Chapter 12

[Wednesday, June 25th, 1986]

The next thing we knew, the front door was opening, and my mom was home.

Fortunately, she spent a little time putting groceries away in the kitchen and pantry. Kim and I had time to get our shirts buttoned up again. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, smashing the volume button and hoping it wouldn’t be deafening when it came on.

It wasn’t, and I flipped through the channels until I came to MTV and slowly increased the volume. One video was just finishing, and ‘Money for Nothing’ started playing with their soft intro. I had to work the sound back down fairly quickly as it gained in volume, and the drum lead-in started. Mom stuck her head in the doorway and said, “Oh, Hi Kim. I didn’t realize you were here.” She smiled. “Having a good day?”

“Great so far,” I said. “We were just discussing where we wanted to go to dinner tonight, have any ideas? We did Chinese last time.”

She said, “You’re welcome to stay here and join us. We’re doing pork chops.”

I said, “Thanks, Mom, but we were kind of looking for some time just the two of us tonight. However, I do have a favor to ask.”

She told me to go for it, and I said, “I invited Kim and another friend over for dinner Friday night, I hope that’s alright.”

Mom said, “Of course it is. What were you thinking about for dinner?”

I said, “I was hoping we could do lasagna. If you give me a recipe and some pointers, I can get most of the cooking done during the day.”

She said, “No, I can make spaghetti tomorrow night and just make extra sauce to use in the lasagna. They are always better if they get put together and sit overnight first anyway. You’ll just have to throw it in the oven a little before I get home if you want to eat at 6:00.”

She continued, “I’ll have to do some more shopping, though. I don’t think I have everything here for it.” I told her to get me a list, and I’d handle the shopping while I was out tonight.

She argued, “You don’t want to do that on a date night.”

Kim said, “It’s no trouble, we’d be happy to do it. We aren’t planning a big fancy night or anything. We just want to spend it together. We can do that while shopping too.” I nodded agreement, and Mom gave in. She got out a memo pad and put things on the list. I told her to “add anything else we are low on, like all the bacon and eggs I used this morning.”

Mom went through the pantry and fridge to make a more thorough list. Kim and I headed out soon after that. When we were in the car, I told her, “I appreciate how flexible you are with our plans. I feel just like you said earlier. So long as we’re doing it together, I’m happy about it.”

She smiled and rested her hand on my leg as we made our way to the store. There was a place called Michael’s that we usually went to for groceries, and it only took us about five minutes to get there.

Kim and I had some fun goofing around in the isles as we got everything on the list. I added a can of Folgers and a Mr. Coffee machine to the cart, along with a set of 4 coffee mugs that looked more my size. Mom’s were a little smaller than I liked. I also added some Kosher salt and a pepper mill that looked decent. Freshly ground is so much better than the pre-ground stuff.

We took everything home and unloaded it all. Mom thanked us for doing it, and we headed back out again pretty quickly. When we got back in the car, I suggested, “How about we go back to Friendly’s? They have a lot more than ice cream on the menu. And I have more things to share with you. We can make it a tradition.”

Kim said, “That works. You certainly have a lot of secrets, John.”

I said, “Yep, and you can’t distract me with claims of not wearing underwear this time, I know better already.”

She said, “Well, you know there is a bra anyway. You’re making assumptions about facts not in evidence yet. That can get you into trouble, you know.”

I laughed and said, “I’ll go one better and wager that not only are you wearing panties but that they match the bra. That was an awful fancy article of clothing I was admiring earlier, and I bet it had a matching piece to go with it.”

She said, “You sir, are far too clever for your own good. You might have just ruined your chances of finding out.”

I told her, “Well, I can’t imagine my chances of that getting any better by pretending to be less intelligent. I’ll just have to try to persevere through the adversity.” Then I stage-whispered, “Maybe big words will help me.”

She whispered back, “Good Luck.”

We held hands again once we got on the highway. While we drove, Kim was telling me about how much she enjoyed the day so far, and how happy she was to be part of the business. We pulled into the restaurant parking lot and made our way inside. I asked for a semi-private booth if they had one available, and we got an excellent corner booth well away from other patrons.

When we settled into our seats, we both took a minute to look at the menu. I was in the mood for some Fish & Chips, and Kim got a Chicken Bacon Ranch salad. We gave our order to the waitress when she brought our drinks.

I told Kim, “Okay, ready for the next big reveal?”

Kim raised an eyebrow and said, “Go for it.”

I said, “Well, I have a couple of related secrets to reveal. It is all based on something quite hard to believe. Since you are now a partner in this business, and our ability to succeed is based upon it, you need to be aware of my secret. Before I can share it, I need to have your word that you will not reveal it to anyone. Ever. I want you to avoid talking to Sam or me about it directly even later unless we take adequate precautions first.”

Kim said, “Okay, you certainly have my attention. You also have my word. I will not tell your secret to anyone, and will be discreet when talking about it in the future.”

