The
Morning After…..
“I mean, what do we even know about these people?
Nothing. How do we know that they’re not three feet tall, green, and slimy?”
“I guess we don’t,” said Liz in a distracted voice.
“And you know what else doesn’t, like, particularly
please me?” Maria moved her limbs in agitation as she distractedly worked
while talking, her voice continuously rising. “These powers. How do we know
they can’t just like wiggle their noses and poof us into oblivion?”
“I guess we don’t.” Liz, still distracted and barely
paying attention.
“Okay, you’re being like so casual about this; I want
to choke you!” Maria made a threatening gesture. “Liz, we’re dealing with
alie…” In a blaze of lightening, Liz clapped her hand over Maria’s mouth
as another employee walked through the swinging door.
Liz’s eyes darted around nervously. “Can you please
not say that word in public?” Both
of them looked out to the front of the Crashdown, their demeanor guilty and
suspicious.
“The point is that we don’t know anything about these Czechoslovakians.
Are they good Czechoslovakians? Bad Czechoslovakians? We don’t know. Are they
just random Czechoslovakians? For all we know, they don’t have their
passports.” Liz gave her best friend a look of dawning horror. This was
insane. Pure, unadulterated insanity. It was the sudden appearance of Alex
Whitman, their best guy friend that made both Liz and Maria jump a little.
“Who’s Czechoslovakian?”
“Hey!” said Maria, her face fusing with color.
“Hey!” said Liz with enough guilt on her face to make
Alex’s eyes narrow in thought.
“Hey! So, who’s Czechoslovakian?”
Both Maria and Liz spoke at the same time.
“The new kid at school,” said Liz as Maria said. “The
guy at the hardware store.” The two girls looked at each other and Liz quickly
covered for them.
“The new kid at school who works at the hardware
store.”
“Exactly,” said Maria biting the inside of her lip. No
way. There was no way that Alex was going to buy this stupid story. No way.
“Oh. What about him?”
Maria stood with her mouth opened in shock, and Liz jabbed
her in the ribs, and they both answered in unison, “Nothing.”
“Fantastic.” He gave them both thoughtful looks, but
they were his best friends, so what the hell. Liz and Maria walked away in a
hurried gait.
“About the aliens? How do you…”
“Maria!” Liz looked around, her eyes big in her face.
Pushing her hair back with a trembling hand, she grabbed her best friend and
pulled her further into a corner, away from prying ears.
“What?” Maria did a little hop as Liz hustled her
along.
“Not so loud!” Liz’s eyes dart from side to side.
“Oh… right!” Maria’s mouth, glimmering in her
strawberry red lip gloss, opened in awareness of how loud she was speaking.
Looking around, she bent and whispered in a loud stage whisper. “I’m just
saying, how do you know that these alie….um, Czechoslovakians are trustworthy?
How do you know that they won’t turn into something disgusting, and…I
don’t know. Eat our brains?”
“Our brains?”
Maria ignored Liz’s incredulous look, warming on her
newest and favorite obsession. “How do you know that they aren’t the
beginning of an attack invasion? How can any of us know anything about
Czechoslovakians? Or anything about them?” Maria’s eyes narrowed as the most
questionable and repulsive version sudden peered in the front window of the
Crashdown. Her hand hit her chest as her heart, sped up threatening to explode.
“Czechoslovakian,
Michael was peering through the window, watching them.
“Okay, that guy creeps me out. That one is a great
example! If there isn’t something off about him, I’ll eat my lip gloss.”
Maria’s eyes narrowed as Michael Guerin arrogantly returned her stare, then
continued on. Maria watched as his figure disappeared from sight. Her voice rose
as her thoughts left her distracted.
“Liz, what does one wear
exactly when aliens attack?”
“Maria!”
~~~
On the high school grounds, Liz and Maria were having
lunch, Liz smiling in amusement as Maria sniffed her food before biting into it.
She told Maria about the new guidance counselor’s interest in Michael.
“It’s impossible, right, that she’s not who she says
she is?”
“Well, no one is who they say they are. I mean, what do
you mean exactly?” Maria’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. More aliens?
“Forget it.” Liz caught the classic Maria DeLuca look.
Oh no. Liz almost closed her eyes and prayed for relief from conspiracy
theories. The DeLuca clan, tried and true peace and environmental activists,
lived with suspicion in their blood.
“What, that she’s a spy?”
“No, don’t be ridiculous.” Liz grimaced, and tried to
infuse comfort and calm in her voice.
