Chapter 76: Answers, and More Questions

September 1, 2007 (continued)

I paused for a minute to collect my wits. Then, I faced George, not at all confrontationally, but seeking answers. "Okay," I began. "It's obvious you know quite a bit about us – about me – and the secret I have. Either you overheard a conversation of ours, or you're a time traveler yourself."

"Please excuse me," said a remorseful-sounding George. "I didn't mean to frighten you. But I have some things to share with you that are of vital importance, and I simply had no choice but to approach you in this manner. Anyway, to answer the implicit question in your comment, the latter point is the correct one. I am, in fact, a fellow time traveler."

I looked at my wife impassively; it seemed as though our capacity for amazement had been exhausted. "That explains how you know what you know," said Inez softly.

I instinctively had had doubts about George's claims, but they were subsiding by the second. My intuition – or more correctly, The Sensation – was now telling me that George was on the up and up.

"It sounds like you have a story to tell us," I commented. "So you traveled back in time, like I did?"

"I have actually traveled back in time on four different occasions," replied George. "So I've lived in five different timelines."

"Five?" I exclaimed, then let that sink in for a bit. Finally, I was able to utter, "How many different timelines are there?"

"I believe that the number is very large, perhaps even infinite. Anyway, if you please, I'll tell you my story. Then, if you like, I'll do my best to offer input on your situation. Finally, I need to caution you about something. You may still be in great danger."

"Great danger?" said Inez with alarm.

"I will tell you everything," George assured her. "But first things first. Do you have plans for right now? I believe it's of utmost importance that you listen to what I have to say."

"We're supposed to meet the rest of our band and some friends at a restaurant," I replied, before kicking the question to Inez. "What do you think?"

"I imagine we could call them and say you aren't feeling well," she offered. She called Eileen to say that we wouldn't be there, after all, since I had a headache. Paul came on the phone to tell us that we could just go back to their place, and let ourselves in; his mother-in-law was at home with their son.

With that matter settled, I nodded at George. "The floor is yours."

"Let me start with my personal history," he began. "I was born in 1954 in Lafayette, Louisiana, of humble origins, the eldest of three children. My parents were the owners of a small bed-and-breakfast place. We were just a minuscule step above dirt-poor. Nonetheless, my parents worked hard to save money for my education. I graduated from high school with honors, and was able to attend what was then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana."

"The Ragin' Cajuns," I grinned.

"The Ragin' Cajuns," he repeated with a dignified smile of his own. "I graduated in 1975 with a degree in accounting. My family encouraged me to leave Louisiana, believing that better-paying jobs were to be found close to the big cities in the Northeast. I indeed landed a position with an accounting firm not very far from here, in Union County, New Jersey.

"In 1977, I met the woman who was destined to become the love of my life. Her name was Elsie. She came from a considerably more privileged background than I, and grew up not too far from New Brunswick. Two years later, we were married, and within five years, we had become the parents of a son and a daughter."

George paused at this point, seemingly to collect his thoughts. I got the impression he was weighing over what he wanted to tell us. Inez and I remained silent, implicitly encouraging George to continue.

"We settled into a normal, middle-class existence. At times, getting by was a struggle, but we managed. Our children grew into teenagers. Meanwhile, I turned my love for music into a hobby. I met my bandmates – the ones I performed with tonight – in 1997, and we began to play together regularly, but only in private. We were talking about looking for opportunities to play at nightclubs and shows and the like. However, one Saturday evening in August of 1999 – shortly after our oldest child finished high school – all those dreams came to an end."

"They came to an end," I echoed, old feelings kicking in. I knew where he was going with this.

"Elsie and I were involved in a terrible auto accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. The impact was frightful, and I, um, found out afterwards that our car burst into flames and later exploded."

"How did you find that out?" I put forth.

"It came to me in a dream," replied George with a strange smile. Inez opened her mouth to speak; I silenced her by gently pressing my hand against hers. I was still feeling George out, and I wanted him to lay all of his cards on the table.

"The next thing I knew," he continued, "I awoke and found myself in the burn ward of a hospital, with second- and third-degree burns all over me, following a fiery auto accident. However, turned out it was the year 1970, and I was sixteen years old."

Inez gasped audibly. I nodded at George, telling him to go on.

"Just like you, a violent incident had induced my conscious mind, and my memories, to be transferred to a version of me in another timeline who'd suffered through a similar traumatic incident."

"In my case, the difference was that the vehicle of transfer was a lightning bolt," I said, finally opening up a little.

