Chapter 10

July, 1950

I was just pain tired! I had been trying to do too many things without enough rest and, particularly, sleep. Mother noticed that I had a "droopy" look and said that I had to get more rest. But there were so many things I wanted to do!

I needed to find a way to cram 42 hours into 24! This was ludicrous! Here I was, a functional immortal, who was pressed for time! For my own peace of mind, I had to find a solution. Then it dawned on me: I could use my time travel ability to pick up the needed sleep.

Suppose, at 10:00 PM on Saturday, my Mother ordered me to bed to get the needed sleep, but I was too keyed up by some wild idea that I wanted to explore to go to sleep. I could lie down, but transport myself to wherever or whatever, do what I wanted to do, and transport myself back to 10:01 PM on Saturday and sleep as long as I needed to.

Conversely, suppose I was busy doing something but became too tired to continue. I could transport myself to somewhere safe and sleep as much as necessary. I could then return to the where and when I had been formerly occupying and continue with that task.

All I needed was a sanctuary. That I could find with no trouble. All I had to do was jump to a universe empty of danger. I could stay there in complete safety for as long as required and return to when I left my previous time. I didn't need to worry about aging while I was away—I could order my body to maintain my current appearance until I returned. That way, if something unexpected happened, I would not "age" while I was away.

This thought opened up other avenues for investigation, such as how I could alter my appearance. Could I do it quickly enough to have a disguise handy? I resolved to work on that later.

I discussed what I had in mind with Mother and Dad, and they agreed that the idea was plausible. I returned to my room and imagined my empty universe which I jumped to. I looked around and was satisfied, so I TPed my bed to where I was and constructed an opaque TK shield around my bed about the size of my room at home. I remembered to leave sufficient ventilation louvers so that I could breath comfortably. I took off my shoes and lay on the bed. In no time, I was asleep.

I was more tired than I thought; I slept nearly 14 hours. I had read that teenagers needed a lot of sleep, but rarely got it. I decided then and there that I would never again suffer from lack of adequate rest and sleep. I jumped me and my bed back to my room only seconds after I had left. Mother and Dad were surprised to see me when I walked into the kitchen where they were sitting, drinking coffee.

Mother said, "We thought you were going to sleep."

"I did. I just had 14 hours of sleep and I am hungry."

Mother replied, "You do look more 'bright eyed and bushy tailed' than you did when we last saw you! Give me a few minutes and I'll have you a full breakfast, complete with eggs, toast, grits, and sausage."

I agreed that sounded like what I needed. I sat at the table and talked with Dad about my disguise idea. He said that he was sure that all I needed was practice; why not grow a beard while I was waiting for breakfast. I laughed and thought hard of growing a shaggy beard. Dad and I both were startled when a beard began to sprout. I added a handlebar mustache and waited for Mother to turn around from the stove.

Mother looked at me and broke into nearly hysterical laughter. Dad and I started to laugh, too. I stopped the beard growth; it was nearly 4 inches long, by now. I grew some bushy eyebrows and Dad said that he would not recognize me while I looked like that. Mother said that I looked "terrible" and must shave off the beard and mustache right after I finished eating. Instead, I told her to wait a moment and walked over to a trash can. I bent over and willed the beard, mustache, and eyebrows to be gone. They all obediently fell into the trash can. I restored my normal eyebrows and turned to Mother. "Is that OK, now?" I asked.

She looked at me a moment and nodded. "Now, eat!"

We continued to talk as I ate breakfast. One of the topics of conversation was whether I could change my body. I thought this would be fun to try, so I went into my room and undressed. While standing in front of a mirror, I willed my body to look like the statue of David that was so famous. I was really surprised when my body began to change.

It took only a few minutes until I looked exactly like the statue below the neck; apparently I had unconsciously exempted my head from any change. I even had a foreskin on my penis; I had been circumcised as an infant. I donned a modesty shield around my waist to keep from embarrassing Mother and returned to the kitchen. They both applauded my ability to change, but Mother said that she really preferred for me to look like I normally did. For one thing, she didn't want to buy me new clothes.

I went back to my bedroom to change my shape, but, first, I tried on some of my clothes. Most were too big in the waist and too small in the chest and shoulders, but I did find one set of pants and shirt that would do well enough. My shoes were one size too small, but I could wear some sneakers I had. Dressed in this outfit, I went back into the kitchen and got Mother's approval. While I was standing there, I changed my head to look like the David statue. I told her that this was what The Vigilante would look like, from now on. Mother nodded and, as usual, Dad laughed.

I got even with Dad, though. I told him I needed a new wardrobe to function as The Vigilante and he had to finance it. I needed some money from him to buy some clothes. This time, Mother laughed. I took the money and headed into town. Mostly, I bought jeans and tee-shirts, but I did get a nice "business suit" with the appropriate shirt, tie, etc. Then I picked up some shoes: high-top sneakers, combat boots, and dress shoes. All this came to nearly $200; prices were getting out of hand!

My empty universe was going to be my cache. I put in a walk-in closet attached to the bedroom I had previously constructed. I put a full length mirror on the door and hung every thing appropriate on hangers I fabricated. The rest went into a chest of drawers I made. My sanctuary was turning into a "home away from home."

I wanted to duplicate my bedroom at home, but I did not yet know how to copy something soft, so I couldn't make a mattress. I jumped back home and told Dad the problem. He suggested that I use the spare bedroom furniture that was now stored in the attic. I had completely forgotten that furniture; it would work perfectly.

I TPed myself and the furniture to the empty universe and proceeded to arrange the bedroom to my liking. When I jumped back, Mother asked who was going to straighten up the place after I had spent a night there, since I never cleaned up after myself when I was home. I looked sheepish and, again, Dad laughed.

Mother asked if I planned to continue looking like David or was I going to return to being Bruce. That was the first time I realized that I had not changed back after buying the clothes. Since I was wearing the clothes that I had started with, I just changed back to Bruce's body while in the same clothes. When I changed, which now took only 15-20 seconds, I immediately noticed that my belt was cinched too tight. I opened the belt a couple of notches and felt better, right away. I realized that, if I changed to David, now, my pants would probable fall off! I also wondered if I could get faster and faster in morphing as I gained experience.

I asked Mother and Dad if they would like to see my new house, and they both said that they would. We linked hands and I jumped us to the house. The first thing Mother said was, "Where is the bathroom? You also need a kitchen and a sitting room."

I admitted that I had not thought of those things, yet, but I would get right on it. She said that what I had done so far looked very good, but she would like to see outside. She asked, "Why aren't there any windows?"

I added windows in the walls and asker her if she would decorate for me. She was pleased at my request and said that she would get right on it as soon as she got home. She then wanted to go outside.

The three of us went outside and they looked around. We were standing on an open plain with some hills in the background. We all thought that this was a beautiful location, but Mother said I needed a few trees. I told her I would look into it. They were ready to return home, so I jumped them there, but I stayed to add a bathroom, a sitting room, and a kitchen to my new "house."