“Cause that kind of stuff happens, you know.”
“Now you’re being crazy. C’mon, go on.”
Maria dangerously waved her apple at Liz. “Well, think
about it. She takes attendance. What substitute teacher takes attendance? I
mean, God, the whole thing is so Roswellian.” Maria seemed pleased with
her new term. Roswellian. Cool. “I’m telling you Liz, she’s been sent
here.”
Liz didn’t even try to hide her rolling eyes, but
something made her ask anyway. “Why would she be sent here?”
“To find the Czechoslovakians.” Maria snorted. Duh!
“Sniff some cedar oil, Maria.”
Maria waved off the suggestion. “Which makes me feel even
more like what I already thought before you told me about this, which is that we
should definitely, definitely, definitely tell Alex.”
“No.” Liz grabbed Maria in earnest. “Look, Maria, we
mustn’t tell anyone... ever. Ever.”
“Mustn’t?” Maria’s forehead wrinkled in worry.
“When have you ever said "mustn’t"? Look, we need someone with a
little perspective.” Maria sat back, organizing her thoughts. “OK, there’s
all this stuff happening, and it’s dangerous. The other day the Sheriff asked
me all these questions. And now we have this Topolsky person poking around.”
Maria ticked off the strange events befalling them since knowing about the alie….Czechoslovakians.
“You know, that’s what they do. They send special government task forces.
Alien hunters. And suddenly, we’re like, accessories to Czechoslovakians!”
Maria looked around and firmly stressed her point. “We need Alex in on
this.”
Liz pointed to Alex, who was in another area of the quad
talking to some girls and trying to impress them with this double-jointed arm
trick he could do.
Maria wrinkled her nose at the sight. “Admittedly, he’s
not James Bond, but he’s all we’ve got right now.” She sat back dejectedly
as they listened to Alex talking to the girls who were walking away from him,
laughing.
“What, so now I’m a freak?”
Maria made a face at Alex, conceding the point to Liz. Taking her cue,
she and Liz slowly made their way to their next class.
“I’m telling you, Liz, there is something wrong with
that Ms. Topolsky.”
“Maria…” Liz rearranged her books readying herself
for another bout of Maria’s over dramatization of everything. “She’s a
guidance councilor. What do you expect?”
Maria leaned in closer, her eyes moving about looking for
eavesdroppers. “Sure she is! And she just happens to show up after
the…thing? Did you see her hair?” Maria snorted. “No guidance councilor
looks like that. And I saw her talking to Sheriff Valenti.”
Liz froze. Pushing her books to the side, she gave Maria
her full attention. “The Sheriff? What does she want with the Sheriff?”
“Oh, now you’re concerned? I told you. Nothing is as it
seems. I mean until a few days ago we thought those weird people were
just…weird.” Maria nodded her head knowingly. “Now we know different.
Czechoslovakians.”
“Are you saying that Ms. Topolsky is an alie…Czechoslovakian?”
“Oh god! I knew it! It’s an invasion!” Maria took out
a small vial of aromatic cedar oil from her purse and sniffed, her eyes
narrowing in thought. “No. No, I don’t think so. She’s looking too closely
at the…them. She must be a special unit sent to find them.”
“Maria…” Liz shook her head. Oh god, not the Special
Unit conspiracy theory again! She sighed, resigning herself to another bout of
Maria’s paranoia. Now that was just crazy. Alex. This was Alex’s fault. He
was always picking some B-rated Sci-Fi movie on his night to choose. He was
melting Maria’s brain with invasion theory and X-Filing her into paranoia land
with Mulder.
“We have to investigate!”
“Maria, this is crazy. Special Unit?”
Maria sat down next to Liz. “They have those, you know.
In the FBI. A whole branch that investigates UFO’s and stuff. They know we
aren’t alone. Had to since the original crash.” Maria grabbed Liz’s arm
dramatically. “Oh, girlfriend, this is big! Real big! They must have sent Ms.
Topolsky to ferret out the Czechs.” Maria snorted. “Like we’d be so easily
fooled. Her shoes are Ferragamo knock-offs, and that is Le Clur lip gloss.
Obviously so not a guidance councilor.
No one coordinates with Burberry unless they want to look like they’re wearing
their Grandmother’s curtains. She’s obviously a daring woman. So not
Liz watched astounded, as Maria started to walk off.
“Maria, where are you going?”
