Chapter 1

I was 68 years old on my last run in a truck. My health card would be up by the time I got off this trip. They told me I would not pass the test for another. I had used my body to the fullest. I was never a big man. I had steel plates in my left arm from a car accident. My ankles were so weak from tearing ligaments caused by falls from ATCs that I could hardly walk. I tore ligaments from both shoulders playing tackle football without pads on a church league in the park.

I started at the ripe old age of 18 studying Judo while I spent 4 years on an aircraft carrier. I got out of the service and started driving a truck across the country. By the time I was 68, I was pretty much done for. It was all I could do to move around and make sure I did not twist or break loose an old ligament. I had two failed marriages because I would not stop driving. The last 10 years the only woman I messed with was a lot lizard. I had over a million dollars in the bank. I was going to enjoy my retirement.

My daddy was a logger and taught me how to work. Let no one ever tell you that a logger is a weakling. Now, I feel like one. Things I used to do are now impossible.

I learned the hard way by helping my daddy. We cut the trees and snaked them out with a horse. Then we pulled them up on the wagon and hauled them to the saw mill. We then unloaded the wagon.

My favorite hobby was rebuilding and restoring old cars. I loved the Hudson, Packard, Studebaker and Kaiser. I knew all there was to these old cars. But when they put all the electronics in cars I was lost.

Back to my story, I was on the Grapevine in California headed south about 2:00 in the morning. I was thinking about when I was in boot camp in Great Lakes, IL at the age of 18. Suddenly another truck came across the median straight toward me. I had no choice but to swerve to the right. The truck literally went through the guardrail and airborne over the side of the mountain.

I woke up, looked around, and saw I was naked on a hospital bed of some sorts. There was what looked like a mirror above me. The only problem, it was not me looking back at me. That is to say, not my 68 year old body. It was the 18 year old body I was thinking about just before I went airborne. I looked around and what I saw or didn't see amazed me. There were no walls or furniture. There was nothing. It was like I could see the end of the bed and that was it. Suddenly a man's voice spoke, "Teddy Knight, do you hear me?"

"Am I in heaven?" I asked, while looking at my young body above me.

"No, we were given permission by the Federation of Planets to experiment with human fantasies. If you could have another opportunity to start over at the age of 18, the age you are looking at, what would you like to do?"

"That would be a no brainer. I would love to build old cars into racing cars and drive one in races!"

"Well, that is what we thought when we studied your life. We pulled you out of your truck just before you hit 750 feet down the mountainside. We picked you because we could scatter your DNA down after the pot ash and diesel fuel exploded into that huge ball of flames. The authorities will just write you off. It so happens there is a planet orbiting a star in your galaxy that is twice as large as your planet. It is on the parallel course with earth. It has reached the machine age parallel to 1950 your time. You have the choice to go there or back into the fire. If you choose to go, you can take the $1,000,000 you have saved up. It will be the equivalent of $10,000,000,000 there. It only took one for American Motors to be formed.

"How would I fit in without suspicion of fraud of some kind?"

"It so happens that a man named Sam Knight has just died that made his fortune as a real estate developer like Donald Trump. The only relative he had was an 18 year old nephew. The nephew died two days ago in a cave he was exploring by himself. He was so deep in the ground he will never be found. He could have been your identical twin. No one saw him enter the cave. You will wake up in his suite in the penthouse of their apartment building. The date will be June 1, 1950. Language will be the same. You will take his place and the money you have will be the same amount of the estate. You will have the same name as you have now."

"How did I go back to this 18 year old body?

"We are farther advanced than your planet. Not only did we beam you up like a Star Trek movie but we have a drug that is called Metformin. It makes your cells regenerate. You will also be given the ability to pick up where he left off. You will know all the ins and outs of the business. You will know all the current events of the government. Do you have any more questions?"

"No, I can't think of any?" I suddenly went back to sleep.