Any World (That I'm Welcome In) - Ch. 17

©2025 SammyC

Noah Artaud stood in front of us, dressed in an Italian cut black 3-piece suit, white shirt, and burgundy tie. His lightweight cloth coat was draped across his arm, and he was holding a ring in his clasped hands.

“Noah! What…how…” I composed myself and asked, in an angry tone, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m glad I caught you before you left for the dance. Dad put in a rush job on these promise rings from Tiffany’s in the city—”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on your way back to Paris?”

“I’m on a plane to Orly tomorrow morning. They just cleared the runways yesterday. It’s a fortunate delay because I get to take you to the dance as well as place your new promise ring on your finger—”

George raised himself to his full 6-feet 4-inch height and glowered at Noah.

“Now wait a minute, dude. I’m taking Gigi to the dance. And who in the hell exactly are you?”

“Boys, calm down.” Mom placed herself in front of Noah. “Noah is Gigi’s…uh—”

“Fiancé,” Noah declared.

“No, he’s not!” I protested.

“Gigi, I know you don’t remember this right now but, God willing, you’re going to any day and soon.” Mom’s expression displayed sympathy but also stoic resignation to the reality of things. “Noah has a long history with you. Your families were the closest of friends.”

“You’re engaged to this guy, Gigi?” George asked, crestfallen.

Frustrated, I turned to everyone and announced, “People, can I have a few minutes alone with Noah? We need to talk. Obviously.” No one moved. “Please? George, Regina, Billy, wait in the car. Mom, Nick, Artie? Please give us some space.”

Slowly, George, Regina, and Billy moved toward the door. George kept his eyes on Noah. After the door was shut, Mom nudged Nick and Artie toward the stairs.

“Thanks, Mom, Nick.” I turned to Noah as he moved to sit down on the sofa. “Don’t sit down! We can do this standing right here. This won’t take long.”

“First, let me place your new promise ring on your finger—”

“Noah, please.” I held up my hands in front of me, blocking the proffered ring. “I can’t accept it. Let’s get this straight between us. It must seem cruel to you but it’s absolutely frightening for me. I don’t remember you. I don’t remember our relationship. I don’t remember anything about my previous life before the accident. I’m sorry. Literally, I’m not the Gigi you knew and fell in love with. Please go back to Paris and save the promise ring for someone new you’re sure to find.”

“Your amnesia is not permanent, Gigi. You WILL remember…eventually. And I can be very patient, especially since my parents have the financial resources and connections to get you the best medical care in the world. My mother’s cousin, Sylvie Cotillard, is the chair of the Neurology department at Paris Descartes University. She’s among the foremost experts on neuroscience in the world. I’m sure she can help you better than these American quacks like those two buffoons I met at your house—”

“You don’t understand, Noah. I’m not the Gigi you knew. There are no hidden memories to uncover. Because I didn’t live that life.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m Reggie Perrin. A 17-year-old boy. Not Gigi LeClerc. Not in this universe.”

“Are you okay, Gigi? Are you on some kind of medication? Mrs. Tolliver!”

I rushed forward and placed my hand over his mouth before he could call out again in a louder voice.

“They don’t know. I haven’t told them. Not that they’d believe me—”

“Mmmfff.” I took my hand away. “Poor girl. You’re deluded. What kind of doctors are allegedly treating you?”

“I’m Reggie…from a parallel universe. I went through a vortex in Parsons Lake and popped out in YOUR universe. I essentially changed places with your Gigi.”

“Oh my God, Gigi. You’re sick. Come with me! I can get you the medical attention you deserve—”

“Why don’t you believe me?” I screamed before realizing that my family upstairs could hear me. Modulating my voice, I continued. “Don’t you see? This explains everything. I’m not in love with you because I’m not Gigi. I’m Reggie.”

Noah just blankly stared at me.

“From another universe…” I took my phone out of my clutch and dialed the only person I could think of who could help me explain this.

“Uncle Richie? Are you home? It’s Gigi. I mean Reggie. I need to see you right now. I’m coming over and bringing someone with me. What? I don’t care if you have company. Just tell her to take a raincheck. It’s a guy? You really are different from my Uncle Richie! Well, it can’t be helped. I’ve got to talk to you now! I’ll be there in five minutes.” I disconnected and took Noah’s arm, walking briskly to the front door. “Mom, we’re leaving. See you later!”

Nick’s voice boomed down from upstairs. “Be home by 11:30! I’m giving you an extra half-hour…”

It took us ten minutes to reach Uncle Richie’s ramshackle bachelor mansion. Actually, the drive itself took five minutes. The additional five minutes was due to George trying to clobber Noah when I shouted to George, Regina and Billy that I’d meet them at the dance later on. I had to extricate Noah from George’s vise-like grip while explaining that we were going to Uncle Richie’s house and that Noah wasn’t trying to kidnap me.

A very worried Noah stood behind me as Uncle Richie opened the door to greet us.

“Gigi! What a surprise! And Noah, nice to see you again. Come in, come in.”

