The Time Traveler

by Tej Pratap Singh

  “Jo, wait up. It’s thundering already,” said Jenny. “You’re going to get wet. Just wait for a minute. I’ll get you a raincoat.”

  As Jo waited outside Jenny’s house he saw the same black SUV from earlier in the day parked a few houses away.

  That’s strange, thought Jo. I never noticed that car here before.

  Jenny got the raincoat. She kissed him goodnight and went back in. Jo was tired, he just wanted to call it a day. It started to pour as Jo got close to his place. He quickly ran to his parking place. He didn’t even bother parking his bike, just pushed it in the parking place and ran for the stairs. He looked back as the bike crashed to the floor. Well, at least it is in a covered space so it won’t get wet. He thought.

  Time- 11:59 p.m.

  Jo was nicely tucked in his bed. He could barely keep his eyes open. He looked outside the window, it had started to rain like crazy. Just then there was a cracking noise, the whole building shook, and Jo was thrown off his bed. He got up quickly and took stock of his room. Everything seemed ok. Must have been a lightning bolt. He said to himself as he picked up his clock and noticed that it was midnight while placing it back on the table.

  The next day, Jo was deep in his sleep when he heard someone banging at his door. What the hell, who could it be. Wondered Jo as he looked at the clock; it was 5:10 p.m!

  “Crap!” he said out loud, “I have been sleeping the whole day today.”

  Jo couldn’t believe it. Disgusted, he got up, barely able to keep one eye open. He reached his door, yawned and opened it. It was Dan.

  “Dan! What are you doing here today?” asked Jo.

  “Why? What’s so special about today? You aren’t getting married today, are you?” smiled Dan as he came in.

  “Come on, Dan, what is it?” asked Jo rubbing his eyes.

  “Well, bro, the lion at the Den is getting all mad,” said Dan. “Go meet him, he is waiting for you.”

  “What Mr. Hastings?” said Jo. “What does he want from me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he is missing his favorite delivery boy,” said Dan sarcastically. “Well, I got to go now. See ya on Monday, bro. Have a great weekend.”

  Jo got dressed, cursing Hastings for spoiling his weekend. He quickly went down to his parking spot, took his bike out of the parking stand and peddled off to Pizza Den.

  Time- 5:50 p.m.

  “Oh look, who decided to show up,” said Mr. Hastings in his usual sarcastic tone.

  “What is it boss?” said Jo still feeling lazy.

  “Well, prince of dreams, if it’s not too much trouble, do you mind delivering these pizzas today?” said Mr. Hastings handing him the list. “The call just came in.”

  “Boss, it’s my day off,” protested Jo.

  “Oh really, since when, smart ass? You get the day off when I say you get an off,” said Hastings poking his finger into Jo’s chest. “Now, get rolling you nut job or you can forget about your salary this week.”

  “Alright, I’ll go boss,” said Jo looking at the list. The last pizza delivery was in the same block as Jenny’s.

  Well, this is not that bad, I’ll get to meet Jenny. Thought Jo.

  As Jo reached the last house where the pizza was to be delivered, just a couple of houses from Jenny’s, he saw the black SUV once again. It was parked in front of the house. Jo wondered who lived in the house as he rang the bell; he hadn’t seen anyone living there during the course of the last one year. Just then the door opened and a man took the pizza off Jo’s hands. He placed a $1 note in Jo’s hand.

  “Have you read about Washington, my boy?” asked the man.

  Jo looked at the $1 note with President Washington on it, “Sir, the pizza is for 10 bucks. You’ve given me just $1.”

  “You are late, boy, that’s not good. Consider yourself lucky that I‘ve even given you this $1 with Washington on it. Or, I’ll give you 100 cents in change and if you misplace even one cent from it you will be left with less than a dollar, boy,” said the strange man.

  Jo couldn’t see the man clearly. He was wearing a hat and an overcoat. Jo moved to one side to see his face but the strange man moved further into the shadows.

  “You can leave now,” said the man as he turned around just before going back in. “You have a lot to learn. And keep the dollar note close to you. Don’t spend it. It will be lucky for you.”