“Oh, just to look around. Observe. You know,
investigate.” Maria hurried off, her eyes narrowed, her body stiff as she
shrewdly took note of every passing face, suspecting aliens or agents. Damn, who
knew high school could be so…perilous?
Liz shook her head and closed her eyes. “Great. Just
great. Investigate.” She bit her lip, worrying it. “I better go tell, Max or
warn Michael.”
~~~
~~~
“Calm down, Michael.”
Michael kicked the leg of Max’s desk, pushing his hands
into his pockets. Pacing the floor, he suddenly noticed Isabel. “Don’t tell
me to calm down. This is bad, Maxwell. Very bad! We need to leave.” Tossing
himself down into a chair, his legs over the side, he ate a peanut cluster.
Telling them about the police station was an obvious mistake for all the notice
they gave to his information.
It seemed highly reasonable and logical that they should
act. Investigate. Take measures to find out about the picture and file that
Valenti had shown Liz. Michael had staked out the
“Are you insane?!?”
Michael made a face at Isabel’s sarcastic tone. “I
didn’t just wander in, all right? I had a cover story.”
“And what was your cover story?” Max asked quietly.
Michael shrugged and bit into another piece of candy. “I
was selling candies for charity.” He offered his two friends some candy.
“Peanut cluster?”
“And they bought it?” At least now he knew what Michael
was doing all day instead of going to school. But still, staking out the Sheriff
was not perhaps the wisest of choices.
“No, they all seemed to be on a diet.”
Isabel rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Not the candy,
Einstein, the story.”
“Yeah, they bought the story.” Michael seemed to
finally notice Isabel, noting her clothing. “Why are you wearing that?” She
looked…slutty.
“Because, Michael, I have a date...with a guy...that I
like. In fact, I like my whole life here. In fact, I have a date next Friday
that I’m hoping I won’t have to miss because I’m running from the law.”
Isabel looked at her nails and frowned at a chip. With a pass of her hand it was
repaired. Perfect. Looking at Michael, she couldn’t miss his sour face.
“What?”
Michael made a sound of disgust and indifference to
Isabel’s social agenda, rolling his eyes, not caring for whatever the hell
Isabel was going to do, date or fashion accessorize herself into a grave. He
didn’t care about Max and his moonfest over the inane Liz Parker either. They
were missing what was important.
“You two, the point is this. That file has got to be in
Valenti’s office, all right? He leaves for the day at
Max sat on the edge of the sofa and seemed to be thinking
of Michael’s plan. “So how do we break in? Hypothetically.”
Michael moved forward as his plan took off in his mind.
“The window. It’s got a lock on it. Nothing you can’t handle.”
“Alarm system?” Max noticed Isabel’s startled
reaction. She was glaring at him warningly. “Hypothetically.”
“Piece of cake. Even I could deactivate it.”
“Max, don’t humor him.” Isabel ignored Michael’s
look of anger at her disregard for his plan. “I can’t believe you’re even
considering this.”
“I just want to know how feasible the plan is...” Max
saw Isabel’s face, that look coming over her features, “…which it’s
not...feasible. It’s not feasible, Michael.” Max chose to ignore Michael’s
muttering of ‘Pussy Boy’ under his breath as the larger alien exploded.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for our entire lives.
I mean, this is the first time we’ve ever had any clue that might tell us who
we are. We don't have a choice.”
Michael paused as Max and Isabel’s parents voice called
to them from the other room. Great, the Cleavers were home. “And with
government agents after us, we had better get our asses in gear, don’t you
think?”
“Agents?” Max looked at Michael in confusion and then
at Isabel.
Isabel looked at the door in fear hoping her parents
couldn’t hear them. “What are you talking about?”
“Talk to Liz.” Michael got up to leave as the Evans
came into the room.
“You guys hungry? Mr. Evans asked, smiling at the group
of teenagers.
“Hey guys, we got pizza.” Mrs. Evans looked at Isabel.
“Hey honey, you look…pretty.” Then she seemed to notice Michael. “Oh
Michael… hi.”
“Hey. I was just leaving.”
“We’ve got plenty of pizza,” Mr. Evans offered as
Michael slowly made his way from the room.
“My dad’s cooking. Thanks.”
Mrs. Evans watched the young boy leave the room before
turning back to her children. “Well, I’m starved. C’mon guys. Plates,
napkins, let’s eat!”
~~~
In the women’s bathroom. Maria read a note from Max to
Liz that said:
Meet
me in the 2nd Floor Eraser Room 6th Period.
