GHOST OF A CHANCE_CHAPTER 44_MARLENE BY STARLIGHT {THE END}

A young man of maybe fourteen strolled up to us.

"Toya, you know perfectly well that Captain Sam sent those clothes to Roland to say 'Thanks' for helping him in Hell."

Her coffee cream face became a living sneer. "Victor ...."

She tossed him the package. "Stick it!"

He flashed a gypsy smile. "Sure thing. Bend over."

Marlene chuckled, "I like you."

Victor winked at her, handing her the package. "This contains an evening gown for you, too, ma'am."

She mussed his hair, smiling gently at his blush. "Marlene, Victor. And if you're a very good boy, I will let you escort me to my quarters here in Meilori's."

Victor laughed, "And if I'm a naughty boy?"

"Why then, I'll let you peek," Marlene laughed back .

Mark Twain gruffed to me. "I better get Gypsy back to your apartment and apologize to your blog friends."

"Apologize?," I frowned.

Mark rubbed the back of his neck. "Well ... I wrote them you'd died."

"What?"

Mark sputtered, "You looked damn dead when I left, son."

Gypsy took a swipe at him through the carrier. He lifted it up and groused, "You keep that up, gal, and I might have to change my mind about how I feel about felines."

Gypsy yowled at him. Mark Twain chuckled, walking into the growing mists of Meilori's.

I watched them grow smaller and smaller in the fog while their bickering and yowling grew louder and friendlier. I smiled. I was seeing the start of a strange friendship.

I turned around. Marlene was walking arm in arm with Victor. I followed, shaking my head as she tried (and succeeded) in getting him to blush more and more.

Which explains how that photograph of Marlene above came to be taken. She was even more stunning than usual, standing by the piano Ellis Marsalis played. His son Wynton blew his trumpet as Frank Sinatra sang, "Stella By Starlight."

Standing in my new clothes, I smiled as I heard Frank substitute 'Marlene' for 'Stella' in the lyrics. Ava Gardner, sitting at a table close by, winked at her old love for his compliment to her friend.

Glowing slightly from his sojurn in the inferno, Sam McCord strolled up to me, "Thank you is too small a word for you going to Hell for me, son."

He looked like he was biting into a squirming snail, "Which makes me having to ask you to leave a hard thing."

Marlene stiffened at his words. She stormed up to us, proving her hearing was even more awesome than her beauty, but not her temper. "You speak 'thanks' and yet order him out?"

Sam held up a gloved hand. "Marlene, it's for his own good. He's become a legend of sorts here in the Shadowlands. The longer he stays, the more chance someone is going to try and add his scalp to their lodge pole."

Marlene's chin rose defiantly. "An hour. He will have an hour with me here. I will accept nothing less."

Sam shook his head wearily. "I know better than to argue with you when you're in this mood."

Marlene's eyes sparkled dangerously in the dim light. "You are wise."

She turned lazily and floated to Frank, whispering in his ear. Then, she bent by Ellis and Wynton, talking low to them. Frank, smiling wide, walked and sat down by his love, Ava. Ellis and Wynton started playing "The Very Thought of You."

She walked back to us and pointed a long forefinger at Sam. "You will guard Roland's back while we ... dance."

She dragged me to the dance floor, and I protested. "Marlene, I haven't danced in a long time."

She playfully nipped at my earlobe. "With me in your arms, Liebling, you will float."

She wasn't being poetic. We did float. She felt light yet firm and amazingly soft in my arms. We danced close for long moments, then Marlene began to sing low in my ear.

"The mere idea of you,
the longing here for you,
You'll never know how slow the moments go
until I'm near to you."

So with Sam pretending not to see, and Ava winking at Frank, . ... Marlene led me off the dance floor, up the stairs, and into her private quarters in Meilori's ...

And it was a very fine hour.

{END}
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