  Disgusted Jo turned around. “Lucky my foot,” he said, as he put the dollar in his pocket.

  He reached his bike and looked up. The day is still sunny as hell and the guy is wearing a hat and an overcoat in his house. And he tells me, I have a lot to learn. What a loser. He thought.

  Jo glanced at Jenny’s house, a smile appeared on his face. He desperately needed to unwind. He cycled to her place and found her mother, Mrs. Dow, standing outside the house.

  “Good evening, Mrs. Dow,” said Jo.

  “Hey, Jo. How have you been?” replied Mrs. Dow. “Long time no see. Come on in. Jenny has been waiting for you.”

  “For me, today?” said he. “I thought we were to meet tomorrow.”

  “Now I don’t know what you two decided. Come in, won’t you,” said Mrs. Dow looking at the sky. “It looks like we’re finally going to get some rains from today.”

  Jo came in and sat in front of the TV. He started surfing the channels. Since he didn’t own a TV set he wasn’t updated with the latest news and so he decided to have a look at one of the news channels. He got to the weather channel, the same reporter from the day before was presenting the weather report. He again mentioned about a massive storm which was heading their way which was going to last for at least a week.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” said Jo mocking the reporter. “He is sharing the same update as yesterday.”

  “Come on, Jo, it was a bright sunny day yesterday.” said Mrs. Dow.

  “But it rained like hell yesterday, Mrs. Dow. It thundered so bad I fell off my bed,” he explained.

  “That’s strange,” said Mrs. Dow looking at the weather news. “It was quite calm here.”

  “It was?” said Jo, surprised. “But you’re only 10 minutes from my place Mrs. Dow.”

  Jenny came down from her room; she was wearing her lovely royal blue gown, which had a lovely silver lining around the edges.

  “You look beautiful, Jenny,” complimented Jo. “You really love this gown, don’t you, you are wearing it at home as well.”

  “Jo, I am wearing it because you are going to take me out tonight, remember?” said Jenny.

  “Tonight? Jenny, I know you’re mad at me for yesterday but I promised you that I would take you out next week. You know I am out of cash, Jen,” he said.

  “Jo, is this a joke?” said Jenny coming down the stairs. “What are you talking about? How could I be mad at you about yesterday when I haven’t met you in a week?”

  “Come on, Jen, stop kidding now,” said Jo smiling.

  “Jo, just stop it. I have spent one hour getting dressed, so if you don’t want to go out, just say that,” said Jenny really getting upset now. “You don’t have to make excuses. It’s a Friday night and I don’t want to waste it.”

  “Jen, you have been studying too hard. You have lost track of time. It’s not Friday today, it’s Saturday!” said Jo finally realizing the source of the confusion.

  Jenny took out her mobile and placed it right in front of Jo’s face, “You see the date on it Mr.? It says Friday - F.R.I.D.A.Y. Does that compute, Einstein?”

  “Jen, give me a break,” said Jo as he turned towards the TV; the day as per the news channel was Friday.

  “What the hell,” cried Jo. “Something seems wrong.”

  Shocked but still smiling he changed the channel to another news channel, and it too showed Friday. He changed the channel once more and again it showed Friday.

&nbs
p; Jo looked at the time on the news channel, it was 11:25 p.m. He nervously looked outside the window and then it thundered as a lightning bolt lit up the sky.

  “Bloody hell,” said Jo. He stood still, motionless.

  After a minute of silence, Jenny inquired, “Jo, what’s going on? Are you alright?”

  “Jenny, I was at your place yesterday at this very exact time at 11.25 p.m. You went in to get a raincoat for me after it started thundering. And, today it thundered at the same time. It was Friday yesterday, but today is also Friday! And, that’s why it’s thundering at the same time. That’s is also why Dan came by today to wake me up, ‘cause it’s a week day. That’s why the same news is on as yesterday. That’s why it’s started to rain now. That’s why my bike had air in its tubes today when I got up and that’s why it was parked in the parking slot even thought I had thrown it in last night,” he said putting two and two together. “Do you know why? Because it’s Friday today!”