I told her, “I’d like to ask you to suspend any strong reactions until I finish and have a chance to prove what I’m about to say. Okay?”

She agreed, and I said, “Since I became a young teenager, I have had an unusual ability. I think it’s fair to call it a form of limited pre-cognition. Some would say clairvoyance or that it is some kind of psychic ability. The way it works is that if I focus on something, I can usually get what I call flashes about it.”

“Flashes, in this case, are images of what that something will look like at a point in the future. I don’t get what I would call “Visions of the future” like ‘go build an ark’ stuff. I have to focus on the future of a specific subject.”

“For instance, and I used this example with Sam when I explained it, the first time it happened to me, I watched a guy work a crowd playing Three Card Monty. I could see where the Queen, in that example, was going to be. I was right every time, but I didn’t tell anybody for a bunch of reasons.”

“You and Sam are the first people I’ve ever told about this, and I have to say I am not interested in expanding that group any further if I can avoid it. How are you doing over there?”

Kim said, “I’m doing alright. It’s not an easy thing to believe, but I promised to keep an open mind and let you prove what you are saying. I’ve got to tell you. It’s going to be hard to prove it to me.”

I said, “Fair enough, how about I start with examples I’ve already done. I realize they are mostly hearsay, but they will go toward a background. Then I can think up a few ways to prove it, which should convince you. But I’ll also open it up for you to come up with your own tests too. Does that sound good?”

She said, “That sounds fair to me. Go ahead”

I said, “Alright, let’s see. Sam can confirm these with you. Before the first race we watched, I told Sam the three dogs that were going to win the trifecta for it, plus I told him that a specific dog was going to poop while walking in front of the stands. Both of those came true. Plus, later that night, I picked another trifecta, it’s the source of all the money for the shopping we did this morning.”

She replied, “All of those could have been coincidences, though it’s a stretch when you consider you were able to do the trifecta again last time we were there. Plus that first #8 dog coming in second.”

I said, “The #8 dog really was a coincidence, I didn’t use my powers for that at all. I picked him because he had no business doing as well as he did.” I continued with, “Then there is the 5 out of 6 lottery ticket that you and I went to cash in at the HQ. I used my powers for that too.”

Kim said, “Wait, if you did that, why didn’t you just buy a winning ticket?”

I smiled and said, “Who said I didn’t? It’s sitting in the car’s glove box right now if you want to see it.”

Kim stared at me for a while.

I gave her another full minute before I asked, “Are you alright, Kim?”

Kim said, “You have a winning lottery ticket sitting in the glove box of your car? We’ve been driving around with it all day, and you didn’t tell me?”

I thought about a lot of possible answers to that question, looking her right in the eye as they all went through my mind, then I said, “Yup.”

Kim squinted her eyes at me and told me, “You’re in trouble, Buster.”

I squinted my eyes right back and said, “I doubt it’s too bad. I do have a winning lottery ticket after all.”

Kim said, “Well, you have a point there.”

Our food came at that point, and Kim and I dug into our meals. Between bites, Kim asked, “So why didn’t you cash in the winning ticket?”

I told her, “Well, at first, I was thinking about trying to cash it anonymously. I may still try to do that, but then I thought I might have a better idea. I tried to give it to Sam, but he wouldn’t take it.”

Kim choked on her salad for a few seconds, then said, “You What?!?”

I had spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I told Sam earlier, related to the Charity. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. This time around, I wanted my life to have more meaning than my last one had. I had access to this incredible and unique ability, and I could do damn near anything I wanted to do. Maybe by helping my fellow man, I will get back something my life was missing before.

I explained the scene with Sam to her. Then I continued to expand on it, bringing her up to speed on all my plans. I told her everything: Including how much I like the girl sitting across from me, how I planned to follow her to college in a few months, how I wanted to start a real Charity to help people down on their luck, and how the business was going to be tied in with it somehow, how it’s what I saw myself spending this life doing—all while having as much fun as I could along the way.

Our plates had long since been cleared away when I got done, and we were both on our second cup of coffee. Kim said, “Wow, that is quite a story.”

I said, “Well, it’s my plan. Do you want to see my ability at work?” Kim nodded. I asked her if she had a pen in her purse I could borrow. She did and gave it to me.

I grabbed a napkin and wrote 12345 while blocking it from her view. Then I flipped it over and slid them both over to Kim.

I said, “Okay, now it’s your turn. I want you to write down any five-digit number you want on the top of this napkin. Don’t turn it over until you finish.” I waited while she wrote 87341 on it.

I jumped back in the tunnel and went to the scene where she handed me the pen then jumped back into it.

I grabbed a napkin and wrote 87341 while blocking it from her view. Then I flipped it over and slid them both over to Kim.

I said, “I want you to write down a random five-digit number on the top of this napkin, please.”

Kim thought for a couple of seconds and then wrote 27645.

