by William Hill
Liam left Carol's and started out to his grandmother's house. He immediately realized that the fastest, most direct way would take him past Drew and Scott's house, and he couldn't chance going anywhere near it; being seen by them or their parents would put a big hole in his cover story. He didn't like the idea of being outside on the street any longer than necessary, so he changed course and headed straight home; he'd call her instead. He went to his room, picked up his phone, and hesitated. He wanted to talk to her about her gift of "precognition", but he really hadn't been told enough about it to even begin to know what to ask, so he decided first he would search to see what he could find on the Internet. After turning his laptop on, he typed “precognition” into the search bar of his browser. He quickly read a couple of online dictionary definitions, but they only told him what he already knew. Then he saw a blog site with "precognition" as part of the subject matter. He clicked it and read about some guy's account about how he "dreamed" he'd be in an accident, rear-ending another car on his way to work one day, and how he had decided to avoid it by taking an alternate route, only to be rear-ended, himself, on the different road. A reader had responded that one couldn't cheat fate, there was going to be an accident regardless of what route he took, the only difference was a change in the time-space continuum.
Of course he had heard of the "time/space continuum" concept before, and had seen or read about it, in various Science Fiction movies, TV shows, and books, in relation to time travel, but he couldn't see the connection with this guy's explanation of the accident. So he did a search on it.
He found a web site containing a thesis about the time and space thing. It was mostly mathematical jargon supporting the scientific understanding of dimensions (mathematically there could be, some physicists claim, as many as nine!), the shape of space and the concept of time. He read that humans perceive the world three dimensionally — length, width, and depth — but that there is another factor, time, that we can perceive (the other possible six dimensions we can’t, but may be alternate universes!) We “see” time only as a straight line, the past up to the present and going on into the future, infinitely. Space, however, is finite, it doesn't go on forever, and it does bend and can be thought of as a bubble (although no one can say what's on the other side, the outside, of the bubble. Perhaps those alternate universes?). Moreover, according to Einstein’s field theory, time and space are one entity, one and the same yet separate, and you can't have one without the other.
In short, history can repeat itself, but only slightly differently than before. Because space must occasionally curve back onto itself at some point, but not always at the same point, so must time. And, just because people in general can't see this factor (any more than they can "see" another factor, gravity), and can only mentally sense time's passing, it doesn't mean no one can. If some can, then they could see what is happening throughout time and, thus, in a sense, time travel. Furthermore, the article went on, there cannot be a mechanical time machine (of the H. G. Wells' kind) since it would have to exist from the beginning of time; an impossibility. Ergo, the ability to time travel must be within our selves! Liam thought to himself that this was some deep stuff, but very fascinating.
Then he saw a page about the plasticity of the mind. Liam had no idea what "plasticity of the mind" meant, so he read it and found that it explained how the mind at birth is "wired" with millions of pathways connecting different parts of the brain. As a person grows, those that are not used are "pruned", cut off. However, should the brain suffer an accident where an important pathway is cut, say, by a stroke and the person is paralyzed, say in a leg, the brain can sometimes be rewired through therapy to use a different part of the brain to do what the damaged part used to. This allows the person to regain the use of that leg. Thus, what's meant by 'plasticity' is that the brain is like plastic and can be shaped and reshaped; it is not permanently hardwired, and the more a pathway is used, the stronger the connections get.
All that was interesting, he thought, except he couldn't see how it applied to precognition until he clicked onto another site that suggested that everyone is born wired for certain "paranormal" abilities, such as precognition, but that in a few individuals this ability isn't pruned out. They grow up to be called Seers, Magi, Shamans, Mystics, Medicine Men, Wizards, Witches, Saints or whatever, depending on what culture they come from! Could that explain Gran’s ability and that of my family, and others like us? he wondered, searching and finding many books, TV shows and movies that involved dreams and reality, (but nothing quite like what he had experienced) when he heard the front door and his family's voices. Looking at his watch, he couldn't believe it was so late in the afternoon. Out his window, he could see the orange glow of the setting autumn sun and, as if on cue, his stomach rumbling to tell him it was dinnertime. He shut down his computer, after saving to his favorites list all the web pages he had visited. I may need to look at these again, he thought, and went to greet everyone.
His sisters ran down the hall, almost colliding into him on the way, to their room to put away their school stuff. Nel yelled, "Coming through!" As he usually did, Liam ignored them and stood his ground, making Nel go around him. Nan came to a stop in front of him, being just as contrary as him. Liam leaned down, gently grabbed her body under her arms, turned around and set her behind himself. Nan giggled, turned and ran after her sister. Continuing on his way, he allowed himself a smile. He loved his sisters, but they could be such pains! As he entered the kitchen, he could smell Chinese. Oh, yeah! he thought, it was one of his favorites.
"Hi, Mom."
"Hi, Liam. How's my injured baby?"
"Hungry."
"So what have you been up to today, Sport?" his father asked as he walked in behind Liam.
"Hi, Dad. Not much."
His sisters ran in and they all sat at the table as his mother put the food and plates and utensils on it. Liam told them that he'd gone over to Carol's and that they'd discussed who would be their Irregulars.
"Let’s see...hum...I wonder who you picked?" his mother said with a laugh.
"Drew and Scott."
"Not those two!" his father said with a raised eyebrow.
Liam had a sudden fear that somehow he'd screwed up. "I haven't told them yet! We can pick someone else, I guess."
"Just kidding, Sport, they're probably the best you could pick. You've known each other all your lives and already have shared secrets, I'm sure. I know you trust each other and you love them."
"Dad, guys don't 'love' other guys!"
"You love me, don't you? I'm a guy."
"That doesn't count, you're my Dad."
"If you had brothers you'd love them, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"I know you would. Deeply, just like the rest of the family, even your sisters, even if you pretend you don’t. You love those boys as if they were your flesh-n-blood brothers."
Liam didn't respond verbally, only just nodded. His father was right, the two brothers had always treated Liam as a third brother and, yes, he guessed he really did love them.
The rest of the dinner conversation changed to more mundane things, like the weather and the news. Afterwards, the dishes all done and the leftovers put away, they all went to the living room to watch a movie his mother had stopped and rented because the girls wanted to see it. It was a kid’s movie that he watched for a while, but couldn't really get into. It was still early but for some reason he felt himself falling asleep on the couch, so rather than fight it he got up, went to bed, closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Eleven: Day Tripping
“Visualize the thing you want. See it, feel it, believe it. Make your mental blueprint and begin.”