Smith's Monthly #21

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  “Is something wrong, Jess, honey?” Mary said, her hand stroking his arm up and down and up and down. She looked more beautiful than he had ever remembered, and she smelled wonderfully fresh, as if she had been outside in the country all day.

  But he knew the look and the smell wouldn’t last long. Six months after they were married she would gain fifty pounds and a few years later she would level out a hundred over her marriage weight.

  But now, in this dream or whatever it was, she looked sexy and very trim in her low-cut blue dress.

  Jess pulled back away from her and looked around. This was his car all right. The same one he had sold in ’01.

  The same classic car that he and Mary had first made love in.

  He rubbed his hands along the steering wheel to make sure it felt solid. They were parked just down the tree-lined street from Mary’s house. When they were dating, she said she loved his old cars, but after they were married all she did was harp at him to get a more practical modern car like a van or something.

  So how had Stout pulled this off? This had to be some kind of dream or hallucination. That was it. Stout had hypnotized him and he was still sitting in the Garden Lounge while they laughed.

  Jess would get them for this.

  Mary scooted over closer to him and rubbed his leg real nice, getting the reaction in his crotch she wanted. “Were you going to ask me something?” she said, looking up at him with her large brown eyes.

  “That I was,” he said. It was a clear memory that in this exact situation he had asked her to marry him. He knew that’s what his younger self had been planning to do.

  He was currently a second-year law student, and he remembered his classes that Friday morning real well. Yet he also remembered sitting having a Christmas Eve drink with his friends at the Garden Lounge sixteen or so years in the future.

  Strange.

  Too damn strange.

  On the radio the old classic Red Baron shot down Snoopy. Stout had said Jess only had the length of the song. Whatever was going on, it was halfway over.

  Mary rubbed Jess’s leg and waited. Waited, knowing what the question would be. Waited, knowing that she had led him right to where she wanted him.

  Well, this time around she would get a surprise, because dream or no dream, this was going to be fun.

  Hell, after all the years with her, he deserved a little fun.

  “I wanted to ask you,” Jess said, then paused, trying not to smile.

  The Red Baron and Snoopy drank a Christmas toast.

  “Yes,” Mary said, her voice low and sexy. She had been one beautiful woman on the outside. That had kept him blind to all the ugliness that was just under the surface.

  Blind until it was too late.

  “I wanted to ask you if it would be all right if I slept around with a few other women? You know, sew a few wild oats before I settle down?”

  That did it.

  Holy smokes did that do it.

  The sultry look drained from her face like wet makeup, to be replaced by the bitch look he had grown so familiar with.

  “What did you say?” she asked, her voice low and mean and controlled. He knew that voice real well, too.

  He smiled, easing toward her, trying to act romantic. “I was just thinking that for a few years, maybe five or ten, we could have an open relationship. I’d love to sleep with a few other women. It would be good for us. Honest. You know, free love and all.”

  He moved as if to kiss her and she backed away across the seat.

  “Wouldn’t you like sleeping with other men? Then after we’ve both got a little more experience we could live together for a few years. Trying on the old shoes, as the saying goes.”

  Jess knew that would get her. She had said a hundred times how much she hated the thought of living together. For her it was marriage or nothing. Damn it was hard keeping a straight face. He was going to thank Stout for this one. Best Christmas present he had ever had.

  “You’re sick!” she screamed. “Sick! Sick! Sick!”

  Jess tried to look innocent and sad.

  On the radio Snoopy flew off singing about Christmas cheer as Mary rammed against the car door, opened it and ran up the sidewalk.

  “Thank you, Stout. I’ve been dreaming about doing that for years.”

  The song ended.

  And so did the dreams.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  About twenty-one years later…

  June 10th, 2020

  Central Wilderness Area, Idaho

  RYAN HAD FINISHED up the last of his breakfast and was sipping on his coffee when Bonnie and Duster came in from the deck.

  Duster’s long oilcloth coat swirled around his feet and his cowboy hat was pulled down tight on his head.

  Bonnie had her coat zipped up and she looked cold. Her face was flushed red.

  Over food, Ryan and Talia had talked cats. He had two wonderful cats in his apartment in Berkeley, both strays he found starving on the street. He had called one Bonnie and one Duster, which Talia had found fantastically funny. And he had made her promise to not tell the real Bonnie and Duster.

  She had one cat named Thunder because his deep and loud voice could shake her entire apartment when he was hungry or demanding attention. A friend had found him lost and almost dead in the cold and snow one winter and Talia couldn’t resist.

  She called him her best buddy.

  “This is fun,” Ryan had said. “We’re in the Thunder Mountain region of these mountains with Bonnie and Duster. I would hate to calculate the odds on that happening.”

  “It would take some work,” she had said, laughing.

  He loved how she laughed easily, and he loved how she had just vanished back into her mind when thinking about the reality of time and sound.

  “So how was breakfast?” Talia asked as Bonnie and Duster took chairs at their table. Bonnie sat closest to the fire and seemed relieved to be beside it, unzipping her coat and taking it off.

