Chapter 1: Awakening

As in so many stories, I was dying in ICU, when the Alien Space Bats, or whatever they are, offered me the opportunity to do it over. The Others said, "Our interest is in seeing to what extent you can choose wise alternative courses of action, not just for yourself, but what you might do for the society. It's an alternate world so you won't wipe out your history, but it will be an alternative to our main timeline, when global nuclear war broke out.

"For yourself, though, we have changes and advice. We think you know what happened to you in your world, of how some of your promise was lost in depression."

"Yes. The medical reason wasn't even reported in the scientific literature until 1998, but what happened is that when severe bronchitis kept me out of school for a few months, my sleep cycle changed to what wasn't known as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome -- terrible problems getting to sleep, and then in waking up at a reasonable hour. It was terribly hard to get to school on time and awake. I was exhausted all the time, which was one problem in doing homework -- I'd crash on getting home. Of course, a terribly tense relationship with my mother didn't help study." My vision was darkening, my old body failing.

"You'll have new living quarters, still in Washington, DC, in a variant of what you might remember as the Belvedere complex, just south of Ward Circle. They are much nicer than you remember them from your college years, to say nothing of how they crumbled later. Anyway, you will also be a freshman in a selective high school on the grounds of American University, a few blocks away. No, that school didn't exist in your timeline.

"Your mother won't be around much -- but she wasn't around much in your previous life." The voices seemed to chuckle. "Don't worry about how the finance works; just accept that it does and money is simply not an issue. Your apartment shares corridors and special elevators with some other people who will be important to you. One of your neighbors, for example, is Lois Kallas, who is the chair of the social science department of the high school. You already became friends with her, both when your grade 8 teacher assigned you an extra credit project with which Lois helped you, and then you learned that she lived nearby. Your mother knows and likes her, and had Lois watch you -- not really babysit -- on more than one occasion. Yes, you thought she was sexy, but as a teacher, unapproachable – not that you knew how to approach.

Your assignment, for the next couple of weeks, is to develop a team relationship with Lois.

I remembered Lois, and indeed fantasizing about her. "Yes, you're thinking of the same Lois. This time, you're going to get closer. In fact, she will be the person most aware of whom you really are. One of your teachers, Lois Kallas, will take over when your adoptive mother cannot. Lois admires your intellect, and is a very sexual person who shares that part of herself. You will also learn that this society is much more sex-positive than yours is, and indeed recognizes the profession of Registered Companion. The courts are very, very rough on abuse or exploitation of Registered Companions, or Companion-in-Training.

"You will awaken in your bed, with your sleep problem corrected. Since you will have your adult memories, you don't need your mother taking much care, so we've made some changes in which both of you will be happier, but you'll largely be independent. As you learned after her death, she was a lesbian, so one simple change was for her to commit to her sometimes girlfriend, Gladys, and have her stay there most of the time. We've also arranged for you to have access to money, the details of which will emerge over time. You will also get not immediately, access to modern computers and the Internet.

"In your past life, you met your adoptive mother when she was the school social worker and you were a problem child in kindergarten. Her family knew your birth family, and, eventually, they blended. In your new life, you also meet a parental figure through the schools, but in a different role. In this timeline, there isn't the same prohibition against sexual contact, especially by women to children, as long as it is caring and protective. People think nothing of interactions between students and teachers, but become furious if children are hurt. It's not, however, what you would think of as a pedophile culture. We want you to have all the sex that you will enjoy, but we want you to phase into it, much more rapidly than would a virginal teenager of the time. Many of your classmates, however, are much farther into sex than you realized.

In his Dialogues of the Companions, Lucian (second century AD) relates an exchange between two friends about a successful Companion:

"In the first place, she dresses attractively and looks neat; she's gay with all the men, without being so ready to cackle as you are, but smiles in a sweet bewitching way; later on, she's very clever when they're together, never cheats a visitor or an escort, and never throws herself at the men. If ever she takes a fee for going out to dinner, she doesn't drink too much—that's ridiculous, and men hate women who do—she doesn't gorge herself—that's ill-bred, my dear—but picks up the food with her finger-tips, eating quietly and not stuffing both cheeks full, and, when she drinks, she doesn't gulp, but sips slowly from time to time ... Also, she doesn't talk too much or make fun of any of the company, and has eyes only for her customer. These are the things that make her popular with the men. Again, when it's time for bed, she'll never do anything coarse or slovenly, but her only aim is to attract the man and make him love her; these are the things they all praise in her."

"In this world, a Companion is more than that which was described by Lucian. She or he may be a teacher, a therapist, or just literally a fine companion. It all depends on the individual, but Companions are usually comfortable in interacting with people of multiple gender choices.

"One can be a Companion yet have other careers. We think that might be viable for you."

"We will stay in contact. But for now..."

There was a tumbling of lights and sound, and I found myself in my teenage bedroom, looking into the green eyes of a large orange cat.

Friday, August 17

I became aware that the cat was the channel to the Others..."Excuse me, Harold. I am no mere channel. I am a hypercat, with knowledge and judgment of my own, admittedly in a symbiont -- I will be your life partner, if you permit. Let me introduce myself: Bong, James Bong. Bong for catnip, not marijuana. For you, it's a pleasant tea."

Looking around the room, I found it similar to that of my teenage bedroom, although certainly more luxurious. "You live in a very large apartment complex, where your mother, Lois, and some other people important to you have places. Some of those places, you will learn, are quite plush. It now has unobtrusive maid service. You won't have your problems of housekeeping. The servants will be utterly devoted and discreet, and recognize you as special.

"Of those special people, the first you'll encounter is your fondly remembered 9th grade honors history teacher, Lois Kallas. Her apartment is next door to yours, and, your mother and Lois being friends with benefits, we've connected the two places."

"Lois will be your confidante. She is intellectually wasted as the chair of social studies in a middle school, but in 1962, there were no opportunities for her to use her talents as a strategic thinker. She did a master's thesis on Soviet influence in Latin America, and reads Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian."

Getting out of bed, I was pleased to find that my clothes were more stylish and in better repair than they had been in my past. I glanced at my wall calendar, chuckling that the "Cat Lord" images might get ridicule in teen years, but was apt to be quite an attractant to adult women.