Max
Liz had told Max everything. He hadn’t seemed concerned,
but she later found the note in her locker.
“The Eraser room, huh? Liz, do you know what the 2nd
floor eraser room means?” Maria was exceptionally loud and brilliant in a red
tube top.
“Of course I know what it means...” Liz paused
uncertain. “What does it mean?”
“It’s where Greg Coleman gave Marlene Garcia that
hickey the size of a softball. It’s where Richie Roher and Amanda Lourdes
consummated everything...” Maria tilted her head to press the point home.
Liz made a face at her expressive friend. “Okay, Maria,
you know what? You’re just making this into something it’s not.”
Maria gave a loud sigh. “Liz, I don’t think you should
do this. Okay? I mean, we don’t know what can happen. I mean, the guy touched
you and you saw into his soul. How do we know what happens if he kisses you? How
do we know what it is to be kissed by a Czechoslovakian? We don’t.”
Liz grabbed Maria’s arms, trying to shake some sense into
her. “Okay, Maria, no one is kissing anyone here. I mean, Max isn’t even the
least bit interested in me. You know, he said that things were just like they
used to be before. Nothing’s changed. He said that.”
“Oh my God, it’s not just kissing that goes on in the
Eraser Room.” Maria said in a loud stage whisper, shocked at her friend’s
lack of real world savvy.
“She’s got that right,” said another girl in the
bathroom as she was on her way out hearing part of their discussion.
Maria crossed her arms and gestured to the departing girl
with an open handed gesture. “The Eraser Room does two things: cleans erasers
and takes our innocence. Do you know what I mean by "takes our
innocence," Liz? The Eraser Room has taken some of the best of us.” God,
Maria couldn’t believe Liz’s naiveté. She read somewhere that aliens
invaded by impregnating young unsuspecting things. Innocents. Like Liz. Maria
put a dramatic hand to her chest, quelling the rising fear and nausea.
“Maria…” Liz was tired of trying to calm Maria when
her comment hit home. “What? What aren’t you telling me? Maria? How exactly
do you know about the Eraser Room?”
Maria shrugged and headed to her next class. “That’s
not important. I’m just saying.”
“Saying?” Liz followed close on Maria’s heels. “You
better get saying some more! I want all the details.”
Maria snorted, but her worry was evident as she and Liz
exited the Ladies. Damn. She better keep an eye on Liz. Make sure she doesn’t
show up with any of the classic signs of alien impregnation. Drinking hot
coffee. Painting weird landscapes. Walking at night in her pajamas. This was so
not good. Body snatchers? What was the standard procedure for looking for body
snatchers? Maria left the bathroom in a flurry of arms and legs, her pace fast
and agitated. She better check under Liz’s bed. Pod people were among them.
Michael stood against the wall around the corner watching
Maria. Daffy dame was a problem.
~~~
Michael was angry. He was more than a little angry. His
investigation. His plan. Max was waiting to take Liz Parker with him to
investigate. Files were being removed from Valenti’s office, and he was being
kicked out of the loop. Max was doing things without him, and not telling him
everything. His entire world had been turned upside down in mere hours and days,
and it was getting more confused every minute.
He continued to argue with Max in the parking lot outside
as Max waited for Liz to get out of her work shift. Even that Maria girl was
part of it. She had to be, since she was covering for Liz. Great. Fucking great!
“Michael, it’s important to me, too.”
Michael just snorted at Max’s reply. “All you want to
do is protect what you've got here in
“That’s right, I do.” Max winced as Michael kicked
his jeep tire.
Michael paced angrily and turned back to Max. “Have you
ever thought what it’s like here for me, Max?”
“Of course I have,” Max answered, distracted, as Liz
came towards the jeep, and Michael noticed her with disgust.
“Look, the woman who pulled your records! She’s on her
way to your place.”
“What?” Michael’s incredulous face took on a look of
disdain. More kept from him. Things that involved him personally.
“Just stay away from there tonight. Isabel is waiting for
you at our house. Just go there and wait.”
“Wait for her to find me?” Michael asked nastily. This
was looking to be very over. The longer they dawdled in
“Don’t do anything stupid.” Max called after Michael
as he stalked off.
~~~
The trip was a bust. The guidance counselor was looking for
Michael to talk to him about his absences from school. Max drove worrying about
how suspicious they appeared, not only to Ms. Topolsky, but to Kyle Valenti, the
Sheriff’s son, and Liz’s boyfriend. They were making waves. Small waves that
were building into bigger ones. Isabel was waiting for them, so Max quickly said
goodnight to Liz.
