by Warren Cain
“Oh, nothing. It’s silly.”
“It’s not silly. Tell me.”
Kirk hesitated. “You won’t laugh, will you?”
“No. I promise,” she replied, hoping that whatever he said didn’t cause her to laugh uncontrollably.
“I’ve never even flown in one, but I think I would like to get my license to fly a hot air balloon. It seems like it would be such a good way to get away from all the things that weigh me down. Like if I was up there I would be too high for any problem I have down here to reach me.
Does that seem silly?” he asked, looking for confirmation that the only goal he could think of wasn’t stupid.
“That sounds perfect,” she said with a look of amazement.
Chapter 41
Kirk pushed Linda back toward the lights of the festival. They had spent several hours talking at the edge of town.
“Hey, Kirk, quite a party, wouldn’t you say?”
Kirk turned to see Ron holding one of the largest stuffed rabbits he had ever seen and a stick of cotton candy.
“Hey, Ron, how about this?”
“Something to look forward to in five years. I know you were wondering if you would get to see me again, now it looks like you may be fortunate enough to see me every five years. How about that?” said Ron, smiling.
“Puts my mind at ease, Ron,” said Kirk playing along.
“I better get to the games. I hear they’re closing this place down in a half hour or so.” Ron walked away at a brisk pace, causing the bunny’s ears to flop up and down in a way that amused Kirk.
“It’s so hard to watch them grow up,” joked Kirk.
Linda laughed. “You’ve got a good sense of humor.”
Kirk had not joked much with anyone for a long time. In fact, after seeing the failed humor of the “Cynthia Preston” episode in the mirror, he had sworn off humor completely. But with Linda, he let his guard down. The last person he had felt this at ease around was Sarah.
“Are they going to close down soon?” asked Kirk.
“We have to be out by three in the morning, and it’s almost two,” replied Linda with a tone that said, “I don’t want it to end either.”
“Better push me to my car, Kirk. I think it’s time for me to go.” The thought of leaving was making her feel worse than actually leaving would so she decided it was time to go.
Kirk pushed her to a large van equipped to accommodate Linda’s wheelchair. He was impressed as he watched her load herself into the van, climb into the driver’s seat, and start the vehicle.
“It was nice talking with you,” she said, looking out the window.
“You, too, Linda,” replied Kirk with a forced smile. He felt sad to see her go.
“Look me up if you’re ever near Lake View.”
“You can bet on it,” said Kirk, leaning against the door.
Linda’s face softened. “Goodbye, Kirk,” she whispered, leaning towards him.
Kirk’s heart skipped a beat. He wanted to say goodbye, but almost instinctively moved closer. Linda stopped inches from Kirk as if to say, “You sure you want to do that?” Kirk replied by moving the rest of the way. Their lips met briefly, with a passion Kirk had not felt for a long time.
Linda pulled away first. “See ya, Kirk,” said Linda as she put the van in drive.
“Bye” was the only word Kirk could force out as he watched her drive away.
Chapter 42
Kirk looked at himself in the mirror. He was alone in the confessional. His evil image was still fresh in his mind, but the image in front of him was his true reflection.
“What’s good about me?” Kirk said.
“Well, that’s real nice. If someone had asked me the bad things about me, I could have thought of something. Always looking for the bad. There I go . . . I see one of my faults is I look for the bad in things more than the good.”
“That could be a good quality depending on the circumstance,” commented Joe, walking into the tiny room.
“What do you mean?”
“Ye look for the bad in yerself sometimes harder than ye should, but when ye find it ye always try to correct it to better yerself. Striving to improve yerself is a good quality.”
“I didn’t think about it that way,” acknowledged Kirk, nodding approvingly at Joe’s version of what he had considered to be a fault.
“Now what?” asked Kirk.
“Time to see the good side of Kirk Murphy.”
Kirk turned to the mirror again. His reflection appeared to be a younger version of himself. I look about sixteen, he thought. It had been a long time since he had seen his reflection without his brow being wrinkled as though he were deep in thought or without some of the lines that were starting to show.
“Hello, Kirk,” said his twin in a pleasant voice.
Kirk found himself in the room alone with his good twin the way he had with his evil twin. He was both amused and intrigued at the younger-looking version of himself. It was strange to see himself that way—without the guilt, before life started wearing him down.
“You can be this way on the inside,” stated his twin. “You will see me when you look in the mirror, but you will have to work for it and you will have to understand who I am.”
The world around Kirk changed. He found himself on the school bus watching a fifteen-year-old version of himself getting on the bus looking for a seat.
“Hey, Derrick,” said Kirk’s younger version to an athletic fellow who was one of the popular kids in school.
“Hey, Kirk,” replied Derrick. “Did you have a good weekend?” Derrick winked.
Kirk smiled at the comment, remembering he and Derrick had hung out on Saturday night.
He won’t sit by me or even pretend to know me.
Kirk heard the thought. He felt a nervous feeling as though this person he was inside of was unaccustomed to positive feedback from others. Kirk saw his younger version look directly at him and smile. The nervous feeling left as he sat down in the same seat.
