Chapter 6

I soon learned that time doesn't really matter. What I had promised in another time-zone I could easily hold even if it had gone a week or more in my own time-zone so my visits to Nina and the new girl wouldn't be any problem.

My capital grew very nicely and I got "promoted" at the bank and was now handled by a senior analyst, I don't know if he was a junior-senior or a just a senior but something like that, a man who was supposed to be better in giving advice about the stock market, not that I ever asked his advice but I suspect that the bank wanted to profit on my luck or skill. He never bothered me so I was happy. Once in a while I made a loss, just so the bank wouldn't get suspicious and think I was an insider or something. The last thing I wanted was an investigation from the authorities in one kind or another.

On one occasion when I was a week into the future to pick up another paper I wanted to explore the town a little. Everything looked a little different when you know that you can't be seen. You dare to look intently at any woman that happens to pass by and that was the kind of exploration I wanted to do.

I had wandered around for the better part of an hour when I saw her. I stopped in my tracks and just looked at her. It was almost as if it was Anita I saw. Of course it wasn't. This woman wasn't much more than a girl and Anita would have been my age. I know it isn't that uncommon to have a double and this was obviously one.

This woman was the dream come true. If I couldn't have my ex-girlfriend I could at least settle for the second best. I followed her and saw her disappear into an apartment building but the door closed too fast for me to reach it in time to get in before it shut, but I suspected that this was where she lived. It was simply too late for just an evening walk.

I stalked the place for a few days before I saw her again. And again I was struck by her resemblance to my ex-girlfriend, Anita. So much did I enjoy the look of her that I almost forgot to catch the door as she let go of it but I managed to get it just before it closed. She must have sensed that there was something funny going on with the door because she turned her head and looked suspiciously at it. When it shut with the usual little bang and click she just shook her head and continued to climb the stairs. I followed her closely, hoping that I would be able to sneak in at the same time as she walked in. I had no such luck. She barely opened the door more than enough for herself to get in and she closed it immediately after her, locking me out. I noticed the name though and maybe I could have some luck with that. I was after all only a week into the future and would be able to do some investigation in my own time.

Before I had time to investigate any further I had to get the finals done at school and my days were full of work. All I had time for was to pay some quick visits to Nina. Now that I was used to have a really active sex-life, it was hard to go a day without a lay.

One of the last days as I sat guard during a test for one of my classes I happened to look at one of the boys, Kevin, who had been in some trouble last year. Burglary. It wasn't anything but an idiotic attempt to get some excitement into his life that drove him to it and I had supported him and had acted as a supervisor for him for a while, so I knew him quit well. Maybe I could talk him into teaching me how to pick a lock.

I asked him if he would mind coming over to my place later tonight and he agreed.

When he showed up I was a little nervous about asking him blatantly if he could teach me how to commit theft so I sat there and talked about school and things.

"Well, I'm sorry to say this, Robert, but I have other plans as well tonight. So if..."

"Oh. Yes of course you have. Well I'll be frank then. Can you teach me how to pick a lock?"

He just sat there looking at me.

"Well, had it been any other but you I would have been real mad, but knowing you, I know that you really mean it. The answer to your question is no. No way am I going to teach someone else how to get into trouble. No way!"

"No, you misunderstood me. I'm not going to break into someone's house. It's my own." I was thinking real fast. "It's my own. I inherited it after my mother a couple of years ago (I hope she never finds out that I had her declared dead because she's very much alive.) and I usually goes there when schools out and... Well, you won't be interested in that. The point is that I have lost the key! And it's way out in a place no one ever heard of so to get a locksmith there would cost a fortune, and you know what a part-time teacher earns."

He looked at me for a very long time.

"OK, let's pretend I believe you. How would we go about it?"

"Well, we could practice on my door. Or I could by a lock and make a small frame and door to install it in."

"OK, the last would be best. We don't want any spectators do we? You make the model and call me and I'll see if I can do it. I don't promise anything, I'm not that good. I got caught, you remember?" he said with a wry smile.

