PLAY ON

by Marilynn Halas

  In an instant she was gone, and Maggie ran to them. She held Dillon and Ryan, and even Michael. “I’m so glad you are back. Dillon, are you alright? You really had me worried.”

  “Mom, I am fantastic and improving. Marie and I are getting married!”

  Maggie looked at Ryan. “Did he hit his head?” Everyone laughed because they knew the car ride back to the city would be full of the best conversation they had ever had.

  Dillon filled them in, and Thomas asked so many questions that they were more than halfway home when Maggie realized that Ryan had barely said a word. He looked fine, but something was different. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she would make it her business to find out.

  Danny was very happy for Dillon. He'd made it, he'd survived. He knew some of his dreams were sure to come true. Danny knew the score. For Pete’s sake, he knew he didn’t make it; he was dead. His mom and dad were moving on and that was a good thing. Wasn’t it? Danny was disgusted with himself. He knew how he was supposed to feel, but he just didn’t feel it. He didn’t want anyone else to be miserable, he just wished he could move on too.

  Danny was pretty sure that Dillon didn’t need him much in that fancy future he was headed for. For that matter, maybe Dillon didn’t need him much now, either. Danny figured it was time to say good-bye.

  December 5, 2011

  Sara was excited about the trip to New York and she was ready to get organized. She checked her list again: tickets to the city, tickets to see two Broadway shows, and reservations at the Plaza. They would be paying for this trip for months, but so what? It was time.

  Uncle Joe just did not get it. Where the heck was that kid? He thought this whole thing was settled. The rescue was accomplished. Dillon was saved and Danny knew they were brothers. That should have been it. In a way, it was like the boys were both going blind. Dillon literally, and Danny was blind to all the souls around him trying to help him find his way home. Danny had to learn where he came from in order to get where he was going, right? So, where was he? He saw them all there surrounding him in the cave. How had Danny missed the point? Could he really think they were there for just one twin? No way.

  There was no chance he was going to leave Danny behind. Wandering around in the space-time continuum was fine for a little while, but it was no way to spend eternity. Uncle Joe had been given a job and he wasn’t going to leave a man behind. Not now, not ever.

  Dillon and Marie were having a great day. Finals were next week, and then the Starlight Ball was on the following Saturday night. It was supposed to light the longest night of the year, but it happened a full twelve days before the winter solstice. That seemed just about normal in the world of high school.

  Marie noticed a big change in Dillon. It was hard to believe this was the same guy who took two weeks to ask her to Starlight. He had a whole new, relaxed confidence. She liked him a lot before, but now he was just about irresistible.

  “Hey Sweets, let’s grab Tom and Amanda for a movie later.” Dillon didn’t want to be overconfident, but there was no getting around the fact that now he knew this was a sure thing.

  “You do realize finals are next week?” Marie feigned a scandalized expression. “Still, if you want to see Vampires in Love, I’m in.

  Well, that had certainly backfired. “Vampires in Love? Really? I was thinking we could catch that new remake of A Christmas Crisis. You know, the one with the zombie as the ghost of Christmas?”

  “Zombies, vampires, how romantic.” Marie laughed. “Maybe we should grab a pizza and meet at my house to study bio.”

  Dillon smiled. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” It didn’t much matter to him anyway. He just wanted to be near her, and he really didn’t care where they went. Dillon wished Danny would come around, but he hadn’t seen him.

  Maggie had a double shift that night so she was glad Dillon had plans for dinner. It used to bother her that Dillon was alone so often, but it didn’t seem as though that would be a problem anymore. Ryan offered to pick him up around nine, and Maggie was surprised to find herself hoping Ryan would still be there when she got home.

  The hospital was quiet when she got there, and as her shift wore on, Maggie found herself daydreaming about the future Ryan described. Looking into the ER waiting room, she couldn’t wait until there was a cure available to help ease some of the suffering all around her. In the meantime, they had to do the best they could.

