Chapter 3: A New Future

It took five times before I could properly punch the right buttons to call home. I was nervous and afraid. What if she wouldn't accept the fact that Jason died so long ago?

"Hello, Jason, Honey? I recognized the area code on the caller ID."

"Mom, I have something I need to tell you. Please sit down and just listen, okay? Can you do that for me? This is a long story and I need to get it out or it will never work. Please don't interrupt me until it is all over."

"I'm not going to like this, am I, Son."

"Probably not, but I have to tell you everything. I'm Ronald Blake Reagan, Jason William Connor died on January 15^th, five years ago in a truck stop shower room outside of Golden, Colorado. He was approached by a big man wanting sex with him. He died right then, and Ron beat the guy to a pulp. He then flirted with one of the waitresses in the truck stop, went home with her, and lost his virginity. Since that time, Jason has never turned up again. Ron has been in charge of this body. I am not mentally disturbed, I don't have two people in my brain, I am one person, but I am not Jason anymore, Mom.

"Ron is a self-assured man that is tough when the need arises, and soft and gentle when needed; I'm sure you would be very proud of him. He is all man and has been since he emerged from the mind of Jason, just like a phoenix arising from the ashes of his pyre. Ron is strong and confident, and he has set some goals for himself. He set a goal to become educated and make his mark in the world. He has the opportunities to do so, he has a great job, he has lots of friends, and he is building a life for himself that he and you would be proud of. I hope you understand that I can never become Jason again. He was a scared kid, running away from a very scary situation that he couldn't cope with at fifteen. I am not that kid anymore, Mom, and I haven't been for a long time.

"Now, I want you to know that I am not mad at you for what you did; I now understand why and what really happened. I want you in my life, just like I want DJ and Becky in my life too, but I can never be Jason again. It's been too long now, and I really like this new me. I'm going to start college in a couple of weeks and maybe you can come and visit at Christmas time. I would try to get up there, but my finances are pretty limited, and I can't let you give me money. I am going to school on an academic scholarship, and part of it is because of my financial situation. I can't let that go away. I have to do this my way or no way at all. I do hope you can see that. I would like for you and my family to come see me during the holidays, but that is up to you. I'm sure that I can get you an apartment or condo to stay in; my employer has several open right now and I'm sure he would let me have access to them for you and anyone who comes down. I guess it is all up to you now, Mom. You do know that I love you?"

"Jase er ... Ron, this is going to take some time to get used to. Calling you Ron just doesn't seem right, but I can tell from your voice that you are not Jason. I can't speak for DJ or Becky, but I will definitely be down for Christmas. I can't wait to see the young man that you have grown into being. I think I can see why Jason had to die that night so long ago. I think a very large part of him died on January 5^th of that year. It just took a little while for him to realize that he had to die in order to live. I understand that more now, since, in a sense, I too died a little than night in early January. As the days turned into weeks, then years, that woman who was alive that night died too. She died of grief and shame. She finally confronted her shame and sought help. It took almost a year for her to finally admit her shame and guilt, and learn to live with her mistakes. I am still learning how to get along with the loss of my precious son. I think that if I meet this new man that he has become, I can accept the fact that Jason is gone for good. I promise I will try not to blubber too much when I see you, but I may not be able to hold back. I promise that I will not treat you like I did before Jason left me. I have found that I hate that woman more than I can say. She killed my son, and I have to live with that guilt. But then again, she caused me to have a new son, Ron. We might not have the same last name, but he is still my son and I will love him like a mother should."

"Mom, we can discuss this more as time goes on. I promise to call more often and not be such a stranger, but I have a life down here. I have a good life and it is getting much better. I'm so glad we had this talk. I have been working nights, but tonight is my last one. I may be going to class at night; I'm just not sure yet what my new schedule will be. I'm the manager for an apartment complex, and I think I just got another one two blocks over to manage too, but I'm still not sure what is happening on that yet. I need to call my boss and let him know my decision. I'll call you later, Mom, and I think I still love you."

"Bye, Ron, I love you too. Call me soon."

That went a whole lot better than I thought; now to call Jack. "Jack, this is Ron, Ron Reagan."

"I guess that tells me who you are now. So you decided to stick with Ron; how come?"