Max approached Isabel and her words made his blood run
cold. “Michael is AWOL.”
Max and Isabel headed toward Sheriff Station. It was the
most likely place.
“You know the guy doesn’t know how to control his
powers...” Isabel said glancing at her brother in fear.
“I know.” They both could see the window grate open on
the second floor of the Roswell PD. Michael. It had to be. Max heard Isabel make
a sound of distress as Valenti pulled into the station parking lot.
Isabel gestured to the open window. “You get Michael out
of there. I’ll keep Valenti out of his office for as long as I can.”
“Right,” Max answered as Isabel jumped out of the jeep,
flattening a tire and rearranging her clothing. She paused for a moment at the
door of the Police Station and shook out her hair, and straightened her
clothing, she put on a charming smile.
“Sheriff? I’m so glad someone’s here. I have a flat
tire, and I am so not mechanical.”
The Deputy on Duty sat up straighter and looked Isabel
over. “Sheriff. You’re off duty, Sheriff. I’d be happy to help the young
lady out.”
“It’s ok, deputy. I've got it.” The Sheriff said as
his eyes lit upon Isabel. Smiling kindly he went to assist her. Max Evans’
sister, Jim’s eyes narrowed.
Max climbed through the window as Michael found a key that
Valenti hid in his thermos from the FBI as they confiscated his files. Michael
had used his powers to open a locked window grate at the Sheriff's station, and
while Max and Isabel were outside Michael had been going through the Sheriff’s
files.
“Michael, let’s go, now! Valenti’s back! Let’s go!
Michael!”
Michael had startled at Max’s sudden appearance. He
picked up the key when a vision so intense that he fell backwards in a loud
resounding crash. Downstairs Valenti, the deputy, and Isabel could the noise.
Valenti told Isabel to stay put and he and the deputy headed upstairs toward his
office.
Max looked around in fear. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
Michael picked himself off the floor, and quickly righted
the desk and chair. He and Max exited the office through the window and Max
resealed the lock. They hesitated on the window sill for a moment before they
both jumped into a garbage dumpster just as Valenti arrived in his office.
Seeing nothing, he checked the window grate and found it locked and sealed.
Slowly leaving his office, he noticed a look of fear on Isabel’s face.
“Told you it was no big deal.” Michael said as they
climbed out of the dumpster. They paused at the corner to watch Isabel and
Valenti in front of the Police Station. It was a short wait as the Sheriff
finished changing the flat tire.
“There you go. You’re all set, Miss Evans.” Jim
smiled at the young woman, trying to not be too alarming.
“Thanks, thanks a lot,” Isabel said, making a move to
start the jeep.
“Isabel, right?”
“Yeah.” Isabel smiled widely, trying to hide her
unease.
“You’re out past curfew.”
Isabel laughed and gestured to the jeep. “Well, I had a
flat tire.”
“Right.” Valenti nodded and then said in a casual
voice. “Where’s Max tonight?”
“Oh, I have no idea. I’m just his sister, not his
keeper.”
Jim nodded solemnly as she drove off, not seeing her brake
a block away to let two figures jump into the back of the Jeep and then speed
away.
In the jeep in front of Michael’s trailer. Max reached
for the key. He shook his head when he didn’t get a vision. Handing it back to
Isabel, Michael waited expectantly. Isabel’s body reacted as if she had a
vision, and Michael and Max leaned forward.
“What did you see?”
“Ricky Martin in the shower.” Isabel said in jest, but
Michael took the key from her in anger and headed to his home, a trailer on the
wrong side of the tracks of
“Hey.” Michael turned to look at Max. “Sorry about
before. Maybe I don’t really know what it’s like for you.”
Michael shrugged. Max would never understand it. How could
he? “The thing I've realized, is the fact that my life basically sucks is a
good thing. It’s easier. We always have to be able to leave, pack a suitcase,
and go somewhere else. Maybe ten years from now, maybe a week from now, maybe
tomorrow. So my advice? Don’t get in too deep, Maximilian. It only makes us
weaker.”
Michael went into his crappy home with his uncaring foster
father. One thing he was certain about; he couldn’t form deep relationships,
not with anyone. Tonight it was clear to him that this also included Max and
Isabel too. They were happy in their lives, and given the opportunity, the
inertia of their lives would make them stay in
