Comments, criticisms, yards of ale should be sent to me at:
shihc@cunyvm.cuny.edu or romana@aol.com
 
The Evening After    
A Forever Not Story
by Sharon Himmanen
 
He jerked awake, gasping, bathed in sweat from the
nightmare and realized there were figures looming over
him so he tried to scramble away, still half caught up in
the dream.
 
Hands reached down and held him still until he
began to discern the ring of faces around him, and he
looked up in shock and surprised, wondering if he wasn't
still in the dream because all these people shouldn't be in
the same place at the same time.
 
LaCroix was the first to speak.  "You gave us quite a
scare, man," he rasped.  Nick could only stare up at in
shock.  "You've been out for days.  Must've been
something you ate," he chuckled.
 
Slowly Nick relaxed, but his mind was still numb.
He just kept glancing from one face to the other and
frowning until Janette explained.  "You've been
unconscious for days.  We were worried."  When he still
looked puzzled she added, "We have a guarded truce of
sorts," she said, glancing up at the two mortals in the
room.
 
This wasn't an entirely satisfactory answer, but he
was still too dazed and shaken to really process anything
too difficult at the moment.  "I just had the most terrible
dream."  He paused and looked up at them.  "I was blond
and I lived in Toronto.  And you were all there.  Sort of,"
he said.  "Except that you all looked different.  Except for
you Schanke."
 
Schanke grinned and shrugged.  "Yeah, well, you
don't mess with perfection"
 
"You," he said, looking at LaCroix, "were tall and
had a buzz cut."  The other man laughed scornfully as he
shook his long dark hair as if to reassure Nick that he
nothing about him had changed.
 
"Janette," he said, looking up at the dark-haired
woman.  How to describe the differences between this
Janette and the dream Janette.  "You were a little taller,"
he said lamely.
 
Then he glanced over at Jack who was lounging
against the counter sipping a mug of tea.  "And you were a
woman named Natalie."  The medical examiner's
eyebrows raised slightly over the rim of his glasses as the
only acknowledgment of Nick's comment.  "What do you
think that means?"
 
Jack shrugged.  "It's obvious," he said.  "You're
attracted to me on some level."  When Nick's eyes grew
wide and he opened his mouth to protest, he added with a
smile, "But don't get any ideas.  I hate to break your heart,
but I'm a happily married man."
 
Nick looked a little stricken.  He swallowed hard,
then quickly changed the subject.  "What brought this on
anyway?" he asked.
 
"I'm not sure exactly," Jack said.  "But we found a
half empty bottle of this next to you.  This is dangerous
and potent stuff.  Did you . . .?"  Jack made a face and held
up a bottle.  Nick, in a hushed voice, read the label aloud,
remembering the horrible and seemingly endless
nightmare this had brought on.
 
"Ribena . . ."
 
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For any newbies on the list, Ribena is the stuff they use for blood
on FK.  By reports, it tastes pretty nasty.
 
Sharon