“How about you, Traci, did you have a good weekend?” his younger version said with a warm smile.
Traci Paterson, thought Kirk. I’m Traci Paterson.
Traci was considered to be in with the not-so-popular people in school. Most people barely knew she existed. It was so much easier for them to walk by her than to say anything to her.
Kirk felt a smile cross Traci’s face and a feeling that this kind of attention was rare and welcomed.
“Not too bad,” said Traci.
Kirk could see her memory of sitting around the house with her parents playing board games on Saturday night.
“You didn’t overdo it with the booze, did you?” said his younger version jokingly, knowing Traci probably never touched alcohol.
Traci smiled shyly.
Kirk couldn’t believe how starved Traci was for this kind of attention. He had trouble comprehending he had made her feel so good just by talking with her on the way to school.
“You didn’t even realize how important just having a conversation with her was, did you?” asked Kirk’s twin.
Kirk could barely answer, still in awe at the way he had made Traci feel.
“I . . . I didn’t realize . . .”
“That was you at fifteen, Kirk. You hung out with the kids who were considered more popular on one night, but on the next day you weren’t afraid of what they would think if you hung out with those people they considered to be less popular. You didn’t care what they thought. You didn’t see people as categories like less popular or more popular. Rich or poor. They were never your tags for people. You saw everyone as human. Athletes, nerds, and outcasts. Society’s words. You knew, Kirk. Deep down, you knew they were all the same. For some reason, you got it when a lot of other people didn’t. You understood they all mattered.”
&
nbsp; A smile crossed Kirk’s face. He could feel his eyes glowing at the realization he viewed people that way. No one more important than the other.
“I can tell by the look on your face you enjoyed that,” said his twin. “There’s more.”
Chapter 43
“Oh, no! Come on . . . start.” Kirk found himself turning the ignition of an early model Chevy that was beginning to slow as though the battery was running down. Kirk could hear himself saying the words, but he did not release them.
“Look at the fuel gauge. It’s empty,” said a woman in the front seat who sounded somewhat distressed.
Kirk could tell from the uncertainty he felt that whoever he was felt distressed also.
I don’t think I’ve seen these people before, thought Kirk.
“What are we going to do, Ben? It’s five miles to the nearest town, and it doesn’t look like too many people come down this road at this time of night. Ben, the baby woke up.”
“I heard.”
The infant in the woman’s arms began crying loudly as though the child sensed the desperation his parents were feeling. Kirk felt a tinge of uncertainty as the man saw headlights coming over the hill.
“Someone’s coming, Jill.”
As the man looked into the car, Kirk could see the woman look back as the lights came across her face. She held her baby closer to her.
That’s my old truck, thought Kirk to himself as the vehicle pulled to a stop beside him. Been a while since the old truck looked so good. Almost looks brand new.
I remember stopping to help these people, thought Kirk as the memory came to him. I was on my way home from Sarah’s house.
“Need some help?” asked Kirk’s younger version with a friendly smile that seemed to ease the feeling and looks of concern.
“We ran out of gas. I thought I could make it to Eastville to fill up. Guess I should have filled up sooner. But we were in such a hurry to make it home. Been visiting the wife’s family down in Arkansas. Being in a hurry sure cost us a lot of time,” Ben said, feeling less isolated now that Kirk had showed up.
“I live a couple miles up the road,” remarked Kirk. “I can run home and fill up our gas can from our fuel barrel, which should give you more than enough fuel to get to Eastville.”
Ben breathed a sigh of relief as a solution had come to their dire situation—the feeling his family was going to be all right overwhelmed him.
“He’s going to get us some fuel, Jill,” Ben said reassuringly. “We’ll be on our way home soon.”
Jill smiled at her husband as the look of concern left her face. She kissed her child’s forehead. “Thank you,” she whispered, looking at the taillights of Kirk’s truck.
“You never thought twice about stopping to help them, did you?”
Kirk found himself facing his twin.
“I knew they were grateful, but I never realized the emotion they were feeling at the time.”
Kirk glanced up to find himself talking to his true reflection. A smile crossed his face.
“Maybe you’re not so bad, ol boy.”
Kirk saw one reflection. One that was a mixture of the good and bad he had witnessed.
“Me,” he said to himself. “They were both me.”
Chapter 44
Ron found himself sitting in a rocking chair holding a baby. He could tell the baby was his oldest child.
This was quite a few years back, Ron thought to himself.
“Hey, Nancy, can I have a turn?”
It was a younger, shaven, and cleaner version of himself. Ron could tell from Nancy’s feelings she was ready to go back to bed and was grateful for the help.
He’s a good dad, she thought as she paused for a few minutes to enjoy the view of the man she was still deeply in love with.
I remember when I was like this, Ron thought to himself.
The memory of how good it felt to hold their infant baby and rock him to sleep came back to him. He enjoyed hearing Nancy’s thoughts of how good of a dad she thought he was. He had almost forgotten how good it used to feel to be this way.
