concern rising within her.

“Pissed about what?”

“I felt some angry energy from you before you went back to sleep just now.”

“Oh, that...well, the power in my crib went out on me, just as I was hacking into Zed’s secret files on Zartha,” Jay said with a slightly embarrased grin.

“Why were you trying to do that for?”

Jay looked away for a second, then back into Laura’s eyes. He sighed and said, “Laura, I need to know for sure about all this. These dreams are beautiful, but I want confirmation. If I AM an alien, there most definitely will be a file on me. And on you as well. I need to see it with my own eyes.”

“Trust me, Jay, you will.”

“Are you psychic?”

“Yeah,” Laura said matter-of-factly, as if Jay had asked her if she liked Dr. Pepper or acoustic folk-pop music.

Jay was intrigued by this and this made him desire Laura more. Laura sensed this and smiled a sly smirkly smile. “You like psychic girls?” She caressed the back of his head.

“Yeah,” said Jay, who was in a daze. “You are the most beautiful thing I have EVER seen, Laura.”

“And you’re not too damn ugly yourself.” Laura’s smile was deep and sincere.

Jay embraced Laura and the pair moved in for another kiss. This kiss was deeper, more forceful and longer. Then they looked into each other's eyes.

“Where in the hell were you all my life, Laura?” Jay asked with a deep smile. He caressed her head in his hands.

“Wondering where the hell you were.” Laura reached up and took his wrist and kissed it softly.

Jay spoke again after several seconds. “What do I do now, baby? I gather you have instructions from my mom.”

“Now you’re using YOUR psychic ability. Good job!” Laura giggled again. “And the answer would be yes. Angie says you need to start packing all your stuff in your apartment in Brooklyn when you wake up. It will take you all day but you need to pack everything.

“The royal court will send a team to come get them and move them up here.”

Jay’s eyes filled with wonder. “Angie...Yeah, Angie. That’s what everybody called Momma...I remember that now, Laura.”

Suddenly, Laura’s eyes flashed bright white. “Uh-oh, this ballgame is over, baby. The sun is coming up in New York. The sunlight is hitting your eyes in your bed. I can feel it.”

“I don’t want to wake up, Laura. I don’t want this dream to end.”

“This is only the beginning, Jason. And it’s never going to end. Kiss me and have a wonderful day, baby.”

They moved in to kiss. In the middle of the kiss Jay awoke. Massive sunlight was indeed pouring through the bedroom window.

Jay heard another voice ring again in his head. “Start packing, Jason.”

“Momma, are you really the Queen of Zartha? Am I really a prince? Are you really still alive?”

No response.

“Well, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.” The power in the apartment was still out.

He went downstairs. He was shocked to find about 10 or 12 cardboard boxes in the middle of his living room. The floor was largely empty just four hours before. The boxes were marked in thick black marker ink: “Jay’s Stuff: NYC.” Underneath were written some strange pictorial symbols - actually the exact same thing, “Jay’s Stuff: NYC,” in Zarthan.

Jay was shocked. He bolted upstairs and grabbed his cricket gun. He then did a police-style sweep of his whole apartment. He was surprised and thought someone broke into the apartment, but no one did.

Jay sighed. “Momma, you sure do know how to freak your son out.”

Jay began to pack his stuff to go to Zartha.

Jay spent the rest of Saturday and part of Sunday packing his things. He packed his clothing, his kitchen stuff, his video games, his computer, his sheets, his towels.

Jay packed all of his stuff in the cardboard boxes and by about 10pm Sunday night he was finished.

"I still don't know what all this is about..." Jay thought to himself as he taped up the last of the boxes in the middle of his living room floor. Then he began to remember, slowly, the way things were in the old house in New Orleans when he was a kid.

"I guess I had it pretty good there, Momma." Jay smiled and shook his head.

