Chapter 2

I hope you're ready for this one. Sometimes there's more than one of me around. Because it can get very confusing I try to keep a limit on it. You know, shifting backward or forward into a time and place where I'm younger or older and there are two of me at once. Different ages, perhaps only a little older, like a few minutes, or way older like when I go back when I'm younger.

I'm sure I have you really confused right now. Let me start at the beginning. But first I need to make sure you understand I'm not the only shifter around. I've only met a couple so I figure they are fairly rare, but I'm sure there are others. Oh, and one other thing is important to understand; when I shift, anything that is touching me or is near me goes too, including someone simply holding my hand.

Yeah, that's true. And I'm sure you are very skeptical right now, but that's OK. I find it hard to wrap my mind around it too. But I've lived it and know it works.

Now for the real biggie and I hope you can wrap your mind around this one. I was born on the Fourth-Of-July, 1876. Boy is that a contradiction. How could I have been FIVE in 2001? Wouldn't that make me over a HUNDRED!!!

Well, if I was 'Normal' that would be the case. But remember I haven't been present all of the days, weeks, months and years since I was born. I've spent them very sparingly along the way.

Even that's not quite accurate. Let's back up a little so you can understand my life and how it works. Yes I was born in 1876 on the one-hundredth anniversary of our United States. By the time I was a few weeks old, I was traveling.

Not on my own power silly. I couldn't have done that. Remember I was a baby back then. My guardian angel was my father. He knew something very important and made sure I had everything I needed to keep my identity secret. I needed a birth certificate commensurate with the age my body displays. Hence after about forty years, if I looked twelve or perhaps seventy, there would be plenty of questions. Of course, I'm exaggerating here but you get the idea.

To do anything financial since the mid 1940's not only was a birth certificate a necessity and but you needed a Social Security Number too. Until recently, it was easy to get that number. Now things are very tight. You have to present yourself in person, look like you're the age on your Birth Certificate and show additional documents to verify you are who you say you are.

Earlier than the forties, having just a Birth Certificate was important but easier to get along without one but better if you did have that identification. So, my father brought me forward while I was still a baby and established my identity for me by obtaining a series of Birth Certificates for me spanning one-hundred-fifty years.

Of course, it did take a little doing, but he was able to work it all out for me. I have one for each decade from 1876 to 2146. I just choose the correct identification set that agrees with my physical age and the time I'm going to shift into.

Also, clothing is important and needs to match the era I'm in. Plus, sometimes I use makeup and a prosthesis as a disguise when I don't want to be recognized. But we'll get into that aspect later on. For now, you just have to understand that is something I do once in a while.

I guess by now you're asking how I get along. Like how I get money to exist on. Food, utilities or even a place to live, can be and is, expensive. So where does the money I need come from.

Well, I mentioned early on that I don't cheat except for one thing. You guessed it, MONEY. But I don't really cheat anyone, I just cheat the system. But I do it very carefully so I remain above suspicion. You know, as they say, 'Stay under the Radar'.

Every once in a while, I win something in a lottery. Never in the same state and never in the span of a decade. The last win I had was in the Montana lottery back in 2005. That win was over a quarter-million. Which is helpful, but at times seems like pocket change.

Well, when you take into account the taxes, that figure alone will not take me too far. But if you look at the winnings, about a hundred-ten-thousand net-net, invested in the right series of stocks and bonds can turn that seed money into some real interesting cash.

It does take work to avoid detection that's why I stay with state run lotteries and never the same state twice when I need an infusion of good hard cash. Plus it's not easy because of the work it takes making everything look legit.

With every win I get an accountant who does the paperwork part. You know file all the correct tax forms and all. Plus make sure all accounts are above board.

So what investments do I make. Well, for example I knew the financial crunch was going to happen and so a little while before it hit, I sold short on a bunch of stocks I knew were going to tank. I also chose an equal number of stocks that wouldn't make me money but where I'd not lose a lot. Also I used several brokers so it would be hard to put it all together. I turned that hundred thou into over a million in profit.

The grand part of the stocks I picked and purchased low, is they have gone way back up as the economy has recovered. I cleared another million knowing which ones to keep and which to sell. I could do that day after day but I don't. I learned early on that if you get greedy, you get caught.

I'm sure you've heard of one guy who's won one of his state's lottery three times. I'm willing to bet he's a shifter. The odds are too great for that to happen with any such frequency. Although catching him will be near impossible. All he has to do is shift in time and place and he'll have effectively vanished. But I'm sure if he surfaces again, he will be in a peck of trouble.

Right now I'm working on winning a state lottery in 2015. Remember my decade rule. I'll give you my secret; Lottery Subscription. Yeah, I know what the winning numbers WILL be so I set up a subscription and play those numbers for a year, starting eight months before the drawing I'm aiming to win.

It's not like I zoom in, play just one week and win. That would definitely raise a red flag. No, after all, I have a subscription and wow ... after eight months ... I finally got lucky.

Plus I have to develop a reason I picked those numbers. They always ask that question. So, I picked winning numbers which I could make sense out of and had a nice jackpot attached to them. The one I'm due to hit next year is a half-million and should net me somewhere near three-hundred thou.

Oh, and another thing I do is use the same numbers in an annual subscription in another state's lottery. If you're wondering why I do that, it's a cover. You know, if any questioning gets too intense, I can back out and show I was trying somewhere else too.

Oh, and I always take a two number subscription using similar numbers which won't win anything. Most lotteries are a buck a number so my investment in advance for the two subscriptions is just over two-hundred dollars. Nice return on that investment isn't it.

Of course, about six months after the win, I let it be known people have been bothering me so I disappear. Well, I return to my home base in One Pine, Tennessee. It's a real small town and I have a thousand acre estate there. I can go there anytime and relax and be myself. And by anytime I mean, anywhere in time.

I bought the property back in mid 1850 and over the years expanded a nice small home I built there into a mansion. Well, not actually a mansion, but big enough I can have anything I want. Plus I have an estate manager who keeps it running. She understands I come and go and years might pass before me or one of my relatives visits unexpectedly.

Of course the 'Relatives' who come and go are me too but at a different age. Plus if I want to just have privacy and live chronologically for a while, I can do that. But I can choose whatever day, month or year that is.

The family of the original Estate Manager has supplied all the staff, including hereditary control of who the subsequent manager will be from the beginning. Each and every member of my staff is fully aware of my idiosyncrasies and those of my relatives. Extreme privacy is a must and they know they always have to be prepared for a visit.

Chapter 3 »