Leap of Faith

Hello World...

James looked at the room. The bed was back in its normal position. He had removed the money from his hiding space, given it to his father and then had to sit in silence for nearly half an hour as he listened to his parents argue. It was a lot of money, illegitimate money; but, as his father stated, Dad had gambled and that was likely where James got the idea. His father took it on the chin and James had nodded his thanks. To smooth Mom’s ruffled feathers, James had insisted it was a onetime thing and that he would not gamble again while he was under age. His dad had also promised to cut back on his gambling as well and that seemed to appease his mother.

Both males had breathed a sigh of relief when she had seemed calmer and not quite so out for blood.

James was pleased that he didn’t get thrown to the lions.

“You need to stop sneaking around to do these things, James,” his mother had said finally, to which he nodded.

“I understand, but when an idea sparks, I don’t always think ahead. Sometimes it’s an impromptu decision, a spur of the moment.”

“Don’t you think about the consequences?”

James smiled, remembering something his grandfather would say in the future, he apologized mentally for dropping his grandfather in it.

“Yes, but Gramps once said to me, ‘sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness, then it is to ask for permission.’”

His father coughed back a laugh and put on a straight face when he got a look. Despite that, he nodded, “That is something Dad would say.”

“We’re having words,” she said sternly, she turned to James. “No more gambling, James. Are we clear?”

“You have my word,” James emphasized his oath with a nod of his head. After that, he had gone up to his room, to sort it out and now stood, staring, and wondering about Feng Shui and the flow of energy. He found the right spot, placed the desk there and then started putting everything together. The one thing he couldn’t wait for was when the monitors got thinner, lighter and bigger.

The other thing that bugged the shit out of him was all the wires, he went downstairs and asked his father for cable ties.

“We’ve got some in the garage,” his father responded. “Look in the tool box.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

His father raised a beer can in salute but James was already headed there. He located the tool box, found the cable ties, took them up to his room, and tidied up the mess of wires.

Satisfied, James then assembled his nice new leather chair, sat in and sighed at the creaking of the leather and marvelled on how good it felt.

He booted the machine up, sat back and waited. One big jump in speed would come with the introduction of cheap SSD’s and he idly wondered if he could get in on that. He knew a few things that were coming, which was a part of his plan; he remembered Bitcoin, Netflix, Amazon, all the good stuff. For the moment, patience was required.

Frustrating though it was, like waiting for his brand spanking new machine to boot up, he quirked a smile as he watched himself in the monitor’s reflection.

James had researched every component to get, which modem to buy and what internet provider to use by asking around at work. They had given him the information he needed.

Now he could use it for school and to improve his programming. Of course, he’d use it for entertainment and, if he wanted, hacking. For the last use, he purchased an expensive, high-speed 2400 baud modem. With only one phone line in the house, he knew that his time online would be limited. He’d bought a phone cable so he could use the jack in his room. It was already run to the modem. He could be online anytime he could monopolize the phone.

He waited until everyone had gone to bed. After making sure everything was powered on, he launched the newly released Netscape Navigator web browser. Netscape made surfing so much simpler, but it was so primitive compared to the browsers James used before he was sent back.

James selected the first site in Netscape’s drop down menu and had the program instruct the modem to dial his internet provider. Nothing happened! He plugged the phone back into the jack and there was a dial tone. So he replaced the modem’s phone cord and tried again. Still nothing. He thumbed through the manual and couldn’t find a cause of the fault. So a bust and a disappointment.

The next day he asked at work and Trevor said, “Did you install the modem Windows drivers?”

‘Oh shit,’ James flushed in embarrassment. He hadn’t thought of that because where he had come from in the timeline, the operating system was always pre-installed on the system. It was only really after Win95 that they started doing that, so it made sense. In the original timeline, he had never had a PC when he lived at home. “Damn. I didn’t think of that.”

Trevor laughed.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.” Trevor reached over and tossed a floppy disk to James. “Here you go. Now remember there is more to a system than just hardware.”

James thanked Trevor and immediately shoved the diskette into his backpack.

