“Would you like to come over to my place for lunch on Sunday?” asked Melendy at the end of the evening.
“Yes, I’d love to,” said Lewis.
She told him her house number in Chelmsford Street, which was now quite familiar to him after his journey to Jenny’s pool party and his now insignificant memory of his attempt to walk down Chelmsford Street with Marjorie.
He was elated, as he watched the significantly taller counterpart of Lynda Fielding walking out of Four Ways Hall and down the steps to undertake the short walk to Chelmsford Street.
“I told you things would change,” said Jenny, who had somehow appeared behind him, “I’ve been watching you two all night. I’m sure she likes you.”
“Oh Jenny, you were right. She does!” said Lewis, “She’s asked me around for lunch on the weekend. I’m so glad you talked me into staying in the group.”
“I’m pleased you stayed too. I think she discounted the group, when I first told her about it, because she was waiting for some kind of romance novel in real life to fall into her hands. Tonight she opened her heart, and found it right here after all.”
On the Sunday, Lewis arrived at Melendy Fielding’s house just before lunch time. Her mother opened the door.
”You must be Lewis,” she said, “Come in. My husband’s usually out playing tennis with his friends on Sundays, but I’m always happy to have my daughter’s guests here.”
Melendy’s polite friendly mother served them lunch and talked with them for a while.
“Can you bring the washing in from the line and fold it up now, Melendy?” she eventually asked.
“Sure Mum,” said Melendy, and smiled at Lewis before walking away.
“Now Lewis, I want to ask you something,” said Mrs Fielding, “Fifteen years ago, I wanted to call our baby girl Lynda. I was going to suggest it, but before I could bring it up, my husband said he was very fond of the name Melendy. It sounded just as nice, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. So Melendy it was. My daughter had no knowledge of the name that could have been hers, when she told me how you two met the other night. So how could you have possibly jumped to the conclusion that her name was Lynda Fielding?”
Lewis went silent. So far nobody here knew of Earth Single. He liked these Fieldings, and wanted to trust them, but what would they think of him as an interdimensional relative-sized midget?
“Are you hiding something I should know about?” asked Mrs Fielding.
There was no unpleasantness in the question, only curiosity in the manner in which she looked and spoke.
“It’s not that I want to hide it from you. I just don’t know if you’d believe it, and I don’t know if you’d still want me to see Melendy. I was surprised that she wanted to see me herself.”
“Well Melendy has quite a crush on you. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her like this, and if your secret is benign and innocent, I want only the best for you both. Why don’t you tell me what it is, and we’ll see?”