"Right," smiled George, that smile indicating that he knew more about my history than he'd let on so far. "I was blessed with a teenager's recuperative powers, and I healed quickly. When I returned to high school, I realized I'd been given an opportunity through my pre-knowledge. I didn't always use that pre-knowledge wisely or well – I did go through a period of promiscuity where I used my many years of life experience to gain an edge in seducing young women." George seemed embarrassed about owning up to that, and actually took pains to avoid looking Inez in the eye. "But it was just a phase that I thankfully outgrew. During my college years, I sought to improve my standing in life by studying hard and investing well. I, of course, had a substantial edge when it came to that latter point. Upon graduation, I headed off to New Jersey, taking the same job offer I'd accepted in the earlier life. That job, however, held little interest for me. What I really wanted to do was locate Elsie, and woo her all over again. Of course, I found her quite easily. Imagine my surprise when I learned that she'd been waiting for me to appear."

"She was waiting for you?" I blurted out, not expecting that twist.

"It turned out," George smiled, "that she too had been sent back in time following our accident. The difference was, she arrived in the year 1972, when she was fifteen years old. That teenage version of her had also been in a serious car crash."

"Wow," was the best reply I could muster.

"What a mind trip," commented Inez. "You found your way into a timeline where both of you were in serious auto accidents during your teen years, two years apart? And it had to be that way, right?"

"Exactly," grinned George. "You seem to have a knack for understanding these time-travel concepts, Inez."

"I say that to her all the time," I threw in.

George picked up the story. "Soon, we were engaged. We made sure we got married on the exact same day as in the first timeline. We ended up having the same two kids, born on the same days."

I whistled in reply, as Inez shook her head in awe.

"With both of us having pre-knowledge of world events," George went on, "we were a force to be reckoned with. It wasn't long before we became prosperous and wealthy. Very prosperous and wealthy. Soon after that, a most insidiously destructive characteristic entered our mindset: greed."

"That was a trap," I declared, "that we've mostly been able to stay away from."

"Kudos to you for that," nodded George. "Eventually, as our wealth exceeded what any reasonable couple would need in one lifetime, greed became our driving force. Our children managed to graduate from college, but both had issues derived from parental neglect. I never explored my passion for music in this particular life; I was simply too involved in watching our net worth increase. Eventually, we both retired from work, settling in an impossibly luxurious East Side condominium in Manhattan. You know, one of those places where your neighbors are exclusively celebrities and the insanely wealthy. And alongside greed, the feeling of boredom began to make itself known. By 2006, our kids were out on their own, and empty nest syndrome added to our dissatisfaction. That's when Elsie and I made a decision, and it was one, sadly enough, that was borne of greed."

George paused for a second. "In the years leading up to this point, I'd become aware of a certain feeling inside me whenever I encountered something having strong time-travel implications. It seemed to be evaluative rather than predictive in nature, and it ranged from a deep feeling of well-being to a sense of panic, depending on the particular stimulus."

"I have that same feeling sometimes, George," I noted wryly. "We refer to it as The Sensation."

"Pat, above all else, you must learn to never ignore that feeling," cautioned George. I remained silent, opting not to mention that the feeling was present right at the moment, although it wasn't especially powerful. "Anyway, Elsie and I decided that the best way to deal with the lack of fulfillment in our lives was to look for a chance to travel back in time, and do it all over again. We naively figured that this gift of ours rendered us all but immortal.

"Our chance came on the Fourth of July, 2006. We were about to view a fireworks display down along the Hudson River on the Jersey side. The feeling – that Sensation we've been discussing – washed over me. We decided to move around, and I found that it became strongest when we approached the area where the fireworks would be launched. Of course, that area was roped off. We swung around to the back, sneaking through a wooded area, approaching the launch site from the rear. We watched as they started to set off the rockets, one by one, until I suddenly experienced an urge to run out into the open. I grabbed Elsie's hand and pulled her along. Then, one of the fireworks misfired spectacularly, setting off a good portion of their inventory in a huge explosion. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital back in Louisiana, recovering from burns suffered as a result of a fireworks display gone awry. I was thirteen years old, and it was the year 1967."

"Damn, George," I chuckled. "And I thought my life was far removed from the norm."

George laughed amiably at my remark, and then became serious. "It was in this timeline where we truly paid the price for our greed. I went to college as before, moved to New Jersey, and sought out Elsie. Needless to say, I found her again. It turned out that she had landed just a little more than a year earlier in this timeline. For her, it was a short wait until we met."

"So, reading between the lines," Inez offered, "this time, you both landed in a timeline where you suffered injuries from fireworks accidents?"

"Precisely," replied George. "That would seem to be a billion-to-one shot, right? That's why I think the actual number of timelines in existence must be a very large number. Anyway, Elsie and I became the parents of the same two children once again. And of course, we became quite wealthy one more time. We decided to try rural living this time around, purchasing a large palatial dwelling in the hills of northwest New Jersey. And then, it all came to a tragic halt. Late one June evening in 1991, I lost my beautiful Elsie in a fatal car accident as she was returning home after a shopping trip."