“It’s alright, Uncle Richie. Noah knows I called ahead to see you.” I looked around, searching for a glimpse of Richie’s houseguest. “Where’s your friend?”

“He’s a little shy. Not comfortable with meeting new people.”

“Regina didn’t tell me you were gay—”

“I’m not! What makes you think that?”

“Your new family is quite…unusual, Gigi,” Noah mused as he sat down on Richie’s well-worn couch.

“Anyway, I need you to back me up on something, Uncle Richie.” I put my sweater on top of a chair facing the couch and sat down. “Tell Noah here who I really am.”

“Really? He won’t believe me. I had a hard time believing it myself…until this afternoon.” He furtively looked over his shoulder in the direction of the hallway before facing us again. I thought I saw the top of someone’s head in the darkness, but I could’ve just been imagining it.

“Try me. I’m an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction. I can probably identify where you cribbed your story from. The question is why.” Noah threw his hands in the air.

“Okay. It’s like this. Gigi here. I mean Reggie. Reggie Perrin is from a parallel universe to ours, Noah. He/she went through a vortex, a portal, and was transported here. Coincidentally, he/she emerged as Gigi, the twin sister her mother had given up for adoption…in his/her universe. Reggie the boy twin turned into Gigi the girl twin. The Gigi you knew apparently fell through a portal in Jacob Lake in the accident that killed her parents, the LeClercs. Where she ended up, we don’t know—”

“And you know this for a fact, how? Are you also from this…this alternate universe?” Noah challenged.

“No, he isn’t. But I am.” Out of the dark hallway emerged a figure that startled me, so much so that I screamed and reached for Uncle Richie, grabbing his arm and burying my head in his chest.

Noah exclaimed, “Another set of twins? You guys are nuts!”

“Reggie, don’t be scared. It’s me, Uncle Richie.” The eerie simulacrum of Uncle Richie came toward me, his arms outstretched. I moved quickly behind my uncle, shielding myself from whomever or whatever this was.

“Reggie, it’s Uncle Richie!” they both announced in unison.

Noah jumped up from his seat and snatched his coat from the back of the couch. “Jesus, I’m getting out of here! You people are insane.” The decibel level reached 80 when Noah slammed the front door shut on his way out. Considering the creaking age of Richie’s house, I was afraid the whole edifice would collapse.

“Tell me I’m dreaming, Uncle Richie,” I muttered from behind his right shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. You’re right, he, I mean she’s Reggie…if she was a girl.”

The two of them stood a couple of feet apart from each other, looming above me, still cowering in the crook of Richie’s arm. Presently, Richie gently placed me between them.

“Reggie, YOUR Uncle Richie showed up at my doorstep this afternoon. At first, I thought it was someone trying to jimmy the lock. We’ve had a rash of burglaries recently—”

“Luckily, I turned around just before Richie 2.0 clocked me with the rake in his hands.”

“Hey, as long as you’re on my home turf, I’m Richie Prime. You’re 2.0.”

I recognized Richie’s endearingly crooked smile and gladly swam into his embrace.

“Uncle Richie! I’m so homesick. It’s so good to see you.”

“Same here, Reggie. You’re nicer to hug than before too,” he laughed.

“But…but I’ve been here for months. Why did you wait so long to follow me?”

“Wait? I woke up right after you stepped out of the tent and thought you might be sleepwalking. I dove into the lake mere minutes after I saw you go under. It’s a puzzle to me too that half a year seems to have passed while I was in limbo between universes.”

The Uncle Richie from this universe interjected, “It’s almost like the multiverse are wheels in a clockwork machine and the cogs randomly mesh. Reggie found a place to emerge before you did. That’s my guess. But I only play a scientist on television—”

“Or staying at a Holiday Inn.” They cackled in unison at their witty repartee.

“You scared the shit out of me, but you convinced Noah that I’m either telling the absolute truth or we’re all raving bonkers. Which is fine with me as long as he goes back to France and stays there…away from me.”

“This wouldn’t have worked with some of the women I’ve tried to break up with—”

Again, they cackled in unison. Annoying! After their fit of laughter died down, I turned to a serious topic.

“But, Richie, you can’t stay here for long. Did Richie…er, this Richie (I pointed) fill you in on what Grant Moorefield discovered?”

“Yeah, it sucks that I’ve got to skedaddle or be forced out by the universe. Unless one of us expires…”

“Don’t get any nasty thoughts, brother. I’ve got more than that rake I was going to hit you with.”

“Anyway, you’re safe and, from what I can gather, pretty happy about your present situation. You’re a girl now. I can at least feel relieved that I didn’t send you off into oblivion like I feared—”

“It wasn’t your fault, Uncle Richie.”

“That’s probably not how your mother back home sees it.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“I was going to take you back with me if I was fortunate enough to find you but…you’re happy where you are. I don’t want to fuck up your life a second time. I’ll leave through the portal in Parsons Lake in a few days. In the meantime, I’d like to spend some time here, see how things differ from our universe. Maybe observe from a safe distance, you know. Richie tells me Nick and my sister, your mom, are getting along decently in this universe. That’s wonderful. I’ll have some great notes just in case I end up some place where I can stay and write a sequel to Strangeness Beyond, my magnum opus.”