  When Ryan went to Marie’s house to pick up Dillon, he stayed a few minutes to have coffee with her dad. Given what he now knew, he wanted to get to know Marie and her family a little bit better. Ryan was different too. That trip to the future rocked his world. Ryan wished his obituary had said how he was going to die. Maybe it didn’t list the cause of death to keep time travellers, like him, from becoming neurotic.

  Dillon was practically floating as they drove home. There was nothing like falling in love, especially for the first time. It was glorious. Then there was the added confidence boost that comes from seeing that you actually get to keep the girl.

  What Ryan wouldn’t do to have a piece of news like that in his back pocket. He hadn’t really planned to stay when they got to Maggie’s, but Dillon wanted to see the Country Music Institute awards and his enthusiasm was contagious.

  December 6, 2011

  Danny walked past a bakery at about four in the morning and it smelled ridiculously good. Fresh-baked bread and brewing coffee made him wish he could just walk right in and order breakfast. He wasn’t hungry, he was just human, or used to be. It was weird to be stuck as he was. He had no physical needs, but he still had wants. He wanted the bread and coffee, and maybe a doughnut. Why not? It wasn't like he needed to watch his diet. Danny stayed there another minute or so and then moved on.

  He liked this part of New York. If things had worked out differently, he could imagine moving to a place like this after MIT, maybe a small apartment in a five-story walk-up and falling in love with the girl next door. Danny laughed at the thought of it. Here he was daydreaming about being single in the most dynamic city in the world and all he could think about was falling in love with the girl next door.

  “I guess what they say is true: you can take the boy out of the country, but there ain’t no taking the country out of the boy,” Danny muttered to himself.

  He figured he would stop by Dillon’s later on, but he knew he couldn’t keep it up much longer. From the looks of things, Dillon had a pretty nice life ahead of him and he wouldn’t need Danny much anymore. Danny figured he was in Dillon’s life to help him find the cure Dillon needed. Now that his part was done, Danny felt more like a third wheel than a big brother. As for Clint and Sara, they looked like they were getting on with their lives too. These were good things, things any good brother and son would want. So why did Danny feel like the loneliest guy in the world?

  He decided to spend the day the way he figured lots of New Yorkers do. He had no laptop and he couldn’t drink the coffee, but he joined all the other laptop hobos in a coffeehouse and watched the tourists walk up and down Fifth Avenue.

  That night he went to visit Dillon. Dillon was hunched over his desk, crunching numbers. Danny thought he could actually see the smoke coming from Dillon’s ears.

  “You gonna be okay there?” Danny teased. “You look like you might burn your brain.”

  “Oh, be quiet. MIT isn’t exactly beating down my door, so I got enough math to make up to last until I go to college. Apparently, what I understood as necessary absences, my teachers understood as unexcused. Now I have a pile of make-up work that’s bigger than me.”

  “Five point three seven two nine,” said Danny.

  “Excuse me?” Dillon looked up, confused.

  “The answer is five point three seven two nine, or do you want me to carry out the decimals further?”

  “Seriously? You make me sick. I’ve been trying to figure this out for at least fifteen minutes and you just look over my shoulder and announce the answer?”

&
nbsp; “Yep.” Danny would really miss these moments torturing his brother.

  “Feel free to shut up.”

  “Are you sure that’s really what you want? I can go, no problem, but your pitiful math skills suggest you might want to reconsider your order, Captain.”

  Dillon clenched his frustrated fist. “I’m sorry. Will you help me?”

  “Yep. Three point seven nine eight two.”

  “Look, I appreciate the answers and all, but it’s possible that I’ll need to know how to do this.” Dillon was erasing his latest mistake. Danny sat down and explained the finer points of the problem. Once he understood the concepts, Dillon caught on quickly, and it wasn’t long before they were racing each other to the answers. Danny won most of the time, but Dillon was definitely getting faster.

  “You know, it might have been like this,” Danny said. Dillon looked confused, so Danny continued. “If things were different, if we were just regular brothers. I bet we would have had some fun.”