“That was nice. Wasn’t it?” said his twin.
Ron looked at him with a new determination in his eyes.
“I was a good dad. I can be that dad. If I ever get the chance again, I won’t blow it.”
Chapter 45
Kirk walked between the wooden pews reflecting the dim lighting making its way through the stained glass windows. His footsteps, though muffled by the thin carpet, seemed to echo loudly in the otherwise quiet church. The door to the small room near the back of the church slowly opened as he approached it.
“Hello, lad. Did you enjoy your look in the mirror?” asked Joe.
Kirk couldn’t help but smile at the short man with the long sideburns and matching Irish accent.
“Now I’m going to show you a man who’s about to reach a breaking point in his life like the one you reached the night Sarah died,” declared Joe, not waiting for his answer. “Let’s step out the door for a minute.”
Kirk followed Joe through the door of the church, which to Kirk’s surprise led them to the inside of a bar. He looked around, confused. People were drinking, and a band was playing on a small stage, across the smoke-filled room.
Kirk turned to look back in the church to end this scenario his mind was having trouble comprehending. He did not need to open the door. The wooden door that seconds before was now glass no longer led back inside the church but into a dimly lit street with a steady flow of traffic.
“Ye might never get used to that,” said Joe, smiling as though he enjoyed the confusion this situation caused him. “Ye’ll do well to remember you’re still in a house in South Dakota.”
“That’s right. I forgot this is a dream.”
“Not a dream, lad. This is your instructions for a mission that if accepted will directly affect the outcome of your life and other people’s lives. So ye need to listen close. Everything I say, and everything ye see, is important. We are at a bar in Elam, Texas, called Steve’s Place. It’s Friday. Four days from today.”
“You’re telling me what I’m seeing isn’t going to take place for four more days?” asked Kirk, trying to comprehend the fact he was seeing the future.
“Yes. You’ve probably heard it referred to as prophesy, if you’ve read any scriptures. It’s really quite a unique experience. What ye see isn’t happening—it’s only a vision ye are having while ye sleep. Unlike most of your dreams, ye don’t play a role in it. You’re just an observer.”
Joe led Kirk to a table at the center of the bar where a lot of action seemed to be taking place. Several people were gathered around the table. Two of the men were having a chugging contest. Both of them appeared to be doing well at putting the drinks away, but their drunkenness showed in their eyes. One of the men, a muscular fellow with a large mustache, slammed his empty glass down as he finished the last round the fastest.
“I need to go home,” slurred the man as he stood up, nearly falling to the ground.
“You better let me give you a ride, Kevin,” said one of the other men in the group as several exchanged knowing glances about his drunken state.
“I’m fine,” he replied with a note of irritation in his voice.
The man who offered the ride shrugged his shoulders and walked to the bar for another round.
“Let’s go see how Kevin does, shall we, lad?”
Kirk glanced at the clock behind the bar.
11:55. I guess he’s going to turn into a pumpkin if he doesn’t leave before midnight, Kirk joked to himself.
Kirk and Joe followed Kevin out of the bar.
“I don’t need a ride home,” said Kevin in an irritated tone, slamming his hand down hard on the trunk of the blue Monte Carlo parked in front of the bar.
A yellow cat that had been sleepi
ng in the fender well of the car shot out from underneath, running into Kevin’s leg.
“Holy sh—” Kevin jumped in the air but failed to complete a perfect landing in his drunken state.
Kirk laughed at the sight.
Kevin stood up, regained his composure, and made his way toward an older model Ford pickup with a tool rack on the back.
“Let’s go for a ride, lad.”
Kirk found himself in the middle of the bench seat of the truck, with Kevin on his left and Joe on his right. Kirk wasn’t sure he would get use to this “dream mission thing” Joe was taking him on.
Kevin shifted into drive and accelerated. His eyes looked as though he was ready to pass out behind the wheel.
“This guy shouldn’t be driving,” stated Kirk.
“I agree, lad.”
Kevin sped down the street crossing back and forth over the centerline during periods of dozing off. The truck bounced as it hit the curb on the side of the street.
“Whoa,” Kevin murmured as he pulled back into his lane. “Wake up, man. Only a few more blocks . . . you can do it,” he urged to himself.
“PULL OVER, MAN! COME ON!” Kirk yelled, consumed by the situation, forgetting it was only a vision.
The truck sped up, as if going faster would get him there before he had a chance to doze off.
Kirk looked at the speedometer. Fifty-two miles an hour. He’s gonna kill someone!
They sped toward an intersection with a red light.
“Kirk, I would like to introduce ye to the Jones family.”
Kirk saw the car coming through the intersection from the right.
He’s not even looking. There’s no way he’s gonna see them.
“STOP!” yelled Kirk.
Kirk could see the surprised look from the man in the driver’s seat of the car as he first noticed the oncoming pickup truck. He also noticed a figure in the passenger seat. What caught his attention most was the kid in the back seat looking out the window. A look of complete horror came to his face as he noticed the pickup speeding towards them.
