Alice playing with reality

By Betty Marlow

I got rid of prissy morality long ago.  You do what you gotta do if you're shoved into a bunch of lousy foster homes in lousy neighborhoods.

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Easily conned my way into UC Berkeley.  No problem running circles around the intelligentsia of that fine institution.

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Get ready to jump with me into crazy worlds you will never forget.  Like the Shadow World of ancient Egypt.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Valley
• Release date: Jun 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781965072011

Book preview

Alice playing with reality

Betty Marlow

Published by Blue Valley, 2024.

Table of Contents

Title Page

ALICE | PLAYING WITH REALITY

1 | REJECTION AND WARM ACCEPTANCE

2 | LOOTING THE LOOTERS

3 | GLANCED AT THE FRONT | OF HIS PANTS

4 | I LIE AND STEAL A LITTLE

5 | APOLLO’S HAIRY WOMEN

6 | CONTROL FREAKS | PUSHING YOUR STUPID RULES

7 | SHADOWS AGAINST THE WALL

8 | THE DEVIL AND ST. FRANCIS

9 | THE MERRY JESTERS | OF DARKNESS

10 | WAR OR BROWN BETTYS?

ALICE

PLAYING WITH REALITY

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Betty Marlow

Copyright 2024 by Ernest Kinnie

Blue Valley Edition

The wild story

of a poor little orphan girl

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Hi.  My name is Alice Shannon.

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When I was four my mother drove away, leaving me screaming and sobbing on the sidewalk.

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My father died before I was born.  Not very nice of him but he left a pile of money and a cute little cottage on Big Sur that I get when I turn 18.

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I got rid of prissy morality long ago.  You do what you gotta do if you’re shoved into a bunch of lousy foster homes in lousy neighborhoods.

.

Get ready to jump with me into crazy worlds you will never forget.  Like the Shadow World of ancient Egypt.

1.  Rejection and warm acceptance

2.  Looting the looters  at Lake Tahoe

3.  Glanced at the front of his pants

4.  I lie and steal a little  for a worthy cause

5.  Apollo’s Hairy Women

6.  Control freaks  pushing your stupid rules

7.  Shadows against the wall

8.  The Devil and St. Francis

9.  The Merry Jesters of Darkness

10.  War or Brown Bettys?

1

REJECTION AND WARM ACCEPTANCE

Well, I finally turned 18, got the 3 million and a cute little cottage by the sea on Big Sur from my father’s estate.

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Robinson Jeffers used to live just down the road.

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Here’s a picture of old Jeffers sitting on the steps of the house he built from rocks he dragged up from the sea.  I’m not much for school but I Google a lot.  He and T. S. Eliot are my favorite poets.

____________________

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A month after I moved in, a guy came f or a visit.  Didn’t push the buzzer or yell hi, just walked right in.

Has a Santa Claus beard but too skinny for the role.

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I’m with a group who also have the Gift.  We would like you to come visit.

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Well now of course I’m terribly flattered but I’m sure you know a very attractive young lady like myself, with a tiny bit of money, has to be very, very careful.  You look kinda old for sex, but money greed lives forever.

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You have a lot to learn about older men, Alice.  No, we aren’t interested in sex or your money.  We have plenty of both.  We must decide whether or not to invite you to join our group.  We had quite a fight whether to give you a chance.  I fought for you because I like your spirit, intelligence, and sense of humor.

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What will decide?

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Whether we can trust you to use the Gift responsibly, and keep it a secret.

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Well, I have so many gifts.  Which one?

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Your Shadow Hands.

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I don’t know what you mean.

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I believe you do.

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Well, should I throw him out the door?  Nah.  I might never ever get another chance to meet people who know about Shadow Hands.

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I accept your kind invitation.  When and where?

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This coming Monday evening at seven, 9324 Guinevere Drive just south of Carmel.

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I’ll be there.  Got time for a few questions?

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No.

__________________

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I was 2 or 2 ½ when I found out I was different.

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I was using my chubby hands to stack my blocks and they were almost right.  So I pushed them just right with my magic hands.  My mother saw the blocks move all by themselves and made a kinda funny, squeaky noise, and had a scary face.

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After that I was careful not to get caught using my magic hands.

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First grade was when the fun started.  Ugly Dorothy spit on me.  That was a seriously bad mistake.  After that she kept spilling stuff all over herself.