  “In no possible scenario could we be regular anything. We are clearly irregular to say the least. But I know what you mean. It would have been cool and annoying.”

  “Annoying?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah, I’m used to being the smart one.”

  It was a late night for Ryan too. He wanted his Maggie back home, but he knew she wouldn’t make it easy. The way he figured it, he had about eight and a half years left. Eight Christmases, eight birthdays, eight more summers. Ryan felt a kind of liberating pressure to make them count. He wanted to do something important with the time he had left.

  He was sure that he had more time than a lot of people, but now that he knew when he would die, each day seemed more precious. He had the same number of days he always had, they just seemed more fragile somehow. Ryan sat down and looked over the bucket list he was creating:

  Spend time with Dillon

  Win Maggie back

  Help Michael develop the crystal

  Go to Hawaii . . . every year!

  Ryan was pleased with his new agenda. If he could move through

  this list, then his life would have meaning. The only question left was how? It was overwhelming until he realized he was already well on his way. He and Dillon were becoming allies instead of adversaries, and they were even talking about spending Christmas together. That was progress; now for momentum.

  Michael sat in his Chesterfield leather chair and put his feet on the golden desk. Ryan knew about the crystal, but that couldn’t be helped, and besides, it could be handled. It wouldn't be the first time Michael had to take out a little garbage. It was nothing he couldn’t take care of. It was a shame though, as Michael actually liked Ryan, but he could hardly count on attorney–client privilege now. A do-gooder like Ryan would be a real pain in the neck when Michael began to sell shares in the crystal. Ryan would have to be neutralized. It simply could not be avoided.

  December 8, 2011

  Clint walked up and down Main Street, looking for the perfect gift for Sara. He needed something that would travel well, for her to open on Christmas Day in New York. He knew he could get a fancy present in the city, but he wanted to give her something from home. Besides, he didn’t want to have to worry about sneaking away to shop once they were there.

  He considered a gift card, but shook his head. Yeah, that was real romantic. Nothing says I’m thinking of you better than, “Here, go get yourself something.”

  Clint wanted something easy to carry that would last and remind Sara that he loved her. Why was this so hard?

  “Oh, hell. Maybe I should just get the gift card,” Clint muttered as he crossed the road. A car full of kids flew by with the windows open and the ground vibrating beneath them from the music they played. Seeing the teenagers singing along gave him an idea. He tipped his hat as they drove out of sight and whispered, "Thank you."

  Sitting in a study room at the library with his friends, Dillon was practically pulling out his hair. He was far behind and finals were less than a week away.

  “At least try to pull out the gray ones,” Marie joked.

  “What do you mean, gray ones? I am not going gray. I had one gray hair and it’s gone.”

  Tom laughed. “Sensitive, aren’t we?

  Dillon was in no mood to be teased. He had to cover a semester's worth of work in a week and there were huge holes in his notes. At least math was under control. Bio was fine too, but how could he read Pride and Prejudice in three days? He did not understand why Marie liked it so much. She was even quoting it when she teased him.

  “'My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.' Darcy, Chapter 11. You really should give it a chance, Dillon. It’s a beautiful love story about things not being as they seem.”

  “I think it’s sadistic. I can’t believe the teacher based her whole exam on the parts of the book that aren’t even in the movie. What is she trying to do?”

  “I think she wants you to read the book.” Marie shook her head.

  “Really? I had no idea.” Dillon was smiling now.

  Danny needed to talk to Dillon but he knew that now was not the time. Finals required all Dillon's attention and that was all right. Danny wasn’t in a hurry to have this conversation anyway. Another few days either way wouldn’t matter. Maybe he would even stay 'til Christmas. Then that was it. Danny didn’t know where he was going, but he knew it was time to go.

  December 12, 2011

  “Ladies and gentlemen, pencils down.”

  It was a relief and a worry at the same time. One exam done and four more to go. Dillon never knew how well he scored at the end of an exam. He was usually so fried, all he knew for sure was it was over.

