“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Allan said once Julie was gone.
“What?” I asked.
“Come now,” he said with a knowing smile. “I’m guessing that not only did you two not run in the same social circles when you knew her, but that you also had a ‘thing’ for her. And now that you know about her issue, you’re thinking about it…oh, I’d guess more than just a bit.”
I came clean. “Well…you got me there,” I said.
“I’ve been around a while,” he said. “I’d like to think I can detect these things.”
“Just how long have you been doing this?” I asked. “Since you’re the one who’s been here the longest and all.”
Allan leaned back in his chair. “Sometimes I think too long, other times I think not long enough,” he said. I made a face at his cryptic answer. “To be exact, I’ve been here for 31 years.”
“31 years?” I exclaimed. “And you haven’t gotten tired of it?”
“Oh, sure, I’ve had moments like that,” he said.
“So why do you keep doing it?” I asked. “I mean, if you don’t mind telling me.”
He shook his head. “Of course I don’t mind,” he said.
“Well don’t you have somewhere to be, too?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Yea, right here,” he said. “I’m generally here monitoring things. My job, and the ring, allow me to spend a lot of time here. So anyway, back in the day I was this real big intellectual hotshot. I won so many awards in college, got so much attention for a couple of papers I wrote, things of that sort. Soon it wasn’t a question of if I was going to do something that could change the world, it was only a question of when. My ego was huge. Because of that, I tended to treat most people like they were beneath me if they couldn’t keep up with me intellectually. That turned out to be most everyone. It didn’t take long for people to drift away from me. They just couldn’t stand to be around me. I pushed people away by being an arrogant prick.”
“That sucks,” I said.
“You bet it does,” he continued. “But the problem was that I got to the point where I didn’t care if I offended anyone and I didn’t care if I alienated myself from other people. Then one night…”
He left his words hanging. So I picked up the dialogue. “You ran into a mysterious stranger?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “A girl of about your age, as I said before. She told me that I had lost my way and that I needed to rededicate myself to the greater good. I told her she was nuts. But before I knew it, I found myself in this room. I got the whole spiel about this is what P.H.A.N.T.O.M. is and does, and I agreed to join pretty quickly. She warned me about my alter-ego, but I honestly thought I was perfect and didn’t worry at all. What a fool I was.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Simple,” he said. “I was never physically strong. I would sometimes joke that those who weren’t on the same level as me intellectually were nothing more than ‘apes.’ So that’s why I turn into a huge monster gorilla. It’s my worst fear to have my intellect taken away from me and, unfortunately, Beringer is not exactly super-smart. He is most definitely all the things that I am not. He is my punishment for being such an arrogant ass.”
“Well why do you keep doing it then if it bothers you?” I asked.
“It doesn’t anymore,” he said. “I’ve grown to accept Beringer. But I’ve stayed with it this long because I feel that I owe it to the world. You see, I never did accomplish anything to change the world. My ideas didn’t work or someone else beat me to them. Being in P.H.A.N.T.O.M. has become my way to help the world.”
“Wow,” I said. “I’m not sure I could handle changing like that for so many years.”
Allan shrugged. “Each of us is different. There have been some to last for several years, and there have been some to do the one required year and leave immediately. No one would think any lesser of you if you left as soon as you could.”
He struck me as being a caring, knowledgeable individual. He wasn’t judgmental the way that Victoria seemed to be. Perhaps he could be a true mentor.
“I think I should be going now,” I said.
“Oh, I understand,” he said. “Not much to do around here when we don’t have a mission. I should tell you, though. There is another fairly big rule about using the ring when you’re not here. You should not, under any circumstances, transform into your alter-ego.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because the powers that protect us when we’re on a mission from being seen or heard or remembered do not work when we are not on a mission,” he said.
“But if no one would remember what Bambi looks like as a super-hero, what’s the harm?” I asked. “It’s not like people will say, ‘There goes the super-hero Bambi Buxom.’”
“Oh, it’s not that,” he said. “It’s that you may have to start living your own life in pieces. If you start developing relationships with people as Bambi, how much time will there be for you?”
It took a minute for his words to really make sense to me. “You think I might do that as Bambi? I mean, spend so much time as her that something like that happens?” I asked.
“It has happened before,” he said. “Julie and I have never had to worry about that, luckily. Bradley so despises his alter-ego that he’s never considered it. But Victoria…” His voice trailed off.
“She had that problem? With Mr. Macho Supreme?” I asked with huge surprise.
He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, Joe,” he said. “It’s not my place to talk about other people’s issues. If you want to know, you’d have to ask her.”
I asked again, “But that did happen?”
“I’m not saying anything,” he said. “Think whatever you want, but until she confirms it for you, you don’t know the truth. OK? And don’t ever tell her I said what I’ve said. If I have to endure her temper, so will you!”
“OK, OK, I got it,” I said. Allan looked deathly serious about that, so I was going to take his word.
“All right, then,” I said. “I suppose I’ll see you whenever.”
“Indeed,” said Allan. “By the way, I’d recommend you wish yourself to return somewhere you won’t be noticed. It’s better than making unnecessary wishes in a quick period of time.”
“OK,” I said. Based upon his advice, I wished that I would be in the bedroom of my apartment. Instantly I was taken there.
It was pretty freaky to go from such a huge, brightly lit room to my fairly small, dark bedroom. My bedroom was not in the neatest of conditions, either. I lived alone in this small apartment and didn’t entertain much, and so I was not the cleanest person in the world as a result. At this point I was pretty exhausted. I shoved a small pile of clothes off my bed and fell down onto it. What was I going to do now?