So how did I detect, discern, or perceive this change?
Well, first of all this planet is warmer. Here it is mid-November and it’s 71 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s been about that warm all month. It wouldn’t be that way back home. No, it would be much, much cooler.
Then there is that foul odor when I step outside. At first I thought it was the hog farm, which like the one on my home planet, is about 3-4 miles due east. But then, I smelled that same manure-like odor when I was in the large metropolitan area 120 miles away, and then again, on another day when I drove west and out-of-state - no hog farms in those two places.
And there is the problem with gravity. Although I am the same height and weight, I feel heavier, you know weighted down, as if the gravitational force is greater on this planet, and it seems to render me physically weaker. In fact just yesterday, as I was giving a thorough cleaning to the bedroom, I lifted the king-size mattress in order to prop it against a wall, so that I could then remove and launder the bed skirt, lift out the box springs and vacuum under the large bed area. This is something I could easily manage in the former world, but here on Planet Two, as I’ve come to call this place, I found myself struggling and battling to lift the mattress, until at some point I lost control and became wedged between the mattress and box springs, unable to extract myself. I called out to my Planet Two-assigned husband, who by the way seems identical in every way to Beloved Husband from my previous world.
Assigned Husband was in the attached garage, attempting to strip rusted bolts from an aging snowblower. Being just barely within my voice range, he eventually heard my pleas for assistance, opened the door and called out, “Are you talking to me? I’ll be done out here in a minute or two” and promptly closed the door between us.
And it seems as if my sense of humor seems to have abated. I laughed about the situation, but it was a hollow sound. I tell you it scares me.
Finally, it was the palpable, physical illness that began upon wakening last Wednesday morning. It must be some sort of indigestion, I thought as the first wave of nausea hit. I reassured myself, this will pass, but it continued, in frequent enough waves to disrupt my appetite, thus further weakening me. It’s sort of reminds me of the Kryptonite that challenged Superman. Perhaps it’s related to that foul odor in the atmosphere. Or perhaps it’s radioactivity from computer and cell phone contact, or maybe it’s a toxin related to wireless internet and television exposure. I turn all off, but the waves of discomfort continue.
I make a quick trip to the city to check on my closest relatives, my Planet Two-assigned immediate family. They, too are feeling very queasy, but they are concerned about me, and thus try to reassure me that perhaps it’s just a common “bug” we all share and "we should give it time before we really react," you know, like call the physician.
I run into an acquaintance, or someone who looks exactly like someone I knew on my home planet. He asks, “So, what do you think about the election?” But, I’m wary of the beings on this new planet and choose to make only a general comment, “It'll surely be interesting.” I’m not ready to reveal to Planet Two beings that, alas, I am an alien.
The very next evening I talk, at length with someone claiming to be my long-time trusted friend, and finally I confess my situation with her. “Oh my gosh!” she says, “I thought I was the only one.” She also has been transported to Planet Two. And by now, I’ve confirmed that Planet Two-Assigned Husband and Beloved Husband are indeed one in the same. He’s made the transport with me. Well, at least I’m not alone. I make a note to check with my Planet Two family. I'll just bet they, too, have made the trip.
I toil diligently in the garden the following day, as it is one of the few places that makes any sense to me, where somehow the atmosphere is not as toxic.
Beloved Husband encourages me to take a long drive with him, “It’ll do us good.” We drive to an out-of-state town on a large muddy river. Outside the car, again I smell the foul odor of "crap." But, being in need of supplies to prep for our family’s upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, as we pass a large grocery store I say, “Let’s stop here."
The clerk in the checkout lane we choose has a very pale, light skin tone, as if she’d stood in that very lane, day after day, without any exposure to Planet Two’s sunlight. She is near to my age. Her hair is dyed a fiery ginger-red and it reminds me of the star actress from my home planet’s 1950s sitcom, I Love Lucy. The clerk’s rouge and lipstick are a bit garish for my tastes, however she does possess the prettiest baby-blue eyes I’ve ever seen, on either planet.
A young man is in line ahead of us and has placed two or three items on the counter. I don’t recall exactly, but I know one of them is a package of birthday candles. His complexion is almost the polar opposite of the clerk’s, his skin being very dark - over-exposure to Planet Two’s sunlight, I’m guessing. His hair is jet-black and finely braided into tight rows of plaits that fall just past his collar.
She looks directly at him, smiles and greets him in a bright lilt as she rings up his purchases. In his hand he has a twenty dollar bill, at the ready. She announces that the total is ten dollars and 50 cents. He says quietly, “Uh, wait a sec, I think I have exact change.” “Take all the time you want, Sweetheart,” she replies agreeably as he fishes smaller bills and coins from his pants pocket. They conclude their transaction with her sincere wish for him to have a nice day and him beaming back at her and thanking her for her patience.
She immediately turns to me, looks me in the eye, smiles a genuine, baby-blue eye-crinkling grin, and lilts, “And how are you doing today, Sweetheart?” At the end of our transaction she wishes me well and winks at me. It was that wink, it was then I that I knew…
My illness seems to be abating and I think I’m adjusting to the atmosphere. And I’ve been exercising regularly to regain some of the strength I’ve lost due to the new gravitational surge. Oh, and my sense of humor seems to be improving, but still has a way to go. But most of all I’m getting much better at spotting the other people who, like me and that ginger-redheaded checkout clerk at the muddy river town in the Heartland and the young man buying birthday candles and Beloved Husband and my longtime best friend, who, everyone of us, one day awoke to a near-venomous world they didn’t recognize.
And now I know that we’ll all bide our time, and we’ll support each other and slowly, but surely, we will once again strengthen and grow healthy.
“If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.” ― William James
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| found online - hope artist doesn't mind me borrowing it |
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| superman & lucy |
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