Part 2 (of ?)

Opening her eyes, Cordelia found herself facing a clothes rack. Miniskirts, tops, skirts, and jackets of every color and material—including plastic and paper—filled the display. She found herself especially taken by one skirt, a Mary Quant design mini, made of alternating gold and silver scales that, when they caught the sunlight just so, seemed to reflect every color in the rainbow. Turning her head to the left, she found another display, this one of hats—red, lime green, yellow; hats with wide brims and hats with bows; and beneath the hats—red, gold, silver, white, black platform shoes and go-go boots. Then, she heard what sounded like a DJ’s voice, “And that was Nancy Sinatra’s hit, ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’. Continuing KDSL’s countdown of last year’s hits on this first Saturday of 1967 we have number 89 on the Billboard top 100, The Hollies’ ‘Bus Stop’!”
“January!” The lithe brunette groaned as the exuberant sounds of Graham Nash, Terry Hicks, and Alan Clarke’s voices filled the air,

Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows
Under my umbrella


All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella, we employed it
By August, she was mine


Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop
Sometimes she'd shopped and she would show me what she bought
Other people stared as if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers are going to be the same


“I’m stuck here for five months! That means I’m gonna have to find a place to live, buy clothes, get a job, and try to keep my sanity while I’m waiting for May.” Opening the large white leather purse she carried, the young Seer took stock of her funds. “Well . . . I’ve got enough to last a week or two at a hotel. And as far as clothes go . . .” She then, with a precision borne of years of experience gained in shopping malls, examined the skirts and tops on display, mentally making a list of definite yeses, maybes, and definite no-no’s. “It could be worse . . . I guess . . .” She sighed, “I could have been stuck in the fifties and have to wear poodle skirts and bobby socks.”

As she listened to the music and lyrics while continuing her visual inspection, Cordelia, remembered back to a time that, while it seemed almost a lifetime ago, was really only four years in the past, while she was dating Xander. She chuckled as she recalled how she had caught Giles sitting in his office one day, when he thought no one was in the library, listening to this very song on his portable CD. As the song continued, she began to unconsciously sing along as she fingered the silver and gold mini. ‘Wonder what Angel and the rest of the gang would say if they saw me wearing this?’ She continued to sing softly, her thoughts lingering on the cursed vampire who had become her best friend and his little baby boy,

That's the way the whole thing started
Silly but it's true
Thinkin' of a sweet romance
Beginning in a queue


Came the sun the ice was melting
No more sheltering now
Nice to think that that umbrella
Led me to a vow


Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop
Sometimes she'd shopped and she would show me what she bought
Other people stared as if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers are going to be the same


Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows
Under my umbrella


All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella, we employed it
By August, she was mine


“A sweet romance! Yeah, Right!” Cordelia snorted. “As if that’ll ever happen to me anytime in the near future—not with my job! I mean . . . it’s not as if I’m looking to get married or anything like that, but it’d be nice if some guy would . . .” Then, as she pulled the dress from the rack, she grunted as she felt someone’s elbow jostling her.

“Oh! Excuse me!” Turning quickly towards the source of the voice, Cordelia saw a slender woman a few inches shorter than her and about her age, with close cropped strawberry blonde hair and wearing a red A-line mini, without a belt, white boots that reached up to her calves; and her earrings, golden balls, about an inch in diameter, hanging from slender gold chains about two inches long. “I’m sorry . . .” The other woman said apologetically, “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“That’s ok.” Cordelia smiled back at the other woman. “I was paying more attention to the dresses anyway.”

“Groovy dress.” The other woman ventured.

“Yeah.” Cordelia, remembering that ‘groovy’ was supposed to be a good thing, grinned back as she held the dress up to her and looked in the mirror. “Way too expensive, though.” Her lips then turned down into a frown as she saw the price tag.

“Bummer.”

“Tell me about it!” The time traveling Seer sighed dejectedly. Then, realizing that she hadn’t even introduced herself, the former Sunnydale resident chuckled. “I’m sorry, I’m Cordelia—Cordelia Chase.”

“Felicia Brennan, but everyone calls me Licia.” The other woman replied with a smile as she offered her hand.

“Well, I’m pleased to meet you Licia! And call me Cordy.” The Seer grinned as she put the dress back on the rack where she had found it.

Looking at her watch, Cordelia’s new friend grinned. “I can’t believe the time! It’s already noon! Tell ya what, if you’re not doing anything, you wanna join me for lunch?”

Feeling the growling in her stomach, Cordelia nodded her head enthusiastically. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go!”

************************************

As the train wheels clattered on the rails, a solitary figure crouched further into the darkness of a corner recess in between two large crates marked ‘Heavy Machinery’. “Please! STOP! I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry . . .” He sobbed as he woke up, his cool skin now sticky and clammy from his sweat. Drying his tears with the sleeve of the same black leather jacket that he had worn since 1956, the dark haired figure, hearing the squeaks made by a nearby rat, took a deep breath, and pouncing, caught the hapless creature in his hands. His face now reflecting his demon visage, he sunk his fangs into the rodent, draining its blood in an effort to, temporarily at least; sate his hunger before the train reached its next destination—Sunnydale.

