Chapter 14: Changes and Preparations

During dinner that evening, Katherine had expressed concern. She had heard whisperings at the club about Ted Dixon's attack on Robert both in the locker room and on the T-Head.

"People said you were hurt quite badly,", said Katherine. looking at Robert closely for any signs of an injury.

"Yeah ... it only looked that way because I was all messy and had blood all over me from cleaning fish for Big Jim." Robert prayed that Katherine would buy that excuse.

"Well, if you do go down there again, you must remember to wear some of your older clothes."

"I done told the boy that.", said Mae as she scooped up some dishes.

"And now Ben tells me that you came down with a fever last night. How are you feeling now?" Katherine placed her hand on Robert's forehead. "Why you're as cool as a cucumber!"

"He had quite the fever last night; I assure you." Said Dr. Koch. Robert noticed him flush a bit at the lie that he told his wife. "It's best to monitor him and I still say that he ought not to leave the house until he's been free of a fever for at least three days."

"Well that seems a bit excessive but, you're the doctor." Katherine smiled.

The conversation turned to what Robert was going to do with the rest of his summer. Manny Davidson, the club pro had informed Katherine that he would have Robert's clubs ready for him by the first of next week.

"Just in time for when you return! I'm so looking forward to us playing a round together!"

"Can we invite Capt. Keller too?" Robert asked. "He said that he wanted to play some golf with me also."

"Is Capt. Keller that handsome marine I saw you speaking to yesterday?"

Robert nodded.

"Ted Dixon's father has made quite a fuss over him. He said that Capt. Keller started that whole affair in the locker room that got his son suspended for a month. He insisted that the club rescind its honorary membership to the marine."

"That's not fair!" Robert said, quickly. "Capt. Keller didn't do anything! Ted came in while we were changing and called Capt. Keller a baby killer."

"What an ugly, disgusting thing to say to someone.", said Dr. Koch.

"It is! When Capt. Keller didn't defend himself, I stepped in and told Ted to knock it off. He said something to me, I said something back to him, and he swung at me. I ducked and pushed him into the lockers. That's all that happened before Mr. Davidson came in and took over."

"What, on earth, did you say to him that made him try to hit you?" asked Katherine as she took a sip of tea.

"I ... I told him to ... eat a ... bag of dicks," said Robert sheepishly

Katherine started coughing as the tea she was sipping went down the wrong pipe. Dr. Koch rose quickly from his chair and went over to his wife pounding her on her back to help her get over the sputtering and coughing. He glanced over at Robert with a slightly disapproving grimace. For his part, Robert just tried to look like a thirteen-year-old who had been caught doing something he ought not to be doing. From the kitchen, came a short, barking, hacking sound that sounded almost exactly like a cat coughing up a hairball.

"Do we have a cat?" asked Robert.

"No," said Katherine, finally able to grab a breath of air. "That's what Mae sounds like when she's laughing."

Robert slowly realized that he wasn't in trouble for what he said to Ted Dixon.

"So, is Capt. Keller in trouble with the club or not?" asked Robert.

"I shall call down to the club and straighten this out,", Said Dr. Koch. The Dixon's have a membership but are not on the board. They have no voting rights. I dare say that we will be able to restore Capt. Keller's honorary membership without too much trouble."

"So, we ... I mean you guys have voting rights at the club?", asked Robert,

"My dear,", answered Katherine, "my father was one of the club's founding members."

"Well that puts it in a whole new light,", thought Robert. Still, he was fairly certain that this wasn't the end of his difficulties with Ted Dixon. If anything, getting Capt. Keller's membership reinstated would only add gasoline to the flames.

After Katherine had excused herself and went to bed, Dr. Koch and Robert went into the study.

"I listened to the game this afternoon.", said the doctor excitedly.

"oh?"

"I was not able to follow everything I heard, but I heard enough to understand that your prediction was one hundred percent accurate."

Robert breathed a sigh of relief. He still wasn't sure just how much this new world would mirror the one he left. Now it looked as if it was going to mirror it almost completely, if not completely in every way.

"You're surprised?" asked the doctor.

