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At bridge club, Alexis Hawthorne broke her own rule. She ate some chocolate. The hostess served a mouth-watering, made from scratch, chocolate mousse pie, topped with real whipped cream. Alexis couldn’t resist taking a large portion, even though she knew she would pay for it later.
And she did. The next day, Alexis Hawthorne developed a migraine. She lay upstairs in her bedroom propped up on pillows, with an ice pack over her forehead. These headaches had plagued Alexis for many years; and now, as she neared menopause, they came more frequently and were more severe. Medication didn’t help. It stopped the intractable vomiting but only dulled the pain. All she could do was lie in bed waiting for the agony to stop.
While she waited, she used feedback mechanisms to reduce the agony: self-hypnosis and visualization. In a light trance, she pictured her hands cupping the pain and pushing it forward out of her head. As she pushed, she felt the pain dislodge from deep in her brain and float toward the outside.
Suddenly, there was a pop and she was up on the ceiling.
Am I dead?
She looked at the body in the bed and saw the chest rising and falling.
That’s me. I’m breathing, so I’m not dead. But what happened?
I must have pushed myself out of my body, along with my headache. I’m in the astral plane.
She heard the front door open and close; and Charles, her husband, called, “I’m home.”
I think I’ll try to travel down there and see if I can see him. Wait until I tell him I can do this. He’s always sneered at my alternative medicine stuff.
Alexis closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them again, she was in the kitchen, watching her husband Charles and the maid, Heidi, in a torrid embrace.
Oh, my God, when did all this start? I’ve been blind. She’s twenty at the most and he’s sixty-four. What is he thinking?
When the kiss was over, Charles sat in a chair and wiped his brow, “Whew, that was something, Heidi. You’re amazing.”
“I’m not going to be amazing much longer. I’ve made reservations to return to Sweden,” the stereotypic blue-eyed voluptuous blonde turned around and said
“What? Why? I don’t understand.”
“I’m going home.” Hands on hips, she leaned over into Charles’ face. “This relationship has nothing long term for me. You’re a married man and I want to have a family. Settle down with children and all.”
“Don’t talk like that. We’ll get married. Just wait.”
“I’ve waited long enough. I’m leaving.”
From above, Alexis watched this play out with interest. What is the SOB going to do? He can’t divorce me. We have a prenup and all the money is mine. He won’t want to give it up.
“Look. I can’t get a divorce without giving up all her money. She made me sign an agreement to that before we married. But there is another way.”
“What?”
“We kill her.”
“You’re crazy,” Heidi looked at him, mouth gaping. “I’m not going to do a stupid thing like that.”
“You want to stay in the States. You’re in love with me and you want a family. Well, all that can happen if we marry, but we can’t marry as long as my wife is alive. Otherwise, I’d be a pauper and we couldn’t have the life we both want. Alexis is a very wealthy woman. And she is heavily insured. Don’t you see? It’s our best bet. We kill her.”
“How?”
“What are you serving for dessert tonight.”
“Chocolate pudding. Why?”
Charles reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small package. “Here. Slip this into her pudding tonight. It’ll do the trick and it’s undetectable.”
“What is it?”
“Poison. I got it on the way home tonight just in case you agreed.”
“I don’t know. I’m not this kind of person.”
“Do you want a rich husband or not?” Charles embraced her and kissed her. “A life of your own with all that money can buy?”
“Yes, but I’m not really sure I can kill to get it.”
“It’s the only way, darling.”
“Well, I’ll think about it. If I serve chocolate pudding tonight, you’ll know what I’ve decided.”
“That’s my girl.”
* * * *
When Alexis was called to dinner, she got up, put on her robe, and went downstairs. When she lingered to make a phone call, Charles called nervously, “ What’s taking you so long? I’m starving.”
“I’ll be right there, darling. I’m making a phone call.”
Alexis came into the dining room, sat in her usual seat and directed Heidi to start serving.
When dessert was served, Alexis softly commented, “Chocolate pudding tonight? Hmm.”
Just then, the doorbell rang and Heidi ran to answer.
Heidi left the room and Charles started eating his dessert. By the time Heidi returned with two policemen, Charles had turned blue and collapsed to the floor.
“Thank you for responding to my call, you’re just in time.” She stood and pointed to Heidi. “Arrest that woman. She poisoned my husband, with the chocolate pudding she served for dessert. And take my chocolate pudding along. I’m sure you’ll find the same poison in my bowl.”
* * * *
Several weeks after the funeral, Alexis entertained her bridge club at home. They were curious about the murder and asked Alexis about it.
“Astral projection? Had you ever done it before?”
“No, but I knew about it,” Alexis responded.
“How did you know she would poison you?”
“While I floated around on the kitchen ceiling, I heard it them discussing it. But I heard I was the one to be poisoned, not Charles. But during her confession, she told detectives she planned to open the safe, take all the money and abscond back to Sweden with it.”
“But Alexis, how did she know the combination.”
“In a moment of passion she conned it out of Charles.”
“The women tittered and then one said, “Well, astral projection saved your life.”
Yes, I guess it did. Poor Charles. He was a silly man with a bad memory. He forgot I’m allergic to chocolate and never would eat chocolate pudding.