With that revelation, both Inez and I gasped in shock. "You ... lost her?" Inez managed to get out.

"I lost her," George acknowledged. "And in the context of time travel, when you die, you die. Yes, you'll continue to exist in other timelines. But in this case, that particular conscious aspect of Elsie I'd known across parts of three timelines – that particular soul, if you will – was gone forever. For us to consider ourselves immortal was sheer stupidity. We were blinded by greed."

I could see the anguish on George's face as he recounted this sad tale, could hear it in his voice. To keep from dwelling on it, I pushed the conversation forward. "How did you deal with being on your own at that point?"

"Not very well," he admitted. "Having the love of my life taken away in an instant, along with all the hopes and dreams our admittedly greedy and shallow selves had conceived of, was a blow I never really got over. I found myself just going through the motions day in, day out. Eventually, I thought about ending it all. Of course, to the time traveler, 'ending it all' doesn't carry the morbid associations it might for another."

"You decided to go back in time again, and find Elsie," I speculated.

"Right," said George with an enigmatic smile. "One afternoon, I was heading south on the turnpike. All of a sudden, here was The Sensation, and it became as intense as I'd ever felt it. I pulled my car off to the shoulder. A chemical plant was nearby, and The Sensation was directing me to move toward it. The plant was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, but I found a gap and passed through it. I was about twenty feet away from the building when it blew up."

I just shook my head. "This time, it was a chemical plant explosion."

"It was," he said. "And it did the trick, but with an unintended consequence. This time, I was sent back a mere twelve years in time. I arrived at a point that was well beyond where I'd met up with Elsie in the other three timelines. I searched for her anyway, but when I located her, I discovered that she had already married another man.

"My plan had failed, and I was forced to make the best of the hand I'd been dealt. I ended up marrying another woman, for the worst of all possible reasons – I just didn't want to be alone. It was a stale and passionless union, produced no children, and lasted less than five years. For me, she just couldn't measure up to Elsie. Meanwhile, I had limited means for making myself wealthy, at least in comparison to the other timelines. I had to go and find an actual job. I searched high and low for means of self-fulfillment, and at last recalled something from way back in the first timeline. I recalled how much I'd enjoyed music, and I managed to meet up with my Funk Station buddies. We formed our group like before. Eventually, we became popular and successful. Which brings us to a day in the year 2007."

"I know where you're going with this," I interjected. "You're now talking about the same timeline that I lived for forty-four years in."

"Yes, I am," grinned George. "One evening, we were playing in a talent show held by the employer of one of our group members. We won the competition, and a band called ... what was it?"

"Activation Energy," I supplied.

"That band finished second. Afterward, I spoke with a member of that band in the lobby."

"I remember that talk well," I said, smiling at the memory.

"When I spoke with you, Pat, The Sensation came upon me, stronger than it had in awhile. I knew what that meant, and I made the decision spontaneously. Up till then, I'd pretty much ruled out any more attempts at going back in time, having been shown quite vividly how risky it really was. Nonetheless, I had to take one more crack at being with Elsie again.

"The Sensation directed me to follow you back into the room where you spoke alone with Inez. I hid behind a closet door, and caught the conversation where you were discussing the prize money. I watched you two get into a heated debate."

"Please tell me, George," Inez interrupted, "that you didn't see me spit in Pat's face."

"If you want me to say I didn't see it," George said, grinning widely, "then ... I didn't see it."

"Oh Lord," uttered an embarrassed Inez.

"I know you're a very different person now," George said in an assuring manner. "Anyway, I watched Inez depart the premises, leaving Pat by himself. I saw Pat fuming in anger. Then, I moved out into the open as Pat grabbed a bottle, cursed loudly, and threw it against the wall, as a lightning bolt hit the building simultaneously."

"So," I said in disbelief, "when I threw that bottle, you were..."

"Standing less than ten feet behind you."

"And what happened to you following the lightning strike?"

"Once again," George related, "I awoke in a hospital bed. But this time, it was the year 1959, and I was a mere five years old."

"You've gotta be kidding me," I said in awe.

"It's the blessed truth, Pat. And let me ask you this. Can you imagine the challenges involved with being five again, knowing what you know now?"

"I had a hard enough time impersonating a seventeen-year-old. A five-year-old? It must have been next to impossible."

"And it was," said George. "It was apparent to everyone that there was something markedly different about me. I forced myself to say as little as possible, but yet, I couldn't hide the fact that I was different, far advanced intellectually for a child of five. Even stranger was the fact that these changes had come over me seemingly in an instant.