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Like once she was about to take a sip of orange juice and my magic hands jerked the glass just a little away from her mouth.  They stretch a long way.

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That bright orange juice splashed all over her pretty, green dress.  Oh my, how sad.

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When I was in the third grade I watched a TV show about Egypt.  Hey!  The program talked about Shadow Hands, just like my magic hands.

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There’s a whole world right next to this one.  The old Egyptians called it the World of Shadow.

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In high school I learned all about linear time and Euclid’s three dimensions.  The smart teacher thought he had everything all figured out.  Nope.  He didn’t have a clue.

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When he started to pick up the chalk it jumped.  He hid his surprise best he could, I gotta give him credit for that, but the third time the chalk jumped he freaked.  His tiny little world crashed and so did his tiny little brain.

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A guy hit on me once, put his hand up my dress.  That was a seriously bad mistake.  My Shadow Hands squeezed his balls, just a little.  Oh my, what a howl.

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And then there was the marvelous miracle.  The nice priest was raising the Eucharist in front of the sheep.  Yeah, yeah, I’m supposed to call them a flock of lambs but they looked like a herd of sheep to me.

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Anyway, he was raising the little white wafer slowly above his head and it slipped out of his fingers and just kept right on going.

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Oh my, the sheep went crazy.  There were gasps and grunts, and shouts and screams.  It stayed up there a while.  Then dropped.  The priest must not have been much of a baseball player.  He missed the catch.

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The next day the talking heads were all over it, throwing around words like mass hysteria and group hypnosis.  Nobody suspected a sweet little orphan girl, having a little fun.

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Now I’m off to meet some people who also have Shadow Hands.  I’ll be real nice, learn what I can, and then decide what to do.

_________________

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Skinny Santa wasn’t kidding, they don’t need my money.  They live down millionaire row in a mansion by the sea.

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A dumpy woman came to the door, maybe late 20’s.  Thick glasses and I bet she has buck teeth if she ever smiled.  She voted a big no.

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I followed her down a long hallway with a thick rug and pictures on the wall into a room with Skinny Santa, another man, and two other women.  They were sitting around a table with beautiful blue crystals piled in the center.

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Skinny Santa got up, You’ve already met Molly.  This is Maggie, Johnny and Linda.  Please call me Greg.

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Maggie is an older women.  Very alert.  Very intelligent.  She voted yes.  Johnny has a nice smile.  He voted yes.

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Linda doesn’t have a nice smile, and for sure voted no.  In her 30’s, messy hair, a small scar on her left cheek.  Awful lipstick.  Too bright and doesn’t go with her skin color.

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Come on over and sit next to me.  I felt the cold eyes of the women as I walked by.

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Linda and Molly are afraid you’re an angry, self-centered brat, not capable of caring for anyone but yourself.  Someone like that with the Gift is very dangerous.

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Ok, I’ll go honesty.

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"They’re right.  I had to take care of myself ever since my mother left me when I was four.  Sure I blew those lousy foster homes and they deserved it.

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"Well, not all.  A Buddhist couple from Tibet gave me my best foster home but a bunch of God fearing Christians overflowing with love and kindness killed that one.

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"I could have made it in another, but the handsome guy’s wife was very, very selfish and didn’t want to share.

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So here I am, looking at another bunch of strangers.  Linda and Molly don’t like me and I don’t much like them.  I’ll be friendly as long as you’re friendly.

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Hey, that’s a pretty good coming from an angry, self-centered brat.

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Surprise!  Surprise!  Linda and Molly got up and gave me big, warm smiles.  Then came over and gave me big, warm hugs.  What the hell?!

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That’s what we like.  Spunk.  Molly doesn’t have buck teeth.

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Why rejection and now a warm welcome?

..

It’s a bonding ritual developed by Johnny, our psychologist, Skinny Santa said.  The sudden shift from rejection to warm acceptance is very powerful.  You are now part of our group in a way that would ordinarily take weeks.  Pick up a crystal with a Shadow Hand.

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No problem.  I picked up a beautiful blue crystal from the middle of the table and lifted it a foot in the air.  Wonder if they’ll be impressed?  Not bloody likely.

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A blue crystal near Santa also went up and gently tapped mine.  It made a tiny, tinkling sound which brought back memories of mommy tucking me into my soft bed, so long ago.  The golden bells and the blue fairies of fairyland often came to sing me to sleep.