CHAPTER FOUR

We ate at a diner near Gramp's house. It was a small and homey place with good tasting food. I liked it a lot. It made me feel a little more at home. I felt like now I had my own special place to go for food.

When we got home, I went straight to my room. To be honest, I was anxious to see if I could catch Gene again, if he did actually exist. I went to the mirror as soon as I was in my room.

"Took you long enough!" Gene exclaimed when he saw me. "I've been waiting here for an hour!"

"Well, you left and you didn't come back. How was I supposed to know I didn't just dream the whole thing?" I had been worrying that I was going crazy all through lunch, but maybe I wasn't after all.

"I'm sorry but it takes me a long time to find my way back to a mirror I've been in before. You think it's easy to tell? They all look the same."

"A girl's gotta eat. I can't just sit here and wait around for you. But I will do what I can to help you, like I promised. So what can I do for you?"

Gene thought for a moment. "Well, first off, you can tell me where I am."

"In my mirror?" I suggested, confused.

"No, no, no, what country?"

"The United States," I answered. "We're in New Jersey."

Gene seemed surprised by this. "The states? Hm…I thought for sure we were in France. You'd figure after traveling the world over I'd know an American home from a French one…" He began to mumble.

"It's not that hard to tell," I argued. "If we were in France, I would most likely be speaking French, or English with a bad accent."

"You don't understand," said Gene. "I speak all languages; I just don't know what I'm speaking when I speak it. It's all the same to me. But that's not important. The important thing is that this is going to be harder than I thought…you see, you can't help me from here."

"Where do I have to go?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't be too far.

"India."

I laughed. "Sure, I'll take the next flight over. Are you crazy? How am I going to get to India?"

"I have the means," Gene replied. "I wouldn't expect you to spend money on a flight just for me. I'll help you there."

"Well, great. Now that I have a way there I can just pack up and leave, right? Why does it have to be India?"

"That's where my family is," Gene said exasperatedly, as if it was obvious. "I guess it's not technically my family, but it's the family I belong to. But that's not really the reason we're going…because first we need to find out where my home is, then we can see my family…"

I sighed. I wasn't getting any information out of this. "Okay, okay. I still don't know anything. Why India? Why do you not know where your home is? And how on earth am I going to be able to go to India to help you? This is not going to work." I sat down on the bed, frustrated. I wanted to help Gene, I really did. I just couldn't see how that was possible.

"Well, my home is transportable," said Gene. "You see, I live in a lamp."

"You have got to be kidding me." I threw myself onto my back so that I was lying down. "This is insane. I'm going insane."

"You're not going insane," Gene argued.

"Yes, I am. You're not real. You're a figment of my imagination. Gramps just told me the story this morning of the genie and the lamp and Ali-."

Gene interrupted, "Ali! Yes, that's the name of my master!"

"Great, just great. I'm going crazy. I'm imagining that the story Gramps told us is real. Maybe it's the stress of everything's that's happened lately. Can someone just start imagining things like this? Without any other symptoms of madness? What if there have been symptoms of madness and I don't know about it? What am I going to tell my mother? 'Oh, hey, sorry, Mom, but you're daughter's insane!' I can't believe this…"

"I have an idea," said Gene. "Just go and get someone else, anyone else, and ask them if they see me. Then you'll know you're not crazy."

That did seem like a good idea. Not that it mattered, because I was just imagining things. Gene wasn't real. But maybe having someone prove it to me would help me get over these hallucinations.

"Okay," I said. "I'll go get Meghann and Rachel."

"Why two people?" Gene asked.

"Nowadays they don't go anywhere without each other. I'm kind of envious actually; they always have someone to lean on. But anyways, I'll go and get them."

I went down the stairs to Meg and Rachel's room and knocked on the door. There wasn't an answer so I went down to the family room. They were sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Can you guys come up to my room for a sec?" I asked.

"Why?" Rachel asked, eyes still glued to the TV.

"Just, please, come. It'll take one second. This is very important."

"Fine."

Rachel and Meghann followed me back up the stairs to my room. I took them to the mirror.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"Is this a trick question?" Rachel asked, confused.

"It's a mirror, Eb," said Meghann, a little bit annoyed. "You see reflections. Can we go back downstairs now?"

I looked at the mirror and realized that Gene was no longer there. Maybe I was over my hallucinations. I sure hoped so.

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Holy crap!" Rachel yelled suddenly. "Mom!"

"What are you do-," Meg began, but suddenly she was screaming too. I looked at the mirror and realized that Gene had come back.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked. She was switching between looking behind her and at the mirror. "Is this some kind of illusion or something? If this is a trick, Eb, its not funny. You know I hate stuff like that."

"No, calm down, both of you," I said. "This isn't a trick. It's real."

"Told ya," said Gene.

"Oh my goodness, it talks!" Meg exclaimed.

"What is going on up here?" we turned to see my mom at the stairwell. "What's all this screaming about? It sounds like someone's being tortured up here."

"Mom-," Rachel began.

I slapped her arm. "Nothing, Mom," I said. "Really, we're just having another stupid argument. We'll work it out. Nothing to worry about." I smiled.

"Okay…" my mom replied, but she looked at us suspiciously while she turned to go back down the stairs. "Work it out, girls."

"Will do," I said, then sighed when she was out of sight.

"What are you doing?" Meg asked. "What is going on? You better tell us now, Eb!"

"Just sit," I said, motioning them to the bed. I sat down with them and Gene and I told them his story together.

"So you see," I finished, "he needs our help."

"And why can't Mom know about this?" Rachel asked.

"Because she'd just freak out and have us all move or something. Besides, she doesn't need any more stress in her life."

"And us running away to India would not add to her stress?" Meg questioned.

"No one said we're running away to India," I replied. "We just have to figure out what to do, okay? I promised I would help Gene, and I'm going to keep to that promise. So are you guys in or out?"

Meghann and Rachel looked at each other, and then they nodded. "Why not? We need some adventure in our lives," said Meghann.

"Great," said Gene. "So let's make a plan…"

"A plan to go to India," said Rachel. "That's a tough one."

"Not necessarily," said Gene. "Listen, I have a mode of transportation that we can use. Unfortunately, they're not very familiar with the states and I think it best if you meet with them in South Carolina. That's the only state that they've ever been to before. They'd be able to find their way back with no problem."

"Wait a second, who is "they"?" I questioned.

"Don't worry about it, you'll see when you get there," said Gene. "You guys have the Internet here right?"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, in the living room. Should we got look for something?"

"Yeah, interstate bus routes. Try to find the earliest trip to South Carolina."

Rachel and Meghann left to take care of that.

"What time does your mom usually wake up?" Gene asked me.

"Around eight, I suppose," I said. "She hasn't woken up earlier than that since we were really little." My mom was the late sleeper type. I figured that that's where I had gotten it from.

"Good. That will give you guys some time to get away before she wakes up. You should probably right her a letter, telling her of your intentions. But don't tell her too much, we don't want her thinking you three have all gone mad. That will make her worry even more."

"All right, I'll write the letter now," I said.

"No, write the letter tomorrow morning. Now we need to make a list of all the things you'll need to bring with you. We can't forget anything."

Gene and I went over several things we would need for the journey, and I wrote down the ones we agreed on. Soon Rachel and Meghann came back.

"We found a trip for six o' clock," said Rachel. "And the bus stop is really close, only about five minutes away."

"Perfect," said Gene. "That will give you about two hours to start off before your mom wakes up."

"But the bus costs some money," said Meghann. "I don't know if we have that kind of cash."

"I'm sure I have enough," I said. "Help us think of things we need to pack."

We brainstormed together until dinner.