That night, after installing the drivers, the modem worked. But with only one phone line for the house he had to wait until his sisters stopped using the phone before he could get access. And by the time that happened, it was time for bed.

While he waited for a chance to dial up, he started wondering what sites he should try to access. He wanted to go slow, not wanting to get caught through over-eagerness or carelessness. The last thing he needed was a criminal record at his age or have the government seize his computer. He could imagine Mom’s reaction if the FBI burst into the house. He decided to have a chat with one of the programmers for some suggestions before he tried anything.

At work on Thursday he pulled Jon to the side and started quizzing him on what sites were available. Jon asked what he wanted to do. James said, “For now, I’m happy to look up reference sites for school papers. Later on, once I get comfortable, I’d like to be more adventurous.”

Jon looked at him for a moment before saying, “So that’s why you’ve wanted all of those reference books and help with different scripts. You do know that going to unauthorized sites is a good way to get caught?”

“That’s why I am starting small. I need to gain experience. Besides, I don’t even know what is out there right now. I could end up in nothing but dead ends and waste my time.”

“Or you could have the FBI come looking for you.”

“Only if I get caught or get ratted out,” James quirked up an eyebrow. “Besides most of the time, the kids that get picked up are the ones that disable or destroy systems as a power rush. I’m not looking for that kind of kick.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Test my boundaries, see what I can do; I’m a newbie and I know it, so it’ll be baby steps. I just want to learn quietly before I even consider doing anything.”

Jon nodded, “Okay, cool. But you never got any of this from me and I’ll deny it with my dying breath. See me before you leave and I will leave a floppy with a bunch of sites and the appropriate scripts on a desk. Remember, I never gave you anything. Let’s see if you can use them intelligently.”

“Fantastic, thanks.”

When he got home, he waited until everyone went to bed and then powered up his modem and PC, twitching at every sound. So far nothing was moving, not even a mouse, other than the one on his desk.

He smiled as his system booted.

James popped in the disk, opened it up and scanned through the lists, absorbing the information for future processing.

He opened the list of sites and, just to see what he’d be getting, he chose the first one.

With great eagerness, he launched Netscape and selected the site. The browser started dialling his provider and to James’s horror, the modem squealed the dial commands at full volume.

He had completely forgotten just how loud the modem actually was and scrambling for the volume control when his dad burst in.

“James!”

“Dad?”

“What the hell are you doing? I heard that down the hall. It is three in the morning and everyone is trying to sleep. Turn off the damned computer and go to bed!”

James flinched, truly feeling like a 15 year old for the first time in many decades and apologized, “Sorry Dad, I was just excited about a new program and wanted to try it out. I didn’t mean to make any noise.”

His father stood in the doorway until James turned off the computer and then said, “We will talk about this later. I don’t want the computer to become this year’s videogames and you to backslide.”

He quickly replied, “You don’t need to worry about that. The computer isn’t a gaming system and you can’t waste time like on a NES. This is only for school and work.”

His father seemed to see through that bit of limited truth, but let it slide. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the middle of the night and he didn’t give a shit what James was doing. He just wanted a decent night’s sleep.

That was one thing James remembered: the older one got, the more sleep one needed, especially if they had a long shitty day at work.

“Go to sleep.”

Once again James realized that he didn’t pay attention to other people being observant. He had lived by himself for so long that he fell into the old habits, which, he realized caused problems.

Early the next morning Amanda banged the door open and started to shake James. “Get up, Dad said you can’t miss jogging today. Wonder why?” then she started laughing. “I’ll be downstairs waiting, so get moving.

James slowly sat up and saw Dad at his door pointing to his watch. “This will teach you to wake the house at an ungodly hour.”

He then closed the door so James could get ready.

‘This sucks, and I still haven’t gotten online.’ James thought as he pulled his pants on and started tying his shoes.

“Truly another day in Paradise,” He muttered as he went downstairs to join Amanda.

They pounded the pavement and she looked at him, “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” James scowled. “I didn’t realize how loud the modem was going to be, that thing needs a muffler, or a ball gag.”