  “Jo, slow down. I have no clue what you are talking about,” said Jenny. “Are you feeling alright?”

  “Jen, you have a physics assignment to submit tomorrow, and you are stuck on it because you were not using the right constant, and you didn’t consider the bending of light close to a body of mass 50 X,” said Jo trying to make his point. “The answer to the equation is 23.33 revolutions per sec.”

  “How on earth did you know about it?” she said in shock. “How did you know about my assignment? I never told you about it.”

  “You did, Jenny,” said Jo holding her. “Yesterday. Don’t you remember?”

  “No, I have no idea what you are talking about. We never met yesterday,” she said.

  “Just come with me,” he said stepping out of the house. “Take your car. We have a place to go to.”

  “Where?” asked Jenny.

  “Trust me, Jen, you got to see it,” said Jo looking at the sky.

  “Okay, where do you want me to drive to?” asked Jenny as they both sat in her car.

  “To my place,” he said in a serious tone.

  “Why are we going there?”

  “Just do it, please, Jen. Start driving, we are getting late already,” stressed Jo.

  “You are starting to freak me out me now.”

  “Jen, you have no idea, how freaked out I am right now,” said Jo wiping sweat off his forehead.

  They drove up to his apartment.

  “What now?” asked Jenny.

  “Wait, Jen, wait. You are going to see it now,” he said looking at Jenny’s wristwatch.

  “See what?” she questioned.

  “A lightning bolt,” said Jo looking straight at her.

  “What? We drove here to see a lightning bolt,” said Jenny staring back at Jo.

  “Not just any lightning bolt, Jen,” he said pointing his hand to his apartment. “This one is going to hit my building.”

  “Jo, how can you be so sure? You’ve lost it, Jo. Too many pizza deliveries.”

  “I just know it is going to happen,” said Jo. “What time is it?”

  “It’s 11.59 p.m.,” replied Jenny looking at her watch, “do you mean to say that you also know the time it’s going to strike?”

  “Yes, I do,” said Jo as his eyes beamed, “and it’s going to hit now.”

  Just then there was a rattling blast that shook the whole car. The lightning bolt hit the building.

  “Oh my God!” cried Jenny. “The lightning just hit your building. How…, how did you know? How the hell did you know that would happen? And, how on earth did you know about my science project?

  Upon not receiving any answer Jenny looked at him and asked him again, “Tell me, Jo, how did you know?”

  “I just relived a day, today,” said Jo looking into Jenny’s eyes.

  “Are you a psycho, Jo? Have you gone nuts? No one relives a day,” said Jenny. “Okay, tell you what, the lighting was just a lucky guess and I might’ve told you about my assignment earlier. That can be the only explanation.”

  “No, Jen, I have already thought of all the possibilities. We haven’t met for a week. You could not have told me about your assignment. And, no one can guess when and where a lightning is going to strike,” said Jo still sweating.

  “Are you saying that you witnessed these events yesterday as well?” questioned Jenny.

  “I know it sounds crazy, it does to me too, but, you know me very well. I don’t do pranks and I am not joking. I am very serious,” he explained himself. “Just drop me here and go back home, Jen. I’ll be fine.”

  Jo got out of the car, slammed the door, and started walking towards his building.

  “Hey, Jo, wait up,” shouted Jenny, she stepped out of the car and ran towards him.

  He quickly covered her with his jacket, “What are you doing? You will get all wet. It’s pouring.”

  “I believe you,” said Jenny as she hugged him. “Just tell me one thing, you said that we met yesterday, is that true?”

  “Yes, we did. You came back to my place, and you were wearing the same gown yesterday,” he said hugging her back.

  “This gown?” she looked at him inquiringly.

  “Yes, and I think you should change it,” said Jo. “It has a loose bead which will cut your waist.”

  Jenny immediately felt her waist. Sure enough, it was bleeding. She stood on her toes, kissed him tenderly, and said, “I don’t know what’s going on, Jo, but I trust you.”