  When he stepped out into the afternoon sun, he was surprised to

  “I thought you could use this.” Ryan handed him a paper cup. Dillon put it to his lips expecting whipped cream and hot chocolate; what he got was hot, black coffee.

  “How did you know?”

  “I noticed you drinking black coffee when you thought no one was looking at Thomas’ lab, or at home. I know you’re not a kid anymore. Besides, you’re gonna need a lot of coffee if you are going to survive exams.”

  They walked toward Ryan’s place and stopped outside the florist. They had a row of truly pathetic Christmas trees leaning against the window.

  “Only in New York can you have a tree so amazing that people come from all over the world to see it and apartment trees that would put Charlie Brown's to shame.” Ryan chuckled as he bought the worst one.

  “Why that one? Pity? A mercy killing? That has to be the worst Christmas tree in the whole city.” Dillon was convinced he would never understand his dad.

  Ryan explained that he kind of liked it and it wouldn’t take long to decorate. Dillon carried it, and an hour later they stood back and admired their handiwork. The spindly little tree took one strand of lights and bent under the weight of Ryan’s five ornaments.

  “I like it,” Ryan declared. Dillon wasn’t sure if Ryan meant it, or if he was just trying to convince himself. It was weird to see his dad in any kind of Christmas spirit. Usually he was the king of Bah Humbug. Dillon had to hit the books again, but as he headed out the door, he reminded his dad that he would get out tomorrow at the same time.

  “Coffee?”

  “How about a mocha? You know, a little of both?” Dillon figured he’d throw his dad a bone and not grow up too fast.

  December 17, 2011

  The rest of exam week was a blur, but it ended. Now it was time to celebrate. Dillon had his first tux hanging behind the door and even a rose for Marie to wear in her auburn curls. In about an hour he would pick her up and take her to the dance. He could hardly wait. They were going with Tom and Amanda, and everyone was ready to blow off some steam. Dillon was really looking forward to a night of fun.

  When he came out of his room ready to go, he felt equal parts excited and ridiculous. His tie was almost as annoying as his cummerbund, but he comforted himself with the fact that at least he did
n’t have to wear heels. Ryan and Maggie took pictures, and he was out the door. Walking down the street in his tux, he had a rose in one hand and his phone in the other.

  “I’m on my way. Are you ready?” Dillon had promised Marie he would give her fair warning. He wasn’t too surprised when Danny fell into step beside him.

  “You remind me of an old ad for cologne.”

  “Thanks, that’s the look I was going for. Old cologne ad.” Danny laughed and was gone. Dillon arrived at Marie’s place and knocked on the door.

  “Hi, Mrs. Watson, is Marie ready?”

  “Almost, Dillon. Why don’t you wait in the living room with my husband and I’ll go and get her.” Marie’s parents were nice people, but Dillon hadn’t rented this suit to hang out with them. They had a glass of water and then another, and Dillon thought there was a distinct possibility that he would float away if Marie wasn’t ready soon. That’s when he saw her.

  Marie wore a silk gown of royal blue that matched her eyes. Her hair was a mass of curls swept up and off to one side. A couple of loose curls danced around her face and played peek-a-boo with the pearl earrings that dangled from her ears. Dillon stood up when she crossed the room, and she gave him a hug. She smelled like roses, and Dillon held onto her hand when she pulled back. He could hardly believe she was going with him. He could hardly believe she was real.

  Dillon gave her the rose and she smiled and put it up in her hair. He knew he would never forget the way she looked at that moment.

  The Plaza Hotel was a sight to behold. The lobby was awash in holly, stargazer lilies, and boxwood. It was a long trip from Tennessee, but now that they were finally here, Sara wondered why they had waited so long. She squeezed Clint’s hand and they followed the bellhop to the elevators. There was a lot of noise coming from one of the ballrooms, but that was okay. After all, Sara had heard that New York was the city that never sleeps.