"I decided that Jason died a long time ago and there was no advantage for him to be resurrected again. I explained to my mother how and why Jason died and Ron was born, and why I needed to stay as Ron. So I suppose I need to get a birth certificate with Ronald Blake Reagan with my new birth date. I hope that you can help me in that respect. I don't want to get you into trouble, but I think I need to be totally legal now."

"Yes, Ron, I can help with that, now as to your new job. How about you come over to the office on Saturday afternoon to pick up your new car, and we can go over some things, then I'll take you over to introduce you to the existing manager of your new complex. He has always been the on-site manager, just like you are of your complex. It is much like yours, with only two floors, but I did add the elevator to be ADA compliant. I found that the added expense has brought me more business with the elderly and some returning vets than I ever expected. Let's say that you come here at one, and we can go from there. We'll need to figure out where you were born and try to get some possible signatures for you, but you let me worry about that part. You did say that Ron was born at a truck stop outside of Golden, Colorado, so we'll use that as a city for your birth to a transient couple, which is why it was a non-recorded birth. Let me find a hospital near there that has been there since at least 1989 and we can use that for your birth. You have January 15^th, 1990 as a birth date, how close is that to true?"

"Actually, it's the 16^th of September. I'm coming up on my 20^th birthday, but I listed January as that is the day Ron was born. Will that work, Jack?"

"Yeah, Ron, that will work as easy as any other date. I'm looking up hospitals in Golden and there are some medical centers, but I don't think any of them were open in 1989 or 1990. Let's see, there is a hospital in Wheat Ridge, a St. Joseph's that now part of Exempla Lutheran Medical Center. We can start with that one and go from there. Now no sweat, Ron, this will all work out. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye, Jack, see you tomorrow." Oh well, almost time to get ready for work. I think I will just sit back and let Bentley do all the work tonight. That is just what I did; I had made my decision to stay as Ron Reagan and see what my life would be like. My mother said she would be down for Thanksgiving and Christmas and that DJ, Brenda, Alan, and Becky and her husband, Greg, would be down to see me too. Bentley did great all night Friday, so I knew the station would be in good hands.

Jack called me Saturday just before I left to come down to his office and said that his wife would be picking me up. I had not met her yet, so I was kind of surprised when the doorbell rang and I opened it to this beautiful woman. I expected Jack to have someone nice, but I never expected someone so young. Jack was probably about forty to forty-five, and handsome, I guess. He was 5'-11" and probably 180 lbs. He did seem fit and was getting a little thick around the middle, but sitting around all day will do that.

But Sybil surprised me. Jack had said that she couldn't have children, but here I saw someone who looked about maybe thirty, 5'-5" 120 lbs, not overly large boobs, but well put together with a very nice figure. How could this young lady not have kids? She had what could be called wide child-bearing hips and such a nice face. Anyway I am getting off the track here.

"Wow! Jack said you were something else, but he never said you were so ruggedly handsome and so big. My God, Ron, no wonder he wants you taking over our empire. I can see the intelligence in your eyes, but we're wasting time here now. How about you drive us back to the office?" Sybil said, as she threw me the keys to the car.

I caught the keys in the air, locked the apartment up, and followed this vision out to the parking lot. "Ah, Mrs. Ewing, which car are we taking?"

"It's the gray Prius over there. Actually, it's your car not mine. Well, it's mine, I guess, but will be your car now. Oh, just drive us over there."

This was just overwhelming to me. I know I would forever guess, and probably never know, what happened to this young lady that would make her unable to have children. If it wasn't too personal, maybe Jack would tell me the story later on.

I drove over to the office and Jack greeted me with open arms. "Ron, come, let's sit in the conference room and talk. You need a Coke or coffee?"

"No, Ron, I just finished a Coke earlier, but some cool water would be nice."

Sybil came back with a coffee for Jack, a Pepsi Max for her, and a cold bottle of water for me. Then the business of me taking over for them got started.

Jack and Sybil outlined their great plan, that I was their new wonder boy, and that they expected great things from me. They outlined just how we would proceed with my schooling and my taking over the complex just down the street from my place. I would keep the existing on-site manager, as he was quite good, but that he would no longer contact Jack about anything he needed. He would contact me instead. I was now the overall manager for both complexes. My salary would be $1200.00 a month gross, I would still live rent free but have to pay utilities, plus I would be getting the scholarship stipend of $700 a month. Jack would front me the cost of books and other fees for school until I was able to pick up them myself. The Prius was now mine as a company car, so the insurance was covered by them, but the car was essentially mine now.