It took me a couple of days to get things ready. I bought the same make of lock that was in the girl's door. I called Kevin and he promised to be over the next day for my first lesson.

It turned out that it is much harder to pick a lock in real life than it is in the movies. That is probably why burglars prefer to just smash a window or break the door to get in. Finally Kevin just unscrewed the lock, opened it and showed me how the different things click together. I hadn't thought of this approach to the problem. If I had, I most certainly would have been able to do it by myself. I am after all technically skilled.

"Well, I must say that you have the ability to become a good burglar, but please, please don't do anything stupid. It's not worth all the trouble that comes with getting caught. And believe you me, you are getting caught. Sooner or later."

I promised him to be a good boy and we said our good byes.

I could hardly wait to put my newfound skills into practice. I knew the girl's movements by now and knew that she was away from home every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and most Saturdays as well so all I had to do now was get a good night's rest and set of for Tuesday.

I got to Tuesday in good time before she was usually coming home. I was in luck and a man opened the front-door and I slipped in behind him. I managed to pick the lock, it took me about fifteen minutes, but I got in. I didn't have a plan for what I would do once I got into her apartment but as I looked around I found it an excellent opportunity to snoop around a little.

On the rack in the hall her clothes hang neatly on hangers and her shoes stood just as neatly under the clothes.

The first thing I noticed was that the flat smelled nice. A mixture of her perfume and soap and some cleaning-substance.

The first room I entered was obviously the living-room. One couch, a table and an easy-chair were the dominating furniture but there was also a desk with a chair in front of it. The windowsill was full of potted flowers and they seemed to like the attention she gave them because they looked very lush, or what a flower look like when it thrives by the attention it is given.

I decided to start with the desk. The first thing I saw was her passport and I found out her first name, Christina, I also found out why she was out so late on weekdays, she went to evening-class. A girl with ambitions apparently. In one desk drawer I found a key under a stack of paper. It was labeled with the same brand as her lock so I assumed that it was the key to her apartment. I decided that I should take it with me and make a copy of it at the locksmith's the next day. I could be back at the same time the next day as I was here today so that wasn't any problem. What was a problem was to get the key and go to the Machine. You can't walk around the town with a key in your hand when you are invisible. Every time I saw someone come at me I had to crouch and hold the key down in the gutter hoping that the passing person would take it for some litter and not bother about it.

At home I had to wait until the next day when the shops opened to get a duplicate but finally it was done and I could return. I held my breath as I inserted the key in the slot and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned and the door was unlocked.

I resumed my snooping after I had went down and hid the key in as safe a place as possible. I started with her underclothes. I didn't want to lift any of them out of their place so I just looked at them. Nothing too sexy there. It was mostly the usual cotton-panties. What struck me was the under-representation of bras. Either she didn't use them, had so firm breasts that she didn't need any or she was so small on top that she didn't need them because of that. I hadn't seen her without her jacket so it was hard to tell. I lifted one of the few and looked at it. Well it looked almost like a training-bra. So the mystery was solved. She was very, very small. I could feel my mouth water. Over the years I had gotten more and more turned on by small breasts. In my youth I had, like most boys, dreamed of huge mummeries that I could bury my face in. Breasts that big were, I have heard I don't know if it's true, not as sensitive as small breasts and you could actually bite quit hard on the nipples and flesh without causing any damage, on the opposite, it was said that big breasts craved rough handling, something that I had outgrown. Now I wanted my lovemaking sweet, tender and slow. Of course Nina had more than a little to do with that preference. Before her, I hadn't had a regular sex partner in my life. A couple of one nighters was all my experience in the sex-department.

I looked in the bookshelf and was surprised when I saw that she didn't only read love-novels but that there was a couple of science-fiction novels stuck in there as well. Well it was the mainstream stuff; Asimov and Heinlein and Orwell, that old stuff, but still.

I sat in a chair and just looked around. Getting to know the place and time just flew. It was a very cozy place. It had things that must mirror her personality and the scent in the room was certainly feminine.

Suddenly I heard the key in the lock. I had overstayed. I hadn't intended to stay this late the first night. I wanted to learn all about her before I made my move.