“I have to be honest, Richie, I’m enjoying being a girl. I just wish I wasn’t compelled to live someone else’s life. I’m not Gigi LeClerc and, frankly, I don’t want to be her.”

I put my sweater back on. “Don’t leave without letting me know. I’ll figure out a way we can get together without my parents finding out. But I do want you to meet Regina. Right now, Richie Prime has to drive me to the dance.”

“But I thought you didn’t want to go with George in the first place. Nick forced you to—”

“Yeah but Tom will be there. He can cut in at the first opportunity and we’ll dance the night away! Let’s go!”

When I arrived at the dance, telling everyone I was being fashionably late, I found George sitting by himself at one of the tables close to the makeshift stage they had put up in the gym. Almost everyone else there, including Billy and Regina, was on the dance floor, moving in rhythmic spasms to the music played by Mr. Grimes, our Social Studies teacher turned DJ for the night. Sitting at another table, surrounded by her best friends from the cheer squad, were Winnie and her date, Gerald Winthrop, the team’s kicker. She was ignoring Gerald’s offers to dance. Instead, she was staring daggers across the room at George.

I scanned the gym for any sign of Tom, but he was nowhere to be seen. When I ran into Cynthia at one of the refreshment tables, I asked her where Tom was.

“Oh, I thought you knew. He’s gigging at The Crypt again with his band. Saturday night, you know. He said the dance didn’t really interest him. Maybe you going with George had something to do with that.” She sniffed the air and chomped on a chocolate chip cookie. Taking the hint, I turned away and walked the last mile to George’s table. He instantly perked up when he saw me and began peppering me with questions. I danced with him to shut him up but, as the music blared, and toes were stepped upon, my thoughts were on Tom’s absence. Was he mad at me? I thought I had explained my situation to him. Did he misunderstand? Did he think I was breaking up with him?

Fortunately, only fifteen minutes passed in this way until Principal Stover made her way to the tiny stage in the front of the gym, flanked on one side by the DJ station. She cleared her throat and did what every technician advises against, tapping the microphone with her index finger. Tapping forces air into the diaphragm that picks up sound and may cause it to rupture. Mr. Grimes played a fanfare that didn’t please the principal.

“Everyone! May I have your attention. Welcome to Rossington High School’s Homecoming Dance. Thank you for the wonderful turnout tonight. I hope everyone’s enjoying the evening and the incredible season our sensational football team is having. Undefeated through nine games! With one more regular season game to go! Go Rossington!

“Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is upon us. The crowning of this year’s Homecoming King and Queen. (Mr. Grimes played a drum roll) Our Homecoming King is none other than the person who received 99.9% of your votes…and I’m going to find the student who cast their vote for a cooler of Gatorade if it’s the last thing I do…your star Quarterback, George Parker! Come up here George!”

George ran up to the stage and smiled from ear to ear amidst loud cheers as Vice Principal Garrett placed a plastic crown on his head and handed him a royal scepter.

“Now, we have a situation we’ve never come across before. The voting for Homecoming Queen ended up a tie among three girls. All three had the exact same number of votes. I suppose the three of you can share the crown?”

Scattered boos echoed through the gym.

“Well, what do you propose we do? Anyway, the three winners are: Winnie Schlitter…”

A huge cheer arose, followed immediately by scattered boos.

“…Gigi LeClerc…”

An eruption of loud cheers and applause was punctuated by George’s thumbs up sign on stage.

“…and the third winner is…Regina Tolliver…”

A surprising burst of cheers and whoops lasted more than a few seconds.

Before Principal Stover could call us up on stage, I shouted out, “If it’s alright with everyone, I’d like to decline the votes I received. Principal Stover if you poll the students present here at the dance, we can break the tie between Regina and Winnie by acclamation. I think we have a quorum to do just that.”

“That’s rather unusual…but I suppose… By show of hands, how many of you want Winnie Schlitter for Homecoming Queen? Hold your hands up high so Vice Principal Garrett can count accurately.”

A third of the room raised their hands.

“Now, how many of you want Regina Tolliver for Homecoming Queen? Raise your hands, please.”

The other two-thirds of the room raised their hands.

“Principal Stover, it looks like it’s Regina by a 2 to 1 vote,” Garrett announced.

“Well, congratulations, Regina. Come on up and accept your crown as Rossington High’s Homecoming Queen!”

Most of the crowd cheered as Regina ran up on stage to have her crown placed on her head. She beamed and, surprisingly, George seemed genuinely thrilled for her. He actually kissed Regina on the lips. Principal Stover wagged her finger at them.

The cheering was loud enough to almost drown out Winnie’s protests. “It’s a fix! This is ridiculous. It’s a fix!”

I moved back toward the refreshment tables to take in the entire panorama. Regina’s triumphant moment was well-deserved. I felt all warm inside for her. And for myself. For, in my home universe, I was Regina. Well, I could have been. I wondered, if I could find my way back home, if I could still be…Regina.