She snorted.

“If you’re going to be up at night time, you need to be more careful.”

“Yes, I agree. But the problem is, I can’t use it while you three are hogging the family phone line.”

“Have you considered putting in a second line?”

James blinked and turned to her, “No I hadn’t! I’ll ask dad and suggest that it would be a great way for me to not do more crazy stuff.”

“Smart,” she nodded.

They got to school and it proceeded along as normal, with James dozing on and off through the lessons. Fortunately, lunch arrived and he went to his usual spot, where he saw Robin already eating. She saw him and waved. He walked over and she grinned at his appearance.

“You look like shit...”

“Thanks,” he said tiredly. “I’m young, I’ll walk it off.”

“What happened?”

“Tried using my new computer last night and got busted at three in the morning.”

“Ouch,” she snorted.

“Well, they always say sleep is overrated.”

“So ... I have been meaning to ask your advice about something,” James said as he sat. “I’ve discovered I’m not very good at picking the right girl for me.”

“I heard it fell through with Jessica. From what I understand you’re on her shitlist.”

He shrugged, “I just spoke some hard truths. She’s not as mature as I want.”

“I thought you wanted to be able to talk to her?”

“Sort of. But we were never on the same page,” he admitted. “Truth be told, we never clicked. Her agenda didn’t include me and I wouldn’t consider joining the crowd of admirers she seems to require.”

“You overthought it.”

“Yes. And then we got discussing about stereotypes and it sort of fell apart from there.”

“You’re not a jock and therefore don’t fit into her world view.”

“Nailed it.”

She nodded.

“So I need to change my mindset on dating, I heard a saying once.”

“Tell me...”

“The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude to the problem,” James took a bite and she nodded.

“Well, I can’t help you. I have a boyfriend.”

“I know. You’ve mentioned Greg several times...”

“True,” she grinned.

“That’s fine. What I want from you is a recommendation.”

“Ah,” she nodded. “You want me to give you a list?”

“Yes, please.”

“Why me?”

He sat back, “You know me better than most. You know my likes and dislikes, my preferences. You also know me better than any of the women in my family do. Besides, if I go to them, they’re going to give me grief and I’m not in the mood. At least with you I can have a mature conversation instead of being teased about it.”

“Fair enough,” she nodded. “But just because I am a girl doesn’t mean that I know what you want. Okay, I’ll play. Tell me what you want in a date.”

James smiled and said, “Amanda said anything with a pulse, but I thought that was too much of an ask. Seriously, I want someone who can carry on a conversation. I despise airheads. I don’t really have a preference for body type, but I guess not too much of a heifer. Maybe close to my height, I guess. I don’t know, this is hard, I never really thought about it like a list. I just thought that I’d meet someone and we’d hit it off.” James ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“James, it doesn’t work that way. Look at you and Jessica. At the beginning you had trouble not drooling. So physical attraction and shared interest are important, even for a girl. You look ok, but your interests are definitely not typical High School,” she replied. “Before I could make any suggestions you need to spend some time thinking what you want. Then I can see if there is anyone that matches.”

“I have to admit that’s not the answer I wanted. I expected you to just point her out.”

“I can point out a few girls, but you may not like my choices. Come back when you have a clearer picture in your mind.”

‘That didn’t work.’ He thought to himself as he walked away, ‘Other than Robin and Amanda, I really haven’t talked to girls my age.’

James went to his next class: Math. Once the class was over, he approached the teacher while the other students were filing out.

Mr. Williams looked up curiously, “Hello, James.”

“Do you have a minute?”

“Certainly.”

“I started reviewing the AP Calc information that you gave me and I was surprised that I was able to understand it.”

“Were you now? What do you mean understand it?”

“Well, I have read many of the chapters and worked through the sample problems at the back of each chapter. My answers match the key in the study guide. However, I don’t have the key for the example tests so I don’t know for sure.”

“I don’t know if I should be impressed or skeptical. It seems unlikely that you can pick up entry level calculus just by reading a few study guides and not taking classes.”