Page 6 of Phoenix Fire

Soon, a voice boomed, “Yes, Mrs. Wimsley. Do you need me?” It was Wardley, her chief attendant in the large house above her.

“Yes, Wardley.” She hesitated as another burning spasm ripped through her lower back. “Please bring my medication, and I will need your assistance in my return to the house.”

“Yes, madam, right away.” There was a real familial concern in Wardley's voice.

Wardley Rosskamp was part of the Wimsley family for seventeen years. His loyalty never wavered and his service to the family was rendered with genuine care and respect. There was self-pride in every duty he performed.

His ruddy cherubic face now grew taut in a knowing grimace, and his ample paunch seemed to shudder with his inner tremors of concern.

With a sense of dread and urgency Wardley went to his longtime friend and employer. There was a heaviness in his heart and a vague mist upon his soul.

Chapter Five

Jason debated within himself on which restaurant to take Jenny. The El Chorro won out. The food there was excellent and it was quaint and romantic.

He fussed more than usual over his dressing preparations. When he finally narrowed his choices down to suit and sports coat, he chose the navy blue blazer. His selection of shirt was a pale blue silk to be worn open collar. Highly creased Tan slacks competed the ensemble.

He seldom shaved twice in one day but he made an exception. He even smiled at himself in the mirror at his over caution not to nick and the special care he took with his hair. He was amused with his school boy nervousness and the near exquisite sense of anticipation as the time drew close to date time. He felt silly, yet, he was not displeased with his inner stirrings. It was so long, if ever, that he experienced these feelings.

While it was true he had only seen the lady once, it was a rather extraordinary 'once.' He saw her still body clad only in running shorts and top. The rain was showering down, his lips quivering on her own. Maybe his inner stirrings would be altered when he saw her all dressed up. Maybe he would be disappointed. Perhaps the shock of the lightning event, its severity, caused him to overreact to their meeting. Sharing a near death experience with someone could perhaps produce a false set of feelings. Maybe she was not as attractive as he thought. Maybe neither of them would find the initial feelings worthy of further nurturing.

Still, he could not stop the tingles within him. Besides, there was more than her looks involved in his preoccupation with their singular meeting. There was something special about her, an aura, some essence, that captured his attention. There was something in the eyes, a magical kind of quick awareness when they first looked at each other. Was it kismet? He was back to fate and serendipity. Some strange and indefinable elixir had gotten into his system to jumble his thoughts to such an extent.

What if she did not like what she saw? All dressed up, maybe he was no real bargain. After all, she only saw him in his damp running togs, his hair plastered to his forehead, unshaven, his abrasive lips touching hers.

Hey, he was excited! No amount of thinking would diminish his high spirits. There was indeed something there. He was wired with his thinking about the encounter. Yes, something transpired between them on that rain-soaked pavement, and he was anxious to find out if the event was as monumental as he felt it might be. He only knew that these feelings came to him honestly with no comparative past. It was as though a fateful promise was to be fulfilled. He knew that this was an instance when he must listen to his heart and not to his mind.

*****

Jenny began her preening and primping early. She was immensely excited with the evening's possibilities. She was also very nervous. While she was aggressive in her work at the ad agency and in her business contacts, she found herself more timid and awkward in personal relationships. She hoped she would be able to sustain herself in conversation and poise with the handsome man who helped save her life.

She was meticulous in her clothing selection, choosing a recently purchased two-piece outfit of mauve, with a gray blouse and a necklace of pearls. When she looked at her image in the large wall mirror she was not displeased.

She did her shoulder length blonde hair in a high full fluff and it spilled down over her ears in gleaming wavelets. She used very little makeup, just a touch of soft lip gloss, gentle dabs of rouge on her cheeks, dark pencil liner on her brows, and understated use of mascara on her lashes.

She looked again at her image, smiled, and gave a 'thumbs up' and cross-eyed sneer into the mirror. She then put on some Vivaldi classical guitar tapes by one of the Romero brothers and waited for Jason Prince.

She heard the doorbell just a few minutes before 7:00 PM and was happy to note that her date appeared one that honored a time commitment. When Jenny opened the front door of her apartment and stared into Jason Prince's blue eyes, she could feel her heartbeat quicken. She sensed the rouge on her cheeks had gone deeper in its color. She felt that she had perhaps underrated this man's total image.

*****

Now seated at a corner table of the El Chorro Restaurant, sipping cocktails before dinner, they found their conversation easy and unforced.

“It's truly remarkable,” Jason said with a soft smile, “One would never know that you had recently wrestled with a lightning bolt. You are quite lovely tonight.” He toyed with the toothpick holding the olive in his martini, his eyes locked on Jenny.

“Thank you, kind sir. It wasn't much of a wrestling match, however … pretty one-sided. It's still difficult for me to believe that it happened. I've never fainted in my life, never passed out, and to have an abrupt loss of consciousness is an amazing thing. The body is quite a machine. Have you ever been unconscious?” Jenny's eyes sparkled as she spoke, and the soft lights of the restaurant added an extra glow to her presence.

Jason chuckled lightly. “There are those who might think I spend much of my days in a state of unconsciousness. But, no, I haven't. The nearest that I've come to blacking out, I suppose, was on a golf course a few years back. It was during the summer and the temperature was well over one hundred degrees. No question, it was a bit nuts to be playing golf on an Arizona desert when the sun and heat were so intense. Some of us were golf addicts in those days and felt we could handle just about any kind of weather on a golf course --- rain, hail, heat, didn't matter.

“Our group was walking the course that day. Can you believe that? Walking eighteen holes! Crazy! Anyway, I had neglected pouring water into my overheated body. As I walked up the seventeenth fairway I became very dizzy and very nearly fell on my face. Dropped my golf bag and sat on it while my playing partners got some water in me. It took a few hours getting back to normal.

“That's the closest I've come to blacking out. That's the last time my body needs were neglected. I was cautioned so many times to keep putting water in the body while playing golf on hot days, even when there was no thirst. Just got too careless and unmindful of my environment.” Jason smiled and sipped his martini.

“Something strange happened to me during my lightning blackout.” Jenny paused, took a quick sip from her rum and coke, and had a thoughtful look on her face. “Hope you don't think I'm weird but, well, you know, I've heard all my life about people having 'out of body' experiences during stressful situations. You know, like, serious heart surgery, or, a near fatal car accident, or, my jogging experience. Well, it happened to me. There was this bright light and I was a part of it somehow, and it just seemed to be pulling me off and away toward some wondrous and magnificent brilliance. It seemed compelling, safe, and I wanted to go further into that bright void.

“Then, sounds fragmented the lovely light, and, for a moment, just before coming back to my consciousness, I hovered briefly just above my body. I saw me lying there on the wet pavement. I saw you and the others. It was so real!” Jenny smiled and puckered her lips. “Sounds pretty dumb, huh?”

“No, it doesn't sound dumb at all. Later, when you thought about that experience, did it frighten you very much?”

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