  “Refreshing,” Duster said, smiling.

  “Damn cold,” Bonnie said.

  Duster laughed and nodded. “I think tomorrow we’ll eat right here, next to the fire.”

  “I will,” Bonnie said, glaring at Duster.

  Ryan and Talia both laughed, but stayed silent. Ryan wanted to work for these two legends, not get them annoyed at him right off the bat.

  Duster just sort of ignored Bonnie and turned first to Talia, then to Ryan. “You two up for a fairly short drive down into the valley below to see the lake and the old mining town site we were talking about? We can talk and answer questions along the way.”

  “It will warm up quickly,” Bonnie said. “So you both should be fine dressed in the layers you are in now.”

  “Thank you,” Talia said.

  “Excited to see the place,” Ryan said. And he was.

  “Did you get a chance to read the history and see the pictures over there on the wall?” Bonnie asked.

  “I didn’t,” Talia said.

  “Neither did I,” Ryan said.

  “We’ll have some coffee here and warm up and wait for you,” Bonnie said. “It will help if you have some of the basics about where we are headed.”

  Ryan nodded and he and Talia both stood at the same time and headed for the wall of framed pictures and a few cases of different memorabilia that ran along one side of the high-ceilinged dining room.

  Only two other lodge guests remained in the room and they sat at a table near a window that had a view looking down into valleys in the opposite direction from the lake.

  Ryan was really impressed that anyone would even think of building a massive lodge this size on a summit this high up in the mountains. And then maintain it for well over a hundred years. There had to be a story in that all by itself.

  Talia led him to the start of the history about the area and they both quickly went through how the mining started in this area and became a real gold rush in 1901.

  There were lots of historical figures ta
lked about that Ryan didn’t recognize at all. But the pictures of the town of Roosevelt had him amazed. The town was tucked between two extremely steep mountain slopes and at places couldn’t have been more than a hundred yards wide.

  Everything in the entire place had to be brought in over three very dangerous trails that closed down seven months of the year.

  One map showed all the locations of the major mines in the area and another showed the location of the old trails and a few other smaller ghost town locations farther down the valley.

  And another story that both he and Talia spent extra time to read was about the pianos in the town and the legend of still hearing the music. Ryan found that flat amazing now that he was looking at it from an actual mathematical angle.

  Then there were some pictures of the author Zane Gray when he came to this area to write a book about the area called Thunder Mountain. There was a copy of the book itself in the case, signed by the author.

  There were numbers of pictures of the flood after the landslide that blocked the valley. It seemed the waters took days to back up over the town and many of the buildings just broke apart and jammed into the spot where the stream eventually flowed over and around the landslide.

  At the end of the long display, there was an image near the end of the valley taken from the air and the lake in 2014 with an outline showing the size of the lake originally right after the flood. It was clear the lake was now less than an eighth of its original size. All the rest had filled in with sediment brought downstream.

  The final part of the display was about the modern history of the valley and how the area had become The Frank Church Primitive Area and how an exemption for a small tourist area near the lake and road into the lake had been allowed to exist because of a mining claim.

  “Amazing place, huh?” Talia said after the reached the end of the images and articles.

  Ryan could only agree. He was very, very excited to see it now, more than he had been before.

  And even more excited to see if they could explain why the sounds from those pianos from 1902 to 1909 were still being heard today.

  The idea of that almost had him bouncing like a kid before Christmas.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  December 24th, 2015

  Boise, Idaho

  STOUT MOVED SLOWLY around behind the bar, dumped out the remainder of Jess’s drink and set Jess’s special glass beside the others on the back bar.

  “Got quite a collection there,” David said as he moved over to take his stool. “So Carl and Fred were friends of mine in another timeline?”

  Stout took a long hard drink of his eggnog and then nodded.

  “Jess,” David said, “was sent back by the jukebox to his memory and he changed something that moved his life in another direction. And with that new direction, he didn’t end up coming in here. Right? And he would have no memory of ever being in here because he hasn’t been.”

  Again Stout nodded and finished off the drink.

  David picked up the quarter in front of him and glanced over at the jukebox. “You know this is a wish that everyone has had at one time or another? How come you’ve never done it?”

  “Oh, I did. Actually twice when I first discovered what the jukebox could do. But I didn’t change anything. Too afraid, I guess. And, I suppose, not that unhappy with this life.”

  Stout nodded at the three empty glasses. “That is until tonight.”

  David took a sip of his drink and looked at his name on the glass. “So you gave the gift of a second chance to your friends for Christmas.”

  Stout laughed. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. But I didn’t expect to lose everyone. Not exactly sure what I expected, to be honest with you.”

  “I’m still here.”

  Stout glanced over at his best friend. David worked as a vice president of a local bank and enjoyed flying his small plane on the weekend. But back twenty-some years ago, he and his new wife, Elaine, had been driving home from a Christmas party. David was scheduled to finish flight school that next spring. He had a dream of flying for the airlines.

