Choice of the Gallant - Paradox Equation I

by Sharon L Reddy

  ****

  Gallant knew how much he still had to learn. Of course he chose Earth as the place to learn it.

  "All right, Mike, what are you laughing about?"

  "Clara, I've been drafted. It seems I'm about to go to war."

  "You're the last decent young man in this neighborhood. The young ladies will miss you."

  "Oh, I'll be back. The war won't last too much longer. We'll beat them."

  "When do you report?"

  "By the day after tomorrow, but I'm going to the recruiter today."

  "Give the Kaiser a punch on the nose for me."

  "I will, Clara. Would it be all right if I left my things here?"

  "Of course. You've become more like family than a boarder in the last two years. The only family I've got. Outlived all the others. Mike, if I'm not here when you get back, the place is yours."

  "Clara... "

  "Now don't argue. I did it months ago. I've got no one else to give it to."

  "Thank you. I love you, too."

  "Oh, go on. Say good-by to all the pretty young things you squire around."

  She died before he got back to the big house in Chicago. He signed the documents that had been awaiting the return of 'Sergeant Gallant' and took possession. He aired out the closed house, repaired the damage two years of emptiness had caused and settled into life in the time known as the roaring twenties.

  He began establishing the identity of a nephew. He'd need it before too many years passed. He talked about his nephew a great deal to the others at his place of employment and the people on his beat. He'd gotten the job by a bit of hypnosis. The physician who checked him hadn't noticed his two hearts. He became one of Chicago's finest and helped fight the lawlessness of the gangs.