  Chapter 2

  KC

  It was Saturday. It was still raining heavily. Jo couldn’t sleep the whole night, not that he wanted to. He went over what had happened in his head. Something like that wasn’t supposed to happen, but it had. He accepted this fact and thought, What now? Is it over? Was it just for once or will it happen again? Why did it happen in the first place? Does it have something to do with me? Was I the only one to experience it? It certainly seemed so. There were so many things going on in his head, but now, after spending a whole night thinking of all the possibilities, he knew that he would need to start from the beginning.

  Trouble was that he had no memory of his past. He knew nothing of his life prior to that moment when he woke up in that hospital where the sheriff had admitted him.

  He got out of bed, wore his shirt, looked in the mirror and asked himself aloud, “Who are you?”

  He picked up his raincoat and headed straight for the sheriff’s place. Sheriff Mike had saved him and he probably was the only one who, at this point, could help him with some answers. Mike had retired last year, he was an old man now, he’d already suffered two heart attacks, and the doctors had warned him that the third one could be his last.

  He reached Mike’s house. He knocked on the door. Mike opened the door and gave him one of his bear hugs, “Hey, Jo, my boy, how are you? I was wondering where you were. Haven’t heard from you all week. What have you been up to, boy?”

  “How are you Mike? You look great,” he replied.

  “Yeah, you think so?” said Mike looking at himself in the mirror, trying to hold his breath and pull his stomach in. “The doctors don’t agree with you. They say I’ll be saying goodbye to my whiskey this year.”

  “No, Mike, don’t say that, you got plenty of fight left in you. You aren’t goin’ nowhere,” he said giving Mike a mock punch in his stomach. “Ah, Mike, I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Park yourself first. What’s the hurry?” said Mike sipping his whiskey.

  “Well, I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept worrying about the fact that I don’t know anything about myself. It kills me to think that I don’t know anything about who I am. I just want to know everything there’s to know?” he said looking at Mike.

  “Come on, Jo, that road isn’t taking you anywhere,” said Mike as he came and sat beside him patting his back. “What have you got to worry about? You got your whol
e life ahead of you.”

  “But I want to know about my past,” explained Jo. “I really want to know who I was before I was found here. I want to know my real name for God’s sake.”

  “Well, if you want to know I’ll tell you. But, just tell me one thing, are you planning on leaving your old man behind for good and moving somewhere or something?” said Mike as he kept his glass on the table.

  “No, I would never do that. You know that, don’t you,” replied Jo.

  “So you say. My son said the same thing and then he…,” said Mike looking at his son’s picture over the fireplace.

  Jo kept his hand on Mike’s shoulder and then hugged him, “Mike, I am not going anywhere.”

  “Oh, get off me kid, if the girls outside see you hugging me, they will stop going out with me,” said Mike with a mischievous smile. “What do you want to do? Kill me with an overdose of emotions? Alright, alright, you sit down I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  Jo sat down taking a deep breath, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to hear what was coming. Mike filled his glass with some more whiskey, took a sip, and sat down.

  “Jo, I found you one night while I was coming back from the station. It happened on the day I was to retire. I was on my way home when I heard a faint sound of some sort, I stopped and listened to see if I could make out where the sound was coming from. Just then, a sudden surge of light lit up that area and I heard a crackling noise. I was certain then that some street light fuse must’ve blown, you know how often that happens,” he said.

  “I again started to walk towards my house. I was pretty sad that day. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the rest of my life, I had given my everything to my country, and now, I had retired. I kept on walking and then I heard someone shout. This time I was sure I had heard someone. I turned back and ran towards where the screams where coming from. I thought someone was being mugged. I found you lying on the ground just around the corner. You looked bad, real bad, you were lying flat on your back, bleeding from your mouth, and I could make out that your hands and legs were also broken. You must’ve received a pretty heavy beating from someone. I couldn’t even see your face properly; it was covered in blood. As I reached for you, you held your hand up with whatever little energy was left in you, looked straight into my eyes and said, “Take this and don’t give it back to me till I come to you asking for answers.” And then you fainted. After that you very well know how things turned out.”