After Jay went to sleep, both Laura and Angie appeared in separate dreams, and in one of these dreams Jay remembered more bits and pieces of his childhood in New Orleans - he remembered being placed in a car seat in his mother's car, a white 1966 Volkswagen Bug and a strange looking brunette with almond eyes, who was Momma's friend Lauranna, a girl she knew from college, riding shotgun. Lauranna liked to play peekaboo with Jason and she was always tickling him - she always made him laugh. Her eyes had grayish-white flashes and sparkles all the time that mesmerized Jason.

The next day was Monday, and Jay went into the break room for his usual morning cup of coffee - the bland stuff that always woke him up at 6 am after suffering through the stupidity that was always rush hour in Manhattan. But Jay was already wide awake this morning.

This was no ordinary Monday morning.

Today was going to be THE day. Yes, sir. Today he would hack into the database, and depending upon what was in that folder he found, he would march right into Zed’s office and DEMAND an explanation - for everything.

What greeted him was strange - but familiar. Right at Jay’s usual seat, at the folding table in the middle of the tiny, stark, fluorescently cold room, Jay saw a small ceramic plate. On this plate were three steaming warm, large, bulging fresh beignets, heavily dusted in the telltale powdered sugar, and a large stainless steel travel mug filled with steaming black French-style coffee.

The bag sitting next to this spread told Jay that both of these items were sent via FedEx earlier that morning from the Cafe Du Monde location right on Decatur Street in the French Market, the one with all the green and white awnings and the ceiling fans that went whirr-whirr-whirr - Jay remembered it like it was yesterday - the one that stays open 24 hours. The one he remembered going to at 3am with his momma and Momma's friend Lauranna, riding shotgun in the VW, when he was three years old. Angie ALWAYS took her coffee black.

Next to the ceramic plate, Jay saw a note. When Jay read this note, another pang of fright shot through him like a laser. Then tears began to trickle down his face.

The note read:

“I couldn’t make you beignets from prison, but I had some sent to you. I really enjoyed seeing you again, even if it was only a dream - or was it, baby?

Je me souviens. I love you. Blood of my blood.

Your momma, Angelique Tolan.

P.S. Tell Kay I said hey!”

Attached to the note was a recent mug shot of Angie. The only thing different about her was that she wore dreadlocks instead of the large Afro he remembered from the '70's. But she seemed just as young and radiant as she was when he was a kid.

So Momma IS alive, Jay thought. He could not stop his tears. He was crying so hard - or trying so hard not to cry in the break room - that he found it impossible to eat the beignets. At least for about 45 seconds. Then, with his cheeks stained with hot tears, he chomped on one. He had forgotten just how damn good these things tasted.

Just then, Kay walked in the break room. Kay saw the beignets. Kay’s face turned white with fear and shock. He knew that Cafe Du Monde beignets - sent here, to MIB headquarters could have only come from one person.

A person he was madly in love with...and also a person he feared. Kay feared very few creatures in the universe, but Angie was different. Angie almost destroyed the Earth over Jay.

“Those - those are Cafe Du Monde beignets, from New Orleans!” Kay looked like he had seen a ghost.

Jay looked up at Kay, coldly. His eyes were red with tears but also glowed red with the emotional energy that was his true genetic nature. “I’ve NEVER seen your face turn THAT white, Kay.”

There were only two people in the building Angie would dare send beignets to. Both of them were in the break room right now.

Kay also knew that this, this tender moment he was seeing unfold before him, was a moment he always knew would happen.

Jay looked up at Kay slowly, with tears in his eyes and powdered sugar on the edges of his lips. He softly said, “Kay, we need to talk. There are some things about me I think you know. And I DON'T think I need to deneuralyze you about this.” He held up the note. Kay took it and looked at it, and looked at Jay. Kay's stare was surprisingly tense, as if he was mortally frightened of Jay at this moment.

Kay replied, “You're right, sport, not about these. This is...well, this is pretty damn critical. Meet me in Zed’s office in 15 minutes.” Kay walked quickly out of the break room.

Jay hung his head down. What was going to happen now?

- end of chapter -

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