An RV pulled into the sandy space next to my car. The window rolled down, and an old man leaned out.
“Got space for two more?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. “I’m just starting up a fire.”
“Fantastic.”
He and his wife soon joined me with their slow moving dog, setting their camp chairs on the other side of the fire.
“I brought marshmallows,” she told me, raising the bag. “I’m Linda.”
“Jerry,” the man said, shaking my hand with his meaty one.
“Mickey,” I answered.
“Mickey,” he repeated, sitting down heavily. “That a nickname or somethin’?”
“Short for Michelle.”
“I like it. So how long you been here, Mickey?”
“At the campground? A couple days.”
“And around the sun?” Linda asked.
I paused at the odd phrasing. “I’m almost 30.”
“Very good,” she said. “Traveling while you’re young, very good. You can do it when you’re old, as you see, but opportunities abound when you do it young.”
“Linda and me traveled the first time we were young,” he said. “Met people in one year who gave us jobs for the rest of that life.”
I pressed my lips together in a polite smile. I had just invited wackos to my campfire. Maybe best to find out what kind. “The first time?”
“Reincarnation is a fascinating thing,” Linda said. “But to remember your past lives? That’s the true gift.”
“How do you manage that?” Shrooms, or ritual sacrifice of women who were stupid enough to let you share their camp?
Linda looked at Jerry. “I’m not sure, dear. How do we find each other?”
“It’s a pull,” he said. “Primal, deep. Our second time we found each other we didn’t leave our marriage bed for a week, isn’t that right, Linda?”
“Dear,” she said with a delicate blush. “She doesn’t need to know that.”
“Ah, sorry Mickey. You understand. This woman is the love of my life.”
“Are you in tune with your past lives?” Linda asked.
“I can’t say I am.”
They glanced at each other. “Would you like some help?” Linda asked. “If you don’t mind my saying, you seem unconnected, untethered, and with your past memories we may be able to sort you out.”
“I thought you said you don’t know how you find each other.”
“Not each other,” Jerry said. “We find each other like breathing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for other folk.”
I gazed longingly at the marshmallows still sitting in Linda’s lap.
“Let us help you,” Linda said excitedly. “We’ve helped others find their soulmates, we can help you find yours.”
“What if I don’t believe in soulmates?” I asked.
She shrugged. “You don’t have to. But who doesn’t want a little direction? Your past can provide that.”
They seemed harmless enough. I’m sure many of the women I was always being told about thought the same about their murderers. But what was I out here for if not for something new?
“Alright,” I relented.
“Wonderful!” she clapped a little too enthusiastically for my taste, but she was already approaching, marshmallows forgotten next to her chair.
She knelt down in front of me, remarkably spry for a woman of her age, and she gripped my hands. She closed her eyes, concentrating, and feeling awkward to have my own open, I reluctantly did the same.
I peeked a couple times, the silence stretching on, but they were closed when she broke contact with a cry. I opened my eyes to her on her back, staring at me in horror.
“Linda?” Jerry asked, immediately on her, gathering her up.
She couldn’t take her eyes off me, frightened.
“What?” I asked, askance.
“I’m afraid – I’m afraid we have to go,” she stammered, tripping backward over her chair, which she didn’t bother to pick up, fairly running for the RV. Jerry too, looked at me with alarmed eyes.
“What is it?” I asked again, stepping forward just to be heard. “What’s so bad?”
“It was nice to meet you,” she said in a manner I certainly didn’t believe, flapping her hand weakly as Jerry helped her in.
He didn’t say a word when he climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and drove away. I stared after them a moment, wondering what had just happened. My eyes alighted on the marshmallows they’d left beside their chairs. I swooped it up and returned to my seat, glancing the way they left. Still gone. I opened the bag and tossed one back.