***********************************

Exiting the store with her new friend, Cordelia paused for a moment to take in the oldies version of her home town. She shook her head as she saw a brand new 1967 Camaro, white with blue racing stripes, whiz past. As she saw the Sunnydale Theater still at the location she had always remembered it to be, she smiled with relief, then chuckled as she read the marquee, “Georgy Girl with Lynn Redgrave and James Mason.”

“Yeah.” Felicia said, picking up on Cordelia’s words. “Sounds like it oughta be a gas.”

“Yeah.” Cordelia, playing it safe, agreed. “A real gas.”

The Espresso Pump was not there, of course. Instead, there was an ice cream parlor where teenage boys wearing everything from the familiar maroon and gold Sunnydale High letterman jackets to Nehru jackets to ordinary jeans and shirts sat talking to teenage girls, some wearing conservative knee length dresses, others mini-skirts that came in every color of the rainbow, while still others wore jeans with sweaters that wouldn’t really be out of place in 1997 Sunnydale. “That’s where the high school kids hang out.” Felicia volunteered as they passed a car with two teenage boys in it that looked awfully familiar to the time traveler.

As Cordelia looked closer at the 1950s era Chevy convertible, she immediately recognized it from when she saw Xander with it that time he had tried to impress her with his coolness. One of the men, whom the Seer immediately recognized as being a younger version of Xander’s father, yelled out to her and her new friend, “Shake it don’t break it, babes!”

“Hop on in, chicks!” The other one, whom the former May Queen figured out, had to be her old boyfriend’s Uncle Rory, shouted. “We can truck on over to the park and watch the submarine races!”

“With you two squares? No thanks.” Felicia snorted as Cordelia fixed the two boys with her best Queen C stare.

“Not if you were the only two guys left on earth and all the batteries in the world had vanished!” The ex-bitch queen of Sunnydale High smirked as her new friend giggled.

The two women, triumphant in their battle of wits against their unarmed opponents, then walked away with their heads high, ignoring the elder Harris’s shouted “Soshes” and Rory’s taunting, “Skags!”

“The Harris boys.” Felicia spat out as her and Cordelia entered the Pizza Heaven restaurant, a place that had long closed before the time traveling seer was even born.

“Pfft.” Cordelia snorted, and then said in a low voice, “And to think, that twit’s gonna be Xander’s father. Xander deserves way better than that loser!”

“Huh?” Licia asked as the two women made their way to an empty booth, “I didn’t catch that, Cordy.”

“Oh . . .” Cordelia, realizing her mistake, stammered momentarily before regaining her poise, “I was just saying that those two boys look like a pair of real losers.”

“Yeah. A pair of freaks.” Felicia agreed as a waitress came to take their order. “So . . . you new in town or what?”

“Yeah.” Cordy lied. “I just got in . . . but . . .” Her face then turned red with embarrassment, “The airline kinda lost all my baggage.”

“Bad scene.” Licia said as she sipped her water. “You got a place to crash ‘til you get your stuff together?”

“I was planning on checking into a motel . . .I got enough money to last me until I can get a job and afford to move into a rooming house or something like that.” The time traveling seer responded.

“Well . . . I normally don’t do this . . . but you seem like a pretty far out person so . . . if you want, you’re more than welcome to crash at my pad as long as you like.”

Cordelia, realizing that the other woman was offering a place for her to stay, smiled warmly at her generous offer, “Thanks, but I really don’t wanna crowd you.”

“No. You’re not crowding me out or anything like that.” Felicia replied with a wide grin. “I’ve been looking for a roomie since my last one split from town last month.” The strawberry blonde then lowered her voice so that only Cordelia could hear, “She kinda freaked out . . . came in one night screaming about how these monsters wanted to suck out all her blood . . .” The young woman then shivered slightly as Cordelia listened sympathetically. “I think she was just on a bad trip, you know . . . she was really into tabs.” She then gave her new friend a questioning look, “You’re not into acid or any of that stuff, are you?”

“No!” Cordelia shook her head vehemently. “No acid or anything like that!”

“Cool.” Felicia, hearing her brunette friend’s answer, sighed in relief. “I mean, if that’s your scene I can dig it and all . . . I’m not telling you what to do . . . I’m not the man, you know. But like, I don’t wanna have to go through a bad scene like that again! Once was enough!” Then, licking her lips as the pizza came, she continued, “Anyway, it’s a two bedroom pad, the rent and utilities are pretty cheap. I’ve only got a black and white TV though; color’s just too much bread. So . . . we roomies?”

“Yeah, sure . . .” Cordy grinned broadly as she realized that one of her problems, at least, was taken care of. Now, all she had to do was build a wardrobe, find a job, and wait for Angel and the bad guys to show—no problem!

“Cool!” Felicia face turned up into a wide smile. “Tell you what, we get done here, we’ll cruise on to my pad and get you situated, then we’ll hit the clothes shop again, and then I’ll give you the grand tour and later on tonight, if you want, we can cruise on to the Bronze and check out the scene.”

“Sounds good.” Cordelia, curious as to what the Bronze was like at this time, smiled back as she bit into her pizza.

************************************

Far beneath the ground, below where Sunnydale High’s new library stood, a figure hidden in the shadows bowed down before the murky, foul smelling pool. “Soon, Master. The Order of Merovinus will be here soon, and you shall arise again—and we shall ascend to our rightful place at your side and we shall feast upon the humans above.”

TBC...