  That night David had had a little too much to drink and the car missed a slick corner and plowed into an embankment. Elaine was killed and David lost most of the use of his right hand.

  End of flight school.

  End of dream.

  Stout reached out and slid the quarter at David. “Your turn.”

  David shook his head. “No chance. There’s no way I’m leaving you after what you’ve done for Jess and those two other guys.” David pointed at the glasses lined up on the back bar.

  Stout laughed a laugh that sounded bitter even to his ears. “I don’t know what exactly I’ve done except change their life in some fashion. I can only hope it is for the better. But you I do know the jukebox can help.”

  Stout reached across the bar and patted David’s ruined right hand. “Go back to before the crash and save Elaine. And yourself.”

  David jerked as if he had never thought of the possibility.

  “You saw it work,” Stout said. “If nothing else, give it a try. You don’t have to change anything. Just go back and see Elaine again. It’s not a one-way trip if you don’t change anything.”

  David looked dazed. “If I don’t change...”

  Stout nodded and picked up the quarter and placed it in David’s good left hand. “Go say hello to your wife.”

  Still looking dazed, David slowly stood and moved toward the jukebox. “Is it really possible?”

  “Yes,” Stout said. “Now pick the right song.”

  David nodded and turned to study the song list. His tie hung loose in front of him, his right hand useless against the glass of the jukebox.

  Stout could feel his stomach hurting from the very idea. He downed a little more eggnog. He knew that once David saw Elaine, he would be unable to stop from changing the past.

  Stout knew for a fact he was going to lose his best friend. But maybe someday Stout would see him again, striding through an airport in his pilot’s uniform. That alone would be worth it.

  “Found the song,” David said and turned to look at Stout.

  “Then go for it,” Stout said.

  David paused, as if he wanted to say something. Then he turned and dropped the quarter into the machine and punched the two buttons.

  “State the memory,” Stout said. “Got to follow the rules, you know.”

  David smiled. “This song reminds me of the night my wife died.”

  Stout nodded. “Good luck. And say hello to Elaine for me.”

  “I will,” David said.” And I’ll be back.”

  “In case you’re not, I’ll be holding onto your glass and the jukebox.”

  David smiled. “Thanks.”

  The song started and he vanished.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  About five years later…

  June 10th, 2020

  Central Wilderness Area, Idaho

  AFTER A TERRIFYING car ride down the side of a mountain cliff on a one-lane dirt road not much bigger than the large Cadillac SUV that Duster drove, Talia managed to relax and enjoy the rest of the day in the steep-walled valley. At least on the valley floor the road was flat and there was no place for a car to fall a thousand feet.

  She found the old mining valley fascinating, and how Bonnie and Duster talked about parts of the valley history, it felt like they had actually been here during the old mining days. They certainly loved the place, there was no doubt in that at all.

  The crystal blue waters of the lake allowed her to see old building sites thirty feet down through the water. That just stunned her, and filled her with an overwhelming sense of sadness. It was one thing to see the town in photos, another to see the remains deep under water.

  The landslide blocking one side of the valley and forming the lake had a hundred year growth of pine on it, so it looked just like a natural part of the valley now.

  And where the stream left the lake, a giant logjam had formed
and stuck in place, a pile of twisted logs jammed together a good forty feet deep into the water. It felt to Talia when they went across the logjam that she was walking on a giant pile of Tinker Toys, since all the logs had been parts of buildings. And she could see large fish swimming down among the logs below her feet.

  While Duster sat on a rock in the shade, Bonnie took her and Ryan down the trail another half mile to the old cemetery roped off under some trees above the stream.

  Talia found the cemetery just flat creepy.

  They then headed back to where they had parked the car about a mile above the lake just as the sun was hitting the valley floor and the afternoon was getting warm.

  Talia had taken off her sweatshirt on the way back from the cemetery and Ryan had shed his coat about the same point. It was finally getting that warm.

  The weather extremes in this area certainly were amazing to her. In Wisconsin, when it was hot, it stayed hot day and night. And when it was cold, it stayed cold. Not at all like here.

  The four of them had a great lunch that the lodge had packed for them, sitting at a card table on folding chairs in the shade of a stand of pine. All four had prime rib sandwiches on fresh buns, with a stunningly good potato salad and iced tea.

  The stream tumbled down over rocks filling the narrow valley with a soothing sound of water and in the shade the temperature was perfect.

  And without bugs. If they had sat out like this in Wisconsin, they would have needed major protection.

  “The lake backed up this far originally,” Duster said, pointing to an area farther up the valley than they were. “But this part quickly filled in with sediment since it was so shallow.”

  “Another fifty or sixty years and the entire lake area will be nothing more than a meadow,” Bonnie said. “Amazing what time can do.”

  “It really is,” Duster said.

  Talia glanced at both Bonnie and Duster. For a moment they seemed lost in thought.

  She glanced at Ryan and shrugged slightly and he smiled at her and they both went back to finishing off their wonderful beef sandwiches, letting the two legendary mathematicians sit in their thoughts for a moment.