I raised an eyebrow as Kim flipped over the napkin and nodded to herself. Kim said, “Yeah, that’s the first number that came to mind. I decided to go with another choice to see what would happen.”

I shook my head and said, “Smart girls will be the death of me. Yes, things I see can be changed. That’s why I try to stick with short term things because it gets even worse with more time involved.” I pointed to the napkin and said, “We have to be careful. Anything we say or do could potentially change the outcome.”

“In this case, your foreknowledge about what I was probably doing, plus your curious nature, allowed you to choose to change it. That was a poor example of how it works. I should have had you write it down then hide it from me. Want to try another test?”

Kim nodded. I said, “Let me think for a minute.”

After a few seconds of thought, I asked Kim if she might have coins in her purse. She assured me she did. I told her, “I want you to keep it under the table while you grab as many of whatever kinds of coins as you want. Try to grab some bunches if you can, so even you won’t know what you have.”

When she finished, I handed her a napkin and asked her to bundle them up in it and set it on the table, and she did so.

I said, “Okay, is there any way I could know how much the coins amount to right now?” Kim said, “I can’t see how. I have no idea right now.”

I grabbed a new napkin and paused for about 5 seconds before I secretly wrote down $2.22, then flipped the napkin down, put the pen on top of it, and slid it over by the napkin holder. I told her, “Please count the coins out in the open now.” She did, and the total came to $1.93.

I moved back to when I was poised over the napkin and jumped back to my body.

I wrote down $1.93, flipped it over, put the pen on top, slid it over to the napkin holder, and asked her to count. She did, and it came out to $1.93 as expected. Kim flipped over the napkin, looked at what I had written, and shook her head, saying, “There is no way you could have known that.”

I shrugged.

I asked her, “Do you have an idea for tests you want to try?”

She gave it some thought and then asked me to write down how much the bill would be. I picked up the pen and thought for about a minute, then wrote down $18.94 and handed it to Kim. She called the waitress back when she saw her and let her know that we were ready for the check.

Kim and I focused on finishing our coffee and enjoyed a comfortable silence. When it came, Kim looked, and it was $19.72. I looked at Kim and shrugged, then jumped into the tunnel.

Man, that’s getting hard to do. Not physically, emotionally. I hope there won’t be a lot more like this. I moved back to where I was holding the pen and thinking, then jumped back into my body.

I wrote down $19.72 and handed it to Kim. She called the waitress back when she saw her and let her know that we were ready for the check.

Kim seemed fine to wait patiently. I was feeling uncomfortable about the way the last jump happened. I know that I can’t do anything about the timelines I leave, but its starting to eat at me a bit. In general, jumping around was fine, but this disappointing her and jumping away made me feel like shit.

If I had to do something like that again, I would spend a little more time before leaving. It’s probably just a sop to my conscience, but if it makes it more palatable somehow, it will be worth it to me.

When the check came, Kim verified the total and showed me $19.72 while she smiled. “That is pretty impressive,” she said. I nodded and replied, “If you’re ready, let’s head out.”

When we got in the car, I said, “It’s in the book in the glove box.” Kim giggled as she dug in and quickly found it and the info sheet showing the numbers.

Kim looked from one paper to the other many times. When she had examined them on all sides, she put them away back in the book, and then all of it went into the glove box again. Kim said, “it is so unreal to be that close to millions of dollars.”

I started the car and headed back towards her house. Kim asked me to explain why giving Sam the money would have been better.

I told her more about my plan for doing the lottery anonymously, and how I didn’t think it would work. I said, “The idea of giving it to Sam was before I considered the Charity idea. My thinking was that in return for giving him the ticket, he might fund a scholarship for me. That’s all I wanted out of it. I thought I could get what I wanted and avoid attention I don’t want, plus Sam would get a better life out of it.”

Kim said, “Sam’s turning down that ticket is impressive, but I think you are better off overall. I don’t think he would have been a good choice to manage the money either for himself or for this Charity if you could have convinced him to do that.”

I must have looked surprised because she said, “Yeah, I can see you were thinking about going that route. I told you you’re not as clever as you think you are.” She smiled to take the sting out of it.

“It should be in your hands. You could be a powerful force for turning that seed of money into something that will make a huge difference in a lot more lives. With your ability, I’m certain you can ensure it is a success.” I nodded in agreement, as I had come to the same conclusion.

“What you need is someone with experience dealing with money and the spotlight who would be willing to be the frontman for your organization. I think you should tell my dad about this. I would be willing to bet he knows somebody that would fit the bill for you.”

I said, “I feel like this ticket should be another business asset, and I’d like to include Sam in this conversation as the third partner. However, I think I know him well enough to know that he would not want a say in it, as it isn’t his. I think he’d want me to just go ahead with my gut feeling on the subject. That feeling is telling me that I should trust your opinion, so let’s go ahead and do that.”