"Relieved is more like it. I'm still getting used to this concept as well. I still don't know all the ins and outs of what's going to happen."

"So, do you have a plan of action?"

"All I know is that I am to train my body and make it serve me." Robert then explained what the guardian had told him about the body wanting to serve the consciousness and how his body was engineered to do so more readily and completely.

"Apparently, there are future tasks ahead of me that will require that this body of mine be in top physical condition."

"Dr. Koch. seemed to be deep in thought. "I'm not sure I like what that portends my dear boy. It would seem as if the guardians have some paramilitary designs for you."

"That would be my impression as well."

Robert then told Dr. Koch about Capt. Keller's invitation to teach him how to fight.

"As opposed as I am to violence, " said Dr. Koch, "I would be foolish to not see that there are instances in which violence is called for. It would be equally as foolish to not see that, whatever the future holds for you, violence is going to take a significant role."

"So, I have your permission as my legal guardian to train with Capt. Keller?"

"You do. Now, since we're speaking of the future, you've made a promise to me that I can't wait for you to fulfill."

They weren't certain how to cover all of the future advances of the world of medicine. In the end, it was decided that Robert would lie on the couch in the study with his eyes closed, and Dr. Koch would ask specific questions. Robert would then search his memory for articles that he'd read or news broadcasts that he's heard that were related to the field in which Dr. Koch expressed interest. Robert was both surprised and pleased to discover that his memory was such that, even if he had glanced at an article in passing or had happened upon it by accident, the words resided in his memory and were available for recall. Robert would then 'read' the article to Dr. Koch, who would scribble on a notepad furiously trying to keep up.

At the end of the 'article'. Dr. Koch would go over his notes and question Robert upon terms and technologies that were common knowledge in 2015 but were either newly emerging or nonexistent in 1970. That would prompt another instance of Robert laying back on the couch, searching his memory and 'reading' the relevant articles that he had been able to glean from his internet usage in his previous life. Dr. Koch's notes started to take on the appearance of a root system as he charted technologies and medical breakthroughs that would happen in the future but which they just didn't have time right now to explore. Before they both realized, it was one o'clock in the morning. It was with great reluctance that Dr. Koch called an end to the evening. In that first session, Dr. Koch got to hear of home computers, the advancement of DNA research, the introduction of MRI machines and CAT scans, laser surgery, arthroscopic surgery, advancements in heart surgery where a patient could be treated on an outpatient basis.

"My dear boy," Dr. Koch yawned. "We must take care that the things you know and your abilities do not become public knowledge. If the wrong people were to learn of what you're capable, your days would be spent locked away in some facility where your time would be spent upon medical experimentation and being grilled about the future."

"I noticed that you didn't ask me if I knew the dates that accompanied these advancements."

"I did not for a very good reason."

"A person with a bit of money to invest and a knowledge of when these things are about to come forth could quickly be the richest man in the world." said, Robert guardedly.

"I already have more than enough wealth to last me for the duration of my life and Katherine's," said Dr. Koch. "I have no wish for more. I assure you my interests are purely academic."

"But, I don't mind helping out." said Robert.

"I'm sure you don't but taking advantage of your talents in that way is a certain means of calling attention to the fact that you are special. In fact, I had a similar conversation with Big Jim this evening."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he expressed a desire to use your foreknowledge of sporting events to place bets. I assured him that doing so would lead to disaster. Can you imagine what would happen if the people who took those bets were to spot a pattern in his consistently winning?"

Robert thought for a moment and then smiled. "What if there were a way to make a killing on one bet?"

"I'm quite certain that I don't follow you."

"What if Big Jim were to place one bet where the odds were so high that he would make a fortune off of it?"

"Do you know of such a bet?"

"I do. But it won't happen for another two years. In 1970 and 1971, the Miami Dolphins are going to have really good seasons. But, in 1972, they're going to be undefeated."

"Is that rare?"

"It's so rare that it's never happened before and, up until the time I died, it had never happened again."

"But what would be the odds on something like that?"

"I don't know. But they'd have to be about ten thousand to one at least."